Quote:
Oooh, yes please to the grammar check interface! |
Originally Posted by GrinningSpade
Excellent advice Dr. Aeon. For me, the parts about the dialogue and the outdoor missions made me think on how to improve my own arcs.
About the proofreading part. It would be so helpful to have a build in grammar check in the MA interface. I know that I find it very inconvenient to check every single I write in an out of game editor. Crashes are an ever present problem for me and alt tabbing is not a thing to do lightly. |
... They can barely make the UI work as simple as it is right now. I'm constantly having text disappear on me because I want to highlight something and cut it out, and then I suddenly look at an empty textbox.
I can only imagine the problems that would arise if they tried to add a spell checker and dictionary and crazy stuff like that. No, write your texts in a proper program and then copy and paste it. It's the solution for my problem so it could be your solution as well. And if that causes the game to crash, just imagine how much more prone to crashing it would be by adding the extra strain of running a spell and grammar checker as well.
Winner of Players' Choice Best Villainous Arc 2010: Fear and Loathing on Striga; ID #350522
I use a text editor called TextPad. I've configured it to open up my save files and not have to worry about any of the stupid formatting issues Word Processors like MS Word put in.
TextPad has a spell check, so it allows me to write the arc in game (And I find I can get into the voice of each of the actors in an arc if I'm in game), close the game, run spell check and edit the save file that way, then load it back into the game.
Arc #345863 - When The Bough Breaks
"Curse you Perry the Plata...wait, is that Love Handel?" - Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz, Phineas and Ferb
Quote:
Every grammar check I've come across has been more annoying than helpful.
|
Originally Posted by ReclusesPhantom
Oooh, yes please to the grammar check interface!
|
SadysCHICK ALL the Badges! (I can get. 1396)
Full image by David Nakayama
Arc ID 1435: Performing without Annette
Arc ID 7206: Sadystic Tendencies
Arc ID 3864: The Chronicles of (In)FERNIA!
Quote:
No. The running profanity filter is bad enough, since I already type faster than the editor will acknowledge. Grammar and spelling are the author's responsibility, if they're not your strong points, get an outside program or a proofreader.
|
Originally Posted by ReclusesPhantom
Oooh, yes please to the grammar check interface!
|
Eva Destruction AR/Fire/Munitions Blaster
Darkfire Avenger DM/SD/Body Scrapper
Arc ID#161629 Freaks, Geeks, and Men in Black
Arc ID#431270 Until the End of the World
Quote:
Indeed. Fix the damn text boxes before adding any new functions to them.
|
Originally Posted by FredrikSvanberg
... They can barely make the UI work as simple as it is right now. I'm constantly having text disappear on me because I want to highlight something and cut it out, and then I suddenly look at an empty textbox.
I can only imagine the problems that would arise if they tried to add a spell checker and dictionary and crazy stuff like that. No, write your texts in a proper program and then copy and paste it. It's the solution for my problem so it could be your solution as well. And if that causes the game to crash, just imagine how much more prone to crashing it would be by adding the extra strain of running a spell and grammar checker as well. |
Quote:
This is why I wish there was a digital avatar for Word that I could beat up now and again.|
Originally Posted by CaptainMoodswing
Every grammar check I've come across has been more annoying than helpful.
|
What hell kind of grammer rule is 'Fragment, reconsider'? Go s***...
And please, please, PLEASE get the text boxes (Character biogs included!) to work properly again! Ever since I14 they've been a mess.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Zwillinger
GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.
|
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Captain_Photon
NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.
 |
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Eva Destruction
No. The running profanity filter is bad enough, since I already type faster than the editor will acknowledge. Grammar and spelling are the author's responsibility, if they're not your strong points, get an outside program or a proofreader.
|
This
You can always get a friend to proof-read your work prior to publishing.
Thelonious Monk
Quote:
The main reason why I gave up writing MA arcs is that it is to much hassle to make the text errorproof. |
Originally Posted by Scarlet Shocker
This
You can always get a friend to proof-read your work prior to publishing. |
For example. My arc Blackmarket has been run through a proofreader, a text editor, I have made dozen of spelling and error changes from people who pointed out errors to me. Still people find more errors! It is as if the errors never end and that is disheartening.
I wanted to change that mission, to make it more of a proper story in that arc. I stopped doing that. Why? Because every single line I add, I need to alt tab and copy the text back and forth to my text editor to get the most basic spelling errors out.
Every time I alt tab, there is a good chance that my system will crash. Besides the problem of the sometimes temperal AE system that refuses to save properly we all suffer from. I got swamped in Blackmarket files on my pc and it was hard to know which file was what.
Plus, I find it hard to ask a stranger to help me out as I don't have handy friends able and willing to proofread for me.
My problems would be reduced quite a bit, if there was at least a spelling checker in the MA editor.
