The still-existing lack of /emote: concerned?

[Satisiun]

I did a quick search of the Lounge posts, and beyond one mention of it in the NDA thread, it seems this hasn't gotten much talk. Surprising considering this is the de facto primary RP community for the game so far.

 

Still, if this topic has already gotten its own thread, or has become a main topic in another thread, by all means lock, load, and blast this out of one of the canons flanking Limsa Lominsa's towers.

 

We're going to be exactly a month out from Collector's Edition release as of tomorrow, and I've not really seen anything anywhere, much less the beta test site, about Square-Enix giving thought to implementing the ability to emote outside of having to file through the emote menu.

 

One of the biggest things that a roleplayer needs, especially when they are trying to actually express themselves with a tangible character, is emotes. You know that. I know that. Your Moogle knows that. I bet that Goobbue you're hiding underneath the table knows that, too. While writing our actions and thoughts by just slapping on some asterisks or brackets or what not is very important and usually the primary method to expressing one's self, they still don't replace the actual, physical, visual expression a character makes with emotes.

 

But here is the rub with the current setup: there is no way to type your emote out. The ability to type in an emote is, in my opinion, of the utmost level of importance. You can't be stuck having to diddle around in the emote menu, scrolling madly to find what you need. As it stands, the menu is too long for you to just scan the list without having to scroll. Additionally, the menu is not in alphabetical order, either (it is to a degree, but weirdly not at the same time, depending where you scroll in the list).

 

Also consider that as of this moment, the emote menu closes automatically once you have chosen an emote from the list. So at the moment, it is something you keep needing to open, then open again, if you are in a situation where your roleplay might ask for more emotes coupled with your written actions.

 

Now, I'm not exactly expecting a return to FFXI in regards to the freedom we had. When you think about it, despite FFXI having perhaps one of the weakest RP communities compared to other MMOs out there (I am so not trying to offend anyone who did RP there, however it was quite a small group compared to others), we had things such as the ability to write custom emotes by just typing "/em" followed by what we wanted to do. Or how we could make it so our pre-existing emotes in the game could be turned in to just the action, sans text notice, by adding "motion" after writing something (i.e. "/laugh motion", "/cheer motion", etc.).

 

Would those coming back be awesome? You bet your keester they would. But at this point, I just want some sort of confirmation that we will not be forced to browse through a cumbersome and not efficiently laid out emote list for what we want to do, and actually be able to write out those actions.

 

So I ask you. Do you think this is an important issue? Yes? No? If so, how would you handle having to fumble through an emote list with the way the UI is currently clunking about? If not, is there any particular reason? Just not too big on in-game emotes, or are you fine scrolling through a menu to find what you want to do?

 

As for me, I got some dairy creamer to go out and buy for my tea. I'm going crazy without my English Breakfast, so maybe I'll have some responses when I return.

[Vareal]

I always thought that in MMORPG 101, the second rule was "...emotes that are easily accessible to the player via chat window commands."

 

They better incorporate text commands for emotes ;0

 

but if they don't, oh well.

[Asyria]

There's no emotes in Neverwinter Nights and yet the RP in some NWN persistent world is often better than anything I've seen in any mmo, except in the rarest and most precious cases.

 

In NWN some people choose to simply type out emote and use quotes for speech. Others used asterisks to define emotes and simply typed out speech. I feel this 2nd option is best for mmo's.

 

So..

 

Emotes 101: As simple chat is defined as "talk", simply uses asterisks to define emote.

 

Mike Haracter: *The blue haired Miqo'te sharpens her spear, unaware of the presence behind her.*

Someone Else: *Stealthily approaches and tickles Mike from behind!* O hai!

 

See? No need for /emotes.

It's very convenient, yes, but unnecessary.

 

What IS necessary however, is giving us more friggin space to type! Can barely fill a single sentence in there! >.<

 

 

P.S. There really is a Mike Haracter on Jecht. He's a big Roegadyn too, so he stands out. I lol'ed.

[Satisiun]

There's no emotes in Neverwinter Nights and yet the RP in some NWN persistent world is often better than anything I've seen in any mmo, except in the rarest and most precious cases.

 

In NWN some people choose to simply type out emote and use quotes for speech. Others used asterisks to define emotes and simply typed out speech. I feel this 2nd option is best for mmo's.

 

So..

 

Emotes 101: As simple chat is defined as "talk", simply uses asterisks to define emote.

 

Mike Haracter: *The blue haired Miqo'te sharpens her spear, unaware of the presence behind her.*

Someone Else: *Stealthily approaches and tickles Mike from behind!* O hai!

 

See? No need for /emotes.

It's very convenient, yes, but unnecessary.

 

What IS necessary however, is giving us more friggin space to type! Can barely fill a single sentence in there! >.<

 

 

P.S. There really is a Mike Haracter on Jecht. He's a big Roegadyn too, so he stands out. I lol'ed.

