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Burr · 07-19-2003, 04:14 PM

What are some inventive ways of portraying emotions appropriately?

I've found that on the muds I've played, many roleplayers (myself included), tend to do much better at roleplaying when it comes to speech and action than in the case of showing emotion in its more raw forms.

"Darian watches you with an expression of awe."

"Meiska's eyes widen in fear."

Both of those examples work - but they aren't very powerful, are they? Such simple statements work much better in books, where ideas from nearby sentences bleed together much more than they do line-by-line in muds. (Then again, maybe I'm the only one who perceives it as such.)

Also, how would I know that Darian is feeling awe and not shock, or that Meiska's eyes are widening in fear and not recognition? My character might be more inclined to perceive one than the other, but Darian and Meiska aren't likely to know that.

Out of such concerns, I've tended to stay away from such nonverbal expressions, instead using my emotes and such to portray actions that are more...well...active. But that solution doesn't much sit well with me either.

07-19-2003, 04:14 PM	#1
Burr Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Posts: 123	What are some inventive ways of portraying emotions appropriately? I've found that on the muds I've played, many roleplayers (myself included), tend to do much better at roleplaying when it comes to speech and action than in the case of showing emotion in its more raw forms. "Darian watches you with an expression of awe." "Meiska's eyes widen in fear." Both of those examples work - but they aren't very powerful, are they? Such simple statements work much better in books, where ideas from nearby sentences bleed together much more than they do line-by-line in muds. (Then again, maybe I'm the only one who perceives it as such.) Also, how would I know that Darian is feeling awe and not shock, or that Meiska's eyes are widening in fear and not recognition? My character might be more inclined to perceive one than the other, but Darian and Meiska aren't likely to know that. Out of such concerns, I've tended to stay away from such nonverbal expressions, instead using my emotes and such to portray actions that are more...well...active. But that solution doesn't much sit well with me either.