Why do IRC commands have a exclamation?

I've always wondered this. Is it because, as an example, !roll isn't the kind of thing you type, and so it's not likely to be randomly activated? Or is there something in the underlying code that requires there be a exclamation symbol?

Thanks in advance. ^_^

 

I was thinking the same thing its kinda awkward, but I believe it shows some type of strong verbal aggressions, or not maybe its just something thats there or maybe s code or something, but I do believe its randomly activated.

 

as far as i know it's just the code. for example, MSN commands are activated by a "/". an exclamation just acts as a symbol, most things I've used are "/". That's normally the default symbol. It's just a way of filtering actions from messages.