USS Freedom Generally Accepted Syntax Document:
Syntax is important in a chatroom and it goes beyond the simple use of smilies and other emoticons. Got it? :? Good. :)
The problem with chatroom environment is the lack of face to face contact to facilitate communication. Communication via text, especially text in a chat client, has a few quirks and intricacies to beware of in order for the players to understand one another.
Within the sim you will want to direct your character to perform a variety of tasks as well as interact verbally with the other players, both in and out of character. Outside the sim, ie: before and after play, the syntax guide is optional only. A guideline is laid out below.
Speech: All simple text entered into the chatroom is considered speech. Example:
Actions: To perform an action place a description between two asterisks. This can be combined with speech. Examples:
Communicators: Sometimes various players are scattered about interacting with each other or acting alone and find it necessary to contact another player. This is done with the *Comm* prefix to your post. This is a little different than an action because it needs to draw the attention of everyone that someone is being contacted. Example:
Then the captain might respond with a shorter version since he knows who he's talking to:
When the *Comm* communication is completed, please make sure you terminate the connection to make it clear.
Emoticons: AIM comes equipped with a variety of emoticons, which can be used as desired in conjunction with speech or actions. Example:
Out of Character: All out of character chat must be placed between double parentheses. (()) Do NOT use the greater than/less than signs. Those have special web programming significance and often result in garbled or invisible posts. Just because the post looks fine to you, doesn't mean everyone else can see it, so I repeat, do NOT use <<>> or you will be very unpopular. Example:
All of these can be observed in action. Contact the Captain for information regarding attending an introductory sim.