So there I am, dancing away in Another Game, when it hits me: How often do people have a need for certain emotes outside of certain places? I'm sure that there's always the chance of an impromptu dance party occurring somewhere, but there are still going to be places you just don't use certain emotes...
And then the reverse hits me. There are going to be places you use certain emotes.
So here's the idea: Context-based emotes based on social hangouts.
You go into a nightclub. You go to the dance floor and right-click it. A small menu comes up with a list of dance emotes. Pick one and dance the night away.
You get tired of dancing. Head to the bartender and right-click him. A menu pops up with drink emotes -- a cup, a mug, a stein of beer, a shot glass, a bottle.
You want something to eat. You head over to the maitre d' and right click him. And you guessed it, a menu with food emotes -- a donut, a hot dog, a sandwich, a plate of cookies.
Click on a chair, and a list of emotes pops up listing the ways you can interact with the chair. Sure, you can sit on it -- but how? Relaxed? Intensely? Uncomfortably? Perhaps you're too large for the chair, and you can only lean against it.
Click on a podium, and you assume a formal speaking posture.
Click on the flag, and you can salute, or stand silently in observance.
All sorts of possibilities. Sure, you can do all this with the normal emotes -- but this just makes it easier.
--
"My attention span doesn't wander. It takes long trips to exotic locales where it meets strange women that leave it crying and broken in the hot, hot sun."
--me
While we're at it, impromptu dance parties:
A purchasable item in the store, for a small fee -- say, 100 credits -- can be used to create a 'dance party'. Say, a disco ball. It hangs in the air signifying DANCE PARTY HAPPENING HERE. It can be clicked for a context menu like a dance floor. The owner can click it for a list of owner-specific emotes -- say, spinning records like a DJ. It lasts 3 hours and there you go.
--
"My attention span doesn't wander. It takes long trips to exotic locales where it meets strange women that leave it crying and broken in the hot, hot sun."
--me
3 hours is a while, but you could have different versions of this with different times. Another favorite thing is for the dance balls to make nearby NPCs dance.
Of course, in homage to CoH, you'd probably want the Dance Gun...
[i]Has anyone seen my mind? It was right here...[/i]
Please no. Hate the disco ball in CO. :/
Couldn't agree more. Nothing worse than trying to RP my serious character and some prick doing a run by RP killer. Please keep emotes to affect yourself.
Crowd Control Enthusiast
That's why I want the disco ball to be an opt-in gewgaw, not opt-out. The only thing it'd be there for is to say 'Hey, dance party over here!' If you don't want to dance, don't click the ball.
--
"My attention span doesn't wander. It takes long trips to exotic locales where it meets strange women that leave it crying and broken in the hot, hot sun."
--me
Context-based emotes sound like an interesting idea for CoT as long as they are strictly "opt-in". I would never be in favor of any player-initiated emote that would be forced on other people for any reason.
CoH player from April 25, 2004 to November 30, 2012
[IMG=400x225]https://i.imgur.com/NHUthWM.jpeg[/IMG]
I think the original post is exactly that. And I like the idea that I don't have to scroll through my list of emotes or remember the specific code for some obvious things. The idea that you could click on specific objects in context, like a beer tap in a bar, and suddenly have a frosty mug in your hand. or walk over to an unoccupied chair or stool, and click on it ot sit down would be great.
And agreed, group type emotes should be opt-in only. I would even like to have the visual effects of AoE powers be shut down in designated areas.
OTH, I think some kind of "line dance" emote would be terrific. Like if a player activates their emote, you just have to "right click/join" to do it in sync. Choices like "thriller" or "hustle" or "Macarena" would be hysterical!
Devs, please put that in your "yeah, if we ever have time for goofy stuff" file.
Contextual emotes are great because they also help you align yourself best with the assets (sitting on a stool in CoH was a bit of a game all by itself whereas in SWG, it was a "select chair, choose action from radial menu, and sit.)
Doing this with the dance floor also allows for complex interactive animations- duals-dance. choose "dance1b" I choose "dance1a," as they did for Second Life.
One of the limitations I've seen with this comes in the extreme varying of sizes- In SWG, the careful would notice that the tallest wookie shrunk and the smallest bothan grew so both fit the same in the same seat. The dance floors in Second Life often set the characters to similar heights so animations would match up effectively. The more variety you allow in character sizes/dimensions, the more apparent this little illusion becomes.