Quote:
With as many problems as you already seem to be having using the MA, you do realize that adding a spell checker to the interface would slow your system down even more, right?|
Originally Posted by GrinningSpade
My problems would be reduced quite a bit, if there was at least a spelling checker in the MA editor.
|
It's also not really viable for the medium--unless it's a written clue or some other form of text, most of what we're supplying for an arc is spoken dialog. If I've got a contact who speaks with an accent (and I do) or one who communicates via barely intelligible "thug speak" (and again, I do), it's going to tell me that every word I type is misspelled. That only gets compounded when I throw in the fact that the contact wants you to go beat up Da Facepwner and his group of marauding Cybertonobots.
The average MA writer would make a spell check utility curl into a fetal ball and cry for it's electronic momma before it finished checking the first mission.
Also, the vast majority of grammatical errors these days have more to do with punctuation usage and the "to/two/too" and "there/their/they're" conundrum. Spell check would unfortunately do nothing for those issues.
Main Hero: Chad Gulzow-Man (Victory) 50, 1396 Badges
Main Villain: Evil Gulzow-Man (Victory) 50, 1193 Badges
Mission Architect arcs: Doctor Brainstorm's An Experiment Gone Awry, Arc ID 2093
-----
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Nethergoat
it's NEVER too late to pad your /ignore list!
|
Quote:
I know that feeling; basically I just bite the bullet and keep fixing errors as they're pointed out to me, seems to be the only way to deal with it.
|
Originally Posted by GrinningSpade
For example. My arc Blackmarket has been run through a proofreader, a text editor, I have made dozen of spelling and error changes from people who pointed out errors to me. Still people find more errors! It is as if the errors never end and that is disheartening.
|
Quote:
There will always be errors of various degrees in any writing anyone does. That's something you'll have to live with, it's just par for the course. It's part of the reason I've always hated a lot of the..."goofier" rules because you can take the same piece of writing, have it proofread by different people...and get different recommendations outside of core mistakes (at one point, I actually tested this idea on a lark and pissed off one of the "editors" by comparing the results I got to Feng Shui when discussing them...anyway).|
Originally Posted by GrinningSpade
For example. My arc Blackmarket has been run through a proofreader, a text editor, I have made dozen of spelling and error changes from people who pointed out errors to me. Still people find more errors! It is as if the errors never end and that is disheartening.
|
That said, good proofreaders won't fall into the trap. *And I should mention that yes, it is also quite highly probable you ('you-niversal', not you in particular, Grinning) fail at writing, it's generally a bad place to start assuming your proofreaders are wrong/bad.
Blue: ~Knockback Squad on Guardian~
Red: ~Undoing of Virtue on [3 guesses]~
Quote:
You make some excellent points there and I nearly withdrew my recommendation. However, most spelling checkers are rather unobtrusive. The checker in the forum for example (I am so happy we got that one) just underlines what it thinks is wrong. When you do Thugspeak you can just ignore those lines or if it is a spellingchecker with a local library you can save a few words for future use.|
Originally Posted by Chad Gulzow-Man
With as many problems as you already seem to be having using the MA, you do realize that adding a spell checker to the interface would slow your system down even more, right?
It's also not really viable for the medium--unless it's a written clue or some other form of text, most of what we're supplying for an arc is spoken dialog. If I've got a contact who speaks with an accent (and I do) or one who communicates via barely intelligible "thug speak" (and again, I do), it's going to tell me that every word I type is misspelled. That only gets compounded when I throw in the fact that the contact wants you to go beat up Da Facepwner and his group of marauding Cybertonobots. The average MA writer would make a spell check utility curl into a fetal ball and cry for it's electronic momma before it finished checking the first mission. Also, the vast majority of grammatical errors these days have more to do with punctuation usage and the "to/two/too" and "there/their/they're" conundrum. Spell check would unfortunately do nothing for those issues. |
I played an arc lately with the word Fuggedboutit, spelled different each time.
So all things considering, I still would benefit from a spellchecking tool in the MA.
Quote:
I did and still do when people point out errors (so don't hesitate to point them out when you play one of mine). But writing new arcs or seriously restyling my current ones (and they both could use some loving in that direction) is to daunting a task for me.
|
Originally Posted by Clave_Dark_5
I know that feeling; basically I just bite the bullet and keep fixing errors as they're pointed out to me, seems to be the only way to deal with it.
|
Quote:
A proofreader has to work with the material giving him/her. If that material is flawed or quirky, then all they can do is get the most glaring errors and suggest some improvements. But bad writing is bad writing, unless the proofreader rewrites the whole thing. |
Originally Posted by LostHalo
There will always be errors of various degrees in any writing anyone does. That's something you'll have to live with, it's just par for the course. It's part of the reason I've always hated a lot of the..."goofier" rules because you can take the same piece of writing, have it proofread by different people...and get different recommendations outside of core mistakes (at one point, I actually tested this idea on a lark and pissed off one of the "editors" by comparing the results I got to Feng Shui when discussing them...anyway).
That said, good proofreaders won't fall into the trap. *And I should mention that yes, it is also quite highly probable you ('you-niversal', not you in particular, Grinning) fail at writing, it's generally a bad place to start assuming your proofreaders are wrong/bad. |
For me, writing arcs was an eyeopener to how flawed my English still is. And I am grateful to those who have helped me to improve the language of my arcs so that they are not to painful to the eyes of the players. Luckily, the majority of the ones who played them do not seem to mind the flaws much.
