yes and no.

No, because:
Languages and grammar are constantly evolving over time. Have you tried reading old-english or those lovely first sentences in old-germanic languages.
If you like it or not, languages is about communication. so what if we shorten words into u and r. Heck, it's almost going old-skool of old egyptian.
ofcourse you will have the "i'm too old for this sh** and i like to stick to the 'old' ways" people, but then i ask, keep sticking to write in the plain shakespearian-english ;)

hehe, it's almost like the ent-language vs. hobbits ;)

Yes:
well, the shorter the words, the ambigious the words get and that would be a problem in the future.
but wtf, we live now, kkthxbai!
 

The whole purpose of having 'proper spellings' is so tha people can understand each other. Slang phrases that are 'in' at the moment soon become forgotten.
Anyway, my big gripe is that so many times people open trade windows or Party Invite windows on me, without any attempt to communicate.
Is it so hard?
 

tbh, it doesn't really worry me - if I can't understand what the guy is saying, chances are I wasn't that interested anyway ;) and if you are typing in the middle of combat in a game, shorter = better.
I expect a closer parallel to 'written English' in a blog / website, but let's face it - there are very few situations in which one uses formal English (mainly because you sound kinda weird if you try it!).

... and if we didn't have 1337, what would we use to reply to those annoying jargon-filled e-mails from the marketing department!
 

edit to the above: - what does my head in is the horrible use of 'fake tudor english' in RPGs. Don't say "thee shall' when you mean "thou shalt" goddamit!!!!
 

"Languages and grammar are constantly evolving over time. "

Yes that is true, but we're not seeing evolution; we're seeing degeneration. People who think it's appropriate to consistently substitute letters for words, spell words however they want, and throw around punctuation like a rag doll are just showing how uneducated and silly they really are. If this were Middle Earth, it would be like considering Orkish an evolved form of the Elvish language.

The whole evolution of language is a justification for lingual laziness. The point of having a language is to give a population a common means of communication. When every individual starts inventing his own grammar, vocabulary, and punctuation that common method of communication is lost.

In some ways I don't mind people writing like that, because it makes the idiots that much easier to indentify. People who speak like they're 14 and take a casual approach to the rules of the English language usually take a casual approach to most rules. I've seen a lot more ninja looting and /gquits over trivial loot issues from the d3wds than I have from intelligent folks.
 

There was/is a game I played, drawing a blank on the name (involved meat as currency? ugh, can't remember) that required you to take a typing test before using the chat channel.

Thought it was a nice touch.
 

If i see someone say 'rediculous' one more time.....
 

involved meat as currency

Kingdom of Loathing?
 

Even if they did it, it would only be a matter of hours before someone posted a "pass the grammar test" addon they could macro at curse gaming. the macro would be to type:

/lolgrammar
 

It is true that language is evolving, and that new words and idioms come in to being over time.

However, in the past it has generally been educated people who have shaped the language, inventing words and creating new expressions, and making the language more varied and expressive.

In these modern times, when anyone and everyone can 'publish' a blog about anything, the language is being changed through ignorance. It is that the ignorant are affecting language in ways that causes greater ambiguity in the written word, and to some extent in speech, that frustrates those who have put effort in to learning how to express themselves more fully through a greater understanding of the language.

Language is degenerating, not becoming richer.
 

Yes! Kingdom of Loathing. Fun as heck game. When I was given a layoff, but required to still go to work for 2 weeks (but not allowed to actually work...don't ask I never figured that one out), it was in beta and I played it all day long with my squad of characters. I've never gotten back into it, but I really found it to be wacky.

Thinking about it, it's that not-taking-itself-seriously element that I enjoy in WoW.
 

One of the most common responses to corrections of grammar is "lol grammer dont mater online no 1 cares lol". Our standard response on one of my favorite forums is this:
"Online all you have are words. There is nothing else to judge a person by. Because of this, it makes your spelling and puncutation even more important than ever before."
And it's so true!
 

I especially love when this happens in WoW. People try to promote their guild, but royally screw up the grammar and spelling in the message. Or what's even more funny is when they spell the guild name wrong when you shift-click their name!

"Come join the Stromwind Protectors!"

/who
Badspeller <Stromwind Protectors>
Level 9 Human Rogue
 

"Or what's even more funny is when they spell the guild name wrong when you shift-click their name!"

Haha. The other day I was invited to join the 'Royal Assasians'. I assumed they were either terrible players of Asian descent or homosexuals with a flair for the orient.
 

As an Irishman I feel I just have to link to a con-incidental story in Ars-Technica: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070425-txt-msg-hrting-englsh-u-b-the-jdge.html

I am sure this problem is not unique to Ireland but as a nation which prides itself on its literary heritage it is a sorry state of affairs.

Granted my own on-line musings are far from error prone but that is down to lack of typing skill rather than any desire to abuse language.
 

I believe Kaziel is referring to the Elitist Jerks forums which have turned into an amazing refuge for many who love WoW but can't stand the official forums any longer. There was a time where I thought any moderation other than the pruning of ads was a bad thing on forums. I've normally been of the belief that trolling only exists if you respond to it, and that as rational human beings we should be better at choosing what we do and don't want to read.

As the internet is overrun with people not only totally illiterate but proud of that fact, my perspective changes. I don't know if I was just younger before (I don't think that was it) or if the internet was just easier to filter before every house on the block got a cable internet connection (seems more likely). What's interesting is that for every idiot that claims nobody cares about grammar/spelling in public channels when they're called out I can get 10 silent whispers cheering me on if my response in a public channel is "Did anybody else hear the American educational system start crying?".

My breaking point came when I noticed that people were abbreviating words in public channels, but that their abbreviations were just as many (and sometimes more) key strokes than typing the actual word. That's when you can no longer use the expediency excuse, at that point you're just proud of being ignorant and feel the need to show it off to everyone.
 

People are idiots. Unfortunate, but true.
 

I believe Kaziel is referring to the Elitist Jerks forums which have turned into an amazing refuge for many who love WoW but can't stand the official forums any longer.

Actually the forum I'm referring to isn't one relating to WoW almost at all. It's a general geekery forum, so there will be some WoW talking about, but for the most part it's kinda just not mentioned, since the guy who made and runs the forums hates MMOs in general. We don't avoid talking about it because of fear of any type of reprisal from him, but more out of repect.
 

The macro cheat requiring someone to type /lolgrammar would not work, because the idiots would spell grammar incorrectly.
 

Off topic, I don't recall the name of that 2-button joystick pictured in the banner at the top of the Daily Gaming News website, but I used to have one of them for my Commodore Vic 20 and it freaking rocked! That was, IMHO, the best joystick ever made. Arcade switches and buttons FTW! Oops, I mean, For The Win ;)
 

Funny note which reminded me of this thread last night.

I had dinner at Wendy's last night and got a certificate for a free ringtone for my phone. After selecting it and downloading it, they messaged me a reciept. This is what it said (remember, this is a reciept from an actual business):

"Thx for ur ring tone purchase from morethanringtones.com! We hope u like ur new tone!"

Then there was details about my transaction, but that's how it started. Scary that a business would write this way.