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[VibratingDonkey]

Forza is a different kind of annoying with this, as they insist that if you use the metric system, you use kilowatt to measure the power of cars.
Which while a sensible assumption, is not actually the case in many (most?) countries.
Has no one told them about this over the past decade? Or why is this still a thing?

I have no idea how the use of hp in metric countries started, but it did, and it stuck, everyone knows the unit, so it's what we use. We use inches for screens (and exclusively for screens) for a similar reason.

 

[jonno394]

If I said to you: it's 15°C this morning, would your mind instantly process the temperature like you would in °F?

This is how it hurts the experience.

Each to their own, because as I've said, for me the numbers are just that, arbitrary numbers. 1 ingame mile does not actually represent 1 mile etc

(FWIW I live in a country that uses metric measurements a lot, especially weather)

 

[Amneisac]

Is the rest of the world jealous of Americans' mastery of fractions?

Maybe thats where all this animosity comes from. We can do precise machinery in thousands of an inch or cover great distances like a half mile.

 

[Caronte]

Gotta love those couple Americans in the first page basically telling everyone "fuck you, adapt to our system". Can't say I'm surprised.

 

[kpaadet]

The units could be made up and the game would be exactly the same. There's no correspondence to real world units, nor are you ever called upon to come up with one.

In fact, using fake units seems to be the way to go to keep people from complaining. Lots of other games do it.

An option to change to whatever system the player prefers seems to be the way to go. Everyone can use whatever they want, no complaining.

 

[Soph]

I always clap when a game uses the Imperial system

USA USA USA

Clearly we're vastly superior

 

[Tunahead]

YYYY/MM/DD is obviously the best date system because in a system with ascending numbers you can even type it out without separators and the dates will be neatly organized in chronological order.

 

[Amneisac]

An option to change to whatever system the player prefers seems to be the way to go. Everyone can use whatever they want, no complaining.

Of course that's right and 99% of the people (even Americans) agree with that sentiment. I'm pretty sure this thread is only still going for the good old American bashing at this point.

 

[Son of a Witch]

Agreed. Also, don't use 12 hour format. It's stupid and some games or apps don't even give you the option to switch to 24 hours.

 

[Tunahead]

Of course that's right and 99% of the people (even Americans) agree with that sentiment. I'm pretty sure this thread is only still going for the good old American bashing at this point.

It's what they deserve, really. I hate those Americans. Some Americans have such a strong mistrust of science that they've dedicated their lives to becoming perfectly spherical for the sole purpose of satirizing the solar system, and that's sickening. I've also heard all Americans collectively watched a woman drown and then Phil Collins wrote a song about it. And while I'm at it, why do all of you have exactly 30.48 cm long feet, Americans? What's up with that? Were all your feet grown separately in vats? That's not how feet are supposed to form. You're just actively ridiculing human biology now. Please take this seriously.

 

[Vincent Grayson]

Each to their own, because as I've said, for me the numbers are just that, arbitrary numbers. 1 ingame mile does not actually represent 1 mile etc

(FWIW I live in a country that uses metric measurements a lot, especially weather)

I think this is important to remember. None of these games seem to have a scale that actually matches the real world 1:1, so it's hard to get caught up in what might as well be measurements in completely made-up units in the first place.

 

[zer0blivion]

They should add an American English language option that switches to imperial measurements and sprinkles in some extra "motherfuckers" in the dialog for flavour.

 

[AuthenticM]

hear hear

 

[Leatherface]

Empires uses imperial
Metric is for peasants

I'm from the US and I'm on board with this metric thing.
What kind of wing nut shit are we using?!! That diagram
says it all. lol

 

[Tunahead]

Empires uses imperial
Metric is for peasants

Empires come and go, but peasants are still here.

 

[RedFury]

As an American and a scientist metric should be the only one we use. Imperial is so antiquated, and a huge disservice to our kids who will go on needing to understand the metric system anyway.

 

[Theonik]

In racing games they do have a separate settings. What I like in GT is they also do 'Car locale' on the car itself so UK models will have the right hand wheel and MPH etc.

As for i18n in general it's hard. You have to write your whole script with it in mind and if the original game wasn't written with this parametrisation in mind, it's just a lot of work to do it. Usually the best you might get is different scripts for en-gb and en-us but it's much easier to just ship en-us to all territories. Largest market always wins where making individual versions is not practical.

 

[Morinaga]

Strange detail to get upset about, but I agree the imperial system is shit.

 

[Skellig Gra]

Its on the backlog. Low priority item. We'll get to it in phase 2.

 

[Venfayth]

It should be an option. People getting excessively agitated by the imperial system are obnoxious. You're not an angry youtuber, stop acting like one.

 

[khaaan]

I agree, but I'm here to call out the Breath of The Wild example because I don't think it matters. Correct me if I'm wrong but the temperature gauge only had six or so positions it could really be in while there wasn't much going for distance.

 

[BigDug13]

At least the US is consistent on this. UK uses liters to sell gas but measures miles per gallon. Street signs are in miles while children learn Km. Beer is sold in pints. Top Gear always talked about 0-60mph times.

 

[soundscream]

Empires uses imperial
Metric is for peasants

I agrre with everything on that chart, but Month Day Year is the superior way to do dates.

 

[Theonik]

Just in case somebody gets mad, I'm European and fan of the metric and celsius systems.

You laugh, but SI was made for a reason.
The US has botched a few space missions on unit conversion in the past.

