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:

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:

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.

See our Mood Emotes overview for additional information. We hope you enjoy LOTRO’s emote system!

/wave