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Anderr
TriadCity Character
(ooc)
Then test it.

And I know the Emote doesn't interact with game mechanics - it's strictly a player to player tool for communicating unique events. No biggie - as I said, I think people will generally use the built-in commands. People will understand that they can't use emotes to interact with the game world - and as such they will probably use them sparingly. And if you're concerned about newbies misunderstanding, then make emotes identifiable (asterisk, different colours, etc.) and add a line in the newbie introduction.

If you really want player actions to be fully interactive with the game world and limit players to the ones coded in (such as smile, bow, etc.), then I suggest you remove the adjectives from the end of all of the command descriptions. It's currently impossible to giggle without giggling nervously, impossible to tremble without being excited, impossible to stare without intending rudeness, to bow without being polite, etc. etc. etc. If these commands are supposed to be general and all encompassing, then we need a LOT more of them and we need them a lot more general. In order to avoid having to code every single non-combat action possible, then you might want to implement a custom emote for special occasions. If you're concerned about newbies, make it recognizable. If you're concerned about it replacing the standard commands, then remove some of the more unusal adjectives from the actions so that we can use them without being awkward half the time, and make there be a sort of limited use on emote: maybe once per RL minute or something. Then people will still use the "smile" command on Evie, and the Bow command on NorthWesterners, etc. and get a reaction. But even if the emote command has potential for abuse, what are we gonna do without it? code in every emotion and action? Every time I get in an in-game conversation that lasts a significant while, i end up trying three or four emotes that don't exist yet and so I just sit there. A custom emote is an important roleplaying aid, and I really think it deserves at least a trial run - no-one will hold you to it if it's removed for good reason.
Rithor
TriadCity Character
1) Newbie misunderstanding - I honestly don't think this will be a problem, as long as the emotes have some sort of identifier. There are much harder things for them to understand, that is certain.

2) Yeah, I'm not positive I do understand fully what you mean. I mean, we'll still use the normal commands, it's just for those "extra" ones. I guess maybe we don't realize how much the game world depends on events generated by player commands?
Anderr
TriadCity Character
(ooc)I recently was told that this post was unclear, so I'll restate the idea that might be garbled:

How about allowing an emote (probably recognizable) and putting a limit on its use: like, once per minute in RL. This way, people will almost always use the "game interactive" emotions instead of their own. That could avoid both of the pitfalls you mentioned. Thoughts?
Krail
TriadCity Character
A solution for this might be to use a special color for emotes, and make sure newbies get information about it. That way no one would ever hesitate whether it's an emote or a real command.
Anderr
TriadCity Character
Yeah, I agree.

(and you tooootally stole my idea, compradre - except that i don't think you did on purpose, so that's actually pretty cool.)

; )
Altec
TriadCity Character
(ooc) Okay, I'm wandering into this conversation late, but the custom emoting is basically intended to player-to-player dealing, right? Then why not have the custom emotes go to the "say" channel? Prepackaged emotes go to the Game window, custom ones don't. If they're mainly being used to properly express what a character's doing in a conversation, it could easily be tied into the conversation.
Anderr
TriadCity Character
That would probably work pretty well - I don't think it would feel as "realistic" as if they appeared in the game window, but it beats just using the "say" command and bracketing with asterisks.
 
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