Alloy

Myndranius, on 05 September 2012 - 12:48 PM, said:

I'll repeat that I'm not a native English-speaker; I'm a Finn and proud of both my language and my country, and am member of a Finnish-speaking kinship in both my MMOs.

If you think the attitude of the majority of English-only-proponents is "English or gtfo", then that's probably where this neverending argument stems from. I (we?) really, REALLY don't mean that, in any shape, form or subtext. I'm quite happy with there being non-English-speakers such as some (well, one) of my former guildmates in the game. But I (we?) think everyone should extend each other the courtesy of speaking in a way that the majority of listeners understands, whenever possible.

And yes, if everyone were to speak their native language on a multicultural server, it would be a problem. For the same reason it is a problem if everyone mainly speaks their native language at a multicultural workplace. The community fragmenting into nationality-cliques would be a bad thing and make the game less enjoyable for all. But as I said, I have not seen this happening anywhere, though I have heard hearsay. At that point the game would have a major problem in their hands, and I would not rule out rules as a potential solution; a bad one, but at that point I couldn't imagine there being a good one. In any case that's a very distant, extreme, hypothetical situation.

If 30 years from now we're playing a game that is in Chinese, and Chinese is the language that the overwhelming majority of the players understands, then yes I believe it would be rude to not speak Chinese in public in that game either, whever possible.

Lordkrall, on 05 September 2012 - 12:25 PM, said:

Then those prople are idiots, and that attitude is a problem, I agree. I have not seen it happen myself, and would dare say that most English-only-proponents are nothing like that. If your experience is different, then we will have to agree to disagree. However, even if the majority of English-only-proponents were morons, it would not detract from the point of why people think speaking non-English languages on widespread public channels is rude.

I'm a non-English speaker in a nationality/language-based guild, and I've always thought using non-English languages in public game chats is extremely rude. Except when absolutely needed, such as a person that honestly doesn't know English asking for quick advice.

Chat on any public channel should be directed at everyone listening. If you aren't trying to address the whole public, in a language the majority of the public understands, you are imposing on a large group of people and should have the good sense to keep it to a minimum. Should it be an enforced rule? I've never been on a server where things were so bad or the community so splintered into language groups that a rule was needed. It's just rude and annoying.

And to all you native English speakers saying it's about "ethnocentric elitism" or such: Really, it's not. Nobody is saying "speak English or gtfo". It's mostly annoyance at chat windows filling up with spam that's incomprehensible to 90% of the players when those participating would usually be quite able to include the 90% (most non-UK people in Europe, especially those that play games that are in English, type understandable English). And about wanting to be able to follow and participate in discussions.

Bond, on 22 August 2012 - 03:30 PM, said:

My feelings exactly. I don't see the norn being that keen on dancing in general; dancing is a group activity or a performance intended to impress, and they are individualists who probably wouldn't find a dancer very impressive. But after a few dozen beers, I could completely see one doing that dance as an uninhibited expression of joy. Yes, I like it.

My norn elementalist is putting out the fire that used to be her dinner. She got a bit excited on receiving word of her participation in the great hunt.

My sylvari guardian is dreaming of knighthood.

My human engineer is discussing tax code with another noble, bored out of her mind and thinking of bigger guns. If she hurried, she should have a prototype ready in a day or two. She excuses herself politely.

My asura ranger is trying to recruit a sylvari for a study on plant communication. It's occurred to her that she probably should stop eating anything more intelligent than a goldfish, and she wants to make sure vegetables don't fall in that category. Her colleagues are beginning to think biology is a bad influence on her.

If you don't know the game well enough to recognize underperformers without a damage meter, you don't know the game well enough to interpret damage meter output.