Chat

Cowpokes are able to chat with other players in the game. The appearance of the text depends on where the player is when they speak. The location at which a player speaks also affects who is able to hear that player. A player is also able to use various commands while chatting for various effects. Players see their own text as slightly green, while others' messages are tinted blue.

Chat filter

For dealing with potentially offensive curse words, Bang! Howdy has an optional chat filter, which can be configured from the Options menu. There are four settings for the chat filter:

• The "Cowboyification" setting converts questionable language into different, presumably non-offensive words.

• The "Comicification" setting renders questionable language as random symbols (!@#$%&... and so forth).

• The "Drop" setting deletes questionable language entirely.

• The "None" setting turns the filter off.

"Cowboyification" is the default filter setting.

Abbreviations

From the "Chat" tab in the Options menu, players have the option of automatically expanding abbreviations. When the "Expand Abbreviations" checkbox is selected, certain text phrases and expressions will be automatically replaced by other, more "Cowboyish" dictions. Phrases substituted by expansion, and what they are replaced by, are as follows:

Note: Some of these may need to be at the start of your text to be substituted.

:)  =)  8)  :-)  =-)  8-) 
:D  =D  8D  :-D  =-D  8-D
:]  =]  8]  :-]  =-]  8-]  smiles
:}  =}  8}  :-}  =-}  8-}
:>  =>  8>  :->  =->  8->

:(  =(  8(  :-(  =-(  8-( 
:[  =[  8[  :-[  =-[  8-[  frowns
:{  ={  8{  :-{  =-{  8-{
:<  =<  8<  :-<  =-<  8-<

;)  ;-)
;D  ;-D
;]  ;-]                    winks
;}  ;-}
;>  ;->

:p  =p  8p  :-p  =-p  8-p  sticks out a tongue
;p  ;-p

(replacing '-' with '*', works in all the above as well)

afaik                      as far as I know
afk                        dozes off
asl a/s/l as/l a/sl        Howdy, y'all! (characters after this are removed)
bbl                        be back later
brb                        be right back
btw                        by the way
cu                         see ya
gg                         good game
gl                         good luck
iirc                       if I remember correctly
lmao                       laughs heartily
lol                        laughs
m8                         pardner
ne1                        anyone
nh                         nice hand
n00b noob n0ob no0b        greenhorn
np                         no problem
omg omfg                   Leapin' Lizards
plz                        please
rofl                       laughs uncontrollably
stfu                       hobble yer lip
thx                        thanks
ty                         Thank ya kindly
ur                         yer
wtf                        What in Lady Luck's cast iron corset!

Chat commands

  Main article: Command

For ease of use, players can enter commands as text to perform certain tasks. Text commands are as follows:

• /clear
• /emote
• /speak
• /tell
• /think
• /ignore
• /unignore
• /help

Ignore

In the case that a player should not want to view another players' chat messages or pardner/gang invitations, they can "ignore" them by selecting "Ignore" from that players' drop-down menu, by using the /ignore command, or via the "Ignore" button on a gang/pardner invitation. Ignored players' messages and invitations are not visable to those ignoring them. Ignored players can be "Unignored" via the "Unignore" option on their drop-down menu, the /unignore command, or through the "Chat" tab in the Options menu.