OOC shenanigans

[Wolfsong]

I've seen a lot of Polish refer to English speakers as English, and to themselves as Polish. I wasn't aware there was a widespread movement against that.

[sherman]

But how do your character knows it is Spanish language? I really don't like it, and avoid of all cost, but when group of chars from english zone are opemly talking, that their language is english and our is polish, I don;t know what to do. For me it is not ok to referre to real languages.

It's a game in the end and we can't play it without some OOC knowledge. Makes life easier I guess beside with english speakers it doesn't even mean one nation. Okay with spanish and polish it might mean since not many outside the country speak it (or play this game) but really if this is a issue it's waay to late to do anything about it. Everyone has adapted this current system and use it. And I don't myself see really any problem here, sounds nicer than call polish as those who speak odd language or spanish as those with funny language etc... I don't just see alternative that wouldn't sound.. rude

[Moonflame]

It's a game in the end and we can't play it without some OOC knowledge. Makes life easier I guess beside with english speakers it doesn't even mean one nation. Okay with spanish and polish it might mean since not many outside the country speak it (or play this game) but really if this is a issue it's waay to late to do anything about it. Everyone has adapted this current system and use it. And I don't myself see really any problem here, sounds nicer than call polish as those who speak odd language or spanish as those with funny language etc... I don't just see alternative that wouldn't sound.. rude

I agree, you need OOC knowledge for lots of things, you can't make this system perfect. The game has given us some things, for example "sunny, it's spring". If we can say a town is a town, and the sun is the sun, and spring is spring, then Polish may as well be Polish.

People have been using the word "week" a lot lately though, I don't like that.

[Snowdrop]

But how do your character knows it is Spanish language?

Quite simply, if a character who has never been exposed to another language in game, is immediately able to name a language different to their own, then that is wrong. If, however, they have previously met someone speaking a language, eg. Spanish, and had asked about the language and discovered in game what it was called, or seen a dictionary and recognised some of the words and worked it out like that, then, I don't see an issue.

People could make up a new word for each language, however, then it would be kind of confusing as different islands, despite speaking the same language, would be coming up with different names for the same language. And it's all just...yeah. Easier just to use 'English', 'Polish', 'Spanish', 'Dutch' etc.

Also more helpful to those that like to use their characters learning a new language in game to help them learn the language for real.

People have been using the word "week" a lot lately though, I don't like that.

Oh, that really bugs me!

[Marian]

But how do your character knows it is Spanish language?.

How do your characters know anything they know? Do we really want to go down this road?

And I've heard people from other language groups refer to English, Spanish, Polish, Italian...not sure why this is getting painted as an English only thing.

It's not referring to a country, it's just what the language is called. You might as well ask why people don't make up special words for shovels.

[Frankoniusz]

It is two completly diffrent things.

Shovel is a noun given by a game itself. It says "shovel" and it is not said, that cantrian shovel is a shovel as we know it. It's just shovel.

"Polish" is an adjective. Language from Poland. There is no Poland in cantr. No polish, nor english, nor sweden or german chars. Use your imagination and don't avoid "hard" things. It isn't even hard.

It is my point of view, if you want to play and see this diffrent, go on. Till there is no nation of england I won't use it. I won't make you play this way, but I would like you to think about it, thats all.

Cheers!

[*Wiro]

If Dudel still played he'd be here telling people about KISS (keep it simple, stupid). While I tended to disagree with him, that was the one thing I generally agreed with him on.

I really appreciate the effort others put in though. Zamordki is a really interesting word.

[iavatus]

"...We could have told you that our character paused to strap on his quonglishes before setting out on a walk of seven vorks along the main gleebish of his native znoob, and everything would have seemed ever so much more thoroughly alien. But it also would have been ever so much more difficult to make sense out of what we were saying, and that did not seem useful."

Isaac Asimov, on why we call a spade a spade in sci fi.

[Marian]

"...We could have told you that our character paused to strap on his quonglishes before setting out on a walk of seven vorks along the main gleebish of his native znoob, and everything would have seemed ever so much more thoroughly alien. But it also would have been ever so much more difficult to make sense out of what we were saying, and that did not seem useful."

Isaac Asimov, on why we call a spade a spade in sci fi.

My favorite is still, "People who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do." Or for one more relevant to Cantr: "Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent."

Anyhow, not qualifiable as a 'shenanigan', but it's funny to me this confused and inconsistent idea all Cantrians seem to have of the concept of 'morning' and how good it always is.

[sanchez]

I agree with Frankoniusz that referring to OOC nationalities is awkward for the game. I try to avoid it with my chars, instead using in-game locations such as ‘the language of Pok’, ‘the common tongue of the Seven Islands’, etc.. Players have to make an effort to do this consistently, and when some refuse, it is difficult to maintain. I don’t think there can be a rule against it, but it is certainly poor form.

Fwiw, Olki is an in-game name for Portuguese, not Spanish, because when they spawn, they all say ‘Ola!’, so some Portuguese newspawns in a certain Polish city were called either Olek or Olka, and then later collectively as the Olki. These unique names are so much more interesting, so I hope more players will make an effort to invent them.

[Marian]

It says Spanish/Polish/Italian right there in the dictionary and these people all refer to themselves as Spanish/Polish/Italian. No harm in getting creative if that's what you prefer but it's all pretty straightforward for my characters.

Anyway one of mine has been told people from another language group didn't even need other people around to spawn, so they're all some weird alien species anyhow as far as that char is considered.

[Snowdrop]

"Polish" is an adjective. Language from Poland. There is no Poland in cantr. No polish, nor english, nor sweden or german chars. Use your imagination and don't avoid "hard" things. It isn't even hard.

It is my point of view, if you want to play and see this diffrent, go on. Till there is no nation of england I won't use it.

So, if we go by that line of thinking, what should 'English' be called in game? Cantonese? Oh...wait, no. That really would be confusing...

[Frankoniusz]

It says Spanish/Polish/Italian right there in the dictionary and these people all refer to themselves as Spanish/Polish/Italian. No harm in getting creative if that's what you prefer but it's all pretty straightforward for my characters.

It is a fault of those, who make this dictonaries and used OOC names of languages.

[sherman]

You can't blame singular person for that really..

People could make up a new word for each language, however, then it would be kind of confusing as different islands, despite speaking the same language, would be coming up with different names for the same language. And it's all just...yeah. Easier just to use 'English', 'Polish', 'Spanish', 'Dutch' etc.

Guess we all are lazy and really, this should have been topic then game was still young

[Kyriel]

I don't see any reason why someone shouldn't know their own language is "English" in so much as they know what a "chair" is. It isn't mentioned in the game? It's right there when you go to create a character, and never mentioned anywhere that it would be anything else.