[MUD-Dev2] Importance of emoting (Was: ArantagainstVanguardreviews and rants)

[Raph Koster]

John Buehler wrote:
>
> Raph Koster writes:
>
> > John Buehler wrote:
> > > Typed speech is a crutch
> > > until we can get voice working properly

> > Typed speech is not a crutch; it's an alternate mode of expression.

> Typed speech is, indeed, a crutch.  I know that because I cannot talk to
> people when I want to talk to them.  I use text in those situations.  The
> fact that text is a crutch for voice is not saying that text has no value
> at any time.  The very fact that we invented text as a medium after we
> had voice suggests that voice is no panacea.

Come on now, you're splitting hairs. The phrasing of your original
commentwas that we use typed speech as a crutch because we cannot get
voice workingproperly yet. And I am stating that there are things that
voice will *never*"do properly" -- namely, those things at which text is
better.

I think the whole debate would be better off reframe in terms of "what
arethe strengths of text chat, voice chat, visual icons, auditory cues,
andother interfaces."

For example, in terms of this emotes discussion, a huge benefit of voice
isthat you do not need to create emotional puppeteering systems because
voiceconveys emotion very well. A huge weakness of it is that
emotionalpuppeteering with voice is also  difficult skill that actors
train in foryears.

When we debate whether emotes make sense or not in a
game-drivenenvironment, we're actually talking matter of degree, and we
shouldn'tforget that voice tone alone conveys more nuance than the
entire emotesystem in a typical game.

-Raph