Elder Scrolls Online does something relatively clever, which you can see quite often in any city where PCs gather.
Enforced Emotes for Actions
If you open up your Inventory, your PC pulls out a satchel and starts rummaging through it as an emote ... [i]and this is what other PCs *see* your PC doing[/i] while you've got the Inventory window open.
Same thing with pulling out the Map. If you're looking at the map (which will occupy the entire screen), your PC will pull out a big map scroll and start poring over it as an emote.
This sort of "emotes happen automatically when doing certain things" is very useful, because it gives an obvious in-game "tell" as to what Players are doing with their PC at any given time. So if you see a PC looking at a map scroll in front of them, chances are very good that they're not paying attention to their immediate surroundings just then and are therefore a lot more vulnerable to being ambushed (for example). It also gives you a way to look at another Player's PC and tell if they're "ready" and paying attention to what's happening (or not).
In City of Heroes, it was possible to do this sort of thing, but it required use of a macro or a keybind to accomplish. On my PCs, I created a standard keybind that involved doing a Cellphone Emote whenever I opened up my Contact window. That way, I would literally be "calling" my Contacts whenever I wanted to talk to them.
City of Titans is going to have a little bit more freedom in this regard when it comes to tying Emotes to specific User Interface options, but it's still something that I'd recommend doing. Ideally, there'd be a set of User Interface actions that "require" an Emote to be played while the PC has that part of the UI open (map, inventory, contacts, etc.) with a default Emote tied to that specific action while that part of the UI is open. However, City of Titans would give Players a menu of options for the Emote to play for those specific actions ... so instead of pulling out a map scroll to look at the map, the PC might pull out binoculars to look around, or start using a camera, or hold up a torch, or whatever. For going through inventory, your PC might start digging through a sack worn on a shoulder strap, or drop a backpack onto the ground and start rummaging around inside of it, or take a gym bag off their shoulder and do the rummage around on the ground while kneeling routine, or have a holographic high tech Sword Art Online UI inspired thing manifest in front of them and start finger flicking through it.
The point being, I'm of the opinion that Elder Scrolls Online is onto something with its UI system that incorporates Enforced Emotes for certain activities involving the UI that necessitate pulling the Player's attention away from awareness of the surroundings and into the UI system. THAT sort of thing adds immersion into the game and is relatively cheap to do (just need to animate an emote for it that other Players can see). And the best part is, the Emotes that get used by this system can also be done/commanded from the command line in the chat window, meaning that it's possible to make your PC do these Emotes *without* actually losing sight of their surroundings ... which can then create the opportunities for deception, fake-outs and sucker punches against hostile PCs in PvP situations.
So I'd like the appropriate Dev teams to put Enforced Emotes For UI Interactions onto the whiteboard of Things To Do and set things up such that these Enforced Emotes can be "chosen" so as to allow the possibilities for alternate animation choices, but which will have a "default" setting for them as to which Emote gets used for those UI Interactions. Set things up such that any available Emote that the PC can do is allowable for use when interacting with the UI and you'll have yourself a rather fun little feature.
Open Contacts window ... do Lightbulb emote ... or Cellphone emote.
Open Inventory window ... do Mathematics emote.
Open Map window ... do Laptop emote ... or Read Floating Books emote ... or ...
You get the idea.
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[i]Verbogeny is one of many pleasurettes afforded a creatific thinkerizer.[/i][/center]
I'm all for anything that allows me to externalize the RP aspects of the game. I'm not so much interested in knowing whether another player is paying attention at a given moment. (That would actually BREAK immersion for me.) However, I think there is a value having the character reflect what they are supposed to be doing. So, while I'm a teensy bit uncomfortable with "forcing" emotes, I don't think it would bother me too much for a few common functions.
I think a lot of the UI functions would easily be covered by a generic "consults smartphone" emote, maybe as the default, but being able to pick from a short list of appropriate emotes that better represent a given character concept would be even better.
Additionally, a way to opt out would silence any critics.
