Memote or mdesc.

[jhunter]

Okay, before I explain my idea...I realize there are other things the imms can be spending their time on and such...I just want your opinions strictly about the idea in itself and any problems you might foresee with it.

For this explaination I'll just call this the mdesc command.

How about rather that having to enter <direction> (favoring his right leg), to add some description to your movement, if we had a way to set this so that we would not have to
a)type it in each time we move
b) use the up arrow on our clients
c) use macros or whatever

we could instead:

change mdesc favoring his right leg

And every time you moved normally it would add this description to your movement echo?
Also have a way to toggle mdesc off as well if you do not want any special description of your movements added.

With something like this added...npcs could have mdesc set to give them customizable movement echoes as well...so instead of:

A viscious tembo has arrived from the north.

You could have:

A viscious tembo has arrived from the north, plowing through the brush.

or instead of:

A wild halfling hunter has arrived from the west.

it could be:

A wild halfling hunter has arrived from the west, waving his spear.

Something like that...I can't seem to remember at the moment which way it adds it on...whether it's before or after the normal message.

Those are some rather weak examples I think...but you get the picture.

What do you all think about the idea?

[UnderSeven]

It's not a bad idea, some games have voice things you can set also so they follow you.

Though, as the original poster said, certainly not top of the list either.

[Tamarin]

I definitely like this idea, but I imagine it will be met with the same criticism as a similar idea involving speech.  Some people who play a speech impediment (or other mnemonic device), want to always have their character speak with a slur or whatever.  I find that sort of tag gets monotonous to the extreme when it is a constant.  The same could apply for movement.

[Ghost]

I like this idea.  I personally dont use some kind of macros and such, so when I am walking and trying to make a movement emote, it becomes a pain.

[jhunter]

I like this idea. I personally dont use some kind of macros and such, so when I am walking and trying to make a movement emote, it becomes a pain.

I don't either...I try and avoid using those sorts of things entirely...that's what made me think of it. That and I'd like to see more than just the standard movement messages all the time.

[Gilvar]

Because it gets repetitive and ugly. Same for people that alias or just repeatedly use the same look emotes. like:

"So and so looks at you casually."
"So and so looks at the man casually."
"So and so looks at the woman casually."
repeat for the rest of their life.

Repeating anything iword for word is typically bad. Even just slamming the direction keys is called 'spam-walking' in most circles, and while not nescessarily bad, is just so shallow with all the commands that allow you to add depth to even simple actions like movement.

So I give this idea a thumbs down. Either do it yourself, set up an alias, or use more move-motes.

[jhunter]

The point is it's a pain in the ass as it stands, and that's why I think few people ever use them.

I'd still rather see one repeated with more detail than just the generic one repeated.

Because it gets repetitive and ugly. Same for people that alias or just repeatedly use the same look emotes. like:

"So and so looks at you casually."
"So and so looks at the man casually."
"So and so looks at the woman casually."
repeat for the rest of their life.

Repeating anything iword for word is typically bad. Even just slamming the direction keys is called 'spam-walking' in most circles, and while not nescessarily bad, is just so shallow with all the commands that allow you to add depth to even simple actions like movement.

So I give this idea a thumbs down. Either do it yourself, set up an alias, or use more move-motes.

I disagree.
For one, get rid of the damn look echo.
For two I am not going to write a completely new echo every time I walk from one room to another. Thats just a playability issue. If you advocate that your a walk echo nazi.
For three, I think that specific kinds of emotes and the way you walk differentiates your character from others, but thats just me. People do things in their own way and don't change it every few seconds in reaility. Its called habit.
For four, i already had this idea.
http://www.zalanthas.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=734&highlight=mvdesc

[Trenidor]

my client keeps the previously entered command in my tray at all times, it gets deleted when I type anything, but then I can just press up on the keyboard, which really isn't all that hard to do

[jmordetsky]

I think mdesc is top idea. I do this manually all the time, it's a pain in the ass.  If Zmud, didn't save my last command, it would be a bigger pain in the ass.

[Gilvar]

For two I am not going to write a completely new echo every time I walk from one room to another. Thats just a playability issue. If you advocate that your a walk echo nazi.

