Balancing Language Real/Zalanthian

[Kol]

Religion in Zalanthas is something I think is debatable, do the people who worship the sorc kings think if they're unfaithful, they'll be sent to a hell? I mean, is there a zalanthian heaven? Or is Drov a Zalanthian heaven because of all the shade? Would that make being sent to Krath a hell because there would be no shade?

I'm also guilty of screwing with words just for an effect of accent or dialect, and the responses in here have given me something to think about.

Keep it up guys! 

[bcw81]

That one is a really 'find out why people say this kind of thing' IC deal. There are definitely reasons behind it, but those reasons are probably as known to your character as some other very intrinsic things in the lore.

[flurry]

I think a good test of whether language is too modern or anachronistic is asking how would you react to an author using similar descriptions in a novel of a similar genre/setting. For instance, in a fantasy novel, you wouldn't see something described as being loud as a jet engine (made up example; I can't imagine someone using that in-game). It doesn't matter if it's dialogue or not, in that case, because if jet engines aren't part of the world, it would just seem out of place to make that comparison.

More modern slang (I recall a discussion about 'facepalm') strikes me as more of a matter of tone. I can understand someone doing that to have more of an irreverent edge to their writing, but personally I think that is better done sparingly.

[Armaddict]

I worry more about whether or not I have to struggle to type what I'm trying to say.  In the end, I'm communicating with someone, and that's what I care about.

Second languages are often spoken so properly as to sound strange to native speakers of that tongue.
Accents, in game, emulate locations but not mother tongues.
Interpretations on how people will or should talk will vary widely depending on the beholder.

Again, in the end, all I care about is that you're typing words to me that I can understand.  My immersion in the game is almost completely non-reliant on envisioning what every PC I encounter sounds like.