Roleplaying accents

[Ghosst]

Hi community,

I play an Illuskan lass with a heavy accent, which I have only made a note of in her description so far. I'm starting to feel like this bit of character flavor is quickly forgotten but on the other hand I zink it kould be distrakting or even offensive to vrite like zis (assuming Illuskan sounds Germanic/Scandinavian as stated here).

How do you approach accents? Would you feel offended if someone imitated your own accent? Would you find it annoying to read such speech?
I would love to hear your thoughts!

[MrSmith]

I play an Illuskan lass with a heavy accent, which I have only made a note of in her description so far. I'm starting to feel like this bit of character flavor is quickly forgotten but on the other hand I zink it kould be distrakting or even offensive to vrite like zis (assuming Illuskan sounds Germanic/Scandinavian as stated here).

I hear a Russian accent.

How do you approach accents? Would you feel offended if someone imitated your own accent? Would you find it annoying to read such speech?
I would love to hear your thoughts!

I think they are great and genuinely enjoy interacting with a character who uses an accent... It helps with immersion IMO if the use of an accent is consistent.

My only word of caution when selecting an accent or RP style...

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=tropical+thun ... Y3FzVQi-R8

[zhazz]

Personal opinion:

Accents provide a good tool to display how foreign a character is to the place they are now in.
If English is considered the default language for Common on the server — and it seems that it is, then I don't see any issues with using a RL accent of English to portray being from a different part of Faerûn.

Besides, we all know that dwarves are Scottish

[MrSmith]

Besides, we all know that dwarves are Scottish

Exactly.

[Ghosst]

Thank you all for sharing your opinions, it's much appreciated!

[yyj]

I like roleplaying characters with accent, usually I just leave it in the Examine, but I have never emoted the accent or even typed differently, save a few phrases.

[Tekill]

I would like to officially apologize to the people of Scotland and also the people of the southern United States for my Duergar's dwarfs terrible accent. Having been to neither of these places I have still tastelessly stolen aspects of both accents in creating the way, Onin Oathbreaker speaks. And I will just say it-it is just plain wrong.
There! Phew! I feel so much better now!
But, that said: Aye, Ye can best believe ye'll nevar stop meh, ye durned blasted fools!

I think it is important to at least use a bit of flavor regarding how you speak. If your elf wizard sounds exactly like your Hin rogue, I would recommend trying to spice things up a bit. Sure, sometimes I am definitely cringe-worthy when trying to execute an accent, especially with a new character. It evolves over time- hopefully for the better, but if not, so what. It is still fun.

[Zanniej]

I quite like accents, really! As long as you don't copy my English accent, everything will be fine!

But more seriously, I think it is a nice touch. The style of writing, written accents, use of punctuation, etc. all help in creating an image of the character, mental scores and origin of a character. I once saw a hyperactive halfling, and their way of writing made me read it twice as quick as well. It can add so much flavor!

Ofcourse, it can always happen that you offend someone, but that can always happen when interacting with others. Best you can do then is explain you had no ill will, and apologize for unintendedly offending someone

[Ghosst]

Thank you all for sharing your opinions, it's much appreciated :)

Having been to neither of these places I have still tastelessly stolen aspects of both accents in creating the way, Onin Oathbreaker speaks. And I will just say it-it is just plain wrong.

I'm glad that you mention this, actually. I worried a lot about portraying it "incorrectly" but in the end it's a made-up language and a made-up accent. There really can't be no right or wrong as it's all just personal interpretation and flair.

Ofcourse, it can always happen that you offend someone, but that can always happen when interacting with others. Best you can do then is explain you had no ill will, and apologize for unintendedly offending someone :D

Wise words. Thanks, Zanniej!

[EasternCheesE]

Playing a PC who hisses on ever s and doesn't pronounce m and b, i had 0 ooc dislike. If you write some ooc stuff in your bio allowing people to get your meaning without a need to ask you "wut u say?" Every other phrase, you will be good. This actually builds some funny ro when you have to explain your accent having said accent. Just build some "accent rules" and stick to them so people rping with you often can accomodate fast. You will be great except for need to ALWAYS spell with those errors and this will affect tour everyday spelling.
"A sssnakisssh hissssing 'n'onk greetsss you, hu'n'an 'p'eing. Nesss possse no threat dessspite the ugly look and 'p'ad sssspeech'. Just an example. And after i do such for 1-2 hours, i keep putting and erasing all those excess sss in my rl messages

[Raivana]

I guess I will be the odd ball out. Personally, while I like and appreciate the accents, I find it can become tedious to try reading heavy accents. Especially when multiple people are speaking. You're trying to read them all and you have this one person speaking what at times looks like gibberish. It slows the progress of RP and I am already slow enough when trying to figure out how my character is going to respond in certain circumstances.

Just, as an example I suppose,

This is easy to read and understand,
"Aye, Ye can best believe ye'll nevar stop meh, ye durned blasted fools!"

This can get tedious and slow down RP. I can't imagine its that easy to type out either while staying consistent, (to be fair this also isn't the heaviest accent I've come across)
"zink it kould be distrakting or even offensive to vrite like zis"

That said, I'd never ask anyone to change any of that for my sake. I just tend to avoid making conversation with people when they have heavy accents. I have on occasion asked people to translate for me, and I have even openly admitted OOCly that I dreaded rping with someone because of their accent, even though I really enjoyed their RP otherwise.

[Vurk]

I guess I will be the odd ball out. ...

I agree with you. A good accent can be great, but a bad one can just be downright uncomfortable. Trying to figure out what they are saying is one thing, but when it distracts from the RP or the character because it is so outlandish, it is not worth it.