Still I do like this, because some actions are difficult to do and play at the same time, it could help people from making mistakes like running off while someone's HUD is full with their bag. Maybe there can be a text tag that hangs over people for those who don't want the emote, but still indicates they're in their bag, or they're itneracting with quest objects.
I see this as something we kind of need, it's sort of like body language. If this were real, you'd know if your team mate over there was in his bag, or hacking a door, or dialing up backup, or throwing things into the SG pocket dimension bank.
In the GUI that would handle assigning specific keys to standard actions there could be an additional scrollable menu box to enable/disable the "default emote" associated with it. So for example under the entry for "Open Map window" it would list the key associated with that actions (i.e. the "M" key) and then a box with a scrollable list of available emote choices (i.e. Laptop emote or Read Floating Books emote) as well as a None choice. This would allow people the choice to have any/no default emotes for certain actions as desired.
Under this GUI you could easily toss in other standard meta things like "Going AFK" where you could assign a key and a default emote for when you want to go AFK and the like. This would help those who aren't super knowledgeable in how to set up manual keybinds.
CoH player from April 25, 2004 to November 30, 2012
[IMG=400x225]https://i.imgur.com/NHUthWM.jpeg[/IMG]
Actually, this is a good idea completely separate from the "forced emote." Being able to assign emotes to a given "state." AFK in particular. And having an easy, intuitive way to do this so that it happens automatically would be great.
AFK performs /waiting emote.
AFK performs /coinflip emote.
AFK performs /fishing emote.
AFK performs /newspaper emote.
You get the idea.
Being able to tie specific emotes to "typical" actions that Players and PCs routinely perform would be a relatively simple feature request, methinks. Being able to do so without needing to understand the keybind/macro language would be helpful, so as to do the job through the Options Menu. Designing the UI in such a way as to effectively work as a kind of tutorial for how to use the keybind/macro language this way in order to come up with your own action macros? Priceless.
For everything else there's Master[s]Card[/s]Minds.
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[i]Verbogeny is one of many pleasurettes afforded a creatific thinkerizer.[/i][/center]
Animations that reflect actions! Yes, an excellent idea!
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I think this is a great idea. It speaks to a quality gaming experience. Some thoughts and then some jokes.
THOUGHTS:
It might be nice for players unaccustomed to emotes to have them remain in effect until they move. I'm thinking this would almost have to be how it works out, but just in case.
On a slightly different angle, it would be nice if functions such as maps, inventory, and especially leveling didn't completely remove one's view of the world and chat. As I recall the leveling screen in COX was the worst for that.
JOKES:
Where are the satchel, torch, and other items pulled from? A certain place comes to mind, but it's not PG-13.
I'm concerned what the emote would be for bio break.
"THE TITANS ARE COMING! THE TITANS ARE COMING!"
Not sure I'm keen on the idea of my hero all of a sudden popping out a satchel from nowhere, just because I decided to open my inventory. Or pulling out a map as she makes her way through a building. :p
/em boo hoo
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[i]Verbogeny is one of many pleasurettes afforded a creatific thinkerizer.[/i][/center]
These are purely QoL issues and would require additonal thought such as keeping a map open while in combat or travelling, havingnthe inventory window open while. In combat or travelling. I've done allmof that in multiple games and certainly wouldn't mind if there were an initial emote associated with particular actions so long as the QoL action emotes didn't override other gameplay. There is a time and place for thise things to happen, like with crafting.
If anything I would follow the recommendation to make it customizable and optional.
I'll list it with other QoL low priorities I have accumulating.
P.S. Thanks for the extra work Red. ;-)
[hr]I don't use a nerf bat, I have a magic crowbar!
- Combat Mechanic -
[color=#ff0000]Tech Team. [/color]
At the rate I'm going, I'm starting to worry about being awarded a badge for Unnecessary Annoyance Of Devs. ^_^;
It sometimes feel like I'm straying too close to "Too Many Notes" territory with all my kibitzing ...
