The term emote means to express emotion. In MMORPGs, emotes make your character express emotion.
In World of Warcraft, you can make your character "emote" by using predefined slash commands. These commands generate a chat message (typically in a special color) that describes what your character is doing. This chat message is often accompanied by audio and some character action.
For example, using the /thanks command, text displays ("Character thanks target."), an audio file is played (character voice: "Thank you."), and a character animation occurs (character gesticulates).
There are 5 kinds of emotes in World of Warcraft:
- Text only
- Text + Vocalization
- Text + Character Animation
- Text + Vocalization + Character Animation
- Vocalization + Character Animation
Most emotes have no gameplay effect, but the /lie, /laydown, /sleep, and /sit commands cause the character to assume those positions, from which they must rise to enter combat. In addition, some emotes are involved in achievements or in triggering certain NPC reactions.
Creating your own emotes
You can create your own emotes using the /e or /me slash commands, which will send a message to nearby players starting with your name and ending with the action you type (or anything else you might type). For example, if your name is Thrall, then entering:
/e scrabbles in the dirt.
will cause nearby players to see:
Thrall scrabbles in the dirt.
You can use certain substitution codes in your emotes. For instance, if your command contains %t, the %t will be replaced with the name of your currently selected target when the emote is sent. For instance, if Thrall is targeting a creature called Animal:
/me scrabbles in the dirt, and finds %t's shoe.
produces:
Thrall scrabbles in the dirt, and finds Animal's shoe.
Custom emotes will not be understandable by the opposing faction. The following will be the only thing the opposing faction will see:
Thrall makes some strange gestures.
Emote/Action/Spell macros
You can emote and cast spells or summons such as this macro for a warlock:
/e prepares a dark ritual.
/y Come to me, Felhorse!
/cast summon felsteed
Will appear as:
Leaferran prepares a dark ritual.
[Leaferran] yells: Come to me, Felhorse!
Leaferran casts Summon Felsteed
Set emotes (Just type in /)
Here is a list of some emotes that will cause your character to vocalize and/or perform a movement.
| /angry | /applaud | /bashful | /beg |
| /blush (same as /bashful) | /boggle | /bow | |
| /bye | /cackle | /cheer | /chicken |
| /chuckle (same as /cackle) | /clap (same as /applaud) | ||
| /commend (same as /applaud) | /congrats | /cry | |
| /curious (same as /boggle) | /curtsey (same as /bow) | ||
| /dance | /drink | /flee | /flex |
| /flirt | /gasp | /giggle (same as /cackle) | |
| /gloat (same as /cackle) | /greet | /growl | |
| /grovel (same as /beg) | /guffaw (same as /cackle) | ||
| /healme | /hello | /helpme | |
| /hail (same as /greet) | /incoming | ||
| /insult (same as /angry) | /kiss | /kneel | |
| /laugh (same as /cackle) | /lie | ||
| /lost (same as /boggle) | /mourn (same as /cry) | ||
| /no | /oom | /plead (same as /beg) | |
| /point | /ponder (same as /boggle) | ||
| /pray (same as /kneel) | /rasp | ||
| /roar (same as /growl) | /rude (same as /angry) | ||
| /salute | /shrug (same as /boggle) | ||
| /shy (same as /bashful) | /sigh | /silly | |
| /sleep (same as /lie) | /surrender (same as /beg) | ||
| /talk | /taunt (same as /chicken) | /thank | |
| /train | /violin (same as /cry) | /wait | |
| /wave (same as /greet) | /welcome | /whistle | |
| /yawn | /yes | /yw | |
The above lists are only the emotes that have a movement and/or a voice component associated with them. There are many more emotes that will provide just the text in chat menu, but are still otherwise helpful. There is a partial list below, with some of the above emotes included.
For the full list, including the variations in text, see emotes (list).
| List of available emotes: | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
A: |
C: |
E: |
H: |
N: |
S: |
T: |
Miscellaneous
- Tauren are the only race that produce the proper sound effect when the "/moo" emote is used.
- Worgen also have an animation and sound for the "/sniff" command.
See also
- Emotes (list)
- Emotes page on the official site.
Patch changes
Patch 3.0.2 (2008-10-14): A lot of new emotes have been added: /absent, /arm, /awe, /backpack, /badfeeling, /blame, /blank, /brandish, /breath, /challenge, /charm, /chug, /coverears, /crossarms, /ding, /disagree, /doubt, /encourage, /enemy, /eyebrow, /highfive, /facepalm, /faint, /go, /sweat, /going, /glower, /headache, /hiccup, /hiss, /holdhand, /hurry, /idea, /jealous, /luck, /look, /map, /mercy, /mutter, /nervous, /object, /offer, /pet, /pinch, /proud, /promise, /pulse, /punch, /pout, /regret, /revenge, /rolleyes, /ruffle, /sad, /scoff, /scold, /scowl, /search, /shakefist, /shifty, /shudder, /signal, /silence, /sing, /smack, /snap, /sneak, /sneeze, /snort, /squeal, /stopattack, /suspicious, /think, /truce, /twiddle, /warn. 
Patch 1.3.0 (2005-03-07): Added /golfclap.