Lusternia communication

Kethaera

I tend to do a lot of assignments about IRE games, and this particular one ended up being more interesting than expected(at least to me). So I'm curious if anyone has any thoughts or other examples of how this works: 

In Lusternia, an online text game I frequently play, there are examples of non-communication common in any online community (Use of capitals, pauses, or emoticons), but many of the other uses are a form of metacommunication.

                In the game, characters communicate actions to each other to simulate real-world non-verbal communication. For example, descriptions of facial expressions, posture, pitch or tone of voice, eye contact, etc. All of these are deliberately chosen by the players to convey a particular mood or emphasize a ‘spoken’ thought- in other words, players are required to interpret non-verbal communication in everyday life and decode it into written language. The receiver(other player) must then correctly interpret the words into the meaning associated with the non-verbal act (I.E., smiling expresses happiness). Individuals skilled at reading other’s visual cues in public settings- and writing- tend to be better at this.

                Because the communication is direct, expressing a particular non-verbal cue is often faster, but there is difficulty trying to replicate the degree of information that comes from a face-to-face conversation. Attempting to describe tone, posture, gestures, eye movements, accents, expression, etc., at the same rate as we would normally receive it would result in too much information, and be impossible to keep track of. At the same time, the lack of those cues can result in miscommunication and confusion.

                Negotiating that balance requires metacommunication about what is considered the most important in non-verbal communication. To make it easier, standard conventions are created within the game: Certain ways of expressing actions and emotion become preferred(called pre-set emotes), and an understanding about the flow of conversation/actions replaces turn-taking signals, or non-verbal cues as to whose turn it is to speak. Generally, one player speaks or acts (a short written paragraph), and the other waits, alternating back and forth.

Daraius

You already hit on what I think is the key here: in Lusternia we choose exactly what we want our audience to see and hear. In real life communication, there's all kinds of non-verbal signalling going on, not all of it under conscious control. We can subconsciously pick up and interpret a subtle quirk of the eyebrows or a darting glance or a change in pitch that the speaker (and even listener) might not be aware of. There's none of this in text game communication unless the speaker/writer wants to express it. So ultimately we have a finer degree of control over how our words are interpreted. 

Have you considered discussing tells or aethers? It's framed as telepathic communication, which in the real world most likely wouldn't use words at all. But in Lusternia it's actually less robust than says because you don't get the emotes or prefaces with every line. It's purely verbal.

I play Daraius as having a very hard time interpreting non-verbal cues. He has to study somebody very carefully to understand their body language, can't make distinctions between different kinds of smiles, takes meaning only from the words being spoken rather than the tone or expression the speaker uses, sometimes tries and fails to mirror people's facial expressions. As for his own gestures (most of which come from me just watching my dog in different situations!), they're supposed to be opaque, even though he is all about being genuine and honest. Bared teeth could be a smile or a snarl, flattened ears might indicate wariness or embarrassment or anger, the tail signals some degree of contentment or happiness or excitement. You look at a dog and you can kind of tell what's going through his head, but not really. That's the feel I go for with Dar by avoiding most pre-set emotes that explicitly express an emotion. 

..which probably makes it frustrating to talk to him.

Tacita

How much to give/not to give in non-verbal communication is basically the single most difficult thing about text-based roleplaying. There's a balance between "I'm giving you so little that you cannot possibly work out what's going on with me or react to me" and "I am giving you EVERYTHING thus ruining any mystery/spoonfeeding you my plot & character" and it's really, really tough to find.

Kethaera

Daraius said:

You already hit on what I think is the key here: in Lusternia we choose exactly what we want our audience to see and hear. In real life communication, there's all kinds of non-verbal signalling going on, not all of it under conscious control. We can subconsciously pick up and interpret a subtle quirk of the eyebrows or a darting glance or a change in pitch that the speaker (and even listener) might not be aware of. There's none of this in text game communication unless the speaker/writer wants to express it. So ultimately we have a finer degree of control over how our words are interpreted. 

Have you considered discussing tells or aethers? It's framed as telepathic communication, which in the real world most likely wouldn't use words at all. But in Lusternia it's actually less robust than says because you don't get the emotes or prefaces with every line. It's purely verbal.

I play Daraius as having a very hard time interpreting non-verbal cues. He has to study somebody very carefully to understand their body language, can't make distinctions between different kinds of smiles, takes meaning only from the words being spoken rather than the tone or expression the speaker uses, sometimes tries and fails to mirror people's facial expressions. As for his own gestures (most of which come from me just watching my dog in different situations!), they're supposed to be opaque, even though he is all about being genuine and honest. Bared teeth could be a smile or a snarl, flattened ears might indicate wariness or embarrassment or anger, the tail signals some degree of contentment or happiness or excitement. You look at a dog and you can kind of tell what's going through his head, but not really. That's the feel I go for with Dar by avoiding most pre-set emotes that explicitly express an emotion. 

..which probably makes it frustrating to talk to him.

