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Eagleon · 07-18-2003, 12:19 PM

Have you been to every MUD out there? Have you even been to more than 10? I know of many that should have this.

The common language I was referring to was a specific language, "common", found in most diku-deriative MUDs, and many who take after them. It is known by _every_ beginning character, no exceptions at all, and I find that annoying. Common was not in the context of "common to a few", that is, learned by a neighboring country in most schools, but "common to all". Do you know Ethiopian? Islamic? Even passibly good Norwegian?

In most MUDs, the setting is in the past. A lot of people still lived on farms or houses seperated from others. Most of those raised their children without much contact with the outside world beyond tax collectors, neighboring farms, and trips to the nearby town. I doubt in all the hard work that a parent would take time to teach more than a few words of Far Hendric (or Trollish, whichever floats your theme), a language that they think they will barely ever use but which is in common use maybe 150 miles from their farm, to their offspring.

The problem with this is that most MUDs are necessarily small in world size. 10 rooms to the east or less, and you find another city. It might actually be 30 miles to that city, but it's easy for players to cross, so more people are going to come out to that farm. It's a bit of a trip to trek up to the borders of the nation of Hendric, maybe 50 rooms, but, for some reason, not one a sturdy farm boy couldn't make in a MUD day. In extreme cases I've seen it become 10 rooms for that 150 miles. So why have language barriers? Because in reality, the trip could take much more than a day. People will talk to people two days away, but a week is another matter. Then it's wasting planting time.

I know, no adventurers come out of the farmlands. Players occupy that one niche only. Or not. RP isn't always about slaying dragons and scoring with the elf chick in your party. Maybe I do want to play a farmer, perhaps a farmer next to that dragon lair who profits off of would-be heros by letting them stay the night for a rest?

*shrug* I just want a little realism. I don't want to automatically speak "common" every time I log in, or even have it available for other people to use, I want to speak the farmer's native dialect, even if I'm misunderstood by three or four heros.

07-18-2003, 12:19 PM	#8
Eagleon Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Milwaukee, WI Posts: 147	Have you been to every MUD out there? Have you even been to more than 10? I know of many that should have this. The common language I was referring to was a specific language, "common", found in most diku-deriative MUDs, and many who take after them. It is known by _every_ beginning character, no exceptions at all, and I find that annoying. Common was not in the context of "common to a few", that is, learned by a neighboring country in most schools, but "common to all". Do you know Ethiopian? Islamic? Even passibly good Norwegian? In most MUDs, the setting is in the past. A lot of people still lived on farms or houses seperated from others. Most of those raised their children without much contact with the outside world beyond tax collectors, neighboring farms, and trips to the nearby town. I doubt in all the hard work that a parent would take time to teach more than a few words of Far Hendric (or Trollish, whichever floats your theme), a language that they think they will barely ever use but which is in common use maybe 150 miles from their farm, to their offspring. The problem with this is that most MUDs are necessarily small in world size. 10 rooms to the east or less, and you find another city. It might actually be 30 miles to that city, but it's easy for players to cross, so more people are going to come out to that farm. It's a bit of a trip to trek up to the borders of the nation of Hendric, maybe 50 rooms, but, for some reason, not one a sturdy farm boy couldn't make in a MUD day. In extreme cases I've seen it become 10 rooms for that 150 miles. So why have language barriers? Because in reality, the trip could take much more than a day. People will talk to people two days away, but a week is another matter. Then it's wasting planting time. I know, no adventurers come out of the farmlands. Players occupy that one niche only. Or not. RP isn't always about slaying dragons and scoring with the elf chick in your party. Maybe I do want to play a farmer, perhaps a farmer next to that dragon lair who profits off of would-be heros by letting them stay the night for a rest? shrug I just want a little realism. I don't want to automatically speak "common" every time I log in, or even have it available for other people to use, I want to speak the farmer's native dialect, even if I'm misunderstood by three or four heros.