I'm sorry to bring this piece of information to your attention, Paul, but one of the well known definitions of the world "grammar" is "The art of speaking or writing with correctness or according to established usage." which includes the use of proper words within the sentence. If the usage of a single incorrect word makes a sentence become nonsense then that would be considered poor grammar. This is trivial however.
There is something that should concern you much more than something such as an alternate definitions that one may not know off the top of their heads, and that is that there are a large number of forum members who seem to make their views known to the world without even considering if they are worthy of being said, are just a complete waste of time for all individuals involved, or even understandable to those who have to try and decipher their ramblings created by complete lack of punctuation.
If you read through this single thread you will notice something that you should find appalling upon your first reading, making you have to read it once more just to be sure you actually understood what this person has said, and this person is Grant Herion. Let us sit back and admire what he has just told us.
Grant Herion wrote:Who cares? I really don't care if people can't use archiac language very well. Occasionally my characters speak in archaic, but I am not going to spend time to learn it ooc just for this game, (which is all illarion is). Just like my characters\s cannot speak proper german, but I am not going to learn it ooc because I don't have time to learn it.
Now that I have your full attention, let us dissect what he is relating to us concerning his roleplaying abilities. He has no understanding of the meaning of roleplay. There, now that this much is clear to us all, let us delve into they ‘why’ of the matter. Grant has just admitted for reasons beyond comprehension that he turns his character’s role off and on when he so desires, dipping into the realm of fantasy only when it suits his mood. If his character speaks in Archaic English, wonderful. If he is not ready to take such a journey of imagination then we can let this be, not everyone is ready for such a strenuous undertaking. This is, as he says, only a game. Now, it is a game of roleplay and therefore should be treated as such. Not just with the person who is acting out their character in mind but with all those around in mind as well. If one character is absentmindedly speaking in many different dialects for no reason other than personal enjoyment, i.e. Their character has no roleplaying reason to be doing so (nothing in their characters past has led them to be able to do such a thing), they are destroying the atmosphere others have worked so hard to create around themselves.
It is astonishing to me that someone who openly admits that they take little part in actively playing the role they have supposedly created for their character is allowed to play this game that is supposedly regarded as residing in the higher echelons of the online roleplaying world. I’ve noticed on numerous occasions that a few players run mindlessly around without any regard to their character’s role, or changing their character’s role on a whim in order to advance their personal popularity or gain within, yes, the game. When confronted the excuse that is most widely used is just what Grant Herion pointed out, this is just a game. Now this should set off some alarm in everyone’s head upon hearing such a response that they are dealing with someone with no concept of how to roleplay as befitting this particular game. Of course it’s a game, but it is a game that is meant to be treated with some dignity and respect. If you cannot grasp the concept of roleplaying, which there are many who cannot, then why stay? Wouldn’t you enjoy finding another game where you can act more as you wish to without being a nuisance to those of us who do wish to roleplay? To step out of reality for a brief amount of time and live through our characters in a way we couldn’t possibly do in our natural bodies but can in this fantasy world. I understand that they did pass the application process, but there should be another, more in depth look at each player once they are in the game to see if they can put their definitions of roleplay that they provided in the application to use within the game. I know that many cannot, or even worse, choose not to. These people, in my mind, should be asked to leave so that the rest of us may enjoy this game as it was meant to be, as a true roleplaying game. Not one where we are forced to deal daily with inconsiderate, and on average, younger gamers who haven’t yet grasped the meaning of roleplaying. That is not to say that all young gamers should be forced to leave, much to the contrary, if they have the desire to roleplay and can actually do so within reason, more power to them, just as older and long time players of this game should not be absolved from the same misdeeds regarding lack of roleplay because they have been here for many months or years.
I apologize for this long tirade and using Grant Herion as an example, but he provided himself for such a use when he spoke his mind, and this is one of my pet peeves. When someone admits they are not mature enough to act as they should in this environment, they are not removed for the betterment of the ones who are. Another complaint that is almost more frustrating, and you all know it very well, is when people don’t use punctuation in their posts. People, use punctuation so we can follow your words and assign some semblance of meaning to them! Please!
As for the original purpose of this topic, I agree whole-heartedly with Brendan Mason. If you cannot use Archaic English properly then do not use it at all until you are able to, unless of course you are playing the role of someone who has some flaw in his or her way of speaking. This holds true for all manners of speaking, not only Archaic English. If your character has no reason to be speaking anything other than their native language (German and English being the exceptions as this is a German/English game), they shouldn’t unless a reason arises for them to attempt to do so in game. I remember incidents in the past where some of the younger players were in the game speaking as their characters and not ooc, in languages they were learning while in middle or high school. This is extremely disruptive to game play. These characters would have had to have either traveled to some foreign lands to learn some new language or met some traveler from these distant lands, yet when asked if any of this had happened, of course not. But they did fall back to the predictable response, “It’s just a game.” It is not, however, just a game. It is a roleplaying game.
