The art of emoting.

[Vintervalpen]

Hello, all you roleplaying folks. I am going to write a few paragraphs about the specifics of emoting. Few things make it more intruging to interact with another character than a well-written emote. Some people just have a style of writing with a natural flow that make you marvel at their creativeness. Anyway, before we get to all the juicy stuff, there's points I wanted to bring up first.

 

• Stay true to your character. Sometimes, I get too carried away by the emoting that I start writing lines that just come across as contrived and cumbersome. Every line does not have to be eloquent and lofty. Sometimes, a terse grunt and bitter comment is more effective than a long, furious rant.
• Practice. Practice, practice, and practice. I've mudded for years and always liked settings that had some degree of roleplay enforcement (i.e not having to listen to all the people talking about last week's hockey game). But it wasn't really until I decided that I wanted to personally focus on roleplaying that I became better at it. Log your sessions. Go back after two weeks or a month, and reread it. You'll see one or two (or sometimes several) emotes that would've been just slightly better if you used another word or omitted a specific phrase. Don't give up after your first blunder. Don't give up after your tenth blunder either. Keep at it, and you'll get better.
• Ask people for feedback. This ties in to the last point, but unless you put up your logs and ask for critique, you're not going to improve as much as you have the potential to. Some people don't have their logs posted out of fear that they'll be deemed substandard or not live up to the viewers' expectations, but I'd urge each and every one of you to put yourself out there, and specifically ask for people to comment about your roleplaying.

 

So! When you're writing an emote, there's a few things you'll want to keep in mind. First of all, what emotion are you trying to convey? Is your character angry? Remorseful? Sad? Afraid? Don't hesitate to let your character experience negative emotions as well as positive; it is easier to relate to characters that are capable of fear, disgust, and selfishness in times of hardship, because that is how most of us would react in those situations. Or, in the case of downtrodden characters, find moments where your inner virtues can shine through, when you stand up against oppressors and tyrants, and give them a piece of your mind. You can go back to your scraping and quivering in a few moments, but right now, you are unbreakable.

 

Don't keep one permanent state of mind for all situations: Why not be all bloated, crampy, and grumpy when your long-term partner asks you to visit them for a walk on the beach? You've just provided them with an opportunity to take care of and pamper you. Why not have a bright, cheerful day for your otherwise sullen necromancer? Perhaps your most recent experiments to create a pandemic yielded better results than you expected, and now you feel like humming a happy tune. The key word here is contrast. You want to employ it occasionally, just to show off different sides of your character's personality, but don't start flip-flopping too much. People should get a good idea of your character's personality if they spend time in your company.

 

Be open to change, but don't embrace it without consideration. As people experience new things, as they meet new peoples and cultures, as they age and become wiser, they change. In some cases, old ideals burn less hotly, and family and friends seem ever more important. In other cases, newfound restlessness settles into a person, causing them to want something more, something different. A character can have a midlife crisis and then mellow out again, or they can forswear their old ideals and start championing a new cause. Just do it gradually, over time, so people in your surrounding can see the change taking place step-by-step. If I am gone for a weekend and my character's best friend suddenly had a complete identity makeover, I would just be confused.

 

 

1. Let's get into specifics, starting with the EMOTE syntax. The emote command always puts your end at the start of the line, and shows everyone else the line as you wrote it. Here's some different exempts from some of my logs:

 

Lynette pulls her feet from her stirrups and slides down from her steed, gracefully dismounting it.
You dismount from a white charger.

 

Lynette turns her head, greeting the giant with a nod and a smile. 'Greetings, sir Jarius.'

 

Lynette sits up straight, kneeling, legs folded beneath herself. She leans forward, out a short bit over the pool, looking down at her own blurred reflection.

 

Lynette nods slowly, her expression thoughtful. 'I should visit it someday. Sometime.' A short pause. 'Maybe.'

