Moods - Nice Addition or Poor Implementation?

Jacen

An intense chill washes over you as Jacen tells you, "Blah blah blah."

Through the snapping and popping of flames, Jacen tells you, "Blah blah blah."

Through a veil of fine mist, Jacen tells you, "Blah blah blah."

Hurricane-force winds buffet you briefly as Jacen shouts, "Blah blah blah."

I am just utterly not a fan of the mood system. I guess the basic moods are okay, but these other ones... ugh. I think Draekar said it awhile back, but these are very divine-esque reactions, and I don't think that players ( artefacts or not ) should get this sort of flavor. It severely detracts from the awesomeness that is divine interaction. Likewise, I don't very much enjoy getting buffeted around because someone decided to shout "lol got ur nose" or feel a chill every time someone sends me a tell. Idk, I'm definitely not normally an anti-new stuff person, but this gets a 2/10 from me.

Tharvis

agreed on the divine-esque messages, those are the ones I don't like about my Wind mood, so I turn those off. I feel like they could use a rewrite, to be less... godly

Jovolo

They seem like a demonstration of where this game is headed that I immensely dislike. So well done on the effort (?) put in for this, but I agree with OP generally.

Antonius

I like the idea in theory but I haven't seen a single one that I'd actually want to use. A lot of them just seem to turn characters into caricatures.

Swagger, in particular, seems absolutely awful. I saw somebody using it and I just couldn't take them seriously afterwards.

Kyrra

Having played MUDs where you get a lot of flexibility of setting your own titles, and exit messages, I actually kind of like the extra level of customisation. I agree that some of the moods are a little extreme in their portrayals, and I turn off some of the messages because they don't really suit my character, but I like having the options at least.

Veldrin

just remove the shout and tell versions and I don't mind them

Blujixapug

Jovolo said:

They seem like a demonstration of where this game is headed that I immensely dislike. So well done on the effort (?) put in for this, but I agree with OP generally.

That was my reaction. With Elementalism being an actual class skill in this game, I think it's poor form to sell 'makes you elemental' cosmetics. I'd have the same reaction if they sold falcon, homunculus, or baalzadeen minipets, or rainbow jammies that changed your race to Chaos Lord, or if I played a serpent since most of their unique traits are sold as arties already.

Special qualities are traditionally rationed in this game. But some of these messages are more imposing than what some Gods display. Moods to be happy or sad or skulk or strut are a nice idea, providing they're well-written, as they're a low-key way of acting out your character, an extension of roleplay. Moods that leave people silhouetted by Light, or whatever, arbitrarily award special qualities to people, and I don't think the benefits of allowing people to sparkle outweigh the downsides of diminishing that specialness with overexposure. I don't want to walk around and see everyone lit up like a Gaia Online avatar.

I don't have a problem with the dragon moods, because those are earned through bashing to 99.

Aepas

I honestly think these kinds of "Moods" should only be bestowed to players by divine.

Sena

I mostly love the mood system, and the idea of the elemental/dragon/non-mood moods. There are only two problems I have with the implementation.

The first is, as has been said plenty of times, the excessively powerful effects. Some of the messages for the elemental moods are very, very extreme. A lot of the flavour text needs to be drastically toned down, to the level of the dragon moods at least (which are much more subdued, despite having a good reason to be powerful). I could see these god-like moods fitting in certain places, for example I think they'd be fine if they were granted personally by a god (Vastar giving the wind mood to his OH, Twilight giving the shadow mood along with his truefavour, etc.).

The second problem is how they're acquired. I hate the idea of the actual moods (things like paranoid, predatory, rage) being purchasable (or potentially, as mentioned in the announce post, earned through quests or other methods). That's fine for the elemental moods, but in my opinion having to buy the normal moods is like having to buy the ability to wear scarves, or paying to use custom emotes with SIT. I can't think of any good reason for ordinary moods to not be publicly available for free.

Iocun

I think the exotic ones should become so commonplace that they lose any allure and people stop bothering to use them.

Jurixe

Sena said my thoughts word for word - down to the emotes part - so there you go!

