Accented Accents

[Sir Diealot]

Am I the only one tired of hearing people add Earth accents to their speech ? eg. ya'll ..or laddie.. The accent code is there for a reason, and while there /could/ be more variables, the world /does/ only have 2 major cities and a couple camps sprawled across it..and it looks to be no bigger than say, maybe Texas + Louisiana, especially since you can run it in a day as a d-elf, or walk it in 2 with a kank...So accents wouldn't be that varied..So why is it that people continue to add even /more/ accents (not shortened 'dumb words', accents) into it ? It just makes the accent code force things into illegibility.

[DrunkenSalarr]

Am I the only one tired of hearing people add Earth accents to their speech ? eg. ya'll ..or laddie.. The accent code is there for a reason, and while there /could/ be more variables, the world /does/ only have 2 major cities and a couple camps sprawled across it..and it looks to be no bigger than say, maybe Texas + Louisiana, especially since you can run it in a day as a d-elf, or walk it in 2 with a kank...So accents wouldn't be that varied..So why is it that people continue to add even /more/ accents (not shortened 'dumb words', accents) into it ? It just makes the accent code force things into illegibility.

I would have to agree with the concept, but not your examples. "Y'all" (and that is the correct spelling as it is a contraction for "you all") and "laddie" have nothing to do with accents.  They are colloquialisms, and, in the examples you gave, ones that are easily derrived from common speech, and so, IMO, valid for in-game use.

I just have issues with the people that "accent" there speech so much that I have trouble reading it when I supposedly have a similar accent (e.g. both 'Nakki Common).

[sacac]

Don't you hate it how almost everyone is a commoner, yet they sound like they have atleast had some schooling?

I just have issues with the people that "accent" there speech so much that I have trouble reading it when I supposedly have a similar accent (e.g. both 'Nakki Common).

I Read this and thought, What if the way they talked was supposed to be hard to understand?

[Realedazed]

Sometimes I don't have  a problem with it. But,I don't like it when people try to type out how their characters say things and I have no clue what that are saying.

I used to play this white-wolf-ish chat RPG on AOL, and there were several characters there that  chopped up and destroyed words and sentences. It got the point that I just didn't play with them anymore. Or if I had to because of some IC reason, I'd have to IM them and ask "What in seven hells did your character say???  Is that even English!?!"

One reason why I love Arm and the accent code. Or people from MUSHes or other RPs that describe their accent in their emote or pose.

[Socko]

The world we play in is far more populated than the givens that you take in at-a-glance. While the area -is- small, the size of a medium sized state, there's litterally crags and pockets of groups and subgroups.

These small huddled masses do what they can to survive, and that means a whole lot of huddling. A communal effort, with identity in community, you might say-- this would lead to differentiation in their speech, mannerisms, culture, ect.

Every single little group would have something all to itself. It's like pockets of small crabs hiding in the cracks of a sunken ship-- every area of the ship has a different sort of crab hiding in it, and the similar crabs band together.

This is a rough picutre of how it is in Zalanthas when you tread off the beaten track.

Oh, and yeah-- it sort of gripes me too when RL accents are used, but, how can one make up their own accent entirely? I've done it in the past, and I continue to simply because there isn't much else. When used, it adds a certain extra flavor to things, but there isn't any easy way to avoid it.

[Armaddict]

I played a farmer boy once.  He started off speaking the equivalent of backhills, hillbilly sirihish...some couldn't understand what he was saying.

It was fun.  *snicker*

[Sir Diealot]

ok I'll admit, bad examples...lets take 'wha'chee talkin' 'bout thar ?' run that through accent code and it's nigh useless.

[Carnage]

ok I'll admit, bad examples...lets take 'wha'chee talkin' 'bout thar ?' run that through accent code and it's nigh useless.

It is?

Then I suppose educated nobles and grubby commoners should sound exactly alike. Or we should let the code pick and choose specific accents and remove flexibility from the game. Who could -possibly- need to disguise their speech with an accent or anything possibly similar?

[Larrath]

I, for one, do like it.  Northern accent, Southern accent, I for one wish I had a clearer image of which accent is what.  That way I'd also be able to make those useless accents.

I agree that most characters know too much English, but since they are actually talking in Sirihish, well...let's say that as long as the structure itself makes sense, I do not mind the occasionally out of place adjective or noun.

Coded accents are nice, but to me, they only say "this character is not from here".  It tells me absolutely squat about how they'd really be talking.

And that's it.

[Dracul]

It adds flavor. The accent coding, really isn't shit in many ways. I personally love it when people use accents...and its amusing when their accent is so thick you can't understand it.

There is a point to that. When someone says "Hi there you fekker" In a 'rinth accent.   you can tell what they say. Their accent means nothing. but..

"Ows et goen 'ah fekah?" Actually has an accent.