 

Ah, thank you for reminding me, actually. The issue of chat space is a real killer. Also consider that the character limit does not give you any leeway or additional characters if you are typing in a /tell message.

 

Of course what I am about to use as an example is probably going to be a very rare occurrence, but what if someone you are sending a /tell message to exhausts the full, 30-characters you are allowed for a character name (15 first, 15 last)?

 

Yeah. That isn't going to be a fun /tell conversation, is it?

 

In any event, back on what you touched on concerning emotes being nice, but not necessary. I respect your view, yes. And definitely, there are people out there who weave words so well, they don't even need emotes, and they exist in many games. Including NWN, which you used as an example because it lacks emotes.

 

But having said that, emotes do exist in FFXIV, and as such, you would hope they make them more streamlined, and more easily used. What use is something that is more of a hindrance than a benefit, you know? Mr. Haracter (it is an awesome name ... :lol: ) would benefit from using "/surprised" to augment his reaction to being tickled, instead of just turning his stern-looking character around and responding with just written actions.

 

We have characters that are so graphically appealing and well-represented, it seems a real waste to just have them stand there (... I miss you, "/sit" ... :cry: ), not emoting at all if they can. Again, the visual aethstetic adds a lot. If you are not mixing visual with word in an MMO when you have that option available to you, you're basically IMRPing, except you're using character models instead of swapping pictures of stock model photos or fantasy characters.

[Aveline]

I don't think we have much to worry about. Before beta there weren't any text commands at all. If there aren't any at open beta, I would start getting a little concerned, but right now there are still many commands missing that we know they are going to implement (like friends list, and being able to give people "nicknames" so you don't have to type out their whole name, etc.)

[Trizzip]

Yar, I have faith that by the time the game releases, there will be a reasonable way to utilize emotes via text commands. Doesn't really seem like it would be difficult to do, so an absence of it 'would' be a bit disheartning. I still have high hopes though.

[Satisiun]

I don't think we have much to worry about. Before beta there weren't any text commands at all. If there aren't any at open beta' date=' I would start getting a little concerned, but right now there are still many commands missing that we know they are going to implement (like friends list, and being able to give people "nicknames" so you don't have to type out their whole name, etc.)[/quote']

 

Mhm. That is one way to look at it. Basically you're either in two trains of camp when it comes to whether they will or won't, it seems:

 

1) "Oh, pshaw! It's such a little thing! I'm sure they'll toss it in before release since it seems easy enough. They only just added other commands in recently, after all. How hard can it be?"

 

Or!

 

2) "But why isn't it in yet? It's so easy! It shouldn't take them this long to implement such a simple thing! Especially when they could have done it when they added all those text commands in Beta 3!"

 

I'm being hyperbolic/exaggerating for both sides, though. Just for fun's sake. :lol:

[Kashemia]

I know a lot of roleplayers think that the lack of an implemented custom emote system are a big deal, but I never really understood it. It usually works almost as good to just type *does xx*, or as Asyria descriped, write the emote in general and then add the speach in "". Sure, it's easier to see if the emotes are a different color, but that's about it, it's not a bigger deal than that. It's not like it's impossible to rp without the custom emotes

 

WAR was horrible for roleplay (you couldn't even sit or walk), and I still had some of the most fun in rp there.

 

So I'm sure creative people like roleplayers can find away around it

[Len]

Where there is a will there is a way ...

1. develop really fast click search skills to compensate

2. prayer , it always helps

3. if you me it not a big deal since my character does not show much emotion

 

Anyways I would have to agree emote in the chat system as a command is way better

[Satisiun]

I know a lot of roleplayers think that the lack of an implemented custom emote system are a big deal, but I never really understood it. It usually works almost as good to just type *does xx*, or as Asyria descriped, write the emote in general and then add the speach in "". Sure, it's easier to see if the emotes are a different color, but that's about it, it's not a bigger deal than that. It's not like it's impossible to rp without the custom emotes

 

WAR was horrible for roleplay (you couldn't even sit or walk), and I still had some of the most fun in rp there.

 

So I'm sure creative people like roleplayers can find away around it

 

^^; In fairness, ah ... my focus was less on the custom emotes, and more on whether or not already pre-existing emotes with accompanying, visual actions by the characters are going to get the proper command strings they have gotten in XI, as well as other MMOs, since they currently lack them a month before release.

 

I was just mentioning how they were pretty spiffy when I threw them out there in my post, and how it basically showed a lot more friendliness to people who wished to roleplay than other MMORPGs nowadays. Only game I even remember allowing for "/em" was EverQuest, and that was quite a while ago (I'm sure I'm totally forgetting ones made after EQ, or perhaps even before, but I don't exactly claim to be a walking MMO thesaurus ... heh).

