De-Americanize it (& Queues)
- Thread starter SimderZ
- Start date
Are you REALLY offended or are you just saying you are? In the real world, I can think of things far more offensive. Syria murdering their own citizens en masse, for example. Someone else used the racist tag. REALLY!? People band this stuff around so mindlessly these days that it completely dilutes it's meaning. I think Your digs at the U.K. are much appreciated and you have well represented your fellow Americans with your balanced, well-rounded and mature argument. I'm not looking to upset you or fall out with you but some levity is needed here. We need to settle down and get a grip.
As a Brit, the currency doesn't bother me too much. I would like the game to have it's own currency and the option to choose different currencies. Same with the metric and imperial measurements. I'm sure that at launch, it'll be the case anyway so we're probably worrying about nothing and I took the bait and allowed myself to be dragged into this nonsense for nothing.
That's the best idea I've heard, yet! [yesnod] I'm pretty sure the guys at Frontier have thought of giving us the option to switch between the two forms of measurement and currency BUT JUST IN CASE THEY HAVEN'T...I second the motion!!!
No i am not offended, i was just joking,this is a place for having fun lol.I think the whole world should use the metric system only,but i do like my MPH,moneywise i could careless if it's in dollars, euro's pounds, rupee's.[wacky]
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Hey culley38. I didn't realize. Sorry for missing that. My sarcasm radar is usually spot on lol. I'm such a dingbat [big grin]
I do stand by my points though. The following story will probably explain why I jumped on what you said.
I've read about a guy a couple of days ago who wants to take the NHS to court because there was a No Smoking sign outside a hospital. He was massively offended, apparently, as he thought the sign was racist, as Smoke is a really old and rarely used derogatory term for a black person. He's convinced that someone will turn up at a hospital needing emergency care and will see the sign outside and think it refers to them so will travel the country looking for a hospital that doesn't have a sign. He thinks people will die as a result. Bloody ridiculous. I bet that less than 0.0001% of the population (whatever their ethnic or cultural heritage may be) will associate a No Smoking sign with a declaration of racial segregation. The whole thing is preposterous and no tax-payers money should be wasted on this case. As I said, this kind behaviour only undermines the true issues. People are too quick to grasp onto labels and declare themselves offended almost as a matter of course rather than objectively and rationally deciding how they feel about it. It's almost as if they're offended because they feel they should be.
Unfortunately, racism, sexism, homophobia, religious discrimination and countless other forms of misinformed idiocy exist. They shouldn't be turned into a circus.
Anyway sorry for the rant and knocking this thread off topic but I had to make my point.
I do stand by my points though. The following story will probably explain why I jumped on what you said.
I've read about a guy a couple of days ago who wants to take the NHS to court because there was a No Smoking sign outside a hospital. He was massively offended, apparently, as he thought the sign was racist, as Smoke is a really old and rarely used derogatory term for a black person. He's convinced that someone will turn up at a hospital needing emergency care and will see the sign outside and think it refers to them so will travel the country looking for a hospital that doesn't have a sign. He thinks people will die as a result. Bloody ridiculous. I bet that less than 0.0001% of the population (whatever their ethnic or cultural heritage may be) will associate a No Smoking sign with a declaration of racial segregation. The whole thing is preposterous and no tax-payers money should be wasted on this case. As I said, this kind behaviour only undermines the true issues. People are too quick to grasp onto labels and declare themselves offended almost as a matter of course rather than objectively and rationally deciding how they feel about it. It's almost as if they're offended because they feel they should be.
Unfortunately, racism, sexism, homophobia, religious discrimination and countless other forms of misinformed idiocy exist. They shouldn't be turned into a circus.
Anyway sorry for the rant and knocking this thread off topic but I had to make my point.
It wasn't rude. It takes a lot more than that to upset me. I'm a Northerner so I have a very thick skin. I'm very much like you in that I kid a lot but I'm very direct. I think honesty is always the best way as it keeps life simple. My humour can be very sarcastic though. It usually veers more towards the sick, dark, totally in-appropriate and downright infantile though. My sarcasm gland is overactive though and it sometimes drips so bad that hilarious quips and put-downs are coming out of my mouth before I have the chance to stop them lol. [mouth shut]
It would be neat to see Planco used in more ways, currency, etc
Hypothetical Meeting at Frontier
The group leader says," Good morning, people. We've decided after a few complaints to Unamericanize the game"
Let's see, what country's language and economic symbol should we use?
Typical responses from the staff:
How about Euros? Europe is a lot more than just one country.
True, but the US out purchases all of Europe including Russia.
And there are too many languages in Europe to just pick one.
And we'd be bombarded by complaints from all the other countries who will feel
slighted.
Well, does anyone out buy the United States in video games?
Yes, China, but only by about $ 1 billion. Which is insignificant considering its
population is 4 times that of the US.
Maybe so, but they are the only logical alternative saleswise.
If we make the game Chinese, everyone but the Chinese will be at our throats and we'll lose the rest of the world's markets.
