Tone is a wonderful tool that allows us to add depth and flavor to our roleplayed interactions with others. Combining the careful use of tone with a skilled use of game verbs adds nuances to conversations that were difficult to achieve before we had the use of tone in GS.

The most skilled RPers I have interacted with have a very deft touch when using tone, having a good grasp of the different choices on the list, and then employing them meaningfully during conversations between our characters. These people usually will only use a certain tone for one to a few sentences, before switching back to normal or a slightly different tone to help convey the message of what is being said at the moment. This can help bring RP up to a whole new level.

Unfortunately, a lot of players just set a tone for their character, and then leave it there for days, weeks, or months at a time. Until some other tone catches their fancy for a while. This leads to absurdities in the game that were never seen before the implementation of tone. Doing this shows that no thought is being put into how that character is being played, or how they come across to other people. Simply put, no one is seductive, sly, or mysterious all the time in all conversations.

There are a few tones that are considered acceptable to be left on as a default for a character, such as a character who normally speaks softly, or squeakily. But even players who have carefully determined that a tone is acceptable to set as a more permanent feature need to be aware of what they are saying (and how they are saying it) at all times, because there will be instances where that tone is not appropriate. They should also consider that even if they deem a tone to be an acceptable default for that character, others may often perceive them as a bit annoying to interact with because of tone being used all the time, rather than as an enhancer to RP.

To fully illustrate just exactly why a permanently set tone is a Bad Thing, here are some examples from the game:

After being AFK:
Mertimus menacingly says, "Back sorry."
Mertimus smiles.

 

Playing blackjack and being dealt a good hand
Loxnar grimly says, "Sweet."

 

Tahlim serenely exclaims, "HELP!"

 

Terangreal knowingly asks, "Did ye need any?"

 

Parrasite calmly exclaims, "Join me, now!"
>
Parrasite calmly says, "Or hell will break loose."

 

Gisana softly says, "BUG DOWN."

 

The tone used by these characters obviously does not match up with the message they are conveying and/or the actions they are using. So then it just ends up looking silly, and has to be ignored by those interacting with these characters. This makes the tone meaningless, and much worse than no tone at all.