Comments on: Warcraft http://www.rowyn.com/2006/04/warcraft/ Down the Rabbit Hole Fri, 25 Nov 2011 16:01:37 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: prismakaos http://www.rowyn.com/2006/04/warcraft/comment-page-1/#comment-407 prismakaos Thu, 27 Apr 2006 08:03:58 +0000 http://www.rowyn.com/blog/2006/04/81/#comment-407 there's also the evolution of language, which is a little bit away from what you're looking at but may also be interesting. in the beginning of adventure computer games, all was text (think zork, adventure, wishbringer, etc). the language you used had to be precise to describe the situation and provide clues for the players to figure out what they needed to do. as games changed, the focus became more on incorporating the player, as opposed to making them a 3rd person observer (hence the success of first person shooters and other various games like that), so the language in the game could be made more colloquial. Because the games then shifted focus onto the players, so they really became part of the world, ie, any multiuser dungeon, the language background could become less and less, until nearly all of the language in a game is what other users say, and not the game itself. in terms of games that aren't online, designers now must create them so it seems as if you were online with other people (development of AI). using jeff's example of baldur's gate, the AI of the other party members had to be good, otherwise, you got really really bored with what they were saying. or even in starcraft, where you're playing against the computer - but if you went online, it feels almost exactly the same. in that sense, i guess what language is chosen is more important in adventure or rpg games (has anyone figured out the difference between these two genres anyway?), as in these games, you need to advance the plot. also, aliens/using alien language to further the environment of a game, which not precisely linguistics, might be a jumping off point for looking at language as environment, which is what i think i've been trying to say. This comment's really incoherent, and I apologize. there’s also the evolution of language, which is a little bit away from what you’re looking at but may also be interesting. in the beginning of adventure computer games, all was text (think zork, adventure, wishbringer, etc). the language you used had to be precise to describe the situation and provide clues for the players to figure out what they needed to do. as games changed, the focus became more on incorporating the player, as opposed to making them a 3rd person observer (hence the success of first person shooters and other various games like that), so the language in the game could be made more colloquial. Because the games then shifted focus onto the players, so they really became part of the world, ie, any multiuser dungeon, the language background could become less and less, until nearly all of the language in a game is what other users say, and not the game itself.

in terms of games that aren’t online, designers now must create them so it seems as if you were online with other people (development of AI). using jeff’s example of baldur’s gate, the AI of the other party members had to be good, otherwise, you got really really bored with what they were saying. or even in starcraft, where you’re playing against the computer – but if you went online, it feels almost exactly the same. in that sense, i guess what language is chosen is more important in adventure or rpg games (has anyone figured out the difference between these two genres anyway?), as in these games, you need to advance the plot.

also, aliens/using alien language to further the environment of a game, which not precisely linguistics, might be a jumping off point for looking at language as environment, which is what i think i’ve been trying to say. This comment’s really incoherent, and I apologize.

]]> By: zaldreon http://www.rowyn.com/2006/04/warcraft/comment-page-1/#comment-406 zaldreon Thu, 27 Apr 2006 06:59:16 +0000 http://www.rowyn.com/blog/2006/04/81/#comment-406 Well, some of the gaming-related linguistic matters which have most interested me, personally, are the terms and concepts which relate to game structure and design. We speak of "dramatist," "simulationist," and "gamist" features of RPGs, for instance. We discuss "game balance," referring to the viability of different sides' victory conditions or abilities, as well as "game balance" in the sense of whether the game in general skews toward offense or defense, or toward one particular strategy. Similarly, we regard parts of games as "broken" if they become very important strategic elements, but only in certain cases (when we don't want those features to be so important). We consider an RPG's "probability distribution" - for instance, whether it uses enough dice for most action rolls to approximate a bell curve with respect to levels of success. (It's not technically a gamer term, but it is a term you don't normally hear in everyday life.) There are a number of other phrases which seem familiar to us, but are rather odd if you think about what the words actually mean... "genre breaking," "out of character," "player character," and even my own concoction, "saved state system." I sometimes wonder about the formation of terms like these and the extent to which they facilitate discussion of game design matters. My hunch is that they do a lot to accelerate the conveyance of meaning, but I don't have any good way to back that up. A survey of the use of "stereotyped language" in computer games, such as the Warcraft trolls, could also be interesting. That might benefit from a fairly extensive review of a lot of different games involving voice acting. Different computer games treat this in very different ways. The voices in Starcraft are nothing like the voices in Baldur's Gate II- they serve different purposes (RTS acknowledgments versus plot advancement / character development) and they are done with very dissimilar pools of voice actors using different sorts of emotional content. Anyway, those are some things which jumped out at me. Good luck choosing a topic. Well, some of the gaming-related linguistic matters which have most interested me, personally, are the terms and concepts which relate to game structure and design. We speak of “dramatist,” “simulationist,” and “gamist” features of RPGs, for instance. We discuss “game balance,” referring to the viability of different sides’ victory conditions or abilities, as well as “game balance” in the sense of whether the game in general skews toward offense or defense, or toward one particular strategy. Similarly, we regard parts of games as “broken” if they become very important strategic elements, but only in certain cases (when we don’t want those features to be so important). We consider an RPG’s “probability distribution” – for instance, whether it uses enough dice for most action rolls to approximate a bell curve with respect to levels of success. (It’s not technically a gamer term, but it is a term you don’t normally hear in everyday life.) There are a number of other phrases which seem familiar to us, but are rather odd if you think about what the words actually mean… “genre breaking,” “out of character,” “player character,” and even my own concoction, “saved state system.”

I sometimes wonder about the formation of terms like these and the extent to which they facilitate discussion of game design matters. My hunch is that they do a lot to accelerate the conveyance of meaning, but I don’t have any good way to back that up.

A survey of the use of “stereotyped language” in computer games, such as the Warcraft trolls, could also be interesting. That might benefit from a fairly extensive review of a lot of different games involving voice acting. Different computer games treat this in very different ways. The voices in Starcraft are nothing like the voices in Baldur’s Gate II- they serve different purposes (RTS acknowledgments versus plot advancement / character development) and they are done with very dissimilar pools of voice actors using different sorts of emotional content.

Anyway, those are some things which jumped out at me. Good luck choosing a topic.

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