Leet speak in guild chat

[Aitana]

It bothers some of us, and some of us don't care. I know we have some members that use quite a bit of it, some that don't use any, and some that always stay in character, some that are somewhere in between these points.

[Breiten]

A little is fine. Emoticons, the occasional lol, etc I really don't mind.

What drives me insane is when the younger kids in particular start having entire conversations in leet.

"wut" does make me want to vomit.

[Mogi]

Some is fine by me.. especially since I'm fluent in net talk. However, I don't short things like "you = u" etc, I find that annoying. But honestly, we're on the internet and not everyone has taken a typing class.

I remember back in my AOL days I'd go to the videogame chats and all the regulars would make fun of the "lamers" who typed like that. I was one till I really focused on learning how to type correctly. Now I feel it's important to learn in this age, but I would never play the grammar police on an online game. (excluding times of RP)

-Squito/Monosoki

[Barefoot]

No, it's not the end of the world, and No, it doesn't ruin my day... A bit here and there I might not even notice.

It's only when it seems really excessive that it gets on my nerves. I love words and I love languages, but I don't consider "net speak" a language - it's laziness. From my perspective, it just screams, "I'm too lazy and/or unintelligent to use actual words."

Emoticons don't bug me if they're not used constantly. I tend to add to many things I say just to make it all friendlier.

[Leothiel]

The lazy typing shows immaturity. I don't have an issue with emoticons though.

[Baelspar]

To paraphrase Garrison Keillor, "If you use there to indicate that they own something, then we cannot be friends." I'm not horribly disturbed by some net-speak, but I hate seeing it when it's unnecessary. When you see someone using it in /trade looking for some work to do/be done, then that's unforgivable. In the middle of a battle ground, I don't mind so much. It's hard to type and spam sinister strike at the same time.

All things in their place, I suppose.

My honest opinion on the overall subject though, is that it's unnecessary for most of what people use it for. Also, it poorly represents the person using it. In dealing with other living people over the internet, the usual things we look for to size someone up are gone. We cannot see how they are dressed, how the carry themselves, their facial expressions, or the tone of voice they are using. The words that are typed on the screen are the only window we have into who is sitting at the other terminal.

Leet speak immediately tells me that they are only educated to a middle school level, and are unlikely to be fluent in English, which for many of them, is their native tongue.

I do find that emoticons are a different issue. Without the nuance of vocalization or facial features, mood can be hard to convey.

/end rant, heh.

[Warburn]

I like and use the words, you tell me which is netspeak or not:
lol, rofl, pwn, pwnage, qq, imo, g2g, bbl (and many other acronyms).

And then I also shorten words in game chat:
prolly, srsly, w/e, gnight, etc.

[Aitana]

All of them except possibly "prolly" and "gnight" are netspeak. Those two are written representations of how people speak. Many of them are abbrieviated forms of real words. While I really don't like netspeek, a little from time to time doesn't bother me. A few smilies are even useful since the written word doesn't always convey the emotional intent behind the words.

[Voltaere]

I occaionaly use emoticons and have no problem with them as they can express things that you might not say. I don't mind things like lol and brb etc.

I do mind leet speak when it is meant to brag or diminish someone else. All too often this is the case (not so much on ED, but most everywhere else thats not RP).

[Baelspar]

All those have their place.

Sometimes, if I'm tired, I use g'night. Also useful for those that say they're leaving just as they hit the "exit game" button.

For instance, if Warburn used only the words he mentioned and enough connectors to have them make sense, it would be bad. However, I get to read his forum posts. His ads in the Trade Channel are awesome and get noticed by a lot of different players. In essence, I get to see more of the player behind the character and am able to credit them with more than someone who is unable to communicate on that level.

Then, there are those times that you're talking to five people in different channels all at once...yikes.