Lord Of The Rings Online: Express Yourself: Emotes in The Lord of the Rings Online™: Shadows of Angmar™

Today we get to a closer look at emotes in game:

Self-expression is an essential part of any MMO, and "emotes," character actions accompanied by a description, and often an animation, are a fun way to emphasize your character's mood and convey information.

Emotes can be activated by typing the appropriate "slash command" in the chat window, or by accessing the full emote list via the small gold button on the bottom left of your chat window:

Emote Menu

For example, a player who needs to step away from playing LOTRO for some trivial real-world function - phone call, laundry, etc. - can choose the afk emote from the chat menu (/bio is available for calls of nature). His nearby friends will see, "Dhalin goes AFK.", and will know that their Minstrel is not simply ignoring their frantic calls for help, but has stepped "away from keyboard". Dhalin's fellowship will appreciate this gesture of courtesy, and will surely thank him upon his return.

Some emotes are "persistent", meaning they will remain in effect indefinitely until the player performs another movement action, while some must be entered every time one wishes to use them. An example of a persistent emote is /dance, which will cause Lilly the hobbit to begin dancing a merry jig. She will continue to dance, into the wee hours of the morning, without having to type /dance again unless she cancels the emote by another movement. Emotes like /cough or /shakefist will result in a quick cough or fist-shake, and must be typed again to repeat the action, i.e., /cough /cough /cough /cough (if /cough persists, you should go /afk and see a doctor, or at least /drink some /cough syrup).

You can also make custom emote text by using /e, as in, "/e gobbles down a mushroom pie hungrily." Nearby players will see, "Lilly gobbles down a mushroom pie hungrily.", though luckily, no animation will accompany this greedy spectacle of midnight snacking. Hobbits...

LOTRO offers a multitude of emotes with which to punctuate your in-game conversations and adventures. Below is a list of the initial emotes available to players:

Command	Description
afk	This emote indicates to others that you are away from your keyboard.
angry	This emote causes you to become angry.
beckon	This emote causes you to beckon.
beg	This emote causes you to beg.
bio	This emote tells others you are taking a short break to refresh yourself.
bored	This emote causes you to look bored.
bow	This emote causes you to bow.
cheer	This emote causes you to cheer.
confused	This emote causes you to appear confused.
cough	This emote causes you to cough.
cower	This emote causes you to cower in fear.
crazy	This emote causes you to mime insanity.
cry	This emote causes you to cry.
dance	This emote causes you to dance.
dance1	This emote causes you to dance.
dance2	This emote causes you to dance.
dance3	This emote causes you to dance.
drink	This emote causes you to drink.
dustoff	This emote causes you to dust yourself off.
eat	This emote causes you to eat.
faint	This emote causes you to faint.
flex	This emote causes you to flex.
flirt	This emote causes you to flirt.
impatient	This emote causes you to act impatient.
kiss	This emote causes you to blow a kiss.
kneel	This emote causes you to kneel.
laugh	This emote causes you to laugh.
lie down	This emote causes you to lie down.
look	This emote causes you to look around.
mock	This emote causes you to mock.
mood_angry	This changes your mood to angry.
mood_apprehensive	This changes your mood to apprehensive.
mood_calm	This changes your mood to calm.
mood_confused	This changes your mood to confused.
mood_fearful	This changes your mood to fearful.
mood_happy	This changes your mood to happy.
mood_mischievous	This changes your mood to mischievous
mood_sad	This changes your mood to sad.
mood_sleepy	This changes your mood to sleepy.
mood_solemn	This changes your mood to solemn.
mood_surprised	This changes your mood to surprised.
mourn	This emote causes you to mourn.
no	This emote causes you to indicate 'no'.
pick	This emote causes you to pick a wedgie.
point	This emote causes you to point.
pose	This emote causes you to pose heroically.
roar	This emote causes you to roar.
rude	This emote causes you to make a rude gesture.
sad	This emote causes you to become sad.
salute	This emote causes you to salute.
scold	This emote causes you to scold.
scratch	This emote causes you to scratch yourself.
shakefist	This emote causes you to shake your fist.
shrug	This emote causes you to shrug.
sigh	This emote causes you to sigh.
sit	This emote causes you to sit.
smackhead	This emote causes you to smack yourself.
smoke	This emote causes you to smoke.
smoke1	This emote causes you to choke on your pipe smoke.
surrender	This emote causes you to surrender.
talk	This emote causes you to talk.
tantrum	This emote causes you to throw a tantrum.
thank	This emote causes you to thank someone.
wave	This emote causes you to wave.
yes	This emote causes you to indicate 'yes'.

There are also additional, secret emotes not listed here! These special emotes must be acquired through the course of your adventures, so you'll just have to /look for them.