I've never used doff. Generally I bow or curtsy for my 'proper' characters, I incline or greet for my more relaxed characters and I Hello or Hi for my 'I don't give a crap, I'm just sayin hello to you' characters.

We should send Daraius to spend some time with the monks. He doesn't get his fancy clothes or his fancy pocketwatch or even his fancy staff. Just a set of grey, uncomfortable robes and days upon days of asceticism.

When Lendren inclines, it's an off-putting, distant act both of formality and coldness, a way of saying "I will treat you politely, though I don't like you."

However, my Hallifax character uses it as a form of respect. What it says is, "we are peers and I respect you as I respect myself; neither of us needs to flatter the other, because we're beyond such things." There's nothing snobbish about it because there is no expectation that anything would be returned other than the same thing in kind.

The trouble is that there are two very distinct gestures that both fall within the vagueness of the emote's text, one perfectly full of accord and civility, and one more of a condescending sneer. They are distinguished by the facial expression, the angle of inclination, and the timing. How people are reacting to them probably depends on which one they're picturing. If you've seen a performance of Pride and Prejudice, contrast the gesture of greeting that Elizabeth Bennet gives, with the one Lady Catherine deBurgh gives. Both could be described with the incline emote, but they mean such different things.

I use handkiss on Sylandra, just to be awkward.

How else am I to show off my custom crown if not via DOFF, though? Doffing is my multi-purpose greeting. Inclining tends to be a more cool, reserved greeting for me, and I save it for rare occasions. Other characters (on other games, even) used it for anyone of approximately equal standing, where a nod was for those below and a bow for those above.

What, inclining your head when you greet someone? I do that IRL all the time too, and it's very common to do so where I come from. Maybe I'm just picturing it differently than the rest of you guys though.

Been there, done that. Why do you think he's so mellow?

Maybe I need to do that.

That cartoon of Casilu's reminds me of this one time, when I was 17 and worked at this grocery store with a deli in it, and during my break a random coworker sat at a nearby table and said, "How's it going?" and I replied back, "Hey" cause to me, "How's it going?" is just a generic sort of greeting when it's the first thing you say to someone.

But then the guy waited a second or two and then said, "So, how's it going?" and I realized he hadn't meant it that way at all and it was just a little awkward cause of the miscue.

For years now Lehki has been using incline almost exclusively to greet everybody except really close family members. To him, it's just a wordless hello. But from now on, me behind the character is probably going to be giggling at how many people I am potentially offending. =P

Is it really that hard to greet people in Lusty? I mean, 90% of it is social interaction. How do you handle novices? Or having a position of leadership? You guys are really making a big deal out of nothing. There's nothing odd or rude about inclining. I'm more distressed by the HAII emote.

Wow, a debate on inclining! I think I'm going to start grunting or growling at people in greetings.

(also hooray for guild emote greetings)

Edit: I agree with Malicia about the "hai" emote, or pouncing in greetings.

Oh, it's not a big deal to me at all. It's actually a pretty nifty discussion, I think. It's interesting how different people view the same exact thing differently. I mean, there's an emote, it reads exactly the same to everyone, it has the same words and they have the same definition, but everyone seems to 'read' it differently. That's kinda cool, don't you think?

I just say "Hey, what's up?"

Thanks for reminding me about this. I had kinda forgotten about it.

I do find haii and baii quite annoying. I tend to use them to annoy others at times. Most people I don't know, I'll greet with a hi/smile/all the various greeting emotes, if it's someone I've known for a long time; family, my one active protege, or people I consider family or close friends I use a hug or any other greeting, a god or the current city leader, or someone I really respect gets a bow, and mostly everyone else gets an incline.

I bow to people IRL all the time. Most people get an incline, a few get a dip from the waist. I only get more flourishy if it's SCA.

The trick is to alias "hi" and "bow" to:

send("scream")
send("assault " .. matches .. " head")

Your socially awkward greeting will be a lovable character hook!

You didn't read the last panel of the comic, did you?

With a surge of adrenaline, you rush at Vadi, slamming into him as you bellow, "OH YEAH!!"

^^ way better than

You incline your head politely to Vadi.

I prefer to smile when I'm in the mood to communicate.