Numbers in emotes/speech.

[RogueGunslinger]

Basically, do you think it's jarring or perfectly okay to use number in emotes or speech. I.E;

say That'd be 1000 'sids please.

em counts out coins in stack of 10, setting them aside.

[Lizzie]

It's jarring to me, because when I read a novel and the author has the characters speaking to each other, the author doesn't put numbers in numeric form. He has the characteres say the words that represent the numbers. In my head, I'm reading a living book. And that's why it's jarring to me.

[A Large Bag]

What she said.

[catchall]

My opinion:

Coded speech: bad.  (Bypasses language code, takes away from your ability to portray how your character actually conveys that information -- slang terms, accent, etc.)  AFAIK, also discouraged by staff.

Emotes: no problem.  Emotes convey factual information about what is taking place IC.  Using "10" or "ten" conveys the same information to the reader.  (Edited to add: From a stylistic standpoint, textual representation is preferred in virtually any realistic context that would come up in-game.  Most writing conventions for nontechnical genres recommend numerals for readability only when the spelled-out form surpasses a certain number of words. In-game, most of the times that a numeral would be recommended, there's no IC reason to think the exact numeral is available information.  There are not many emotes where it is realistic to talk about, say, handling 539 of something.  And "The half-giant counts the coins two by two." looks a lot better than "The half-giant counts the coins 2 by 2.")

[BleakOne]

I don't really mind people using numbers.

[Barsook]

I don't really mind people using numbers.

[Case]

Much like how written English does not always match spoken phonemes, I have no issue with numbers.

[Kismetic]

I don't care what other people do, but personally, I prefer to write it out.  The few times I haven't, it was immediately followed by an internal "Why did I do that?"  Meanwhile, I'm your/you're-and-there/their-ing my way to Hell.

[lordcooper]

Meh.  No problems here so long as I don't see any l33t 3mot1ng.

[AmandaGreathouse]

I'm odd/picky about it. So I'll just make a list of examples, heh:

Fine: pemote dress forms a large V-shape, exposing an obscene amount of cleavage.

Fine: emote sways her hips in a slow figure-8 shape.

not fine: "You owe me 5 sids"

not fine: emote rummages through 2 different pockets.

et al.

That's just how I prefer it though, of course.

[Rhyden]

Agreed with AG. Also, some NPCs use numbers in their speech and emotes and some room mdescs have numbers in them too.

[Tuannon]

Depends, I get upset when I think of how hard it would be for a poverty stricken house guard to count out 1200 sids for a nice hat or whatever.

BUt I don't have a problem with pre-packaged amounts, because he could have gone to Nenyuk and had it all counted nicely by someone with better numeracy-fu.

I find I tend to ignore jarring things of late and kind of 'translate' them to something more palatable (RP wise).

[Marauder Moe]

I think people should always write numbers out in both speech and emotes.  However, it doesn't really bother me much when people don't.

[valeria]

At work I have to type as numerals anything over twelve, so sometimes I catch myself doing that.  It sucks, I don't like it.

[Voular]

It's an esthetic choice. It bothers me when using numbers (123 so on) to refer to the number of things that aren't specifically usually done so with numbers. (Ie, anything but amount of items or amount of coins. Then "Raising 2 fingers" example is always a good one.) But going "1000 sid" or "16 pairs of boots" doesn't bother me much, really. It's a matter of taste.

[bcw81]

Using numerals in speech subverts the language code and thus is bad, and you shouldn't do it.

[musashi]

Using numerals in speech subverts the language code and thus is bad, and you shouldn't do it.

All my PC's now speak in binary.

Seriously though I would rather people type the words out but I suppose it doesn't bother me too much when someone uses 3 instead of three.

[Morrolan]

Using numerals in speech subverts the language code and thus is bad, and you shouldn't do it.

Agreed.

"lah dee dah bla ho 176 'cho ma fo."

This is jarring.

[morrigan]

I find it slightly jarring because I was always taught that it was improper style to mix numerals with words. It doesn't make me want to run away and not rp with the person though. Just makes me think they're either a little lazy or maybe not the most grammatically strict person I've met. I don't even know if it's a real grammar rule or just a thing that my english teachers held as a personal dislike.


*edited to add: As you can see, I don't always bother with proper sentence structure or grammar myself.

[AreteX]

I sat and tried to think whether or not I've used numbers in speech before I cannot simply recall one way or the other.  I would guess this means I am pretty neutral towards it but I'd like to think that I type out the numbers...

For some reason I think I've said 1000 'sid before or something like that.  Now that I have truly thought about it I will probably be correcting myself in the future and typing the actual word.  I am certain I have never emoted a number before, or used it for something like "I'll see you 2 later."  That would bother me.  It's only a step away from "How r u?".

[Feco]

I just prefer hearing large, small, etc.  The problem with numbers in speech is I read them as the number in my head.  Not a serious problem there, just a preference.

If it bypasses language code, than yeah, I'm gonna have to go ahead and vote bad.

[Red Ranger]

I write numbers out and I prefer to see them written out, for the same reasons that I had in 2003.

[X-D]

I write them out, always.

Because to me, when somebody uses the numerals they are less roleplaying and more just typing things into the computer. You say Five, because it is a word, but 5 is something you only write or type.

Hope that makes sense.