Accents in Roleplay

[Hound]

This is a pretty minor topic, more a question of personal taste and style, but I wanted to get an idea of what EFU thinks of using accented English to represent vocal idioms with characters.

For example - Dwarves speaking with Scottish accents, or snake-like characters using ssssibilant sssyllables to characterise their speech. Do you think this a skillful and effective method of creating an imaginary idea of a character's speech patterns, or should players instead include descriptions of their characters' voices and idioms in emotes or narrative [Examine] description paragraphs and otherwise write their character's dialogue in standard English?

I included a poll in the topic. Make a vote and state your opinions.

[AllMYBudgies]

Accents are fine and the depth of characterisation they encourage is welcome so long as they do not overtake an ability to actually understand them and aren't too ridiculous. I am of the opinion that accents should not encroach on written language, for example in a letter, but this is personal taste based on realism (we don't usually write in our accents - but flavourful additions to text are encouraged!)

[whiterabbit]

Big fan of accents here, I even kind of like the accents that are nigh-impossible to understand - I treat those PCs accordingly.  Scottish dwarves, Norse dwarves, Cockney halflings, Russky-accented evil-doers, all good fun in my book.  Despite this, there are times when I think an accent is done poorly - there's no solid reason, just personal opinion.  I see them as contributing much more than they detract in the bigger picture.

If somebody emotes a description of their accent, I'm likely to forget about it, but their attempt at an accent constantly adds a lot to their flavor in my head and paints a unique picture.

Literary dialect is a valid literary device.  We might as well use it and enjoy it.

[Zango_Unchained]

I think its fine, I just as a player would prefer not to see "rrrRRRrRrRRr" or "SSSSsssss" just one or two, makes your point plenty exaggerated.

[das-good-yah]

Having not done this before I am attempting to portray a lispy germanic accent on my present PC....

"Vill you be vishing zhat pumpernikel soup Vatcher Hagkir?"

Just trying to add a bit of colour to my characterisation. Hopefully it adds flavour and doesn't grate too much.

[Divine Intervention]

I am OK with this so long as for the love of God you use an apostrophe in the correct place.  There is a weird trend for people going for a cockney style accent to just randomly remove letters from words in ways that make no sense.

[Hound]

I am OK with this so long as for the love of God you use an apostrophe in the correct place.  There is a weird trend for people going for a cockney style accent to just randomly remove letters from words in ways that make no sense.

This is actually something I've noticed too that grates on me as well. Probably just because I'm a Brit and know what the cockney accent is actually like, but if you're going to use one please do your research and learn how to actually portray the idioms properly instead of just throwing glottal stops around.

[putrid_plum]

I dislike them mostly because all races speak common or undercommon (in the UD) so most people would be speaking the same!!  Also I often have a hard time even reading some speech, like dwarves or as D_I said cockney style talking.  Often I just can't understand it at all.

[Pandip]

I put no, but I maybe should have put yes. I think accents are a great way to give a character a unique touch, but they can very often be overwrought and frustrating. Subtlety is usually key in this case. I think Scottish dwarves and heavily accented French/German are probably the biggest offenders here, but I'm especially opposed to such things when modern day, real life terminology and actual foreign languages come to play. Oui, si, hai, etc.

[Faux News]

Your mileage may very. EFU would be a more colorful but considerably more annoying place if every single character had an accent, but they're not for every character. Here and there they definitely add something to someone's characterization.

I dislike them mostly because all races speak common or undercommon (in the UD) so most people would be speaking the same!!  Also I often have a hard time even reading some speech, like dwarves or as D_I said cockney style talking.  Often I just can't understand it at all.

Accents don't work that way. Everyone speaks the same language, they may not speak it the same way.

[Kinslayer988]

I like a minor twist on language. I also love it when characters replace certain words for added effect. Nicknaming characters something silly has been a past-time of mine.

As for intense accents, there is a limit, but I appreciate the effort of the players to keep it up.

"Let go of'em ye'nasty goon!" - Scrooge McDuck

vs

"Oi lioke tae spaek in scoittish acc'nt fr'tae bleedin' 'old yae' bloi'dy longshaink" -Really intense dwarf

Both are great to a point. It is harder to go through the second sentence while the first one from Scroogy gets it done too.

[Random_White_Guy]

One of my favorite PCs had an accent/dialogue based on my best friend's grandmother who was haitian and had such a crazy blend of new orleans, hatian, and american dialetc. You just have to find consistency in how you use it and make sure you don't get TOO over the top with it.

Think of it like anything in EFU. A little spice, a little flavor. The same way we don't emote every breath and every blink, but you can kinda emote staring at someone too long if they say something stupid or your chest heaving after a big fight.

Use your accent to spice up the encounter not to dominate or be the point of the encounter.

[Diz-e]

You just have to find consistency in how you use it and make sure you don't get TOO over the top with it.

Think of it like anything in EFU. A little spice, a little flavor.

[morva]

I want a spanish speaking gnome. Is that so hard to ask for?

[Pentaxius]

Accents are a bit of a double edge swords. I can work perfectly and add great variety to a character, but it can also backfire and give a "gimicky" or "overdone" feeling. That said, I'm all for it. I think that the many instances in which it works clearly surpasses the instances in which it doesn't end up working.