Sony Online Entertainment recognizes roleplaying’s significance. After all, the term infuses itself into Sony’s 2004 massively multiplayer game Everquest II. Players typically commiserate over tankards and tables in gloomy inns via long-winded paragraphs, but an upcoming software add-on promises “an unprecedented level of immersion” for Norrath’s denizens.

As a collaborative concoction between Sony, Image Metrics, and Vivox, SOEmote captures your voice and facial expressions and pastes them onto your in-game character. It also modulates your words into the pitch appropriate for your race, such as the deep baritone of an ogre or the gnome’s tinny squeak. We at GamesBeat recommend turning off this feature when spilling large, expletive-inducing cups of coffee.

In the below video, David Georgeson, Everquest II director of development, demonstrates SOEmote’s capabilities with his mighty Froglok warrior, proving anthropomorphic amphibians look terrifyingly creepy when grinning.

We’ll have more info on SOEmote and other offerings by Sony when the E3 frenzy kicks off in earnest next week.