European English District

Curse You

Curse You

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Apr 2006

South Pole

The Magus Order

N/Mo

With the latest updates, there have been some changes to the way the game looks. However, there is one change that has changed more than just looks, and it effects every town or outpost.

I'm talking about the change of European English Districts to being called European Common Districts. While it is nice that this can serve as a place for all people on the European servers to congregate, I have to stress a major problem I have; there is now nowhere for purely English speakers to congregate.

Sure they can go to the Common Districts, but that's not always a good thing. The Common Districts, due to their new designation, are now containing more and more people who do not speak English. That means that a purely English speaking person, is basically forced to share a district with many people who don't even speak English. Unfortunately, they have nowhere else to go, unlike German, French, Italian, or Spanish speakers.

So what I purpose, is that English Districts be brought back. However, I believe that the Common Districts should also be kept, as I have no problem with them, and see it as being a good addition. The idea is to give people who only speak English a place where they can go to when they just want to chat. It only seems fair that English speakers are given a district of their own.

Seriously, I never thought I'd have to write up a proposal to get an English District. I don't know what made them think removing English Districts would be a good idea.

Isileth

Isileth

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Apr 2006

R/W

I agree there was to many foreign players trying to recruit, trade, chat or whatever in the English districts even before this. Seems strange to have made this change tbh.

Arcane_Penguin

Arcane_Penguin

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Jun 2007

Land Downunder

The Shadowheart Vanguard

R/Mo

I logged on this morning to find the common district being spammed by foreign all channel trade spammers

I find a few problems with this.

1) WHAT THE HELL ARE THEY SAYING? appart from the obvious WTB: and WTS: and WTT:
2) The update was supposed to fix trade spam, but by cutting the length of discriptions in the trade channel, its forced everyone to post trade in the all channel so they can fit in the item discriptions >.<

Operative 14

Operative 14

Forge Runner

Join Date: Nov 2006

Arizona, USA

[OOP] Order of the Phoenix I

Hey, I'm American and I agree with this. It seems very... I want to say discriminatory but it seems to strong... that they would have zones dedicated for Spanish, Russian, Polish, French, Italian... and not have a dedicated place for English speakers.

Effendi Westland

Effendi Westland

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Dec 2005

Isle of the dead

[DVDF][LDS]

P/W

Bring back english - 1.

Can keep common they want (who wants to be a commoner tho...) ... but every major language has a district in euro now, except english.

Good way to insult all the English speakers out there Anet.

Marty Silverblade

Marty Silverblade

Administrator

Join Date: Jun 2006

/signed

I'd like a place where I know I'll have an idea of what's being said.

The Arching Healer

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Sep 2006

Super Kaon Action Team [SuKa]

/signed

I don't see the reason why english district has been changed..

william1975

william1975

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Aug 2006

Scotland

Dragons of Torment (DOA)

Me/

seems obvious to me, they don't like english speaking europeans, and want to marginalize them by excluding them from having a dedicated district.

To be honest this is pure racism. They have increased the amount of dedicated districts to other languages but removed the English one.

While some may think this is harsh language or even unreasonable I don't. I have studied history and I know of many instances similar to this where acts have been carried out against groups and they are commonly referred to as being racist.

/signed for the bringin back of the English district

JeniM

Desert Nomad

Join Date: May 2007

W/E

/signed
errrr what can i say apart from i can't understand half the chat in my base district . . .
We don't like foreigners!!!! (joke)
But not being able to understand 100% of chat in any district is crap
We used to get Russian and Polish chat in the English district and they'd say there is no Russian/Polish district to go to - fair enough

but now they say "This isn't an english district" which is stupid now they have their own districts

Hawkeye

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Dec 2005

Imperial Guards (TIGI)

Mo/

I don't see why it would be a problem. It isn't like putting people of different languages in a room will bring the world a little closer together. We're just there to play the freakin' game, and I want to be able to tell a player on my team to stop being gay without having to translate it into german or something like that...

