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Expressing Emotions
Posted: 23 Jan 2004 11:50 PM |
((Now I'm not sure about posting this, as all the players I've met so far in the game are good roleplayers, but I found it very interesting and think it may be of use to first timers. Maybe old timers can take something from it too. The whole thing is lifted from a Post in the old Exaria Forums I found. Thanks to Amun Quoi for this I'll continue your thread here, I think its the best on roleplay I've read.))
Expressing Emotions
In real life, humans express emotions all the time. Most of the time we don't even notice it. We are constantly monitoring others for emotional signals. In Exaria, however, a character is totally devoid of expression unless the player makes a conscious effort to express emotions. There are no facial expressions to see, there is no tone to the voice of a character, there is no body language transmitted.
Emotion Is Not Expression
One thing you should be careful with when expressing emotions is to separate emotion from expression. Emotion is what your character feels inside, expression is what he shows to others.
Ekman and Friesen [1] define five types of expressions:
- Emblems
- Illustrators
- Regulators
- Affect displays
- Adaptors
Emblems
Emblems are more commonly known as gestures. A gesture can be, for example, holding out a hand palm outwards to express "stop", or pointing a finger to show direction, or raising the middle finger.
Illustratos
Illustrators usually accompany speech, and vary in intensity according to excitement. For example, an excited person will wave their hands, an angry person will shake their fist, and so on. They emphasize and illustrate the emotion in a visual manner.
Regulators
Regulators are used socially to keep the flow of the interaction going. Regulators can be, for example, nods to encourage another person to keep talking.
Affect Displays
Affect displays express emotions as such. Most of them are facial expressions, such as smiling and frowning.
Adaptors
Adaptors are actions of touching oneself, usually in anxiety or inner conflict. For example, brushing one's hair and rubbing one's neck are expressions of social anxiety and insecurity that most people express quite often. A more extreme example is wrapping one's arms around oneself and retracting to a foetal position in extreme fear.
Of these expressions, only affect displays express emotions directly.
Voluntary and Involuntary Expressions
Humans are capable of faking and masking emotional expressions quite intricately. A person can smile both voluntarily and involuntarily. An involuntary smile occurs when the person is happy. But one can also smile when one is told to smile, however, the quality of the smile is not the same. An involuntary smile consists of three separate actions: turning the corners of the mouth upwards, contracting the muscles surrounding the eyes, and relaxing lip muscles to allow parting of lips. Most people can fake a smile using only their mouth, but their eyes "do not smile along". In fact, a fake smile is usually used to mask a different expression, perhaps of anxiety, or even anger. Humans are also quite good at spotting these fake smiles.
Practical Examples
Remember that variety is good. If you keep using the same expression over and over, its meaning will disappear.
Emblems
*points towards the woods*
*throws hands up in the air*
*scrutinizes*
*looks [person] up and down*
*twiddles thumbs*
*licks lips*
*extends hand*
*places hand on shoulder*
Illustrators
*flails arms wildly while explaining*
*slumps*
*shakes fist*
*strokes sword*
*strikes table*
... and the fish was THIIIS big! *shows*
Regulators
*nods*
*shrugs*
*shakes head*
*smiles encouragingly*
*raises eyebrows*
Affect Displays
*smiles*
*furrows brow*
*raises eyebrows*
*raises one eyebrow*
*widens eyes*
*sticks out tongue*
*wrinkles nose*
*drops jaw*
You can emphasize the fact that affect displays are involuntary by changing the subject of the expressions to the involved body parts. This makes it seem that you can't control the expressions.
*eyes widen*
*jaw drops*
*nose wrinkles*
*brow furrows*
Adaptors
*scratches head*
*strokes beard*
*rubs neck*
*brushes hair*
*places arms akimbo*
*holds left arm*
*bites fingernails*
Don't show them your true self
Giving away too much information can be counter-productive. If you explain your emotions too much, that is playing other people's characters, which is not good. Here are some examples of using expressions instead of emotions. Instead of typing out your emotions directly, like on the left side, think about how it shows on the outside, and use the expression on the right side instead.
