It would be fun in some ways, but it would definitely have a dramatic impact on commerce. If channels of commerce were made exempt, then the whole of the thing doesn't make sense, and would be hard to sustain. I mean, language follows commerce in real life too, it wouldn't be much different in our little e-world.

Now, if in our fictional situation where everyone and the admin were hell bent on doing this, we could do some things that would be "neat", at least in the short run. We could have physical trading post locations where bookbinders could set up shop and charge for translations, or magic could be invoked (for a cost) allowing temorary understanding of all languages in the place.

We could do a lot of little neat things that would seem very rich and fine, and would add a layer of depth to the world.

...and then people would ignore them all and use IMs and outside means to communicate anyway.

So lets not. XD


...and none of that even begins to touch on what we'd do for emotes. Akui wiggles her fingers, clearly spelling out the words, "Salutations! We would like to discuss a pricing arrangement for a continual supply of widgets to our shop. While we understand that there are significant overhead costs involved in the efficient production of your product, it is our intention to negotiate a lower rate than you currently provide, in exchange for a reliable stream of purchases in quantity."

Or illusions! Which even makes RP sense. A picture is worth a thousand words.

Didn't read a lot but: This would give people the opertunity to start communicating through the medium of dance >.>

it would be interesting if the common language were something that people only knew imperfectly. Except for certain people, I suppose. So while communication would still be possible, it would be more difficult and fraught with misunderstandings.

Interesting for a little while, but I feel it would have an overall detrimental effect on the game if we couldn't communicate well with one another.

You could always adopt a funny accent, use small words, and construct grammatically imperfect sentences, then act indignant every time someone brings it up.

On a more serious note, could we simply let every member of a given city or commune speak a specific bonus racial language? For most cities, you could simply use the racial language of the favored race, and I'm sure something could be worked out for Hallifax and Magnagora.

e: This would be in addition to everyone still speaking Common.

Lucidian? Not that it gets used much these days, but it could fit the bill.

Achaea has it, and you can also speak/understand an orgs language if you're an ally.It's great for raiding since you can keep it room-wide only and have all from your side understand.

I demand a special event, and a god curse, that strips your ability to speak common (Screw you, Trill.)

Or, perhaps (If you really, really, really want to) code each language up to be displayed in the game. So smarty pants that can actually read the damned stuff get a bonus, and bookbinders get a free pass on languages they learned.

Perhaps a Maraini or wotever like thing that removes the ability to speak common, or screws up what language people are speaking.

Just to confuse the hell out of people.

Yeah I like the idea of common for all around and cities/communes get an aligned racial language. Like Celest=Merian, Gaudi=dracnari, Glomdoring/Seren=Elfen...maybe change?, Hallifax=Lucidian and Mag=Viscanti? I really want languages used more

I think it would be lots of fun to have city/commune specific languages, although I strongly believe we should keep common around.