ROLE-PLAY CLASS
by Catspaws
Sunday September 17
Every two weeks we gather in Chez Diesel on Mars for classes that, hopefully, help us add to our Fed experience. This week, we continued our series on characterization by discussing The Power of the Emote.
Last time we discussed developing our characters, and how mood and description can express those characters to other players. Another way we can express our characters is through emotes. In Fed, we express emotes using the 'ACT' command. Emotes are visible actions or physical descriptions.
Something I, and most others, are bad about, is using what I like to call "Psychic emotes." For example, Rowan might emote something she's thinking about me. Now, though she's emoted her thoughts, I'm not a psychic. I do NOT know what she's thinking. I might pick up clues to her thoughts through other, more visible actions, but I am not privy to her thoughts. And yes, I'm really bad about responding to the emoted thoughts of others. I admit it. It's a bad habit to break. Role-play rules would say it's probably best not to emote your thoughts at all. They are just ASKING for someone to respond to them. We're not mind-readers. If someone emotes their thoughts, we can't really see them. We might pick up other cues to their thoughts by the way they stand, or look at us, or mumble under their breaths, but we can't read their thoughts.
Another area of emotes is the ones over the comms. Again, I raise my paw and admit I am often guilty of emoting something over the comms that is impossible. I can't hand you a cup of coffee through your comm unit, hard as I might try. I can't hurt you through your comm unit either. The comms are a communication device and, as we see through the HUG command, sometimes they do have video capabilities, as well as holographic abilities. So, I could emote that I am glaring at my comm unit, and raising a paw warningly, and you could see it. I can't scratch you through it, though. The best analogy I can think of is to think of your comm as a cell phone with video capabilities. Anything you can't do with your cell, you can't do with your comm. Except the holographic hugs, of course.
Other bad examples of emotes, as Rowan brought up, are forceful emotes... things that you do to someone that they can't get out of if they choose. She gave us the following example: Rowan smacks Occy in the back of the head, causing him brain damage. In this emote, she is not leaving Occy room to react, or avoid the blow. He could have moved at the last minute, receiving only a glancing blow, or none at all.
Which leads to my definition of a good emote: A good emote will describe a physical event or action. It will also allow other characters to participate, so be sure to leave room for other characters to respond.
A good emote should also be in the realm of the character you have created for yourself. For example, I don't think Occy is going to sudden start barking at cats. That's not what his character is about. Also, if you powerplay, you will soon find no one wants to play with you. You can also take that too far, though. No one wants to play with someone who is invincible. Sometimes, you HAVE to take your blows.
Your actions, or emotes, are one of the best ways of showing others what your character is about. We divided emotes into good and bad. We could divide them into In-character and out-of-character. An Action will show conversation and mannerisms to other characters, allowing them to respond to your actions. A Descriptive emote, on the other hand, can display both actions and descriptions, and are a marvelous tool for creating atmosphere. Lynnea and the Lair crew, I've noticed, are really good at descriptive emotes. So, and I hate to admit it, are the vampires. There's just something about a vampire that cries atmosphere. Darn it.
An action emote does just that: demonstrates an action. A descriptive emote, however, while showing action, will also create a bit of ambiance. For example: Catspaws unclasps a locket from around her neck and holds it out for the others to see. It is oval and set in gold, inscribed with the word: "Good-bye." Through the use of emotes, you can create memorable role-play scenes that will have others begging to participate.
Your challenge for this week is to try to look at your emotes, and develop good ones that fit in with the guidelines of your character. Through that exercise, you can develop your characters into well-rounded, interesting, and fun characters, and encourage others to role-play along with you.
NOTE: This has been a horrid week for the kitty, as I have lost ALL my work on the BRILLIANT Guide to Role-Play after a hard drive failure. So the next chapter in the guide will be delayed a week or so while I do a frantic re-write.
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