Re: Criminals and accents.

by **Izzifix** Wed May 21, 2014 3:16 pm

I've always enjoyed RPing fairly weak, but also quite arrogant characters.

It gets your ass kicked in all the best ways.

by **Zinkle Figgins** Wed May 21, 2014 7:29 pm

Dwyburn wrote:Disclaimer: NOT exclusively aimed at the Cartel, although I look forwards to eventual cartelite replies.

This thread needs no real introduction, I think, as its purpose is quite simple:
I really want to know what's up with every criminal on the server having a random accent (that of course is transcribed by the player). Is "Crime" a separate region of the human kingdoms with its own customs and dialects? Is every criminal so easily influenced by his/her peers that his/her speech pattern changes when he/she breaks bad?

The accents themselves don't usually make sense to me either, as it seems mostly random what letters are skipped and replaced with ', ranging from removing vowels in long words to removing hard consonants or soft consonants. Spoken out loud, the accents generally sound like nothing I've encountered anywhere.

Basicly, I can see that a mild accent helps give a character a personal touch in his/her speech patterns and so on, but by the current state of things crime in SW could be reduced by near 100% simply by locking up everyone who speaks oddly. It's gotten out of hand over the course of the last year, it feels like. Never been so obvious before during the three years and some I've RPed on the server.

Thoughts? Experiences? Share them below!

Weird accents and obscure vocabularies have always been popular among criminals. The first as a result of living in the seediest areas of the city, where working-class accents and foreign languages (sailors, merchants, immigrants) often mix up, and the latter was just a way to discuss openly about your business without anyone from outside the underworld understanding what you were saying. [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] is a good example, but you can find something similar in every era (I know for sure ancient greeks had something similar, and so did the romans). "[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]" were also very common among pirates and smugglers and still exist in some parts of the world. Remember criminal societies are very exclusive and close-knit, that's why each one has its own way of speaking.

Although I agree some of those accents sound very silly and are usually used to appear cool, tough or street-wise (I did that too when I started RPing) but it's something that [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] if you think about it.

Ixirar/Kavalis wrote:On the topic of picking fights with OP characters:

It'd be cool if the thugs would be smarter about their fights. However, if they were, they'd have next to no fights to pick. Everybody in Stormwind who isn't a street thug is either an arch mage, a death knight, a paladin or some other ridiculously powerful concept. There aren't civilians going about their everyday lives because that's a boring thing to be.

So what do the thugs do? The thugs come up with reasons why they would be able to beat people anyways. Thugs, as a concept, are very centered around the "We pick on the weak" mentallity, and it dies when nobody is weaker than themselves. Because of this, while I was in the Cartel, I saw master assassins, psychic witches, powerful warlocks and so on join the gang, because we -needed- that in order for a VERY central part of our random RP to function. Sure, that archmage is really really strong, but we have an assassin who specializes in dealing with archmages, and that assassin has a bunch of friends who just might be able to tip the scale in our favour.

A few years ago, the Cartel worked on a principle that they were -just- lowly thugs whose grasp on weapon technology extended to batting a nail through a plank. When I was in the Cartel, I saw that disappear, because nails in planks don't cut it for the kind of victims that they -need- to pick on now in order to not stagnate completely.

I know what you're saying since a lot of people have told me the same thing, although we criminals have our fair share of responsibilities, bringing all this violence in the streets. I can understand why people prefer carrying weapons or wearing armors even within the city walls. I guess the only way to solve this issue is behaving less violently, maybe other people will relax as well Laughing

by **Amaryl** Wed May 21, 2014 8:11 pm

Sanara wrote:
erwtenpeller wrote:I must say I find the last point bothersome at times as well. Wellsworth tends to treat Draenei with great reverence, as supernatural beings sent from the heavens to save Azeroth.

It's not even specifically Draenei, but Night Elves too. These people are not only so old that a human being can't concieve of the timeframe, but they're also huge. For a person without some kind of magical advantage themselves to stand up to one seems like bloody madness to me.

I mean, we all saw the last episode of Game of Thrones, right? With the Icelandic strongman playing The Mountain? Can you imagine picking a fight with that guy, except he's got magical powers?

Yeah but you live in a world where the past 2-3 generations of humans have fought against far worse than night elves. Tauren's swinging maces, demons, fucking skeletons that just cannot be stopped not to mention the orcs. It is past the point where bloody madness is a stopping block. That's basically one of the biggest traits of humans; Their inability to give-up, their inability to let darkness walk over them whatever may come; Where Draenei take the sensible option to pick fights they have a chance to win, where Night-elves don't care about the world beyond their forest, and where high-elves had no problems retreating further from the world into isolation, the human trait is just to stubbornly, even foolishly stand, and just take their punchers chance at survival, even though it is bloody bloody madness, humans stand.

by **Sanara** Wed May 21, 2014 8:57 pm

Amaryl wrote:the human trait is just to stubbornly, even foolishly stand, and just take their punchers chance at survival, even though it is bloody bloody madness, humans stand.

