Since this gets on my tits, (and on other's. Unless they don't have any, then I guess it's a ballache) here is a list of british accents:

http://dialectblog.com/british-accents/

Please note that there is not "British" accent, like people seem to think there is. The stereotypical accent used is "Received Pronunciation", which is generally what you'll hear associated with England in films, T.V and audiobooks.

There are also posts and pages on various accents around the world.
PLEASE, PLEASE, do your research first.

Just my personal annoyance, but..

What do people think of writing out and giving accents to characters in a RP. Is it a good idea or not? Does it add a more unique spin to the character?

If it works for the character, sure. It's boring to think everyone sounds exactly the same.

Right now, one of my main characters has a pseudo British accent that's a bit different from anything on Earth on account of it being a regional dialect of a planetary colony, and I have an NPC in another game that a fantasy pseudo-British accent on a much more crude and improper way, chiefly substituting my with me in sentences, among other things.

Most of my characters have a distinguishable accent, but it's usually not reflected in their dialog past the occasional slang term, but that's more cultural.

Most of the time we do not bother with accents. Not because we disagree with the idea, but because our heads aren't wired for accents. We wouldn't be able to do it consistently enough. We do love to read it when another person does manage to do it right, though.

We can do a wonderful Mish-mash of several accents, though. Like this: howdy, Matey! (could've expanded it more, but not in mood for more accents right now.)

I think accents/slang are perfectly fine if they fit the character. And helps them come alive. If you see a gangbanger character, chances are you aren't thinking he speaks proper english, with perfect grammar. You expect the slang that is associated with it. Same for Southern characters. I think it helps a good deal.

I don't really like accents, half the generic accents don't even exist in their respected countries.

If I think about accents I usually just put it as "they said X with a thick, Russian accent" so as to avoid doing the research. Because that is a lot of work for what is probably just a gimmick. Now if I do add an accent, it is usually one I am personally familiar with, or due to the character being ESL and typically stating half of their thoughts (especially when stressed) in another language.

Ellri is on the money. I personally don't bother with accents, and reading them is difficult. A worse offender is whoever is trying to write provincial -- that's really, really painful to read. there are people who write I dun haf'ta listen the yer seriously o.e

I either mention the accent in much the way Brovo does or I'll throw in a single word into dialog now and again to give a sense of the accent. But writing out whole sentences in a an accent feels goofy to me and I just can't maintain it.

Lillian Thorne said
I either mention the accent in much the way Brovo does or I'll throw in a single word into dialog now and again to give a sense of the accent. But writing out whole sentences in a an accent feels goofy to me and I just can't maintain it.

Same here, for the most part.

The only time I write out accents is if it's for a temporary character, or some other case where they won't have much dialogue to write. Otherwise, writing out whole sentences in a particular accent becomes tiring and weird.

I was once in a game where someone would write each and every single dialogue of theirs in an incredibly difficult to read faux-English accent. It made it incredibly difficult to read but this person thought it made their character more credible, more realistic. Maybe there is some creditability behind it, I've been to Newcastle a few times and as much as I love the Geordie accent, ran into one such encounter where I was left standing, “Excuse me?” But that was the once, for the most part, I managed to understand everything else.

Of course, that was at the more negative end of the spectrum where they created one based on an outdated stereotype (or maybe they thought that is how we all spoke in England). I've known several people who knew the line with accents, without it becoming an annoyance to read, where they'd throw in their character's accent in dialogue via the manner of phrases or little nuance that allowed you to get a good grasp on their differences and so forth, and of course I knew those who simply left it in the manner of the route Brovo's mentioned, “X said this in Y accent”.

Given my use of non-human characters, I've dealt with the use of "accents" in pretty much all the ways mentioned here. Anything from simply stating the "strangeness" of their vocal qualities (while writing their dialog in "plain" English), through slang (I have a character who uses surfer lingo), all the way to the language mangling done by very young children. And "pidgin" English, interspersed with alien words (I have a character whose native language has an odd syntax, so his "English" is very broken/simplistic and filled with his native terms (used only when no other word fit/translated)... heh, I even had him in an RP where I had to have him explain the meaning of one of his native words to a character who didn't understand, yet wanted to know what he'd meant. That was fun...)

So, an "accent" could be created by the use of non-English terms thrown in when no other words would do, as well as by a simple twist of syntax in "translation".

I think accent can add a great deal to a character. I've noticed a lot of differences in accent within Edinburgh and Glasgow depending on where you stay and what conditions you live in. For example someone who goes to Heriots and has done their whole life is more likely to have less of a Scots accent and more of a 'well-spoken' accent than someone who lives in a place like Niddrie. Then again, accent does surpass where you live, it can be affected by who you are around and who you know. I've known quite a few people who live a posh lifestyle but speak almost exactly the same as people who live the exact opposite.

I always find it important to try to replicate an accent that my character might reasonably have. That's why my characters tend to be from the UK, where I know the slang, or are a European in an English-speaking country to justify the bits they get wrong ;)

I've personally have been taking into learning the scottish accent with writing. Saying lassie sometimes, or wee-bit. Just trying to ease it in as I learn.

AussieMine said
I've personally have been taking into learning the scottish accent with writing. Saying lassie sometimes, or wee-bit. Just trying to ease it in as I learn.

I can help you...

I skip out slang. Especially when playing Scottish Characters (As a scot myself.) I've done it once or twice but then people from abroad just criticize me for doing it wrong, which I always found funny.

I think it doesn't matter, it does help though everyone gets their own ideas on what someones character is like in their heady anyway. I think it is all right for a player to give their char a voice but each person will still read it differently. An example of this is the Harry Potter books, everyone had a different view of Harry before the movies came out that isn't specifically Daniel Radcliffe(I know mine wasn't.) The only time it is all the same is when a book is made FROM a movie or a TV show. I kinda lost my point in there somewhere but basically I think it doesn't matter, each person will read it slightly differently and get their own picture in your head no matter what you do, it is inevitable.

On the matter of accents it does annoy me when people generalize. It is something you need to confront when travelling. "You don't sound like this other Scottish person!" "That's cause he's from Glasgow and I'm from the borders..."

AussieMine said
I've personally have been taking into learning the scottish accent with writing. Saying lassie sometimes, or wee-bit. Just trying to ease it in as I learn.

Just don't overdo it. Especially when your char talks to non-scots. We don't always use Slang, I can say this from travelling when I met a lot of scots we barely used slang but if we just started talking to eachother or even the Irish it just kicked off. The worst thing about doing an accent that isn't yours is when you overdo it as then when someone who has that accent reads it they just think its naff.

I hate overdone accents. If I'm in Spain I won't walk around speaking like I do in my home country... because I'm in Spain.

HollywoodMole said
I hate overdone accents. If I'm in Spain I won't walk around speaking like I do in my home country... because I'm in Spain.

Unless you mean IC with a hypothetical Spanish character, accents don't have an off switch. Without some sort of surgery or something, you can't instantly change your voice when you visit hypothetical Spain.

Unless you meant it by slang, not accents :P

(Hypothetical Spain is looking hypothetically very nice.)

Derpestein said
Unless you mean IC with a hypothetical Spanish character, accents don't have an off switch. Without some sort of surgery or something, you can't instantly change your voice when you visit hypothetical Spain.Unless you meant it by slang, not accents :P(Hypothetical Spain is looking hypothetically very nice.)

Well some peoples accents do change quite drastically. I met a German girl whose accent changed depending on who she was talking with :P