 

 

The emote system can be used to emphasize or just draw attention to your character interacting with the environment (sitting down, sheathing a weapon, dismounting, etcetera). There's no need to do this every time you use one of those commands, but it can be a nice touch, something that sets the mood of your character. If you want to use someone's name in speech, you have to use the EMOTE command, as both PMOTE and SMOTE turns the name into 'you' for the other person if they are present in the room. This does not mean that you can not target them at all, as shown with the second example; by referring to them by their traits (the female ogre, the blue-eyed drow warrior, etcetera), they will know you were nodding, or smiling, or cursing just them. Finally, emotes are used to just describe the actions of your character. Not every message has to convey actual emotions -- you do not have to smile sadly, or frolic merrily, or grin amusedly, sometimes you just lean yourself against a tree and that is it.

 

 

2. Next up is PMOTE, a command designed for emotes targetted at a person. It works exactly as an emote, but if you include a person's name in the line, their message will display 'you' instead of the name.

 

Lynette gives a light shake of her head, her attention shifting back to Naruthiron. 'Aye. And some in too little hurry. I have grown to admire the human race's... alacrity, for lack of a better word.'

 

Lynette takes a few moments to consider Aikkao's question. Then, she shakes her head slowly. 'I am honestly not entirely certain.'

 

Lynette wrinkles her nose, staring straightly at Desral. 'Are you... you are not joking with me, are you, trying to spook me? There are no invisible men around here, I assure you.'

 

With both pmote and smotes, you can also use possessive form for your target. 'Lynette nods, pointing over towards Bob's sword.' would show up as your sword for Bob, and not you's sword. When you interact with people, never force their opinion with your actions. Pmoting 'Lynette charms Jane with a sweet smile, winning the woman over with her alluring graces.' would be considered poor form, as Jane might not very well be charmed. Instead, try something like, 'Lynette aims her most charming smile at Jane; it is a sweet, almost innocent smile, forming easily on her lips. It seems this is not the first time she has attempted to sway someone in this manner.'

 

 

3. Last but not least, SMOTE is the boss of all emotes. You use it by writing out an entire line, including your name somewhere in it. Other characters' names will not be displayed for that particular character's message, instead replaced with you.

 

A young woman appears at the doorway to the room, looking over at Aikkao with a cheerful smile. 'Ah. Hello, sir. I am Lynette.'

 

'Siren.' Lynette tests the word, letting it roll off her tongue in a slow, almost sultry manner. Oh, how very pleased she seems to be. 'Ah. I like that.'

 

A very mischievous grin emerges upon Lynette's lips. 'A coin with only one side would be a terribly sad thing to see.'

 

Lynette's gaze meets Desral's own, holding it for a brief moment. Did her eyelashes just flutter lightly?

 

A quiet sigh rises from Lynette's throat, wheezing slowly past her lips.

 

So. Smote allows you to start a line with speech, and then continue with the emote line itself. It also allows you to use your name's possessive form at the beginning of the line, for example: 'Lynette's fingers curl tightly around the hilt of her mace, knuckles whitening, her expression dark and broodening.' A tip when using emotes is to think a bit outside the box. If you want something to be subtle or inconspicious, phrase it as a question. 'Was that a hint of doubt in her eyes?', or 'Her voice did not seem entirely earnest. Did she really mean that?'. Another tip is to occasionally inject a quick action into your speech: 'Hello.' A moment of hesitation. 'Who are you?', or "I don't know..." A quick shrug. "...what do you think?'.

 

 

That's it for now! Happy emoting, and feel free to add your own tips and suggestions to the thread!

[Mmm Coffee]

Why aren't you the Herald IMM already? 

[Aulian]

Maybe he is?

[f0xx]

It's a she. And this essay wasn't really needed or as good as the one we already have

[Aulian]

It's a she. And this essay wasn't really needed or as good as the one we already have

 

I think if you put your mind to it you'll be able to be more negative f0xx.

[f0xx]

Not negative. Just realist

Her first essay was great though.

[Crypticant]

Brilliant. Much needed. Well done.

[Aulian]

.... When did Crypt rear his ugly head?