[MUD-Dev2] Importance of emoting (Was: A rant against Vanguard reviews and rants)

[Dana V. Baldwin]

Jeffrey Kesselman wrote:
> On 4/3/07, Dana V. Baldwin <dbaldwin at playnet.com> wrote:
>> While I can't think of a good strategic use of an emote, having a "need
>> ammo" emote that has an animation,
>
> Whya  chat animation?
>
> A chat animation requires that you
>
> (a) be looking at the player and
> (b) recognize the emote.
>
> Seems to me, for purely strategic purposes, a chat line and sound are
> utilitariain but an animated emote is not,. Actually what you'd like
> instead is a little pop up box that says "Tacticsdewd needs ammo!"  or
> something similar.

The visual animation only exists as in this case there is a set of NATO
hand signals that correspond to specific actions and thus it's immersive
to our particular player. I would agree that animation is not always a
requirement of having an emote though I do think in a graphical
situation replacing or augmenting the chat line with a visual and audio
component is a good idea where it can be afforded. I'm also a fan of the
chat bubble as a way to get us focused on the game world and less
focused on the chat bar but it doesn't always work well. For example in
a tactical game having little floaty bubbles over everyones head can not
only break the immersion but can also get you shot.