On the issue of character voice...
So a few people raised some concerns/made some good points with this, and also there's a few things I wanted to say on the subject anyway, so!
When I was writing Horatio's app I actually put a LOT of thought into just HOW to write it and whether or not to use one format of language or another, and basically my decision boiled down to two points: camp and the interactions therein would take place in prose as though it were a normal conversation, and that I couldn't imagine just outright translating Horatio's voice in full modern English.
On the first point... yes, Shakespeare writes some excellent poetry and poetic prose. But within the play, ALL the characters speak like that- that is, what passes for 'normal' conversation and dialogue is all that poetry and rhyming and rhythm and so on. But I don't see how it's appropriate to try to carry that over into the game when in-game dialogue is also meant to be 'normal' conversation within a totally different format. Or to put it another way, a character apped from a poem isn't necessarily going to speak in verse in camp, because they only really speak that way in the poem because it IS a poem, and camp isn't. And besides all that, I think it WOULD be rather inappropriate to just sit and try to parrot Shakespeare, that seems to miss the point.
Regarding the second point, I DO intend to write using Elizabethan English, the language that Shakespeare's plays were written in. Note that I use the term Elizabethan rather than Shakespearean- I'm taking the language of the era the author wrote in, instead of mimicking just one particular way of writing it. With that said, I DO think that once one gets past the slight language barrier, all the characters in Hamlet most definitely have very distinctive voices, and so within that I'm trying to write Horatio in particular.
And basically, the old-fashioned English isn't a gimmick or trying to get by with using something fancy-sounding as a cop-out for character voice. Because I'm a geek and love linguistics, what I'm doing is getting down to using the archaic grammar, vocabulary, and general structure of the language, and writing the character voice within that. Shakespeare isn't my only source for it, either- the King James translation of the bible is also from the same time period, for example. SO the point here is that I'm most definitely not trying to mock Shakespeare or anything, but that I'm just resorting to using the language of the time period in general rather than just the play in particular, as it gives a lot more room for adaptation and dealing with reacting to the sort of things camp might throw out.
ON THAT NOTE, however, I am a terrible geek for language and grammar and love being ridiculously precise about it. So, if you happen to catch me screwing up the grammar or whatever mechanics at some point? FEEL FREE TO TELL ME so I can make sure to correct it. My intent is to write in the format of Elizabethan English, not bastardized 'Olde English'.
Oh yeah, and as a throwback to the issue of Shakespearean English versus what I'm writing, what we generally read as "Hamlet" is actually a compilation and merging of multiple surviving texts of the play. Even between the two versions most commonly combined and used, however, there's literally hundreds of different little variations with wordings and phrases and such, and that's not even getting into the issue of the first quarto. So basically, there is no single authoritative source, and as such I'm more comfortable simply taking the overall character voice and using language appropriate to the time period, rather than overanalyzing any one version of the play text to read into things that may or may not be there.
Finally, chances are good that over time, Horatio will pick up on some of the more modern terms and things that people are using around him. It's not necessarily a major thing, but. While I am going to keep him strictly within appropriate vocabulary and everything for his time period at first, I fully expect that it can be changed/influenced by camp a bit. Grammar probably not so much, but. For the time being, though, feel free to call me on using words that didn't exist in the time period or whatever.
Oh, and one more last thing. I know this probably SOUNDS ridiculously complicated and nitpicky and like I'm making it hard on myself, but. I really, honestly, ENJOY playing with complex crap like this. Which maybe makes me a little insane, but I dunno. It's supposed to be fun, and I'm just such a geek that this IS the sort of thing I find fun. ^_^;;;
When I was writing Horatio's app I actually put a LOT of thought into just HOW to write it and whether or not to use one format of language or another, and basically my decision boiled down to two points: camp and the interactions therein would take place in prose as though it were a normal conversation, and that I couldn't imagine just outright translating Horatio's voice in full modern English.
On the first point... yes, Shakespeare writes some excellent poetry and poetic prose. But within the play, ALL the characters speak like that- that is, what passes for 'normal' conversation and dialogue is all that poetry and rhyming and rhythm and so on. But I don't see how it's appropriate to try to carry that over into the game when in-game dialogue is also meant to be 'normal' conversation within a totally different format. Or to put it another way, a character apped from a poem isn't necessarily going to speak in verse in camp, because they only really speak that way in the poem because it IS a poem, and camp isn't. And besides all that, I think it WOULD be rather inappropriate to just sit and try to parrot Shakespeare, that seems to miss the point.
Regarding the second point, I DO intend to write using Elizabethan English, the language that Shakespeare's plays were written in. Note that I use the term Elizabethan rather than Shakespearean- I'm taking the language of the era the author wrote in, instead of mimicking just one particular way of writing it. With that said, I DO think that once one gets past the slight language barrier, all the characters in Hamlet most definitely have very distinctive voices, and so within that I'm trying to write Horatio in particular.
And basically, the old-fashioned English isn't a gimmick or trying to get by with using something fancy-sounding as a cop-out for character voice. Because I'm a geek and love linguistics, what I'm doing is getting down to using the archaic grammar, vocabulary, and general structure of the language, and writing the character voice within that. Shakespeare isn't my only source for it, either- the King James translation of the bible is also from the same time period, for example. SO the point here is that I'm most definitely not trying to mock Shakespeare or anything, but that I'm just resorting to using the language of the time period in general rather than just the play in particular, as it gives a lot more room for adaptation and dealing with reacting to the sort of things camp might throw out.
ON THAT NOTE, however, I am a terrible geek for language and grammar and love being ridiculously precise about it. So, if you happen to catch me screwing up the grammar or whatever mechanics at some point? FEEL FREE TO TELL ME so I can make sure to correct it. My intent is to write in the format of Elizabethan English, not bastardized 'Olde English'.
Oh yeah, and as a throwback to the issue of Shakespearean English versus what I'm writing, what we generally read as "Hamlet" is actually a compilation and merging of multiple surviving texts of the play. Even between the two versions most commonly combined and used, however, there's literally hundreds of different little variations with wordings and phrases and such, and that's not even getting into the issue of the first quarto. So basically, there is no single authoritative source, and as such I'm more comfortable simply taking the overall character voice and using language appropriate to the time period, rather than overanalyzing any one version of the play text to read into things that may or may not be there.
Finally, chances are good that over time, Horatio will pick up on some of the more modern terms and things that people are using around him. It's not necessarily a major thing, but. While I am going to keep him strictly within appropriate vocabulary and everything for his time period at first, I fully expect that it can be changed/influenced by camp a bit. Grammar probably not so much, but. For the time being, though, feel free to call me on using words that didn't exist in the time period or whatever.
Oh, and one more last thing. I know this probably SOUNDS ridiculously complicated and nitpicky and like I'm making it hard on myself, but. I really, honestly, ENJOY playing with complex crap like this. Which maybe makes me a little insane, but I dunno. It's supposed to be fun, and I'm just such a geek that this IS the sort of thing I find fun. ^_^;;;