Accents

Posted by Blackthorne on 04/29

From: Kunnar Monday, April 17, 01:47AM I think that accents are much better when people type phonetically. McDougan is an extreme case, meaning he's hard to understand, but so are most Scots! I run into a fair number of people that try to liven up their speech with different accents, mannerisms, spaterings of other languages, and such. I appreciate the effort that they put into making their charact ers more lifelike. kunnar

From: Vandervecken Monday, April 17, 10:16AM Perhaps the imms can get permission to incorporate Rink Works' Dialectizer into the mud code. Check it out at http://www.rinkworks.com/dialect/ Vandy

From: Lelldorin Monday, April 17, 11:53AM Yeah, accents would be fun, but it'll be kinda long, just imagine: Lelldorin says for all the world like a child in a soft irish brogue to Blackthorne De'Dannan 'how's midir?'. It'll be better if players use words like 'aye, wee lad' (scots), my name ish ishmeel muhamad haktoom (arabians), '-hai-, that is right, blackthornesan', u noe.. :) Lellyboy

From: Skar Monday, April 17, 02:16PM Just use the mood system to add accents. No new coding would be needed, and you could either have an accent (specialized mood) or a mood. None of l in chalice the outrageous cumulative effect of moods, accents and whatever else. An Irish mood might have only one mood message, 'in a soft irish brogue' for instance, and leave the motion moods portion empty, so you walk normally all the time. I'm sure that some people don't see the point, and others won't think this suggestion is good enough, but there it is. ;)

From: Blackthorne Monday, April 17, 09:11PM The reason i thought it might be hard to code is i think you would have to incorperate it with the mood system. If there were just an accent in the mood system how would you express if you felt angry, sad, happy, excited, ect. But then again, im not a coder so i have no idea how hard it would b e. Keep up with the input everyone^_^ Blackthorne de'Dannan'

From: Kerstin Monday, April 17, 11:15PM I think the issue isn't so much with code as with spamminess. Between descriptions and moods, saying stuff and moving around is already pretty spammy. Now imagine: The Daughter of the North Wind, conviction burning in her eyes, says "whee, this is just an example" in a Scandinavian lilt. That's already two lines. Again, I think McD's a pretty good example of a way to portray a character with an accent without hard coding it into the mud.

From: Blackthorne Tuesday, April 18, 03:20AM Hmm, spamminess didnt cross my mind, that could be a problem. Maybe the imms could make a policy on how much spam you could make? Just like you have to ask an imm to create a desc maybe you could ask an imm about your accent as well. Was traveling through pittsburgh yesterday and came across a policeman with an irish accent. I was alone at the time so i couldnt tell if it was an emote by the policeman directed at everyone or something else, prolly the former. But im seriously contemplating just making an alias system with Pueblo so I can speak how id like to. -ponderponder- Blackthorne de'Dannan'

From: Melanie Tuesday, April 18, 04:26AM Actually, I've had quite some fun spelling everything phonetically whilst I speak. It'd be nice if there was some "dialectizer" or whatnot to save everyone else the trouble and headaches they get when certain Scots and Brits open up their gobs, flooding channels in their native tongues. Anyway, I prefer to speak/spell phonetically whist I speak since half the fun of imagining the language being spoken can be experienced by reading the phonetic accent out loud. Maybe then you might understand what the heck McDougan and sometimes what I'm saying:) -Melanie C

From: Skar Tuesday, April 18, 10:31AM If the mood system had 'accent' moods, how would you say something angrily? "angry say " -- that's how. Under my suggestion, you couldn't be angry and irish at the same time, but if your 'default' mood were irish, then it would be part of your rp and when you were angry, people would remember that you're still irish. Less spammy, less work for the imms, approximates what some people are looking for. I think it's an easy solution. :)

From: Godzilla Wednesday, April 19, 12:09AM Heh, puttin the dialectizer in. That's great for all the Cocknies, rednecks and Swedish Chefs, Vander =p I like the accent idea, but come on. I've played here a fairly long while and I can understand McDougan just fine, as long as he's not demonstrating abstract concepts. I don't think anything will ever substitute for good old RP in cases like these. Much more pressing is the need for a 'dubbed' mood! -duck- Godzilla

From: Farraday Wednesday, April 19, 09:43AM That's all good ideas with accents, and stuff, it just makes me think of some other mud i went on once in a moment of weakness, i think it was duris, where there's languages, and if you don't know someone's language, it's real hard to understand them. It was pretty neat. But for the most part, I think RP is good enough. some people are hard to understand, yes, but if you've ever spoken to a drunk scotsman you understand why they're hard to understand. it's plain ol' good RP. I for one would be writing this is an appropriate accent but i've forgotten what character I am at the moment. -peer self- sincerely, a character of mine.

From: Blackthorne Wednesday, April 19, 09:18PM I dont want to make it seem like Im slamming McDougans rp. Im simply saying that that style of rp isnt for everyone. I marvel at McDougans and recently, Melanies ability to remain ic. Id rather not talk like them though. I think i agree with Skar that there could easliy be put in accents along with the moods. Blackthorne de'Dannan' the sidhe who will start to emote what he is saying in an Irish accent.

From: Ea! Thursday, April 20, 05:37PM We already have some ability to customize how you speak -- plead, utter, sneer, wail, quote, etc. I'm not sure how much we want to extend the code for that (I'd have to take a look at it and see just how easy it would be to expand). On a longer-term note, Ptah designed a system a while back for player voices -- during character creation each player would be prompted for a voice type of their character. This would be used in such a way to allow players to get some idea of who is talking in the dark or who is yelling from a few rooms away. There would be a list of different voices to choose from. (I suspect changes in voice would work like changes in description -- with a valid RP reason to the LT, though we never got that far in the planning). Hopefully at some point we'll be able to work on it again. If there is enough interest in it, I can make it a higher priority than it has been in the past. -Ea!

From: Ton Friday, April 21, 04:38PM How about just introducing some new moods, and have them things like "Irish" "scottish" etc... make the accents moods too.

From: Darla Monday, April 24, 12:07AM I like the idea of having accents as new moods, for people who would want to give up their speaking mood for an accent. Personally, I think that having a mood with no accent is more worthwhile for rp. I don't think that people speaking phonetically is a good thing. In the case of McDougan and Melanie, it is fun and unique--but do you really want many more people speaking with accents? I can understand about 90% of what McD says, but I can't skim through it quickly. If everyone spoke like that, we wouldn't ev be able to have a decent dialogue. Writing phonetically is, in my opinion, just an excuse to misspell. Moreover, if the use of accents becomes widespread, we must address the issue of what accent belongs to those who don't use an accent, or who don't spell phonetically, and why most mobs speak a language years (even thousands of years) ahead of their time and miles away. Speaking anything other than standard English may be more realistic, but it would detract from game play, as I can attest by the tim I spent trying to find "Il Gran Mastru." I hope my point is in there somewhere. Darla

From: McDougan Saturday, April 29, 11:41AM Why ye aul talkin aboot me?