But this game probably won't sell much in China.
The group leader says, "Perhaps we should rethink this idea. After all, the US dollar is the universally recognized international business currency. And frankly, with
$24 billion annually in video game sales, we can't afford to irritate our US market." He adds with a chuckle,
"And I doubt Americans would be happy with elevators called lifts and trucks called lorrys.
Well, that would probably stop complaints from the UK, which seems to be the biggest group of protesters.
Right. The UK spends less than 3/4 of a billion in US dollars on video games. The US spends
$24 billion annually. And we are not in a particularly popular genre outside of the US and Europe.
Case closed.
And more importantly, English is a required language in most Western nations' education system.
And outside of the West, China excepted, most of the sales are trivial in comparison.
Can we maybe use US currency and some terms and placate the Europeans and other non-imperial measurement using countries by putting some measurements
in metric as well as imperial?
Good idea.
But we should probably stick with MPH as speed designation because thats how most of the most famous coasters are designated. And Americans have a hard
time with KPH. They're becoming used to metric measurements, but not speed. Not yet.
So, it's decided.. we leave it as is. Meeting closed.
Despite that fact that I am an American, and have a natural bias, it is a rational business decision based on sound business principles. Is it fair?
No, but it's the reality. In a situation like this, there is no "fair." You can't please everyone. Think of how many countries this game will be available to and
think of what it would take to have one copy of every object for every one of those languages, because the name of an object is embedded into it's code. So, as a businessman, you are forced to acknowledge the 500 lb gorilla in the room, the most used language and least offensive to anyone. (however, having the ability to rename items, rides or even parts is a great feature which I hope is eventually implemented.)
(And ignore the huge panda behind him. Technically, Chinese is spoken by more people than any other language, including English. However, most of them are in China
which obviously makes it unsuitable as a default language. American English is really the most logical default language.
And I might also mention that an American invented the theme park concept. Not the amusement park or carnival; that was already in place. But Walt Disney
invented the theme park concept that exists today and every other theme park in the world, owes its existence to him.
In the end, it has nothing to do with nationality. It's a universal game. We, as gamers, can design a place for digital customers to come and have fun regardless of nationality. We can all be Walt Disney. After all, isn't that why we build these parks and put as much detail into them as possible? Does it really matter if a torch is called a flashlight? Once it's placed it doesn't matter. And besides regardless of the name, someone from the UK will look at a flashlight and think "torch."
However, it should be simple from a programming standpoint to let users choose whatever financial symbol they want. There is no need for any financial conversion.
The group leader says," Good morning, people. We've decided after a few complaints to Unamericanize the game"
Let's see, what country's language and economic symbol should we use?
Typical responses from the staff:
How about Euros? Europe is a lot more than just one country.
True, but the US out purchases all of Europe including Russia.
And there are too many languages in Europe to just pick one.
And we'd be bombarded by complaints from all the other countries who will feel
slighted.
Well, does anyone out buy the United States in video games?
Yes, China, but only by about $ 1 billion. Which is insignificant considering its
population is 4 times that of the US.
Maybe so, but they are the only logical alternative saleswise.
If we make the game Chinese, everyone but the Chinese will be at our throats and we'll lose the rest of the world's markets.
But this game probably won't sell much in China.
The group leader says, "Perhaps we should rethink this idea. After all, the US dollar is the universally recognized international business currency. And frankly, with
$24 billion annually in video game sales, we can't afford to irritate our US market." He adds with a chuckle,
"And I doubt Americans would be happy with elevators called lifts and trucks called lorrys.
Well, that would probably stop complaints from the UK, which seems to be the biggest group of protesters.
Right. The UK spends less than 3/4 of a billion in US dollars on video games. The US spends
$24 billion annually. And we are not in a particularly popular genre outside of the US and Europe.
Case closed.
And more importantly, English is a required language in most Western nations' education system.
And outside of the West, China excepted, most of the sales are trivial in comparison.
Can we maybe use US currency and some terms and placate the Europeans and other non-imperial measurement using countries by putting some measurements
in metric as well as imperial?
Good idea.
But we should probably stick with MPH as speed designation because thats how most of the most famous coasters are designated. And Americans have a hard
time with KPH. They're becoming used to metric measurements, but not speed. Not yet.
So, it's decided.. we leave it as is. Meeting closed.
Despite that fact that I am an American, and have a natural bias, it is a rational business decision based on sound business principles. Is it fair?
No, but it's the reality. In a situation like this, there is no "fair." You can't please everyone. Think of how many countries this game will be available to and
think of what it would take to have one copy of every object for every one of those languages, because the name of an object is embedded into it's code. So, as a businessman, you are forced to acknowledge the 500 lb gorilla in the room, the most used language and least offensive to anyone. (however, having the ability to rename items, rides or even parts is a great feature which I hope is eventually implemented.)