Shirszae

I just think too many of the moods are rather bland in terms of writing.  Its like there is no middle way between over the top like the elemental moods and most of the normal ones. At least the elemental ones actually seemed to be written creatively, as opposed to just slapping a word with -ly and calling it a day.

Nim

I played on an alt last night, and got the impression that Achaea is turning into DBZ with the elemental moods. It's even more awkward that the elemental moods are completely unrelated to what the character actually is or does, so they're just this Gaia avatar thing.

Shirszae said:

I just think too many of the moods are rather bland in terms of writing.  Its like there is no middle way between over the top like the elemental moods and most of the normal ones. At least the elemental ones actually seemed to be written creatively, as opposed to just slapping a word with -ly and calling it a day.

I think the moods should be a bit simple and bland (edit: not bland, per say, but unimposing), but I agree that a mood that mostly just uses an adverb form is kind of pointless except for extending expressions to yells/shouts/tells/moving/etc., to which I wonder why not just add expressiveness to those mediums of communication?

Cooper

Very disappointing that they decided to try to money grab with over the top "moods" that don't fit the style or feel of the game. Should have stuck with very basic ones like happy and sad. With how quickly they rolled out the pay for moods you know the plan is to make new ones to try and sell

Aisling

I got so excited seeing the elemental moods since I play a magi, but now that I think about it maybe it would have been better if they were magi/sylvan moods and making moods for other classes too.

Nim

Yeah. If they wanted to make money off of it, they could've done a dumb thing where you have to pay to access your class mood or order mood or whatever, but letting people blatantly be things they are not is kind of jarring.

ETA: @Aisling: don't forget about blademasters. We use even more basic elements than you guys, so we should get more moods! Right? Right!

Cooper

Nim said:

Yeah. If they wanted to make money off of it, they could've done a dumb thing where you have to pay to access your class mood or order mood or whatever, but letting people blatantly be things they are not is kind of jarring.

ETA: @Aisling: don't forget about blademasters. We use even more basic elements than you guys, so we should get more moods! Right? Right!

They are making money off of it by introducing a crown sale and then only selling them for crowns. I bet credit sales are through the roof right now.

Nim

Cooper said:

Nim said:

Yeah. If they wanted to make money off of it, they could've done a dumb thing where you have to pay to access your class mood or order mood or whatever, but letting people blatantly be things they are not is kind of jarring.

ETA: @Aisling: don't forget about blademasters. We use even more basic elements than you guys, so we should get more moods! Right? Right!

They are making money off of it by introducing a crown sale and then only selling them for crowns. I bet credit sales are through the roof right now.

Ah, I meant "if they want to make money off of it in a way that's less ridiculous than the current way."

Aerek

As someone who plays a very reserved character, I really like the mood system. It helps me be guarded and formal with my words, but still communicate through body language and non-verbal cues, and I like that kind of nuance. There are a few moods that annoy me, just because it feels like every third character is walking around as a super-determined pimp/pirate, but I'll get over that just like I get over dumb voice/accents, which I'm also glad we have available. I don't care for the Dragon moods, myself, as they're just set-and-forget descriptors that don't really help your character communicate, but at least they make sense, as a Greater Dragon of that color.

The only ones that bother me are the elemental moods, things that just don't make any practical sense that I can puzzle out. Unless you're a Magi or in Deucalion's order, I just don't understand why you'd be on fire all the time, or why you're some kind of mortal incarnation of lightning. If I walk into the room and see someone feeling cheerful, or depressed, I can ask why and that could kick off a cool interaction. But I don't think I'll ever be be impressed by the answer I get if I ask someone, "So, why are you on fire?"

Lyndee

I am in the same boat, @Antonius - nothing would really be suitable to actually use and they can be a little bit of a turnoff to me. The writing on them is just over-the-top.

But I WANT to like them. I love that the admin put some time/energy into developing something with roleplay utility. The trouble is (this is why we can't have nice things..)  is that particularly once the newness wears off, people will get lazy and "set it and forget it" mood-wise. The same thing happens with voices, too, and it drive me nuts. You likely wouldn't really have a calm voice in battle, or a quiet voice when you're speaking to a group of 50 people.

