Level of Roleplay and perhaps some suggestions

[Tanman]

Coming from a DM point of view and from more recently a player's point of view, I have seen the level of Roleplay for most people in the community improve compared to a while ago whether it is from  adventuring  RP to just some people sitting in small pockets Roleplaying. To me that is refreshing.

Some recommendations to enhance the immersion. When emoting something  instead of saying something like "raises an eyebrow as if to say that he is not happy with you because you did x" cut the emote back to "raises an eyebrow angrily". If the person asks what it was for, perhaps get them to do roll a check and give them relevant info from that.

I have found that giving a check and basing my character response off that check makes the game more interesting. Mind you this is not to say that I make every single emote there is a dice check, but at key moments it does add something interesting to the mix of things.

Apart from that, well done on this. I always watch out when I am out there, and love to see RP happening.

[Weeblie]

There is one primary reason the "as though if..." is used (quite a lot by myself too): Timing

Unless one has those eyebrow raising emotes quickslotted, it's sometimes not possible to do it in a timely fashion, which just makes them "huh?" as they are sent when the conversation already has by far proceeded.

Adding the "as..." is to clarify that one's character did it "at that time" and not "now... later". :p

One does as one finds fit, of course!

[Frances]

One thing I like to do to avoid timing issues (somewhat) is to say something like *raises eyebrows at so-and-so's comment*, helping to make clear who your character is reacting to.  Of course, if that person is Acacea, you will have to type awfully darn fast to make clear which comment you're reacting to.

I think most of us are used to the fact that chat is somewhat out of sync, and can figure out what you're reacting to, if your response is timely enough.

[Gulnyr]

There is one primary reason the "as though if..." is used (quite a lot by myself too): Timing

Unless one has those eyebrow raising emotes quickslotted, it's sometimes not possible to do it in a timely fashion, which just makes them "huh?" as they are sent when the conversation already has by far proceeded.

Adding the "as..." is to clarify that one's character did it "at that time" and not "now... later".

I think Frances has it.  In the cases of timing during a quick conversation, an emote like *raises eyebrows at [character]* would be better than *raises eyebrows as if [overly obvious or complicated explanation]*.  Not only does that indicate who and what the character is reacting to, but also saves even more precious typing time by cutting out the superfluous explanatory text... in almost exactly the way this post doesn't!

[Honora]

Or simple *frowns*

/ducks and runs from Jennara

[Grid Blader]

I like the *frown*  or the *smile* and my favorite the *Belly laugh*

[Skywatcher]

I just wish the *falls down belly laugh* still worked but the swishing cloaks are nice too

[Acacea]

I like using "as though" or "as if" in emotes when there follows a hypothetical explanation that is exaggerated and not necessarily directly communicative of a character's thoughts, so much as giving an example of the expression! Such as "*Blinks and raises her eyebrows up as though George Bush had just appeared in a pink bunny suit...*" or "*Yelps in pain for no apparent reason, as if her chair had suddenly grown spikes in inconvenient places...*"

It may be superfluous, but it's not really telepathy - and judging by Frances' comment, might give other people the chance to respond to previous comments, anyway.

[Weeblie]

Ironically, "strict situation linking" tends to be the least use of the "as though/if" that I have, due to as being previously described, it's seldom necessary. *Coughs.* Unless one goes afk for just a few seconds due to handling some RL thing.

Generally, it looks like the primary use from most peoples' part is to further enhance the emote itself.

A simple *smiles* tends, in my opinion, usually tell a little bit too little. It looks so... flat... Sometimes, one just does "smile-smile", but many other times, one does it in a specific way that the text-wise *smiles* does not tell.

An improvement would perhaps be *smiles brightly*, *smiles sadly*, *smiles foolishly*. I would already consider that quite enough.

But... *she smiles brightly as she steps through the door to the candy store, looking around with eyes wide open as though she had not seen candy for ages* tends to be even more interesting in my opinion! While one could of course have cut it down, leaving the "as though she had not seen candy for ages" out to be left for rolls, I personally find the "unnecessary rolls" a little bit flow breaking. If it's "important" like if you were in a conversation with someone known to backstab another in the blink of an eye, a roll is perhaps best in those situations to see if a smile is geniue or not. But... hrm... I find the situations as best if two people can handle it without any rolls nor any OOC (!) at all! Tricky, yes... and not always feasible nor wanted...

Just a few examples taken from in game:

*She tilts her head slightly as the little one is still turning the glowing ball back and forth, a tiny frown on her forehead as though being in deep concentration.*
*She nods a little bit, although quite absentminded, as though not really noticing what she's nodding to.*
*She leans a little bit closer, her face shining in curiosity, as though that would help her to have a slightly better look at the book.*
*She smiles and looks down at her child, carefully wrapping the blankets around her as though to shield her from the night.*

(etc, etc...)

And lastly to steal an emote from Acacea...

*She listens to the 'sound' of him, trying to hear again what she noticed before, and hums echoes of that which is suppressed as though trying to tease it out or better understand the nature of what is heard.*

Acacea wouldn't be Acacea if she had just written: *She listens to the sound of him and hums.*

... would she?

Edit: Oh... by the way... short comment on that... in many situations, an extra descriptive emote by itself already explains what the emote is directed at. For example, the book one... there is little to not doubt that it's a response to the book being presented!

And... last comment! The "as though" and "as if" are just... "like"... It does not truly tell what exactly one's character thinks about the situation. It's to give a more clear picture of who it's done, not trying to say "this is exactly that way". I generally try to aim it so it becomes descriptive in a way that I think most others would think how it was!

Like... the candy store emote... If someone answered to that: *He laughs heartily when watching her.* Do you want me to buy you some of it?