Emotion (wrong) -> Expression (right)
*looks angry* -> *frowns and bares teeth*
*looks happy* -> *smiles with mouth and eyes*
*fake smile* -> *smiles with mouth only*
Expressing Tone of Voice
There is one more important non-speech way of conveying emotions. The tone of your voice. While you can type out words in NWN with ease, you cannot convey information on the tone of your voice. This causes frequent misunderstandings, because many sentences can be interpreted differently based on the tone of voice. This is why sarcasm on the Internet fails nearly every time.
I propose a system where you type an adverb or an adjective that describes your tone of voice in front of the sentence you are saying. Here are some examples that show how the tone of voice can change the meaning of one sentence:
*defiant* I will prevail!
*doubtful* I will prevail!
*patronizing* Come on, no need for weapons...
*fearful* Come on, no need for weapons...
*worried* Come on, no need for weapons...
*persuasive* Come on, no need for weapons...
*suspicious* Are you sure?
*amazed* Are you sure?
*laughing* Are you sure?
*sarcastic* Are you sure?
*excited* Have you heard about the dragon in the valley?
*whispering* Have you heard about the dragon in the valley?
*scoffing* Have you heard about the dragon in the valley?
*questioning* Have you heard about the dragon in the valley?
*demanding* Have you heard about the dragon in the valley?
__________________
References:
1. Ekman, P. & Friesen, W.V. 1969. The repertoire of nonverbal behavior: categories, origins, usage and coding. Semiotica, 1, 49-98.
_________________
Amun Quoi
If you could see all the roads I have travelled towards some unusable last equilibrium...
Additional personalities:
Ailindar Winterflame
Yark Halfbone
Last edited by Amun Quoi on Mon May 26, 2003 7:57 am, edited 1 time in total |
Current Characters - Worik the Wanderer, Joda Zod, and Kango.
"Why do you wear that stupid bunny suit?" |
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Re: Expressing Emotions
Posted: 24 Jan 2004 01:09 AM |
| *excitedly* This is great stuff Dubya. Interesting and helpful. Thanks *smiles with mouth and eyes* |
~Alosynth
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Re: Expressing Emotions
Posted: 24 Jan 2004 09:35 AM |
| Good stuff. I'll be sure to try and remember it. *Scratches chin* And, while I'm at it, I'll take a blade to my face again. |
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Re: Expressing Emotions
Posted: 24 Jan 2004 10:30 AM |
Cool stuffs! There are additional references that folks may be interested in reading...
Peck (1987) Atlas of Facial Expression: An Account of Facial Expression for Artists, Actors, and Writers., Oxford University Press: Oxford. This is a real fun book about facial expressions to the minute detail. It's fun because you can get a mirror and do along :O
Lee, Charlton (1980) The Hand Book: Interpreting Handshakes, Gestures, Power Signals, and Sexual Signs, Prentice-Hall: New Jersey. This is a light and much not academic read, but covers just about all kinds of hand-gestures you may see people doing consciously or otherwise.
The above have call numbers of BF 591 and BF 908 respectively. For some funny reason, books on acting actually seems to have less actual definitions for expressions/gestures; those are, strangely, explicitly described in therapist books (look for Joseph O'Connor, NLP Workbook or Home Study Course or something).
I'll type some sections from 'em in when my neck stop hurting that badly.
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Aria
So talented, so troubled. |
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Re: Expressing Emotions
Posted: 24 Jan 2004 07:29 PM |
| Hmm... are you suggesting that we learn to make a number of obscene gestures via emotes? *grin* |
Dieties preserve us from the evil chaotics named Lag, Crash, and Server Reset.
PCs: Loli Dankirk (Ftr 18/Brd 8.5 @ 1777 hrs) left Vives for Origins; Gnora Gnombody (Sor 5 @ 54 hrs) and Amanda Stark (Wiz 3 @ ~10 hrs) left Vives for Feline Providence. |
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Re: Expressing Emotions
Posted: 24 Jan 2004 10:21 PM |
| I would imagin it would be quite humourous to watch someone reading that Peck book. I know I can't help but try and imitate the certain expressions they are talking about when I read such passages. |
~Alosynth
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Re: Expressing Emotions
Posted: 25 Jan 2004 07:52 AM |
I would imagin it would be quite humourous to watch someone reading that Peck book. I know I can't help but try and imitate the certain expressions they are talking about when I read such passages.
