I wonder if
the Elcor in Mass Effect were inspired by emoticons.
Consider. While I would wither and die without the internet, its has pretty much lead to the death of reading for tone in personal communication. Anything that can be taken two ways tends or needs emphasis added generally gets one of these -- :) :D XD :( D: -- tacked on to avoid people assuming the worst.
Now imagine that carrying over to speech. ...I fucking love Bioware, man. XD