[Sholdyn]

Personally, I'd have to say when people are using strange speech patterns, it's probably because they're just trying to have a little fun. Lighten up everyone.

[John]

[The area between Allanak And Tuluk isn't so big] since you can run it in a day as a d-elf, or walk it in 2 with a kank...

Just because it's possible doesn't mean it should happen.

[Gorobei]

ok I'll admit, bad examples...lets take 'wha'chee talkin' 'bout thar ?' run that through accent code and it's nigh useless.

The only thing the accent code does is add a couple of words before stating what language the dude is speaking.  No matter who's saying it (as long as they know the language) it will always read as 'wha'chee talkin' 'bout thar ?'

[Boggis]

Accents are good. They help to highlight the difference between the nobility and commoners imo. I don't even mind the virtually unintelligible accents because this happens IRL too. I can go to some rural parts of Ireland that are less than 200 miles from my home and have severe difficulty in understanding the local accent. I'll just play it as I see it on screen.

Definitely more irksome to me is how well-spoken lots of commoners are for some reason yet their backgrounds are something along the lines of grew up on Miners, parents did odd jobs, practiced a little tailoring and, oh yeah, speak like a polished aide with years of training.

[creeper386]

ok I'll admit, bad examples...lets take 'wha'chee talkin' 'bout thar ?' run that through accent code and it's nigh useless.

As someone else has said. That doesn't get 'run through' anything dealing with the accent code. The accent code adds in 'southern' 'northern' 'tribal' before the language they are speaking, and that's ALL. And it's not even just dependant on your starting place, but the starting place of where the other person comes from.

What it WOULD get run through, and what MIGHT make it 'nigh useless' is when someone doesn't speak the language well. Like a newbie dwarf or elf doesn't have perfect sirihish so it might get distorted alittle more, but that's life.

All the accent code does, is give an idea they are out of place. It doesn't tell you HOW they are talking, except in general terms. I personally don't think it includes JUST an accent. Otherwise it'd be alittle silly. As I'm sure if your a Tuluki that all 'nakkies and all Stormers talk exactly the same. It tells you they aren't local people, not how they are talking.


Creeper

[Realedazed]

Personally, I'd have to say when people are using strange speech patterns, it's probably because they're just trying to have a little fun. Lighten up everyone.

Accents are cool, but when the person behind the character is clueless to what is being said, its a tad annoying.

This may be a bit off, but I've know people that read forums who would go into a murderous rage when posters forget to use correct punctuation and grammar. They complain on how they can't read the post.  I feel that, if I can read it, I'm happy. But if  it all looks like gibberish to me, I'm going to pass it by. Same thing in game.

But I can say I'm getting used to it. Now, I just RP that my character is just as clueless as I am.

[Gaare]

Don't you hate it how almost everyone is a commoner, yet they sound like they have atleast had some schooling?

Actually we write as schooling, but probably IC'ly characer speaks in a kind of uneducated....

[sarahjc]

At first I really didn't like it when people gave their Pc's "extra" Accents. But now.. though some can be hard to read. I don’t mind them. I think it adds flavor that these people might be from a backwater type place. The one thing I don't like is when the PC clearly states that they're background is that they grew up in the city and you can't understand a freak'n word they say.  I automatically assume that people that give their PC's and extra accent aren't from the inner city.

Think about it this way. You and your friend both live in NY State. You are from Brooklyn, your friend is from Buffalo. You do -not- sound the same. I think the same is fine for Arm. You and your friend are both from the North. You may be from the inner city, he may be from a small undisturbed farming village. There may be a language difference.

Just my take on it.

[Cenghiz]

If you have the power, yell "STOP BLUBBERING AND TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT, 'NECK!"...

[Dracul]

If you have the power, yell "STOP BLUBBERING AND TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT, 'NECK!"...

aye, and icly, that entirely viable.

I think I mustve taken my accent to a degree to far today. playing for quite awhile with someone whos using about the same pattern of accenting, and he stops me, and says a few ooc comments. Just too hard for him to read.

I'll still stick  by that accent are some good flavor though.

[Cuusardo]

Don't you hate it how almost everyone is a commoner, yet they sound like they have atleast had some schooling?

What about all the common folk who've had lessons in etiquette?

[Angela Christine]

Meh.  Uneducated isn't the same as stupid.  Knowing how to address your social superiors is a survival skill in a caste-based society.  They might not know how to address a senator or a black robe (or northern equilent) but most people should have a basic idea of how to address the blue-robed templars that are on practically every corner.  Foriegners probably wouldn't get it quite right, but locals would.

As for word choice, I wouldn't worry to much about it.  Some people just can't help themselves, they use good grammer without thinking about it.  Unless they start spouting off the laws of thermodynamics, I wouldn't assume it necessarily means the character is well educated.


AC