Capping Animal Language to less than 25 Remotes Emoting Functionality

[Nidea Lynn]

While I agree that the intention of using -an should avoid 'esoteric' discussions (although this assumes quite a bit about how certain animals, like octopodes and dolphins communicate), it makes emoting in the language nearly impossible for clean RP.

For example, I was participating in a RP this morning during which two groups of animal henchmen were involved in a ceremony. The rangers/druids were trying to keep them at bay using the -an language via emotes, yet they had to take several lines to communicate what their hums/moans/growls meant.

It's my strong plea to remove the cap as it damages RP more than it saves it (in my experience).

Best,

[AstralUniverse]

My best advice to give you for the time being until there is (if there will be, actually) a mechanic that doesnt count *emotes* in the character limit, switch to common for emotes and add at the end of your emote *and she says...* or he. or barks/howls/whatever. Given that the alternative is not to have this language in the module at all...

[Nidea Lynn]

Sure, that is what we ended up doing, yet that removes the flavor of using the language in its entirety...

[DM Rex]

There has already been a thread about this very topic that had to be locked.
viewtopic.php?f=37&t=30802

Let's try to keep this civil as we proceed. Just a forewarning.

[AstralUniverse]

Sure, that is what we ended up doing, yet that removes the flavor of using the language in its entirety...

I dont expect people to keep using it for much longer, because of the emoting inconvenience mostly, which is kinda what I think the team had in mind when they decided to limit the characters rather than outright removing it. Let me put it this way: if you feel you're using it so often that switching to common for emotes becomes a major inconvenience then you were /probably/ using it for more than the very basic communication form it was meant for. This of course, isnt directed specifically at you. Just in general.

[Nidea Lynn]

No worries.

I'd be entirely happy if text within * were not counted towards the total limit. While I may concede that philosophical debates would be untasteful in an animal language, quite of bit of information can be relayed via a growl or a moan with layers of nuance.

A growl could be playful or threatening; it could, with additional body language, indicate a geographical threshold over which travel should be avoided (i.e., if a wolf is growling at you protecting its kill, it isn't a great idea to move closer). For these explanatory reasons, I think the change should be reverted or changed to not count emotes.

Best,