(And ignore the huge panda behind him. Technically, Chinese is spoken by more people than any other language, including English. However, most of them are in China
which obviously makes it unsuitable as a default language. American English is really the most logical default language.
And I might also mention that an American invented the theme park concept. Not the amusement park or carnival; that was already in place. But Walt Disney
invented the theme park concept that exists today and every other theme park in the world, owes its existence to him.
In the end, it has nothing to do with nationality. It's a universal game. We, as gamers, can design a place for digital customers to come and have fun regardless of nationality. We can all be Walt Disney. After all, isn't that why we build these parks and put as much detail into them as possible? Does it really matter if a torch is called a flashlight? Once it's placed it doesn't matter. And besides regardless of the name, someone from the UK will look at a flashlight and think "torch."
However, it should be simple from a programming standpoint to let users choose whatever financial symbol they want. There is no need for any financial conversion.
The planet coaster logo itself could act as a currency symbol. It's already established and well known. So all the devs need is turning their PC logo into some character sign to replace the $ and use a small mini of
instead. If you turn the PC logo by 90 degrees it almost looks like the $.
That is a very cool idea - I would be happy with this sign for the money, even if I wouldn't acre about any existing currency sign...
But with the PC logo as currency sign, there wouldn't be a need for changing it in different signs...
So +1 from me
Then the problem is to make a font that has this symbol and support all the world's language's characters. big work.
Why do they need a font? just create a graphic image and use that - or create your own font and supply that with the game.
Personally the money in the game is just a number - if we had dollar, pounds, euros, yen or whatever sign - the value is still the same - it's pointless to have the difference, so I think Frontier should just create their OWN sign and use that.
+1000 to Zetachron for nailing it!
As for speed/height - just change it all to "Units" - so height markers is X units, speed is UPM (units per minute) etc. then we don't get the argument of meters vs yards etc. After all it's PIXELS - not meters or yards so "units" would be good.
I can see where you are coming from with that but I think a lot of people who play this game want to have accuracy simulation-wise and see real-life measurements among other things. I don't think it would be too difficult to let us customise the units though, and I would be very surprised if they don't plan on implementing it.
Another GREAT advantage to making a unique currency in the game is the fact that it will no longer be so obvious that a roller coaster is so cheap in the game that I could buy one lol. If we're charging Plancots for rides and merchandise, 10,000 Plancots for a roller coaster might be reasonable.
For the simple on bottom of the play screen it can work with an image, but for inline text, like in the budget panel, the scenarios like "You need to earn $100k every month to win". There it needs to be font, and same font as the rest of the text.
Of course there's always the translate option. When the game gets translated for china or the european countries the currency will get translated too. From that point of view the game isn't too english/american.
The themes and artwork on the other side look a lot more english/american or I should rather say disney-like. And that's only possible to fix through additional art from the workshop members around the world.
The same with the coasters/rides. They aren't that modular and rather fixed. Coaster cars can't change to chinese, african or european art style. I've even seen europoean real life parks with coaster/ride functions that aren't possible with the game, like: coaster cars that can spin, chain lifts going up in a helix, coaster cars that are motorized and climb themselves, free bobsled rides, etc. Maybe the devs should allow more modular components like those mentioned above or read or visit more cultural different real life parks.
And again the same with food/drinks. All fast food principle and no restaurant support to let the people sit and eat at tables or in japanese or maybe picnic style. Not reflecting real life parks around the world.
Finally the characters itself might look multi cultural but not dressed like that and there is no option to control the diversity of the cultural mix of the people.
...
Of course this is alpha 3, but it's only 1 month till release plan and this will never get inside in a month, probably not even in the next few months.
The themes and artwork on the other side look a lot more english/american or I should rather say disney-like. And that's only possible to fix through additional art from the workshop members around the world.
The same with the coasters/rides. They aren't that modular and rather fixed. Coaster cars can't change to chinese, african or european art style. I've even seen europoean real life parks with coaster/ride functions that aren't possible with the game, like: coaster cars that can spin, chain lifts going up in a helix, coaster cars that are motorized and climb themselves, free bobsled rides, etc. Maybe the devs should allow more modular components like those mentioned above or read or visit more cultural different real life parks.
And again the same with food/drinks. All fast food principle and no restaurant support to let the people sit and eat at tables or in japanese or maybe picnic style. Not reflecting real life parks around the world.
Finally the characters itself might look multi cultural but not dressed like that and there is no option to control the diversity of the cultural mix of the people.
...
Of course this is alpha 3, but it's only 1 month till release plan and this will never get inside in a month, probably not even in the next few months.
Agree, that would be an issue, so they would need to have some sort of converter. I doubt anyone can create 100% accurate rides, though they come very close. we can do the conversion ourselves - e.g. 80 meters / 80 yards could simply be 80 units. (yes 80 meters = 87.4891 yards) so it's 7 yards short, but all the hills will also be a little shorter etc.
Yes, it would be a little more difficult to do, but not impossible to insert an image at that location - use HTML code for the text and then it's easy to insert the image.