Ha... it is frustrating to talk to @Daraius, based on my one attempt at it. Interesting though, I didn't know if you were doing it deliberately or not, but I had a hard time figuring out whether you were angry with me or annoyed or happy or just bored.

Tells/channels are often difficult to explain for communication- whenever I've tried writing stories set in aetolia/lusternia, I deliberately avoid mentioning them, simply because I have no idea how to explain them outside the game world. I should think in actual telepathic conversation, you could get some impression of how the other person is feeling, or communicate via pictures. I've found that tells are also easily misinterpreted(unless you use a LOT of words) exactly because they're purely verbal.

I agree that we have more control over how we're interpreted, but only if we're capable of explaining well how we want to be interpreted. It's a little complicated trying to express "unconscious" behaviors consciously.

Xeria

I think you might want to talk to @gabriella or @zouviqil. Both of 'em in my opinion do a really good job of it.

@azus as well. She tops 'em all. 

Everiine

@Gabriella has made me step up in my game in communication and RP, so definitely talk to her.

Kethaera

Everiine said:

@Gabriella has made me step up in my game in communication and RP, so definitely talk to her.

Talk to @Gabriella? Me? Such a strange concept...

I mean, other than her being one of my favorite people.

Arsalil

Kethaera said:

I had a hard time figuring out whether you were angry with me or annoyed or happy or just bored.

Don't worry. This is me, every time I talk to @Daraius. I think I am starting to get a little better at interpreting, but still question it many times.

Gabriella

Kethaera said:

Everiine said:

@Gabriella has made me step up in my game in communication and RP, so definitely talk to her.

Talk to @Gabriella? Me? Such a strange concept...

I mean, other than her being one of my favorite people.

AWWWW.  Thanks for the vote of confidence! @Xeria @Everiine and @Kethaera, I've noticed that you're all very good at the non-verbal as well, it's always fun to interact with you.

@Kethaera, if there's anything I could do to help you with this (I'll admit, I'm not exactly sure what you're looking for) - because it seems you've already gotten some good feedback.  I'd be happy to do whatever I can though!

(You're one of my favorite people too. )

I would also suggest talking with @Irillia and @Zyphora.  They're both very good at it.

Daraius

I didn't get the sense she was looking for advice on stepping up her game, just thoughts on her thesis. I'd be interested what exactly the assignment was. Also... I guess I'm chuffed that Dar is a little inscrutable, but sorry if it's annoying. ">

Kethaera

Gabriella said:

@Kethaera, if there's anything I could do to help you with this (I'll admit, I'm not exactly sure what you're looking for) - because it seems you've already gotten some good feedback.  I'd be happy to do whatever I can though!

(You're one of my favorite people too. )

I would also suggest talking with @Irillia and @Zyphora.  They're both very good at it.

Aww, thanks. For me, it's mostly just an interesting thought- why and how we do what we do. My biggest problem with roleplay is more related to being easily intimidated by people I don't know.

And most of those Hallifaxians do seem pretty cool.

Kethaera

Daraius said:

I didn't get the sense she was looking for advice on stepping up her game, just thoughts on her thesis. I'd be interested what exactly the assignment was. Also... I guess I'm chuffed that Dar is a little inscrutable, but sorry if it's annoying. ">

Not at all. I would have said earlier, I think it's brilliant for him being ambassador. I felt like I was talking to him a lot more and being nicer than I would have otherwise, just to try to get @Dararius to respond in some "normal" way to figure out what the heck he was thinking. Being inscrutable isn't a bad thing, and frustrating isn't the same as annoying. 

The assignment was to discuss the concept of non-verbal communication... very vague, really, writing about Lusternia made it, I dunno, easier.

Gabriella

Daraius said:

I didn't get the sense she was looking for advice on stepping up her game, just thoughts on her thesis. I'd be interested what exactly the assignment was. Also... I guess I'm chuffed that Dar is a little inscrutable, but sorry if it's annoying. ">

Oh, I understood that.  It just seemed like she was getting good feedback for her assignment, I meant.  And Daraius is awesome, btw.

Ileein

This is actually one reason I quite like playing a Lucidian. Outside of their color-coded emotion glows, almost the entirety of their communication is verbal. It allows me to focus solely on expressing myself with words, though I imagine it must cause terrible trouble for poor Daraius.

Maligorn

Ileein said:

This is actually one reason I quite like playing a Lucidian. Outside of their color-coded emotion glows, almost the entirety of their communication is verbal. It allows me to focus solely on expressing myself with words, though I imagine it must cause terrible trouble for poor Daraius.

Oh, cause he can't see colors. Teehee.

I will also add my name to the list of people who get confused by Daraius. When his eyes dim it's like the entire world's ending but actually it's [data redacted, find out for yourself]. still love him doe xo

Maellio

It intrigues me that I feel like I'm the only one who doesn't find Daraius confusing at all to interpret...

Turnus

Yeah I don't feel like I do either. Either that or I'm just totally misinterpreting him.