Etta

Etta

Forge Runner

Join Date: Jun 2006

Mancland, British Empire

Yes, I am no commoner! We are not amused by this at all! Give us back our district. /signed

Diddy bow

Diddy bow

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Oct 2006

Jawsome!!!!!!!!!!!

looking for one :p

A/D

/signed

somehow i doubt there are more polish speakers than english speakers on gw...

Stormlord Alex

Stormlord Alex

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Dec 2005

Beyond the Forest of Doom, past the Cavern of Agony... on Kitten & Puppy Island

Soul of Melandru [sOm]

W/E

When I saw this change, I thought of all the xenophobic asshats who screamed at people speaking Russian/Polish/whatever in the 'old' English district. And laughed.

Please, A-Net... keep it a couple more weeks, just to make 'em QQ some more.
Then I'll /sign a proposal to have an English district.

McMullen

McMullen

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Oct 2005

R/W

/signed.
I'm all for a common district, but there wasn't really any point to replacing the English district with it.

freekedoutfish

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Jun 2006

E/

I cant say I noticed the district name change, but I have to agree about naming it "english" again. I cant understand why they would change it anyway.

You need certain areas for certain langauges to be spoken, and while a vast majority of the world speaks english, it is still nice to have a particular english district to retreat to.

Im not racist or anti-other languages or countries, but it is nice to know that most people your talking to can understand you. The name "common" suggest that any language is acceptable in that region, and english looses its priority.

isamu kurosawa

isamu kurosawa

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Nov 2005

United Kingdom

Me/

what i don't understand is why not just rename international districts if they wanted to do such a thing. After all that is the purpose of international districts.

I guess all English speakers will have to move to int now everyone else in in "common".

Surena

Surena

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Mar 2007

N/Me

Demand a free ticket to the US servers, after all you don't feel European anyway.

Hyper.nl

Hyper.nl

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Oct 2006

Defending Fort Aspenwood

E/

/notsigned

I see no need to split up the current Euro English districts into separate Euro English and Euro Common districts. The more you split up in home districts, the harder it will get to find a party in quiet area's.

william1975

william1975

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Aug 2006

Scotland

Dragons of Torment (DOA)

Me/

So french german and italian speakers can have their own privite little districts to talk in but english speakers cant?

English is not the common language, to say that it is is racist, and to deny those who speak it primarily or solely is rascist.

The idea of a common district is what is represented by international there is no need for a common eropean district.

Amon Warrior

Amon Warrior

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Sep 2006

W/

Too many different languages being spoken in one place adds more confusion to an already limited system of communication that players have to cope with.

In Europe, English is just one more language among many.

An explicit indication of an English District limits this natural confusion of European languages.

The idea of Common Districts seemed nice, but reality says otherwise...

Tachyon

Tachyon

Forge Runner

Join Date: Nov 2005

Stoke, England

The Godless [GOD]

W/

I'm English born and bred, have spent my hard earned money to buy all three chapters and extra character slots and how does ANet repay this?

By insulting me and calling me 'Common', that's how. If they added a 'Red Neck' district to the US servers then fair enough, but I don't think they'll do that!

/Signed

Surena

Surena

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Mar 2007

N/Me

Quote:
Originally Posted by william1975
So french german and italian speakers can have their own privite little districts to talk in but english speakers cant?
Many Aussies and NZs move(d) to the US Servers, so why can't you? Plenty of English speakers there.

Quote:
English is not the common language, to say that it is is racist, and to deny those who speak it primarily or solely is rascist.
So Anet, an American company with mostly english-speaking developers is denying itself?

I hate histonerds with complexes.

william1975

william1975

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Aug 2006

Scotland

Dragons of Torment (DOA)

Me/

oh how clever of you, why dont i move from my home territory to get an even worse connection problem.

Now lets see your solution to any problem of maltreatment is to make those being treat run away. So the solution in nazi Germany shoudl have been for the minorities under persecution to run away from their tormentors? Many did and what happend they were followed and persecuted and murdered.

