OOC emotes

[Fuzziebunny]

I don't think anyone is being bitter here. The point was to draw attention to it. I honestly believe some people do it innocently others do not. Is it really not ok to bring these sort of issue to the forums?

[Lotus]

Cause I was that asshole before.

And someday, you'll grow out of it.

My advice to the players is to refrain from any kind of emote or dialogue that would break immersion. Those ((Jokes!)) are never as clever or as funny as you think they are.

We are a community, there will be fights, and bickering, and lolbro arguments.

It's pretty much the same individuals over and over having these issues. The general community is very respectful and accommodating of each other.

[Laurk]

In the handful of times ive shot off an emote mentioning that I couldn't read minds, I suppose ive never seen it as being part of any problem as it has always put a stop to thought emoting. Its just been my experiance that when I send someone a tell saying: "Could you please refrain from emoting your thoughts, its OOC info I don't want my PC to have." I have often gotten back less than polite replies as its on a private channel and seems more personal. I had one person flip out at me for trying to tell him how to RrrrPppeee. Ive never seen the problem progress like that when emoting the request as the offender probably percieves that im not the only one thinking it and therefore doesn't take it as a personal attack. Psychology I guess. In any case, its just been my experiance over the years.

Much like if everyone's speaking in OOC about OOC things, I might fire off a ((Could we please get back IC?)). Is that also a part of the problem as im speaking OOC? I guess in a very round-about way. However motive is important? And somtimes its easier, more effective & more peaceful to broadcast something to a group than try to send tells to everyone; even if you are committing the original sin yourself.

Perhaps Ill rephraze it to *Nothing about her outward apperance lends you to believe that she is able to read your thoughts. Its unclear that they are making an impact.*

[Lotus]

*Nothing about her outward apperance lends you to believe that she is able to read your thoughts. Its unclear that they are making an impact.*

Well, now you're just godmodding my character's reactions. Fighting fire with fire is not an effective method in this case. Just be the change you want to see.

[sonuvalich]

We are a community, there will be fights, and bickering, and lolbro arguments.

You owe me $1 for using my word.

[Jai_V]

If I ever write out my character's thoughts as an emote, it is for the express purpose of giving the player insight to my character. Personally, I love it when I get a peek directly inside of another character's mind. Empathizing with another character's thoughts and feelings is the height of immersion for me.

As for the modern/pop culture references, I'm probably one of the most guilty of this. It's been a hallmark of every table I've sat at since I was 12 years old, with at least two dozen different players in my area (and another dozen brought to us by the wonders of Skype). I could blame the fact that I actually played White Wolf games before D&D, but why bother?

I insist that if I do something in game that bothers someone else, please PM me and tell me. I don't want to ruin anyone's experience, and getting caught up in the moment has the possibility to do that, from time to time.

[Phantom Lamb]

Recognize that stealthed players want to participate in the RP, too. Thought bubbles can do that for them. In the end, you're trying to tell a story. There is always room for descriptors in story. Think of it like reading a first person book.

And besides, is it REALLY such a big deal that it deserves a snarky emote to squash it? What harm is there?

[Doubtful]

*gives a withering passive aggressive response*

[Valhalla]

There's no harm, except for it seems like a lot of folks consider it an immersion thing. Honestly thoughtmoting wouldn't grate on me nearly as much as it does except for a few of the servers I played on really frowned on it, so it's always been a negative association for me.

That it is to say, I know some folks put thoughtmoting up there with constant OOC remarks on the list of things that break their immersion and aggravate them. For me personally it's just a minor 'eh' thing, not enough to send a tell to somebody about.

[Laurk]

Well for me the problem is, I view playing NWN as reading a good mystery. Part of the fun is using RP to flesh out other PCs and learn what makes the tick. I don't want to be given the answer, and I also don't want info my PC wouldn't know as I might accidently meta-game it later when I forget what "Abby" knows vs. what "I" know.

I know lots of people play the game for various reasons, but for me personally, I hate getting OOC info because I "only" want to know what "Abby" knows unless its info for fun that is completely irrelivant to my PC, or too old to be relivant, ever. I get lots of people who PM me their characters true motivations and goals, esspecially villians, and I always replay with "Too much info! I don't want to know!" Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn't.

[Jai_V]

Just a small point aside, regarding ooc knowledge: I've found the best way to avoid metagaming is to keep notes.

Most of the time, that handy journal provided in game is full of things; some of which I keep readily available and others that I scribe from the in-game journal to a text file I keep on my desk-top.

[Doubtful]

Whoops, I forgot about the largest part of my post.

OOC emotes: immersion breaking, normally unfunny and irrelevant. Apart from important things ooc stuff really shouldn't be bouncing around in public. It certainly shouldn't be used to insult other people.

IC thought emotes: I can go either way on these, I prefer not to see large amounts of unknowable inner dialogue being emoted but likewise I've seen it done brilliantly. If done it should be an extension of tangible emotes.

IC tangible emotes: As we all know a huge part of our interaction with others is based on non verbal cues, here in Italy the locals are pretty famous for using expressive body language for pretty much anything (largely focused on swearing). The intonation we use can also express a heck of a lot! Ideally most emotes should be expressing interpretable things that other characters can see or hear.

Of course their will always be grey areas or exceptions and we must remember that we have players from all over the globe with varying levels of English language ability. Giving others the benefit of the doubt when emoting ic information is always the best thing to do, lead by example not via pa messages and as Lotus rightly says; be the change you want to see.

[cmosier]

It's an immersion thing. When I was a kid (before some of you were born) my DM called it "Table Talk." ((Off Topic: My favorite quote from one of my young players as he looked at my Al-Qadim Boxed Set: "D&D used to come in boxes?"))

His thought process was that he spent a lot of time and effort making a story and he wanted to tell it. So as we (the other players) took up the mantle of DM, we picked up on this.

I can tell you now, as a GM for pen and paper... cell phones are evil evil devices. I would suggest putting breaking immersion through OOC thought-motes in the same category as a cell phone ringing in a theater.

[Phantom Lamb]

I'm not sure if we're talking about the same thing then. I definitely don't classify IC thought emotes in the same boat as anything OOC.

[Laurk]

Maybe the best thing to do is just consider anything people post outloud in the form of "thoughts" is things my PC figures out with sense motive and consider it IC.

I figure if you're posting your inner thoughts outloud in an emote, you must be one of those expressive people who wear their hearts on their sleeves.