Guild Wars 2

Raine.1394:

Vayne.8563:

@Raine reguarding the word promise

The dictionary definitions have nothing to do with how words are used by people in the real world. There are tons of examples, not a few but literally tons I could bring up that come from years of editing.

When you say to a kid I’m going to do this, what does the kid say? Promise? If you don’t say it’s a promise, to a kid, it’s not a promise.

To put this into focus, according to theasaurus.com this is a list of words that might be used instead of promise:

promise
Part of Speech: verb
Definition: give word that something will be done
Synonyms: accede, affiance, affirm, agree, answer for, assent, asservate, assure, bargain, betroth, bind, commit, compact, consent, contract, covenant, cross heart, declare, engage, ensure, espouse, guarantee, hock, insure, live up to, mortgage, obligate, pass, pawn, pledge, plight, profess, say so, secure, stipulate, string along, subscribe, swear, swear on bible, swear up and down, take an oath, undertake, underwrite, vouch, vow, warrant
Antonyms: break, renege

Many of the words listed here show the bias of how people interpret the word (rather than what the word actually means). Words like cross heart, guarantee, insure, pledge, profess, swear on bible, swear up and down, take an oath….

I agree you CAN use the word promise the way you’re using it, but those who are claiming Anet broke their promise…well you can’t break an intention. You can only break a guarantee or the OTHER type of promise.

Because of the ambiguousness of the word, using it plays into the multiple defintions of the word. Saying something and promising something, to many people, including me, have completely different implications.

So some people will read your words one way and some people (in my mind most) will read your words a different way.

If you’re trying to communicate, promise is too ambiguous a word to use.

Vayne, at this point, your argument is not with me, it’s with the English language. The word promise is not ambiguous, it’s straightforward. And, the reason I gave the definition, a declaration that one will do or refrain from doing something specified, was to exclude ambiguity. I wanted you, and others, to understand exactly what I meant. And, of course, that wasn’t really difficult as you only needed to be able to define the word promise.

Look at your closing statement: “If you’re trying to communicate, promise is too ambiguous a word to use.”

You are actually suggesting that we exclude the word promise when we are trying to communicate. Why? Promise is a very important word. It’s the basis of our legal contracts. What happens in a legally binding contract? Parties exchange promises (what kind of promise? a declaration that one will do or refrain from doing something specified), and in the US, consideration (money). If we were to exclude the concept of the promise from our lives, we couldn’t have contracts. Do you remember getting married? If it was at all traditional there was an exchange of promises. Were they anything but a declaration that one will do or refrain from doing something specified? No they were exactly that, now with the force of a legally binding contract because of the context in which they were given.

No, I won’t remove the word promise from my vocabulary because you don’t understand what it means. It’s simply too important a word. I will give the definition periodically so that you have the opportunity to understand me if you wish.

I’m saying you’re using a word that guarantees some people will interpret it differently than you’re using it. That makes it ambiguous.

I’m not arguing with the English language. The English language didn’t choose the word. Obviously you’re free to use any word you want. I know when I use a word that’s guarantee to be interpreted differently by too large a percentage of the people, I change the word because getting my point across is important to me. That comes from years of writing and working with writers. We have to change words all the time, even words we’re particularly attached to.

If you want to call a statement a promise, go right ahead. But in my mind and the minds of many, a promise is more than just a statement. In communication, nuance is everything.

Vayne.8563:

I’m saying you’re using a word that guarantees some people will interpret it differently than you’re using it. That makes it ambiguous.

I’m not arguing with the English language. The English language didn’t choose the word. Obviously you’re free to use any word you want. I know when I use a word that’s guarantee to be interpreted differently by too large a percentage of the people, I change the word because getting my point across is important to me. That comes from years of writing and working with writers. We have to change words all the time, even words we’re particularly attached to.

If you want to call a statement a promise, go right ahead. But in my mind and the minds of many, a promise is more than just a statement. In communication, nuance is everything.

In communication, clarity is everything. When I used the word and saw that you didn’t understand what it meant, I provided the definition. In providing you the definition, I excluded ambiguity. I don’t want to call a statement a promise. I want to understand what it is to make a promise.

When the question arises as to whether a promise was made, I first want to make sure I understand what a promise is. Not what shades of meaning it might take on at the fringes of its semantic range or the many ways it might be interpreted. Once the nature of a promise is understood, I will apply it to the question at hand and if there is an indication of misunderstanding or ambiguity I will provide the common, conventional, plain meaning of the word and at once exclude the possibility of misinterpretation.

So, bottom line, I choose to call a promise a promise. In most contexts this is acceptable behavior—it’s always risky in the forums it seems.

HiddenNick.7206:

@Raine, @Vayne

This thread is not about what the game was promised to be. It’s about what the game WAS. There was a lot of issues at launch as there are now. But still – the game was a lot more fun back then! Why it’s not so fun anymore? Why it’s something completely different now?

I don’t know that making gw2 more like Rift or WoW is the solution. I really doubt it. But I know that when the game launched I was doing certain things and had a lot of fun with it. And the things I was doing had nothing to do with collecting kites and playing a game about drinking beer…

Hopefully on topic: If it makes you feel better, I understand what you feel and are trying to say. I also miss the PvE game that WAS THERE. People keep trying to turn every thread into a “broken promises thread” or a “why I quit and still haunt the forums thread”!

We had a really good thing going there. Everyone doing DEs and you know, just playing the game in the open world. And now guess what? More minigames were announced to the next update too. Yay.

My hope is that they’re buying time with all this stuff to repopulate the world with people following cool living story dynamic events. I really like the living story concept and I hope they are able to actually make a living world out of that, with consistent open world updates based on dynamic events and, you know, something that involves your class and skill choices.

Bringing people to the open world is a goal for this year according to Colin and they say they are revamping Orr, so let’s hope that amounts to anything significant that doesn’t resource to “MOAR HARD MOBS, MOAR GEAR” or, even if it’s shallow and it sucks, that it at least brings people to DEs in the open world again.

So, if you don’t have a bunch of alts you enjoy, it’s pretty much “see you in a month or two”. Apparently August is just more of this stuff.

I hope I’m actually getting you, and that this is not more of the nonsense you got on this thread. If I’m repeating something anyone said, I’m sorry, I had to skip a ton of posts. It was unbearable.