Asyria Wrote:There's no emotes in Neverwinter Nights and yet the RP in some NWN persistent world is often better than anything I've seen in any mmo, except in the rarest and most precious cases.
In NWN some people choose to simply type out emote and use quotes for speech. Others used asterisks to define emotes and simply typed out speech. I feel this 2nd option is best for mmo's.
So..
Emotes 101: As simple chat is defined as "talk", simply uses asterisks to define emote.
Mike Haracter: *The blue haired Miqo'te sharpens her spear, unaware of the presence behind her.*
Someone Else: *Stealthily approaches and tickles Mike from behind!* O hai!
See? No need for /emotes.
It's very convenient, yes, but unnecessary.
What IS necessary however, is giving us more friggin space to type! Can barely fill a single sentence in there! >.<
P.S. There really is a Mike Haracter on Jecht. He's a big Roegadyn too, so he stands out. I lol'ed.
Ah, thank you for reminding me, actually. The issue of chat space is a real killer. Also consider that the character limit does not give you any leeway or additional characters if you are typing in a /tell message.
Of course what I am about to use as an example is probably going to be a very rare occurrence, but what if someone you are sending a /tell message to exhausts the full, 30-characters you are allowed for a character name (15 first, 15 last)?
Yeah. That isn't going to be a fun /tell conversation, is it? :/
In any event, back on what you touched on concerning emotes being nice, but not necessary. I respect your view, yes. And definitely, there are people out there who weave words so well, they don't even need emotes, and they exist in many games. Including NWN, which you used as an example because it lacks emotes.
But having said that, emotes do exist in FFXIV, and as such, you would hope they make them more streamlined, and more easily used. What use is something that is more of a hindrance than a benefit, you know? Mr. Haracter (it is an awesome name ... ) would benefit from using "/surprised" to augment his reaction to being tickled, instead of just turning his stern-looking character around and responding with just written actions.
We have characters that are so graphically appealing and well-represented, it seems a real waste to just have them stand there (... I miss you, "/sit" ... ), not emoting at all if they can. Again, the visual aethstetic adds a lot. If you are not mixing visual with word in an MMO when you have that option available to you, you're basically IMRPing, except you're using character models instead of swapping pictures of stock model photos or fantasy characters.
A friend to the end to depend on you can.
I walk through the sea, swim through the sands.
To the edges of the earth, to your rescue when you hurt,
Only thing I learnt is I'm not Superman.
~Giant Panda - Strings
I walk through the sea, swim through the sands.
To the edges of the earth, to your rescue when you hurt,
Only thing I learnt is I'm not Superman.
~Giant Panda - Strings