Leet, roleplay, and just spelling

[Nyoko]

Thicklesip, I will definitely say, this isn't about those that do try. Those who speak a foreign language and are learning, or those with say dislexia or something. Those who try. I have many friends in the game that I enjoy rping with who, yes they don't spell that great sometimes, or one who has a problem but I enjoy rping with that individual because I can see the character because he rps. This is only about those that are fully about not trying the rp experience outside the norms of things like wow, where rp leet, or just plain bad spelling is acceptable.

I'm not looking for stellar rp. I'm just looking for some rp, that makes me believe it is rp and not ooc chat.

[LOVWYRM]

( I agree with you all here-
but for obviers reasons :
thank you for your post Thickle*hugs*
but on the other hand- I would never dare to participate at a longer rp-
due to bad spelling under pressure- and insufficiant English)

[Nambroth]

Thank you Nyoko!

I spend most of my time online now in NT (mostly on alts) and have always enjoyed myself immensely. Lately however the pure inane.. horror that has been the main chat, has me both disturbed and really quite driven away. I had to leave earlier, with all the chatter about movies and other games, leetspeak, net-speak, and youtube videos. WHAT. I felt like I was in an old AOL chatroom, not on Istaria's Role Playing server!

I understand that OOC banter happens and it does not bother me but in excess it gets to be a little much. How many times can you politely request that this is a RolePlaying channel, offer help, and have both ignored? I would far rather hand out some polite education on how to play and even how to get started RPing if they need it than hand out complaint tickets on people that are not following the rules, but I have seen not only myself but others being blatantly ignored.

How do we encourage new players to our server? We complain about wanting new people, but I fear this is not what I had in mind. I am happy to assist them should they need some guidance, but that is not what is happening here. I am not sure what to do.

[Shian]

Yeah I saw this when I went to NT yesterday. Two players RPing without regard to grammar, or spelling.

I just ignored it. After all, if they can understand each other and are having fun, they should be free to do so. At least that's what I told myself as I tried to get as far away as possible before my eyes started bleeding or my brain started melting from trying to translate it. >.<

[Frith-Rae]

As a voracious reader and English Minor - I feel your pain . I hear your rant - and I too know the difference between people who are trying and people who are just "talking" however they talk in OOC (out in /say or whatever).

I of course try the polite suggestions first, like "ok I see you doing the smilies - just so you know smilies are ignored in IC/RP so my character isn't seeing that so I wont' be responding to it" or "just letting you know I don't respond to leet speak or abbreviations in RP, this is IC and my character doesn't know that language" or something like that. MOST of the times *I* have had to do something like that its been taken in the spirit in which it was given and honestly the players did not know that it wasn't the "norm" in RP. They adjusted, got the picture when they'd forget and I would only give partial responses , and we moved on.

But yes that is far different from those who refuse to be polite and move somewhere else with their ooc speak (I mean I say ZOMG in OOC/dragon and in RL all the time, but Frith would never lol).

If they ignore your suggestions, al you can do is ignore them. It could be an influx of new players from the MMO interviews that have been happening, or just people bouncing games randomly and see a "Free trial" (I know I'm more open to trying games with free trials heh). They do or do not realize what "RP" server means - or even that "RP servers" in other games really mean nothing at all (which unfortunately is more of a norm now...) and that this is their first encounter with a real RP server population (who will actually say something).

You can always just /ignore; I know its nothing anyone likes to do (I don't...) but if I can't just skip over what they're saying myself then it is the option. Eventualy if they find themselves ignored by half the populatin in game they'll either change or move on.

Odds are they aren't sticking around for the long haul if some of the above is true, as they won't be able to tolerate this old-school type game lol.

[Dhalin]

These days, it almost seems like Order NT is turning into Moon Guard Goldshire from WoW.

Slowly, but surely.

Before, it was the whole "hatchlings mating" rants, and now the "poorly spelled/punctuated/grammar" RP that I'm reading about now...

Ick.

I usually run through NT (I have my binds set there just because I'm used to them being that way) and I usually have my /say in its own separate tab and I rarely view it for more than a brief second to get it to stop flashing (it drives me nuts after awhile).

I could never understand what is so hard about properly using the language, if you're native to it. I understand the whole concept of those who are not native English speakers and honestly, I have zero problems with them! I've "spoken" to a lot of people who are clearly foreign and I'm very patient (and will even offer help if they asked), but then there are people who _are_ native English-speakers... ugh.

I find that these days, my patience for such people is wearing thin. I tend to just shrug, shake my head and keep walkin'. More often than not, these people are just plain lazy and don't care about using the language properly. What bugs me even more, is that I'm seeing this RL. I work at a grocery store as I've mentioned in my other rant posts, and _our own cashiers_ talk like redneck hillbillies who never got past 3rd grade in school. Honestly. If I were a customer at a retail store, grocery store, whatever, I'd politely ask to be checked out by another cashier. I don't want someone who didn't even finish highschool to be counting MY money and handling my merchandise.

I don't get why it is so hard to write/talk intelligently. I just don't understand what is so hard about that. Even proper grammar I could get past, if it weren't for the intentional misspellings, and worse yet, AOL-speak, or "leet speak". That's not a cause of ignorance, it is a case of pure laziness.

Actually, I dunno if it is laziness ... it is more... I dunno, rebellious? They don't want to do things right, they want to do things their way? Face it, replacing letters with numbers sometimes takes MORE effort than just spelling the word correctly. For example, swapping "e" with "3" makes you reach *further* with your fingers.

Or, replacing "L" with "1", the "L" key is on the home-row, and is very accessible. "1" on the other hand is way up near the Tab key, making it a more difficult choice to swap it. Some "leet-speak" swaps, though, do make it easier, like using "8" or such.

Either way, "leet-speak" is just annoying. I can't think of any other way to describe it. It is that one thing that should never have been, and hopefully, I can only pray we can make it a bannable offense to use it in-game. I could only wish.

[ScaleIron]

These days, it almost seems like Order NT is turning into Moon Guard Goldshire from WoW.

Oh god no. I play on that server (when I had money to play, I will in the near future) and after making the mistake of creating a human character that wasn't a death knight, I decided I was going to get my horde characters leveled to 80 so I could burn that horrible place down on a regular basis.

I will cut out the cancer that is Goldenshire from the Moon Guard server, I swear...

Please continue on with the regularly scheduled rant.

[Akrion]

Either way, "leet-speak" is just annoying. I can't think of any other way to describe it. It is that one thing that should never have been, and hopefully, I can only pray we can make it a bannable offense to use it in-game. I could only wish.

Leet-speak annoys me because it came from something useful, and now people use it everywhere with a straight face. Making it a bannable offense wouldn't work out too well, though, because plenty of people occasionally use it without any seriousness what so ever, and then you'd be stuck with the pointless task of trying to distinguish that.

[Shinkuu]

Personally I am not a fan of "L33T" either and it is just annoying.

The whole purpose of communication is to convey one's thoughts fluently and effectively to another creature. Therefore, purposefully making your writing harder to comprehend defeats this purpose.

However, if the speech is IN-CHARACTER (which the above form should NEVER be) and is purposefully different or spelled to indicate accent or the character's difficulty with speaking then I find it 100% ok. Though expect me to act as puzzled ICly as I would be OOCly in understanding it if my character should not have any reason to understand it more easily.

For instance, none of my characters Speaks or understands the Dragon Language some use and they act appropriately when it is spoken to them but I do not really care if others use it.