Languages & Metagaming

[Shaderz]

Recently it has come to my attention how incredibly easy it is for someone to metagame the language spoken by characters which is required by rules to be placed between brackets by players before an in-character speech. Before I get into details, please keep in mind I am not pointing fingers at anyone.

 

Surely if you are speaking a worldwide known language such as Spanish, French or Russian to name a few, it is okay to roleplay your character acknowledging them, even though you are likely not to understand a thing they are saying. The issue here is in regards to less commonly spoken languages and the fact it lies within the courtesy of players to understand that just because someone states between brackets the language their characters are speaking, it does not mean you automatically know that they are speaking that exact language.

 

This is common occurrence because there is nothing  that helps preventing it from happening in the first place which leaves a lot of room for rule breakers to fall under this method of metagaming. There are a few illegal factions where their native language is uncommon, namely Albanian and Armenian. Now, I do not know about you guys but if I heard either an Albanian or Armenian speaking their native language in real life, I am pretty sure I would not only understand a thing they are saying, but figure out what language they are speaking at all, especially American/English characters which is what the vast majority of people on the server portray their characters as.

 

I felt like bringing this up but I have no clue how we could possibly fix this problem which is why I am creating this thread in the first place so we can debate this topic and come together with possible solutions. What is your input on this?

 

 

 

Edited June 22, 2020 by Shaderz

[Marksman]

A prime example of this kind of thing happening. 

 

The character in question is a native American, yet verbally attacks a group of Albanians, naming them as such, based on the fact they spoke Albanian. How would they know this is the case, other than the [Albanian] depicted in their lines of text.

[WatchingEye]

While I personally like the current system for languages, the brackets being an easy way to say your character is speaking a foreign language I would love for the addition of a language system on the server, where you choose languages your character knows icly and in the chat to be shown as a translation of what he is saying or just simply something that is not english so it cannot be metagamed in. This addition would still require everyone to communicate in english but would prevent metagaming like this from happening. 

[shiroq]

Just now, WatchingEye said:

While I personally like the current system for languages, the brackets being an easy way to say your character is speaking a foreign language I would love for the addition of a language system on the server, where you choose languages your character knows icly and in the chat to be shown as a translation of what he is saying or just simply something that is not english so it cannot be metagamed in. This addition would still require everyone to communicate in english but would prevent metagaming like this from happening. 

I agree with a system like this to be implemented, but what is preventing people from abusing this and picking up all the languages or most popular languages and quietly mg what is being said in the chat? If something like that can be solved then it would be a great addition

[Chef]

It's a huge issue. Complex, ancient languages are being somehow understood by randoms with American surnames for example. Some languages are easier to pick out than others but c'mon. Italian Americans understanding Armenian? Give me a break.

[arrdef]

It's most likely a benign form of metagaming that some people do without realizing.

I fail to see how that can't be resolved with a quick pm, like:

"/pm hey albanian is a pretty obscure language, are you sure your char would know it's even albanian and not some foreign gibberish?"

 

 

Irregardless, a script or PLM system designed solely to police what languages characters speak and understand seems like a huge bureaucracy with a very tiny and niche purpose. Hardly a "huge" issue.

Edited June 22, 2020 by arrdef

[WatchingEye]

5 minutes ago, shiroq said:

I agree with a system like this to be implemented, but what is preventing people from abusing this and picking up all the languages or most popular languages and quietly mg what is being said in the chat? If something like that can be solved then it would be a great addition

Have it be applied to an admin ig or when making the character, there’d be an issue when waiting for an admin during not peak hours but that’s how I’d go about it. Either that or set it to a minimum of a few languages, 3 for example.

[Shaderz]

4 minutes ago, Marksman said:

A prime example of this kind of thing happening. 

 

The character in question is a native American, yet verbally attacks a group of Albanians, naming them as such, based on the fact they spoke Albanian. How would they know this is the case, other than the [Albanian] depicted in their lines of text.

While I don't want to point out any fingers in particular, I'm not going to lie, this post inspired me to create this thread.

 

To further add on to the issues that may arise as a result of this, let's say the character in question reports it to the police as she threatened to do so in her original post, the number of suspects would inevitably be chunked down to a mere few, courtesy of her metagaming the language being spoken when in fact there is no way she would figure that out in the first place. 

[marbella mondays]

Just now, WatchingEye said:

Have it be applied to an admin ig or when making the character, there’d be an issue when waiting for an admin during not peak hours but that’s how I’d go about it. Either that or set it to a minimum of a few languages, 3 for example.

There's people who know up to 5 languages IRL, just be simply living in different environments as you're bound to catch on... doesn't mean a person needs to be 10/10 brainy. I'd like a system like this in game, but trying to find a midpoint is hard.

[Five-oh]

personally, i would love to have a script in place that lets you pick a number of languages (within reason) for your character, and have the script automatically make words, and sentences, impossible to decipher unless they belong to a language your character speaks.

 

people will argue that that's rpgish, i suppose, but i don't always see that as a bad thing. managing OOC knowledge that shouldn't impact the course of IC events is difficult, and players are bound to be effected by OOC knowledge whether they do so knowingly or by mistake - especially when it's so blatantly in your face as is the case with foreign languages.