Thoughts on Owl's Head and the Pre-Alpha game thus far.

It was posted to us as a question, would we want this kind of system (conversation) in game. The vast majority of people responded yes, so they moved forward with it. If we said no, I think they wouldn't have done it. I really enjoyed the conversation system so far. Keep in mind, what you say to them does matter, even if they give you a canned response sometimes what you said still matters for your reputation.

 

Quick, where's the store Add-On for the RG Spellchecker item? New Britannia may be doomed before we get there!

 

@Lord Ao Soliwilos

I think the list could work, either way, I'm sure Portalarium could/would figure it out.

List of topics = list of keywords (the ones that trigger speach, the thing that matters most), the same ones you would have to type in, its literally a cheat sheet for people who cant type or dont want to break the flow. Like I said the list is optional and anyone who wants to type out prose to NPCs can still do that.

This is not an ethics based compromise like the killing children topic, its a playability tweak for those not interested in typing. I'm sure there will be people here who are 100% against it because for whatever reason they can't stand people playing differently than them, or they will be unable to live with the thought that a cheat sheet is just a click away. This suggestion is aimed at less discriminating folk.

 

@Mishri

These polls are heavily slanted towards the super hard core minority, who have the time and ability to check and read everything that goes on here. The vast majority of backers (like 90%+ of the 25000) are not active in these discussions and are much more casual in their approach to gameplay.

 

There were no patching mechanisms back in those days... nobody had Internet connection in their homes at that time.

 

I'm dyslexic. I've played all the Ultimas from 4 on to 9, and I played through dyslexia. I suppose they only needed the first 4 letters of the words back then, but I never found it a problem. Also since we have a chat log we can spell the key words just like the NPC spells them and be okay too.

Also I find that games that force us to type our answers is good for us dyslexics. I'm a terrible speller, but being forced to type and interact with a computer is a great way to help compensate for dyslexia. I suggest that the other dyslexics out there look at it as an opportunity to compensate with their disability since it will help them in the long run in school papers, and business reports.

 

Back in the 80s we didn't have the technology we do today. So it's probably true that some people will be more likely put off by having to type than it was back then. However in my opinion it would really be a benefit to them if they did try it.

Games like this were actually confidence boosters for me when I was younger. I lost my fear of typing and misspelling words. When I used America Online for text base chat, and played Ultima Online I think those were the firsts time I was forced to type to other people. (I'm glad I took that typing class in High School). I use to be afraid of anybody reading my writing before that.

Perhaps today with text messaging on phones, and through message boards etc. other dyslexics can more readily overcome their fears. It's clear that good grammar and spelling come more naturally to some more than it does to others. It is unfortunate that many of the grammar police are so judgmental... yet it keeps society educated and balanced. Sometimes we can learn from the judgmental people as long as we look to the positive side and not take their comments as a negative.

So I guess that's a long answer for me saying "I don't know". I don't know how most dyslexics will view it. I'm certain there will be an initial fear, but I hope they learn to overcome that fear. It's better to overcome the fear playing a game then really having to suffer through the fear writing your first business memo.

 

I'm actually looking forward to interaction with the npc's than sitting there watching bad lip syncing