Racism doesnt go away by fleeing it

Isileth

Isileth

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Apr 2006

R/W

I think some people are taking this to far to be accusing Anet of racism. I think they just felt the English districts got used the most, even by foreign players that they might as well make them a common district.

As I said earlier I disagree with this as its extremely hard to find English teams now and such and in terms of those of us who dont speak any of the other languages its basically spam.

WinterSnowblind

WinterSnowblind

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Feb 2007

Quote:
Originally Posted by Hyper.nl
/notsigned

I see no need to split up the current Euro English districts into separate Euro English and Euro Common districts. The more you split up in home districts, the harder it will get to find a party in quiet area's.
/Signed.

Ever tried to complete a mission with people who speak a different language from you? Trying to co-ordinate a team of PUGS is hard enough, but when none of you can understand each other, it's completely impossible.

For the record, I do like this update, but the renaming of the English districts is just something I don't understand. It may not be such a problem for those in the US or even Australia, but here in Europe there are a lot of people who speak many different languages, and having them all now flooding into what used to be the English districts is rather annoying.

Again, this has nothing to do with racism, I don't mind foreign speaking people, but this change seems unnecessary, and is making things very difficult for us English speaking Europeans.

MithranArkanere

MithranArkanere

Underworld Spelunker

Join Date: Nov 2006

wikipedia.org/wiki/Vigo

Heraldos de la Llama Oscura [HLO]

E/

IT's easy, the coommon districts language is English.
People there should tak english if the can, so everyone understands each other.

Isileth

Isileth

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Apr 2006

R/W

But not everyone speaks English. Its not like America, there are a lot more languages in Europe. Now there are just far to many non English speakers in what used to be English districts, it makes holding conversations, forming parties, trading etc very very difficult.

azrael-angel

azrael-angel

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Sep 2006

Sword Of Justice

W/N

/signed

i hate this "common" thing for a few reasons.

a/ its derivative, calling the old english dis "common"

b/ why do the french/german etc still get there own dis?

c/ why english dis, not EU dis? makes more sense to me

d/ where are pure english people suposed to go?

e/ its not fair

f/ *has a tantrum*

g/ and lastly, i dont like what anets implying with it, there making it so english HAVE to socialize with foreigners, which although could be good, i realy dont want to, i came to english districts because im english, and want to be with english speakers, not a massive group of Germans/French etc shouting around, if i want that, i go to THERE DISTRICT!!!!, which brings me back to, why do the english not get there own districts any more?!?!?!

TurinPT

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Jan 2006

ahahah good job anet, way to get back at all those xenophobic brits
seriously guys, if someone is not speaking your language, he's most likely not speaking to you.
Just ignore it.

In case anyone complaining in this thread is one of those who sent me angry whispers, while I tried to recruit for a portuguese only guild, with messages like: "omg english only!!!!111 go away noob!!"
You don't even deserve to be called common... you're just scum.

Not to mention an extra district would only split the community further apart.
Just try and get along with us, foreign players are human too you know...

WinterSnowblind

WinterSnowblind

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Feb 2007

Quote:
Originally Posted by TurinPT
ahahah good job anet, way to get back at all those xenophobic brits
seriously guys, if someone is not speaking your language, he's most likely not speaking to you.
Just ignore it.

In case anyone complaining in this thread is one of those who sent me angry whispers, while I tried to recruit for a portuguese only guild, with messages like: "omg english only!!!!111 go away noob!!"
You don't even deserve to be called common... you're just scum.

Not to mention an extra district would only split the community further apart.
Just try and get along with us, foreign players are human too you know...
Read the comments everyone made. Nobody cares where they're from or what language they speak. The problem is the English district is for communicating with English people. It's very difficult to trade items or form a party with people you can't understand.