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[i]Verbogeny is one of many pleasurettes afforded a creatific thinkerizer.[/i][/center]
Good points, since doing these things in ESO will stop your avatar cold (and dismount, IIRC), whereas it was common to reshuffle your inventory or call in contacts while flying on autopilot in CoX or STO.
[code]/bind afk em airguitar9000[/code]
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[i]Has anyone seen my mind? It was right here...[/i]
Your AFK-Bio emote can summon a Porta-Potty which the character enters. *grin*
Be Well!
Fireheart
Then simply choose "None" when considering which emotes to link to particular actions. Several of us already suggested there be options for that choice here. *shrugs*
CoH player from April 25, 2004 to November 30, 2012
[IMG=400x225]https://i.imgur.com/NHUthWM.jpeg[/IMG]
Thanks for placing this idea on your "list" of things to do. ;)
If you kept these things limited to triggering standard emotes the way they worked in CoH then any kind of "combat" or "travelling" animations would always override these lower priority emotes. It really doesn't seem like these could seriously interfere with anything significant. These would be the functional equivalent of using manual keybinds to assign emotes to specific keys in CoH which again never interfered with anything I was aware of. Basically I used hundreds of such keybinds for years without any ill-effects along the lines that you're implying here.
As Lin Chiao Feng points out other games (like ESO) seem to do silly things that make these QoL animations supercede other more important gameplay animations. But again if they are kept as simple emotes in CoT they will remain subordinate as they should be.
CoH player from April 25, 2004 to November 30, 2012
[IMG=400x225]https://i.imgur.com/NHUthWM.jpeg[/IMG]
If anything, just make the animation break on movement/combat status.
This means that by standard you would, but if you were running around with your large map open and then stopped with the map still open... back to the map animation.
Problem would arise if you had multiple "emote enabled" windows open, but in that case, I would go with the last active window, and then just back down the layers as it were if you closed them down.
Either that or if you moved, then the animation would never restart.
It is mainly QoL for OTHERS knowing what you are doing rather than for you... seeing as most of the time these windows tend to take up a large chunk of the screen as "standard" in most other games.
If we're already going to allow people to choose "none" for these QoL animations who would care if a higher priority animation (like for combat or travel) cuts one of these low priority emotes off? No need to "stack" anything, "restart" anything or worry about anything remotely complicated with this. Just let these things get handled like any other cosmetic emote - as soon the character does anything else just let the emote in question get entirely overridden. Easy-peasy.
Think of it like this: This is nothing more than a fancy way to do a keybind like "/bind x em wave" which would make your character wave when you pressed the 'x' key. The fact that the 'x' key might also be defined to open your inventory screen has no relation to what happens to the wave emote after it's triggered.
CoH player from April 25, 2004 to November 30, 2012
[IMG=400x225]https://i.imgur.com/NHUthWM.jpeg[/IMG]
I am just throwing out other options just in case a different line is taken.
And for ME at least, If I flick through the several windows, I do like it, and I personally would like it to work my way. Which wouldn't necessarily work with any other scheme out there.
Every time you activate a new window an emote defined by you would fire. The last one opened would give you the emote associated with it. No emote "stack" or "restarting" needed. Not sure why something like this would have to be any more complicated than that.
Remember this is actually meant to be a QoL "nicety" more for YOU than anyone else. The fact that you could assign ANY emote to something like opening your inventory means that you could make it look like you were opening a backpack or digging a ditch or anything else any emote could look like. There's no "requirement" that any GUI window must have a specific globally accepted emote. If you want to make it obvious to others that you're looking in a bag or reading a map that's fine, but if you want to play air guitar while you're doing those things that's fine too.
CoH player from April 25, 2004 to November 30, 2012
[IMG=400x225]https://i.imgur.com/NHUthWM.jpeg[/IMG]
Ironically, for me, when I did the "emote with Window" thing in City of Heroes, I rarely got to see myself doing it.
More often than not it was everyone else who saw it around me.