Quotation marks in /Say

[Diskwrite]

I never used quotation marks until coming to FFxiv. The communities I RPed in before never did it, but it was everywhere here. I don't really care one way or the other- whatever the community norms are for punctuation, I'm perfectly content to follow.

[Val]

I had honestly never used it until I came to XIV, where I noticed almost everyone doing it as early as launch. I don't get all uppity if someone doesn't, though. It comes off more as a style to me than anything. For whatever reason, I've adjusted to it and kind of prefer it now.

[LiadansWhisper]

I've been ponder-wondering for a while now, about the use of " " in front of your text in /say.

 

I noticed it with myself, that I have started adapting the use of " ", because at some point I realized I was the only one -not- doing it in a particular situation. But then when I'm around someone that doesn't do it, I stop again. And when equal amounts of people who do and do not use it, I become a rather inconsistent mess. Maybe I am just thinking too much about it? 

 

So anyways I figured I'd make a poll about it to see what people prefer. So what do you guys think about it? Something you noticed? Does it change anything for you? Force of habit?

 

I started doing this in Second Life because I saw other RPers using the style and I just ended up picking it up.  I am not always consistent about it, though.

[Faye]

I use quotation marks for dialogue in /say, but I've seen plenty of people forego them. I think it's perfectly fine either way--I just prefer quotation marks for clarity that it's IC dialogue. On the other hand, I've seen people say they find quotation marks in /say to be redundant. I don't agree with that at all, but I get where they're coming from.

[Valde]

I tend to use quotation marks for any spoken dialogue because to me it's writing and that's what you do for writing. I find it difficult to cram action and dialogue together since they're so often separated, but for the sake of not spamming multiple times I've broken that habit.

[Smagon]

I usually don't do it unless I am having a character speak inside of an emote. I have to admit it does make me feel like a plebeian when I roleplay with people who do use the quotes for speaking though.

[rainichan]

Not unless a character is talking and then following it up with an action, such as:

 

Caelia Silverarch: Oh, didn't see you there. Are you following me or something?

Caelia Silverarch: "Well, even if you aren't," she said with a wave of her hand, "Sort of a coincidence you're here as well after I just left the 'Sands, isn't it?"

 

I'll do /em for any emotes, only using my above example if it doesn't break the flow too much (I try not to do that anyway, but sometimes it happens,) but /say has always been a normal talk channel where people are talking with each other. If I have to say something ooc I'll either do it in /t or ( i'll say it in pretty obvious not-IC /say ). On forums and in actual RP I capitalize, casual text I don't because I'm usually just BSing with friends anyway (but grammar and punctuation are always something present no matter the medium) so it's usually pretty obvious if I've gone from obstinate, huffy mage to myself for "crap, it should be can't, not can!" to change typos or whatnot in /s.

[Flashhelix]

The way of the samurai is

No quotes for raw dialogue in /say

"Quotes for dialogue within a custom /em"

"Quotes for character quoting another character"

/Slashes for emphasis/

[brackets for sign language]

~Tildes for snake language~

{Curly brackets for curly language}

+Pluses for addition language+

$Dollar signs for when your character is talking money$

*Asterisks for vulgar language*

@and @s for when a character is discussing their email address@

[Dravus]

It was never the norm back when I role-played in WoW and yet in FFXIV most people that I come across seem to do it and so I ended up doing it as well. I quite like it - it feels 'right' to me now and if I ever try out a different MMO in the future then I will no doubt do it there as well.

 

It's also a great way to help identify what it is genuinely being written IC and what is simply OOC banter/fooling around.

[Zanther]

I use quotes in say simply cause it makes it more uniform and such, and helps make sure it is noted as a rp text and not a normal one as well, espcially to outsiders and such. How I've always done it I guess.

[Orphyn]

NEVAAAAAAH!

 

For me, I'm almost always IC so I don't see the point in quoting a typical say post. ^.^

 

This mostly stems from the fact that the games I used to play normally did it automatically. I use quotation in emotive posts, though. 

 

Actions in say being the exception, of course!

[Val]

The way of the samurai is

No quotes for raw dialogue in /say

"Quotes for dialogue within a custom /em"

"Quotes for character quoting another character"

/Slashes for emphasis/

[brackets for sign language]

~Tildes for snake language~

{Curly brackets for curly language}

+Pluses for addition language+

$Dollar signs for when your character is talking money$

*Asterisks for vulgar language*

@and @s for when a character is discussing their email address@

 

You forgot & for when your character is using conjunctions and combining things together.

[Arik]

Prior to MMOs, I primarily RP'd on forums via paragraph and novel-esque posts. So it was only natural for me to keep up that method of RP when I came over to MMOs. Basically, if my posts start with an action, I use /em then quotations for any dialogue. If the post starts with dialogue, I just use /say and then opening with the quotations.

 

Ex: 

/em leans over the table with a grin, "Hey there."

VS

/say "Hey there," he grinned, leaning over the table.

 

But that's just my style, and I really don't care one way or another if the people I'm RPing with do the same thing or something completely different. To each their own! \o\

[Aduu Avagnar]

If there is no action involved: no ""

If there is a mix, but action first: /em

If there is a mix but speech first: ""

 

But thats just how I do it.

[Nirri]

It's pretty much as Arik goes about it for myself. Initially before FFXIV I roleplayed elsewhere and never used " " in like the counterpart of /s in that game, but then I met a person that did it and I started doing it aswell because it looked more 'proper' I suppose?

 

Just like Graeham, it just started to feel right and became a habit to keep doing it and now it's a constant and always.

[Sylentmana]

I use /say when my character is speaking and only use quotations when she is quoting something. I see other people using them because they need to separate their spoken dialogue from their non-dialogue descriptive... thingies (I don't know what you call it). It looks kind of like they are writing a story.

 

I don't actually do that. As far as I'm concerned, that's what /em is for.