We already have the International district for people from everywhere to meet up on, but now it's extremely hard for English speaking Europeans to form parties and sell things because of this, and this isn't just because the English think they're better than everyone else, I'm sure if the French district was renamed "common" they would be complaining about the exact same thing.

If I'm trying to form a party to complete a mission, I need them to understand what I'm saying, so we can co-ordinate properly. If they go off and do something else and get us all killed, it's rather frustrating. This is a problem, not simply xenophobia.

Henchman

Henchman

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Jan 2006

A cave in the Shiverpeaks

Mo/

I honestly have no idea why Anet made this change.
Anet did something good by removing the trade spam, only to make room for spamming which most people who are in an English district cant even understand..
I am a very big fan of Anet, but I have to say that this was a very pathetic update.
If they want a dist where any language can be spoken, then make a "Common" dist.. But English should have its own dist just like all the other highly spoken languages in Europe

warren_kn

warren_kn

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: May 2005

London, England

Quote:
Originally Posted by TurinPT
ahahah good job anet, way to get back at all those xenophobic brits
seriously guys, if someone is not speaking your language, he's most likely not speaking to you.
Just ignore it.

In case anyone complaining in this thread is one of those who sent me angry whispers, while I tried to recruit for a portuguese only guild, with messages like: "omg english only!!!!111 go away noob!!"
You don't even deserve to be called common... you're just scum.

Not to mention an extra district would only split the community further apart.
Just try and get along with us, foreign players are human too you know...
In which case why don't we just have a load of common districts you ignorant child. It is a problem whether you like it or not. It is unfair treatment of English speaking Euro server users, whether they are English or not. Unfortunately for you there isn't a Portuguese district, if however there was do you not think you'd have better luck recruiting there instead of a Common district. The different districts exist for easier use for people who speak different languages.

Boo

Boo

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Mar 2006

Spain

IGN: Rose Mincrisar / Black King

E/Mo

/agree

It struck me when I saw it yesterday night, but I think that Anet have done this because they know that many people (from different european countries) went to the old English district to trade, find party for quests and missions... (at least is what I and many people I know do). If you realised, there were always 3-4 English districts, whereas 1 Spanish, Italian, French in most of the quiet cities.
But now where is English people going?


Sorry for my English, I'm Spanish

Riou McDohl

Riou McDohl

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: May 2006

Defenders of Aderon [DoA]

N/Me

Quote:
Originally Posted by TurinPT
ahahah good job anet, way to get back at all those xenophobic brits
seriously guys, if someone is not speaking your language, he's most likely not speaking to you.
Just ignore it.

In case anyone complaining in this thread is one of those who sent me angry whispers, while I tried to recruit for a portuguese only guild, with messages like: "omg english only!!!!111 go away noob!!"
You don't even deserve to be called common... you're just scum.

Not to mention an extra district would only split the community further apart.
Just try and get along with us, foreign players are human too you know...
Yes, and when they're whispering to you in their own language most likely wanting to sell something then they're still not talking to you, right?

I'm all for the odd portuguese player or two advertising in a former English district because they don't have their own one, however I logged on today to see several other languages, french, german, etc all advertising their stuff on the same channel. It's like being in an international district except without the different font.

There's other districts for those languages, so why can't English speaking people have our own? Certain people are complaining that English people are complaining about this, but those people have their own districts as well. If we want to party with other languaged people, then we could go to Common, but what if we don't speak other languages. Guess I'll just start all this Henchman/Hero stuff people have been talking about now.

Bring back English?
/signed

Curse You

Curse You

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Apr 2006

South Pole

The Magus Order

N/Mo

Quote:
Originally Posted by Hyper.nl
I see no need to split up the current Euro English districts into separate Euro English and Euro Common districts. The more you split up in home districts, the harder it will get to find a party in quiet area's.
I asked people in "European District Common 1" of Lion's Arch about this before I posted this thread. This came up.

The general consensus, however, was that it is pointless to have everyone in the same district, if you can only understand a few of the people. Just imagine if all of Europe could only use 1 district.

