POLL: Cussing?

[Gazz]

Writer's discretion.

Even "sprinkled throughout the dialog" is too much for my taste because that implies that every character swears equally (on average) in every situation.

Don't bog down the writers with silly rules like "minimum of 20 swear words per 1000 words".

If it works for character and situation - go nuts.
There'll probably be a filter anyway. *shrug*
Now if the big bad biker gang boss' little daughter got kidnapped and he's asking our hero to rescue her, I'd imagine he'd be on his very best behaviour. Might not be church-proof but a lot better than usual.

So the only poll that would make sense IMO, is
- no cussing whatsoever
- writer's discretion.

Anything more specific and you're counting your chicken before the eggs are layed.

[Postapo]

Devs, fellas, buddies, childhood friends... if you're reading this, don't listen to the prudes among us. For once you have a mainly adult target consumer base and no publisher breathing down your necks. Do what feels real, do what feels right. If Wasteland 2 will be a world of hard livin', hard beatin', hard eatin' n' hard shittin', then you goddamn know what the NPCs should sound like! If the main accumulator gives up ghost, if they take a slug to the gut, if the well runs dry, if the last water bottle's full of piss, they'd be cursing up a storm, you know they would.

PS And of course, the holier than thau church goer and the nice granny NPCs won't curse. As long as life won't kick them in the rear end.

[Madball357]

Cussing can and is used sparingly in movies and TV shows to emphasize its meaning effectively. But it's not realistic in The Sopranos for example, them being a bunch of thugs and murderers mafiosos, and certainly not in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, where the protagonist of that particular scenario is human degradation and degeneration.

So I say go full #@*&

Not to try to create a shocking effect, but for a realistic effect. If people don't get it, their loss.

[Pharo]

The game should have a noticeably high amount of swearing. Most characters cuss when appropriate, but there's always that one guy whose excessively foul mouthed. It's natural dialogue and when used surgically in excess it can make for a memorable character.

[fax_]

Only very occasionally where natural - and even then, only 'barely-swearwords' or other-world specific language (like Planescape's 'pike off!'). Go see Metalheart: Replicants Rampage (yes, that hopeless and despicable fallout clone) to see how swearing lowers the level of the entire game. There are infinitely many colourful ways for people to express distaste, and permitting characters to swear is just begging for the script writer to resort to 'f's and 'sh-'s whenever they can't be bothered to be imaginative and descriptive.

Descriptive text is at the heart of Wasteland, and crude, vague expressions would be the death of it. In the same light, I don't want to hear the word 'nice' uttered a single time. What, after all is a *nice* day'? Sheer meaninglessness. Swearing is the last resort of idiots when they can't think of an intelligent way of saying something unpleasant

[hiptanaka]

Cussing should definitely be in, everything else would be unnatural.

What's more important to me, though, is that there's a jargon that brings life to the world. Like how some "chummer" did a "run" for "that Johnson" in Shadowrun. And how ghouls call normal people "smoothskins" in Fallout.

[Oesophagus]

Let me put it this way

This man should write the dialogues:

http://www4.images.coolspotters.com/pho ... rofile.jpg

[Fippy_Darkpaw]

I cannot believe there are votes for "no foul language" in a game about reducing wasteland critters to blood sausages. It is just like the backwards pseudo-morality where people don't care if their kids watch simulated violence on TV all day, but if there is any nudity or an f-word they go completely apeshit.

[Hiver]

Voted for Sprinkled throughout in dialog as primary.

Liberally salted as general Wasteland jargon would be my second option so i guess a mix of those two depending on location in the game.

Anything else would be too much or too little.

[homeslice82]

I cannot believe there are votes for "no foul language" in a game about reducing wasteland critters to blood sausages. It is just like the backwards pseudo-morality where people don't care if their kids watch simulated violence on TV all day, but if there is any nudity or an f-word they go completely apeshit.

Considering that we have no idea what the game is like aside from a couple of concept sketches and our own wishful thinking, I think you're reading into this too much.

[kasra5004]

I think it absolutely depends on the NPC and its affiliation and faction.If it's a ganger then the dialogues should be vulgar enough make the whole character believable. I don't think giving all the characters a vulgar tone is a good idea( like in mafia 2) but making them like a bunch of college professors is childish.( given the fact that in a wasteland people tend to develop a need to look tough and untouchable , I think the majority of NPCs should be vulgar to some degree)

[Borghal]

I think most of the chracters in the world won't care much for proper manners, much less speech, so let the bad words fly

[Pharo]

I cannot believe there are votes for "no foul language" in a game about reducing wasteland critters to blood sausages. It is just like the backwards pseudo-morality where people don't care if their kids watch simulated violence on TV all day, but if there is any nudity or an f-word they go completely apeshit.

Considering that we have no idea what the game is like aside from a couple of concept sketches and our own wishful thinking, I think you're reading into this too much.

I disagree. The game has a pedigree to live up to, established by the first entry, and the Fallout 1+2 games. So yeah, mad fucking swearing all the way.

[homeslice82]

Was there a single instance of noticeable cussing in Wasteland? Not as far as I know. So much for living up to a pedigree.

[Zeful]

My only qualifiers for cursing and swearing is pretty much:

1. Does this dialog make sense for the character speaking it?
2. Does this dialog make sense for the situation of the character speaking?

As long as both of these pop up with yes, go ahead, otherwise I will be confused with the writing department.

[PlagueHush]

My only qualifiers for cursing and swearing is pretty much:

1. Does this dialog make sense for the character speaking it?
2. Does this dialog make sense for the situation of the character speaking?

As long as both of these pop up with yes, go ahead, otherwise I will be confused with the writing department.

I'd just like to add a great big "Ditto" to this.

There is always the compromise option to consider as well. Use cussing as much as you like, but considering this is supposed to be the far future, create your own cuss words and thus keep the language PG. It worked damned well for Firefly, after all!

[ffordesoon]

Gotta say, I'm really not a fan of "future cursing" in 90% of cases. Firefly is an exception, as that's mostly just Chinese slang, but it usually just irks me.

Not saying they can't do it, and I do like stuff like "smoothskin" that sounds more real, but in general, I'm not a fan.

[northrop]

Make it real, and make it personal. If you want to create an old bitter biker guy, who's drunk out of his mind and is looking for a fight, the chances are good he isn't going to be the most polite people to speak with. But that doesn't mean every other NPC has to be a total asshole.

Cuss words are ok. Use them responsibly.

Gotta say, I'm really not a fan of "future cursing" in 90% of cases. Firefly is an exception, as that's mostly just Chinese slang, but it usually just irks me.

Not saying they can't do it, and I do like stuff like "smoothskin" that sounds more real, but in general, I'm not a fan.

So... you're ok with cuss words, as long as they're in a foreign language? That's just silly.

[ffordesoon]

No, I meant I didn't care for stuff like "frell".

[faecrool]

I voted for "Liberally salted as general Wasteland jargon", but would like to change it to the milder version (Sprinkled throughout in dialog).

I'm totally fine with cursing and encourage it if it fits into the character's style. Just don't overdo it and everything's fine.