User:Warriorstar/Communicating In-Game

Communicating with other players is one of the most important skills in the game.

Paradise is a medium-RP server, and so your interactions with those around you matter. You're not expected to constantly roleplay to the highest level or remain completely serious, but try to maintain immersion and don't interrupt people who enjoy roleplaying on a higher level than you do.

Most of the time your character will be speaking out loud. This allows anyone within earshot to hear you. However, you will often want to use common or department comms, shout through a megaphone, use a wall-mounted intercom, or speak a different language. This page shows examples of how to do all of these things. These examples assume that you are in hotkey mode. If the chat bar at the bottom of your screen is red, you are not in hotkey mode. To toggle hotkey mode, press TAB.

When in hotkey mode, pressing T opens your speech input.

To speak out loud, simply enter your message.

You type	You get
Oh boy! My first day!	Gary Cassidy shouts, "Oh boy! My first day!"

To whisper, prefix your message with :w. Whispers can only be heard clearly when standing directly next to the speaker. Anyone farther away will be told that you're whispering something and will be able to see a letter of two of what you're saying.

You type	You get
:w I'm a Syndicate traitor.
	If the listener is next to you:
	Gary Cassidy whispers quietly, "I'm a Syndicate traitor."
	If the listener is further away:
	Gary Cassidy whispers quietly, "*********;* * *yn*i***e t**it***"

To speak in a different language, prefix your message with the language prefix.

You type	You get
:0 Glory to Nanotrasen!
	If the listener knows the language:
	Gary Cassidy wubs, "Glory to Nanotrasen!"
	If the listener does not know the language:
	Gary Cassidy wubs, "Narf honknorf zub honk!"

To narrate your character's action in an emote, use the M hotkey.

You type	You get
rolls his eyes.	Gary Cassidy rolls his eyes.

Certain emotes exist in-game and may come with sound effects as well.

You type	You get
*scream	Gary Cassidy screams.
*flip	Gary Cassidy does a flip!

Depending on your species, you may have more emotes. Type *help to see all of the emotes available to your character.

To speak through a megaphone, use it in your hand (Z in hotkey mode). This gives you a similar dialog box to the speech input dialog.

You type	You get
Glory to Nanotrasen!	Gary Cassidy broadcasts, "Glory to Nanotrasen!"

Headsets and Comms

Department Prefixes

Common	;
Security	:s
Command	:c
Engineering	:e
Supply	:u
Medical	:m
Science	:n
Service	:z
Procedure	:x

Your headset is one of the most important pieces of equipment you will acquire onboard SS13.

The headset is worn on your ear, and is used to converse with other crew members who are not in your immediate vicinity. All radio equipment is set to a frequency and will only communicate with other equipment set to that frequency. The screwdriver can be used on a headset to withdraw that headset's encryption keys, which are what allows them to speak on certain frequencies, and can be then deposited into other headsets.

To speak on common comms, use the ; prefix.

You type	You get
; Glory to Nanotrasen!	[Common] [Librarian] Gary Cassidy exclaims, "Glory to Nanotrasen!"

To speak to a department, prefix your message with the department prefix.

Using the :h prefix will automatically choose the most important channel available to your headset. Also, note that # and . can be used in place of the colon. If you forget which letter corresponds to which department, you can always examine your headset to figure it out.

You type	You get
:z Hello to the service department.	[Service] [Librarian] Gary Cassidy says, "Hello to the service department."

To use a wall-mounted intercom, stand near it and use the :i prefix.

To perform an action on comms, prefix your message with the comms prefix followed by an exclamation point.

You type	You get
;!laughs maniacally.	[Common] [Librarian] Gary Cassidy laughs maniacally.

You can switch back and forth between languages in a single message, by using a language prefix anywhere in the message.

You type	You get
; Today we will :0 steal the rapier :9 from the :0 Captain's Office.	If the listener knows the language:
	[Common] [Librarian] Gary Cassidy says, "Today we will steal the rapier from the Captain's office."
	If the listener does not know the language:
	[Common] [Librarian] Gary Cassidy says, "Today we will Squeakbonkwee bonk from the Wee norf wee toot wub. Toot."

Keep in mind that the AI has the ability to automatically translate all languages spoken over comms!

To use a megaphone on comms:

1. Enable the hotmic on a station-bounced radio.
2. Place the radio on the ground nearby.
3. Use the megaphone.

You type	You get
Glory to Nanotrasen!	[Common] [Librarian] Gary Cassidy exclaims, "Glory to Nanotrasen!"

Metacommunication

There are two ways to communicate with other players directly, rather than in-character.

OOC allows you to speak out-of-character to all other players. In hotkey mode, press O to speak in OOC. his can be used to ask about game mechanics and other things not concerning the game. Try not to mention events happening in the game in OOC, as everyone can see it; revealing too much about the current round is a good way to get banned.

OOC: AwesomePlayer: good luck on this round everyone!

LOOC allows you to speak out-of-characters to all players whose characters are close to yours. LOOC has no hotkey. To type in LOOC, type LOOC in the chat box, then type your message. This is useful for asking out-of-character questions to nearby players, or attempting to cooperate to resolve a glitch. Avoid using LOOC to discuss the current events, or using it as an attempt to circumvent IC, for example by threatening to contact the admins if someone doesn't do what you say.

LOOC: Gary Cassidy/(AwesomePlayer): anyone else experiencing a lot of lag?