On Tue, 30 Sep 1997, Co-Sysop wrote:
-+> No, that isn't how it works in real life.
-+
-+ I think looking at scrambled words that I know mean something would make
-+me want to decipher the puzzle so that communication is difficult but not
-+impossible. I would get pretty mad if I saw everyone talking and all I saw
-+was some message telling me I didn't understand. Are we assuming the
-+player's character is too dumb to recognize common words and phrases and
-+learn what they mean?
Argh, no. We're assuming that the *player* should have no bearing
on the game's mechanics. The game should determine whether the
*player character* is able to determine the language. Allowing a
*player* to decipher the language thanks to software or mental
abilities (even if they're playing a 5 intelligence, skull-bashing,
drooling warrior) is *not* right. The ability of a character to
decipher a language by hearing it should be based on the character's
intelligence and abilities, not the *player's*.
-+Also, if you do allow the player to learn the language just by listening (if
-+you're not then this question doesn't apply to you), what will you do about
-+typos and mispelled words and names (which are usually the same or similar
-+in foreign languages).
I'm not allowing the player (ie., the REAL PERSON) to learn the
language by listening. I never said anything about the player
character not learning by listening, but the *game* handles that
according to the player character's abilities, *NOT* the player's.
Such lack of distinction between a real person and a real person's
imaginary character is a wet dream for a psychology major looking
for something to write a term paper about.
I might as well have been speaking in Afrikaan (yes, it's a
language)...perhaps a few more people might have understood <roll>.
--
Daniel Koepke -:- dkoepke@california.com -:- [Shadowlord/Nether]
Think.
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