The other thing about moods is they feel very social-media-y to me. 

My mid-teens goddaughter has developed a new trick on facebook where every time she posts something, inane though it may be, it's accompanied by a mood: 

-- feeling angry >:| or

-- feeling cheerful! etc.

I bet she'd love some brassy tones and glimmering unshed tears, but I'm not sure that's a good thing.

Mishgul

don't see an eyebrow mood

Trevize

Mishgul said:

don't see an eyebrow mood

Mishgul, using only his eyebrows to communicate, says "Hello!"

Tharvis

Trevize said:

Mishgul said:

don't see an eyebrow mood

Mishgul, using only his eyebrows to communicate, says "Yes."

ftfy

Gog

Maybe it should just be actual moods and not psuedo-powers. Even then, I say less stuff that encourage people not to write their own detailed emotes.

Nim

Yeah. When I suggested dragon moods, I was hoping for some draconic rage sort of thing, where you're angry in an extraordinarily confident way. Like going super saiyan without the silly hair change or the aura. Instead, they gave people the hair change and the aura, and left out the attitude.

Melodie

Just to throw in my two cents:

I designed the water mood which I probably got a little excited with and based partly on the other elemental moods already in existance. While trying to keep it subtle (I might have failed here somewhat), it wasn't until after I designed and submitted it (and it got approved) that I realized that it was going to be strange to run into people using them for little to no reason. Thankfully, the only person I've run into it with is Kross. Still, it really does seem strange to allow non-elementalists to have it (or perhaps Orders with affinities to certain elements, I.E. Deucalion for fire, Neraeos for water, etc).

I was very excited about moods since "some sort of posing system" had been an idea for a year or two now, but for it to come out this way, with normalish moods being paid for, some of them very bland and template-like, some of them way over the top, it just seems somewhat gimmicky and a way to endorse credit sales. Which is sad, since this seems like a great avenue to increasing roleplay for everyone, but especially the people who prefer a more subtle lifestyle.

Hopefully maybe they'll open up moods to be edited by players. I suggested some improvements to serene, for instance, but they never really got approved which kind of leaves my favourite default mood bland. The good news is, there's -plenty- of room for improvement, should it be allowed.

Iocun

Melodie said:

I was very excited about moods since "some sort of posing system" had been an idea for a year or two now

That's actually the thing I'm somewhat disappointed about. I was hoping for actual physical poses, not emotions. "Moods" can already be displayed reasonably well with what we had so far (expressiveness, emotes), as it makes sense that you'd primarily be able to detect someone's mood while he's actually speaking or doing something, but physical poses such as leaning against a tree, sitting cross-legged on the floor, pointing a spear at someone's throat, or leaning onto a cane can't currently be used at all in such a way that they would appear as a constant thing in room descriptions and seen by someone entering.

Kayeil

There are things I do and don't like about it. A posing system would be a lot cooler, one similar to maybe what Aetolia has. It's more reasonable, and also more customisable. Makes RP more in-depth, too. Our emote system is already similar to Aetolia's, why not just adopt the posing system from there, too?

Jarrod

My only complaints about moods are:

1) I can't disable seeing the moods of others

2) People that aren't the Shadow Matrix can use the Shadow mood

Silas

Big fan of the idea, but the implementation leaves a lot to be desired. Making moods pay-for collectibles also seems pretty distasteful, in that it's turning Achaea into Fable or GTA, except the crappy outfits and haircuts you collect have a huge impact on your character and how everybody (forcibly, despite rules against forcing reactions from others) reacts to your character.

Not a fan as they are, and not impressed by what this signals for the potential direction IRE are taking with credit sales if this is an indication to go by. Disappointing, given that the idea has a lot of promise.

Sarapis

Silas said:

 (forcibly, despite rules against forcing reactions from others) 

Sorry, what? I've looked at the moods and I don't see where they're forcing your character to feel a particular emotion.