At least in Korea, people don't really use inline emoji characters much - but they use stickers (larger, often animated cartoon images of characters in a variet

At least in Korea, people don't really use inline emoji characters much - but they use stickers (larger, often animated cartoon images of characters in a variety of emotional stances or life situations, some with associated personalities or relationships with each other) a whole ton. They serve a variety of purposes, e.g. responding with a summary of what the other person said to signal understanding/empathy/compassion, teasing, flirting ... there's a lot of joy in maintaining and using a sticker collection actually, picking the right sticker for an occasion is a unique form of eloquence to collectively revel in. It's a big celebration of reading a room, wit and quick thinking, just using images. It's some of the most joyful creative writing around, I think. People also wind up adopting certain characters as "theirs" in a group chat, so it adds to identity.