A neat little piece of easy-to-program material would be RP Classes. Many times people will pick regular classes to suit their (or their characters') personalities, anyway; I'm a nurturing person or not really into combat, so I'll be an empath (in the DR sense), or I'm ruthless and like getting into trouble, so I'll be a rogue. This would just be an extension of that use of class as self expression. These could be choosable on character creation or in game, and would represent your character's personality; in order to switch to another one, you might have to go through some kind of quest. After all, a dramatic change in personality doesn't happen at the snap of your fingers.

Here are some examples: the Noble and the Clown. Each comes with exclusive titles, emotes that either differ from existing emotes or are altogether unique to that class, and maybe even some small article of clothing to serve as a class "badge." The Noble, for his part, can use the customary Sir/Madam and Lord/Lady titles, and has access to such emotes as "/snub": "Character gives you a fleeting glance, then quickly turns away" or "/tsk": "Character clucks her tongue, clearly weary of your company." Her special piece of fluff might be a pair of white gloves, which for female characters would reach to the elbow.

The Clown, on the other hand, might be called "[Name] the Trickster (if you have post titles, which I presume you will) or "The infamous [Name]," or even "[Name] (yes, that [Name])." Wow, I hope you can wade through all that punctuation safely. My bad. The Clown could use the "/honk" emote: "Character whips out an air horn. Everyone instinctively covers their ears" or maybe "/grin," which would offer one of my favorite emotes ever: "Character grins like an idiot." The clown, for his piece of fluff, could have what else but a jester's hat.

There might be someting like a dozen of these, and more if the "GM Army" so chooses.  They would, in  my opinion, greatly enhance the opportunity for roleplay that MMOs to date sorely lack.

   Well, I don't think it would really add to the RP. At least, in my opinion, anyways... I'd rather just see the emotes and stuff avaiable to everyone. That way, if someone were feeling a particular way, they could act it. You know, clowns have to be serious sometimes, and nobles can't always be bastards.

   Anyway, that's just my two bits, so... yeah...

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Originally posted by Kuzzle

   Well, I don't think it would really add to the RP. At least, in my opinion, anyways... I'd rather just see the emotes and stuff avaiable to everyone. That way, if someone were feeling a particular way, they could act it. You know, clowns have to be serious sometimes, and nobles can't always be bastards.

   Anyway, that's just my two bits, so... yeah...

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It's true that people don't have to have such a typecast role, but that's not really what I'm suggesting here. I'm talking about personalities, not moods. Nobles aren't always bastards, but chances are they aren't going to be walking around with oversized shoes and whoopie cushions, either, nor will clowns tend to look down their noses at anyone. I suggest this as a means of extending the ways we give our character life beyond the mechanical. Wearing those special gloves or using that special emote would be a way of signaling to everyone "Hey, I'm this sort of person, try to play along with that" in a way that a universal emote rarely could. While it's not entirely fair to have some people using an emote while others do not, that is, after all, the reason I suggested the option of switching at a minimum cost.