03-18-2008, 06:46 PM
No, I'm not talking about characters literally reading each others minds. I'm talking about players posting emotes that go into great detail on their character's thought processes.
Let me first start off by saying that this is not an attack on anyone. I'm not intending to insult the RP of others. I do, however, think that it's a topic that should be brought up, because I've been seeing it with increasing regularity over the past few months, and it's something I personally dislike.
I had always been taught that emoting out one's thoughts was poor RP. Even Priests, who have a great deal of mental abilities, cannot read minds, and throwing out such thoughts always provides the temptation of metagaming on the part of the other RPers. On top of this, delving too deeply into one's thought processes in a single emote can lead to a lack of action, which can make it very difficult to formulate a good response. To provide an example to illustrate and show people what I'm talking about (names completely made up on the spot, sorry if they're close to anyone):
"Jordan turns to look over the sea. Of course, he is angry that Lilian had betrayed him so, and he fully intends to get revenge on her. He isn't going to simply attack her though...no, that isn't his style. He instead decides to bide his time, waiting for the appropriate moment when he can truly make her suffer. Oh, how he would enjoy that moment!"
Now, all of this is well and good, but to someone RPing with Jordan, what do we have to work with? His turning to the sea was the only action he performed. As far as we know, he's not displaying his emotions, and we can't read minds, so that is the only thing we have to work on. Compare, instead, to:
"Jordan turns to look over the sea, gaze fixed on the distant horizon. His brow furrows angrily, and his breathing comes out loudly and heavily, the man fuming indignantly. He fails to acknowledge or speak to those around him, instead alternating between clenching and relaxing his fists, muscles tense."
Now this gives us more to work with, even if the emote itself is a little shorter. We can tell Jordan is angry. There is significantly more description here and we can act on it. On top of that, there is no extra information here that we aren't allowed to use, and thus less chance of metagaming ("Oh, this is about Lilian, isn't it?")
I'd like to hear what everyone else thinks.
Edit: edited to fix a typo.
Let me first start off by saying that this is not an attack on anyone. I'm not intending to insult the RP of others. I do, however, think that it's a topic that should be brought up, because I've been seeing it with increasing regularity over the past few months, and it's something I personally dislike.
I had always been taught that emoting out one's thoughts was poor RP. Even Priests, who have a great deal of mental abilities, cannot read minds, and throwing out such thoughts always provides the temptation of metagaming on the part of the other RPers. On top of this, delving too deeply into one's thought processes in a single emote can lead to a lack of action, which can make it very difficult to formulate a good response. To provide an example to illustrate and show people what I'm talking about (names completely made up on the spot, sorry if they're close to anyone):
"Jordan turns to look over the sea. Of course, he is angry that Lilian had betrayed him so, and he fully intends to get revenge on her. He isn't going to simply attack her though...no, that isn't his style. He instead decides to bide his time, waiting for the appropriate moment when he can truly make her suffer. Oh, how he would enjoy that moment!"
Now, all of this is well and good, but to someone RPing with Jordan, what do we have to work with? His turning to the sea was the only action he performed. As far as we know, he's not displaying his emotions, and we can't read minds, so that is the only thing we have to work on. Compare, instead, to:
"Jordan turns to look over the sea, gaze fixed on the distant horizon. His brow furrows angrily, and his breathing comes out loudly and heavily, the man fuming indignantly. He fails to acknowledge or speak to those around him, instead alternating between clenching and relaxing his fists, muscles tense."
Now this gives us more to work with, even if the emote itself is a little shorter. We can tell Jordan is angry. There is significantly more description here and we can act on it. On top of that, there is no extra information here that we aren't allowed to use, and thus less chance of metagaming ("Oh, this is about Lilian, isn't it?")
I'd like to hear what everyone else thinks.
Edit: edited to fix a typo.
Have you hugged an orc today?
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- I am not tech support. Please do not contact me regarding technical issues. -