Actually the majority of the human race has been wiped out as a result of their 'stand'. All seven kingdoms in the north, and Stormwind itself burned when it tried to stand against the Orcs without help from its allies. You're really overestimating what kind of chance the average human would imagine himself having, or indeed actually have, against any one of the dozens of things far better at killing and surviving than they are.

by **Zaraj** Wed May 21, 2014 9:07 pm

yer feckerss gon get fecked cause ma pa in arathor is gon smack ya right back ta e fuckn pig n whistle

by **Ixirar** Wed May 21, 2014 9:10 pm

Sanara wrote:You're really overestimating what kind of chance the average human would imagine himself having,

Evidently not

by **erwtenpeller** Wed May 21, 2014 9:19 pm

But that human might have an edge in other fields. They might fight dirty, they might have mechanical aides, better weapons, special training - A wide range of magic.

A human can be just as badass as all the other races in this universe.

by **Sanara** Wed May 21, 2014 9:25 pm

erwtenpeller wrote:But that human might have an edge in other fields. They might fight dirty, they might have mechanical aides, better weapons, special training - A wide range of magic.

A human can be just as badass as all the other races in this universe.

We're not talking about people with mechanical assistance, special weapons or magic, though. We're talking about football hooligans usually armed with the kind of weaponry Gnolls consider quaint and antiquated.

by **erwtenpeller** Wed May 21, 2014 9:54 pm

Well yeah, -they- ought to watch out for johnny vindicator with his big crystal hammer.

Bonk!

by **Ixirar** Wed May 21, 2014 9:58 pm

We're also talking about how those football hooligans lately have taken to RPing chars with -better- weapons and skills than present in your gnoll analogy.

If -your- thug can't figure out how to do better than a nail in a plank, then so be it. I've seen plenty of thugs who -do- use powerful magic and weaponry. Also, at times, they simply outnumber the draenei/night elf.

by **Izzifix** Wed May 21, 2014 10:11 pm

Enchanted plank with a nail. Imagine the carnage Twisted Evil

by **Sanara** Wed May 21, 2014 10:26 pm

Ixirar/Kavalis wrote:We're also talking about how those football hooligans lately have taken to RPing chars with -better- weapons and skills than present in your gnoll analogy.

If -your- thug can't figure out how to do better than a nail in a plank, then so be it. I've seen plenty of thugs who -do- use powerful magic and weaponry.

Never in an encounter I've had, I recall my Draenei characters have always been threatened with fists at worst. This includes Vlastaani in her enchanted full-plate. Just the wat.

Ixirar/Kavalis wrote:Also, at times, they simply outnumber the draenei/night elf.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] Twisted Evil

by **Feral / Blackfall** Thu May 22, 2014 6:56 pm

I'm with everything Vaell said.

My take is that it's likely a low-class accent (whoever mentioned Gutterspeak, I agree, the humans DO have a slang language for lowlifes) or lack of pronunciation/education, and it doesn't bother me. Nor does swearing, as long as it's in line with the character's persona and not too overdone.

I'd also not agree with you, Sanara, on the term "lazy characterization," simply because stereotypes can be a very good thing for RP. If I were going to roll a thug, I WOULD roll a low-class, swearing, smoking bastard. Just like if I were going to roll a Draenei paladin, it would be a very devout yet rational, solid, patient and calm person with millennia of experience in control, because anything else just doesn't make much sense.

In regards to thugs attacking things much stronger than them--some thugs will BE that stupid, others overconfident or desperate. It makes good RP for the people who wipe the floor with them.

There ARE times when it just doesn't make sense. Anything that feels OOCly forced does tend to break immersion for me and annoy me but that's certainly not limited to this situation.

TL;DR: Accents, swearing, stereotypes, OTT attacks--all fine in my eyes, when in moderation.

by **Brigs Morgan** Thu May 22, 2014 8:51 pm

Mfw i say cunt every three seconds irl

alright john you silly old cunt, how you been? I been cunting around at work, some cunt made me work late. Been there 5 hours extra sweating like a whore and feeling a right cunt

etc

swearing, if youre from a lower class area, does not come across as swearing.

by **Kittrina** Thu May 22, 2014 8:54 pm

It's more like punctuation tbh

Also cunt is used as way more casual/affectionate in (bits of) England than everywhere else.

by **Brigs Morgan** Thu May 22, 2014 8:59 pm

It really is, here its used by most. As for criminals attacking OP characters, every one has a bad day. Doesn't take much for a shambling peasant to slip a knife in you as he accidentally falls on you, accidentally dislodging your coin purse.

by **Vaell** Fri May 23, 2014 12:13 am

My issue with overusing cunt is that it takes away from the power of the word.

It's nice to pull out that one cunt that causes jaws to drop.

by **Feral / Blackfall** Sun May 25, 2014 7:40 pm

Vaell wrote:
It's nice to pull out that one cunt that causes jaws to drop.

Vaell, the pimp, referring to his legion of awe-inspiring prostitutes. My headcanon has been updated.

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