Emoting in the past-tense poll.

[Nosajimiki]

okay, I just started seeing some charies that use past tense all the time, [even if it is not in responce to anything] in their emotes and that does bother me.
If that was the original question... how do I change my vote?

[MakeBeliever]

I've voted that It doesn't bother me in the least with past, present, future, whatever as long as they are trying ingame then thats what counts. I'd rarther see that then another body hit the floor right now.

[deadboy]

I don't -hate- it.... but it does bother me a little. When everyone around them is emoting in the present and they are emoting in the past it makes the game seem less fluent

[Cdls]

It really doesnt bother me at all since I can get what they are trying to get across.

I have a question about the following quote here:

Why is this senseless? I would never play with a character that emoted like this, so I'm trying to see how pervasive it is.

Isnt it a CRB to use your personal feelings to influence who and what your characters do? Maybe I am reading it wrong and you meant that you would not play a character that does that and if so I apologize, but if that isnt what you meant and you mean that you wont allow your characters to interact with those that dont follow your RPing style, isnt that more disruptive to the game then what you complain about?

[sanchez]

I have to say I agree with Doug and dislike the past tense emotes. It's hard to describe why they are disruptive other than that the aspectual differences between perfect and progressive in the past tense are more difficult to fit in context in the game where everyone speaks in the present tense.
It's also irritating that this style seems to be contagious, mostly because it is employed skillfully by only couple of people.

[Oasis]

Confessions of a past tense emoter:

I have no idea if I am skillful at it or not, but I do know that I emote in past tense sometimes (actually, quite a bit). When writing longer posts, for instance. I hadn't ever even thought about it until another player mentioned it to me recently, just prior to this discussion being started.

When responding to a post, what is responded to first is in the past, thus past tense just makes sense. And I find it reads better, too. It does seem more natural for me in this case. Since I have been thinking about it, I have tried to emote in present tense more often, but I curse half the time, it seeming so awkward.

*She sat down, swept her skirt out over her legs, then began to whittle on the wooden flute*

*She sits down, sweeps her skirt out over her legs, then begines to whittle on the wooden flute*

Okay, either of these examples works, but I like the sounds of the first one better.

My compromise would be: *She sat down, swept her skirt out over her legs, then begins to whittle on the wooden flute*

*She gave him a furtive glance, then went back to what she was doing. Muttering under her breath, she continued to watch him for some time. After a while, she smiled at him, then moving over beside him, takes hold of his hand*

or....then moves over beside him, taking hold of his hand.

What happens first in the past, thus past tense, and what follows are the present actions, thus they get present tense. This just seems like common sense to me. And feels far more natural.

[Phalynx]

As I said before it feels like narrative, writing a story, which cantr isn't.. but that's just my opinion.!

[Oasis]

It isn't? That's a matter of opinion. I like to think that Cantr is an ever evolving story, and we, the players, are writing it.

Perhaps there is a difference between those that write, and those that don't. Not that I've ever written much of anything, but I think I fall into the first catagory, so I find it hard to switch.

[Phalynx]

We're all different... Jeez if I spent half the time I playing cantr writing I'd have written half a library by now...

I've only ever bveen published in a ragmag so I can't call myself a writer as it goes...

(As I did say it was my opinion!)

[Oasis]

I have!

*reminds self to get a life*

[Marian]

I don't think it has to do with writing, I write all the time and of course the past tense is what you'd normally use for that. When you're writing or reading a story you're not pretending to be the main character though, it's more like you're distant and watching them, so I think there's a big difference there.

But as far as I've seen roleplaying is always done in the present tense, whether it's on a forum, a MUD, over email, or a pen and paper game, and anything else does seem unnatural to me. When I type something like *she stands up, collects her tools, and goes quietly inside* that is what's happening to my char at that moment, not twenty minutes ago to someone else.

I've always thought of RPing is a lot closer to a play than a novel anyway (honestly a lot of what goes on and the exagerrated actions would be too silly and dramatic in a book...though again you have the distancing problem, so maybe it's not a good example). It's interesting that scripts are always written in the present tense though, even if that doesn't even have any more significane then the tense books are written in.

Isnt it a CRB to use your personal feelings to influence who and what your characters do? Maybe I am reading it wrong and you meant that you would not play a character that does that and if so I apologize, but if that isnt what you meant and you mean that you wont allow your characters to interact with those that dont follow your RPing style, isnt that more disruptive to the game then what you complain about?

I don't see anything wrong with it. I avoid talking to people who annoy me all the time, whether they type like they're a retarded chimpanzee having a seizure, or constantly talk OOC, or whatever. It's not like you have to break character to do this, unless your char makes a habit of getting into long personal conversations with every single person who wanders into town or something...

[Phalynx]

I don't see anything wrong with it. I avoid talking to people who annoy me all the time, whether they type like they're a retarded chimpanzee having a seizure, or constantly talk OOC, or whatever. It's not like you have to break character to do this, unless your char makes a habit of getting into long personal conversations with every single person who wanders into town or something...

That depends, if a trader from out of town demosnstrates poor literacy will your pety grammatical facism force your character to avoid trade they would otherwise engage in... then you are breaking character.

[Marian]

Exchanging resource doesn't exactly require a lot of interaction. There are very few day to day activities in Cantr that actually require deep RP. not tat peoople whoi tytpe liek ythis r usully big on rp neway lol...and if they're not even trying to take the game seriously I don't see why I should take them seriously. Same goes for heart attacks waiting to happen.

[Phalynx]

Sticks and stones may break my bones but word will never hurt me...
*sticks out his tongue*

[N-Aldwitch]

Exchanging resource doesn't exactly require a lot of interaction. There are very few day to day activities in Cantr that actually require deep RP. not tat peoople whoi tytpe liek ythis r usully big on rp neway lol...and if they're not even trying to take the game seriously I don't see why I should take them seriously. Same goes for heart attacks waiting to happen.

A year and a half ago (thereabouts) I was like that Marian, lol, wtih teh carelesnes 4 wat u type lollololllllllllllllll ahahahahajhaahhahjkdshkshlgskhg.................
So if we train these guys and teach them to type properly..

Though you have to also remember that the ones that type like that are either:
-12 years old (or just plain young)
-Don't have english as their natural language.

On the second point, please keep in mind that I know someone who's English isn't the best (I mean, I know him on the forums and Cantr) and he tries his DAMN hardest to make the best effort he can when talking in-game.. and that's all that matters, really, right?