[MUD-Dev] More Prevalent and Effective Emotes

[Paul Schwanz]

In the midst of a bunch of other stuff that I snipped, John Buehler
wrote:

> While on the way to the bakery (walking), the character steps over
> mud puddles, runs from cover to cover during rainstorms, waves to
> characters that it knows well and hasn't seen in a while, steps
> aside for ladies, etc.

Along this line of thinking, but for different reasons, I've often
thought it would be a good idea to help players manage emotes more
conveniently.  While I would certainly want to leave in the ability
to choose a particular emote at a particular time so that there is a
fine amount of control, I think it would be great if characters
could be set up to auto-emote to some degree.  For instance, I'd
like the ability to select different "moods" for my character and
see its animations change slightly in response.  If I decide my
character is "sad," maybe I walk a bit differently.  Maybe I only
nod at friends instead of the usual wave.  It would be even better
if I could select from a number of typical emotes to define my own
moods.  Do I stride down the middle of streets oblivious to rain
when I'm feeling "confident?"  When I'm feeling "uneasy," does the
default animation for when I am standing still now change so that I
glance frequently over my shoulder?  (Does this then change gameplay
so that I am more likely to see someone sneaking up behind me?)

Also, how difficult would it be to set up emotes so that they key
off of particular words and phrases?  So, I may be able to set my
character up to bow whenever I /say It is a pleasure to meet you.

I think there is a lot of room for improvement in how games
currently handle emotes; methods for making them more effective and
more readily used.  I also think there is an added benefit in seeing
a character emote in various ways without constant player
instruction to do so, because I believe this can serve as a subtle
reminder to engage in role-play.  There's just something kind of
cool about the character reminding the player to role-play. ;)

--Phinehas

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