Emote facts for kids
An emote is a special message used in online chats and games. It shows an action happening, like 'jumping with joy' or 'being confused'. Emotes are different from emoticons, which are made from text symbols. Instead, emotes use words or pictures, much like emoji.
Emotes were first thought up by Shigetaka Kurita in Japan. He wanted a new way for people to communicate using simple pictures. Mr. Kurita even drew pictures of himself to get ideas for his early emotes.
Today, emotes have grown a lot since they first appeared in 1999. They have become a fun and easy way to express feelings and actions online.
Contents
What Are Emotes?
Emotes are short messages that describe an action. They let you show what you are doing or feeling without typing a long sentence. Think of them as a quick way to act out something in a chat.
How Emotes Work in Chat
In many online chat programs, like IRC (Internet Relay Chat), you can use a special command. If you type "/me" followed by some words, the chat will show your name and then your action.
For example, if a user named Joe types "/me jumps with joy", everyone in the chat will see: "Joe jumps with joy". It looks like Joe is actually performing the action.
Sometimes, if a chat program does not have the "/me" command, people use asterisks. They might type "Joe: *jumps with joy*". This still means that Joe is acting out the words inside the asterisks.
Emotes in Video Games
In big online games called MMORPGs, emotes are even more exciting. Games like World of Warcraft let your character, called an avatar, do an action.
When you type an emote command, your character might move, make a sound, or even show a special animation. For example, typing "/confused" in World of Warcraft makes your character look confused. The game also prints a message like "You are hopelessly confused" in the chat window.
Emotes on Streaming and Phones
Emotes are very popular in video games and on streaming websites. A great example is Twitch, where people watch others play games live. Twitch has many image-based emotes that viewers can use in the chat. These can even be animated, like short GIF videos.
Emotes are also common on smartphones. They help people communicate quickly and add more fun to messages.
See also
Sources
- "History of emotes and why we use them": Reader's Digest
- "History of emotes in gifs": PC Gamer
- "Complete history of the emote": Wired
- "Animate your Emote and Convert it to a GIF: SuperEmotes"