 

Honestly, looking back on that passing mention of mine about "/em", if I wished for anything to come back from XI, I'd be much more interested in "motion", so that visual expressions by characters could be done sans the automatic description when one does a "/laugh" or a "/wave" as well, ensuring no repeating what one has already written (or will be writing if the expression is done before the writing) in their action.

[Kashemia]

Ah, sorry, I think I misunderstood a bit then But my post wasn't really targeted at you, just the concern of emotes in general. I sadly can't comment much on the emote system in FFXI, as I didn't really play it much.

 

But yeah, I can see what you mean.

[Zyanya]

I would personally be more concerned about the inability to type in a custom emote than be unable to do a slash command for standard emotes. While a lot of them look really fab (albeit a few are over the top!), sometimes only a custom emote will do.

 

Hopefully they will have things sorted by release and if not, well there's always the beloved asterisk. :approve:

[Sylian]

I'm not too worried about it, personally. A /e command would be great, and I do hope they'll add it in, but if not, no biggie Aion didn't have it either, and its just a matter of getting used to.

 

As for shortcuts to standard emotes, I reckon they'll add that sooner or later. If not at launch, then after. ^^

[UnbeknownstGhost]

Hopefully they will have things sorted by release and if not, well there's always the beloved asterisk. :approve:

 

 

And hyphen, the asterisk is not alone in this world.

[Asyria]

I thought you meant about custom emotes, too. ^^;

 

But really the emote menu doesn't take much longer to use and it lets you see all that's available.

[Aveline]

It takes way longer to use that emote window than it would for me to type out an emote on the fly, and even longer than it would for me to use pre-made emote macros...

 

Since it doesn't make any sense for them to take away typed emotes, I am still going with "it will almost definitely be in the game." If not, just one more failure on S-E's part in this whole mess, I suppose.

[Averis]

Yeah, I'm with Aveline. It was in XI (commands) so I have hope they'll add it. It's fine if you like the menu system and all, but they had commands in XI (and about every other MMO), so I'm hoping we'll see it here too.

 

XI also had great things like and which you could use in a macro or as a quick way to type someone's name (if you had them targeted). Add in the /em and you had a lot of nice emote / RP options.

 

Is it necessary? Of course not, but it's nice to have and I hope we get it. It would be pretty darn silly for XIV to actually be less of a game control wise than XI, I think.

[Asyria]

If it was in XI and liked, chances are it will be in XIV as well, since SE said that while they were looking at other mmo's, their main source of what-to-do's and what-not-to-do's was XI.

[Keir]

I really wouldn't be worried. There's still no /? either, and it's in the manual. I'm confident there will be text commands come game launch, if not before.

[Tadir]

Let's not be to quick to assume they won't be in the final release. Remember, right now we don't even have /reply working. Limited slash commands were just added for this phase. I expect them to be much more robust in open beta, and even more filled out in "Final Release!"

[Satisiun]

Just to sort of backpedal a little on my original post (I was meaning to respond to a couple responses yesterday, but suffice it to say, Autumn cleaning of the home took precedence), I'm not particularly worried or relaxed one way or the other on whether SE will or will not get around to flipping the proverbial switch and turning on typing in emotes in the chat window with commands. I just figured with the public release of the game a month away, it was definitely a topic worth throwing out there, just to see how people would take to having to resort to using the current UI to sort of clunk through the menu and pick the emote you want to use.

 

Additionally, apologies for not being a bit more clear on the focus of the topic. Or the primary focus, at least, since some people understandably thought I was more zoned in on custom emotes, or that it was just as much something I was harping about. I sometimes forget that not everyone coming to FFXIV is also coming from FFXI, and so some terms and lingo might be different depending on origins. ^^;

[Asyria]

*nodnods*

I was scared of the grinding and the being-completely-unable -to-solo aspects of FF XI, so while I was tempted, I never tried it.

I'm not a soloer, but I'm one to only group with random strangers if absolutely necessary.

So yeah I'm a stranger to FF XI terminology and stuff. ^^

[Satisiun]

Well, new information has been released over at the beta forums in preparation for Open Beta. I figure everyone should get a peek at this, because I got to admit, I am pleasantly surprised.

 

So first, the big question: Was text commands for emotes implemended? See for yourself.

 

Now here's the pleasant surprise. Remember the reference to custom emotes? Ones created by yourself by placing "/em" or "/emote" before whatever you want to type? Well ...

 

That's right. They've made a comeback. In other words, if you are so inclined or ambitious enough, you can now hypothetically divide your actions from your speech in character. :cheer:

 

And lastly, since sitting didn't exist in the beta, will it exist in XIV?

 

Why, not only will it exist, it will also allow your character to sit in an actual chair or seat if you are near something defined as being able to be sat in!

 

Good times, good times.

[Kylin]

Whooooooo! /sit ftw!

[Veedo]

One of my favourite things about the emotes in Matrix Online were the sit ones, where you'd actually SIT on an object. Not -look- like you were. You actually DID it.

 

This makes my day.