Quote:
This. The majority of errors I encounter in arcs I play are stuff like this, or accidentally doubled words, or omitted words, or general signs of editing. I see far more of this than I do actual spelling errors, again most of which are omitted letters or letters that randomly insert themselves during editing.|
Originally Posted by Chad Gulzow-Man
The average MA writer would make a spell check utility curl into a fetal ball and cry for it's electronic momma before it finished checking the first mission.
Also, the vast majority of grammatical errors these days have more to do with punctuation usage and the "to/two/too" and "there/their/they're" conundrum. Spell check would unfortunately do nothing for those issues. |
The authors in this forum are generally good spellers, I guess.
Eva Destruction AR/Fire/Munitions Blaster
Darkfire Avenger DM/SD/Body Scrapper
Arc ID#161629 Freaks, Geeks, and Men in Black
Arc ID#431270 Until the End of the World
Quote:
I'm usually pretty lenient on even gratuitous grammar failures but there's just something about those six words that is like cancer to my veins. There was one arc with...let's just say he had as many commas as he did words, maybe more. He didn't screw up the obvious six, which got him 2 stars!|
Originally Posted by Chad Gulzow-Man
Also, the vast majority of grammatical errors these days have more to do with punctuation usage and the "to/two/too" and "there/their/they're" conundrum. Spell check would unfortunately do nothing for those issues.
|
Oh, and "assasin" is WRONG. "Asasin" is WRONG. "Asassin" is WRONG. "Azassin" is ******* WRONG. EASY way to remember: There are two ways to make an *** of yourself in this word! *Weak, censor, weak. Well, the meaning should be obvious at least.
Corrupt'e'r and Corrupt'o'r are troublesome too but I let that slide because a lot of spell checkers (including the one in Firefox) are actually mistaken in labeling the latter as incorrect.
Blue: ~Knockback Squad on Guardian~
Red: ~Undoing of Virtue on [3 guesses]~
Quote:
If those are the only misspellings you could come up with, you obviously don't play villains much |
Originally Posted by LostHalo
Oh, and "assasin" is WRONG. "Asasin" is WRONG. "Asassin" is WRONG. "Azassin" is ******* WRONG. EASY way to remember: There are two ways to make an *** of yourself in this word! *Weak, censor, weak. Well, the meaning should be obvious at least.
|
Bonus (negative) points for "Rouge Asassain" and his ilk. It says "Enter the ROGUE Isles" right on the ***** screen.Quote:
| Corrupt'e'r and Corrupt'o'r are troublesome too but I let that slide because a lot of spell checkers (including the one in Firefox) are actually mistaken in labeling the latter as incorrect. |
Eva Destruction AR/Fire/Munitions Blaster
Darkfire Avenger DM/SD/Body Scrapper
Arc ID#161629 Freaks, Geeks, and Men in Black
Arc ID#431270 Until the End of the World
I fae we gett a mekanical tyme-travelyng contrivanfe & goe back and whack Samuel Johnston, the Englifh langwidge fhould be free, juft af our Creater maed it...
*has Clark taken out and hung for the cold-blooded murder of the English tongue*
Current Blog Post: "Why I am an Atheist..."
"And I say now these kittens, they do not get trained/As we did in the days when Victoria reigned!" -- T. S. Eliot, "Gus, the Theatre Cat"
Quote:
So we're hanging jaywalkers now when there are remorseless serial killers walking around? |
Originally Posted by Venture
*has Clark taken out and hung for the cold-blooded murder of the English tongue*
|
Eva Destruction AR/Fire/Munitions Blaster
Darkfire Avenger DM/SD/Body Scrapper
Arc ID#161629 Freaks, Geeks, and Men in Black
Arc ID#431270 Until the End of the World
Quote:
Serial killers tend to have better grammar.
|
Originally Posted by Eva Destruction
So we're hanging jaywalkers now when there are remorseless serial killers walking around?
|
Quote:
i talking bout cereal kilers of teh english....wut u think i taking bout?
|
Originally Posted by Lazarus
Serial killers tend to have better grammar.
|
Eva Destruction AR/Fire/Munitions Blaster
Darkfire Avenger DM/SD/Body Scrapper
Arc ID#161629 Freaks, Geeks, and Men in Black
Arc ID#431270 Until the End of the World
GS, if you have problems with writing text for you MArcs, I highly recommend using Leandro's program. It will allow you to take a MArc out of the COH folder, edit the text, copy paste and spell check, etc, then put it back in the COH folder. You won't need to keep the game running to do all the editing.
You can find his posting about it here: http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=128121
Excellent tool for working on MArcs out of game.
Excellent advice Dr. Aeon. For me, the parts about the dialogue and the outdoor missions made me think on how to improve my own arcs.
About the proofreading part. It would be so helpful to have a build in grammar check in the MA interface. I know that I find it very inconvenient to check every single I write in an out of game editor. Crashes are an ever present problem for me and alt tabbing is not a thing to do lightly.