Steps to Clutter-Free RP

You will notice as you get started or play in an online game that there is -alot- of chatter. You will see/read heaps of spam, less than appropriate language and dashes of game text that will flood your chat tabs. This wall of text just gets in your way when speaking to others, even more so on a RP server.

Here’s an example of what you come up against in World of Warcraft:

Let’s fix that abit, shall we?

This is my personal “fix” for the issue. You may want to only do parts of this or go a step beyond, which I will address in a bit. Let’s start with the basics. if you Right-Click on the word balloon there on the top left, you will get options for the chat tabs and other things. Note: Take notice of the Create New Window option, we’ll hit that soon.

If you look over the Filters area, you will see many options as you delve into each filter. Here’s a rundown of what we will basically handle:

Next, we’ll hit the next filter, and so forth.

Likewise, turn off any channels that most likely will get in the way. If you miss one, you can always edit, so don’t worry at all. It’s just a click away. Some cannot be altered in the General tab but read on, I have a suggestion in a bit.

We’ll keep the Creature filter active, this handles NPC/Creature emotes and speech.

Don’t forget about the General channel or defenses. Trade will appear also at some point, so treat that when the time comes. Alright, with than done, let’s Create a New Window. (see? we finally got there. :) )

Right-Click on the new tab and re-route the filters that you want to keep “tabs” on here. That way they are out of the main chat tab, but readily needed if you have to check in a pinch. I personally do that with Honor, XP and Skillups. You can also make additional tabs for private, guild, raid or defense channels. It’s up to personal preference. Those are accessible under the Join New Channel filter.

There you go – more or less done and a cleaner display in your General tab. Another option could be to create an new channel for RP only, and route just RP-related text to it. That can work, but the General Tab is a default as you log in and you will have to get monitor which tab you are actually on. But everyone is different, so see what works for your gamestyle.

Bonus: How to get rid of Sound Errors while playing. You know, when your character pesters you for mana or warnings on everything. Find your Sound Options panel:

While we are at it, head to the Interface Options. Let’s take out those NPC Names, Guild Names , Player/Pet Names. Taking out your own name is good also. *gein* This cleans up your view and helps with getting into role-playing.

These tweaks and options give you some control over what you see as you venture into the world. You can always modify later so don’t be afraid to explore and test to see what helps. This will not get rid of all the clutter, but it will take a nice chunk of it out.

I hope that works for you and helps make your RP clutter-free.