The answer from that could as well be: *She glances back at him with a puzzled expression.* Buy... what...? Oh!! *She laughs a laugh mirroring his own laugh.* That's great! I collect price tags! *With her fingers drumming on her forehead, she murmurs.* Although... I'm not sure you can buy the price tags themselves...

:p

[Xirion]

I have to agree with you, Accea and Webblie. as/if/like are good options to make an emote more livley and more unique then a simple *smile* or *frown*

"raises an eyebrow as if to say that he is not happy with you because you did x" cut the emote back to "raises an eyebrow angrily"

And I have to agree with that, too.

It is not the matter if you use them, but how.
 
The way Tanman described is probably not the best. While using it like Webblie stated it with the candy shop example is great to make the
RP-situation more realistic and makes it easier for the other player to picture the reaction.

So to me it is important whatfor it is used. To make the PC more lively and easier to see as a real person in your mind, so that a little movie starts to play in your head, is great.

If it is used like Tanman stated one should look for a better solution if you ask me. Maybe the other player will not notice immideatley if you just type something like Tanman said, but if he goes on and you type *he folds his arms as x goes on with, his eyes narrow and he frowns deeply on x * and maybe even if that is not enough *he taps unpatiened with his finger against his elbow still eyeing x angrily as if he will jump at him every moment*
The other player will notice this and so would the players PC ofcourse too.

Now it is on him to react, maybe ask a question IC, ignore it, send a tell and ask for a roll like Tanman stated or whatever you can think of in your creative mind

[Tanman]

All those examples that you give add description to the actual emote, and that is great! But I have seen emotes that go something like*raises her eyebrows as if to say please tell me what is on your mind *(or that which shows what the character wants the other person to do in an extreme way) and that is kind of what my point is driving at.

[Acacea]

Well, to the part quoted from Acacea, in some cases descriptive emotes are necessary simply because they are actually directed towards a GM, not other players - ie you are telling the GM what the character is doing so that they can respond, not just putting it out there for someone else to know OOC but not react to IC. In the emote from Acacea stated, if it was just for benefit of nothing whatsoever, you could type *hums* yeah, but it was for a purpose that the GM expects to know beforehand. Hence...emoting intent, then rolling. Yea, sometimes party members have no clue what you're doing. Happens. I don't mind

Edit - and of course telepathy emotes are silly! I mentioned something like that in the sign language app giving credit to Gulnyr for Jennara's creative hand signs in the pre-ear days, without ever resorting to *signs that she just came from a swamp and needs a bath* which you sometimes see. Crazy game of charades, but it was fun. Steel has his funky signs and his writing board too, hehe.

I used to respond to emotes of "*thinks that this isn't a good idea*" with an emote of something like "*thinks she would like a chicken sandwich, wonders why the paladin's shoe is untied, remembers that trinket she stole the other day and is glad no one is telepathic*" until I got accused of being a smart...uh...smartypants. Guilty! I just let it by now

(Price tags...that situation sounds familiar for some reason...)

[Tanman]

@Acacea Descriptive emotes like the ones given by yourself and Weebs  give flavor to the RP, and its good and they don't suggest telepathy in an OOC manner.

And the ones that I have observed are not in direct reference to a quest but things that I have observed in general from overall observation.

[Gulnyr]

But... *she smiles brightly as she steps through the door to the candy store, looking around with eyes wide open as though she had not seen candy for ages* tends to be even more interesting in my opinion! While one could of course have cut it down, leaving the "as though she had not seen candy for ages" out to be left for rolls, I personally find the "unnecessary rolls" a little bit flow breaking.

I generally try to aim it so it becomes descriptive in a way that I think most others would think how it was!

Like... the candy store emote... If someone answered to that: *He laughs heartily when watching her.* Do you want me to buy you some of it?

The answer from that could as well be: *She glances back at him with a puzzled expression.* Buy... what...? Oh!! *She laughs a laugh mirroring his own laugh.* That's great! I collect price tags! *With her fingers drumming on her forehead, she murmurs.* Although... I'm not sure you can buy the price tags themselves...

Why try to emote what you guess other people might think?  Why not just emote and let them do the guessing?  In the first quote, the part from "as though" on doesn't have to be left out just for rolls.  There don't have to be any rolls.  Other characters can react to *she smiles brightly as she steps through the door to the candy store, looking around with eyes wide open* however they want without any additional prompting or rolling or whatever else.  It's an excellent emote just like that.  Any typical sort of person would likely assume the happy face and wide eyes of that emote in that situation were about the candy, and then the same RP interaction you suggested in the second quote could still follow.  Of course, some may not think that, so why taint the well by trying to guess their thoughts?  Let their imaginations do the talking.

In the part I bolded in the second quote, you've basically said, "I try to tell people what their characters think of my character's expression."  There's no reason to assume what others would think and emote it, as that's starting to drift over into some sort of weird forced mental emote.  

I know that's not your intention.  It's no big deal.  I just think it's better to focus on the emote itself to try to convey the expression rather than play mind games, even accidentally, heh.

[Hellblazer]

I think what he meant here was that he puts himself into the other people place and asks himself, if i write this will they understand that this is what I i mean in this emote. Not trying to force them to think as he wants them to think.

[Gulnyr]

Of course. *points to the quote*

I know that's not your intention.

[Polak76]

I find it amusing the detail and depth we delve into roleplaying emotes.  I might just be in a jovial mood but all this discussion seems pointless.

At the end of the day I'm for the simple emotes that a player can see, ie *goes red in the face*, *clenches fists*...etc.
If a player wants to type a whole paragraph - *Clenches fists  and glares are Alandric, angered at his last remark, wanting to rip him limb from limb for his sarcastic babarism and condescending arrogance.* Go for it!
I'ts not going to change my reply.  All I'm going to read is *clenches fists* and ignore the rest.  As usual I'll simply *smirk*.