As someone that used the original emotes, all this graphics emojis just don't make any sense. There are just too many, and i have to lookup what they mean in isolation and try to dig what they mean in sequence... I dont have the context the user had when he constructed the sequence of emojis and i cant understand what they are trying to communicate, at this point it is easier to just say the words.
The collection is so large and some images feel like have no purpose of use in casual conversations. Few times I've seen statements saying that emojis can and do help communicating with foreigners when text fails - as these add needed context. But if you do dig around figuring out how to pass thought in little images, you can use translation software instead, which nowadays is really good.
Some 20 years ago a ICQ-like instant messenger in Poland called Gadu-Gadu has become the default way of communication on the Internet for us here. GG had own set of emoticons but only few of really big set were in constant use [1; set for KDE's Koperte but it was same on Windows native client]. I doubt that anything have changed and emoji are being treated in same way: a small set is used and rest is largely skipped.
There was this little thing about GG's emoticon that when you typed "??" and "!!" application would turn these into looped gifs. People were so accustomed to that effect they were doing double punctuation elsewhere on the Internet and even in real life.
There are too many, and there are a ridiculous number of variants. Why do we need options for the skin colour of an emoji? How on earth does it change the meaning of a smiley or a face palm? Faces with different hair colours too! Clocks with hands at different times?
Why should skin colour be specified at all? Why not leave it as an implementation detail? Yellow is the popular default choice, but it could very well be green, blue, pink, or anything really.
Do you ever use them cross-generationally? I had a friend a dozen years my junior stop talking to me because I used a winking face when I wanted to make it clear I was kidding and he thought I was flirting with him. Never mind that we'd been friends for years and there had never, ever been a hint of interest between us. He insisted I should have known that's what it "always" means, never mind that I was using emoticons in AIM when he was in diapers.
This doesn't feel much different than words. There was a whole ordeal at Microsoft when an intern said an event was going to be "lit" and a bunch of older generation folk assumed that meant drugs.
Language changes all the time, emoji are just part of that.
This wasn't cheeky so much as self-deprecating enough that it was important to clarify I didn't actually mean it seriously. It would've sounded pretty dark otherwise.
