Doing away with speech bubbles

[Aramara Meibi]

I've been toying with this idea for some time. Let me first get to the issue at hand and then explain why removing speech bubbles would be the necessary solution.

When RPing, using the /me and /my commands is great for describing character actions while at the same time enabling dialogue. Because there is no character limit on posts, this allows for elaborately detailed and well written posts, enhancing the level of immersion. BUT, the /me and /my commands have to be used at the very beginning of each post, which is fine, but after a while it starts to become clumsy as you have to do some linguistic gymnastics to make your post work. The sentence structure for each post automatically becomes Subject-Verb-Object, and that can get repetitive and clumsy.

What I wish for is more finesse with sentence structure, being able to imbed the /me and /my commands within the body of a post, even allowing for multiple uses of the commands within each post. A post such as:

The ring of steel striking steel can be heard reverberating through the sewers as /me raises her shield to block her enemy's battle axe.

will be rendered as:

The ring of steel striking steel can be heard reverberating through the sewers as Aramara raises her shield to block her enemy's battle axe.

You can see how this adds variety and flavor to the RP environment, but as it stands, any post that does not begin with a /me or /my command is automatically rendered as dialogue and shows up as a speech bubble. The bubbles themselves are blocky, opaque obstructions that I never pay any attention to anyways because they vanish before I can read them, and I have the chat window, which makes them unnecessary to begin with. Maybe they're an artifact left over from some long ago time before the chat window or something, but seriously, the only time I make use of them is to locate another player across vast distances when using /tells.

If they are deemed necessary by the community as a whole, then amend my wish to be having the /me and /my commands work as described above.

[Bonifarzia]

That's something that also came to my mind after chaining some /me statements. Certainly each line beginning with a name tag makes it easier to keep track of the dialog/action/ mixed wall of text, and that's probably the reason for the restrictions here. Maybe a compromise could help where the name tag is first displayed in brackets, and thereafter you can place some narrative text, just as you would do with /me or /my. Maybe for the above example:

/narrate The ring of steel striking steel can be heard reverberating through the sewers as Aramara raises her shield to block her enemy's battle axe.

[Aramara] The ring of steel striking steel can be heard reverberating through the sewers as Aramara raises her shield to block her enemy's battle axe.

[Aramara Meibi]

agreed Boni, it could get confusing without some sort of notification of which post belongs to who. Though, I don't think such a /narrate command would be necessary if the /me and /my commands were allowed to be embedded within the bulk of a post. The tag at the beginning of each post would be an automatic function of the /me and /my command, or just automatic for any post made.

[LigH]

If the code has always been made with the assumption that commands always have to start at the beginning of a line, it may be quite an effort to change the command line parser to search for commands in the whole line. And that may also have undesired side effects ... imagine you want to explain to someone who got stuck and can't unstick: "Try to type /die to escape through the Death Realm" ... I believe you wouldn't want the parser to find this command later in the input line and kill your own char.

[Eonwind]

If the code has always been made with the assumption that commands always have to start at the beginning of a line, it may be quite an effort to change the command line parser to search for commands in the whole line. And that may also have undesired side effects ... imagine you want to explain to someone who got stuck and can't unstick: "Try to type /die to escape through the Death Realm" ... I believe you wouldn't want the parser to find this command later in the input line and kill your own char.

I agree, adding that imo the parser *must not* parse for command not stated at the beginning of the input line.

[LigH]

I remember that a variable $target exists. Maybe one could make more variables available, like $self. That might be a solution.

[Eonwind]

I remember that a variable $target exists. Maybe one could make more variables available, like $self. That might be a solution.

if one target himself the $target variable can work like the $self variable, I'm not 100% sure it works but if it does the solution is already in place

[Chessire]

Actually there is a way to write actions in that way in green letters from the system tab. You just have to use the /echo command and anything after that will appear in green letters. Example,

/echo The wind is blowing and two birds fly around.

Its not a well known command but it works. Its better if its used with moderation of course as it can describe happenings on the environment but still effective when you want to write things as in Aramara's example.

[Bonifarzia]

Actually there is a way to write actions in that way in green letters from the system tab. You just have to use the /echo command and anything after that will appear in green letters.

As far as I have understood (and just tested it again), this is a purely local feature, like /testanim. No other player will see such a message, and thus it has no value for RP. Its purpose? Maybe to mark a section in your system log with a comment. 

Target variables are not quite important here, I think, as tab-completion of names makes typing fast as well. The problem of the request remains that every message in the main tab has to start with the players name, optionally followed by "'s" or "says:".

[Dannae]

The idea of commands working within the text doesn't really sound too useful to me. I'd still need to put quotes around the speech to separate it from actions as I now do, and I'd only be substituting something like, /me laughs, for, then she laughs, not a real time saver, besides having it come out as, Dannae laughs.

