Breaking into the rp in progress if you don't know the players can be difficult. What you did is exactly how I handle it: emote to indicate that I am rping and give them a chance to respond or not. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't for various reasons including missing the emote with all the chats flying around.
Another tactic is to use the setting to your advantage and as a way to break the ice directly. Say if you're in the market, ask if they've seen a particular trader and such. It makes it more direct and gives them the chance to invite you in. So what you did I think is a good way of going about it overall, but there are some more direct ways. I met a fun rper in WoW who came up to me in Stormwind asking if I had seen her rat familiar who had wandered off. I liked that because it left me to option to just say 'no' if I wasn't in the mood or busy, or to dive in with questions about the rat if I was.
Basically, the best bet is to give them a way to indicate a way to beg off.
As to whispering, hrm, not sure. I'm still struggling with the chat functions as they're a bit different from what I'm used to.
Hope that helps.
Another tactic is to use the setting to your advantage and as a way to break the ice directly. Say if you're in the market, ask if they've seen a particular trader and such. It makes it more direct and gives them the chance to invite you in. So what you did I think is a good way of going about it overall, but there are some more direct ways. I met a fun rper in WoW who came up to me in Stormwind asking if I had seen her rat familiar who had wandered off. I liked that because it left me to option to just say 'no' if I wasn't in the mood or busy, or to dive in with questions about the rat if I was.
Basically, the best bet is to give them a way to indicate a way to beg off.
As to whispering, hrm, not sure. I'm still struggling with the chat functions as they're a bit different from what I'm used to.
Hope that helps.
