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Let's get happy!

All Over But The Shouting, Continued...

First, it may be important to briefly define the "shout." Simply speaking, the shout command allows you to broadcast what you are typing in your text box to everyone in your current zone. When you "hear" a shout it appears in your text box with red letters and the statement is preceded with the name of the person shouting (Newbie1 shouts 'blah blah blah').

Practically speaking, shouting has many advantages. As illustrated in the above example, shouting can come in real handy when you were unexpectedly waxed by a pride of lions while wandering in the East Commonlands. Not knowing where your corpse is at higher levels can be frustrating. When you consider the time and energy it takes to collect armor and other valuables, the last thing you want to do is lose them because you can't remember where you perished. So it is understandable that someone might resort to standing there shouting for directions from anyone in the zone that might have seen their lost corpse.

Shouting also appears to be quite valuable for those looking to quickly assemble an adventuring party. "Any 4-6th level clerics who want to party meet at the South Gate." If you've been adventuring in Norrath for more than an hour you have "heard" a shout like this and maybe you even responded to it.

The shout can also help out when one of those rare, deadly beasties is on the prowl. Having spent a lot of time in the East Commonlands, I've seen this shout on more than one occasion: "there's a Griffin near the second inn!" You better believe that if I was by the second inn I started spinning around trying to get a visual on the mystical creature so I could run in the opposite direction.

All of these examples are very obvious and worthy applications for the shout channel. Sometimes, however, I believe the implications of the shout on other role-players is forgotten. Serious role-players, like myself, enter Norrath to immerse themselves in another world. While in this world, role-players want the experience to be fun and as real as possible. With this in mind, it is easy to see how the shout can become a destructive nuisance to the serious role-player.

It is unrealistic to assume that I would be able to hear someone shouting from the opposite end of the zone. For that matter, even if I could hear someone shouting for the location of their corpse, nine times out of ten I have absolutely no idea where their corpse is. It is my philosophy that if you want to talk to me you will come find me and talk to me face to face using the "say" (white) form of dialogue.

Aside from being unrealistic, the shout also has a tendency to clutter up the dialogue box. With all the spell descriptions, battle statistics, emotes and "say" dialogue flying through the text screen, the last thing I need passing before my eyes is Newbie1 shouting about his frustration with the packet loss.

In conclusion, I have a few suggestions about the shout. If you are going to shout, keep it to a minimum. Shout only when it is totally necessary. Use it to add flavor to the game (i.e.: a blood curdling battle cry), rather than using it to tell the zone about your displeasure with the lag. If you want to meet up with adventuring partners, see who is in the zone and use the "tell" command to hook up with them. Keep in mind that while shouting can be an effective tool for communicating with people in the zone; not everyone wants to hear what you are shouting about. Finally, if you are a role-player looking for realism, do what I did. . . filter the shout out!

By Brulane Arongrith
Paladin & Scribe of Freeport