I didn't say every room. But walking 30 rooms without an emote/movemote is the same as doing any other activity with no emotes. Its not illegal, but your not really helping any. If you didn't know, not emoting is one of the ways to not get Karma, as its a pretty good judge of how your preceiving and interacting with your environment, while at the same time helping flesh it out by making what your doing more visual for anyone watching, including yourself.

[jmordetsky]

We could atleast change the walk emote code so that it works like other emotes...I mean now,
a) you can't tell if it worked or how it looked and

b) You have to use()

I spent a year walk emoting without () thinking it worked until someone told me otherwise.

[Gilvar]

Yeah, and it confuses people who then try to do it in their look-emotes.

[jhunter]

Also, I don't give a rat's ass if someone uses the same movement echo all the time...it would still be much better than everyone...having just arrives from the BLAH all the time.

Plus think of it this way...if someone has a particular way of walking... they are almost always going to have that certain way of movement...


Instead of just telling someone: "Well...it was tall...in a (whatever) kind of cloak."

You could say: " They were tall...wearing (whatever) sort of cloak...and they walked with (a limp/bowlegged/skipping like a a bitch/knock-kneed/swagger) or whatever.

To me this would be more interesting than without.

Nothing more would be getting repeated with this...in fact...even if each pc repeated the same one for themselves (which would be realistic) it's still more interesting than everyone having the same movement with no flavor. Most pc's would have different ones...rather than everyone having none most of the time.

[jmordetsky]

Yup, I think even if people did use it all the time, it would only enhance the game. My current character has an odd walk, which I'm always emoting...I would love to set this permanently.

[Delirium]

Permanent strings on walking or movement would annoy me.

I've played games where you have a permanent voice string, and this sort of thing happens ALL the time:

The strapping young man says, in a booming, confident tone,
    "No, don't hurt me! Please! I'll do anything you ask! Ahhh!"

The svelt, perfect-bodied lass says, in a light, lilting tone of voice,
  "I'LL KILL YOU FOR THIS, YOU BASTARD!!"


And then of course, there's always the amusing example of movement emote triggers where this old lady walks around tapping her cane all the time, except once she was riding, so..

The crooked-backed old lady has arrived from the west, riding a purple elephant, tapping her cane as she hobbles along.

[jhunter]

As I said though...this would be something that can also be toggled off.

[SpyGuy]

Great idea but 2 conditions:

1)  Still be able to do it how we do now.  I wouldnt mind my character always walking with a limp but when I want to enter a tavern I'd like to be able to still s (limping through the northern door).  Right now I only do move emotes when I know someone might be watching but having the option to set a fixed one for my characters style or the situation would be nice.

2) Toggle off, but thats already been said.

[wizturbo]

There are mud clients that you can use to make movement hotkeys that will emote whatever you want.

I use the keypad numbers.

For instance:

Keypad 6 is east, and you could easily change it to east Walking swiftly.

I'd rather immortal's coding time went into something that couldn't be solved on the client end of things.

[Angela Christine]

On the other hand, if you do this using aliases yourself, then you can set 4 similar but slightly different movement emotes, one for each direction.  That gets the message accross while allowing a little variety.  

AC

[wizturbo]

On the other hand, if you do this using aliases yourself, then you can set 4 similar but slightly different movement emotes, one for each direction.  That gets the message accross while allowing a little variety.  

AC

Oh ya, alias works well too.

[jmordetsky]

On the other hand, if you do this using aliases yourself, then you can set 4 similar but slightly different movement emotes, one for each direction.  That gets the message accross while allowing a little variety.  

AC

Oh ya, alias works well too.

Hmmm valid.

[Delirium]

As I said though...this would be something that can also be toggled off.

Oh don't get me wrong, in the examples I quoted above, you COULD toggle the voice strings off.. but people would totally forget and just leave them there.

That's why I think it's simply better to manually emote how you are speaking, acting, or how the dying rays of the setting sun are glimmering off your bronzed tresses as you dramatically place a wrist to your forehead and swoon.

Because toggleable or no, people WILL forget when they have a voice or movement string set. Trust me on this one. <g>

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

It is a good idea.

[Nadav]

On the other hand, if you do this using aliases yourself, then you can set 4 similar but slightly different movement emotes, one for each direction.  That gets the message accross while allowing a little variety.  

AC

In fact.. you can even have it randomly select from a list of predefined movement emotes if you'd like. I don't do this, but it could be coded fairly easily on the client's side.