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

[Dana V. Baldwin]

Michael Hartman wrote:
> John Buehler wrote:
>   
>> [snip] They're used to the effortlessness of voice, and aren't all that
>> given to working hard at it in a game.  This is partly reflected in
>> constructs such as "r u going?"
>>     
> I think you grossly underestimate the percentage of players who eschew
> painful looking shortcuts like "r u going." I am pretty much a power
> gamer when I play graphical MMOs, and I still couldn't bring myself to
> type in such idiot-speak.
>

Barrens Chat for 5 minutes on a WoW RP server should convince you that
we are both solidly in the minority when it comes to bothering to spell
out words. But I don't think it is necessarily a question of being one
of "those people". Take text messaging in general in modern
communication. People who grew up with typing to other people tend to
spell words out while "young" people often seem to miss that using "l8r"
looks stupid to others because they have been conditioned that it is the
norm.

Then again, perfectly intelligent people will text a message "2 u" for
10 cents when they could have called for free. Conditioning?