[3.0] Localization

[Chillosophy]

I think we have a bit of a problem with our international community at the moment. On the one hand we welcome players from every country, on the other hand we limit their freedom to speak their own language. Crew members (and sometimes VIP-members, but I don't think that really was a success) have a lot of work constantly /lang'ing and pm'ing users to speak English in the main chat. I think that needs to change. If the player limit is actually increased to 500 players we need a better system to work out these language problems, otherwise the only thing crew members will be able to do is mute players and occasionally check for cheaters. We still need some fun ingame

In short: I think we need more chatboxes if we get to a maximum of 500 players. Localized chatboxes in the users language.

Here's how it would work in the gamemode:

• OnJoin:
  If the player is not registered, their country is resolved by their IP-address and stored in their playerinfo. This will probably not always be right, but since most crew members will not be able to guess all user spoken languages, it will be a handy guideline. If this player is muted for not speaking English, it will automatically state the message in both English and their determined language, just to be sure.
  
• OnSpawn*:
  In the spawnmenu, a player will be able to choose a skin, and after that choose a localized language. They will not be forced into a localized chatbox yet, but they will be notified how they can change the chatbox.
  
• Registered players will have their language determined once while registering on the website. This will be stored in the database, with the possibility to change it by crew members or by the player.
  
• If a player keeps speaking in their own language, even after multiple /lang's and warnings, they can be forced into a localized chatbox by a crew member, with other players of the same language. They will not be able to see the main chat, except for announcements (which will be translated too, if possible).
  
• Players can switch to a localized chatbox by using a command. They can be switched automatically onJoin if they want to.
  
• The main chat will still be used by the majority of players that can speak English.

* Note: With onSpawn I mean if a player enters the server and chooses a skin.

Example

Not registered:
1. /me joins the server as a guest
2. Since my username is not registered, my IP-address is resolved and the server finds out I'm from the Netherlands
3. I choose a skin
4. Before I can play, I get a question in both English and Dutch if I want to use a localized chatbox

Registered:
1. /me signs up at www.sa-mp.nl
2. The registration form resolves my ip-address and finds out I'm from the Netherlands
3. After the registration, I get a page in both English and Dutch if I want to use the mainchat or a localized chatbox. The page explains that a localized chatbox should only be used if I really don't speak English. Also some explanation that I can join it at any give time using a command.
4. I join the server and login. I get the chatbox I choose earlier.

Pros:

• Users can speak their own language without having to know how /pm, /call or how a gangchat works.
  
• Players and crew members are not bothered by non-english speaking members anymore.
  
• We already have a busy chat; this will prevent getting 50 messages every second
  
• We don't have to figure out the users language first, that's automatically resolved. If we mute a player, he gets a message both in English and in his own language.
  
• We could change /lang to force a user in a localized chatbox after, e.g., 3 times. Maybe even earlier
  
• Users who really can't speak English have an easier time just talking in their own language. They can choose to automatically use their own localized chat

Cons:

• We can't monitor other chatboxes to check if users are swearing or talking about cheats. On the other hand; we can't do that anyway if they use /pm or /call in their own language
  
• Needs a lot of changes in the way the chatbox is handled
  
• We need some more translations. We need some strings that tell a player how to change the chatbox in their own language onSpawn. Based on the topic about the /lang-string, there's a lot of players willing to help with that.
  

At this point I would like you to think about this feature and add some pros and cons. The rest of this feature request requires a really, really massive change and I think less people will like that. If you hate the idea above, you might as well stop reading here.

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Taking it to a whole other level: Translating the whole gamemode to other languages.

At the moment, these are the languages spoken mostly by players on LVP:
- Polish (9.2518% of players)
- Spanish (6.6875% from Brazil, 2.1443% from Spain)
- German (6.9366% of players)
- Russian (5.7042% of players)
- Turkish (4.4243% of players)
- Romanian (3.6661% of players)
- Dutch (2.9388% of players)

To extend the previous feature request, we could translate just about everything that's build into the gamemode. Announcements by Nuwani, commands, helppages, textdraws from minigames, and so on. Every user still plays in the same world, but everything is localized. On the plus side, this makes everything easier for non-English speaking players. They will finally be able to utilize every aspect of the gamemode, even if they don't speak English. This will increase our playercount, but might also seperate users from each other. That shouldn't really be a problem if there's a maximum of 500 players. Also we'll be the only server that provides this option for players as far as I know.

To really manage this, we need a translation team. Take one or two active players that speak the above languages and create a system to translate strings. In the gamemode, all hardcoded English sentences have to disappear, and exchanged for variables. To help translators, and getting an overview of the progress ourselves, we could use a system like OpenTTD's (http://translator.openttd.org/en/status). With new builds of the gamemode, a few English strings will be added to the database, and translators can translate the missing strings.

Again a list of pro's and cons:

Pros:

• We'll have a feature that will attract more players
  
• We'll be the only server in the world to fully translate every aspect of the gamemode
  
• Players that have a hard time speaking and understanding English will get to know a lot more features of the gamemode, resulting in more active minigames, among other things

Cons:

• The code needs to radically change, no more hardcoded strings anywhere
  
• We need an active translation team
  
• We need a whole system to manage translation strings (I do think the OpenTTD one mentioned above is opensource though)
  
• We might seperate the ingame players a bit, although that shouldn't be a problem in a crowded server
  

You may now shoot me down for bringing this up.