I do like the idea of having the ability to start with narrative.
Maybe it could be added as suggested by Bonifarzia like /nar when narrative is to be used at the beginning by spelling out the chars. name in brackets.
The ability to use this in the middle of speech is unnecessary because it would not negate having to enclose the speech within quotes to separate it and would read no differently. I suppose a /nar command could be made to color the narrative, but it would still require some way to tell when the narrative ends and speech begins again if it could be used in the middle of speech.

Off topic a little, even with my personal preference for shorter posts, I would still love the ability to negate the need to use quotes to separate speech from actions as I now do. I'm forever forgetting to put the quotes at the start or end or having to scroll back through the text to add when I've decided to insert an action within the text before posting. I don't believe there is a way to do that, unfortunately, since there would always need to be some kind of symbol or character to separate the two, so may as well remain quotes.

Examples of what I do now:

As one post I'd type using quotes:
 /me steps closer to Caraick, "Hey, if it isn't my ol' menki friend" she then kicks Caraick in the shin, and winces, "Ow! Dammit... now you broke my toe!"

But still preferable to me than as four separate posts:
 /me steps closer to Caraick
Hey, if it isn't my ol' menki friend
 /me kicks Caraick in the shin, then winces
Ow! Dammit... now you broke my toe!

I'd be much happier with cut and paste ability so I can see all my text and edit or add quotes where necessary, but that's been discussed before as too difficult of a feature.

[Bonifarzia]

As one post I'd type using quotes:
 /me steps closer to Caraick, "Hey, if it isn't my ol' menki friend" she then kicks Caraick in the shin, and winces, "Ow! Dammit... now you broke my toe!"

But still preferable to me than as four separate posts:
 /me steps closer to Caraick
Hey, if it isn't my ol' menki friend
 /me kicks Caraick in the shin, then winces
Ow! Dammit... now you broke my toe!

That's my preferred way of using speech, too. For copy and paste, I think there are ways to add this with self compiled clients. Wasn't there a debate about inclusion in an official build?

[Aramara Meibi]

using quotes to denote dialogue is how I play as well using the /me and /my commands as they are, but I always have to start each post with such a command. Sometimes, just to break up the monotony, I'd love to begin a post with dialogue and follow it up with an action:

"Oh, hello Dannae," /me says as she turns to face the High Priestess.

Of course, I *could* do this now... but it'd show up as a speech bubble and in the chat box be rendered as

Aramara says: "Oh, hello Dannae," Aramara says as she turns to face the High Priestess.

which makes it look like my character is narrating her own actions out loud and referring to herself in the third person.

most people do break their dialogue and actions up into separate posts, which is how i used to play as well. But that creates a problem where you're never sure when that player is 'done'. That is why I've moved to the block or paragraph type posts, where I can describe all my actions and dialogue for my 'turn' in one block. You as the other player know that I'm not going to post again until all present have had a chance to respond.

copy and paste functions... selecting blocks of text to delete instead of one letter at a time... yes, there are many functions that are painfully missing from the chat box.

[Caraick]

copy and paste functions... selecting blocks of text to delete instead of one letter at a time... yes, there are many functions that are painfully missing from the chat box.

This point almost deserves a post of it's own. Yes, please. 

[Dannae]

Sorry about continuing to derail the original topic, but at least I'm not alone here 

most people do break their dialogue and actions up into separate posts, which is how i used to play as well. But that creates a problem where you're never sure when that player is 'done'. That is why I've moved to the block or paragraph type posts, where I can describe all my actions and dialogue for my 'turn' in one block. You as the other player know that I'm not going to post again until all present have had a chance to respond.

Not suggesting you or anyone change how they prefer to post, just tossing out ideas. One option I sometimes use is adding a series of dots ... at the end of a section when I post if I want to let others begin reading but also indicating my char. is not done speaking on that thought. This way offers the opportunity for others to interrupt too, but, such is life.

I understand long posts do have their good and bad points just like most everything, but as I said in a previous post, my personal preference is shorter. Smaller chunks are just easier for me to manage, especially since it's too hard to edit what is being written with no cut and paste and only one line visible, not to mention that often the times I've attempted this, I end up feeling like the moment has passed to do or say something by the time I'm ready to punch that enter key.

On the flip side, there are times when we want all our words and actions spelled out in one cohesive post with no interruptions like when there is a lot of description or a lot to say and it's occurring in a brief period of time where it would not make sense to break it up.

[Cairn]

Me being a player who writes blocks of text, and builds great walls and fortresses and towns and buildings and castles with them, the option that I would most prefer is being able to insert /me into the middle of the sentences, instead of always having to start with a /me or /my. Of course these options aren't really limiting, as the imagination is great and wild. However it just drags on me sometimes. Not a real complain, per se, simply how I feel.

as far as doing away with speech bubbles, a simple yes will suffice.