- Try making a crease on the bridge of your nose, between your eyes. That one took me quite awhile to master 
--
Anyways. Here's some greeting gestures from Lee.
Eyebrow Flash. You open your face to the other by raising your brows and opening your eyes. "In the first phase, the greeter looks at his acquaintance, raises his lids slightly, and sometimes putss his head back a little. In the second stage - an instant later - the eyebrows are raised and the eyes opened widely."
Vocal Salutation. Dogs bark, horses nicker, cats hiss, pigs (and orcs) grunt. Humans do all these and more, given the right circumstances.
Total prostration.
Genuflecting. To bend the right knee to the floor and rise again as a gesture of religious respect, particularly in a Roman Catholic or Anglican church.
Clicking heels.
Kissing hands, hems, rings.
Salutation. With an open palm, cane, sword; tip hats with a nod.
Then there's a-several ethnic ones...
Fold hands and bow heads in greeting. (supposingly Orientals do that?)
Folding the arms across the chest. (supposingly Arab)
Touching the forehead with the right hand. (supposingly Hindu)
Straigten right arm. (Think Nazi and Romans)
Different ways of "waving"...
Grasp. From a closed fist, to an splayed, outstretched open palm and repeat.
The Chattering Teeth. Holding the right arm up, with the fingers imitating a set of chattering teeth. (Hmm, this looks very slimy when done by guys... they seem to be always the type that gives simultaneously little gourami kisses  )
Mild wrist wave. Typically Anglo-Saxon, this is a very moderate wave with the slightest of bend at the wrist level, holding the fingers together and the forearm in place.
Window Wiper. Y'know, you swing the forearms as well?
The single wipe. The hand movement is like the window wiper; but you follow also with the body. Performed only once (otherwise you look really like a fool )
The Scout Salute.
The Mock Salute. The index finger touch briefly the brows, then smartly removed.
The Point. This is a simple point with the index finger, can be done with either the wrist facing the ground, or to your left (assuming you're gesturing with your right). The version with the palm facing up is quite rude.
Handshakes. Much of it is in the tone of contact (whether you feels warm/cool, moist/dry...)
The Basic. A restrained, noncommittal, relatively brief clasping of hand with one beat movement (down and up).
The False Macho. The hand-wringer, bone-crushing done by those who equates pounds of pressure with degree of masculinity. (think Fen )
The Finger Shake. The person (usually female) offers one, two, or three fingers in a reserved, sometimes merely timid, fashion.
The Dead Fish. Cold, clammy, weak and indifferent. Very yucky
El Politico. The two-handed, overly sincere handshake. The right hand grabs yours, but the left hand takes its place along the wrist/forearm/elbow/bicep/shoulder/neck in a fashion. Can be interpreted as sincere, manipulative, or intimidating.
The Brother A two-part handshake and clasp... think how the athletes greet. Requires quite abit of coordination and understanding on both parts.
Then, of course, there's a variety of Hugs, bows, and curtseys...
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Aria
So talented, so troubled. |
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Re: Expressing Emotions
Posted: 02 Feb 2004 03:46 AM |
Some other concrete, role-play ready gestures... of course, these are just mine! Typed it in Excel... would format it later.
Emotion Body Parts Gesture
sympathy Eye, Lips She shuts her eyes, her lips compressed
sympathy Hand, knee (while sitting) She bends over and pats him on the knee
sympathy Head She slowly shakes her head as she averts and lowers her gaze
Trust Hand handshake; warm clasping of his hand between both of hers
Wisdom Chin, Finger She holds (grasps) her chin with the thumbside of her fist.
Shyness Cheek, Finger She places the tip of her index finger against her cheeks.
Shyness Cheek, Hand She places her left palm on her cheeks
Shyness Finger She places the tip of her index finger vertically against her lips
Shyness Hand She folds her hands in her lap.
Shyness Lips, Teeth She lightly bites her lower lips.
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Aria
So talented, so troubled. |
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