Quote:
Originally Posted by TurinPT
ahahah good job anet, way to get back at all those xenophobic brits
seriously guys, if someone is not speaking your language, he's most likely not speaking to you.
Just ignore it.

In case anyone complaining in this thread is one of those who sent me angry whispers, while I tried to recruit for a portuguese only guild, with messages like: "omg english only!!!!111 go away noob!!"
You don't even deserve to be called common... you're just scum.

Not to mention an extra district would only split the community further apart.
Just try and get along with us, foreign players are human too you know...
Xenophobic, or just people wanting to be able to understand what someone is saying to them?

Do you really think it's easy to trade or chat when there are 2 other conversations going on in other languages? I tried doing it last night, and let me tell you, it's very irritating. You can't filter out people speaking a language you can't understand if they're using the same chat as you. As well, their chatter will make it so you have to look for other people speaking the same language as you. It's really hard to ignore someone when they're basically yelling in your ear.

Alex Morningstar

Alex Morningstar

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: May 2006

Team Asshat [Hat] leader - [GR] Alliance

Mo/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Hyper.nl
/notsigned

I see no need to split up the current Euro English districts into separate Euro English and Euro Common districts. The more you split up in home districts, the harder it will get to find a party in quiet area's.
English speaking Europeans should be merged into American districts or vice versa because linguistic and gameplay wise; it makes sense. Sure, it screws with the regions but the HA/favor system isn't as important as being able to communicate with other players. Theoretically, it is a MMO or at the least a game where you play with other people. That's tricky if you don't speak the same language.

Curse You

Curse You

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Apr 2006

South Pole

The Magus Order

N/Mo

Quote:
Originally Posted by Alex Morningstar
English speaking Europeans should be merged into American districts or vice versa because linguistic and gameplay wise; it makes sense. Sure, it screws with the regions but the HA/favor system isn't as important as being able to communicate with other players. Theoretically, it is a MMO or at the least a game where you play with other people. That's tricky if you don't speak the same language.
Frankly, I wouldn't want that either. I left American Districts for many good reasons, and I don't want to be forced to go back. The community of English speaking Europeans is very different from the American community.

genofreek

genofreek

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jan 2007

USA

Jenova's Apocolyptic Remains [JAR]

D/

/signed

If they had melted Europe's servers into one huge Common area... well, it wouldn't be good, but to have every other language/nationality get a district while England is left out is just rude. I can't imagine why ANet would do this.

I'm glad my English friends play on the American server. They won't have to deal with it.

Alex Morningstar

Alex Morningstar

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: May 2006

Team Asshat [Hat] leader - [GR] Alliance

Mo/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Curse You
Frankly, I wouldn't want that either. I left American Districts for many good reasons, and I don't want to be forced to go back. The community of English speaking Europeans is very different from the American community.
It would be better for the community as a whole as it would increase the amount of people overall in the district and would reinforce the idea that it's a game you play with other people, and not just henchmen and heros because the district is always empty.

Plus as GW grows and adds new regions like Russia and China that will have servers of their own (meaning those players can use those instead of being lumped on a server not in their area such as European or American), it makes more sense for areas to consolidate as the population changes to reflect the additional or decrease if the population overall drops.

The most logical way to do this, I would think, would be by language. Since that is the case, European English and American would be put together, kind of like how Australia and Canada are both typically found on American servers, at least in my experience. Though they could easily be found on European. Either way, both are English speaking and if it's mutually exclusive to merge them it makes sense to.

As for the reasons you left, I'm willing to bet that's a seperate issue than whether or not the individuals in the said district can speak English or not. If the reason you left the American district was because Americans are a bunch of asshats, that's definately a seperate issue and should be dealt with differently.

Bazompora

Bazompora

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Jul 2006

Belgium

N/Me

I don't know about the viability of pure English districts, and don't oppose to the principle, but by all means preserve common European districts!