(Typed) Speech

[Ralin]

Just curious as to how different people might do this. I've noticed a few times, simply by -typed- speech pattern, that I can recognize a player by it, even if they are playing a totally different character. I was wondering how many of you make a change to the way you type your character's speech when playing a new one. Do you keep it the same as the last one, or make an effort to try something new? I know it's just a minor thing, but I try to have my characters talk different from the last.

[John]

I always try to have idiosyncracies of my character's speech. They'll mispronounce a particular word all the time, or a particular sound. Or they'll have a (group of) expresson(s) they use.

Do you try to differ your character's speech?

[Ralin]

I try to. I had one character that didn't pronounce anything with the letter 'h' in it correctly. (ex. that was t'at) But the next character I had didn't make that same little speech mistake, but had new quirks to work with.

[Tamarin]

In all honesty, I am not very good at this.  I either type in (near) perfect english, or in heavily slurred speech, though I won't say exactly how I do it because that might give it away.  I guess I'm just not that creative when it comes to stuff like that.

[Lasakar]

English is not my native language, so I don't try something completely different with my normal chars. To find the right emote, words and type fast enough is sometimes very difficult.
Execeptions are special chars where the speech is an important characteristic, like talking always in the third person for example.

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

Truthfully, many of my characters are the same in mannerisms. I enjoy playing smart, well-spoken folks. Therefore, no, when my character is smart and well-spoken.

That said, when I play characters who are brash and rabble, I type nearly every word differently. Typically, I have three ways of typing speech. My emotes, however, follow the same pattern no matter who I am or play.

[Zhaira]

Typically I prefer to use typed accents, what with ' marks and all, very rarely, and instead use () to indicate my speech patterns.  An interesting subset of this, however, is in someone's actual typing -habits-.  Word choice, how they opt to emote things, frequency of emoting, etc.  I would say that typing -habits- give players away far more often than accent style.

[ashjpd]

I speak regular with one character, then the next I usually do a different race with some type of dumb way of speaking, kind of an accent type stuff. But most of them are pretty average, I almost never use big words, fear that the other player might not know what it is, which has happened to me before.....

[John]

Word choice, how they opt to emote things, frequency of emoting, etc.  I would say that typing -habits- give players away far more often than accent style.

I also try to change that from char to char too

[gfair]

There seem to be some players that share a common style of emote.  They probably think the person they saw doing it was some sort of awesome roleplayer, so they copy her or him.  And over several PCs, it's pretty easy to pick it up, the style doesn't seem to change. So it's essential to change, alternate between small emotes and big ones, just like it's important to vary speech patterns.

The only thing people can do and seem generic, in my opinion, is rain down apostrophes, and that is an issue that creates inconsistencies.  Apostrophes are supposed to represent an accent, but to two people of the same accent they would not hear that, so when talking to someone of the same accent you shouldn't use apostrphes, only other people with other accents can listen in and then you get totally contrasting interpretations, if people make them at all.

So I tend to use apostrophes sparingly, and resort to other means, like going from thick slang to proper speech, etc, just to differentiate the PCs so people don't recognize them.

But old habits and favourite emotes die hard, I can say that is for sure.

[Space Ace]

I tend to mix it up between characters, mostly based on their social ranking (from rinth rat to templar).  The higher up in the social spectrum my character is, the less I apply a typed style and speak plain English.  I think for me some people get carried away with typed-out accents to the point it just becomes too hard to read.  That being said, I used to use some kind of typed style to convey a sense of their accent, before the accent stuff went in.  Now it's more diction and grammar than anything else.  (An attempt to define the vernacular of the region)

One thing that I do when I play a non-human race is to keep the typed style solely to sirihish.  That is, when my character is speaking in his native tongue, it's plain English.  When they're speaking the common tongue, well... all bets are off and that typed style comes out in droves.  I see this mostly as a result of learning sirihish as a second language for my character, so the manner or style in which he was taught is reflected in my typed style.  But the native tongue isn't filled with loads of apostrophes and drawled out phonetics and whatnot because I don't think it really applies.  I also see this as an effective way to differentiate the languages and as an incentive for some people (those who speak my character's native tongue) to change languages and not have to parse through my typed style.

[Northlander]

Whether I play 'rinther or smoothie, I can't help but use "bloody" in every other think or sentence.

I think that gives me away.

[Impska]

Whether I play 'rinther or smoothie, I can't help but use "bloody" in every other think or sentence.

I think that gives me away.

Same here. "Bloody" is a huge favorite. I can't seem to get away from it.


Ha! So it doesn't give you away!

[Cuusardo]

I try to keep a certain set of defining speech pattern, like typing out certain words certain ways to denote pronunciation.  My current character does indeed have an accent that I can "hear" clearly when she speaks, but I have no clue whether or not other people "hear" it the same way I do.

[Akaramu]

My english just isnt good enough to really use accents. I lack too much vocabulary and understanding of accents and slur effects. So I just use proper english. I already struggle enough with that, especially in fancy emotes.  

However, in future (when I feel more secure) I might try to make up some basic rules for an unique way of speaking, such as "d" instead of "th".

I try hard to vary emotes as much as possible. I think I can honestly say my first and second PC emote in very different ways, reflecting different personalities, quirks and habits. I am, however, guilty of emote stealing. If I see a fancy emote I particularly like, I shamelessly copy / paste and use it for myself (with adjustments to fit my character.) Its a good way to improve my english.  

[Northlander]

Same here. "Bloody" is a huge favorite. I can't seem to get away from it.

Ha! So it doesn't give you away!

Bloody hell, so there's someone out there right now mistaking your character for being played by me?!

Hey, how do you get around typing 'bloody hell'? I don't like the hell-pits of Suk-Krath explanation, because I never hear anyone speak of them except to justify using 'hell', so I just start typing "Bloody hell", get stuck on the 'h', and am forced to go back and do a "Bloody Kurac/nobles/southerners"-thing!

And "Bloody krath" doesn't really cut it for that random cursing. Help me!

[Cuusardo]

Bloody sands!

or

Bloody Drov!

[Northlander]

No, no, doesn't quite do it.

Hrmm. Bloody -sands-. Bloody -drov-. Nope. Bloody hellpits. Nah. Bloody fecking krath-cursed kankshit. Has potential.