Sign language

[Czardoc]

 

Coming back to the server, I saw the 'mute' disability was implemented. I'm really happy it's an actual disability now, rather than just something a person chooses to role play, and I've seen a lot more people role playing this disability with the installment of this new mechanic.

 

Anyways, this reminded me of my old suggestion, which I saw didn't bring lots of traction.

 

 

Sign language. Not everyone can understand it, and just like muteness, not everyone thinks about role playing it, until it's an actual mechanic. It'd act like a regular language, with someone using a key in say chat (ex. :m).

Deaf and Mute people would be able to speak and understand this language, alongside anyone setting it as their secondary language.

 

It would just be a cool little addition, if it can actually be implemented.

 

[NTSAM]

 

I Support.

What would the say verb be, though? "signs" "frantically signs" "slowly signs" and stuff?

And what about stuttering?

 

[Czardoc]

 

I Support.

What would the say verb be, though? "signs" "frantically signs" "slowly signs" and stuff?

And what about stuttering?

 

Good suggestions. I'll continue on with the suggestion, then. I didn't think it was too necessary to post this, but here are some examples.

You have good ideas, though.

 

If someone signs an with an exclamation point, it will look like this.

John Doe excitedly signs, "A quick brown fox just jumped over a lazy dog!"

 

If someone signs with a question mark, it will look like this.

Jane Doe quizzically signs, "Did a quick brown fox really jump over a lazy dog?

 

If their sentence ends without punctuation, or with a period, it would be 'regular.'

Jack Doe signs, "Yeah, a quick brown fox just jumped over a lazy dog."

 

 

If you were injured and are stuttering, instead of dashes, there would be a set of ellipses - to imply that you are taking longer to sign, rather than struggling to speak.

Jace Doe signs, "The... q...quick fox.... j...jumped over... dog.

 

Not sure how they'd be when drunk, though. My idea is, maybe they'd sign words twice or have a similar effect to being injured.

 

[davidchan]

 

The only major counter-points I've seen to sign language are as follows.

 

1) It completely undermines the Mime, being able to 'talk' with anyone else who knows the language.

 

2) What happens if you break or lose an arm/hand? Do you completely fail at signing or are there just massive gaps or letters blotted out.

 

I will say that I have played on some servers that did have sign language, but they snowflaked the hell out of the code for it. Signing was effecitvely an encrypted emote that if you didn't take the language you just 'John Doe signs with their hands' or something to that extent, so it couldn't be used on the radio. But because it was an emote, it could be used in vacuums and was damn near essential for miners and engineers who wanted to talk but not over the radio. Never played the AI on that server so I don't know if the AI could 'read' the language through cameras or not.

 

[dreadweaver]

The fun part of being a mute, in my opinion, was always writing custom emotes and trying to communicate through elaborate body movements and mimicry instead of 'me signs, "clown is traitor"'.

[Professor Cupcake]

I kinda feel like this would undermine the spirit of the disability. Part of the point of it is that you have to use emotes and such to convey messages without any form of formally-defined language.

[Czardoc]

 

All right, so, looking back over this thread, I do like what you guys are saying. Writing custom and descriptive emotes to communicate has always been something I'm fond of seeing.

 

However, I've also seen the mute substitute this with writing. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with this, but I'm saying this could be utilized by the people who wouldn't have found themselves doing these emotes anyways.

Otherwise, rather than deaf and mute folk automatically being able to sign, it could just be instead assigned as a secondary language. It may provide an easier platform to communicate quicker, if needed.

 

But, the more I think about it, the more obsolete it seems. Personally, I'd use it in situations where I can't describe something at all, and just have to say it. Usually, I'd settle for a PDA message or writing, but I use sign occasionally, as if my character is testing if the other person can read it or not (which is always a nice little 'test')

 

 

@davidchan

Didn't think about this. Considering lots of signed words require both hands, I'd assume you couldn't sign it all. Of course, I wouldn't know how all of the encrypting and coding would go, though.

 

[Tauka Usanake]

 

I support this even though I dislike sign language because reasons. I'm the type of person who, if someone is signing to me, would slap them saying, "Bitch, just write it down."

 

What if missing a single hand most minor words are excluded or maybe random words? I don't know how sign language works and don't care to know, but missing a hand should limit you somehow. Both hands obviously means you can't do anything

 

[Dinarzad]

 

I say yes, honestly.

If you are someone who is deaf or mute, you probably know Sign Language given it is a primary means of contacting other people so long as they also know the language. If your hand/hands are broken or missing then you cannot sign at all. And this is all dependant on OTHER people knowing sign language, which also cannot be used over the radio, so it's still very much a disability.

 

If the issue is primarily the Mime using it to try an circumvent his "No-talking" then make it punish him? It's a secondary language after all, it's a language. Does it make sense? Not at all, but it also doesn't make sense how a mime can bend quantum physics with his bare hands to form invisible walls.