Acting

You want to do more than just say words, right? It's time to put some action with those words with EMOTE (message). The shortcut for EMOTE is a colon (:). EMOTE waves to Jane and says, "Nice to meet you." :waves to Jane and says, "Nice to meet you." Assuming everyone in the room knows you're Jeff, everyone in the room sees: Jeff waves to Jane and says, "Nice to meet you." Some eavesdroppers might overhear your dialogue. Others may see your actions. Notice how the writing is done in third person. All character writing should be done in third person. That means you write things from the perspective of she, he, they, and so on. Not sure what third person means? Check out HELP ROLEPLAYING for more information. OTHER TYPES OF EMOTE The format of EMOTE can be limiting to writing style, so there are two other flavors to help your storytelling: EMOTES for lines that start with a possessive, and POSE for when you want to write freeform. The shortcut for EMOTES is apostrophe or apostrophe s (' or 's) EMOTES working up a heavy sweat. 's working up a heavy sweat. ' working up a heavy sweat. All of the above produce: Jeff's working up a heavy sweat. The shortcut for POSE is period (.) POSE The smell of fresh sweat fills the room as Jeff works out. .The smell of fresh sweat fills the room as Jeff works out. Both produce: The smell of fresh sweat fills the room as Jeff works out. If you don't include your character's name in a POSE, it'll be added to the end of the line. For example: .The smell of fresh sweat fills the room. This produces: The smell of fresh sweat fills the room. --Jeff Characters who haven't yet been GREETed to your character will see your character's shortdesc instead of your character's name. QUICK EMOTES ("SOCIALS") Roleplaying can seem a bit daunting at first, and quick emotes can help you get the hang of roleplaying. A quick emote is done by typing QE (action). The shortcut for QE is asterisk (*) QE laugh *laugh This produces: Jeff laughs nervously. *laugh AT Jane This produces: Jeff laughs nervously at Jane. But maybe Jeff doesn't laugh nervously? Suppose you want to change the "laugh" quick emote to a loud laugh. You can change this with QE or * by itself. QE * From here, you'll get a menu to view, add, edit, or remove socials. There are a handful of quick emotes to get you started. Type laugh to change the "laugh" quick emote. laugh Now you get to write what *laugh will do: laughs proudly Then, when you type *laugh you'll see: Jeff laughs proudly. If you want to change where the "at Jane" appears, you can use an at-sign (@) to specify where the "to Jane" appears. For example: stares wide-eyed @ and bursts out laughing. Then, when you *laugh at Jane you'll see: Jeff stares wide-eyed at Jane and bursts out laughing. To erase a quick emote, edit it, and leave the entry blank (just press enter with no text). LONG-TERM EMOTES If you're in the process of doing something and you want to make sure everyone who arrives knows what it is, use DOING. The shortcut for DOING is greater-than (>) DOING dancing on stage >dancing on stage Then, when anyone arrives or LOOKs, they'll see: Jeff is dancing on stage. DOING lasts until you move to a new room, or change it, or clear it by typing DOING by itself. SIT, STAND, and any other actions that happen over time replace your current DOING message. Everyone in a room is notified each time you change your DOING message. This is handy to quickly set the scene when someone new arrives in the room you're in. For a longer-lasting DOING message, use ALWAYS. This will replace the standard "is standing here" message with something flavorful to your character. For example: ALWAYS playing it cool. This will change "is standing here" to "is playing it cool." TYPING & READING NOTIFICATIONS To notify everyone that you've read their emotes and you're starting to type your own, you can type TYPING to send a notification. TYPING To notify everyone that you need a moment to read their emotes, or the room description, or item descriptions, you can type READING to send a notification. READING These are both optional. When you're in a time-sensitive situation or when it'll take you a few minutes to read or write, it helps let other players know that you need a moment. During a conflict, if someone notifies you that they're typing, it's common courtesy to let them finish before taking your next action. Category: HELP 4 (Communication) < Previous - Speaking | Next - Etiquette >