An emote is an entry into a text-based chat client that indicates an action taking place.[1] Unlike emoticons, they are not text art: They describe the action using words.
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In IRC and other chat clients, entering the command /me will print the user's name followed by whatever text follows. For example, if a user named Joe typed "/me jumps with joy", the client will print this as "Joe jumps with joy" in the chat window.
It is also convention to read text surrounded by asterisks as an emote; for example, entering "*jumps with joy*" (to produce something like "Joe: *jumps with joy*") into an IRC log indicates an action being "performed" by the user, though there may be no special formatting support.[2]
Frequently in MMORPGs with avatars, such as Everquest, Asheron's Call, and World of Warcraft, certain commands entered through the chat interface will print a predefined /me emote to the chat window and cause the character to animate and in some cases produce sound effects. For example, entering /confused into World of Warcraft's chat interface will play an animation on your avatar and print "You are hopelessly confused." in your chat window.[3][4][5]
In Asheron's Call, entering certain words surrounded by asterisks will cause an action emote to occur in addition to text being output to the chat client describing one's character performing the action.[6] For example, entering "*heartylaugh* into chat in Asheron's Call will cause the player's avatar to perform a laughing animation and print "You let out a hearty laugh." to the current player's chat log.[7]