I agrre with everything on that chart, but Month Day Year is the superior way to do dates.

ABSOLUTELY NOT.
The only acceptable way is Year, Month, Day, Hour, Minute, Second, TZ
Posted at:
2017-07-24T13:29:28+00:00

 

[WarRock]

I remember some Burnout games having a toggle for this in the settings menu. Should be standard, much like customizable controls.

 

[L Thammy]

I want there to be an option in games that adds more U's to words. I don't just mean like colour and moustache. You should be able to toggle an option and thue quuick brouwn foux juumps ouver thue lauzy doug.

 

[InfiniteCombo]

They should add an American English language option that switches to imperial measurements and sprinkles in some extra "motherfuckers" in the dialog for flavour.

Is this... Necessary?

I'm an American, and I'm with the OP that an option should be provided. It's easy to do.

I understand that a large portion of GAF is liberal/progressive, but it seems that many use any excuse whatsoever, in any topic, to start hating on the US. It's honestly getting a little old...

 

[Necro900]

Even better: use the metric system forever because the imperial system is hot garbage and should be abandoned in every way as soon as is possible. Video games can lead the charge!

This. There's no excuse for keeping the imperial system in 2017.

 

[dukie85]

Is this... Necessary?

I'm an American, and I'm with the OP that an option should be provided. It's easy to do.

I understand that a large portion of GAF is liberal/progressive, but it seems that many use any excuse whatsoever, in any topic, to start hating on the US. It's honestly getting a little old...

I'm surprised they've let the thread get so shit filled instead of locking it down...

 

[FinalAres]

Each to their own, because as I've said, for me the numbers are just that, arbitrary numbers. 1 ingame mile does not actually represent 1 mile etc

(FWIW I live in a country that uses metric measurements a lot, especially weather)

I've never has a problem with miles, but FFXV was really jarring. Going from half a mile to however many yards was super jarring. It made it difficult for me to judge whether it was walking distance or whether I should drive. Lots of wasted time because of this.

 

[Venom.]

In some rural parts of the UK they measure horses with hands. Not so good for DIY.

 

[Izuna]

What about Animal Crossing?

The pun doesn't work in English!

Bells makes no sense!

 

[Alex_Mexico]

This pissed me off so much in Wii Fit

Did Wii Fit really didn't let you change to Metric when playing in English???

 

[Izuna]

Oceans rise, Empires fall, but peasants are still here.

Ftfy

 

[notaskwid]

Is this... Necessary?

I'm an American, and I'm with the OP that an option should be provided. It's easy to do.

I understand that a large portion of GAF is liberal/progressive, but it seems that many use any excuse whatsoever, in any topic, to start hating on the US. It's honestly getting a little old...

Poor US and damn those liberals traitors to the nation.

 

[DESTROYA]

I agree OP you should be able to switch to whatever you are used to in games, but all you people saying the US should switch and it's stupid just because they don't get it...guess what it's not going to happen.We are used to it and if it hasn't changed by now it's not anytime soon.

 

[rpmurphy]

This. There's no excuse for keeping the imperial system in 2017.

There's not much incentive for transitioning out of imperial here in the US. We can't even get rid of daylight savings time and that is a bigger pain in the ass to maintain than unit conversions.

Oh, and how about time? I don't think humanity will ever just correct time measurements to get rid of leap years and leap seconds.

 

[ArtHands]

Is the rest of the world jealous of Americans' mastery of fractions?

Maybe thats where all this animosity comes from. We can do precise machinery in thousands of an inch or cover great distances like a half mile.

jealous? lol.

 

[Zakalwe]

Imagine you are playing a game and it says the weight of an axe is 579 Bloofels and the next village is 314 Goomblits away and the temperature is 475 Ooblits.

It would be incredibly easy to parse if the game remained consistent and had points of reference if the user was actually required to focus on and make specific sense of a relative value.

Like in a sports game that relies on distance, the user might be confused at first but eventually they'd understand how the scale works with enough reference points for learning.

I really don't see a huge deal here, but then it's a relatively small change/addition that would make a lot of people happy so I'm in no way against it.

 

[InfiniteCombo]

Poor US and damn those liberals traitors to the nation.

Quality post. Would read again. 10/10.

 

[AlphaMale]

So this is the second time in the last 12 months I've come across a big, multi-million dollar, several years in the making, AAA title that thinks that just because I play my games in English it means I'd rather play with feet, miles, and Fahrenheit rather than meters, kilometers and Celcius. And I'm here to vent because this shit is inexcusable and has to stop before it propagates and becomes the standard.

Developers. I've it news for you: Not everyone playing your game in English lives in the United States. Millions outside of that country will play your game in English and would rather keep the Metric system because they may live in Canada. Or Great Britain (some there do prefer Metric). Or Australia. Or New Zeland. Or Jamaica. Or their native tongue isn't supported so they're bilingual and play in English . Or, like in my case, where I live in Mexico, happen to know English and I've played video games in English all my life because growing up I didn't have an option to play in any other language so now I just kept playing in English by default. All of these people do not use the Imperial system in their day to day life.

This has to stop.

Sincerely,
A non-American English speaker.

Totally agree, 100%!

 

[jiggles]

It does when this is the kind of language selection screen you get in a European release.

 

[akira28]

Only metric kids understand this

Communism.

 

[Big Nikus]

Both Final Fantasy XV and Zelda Breath of the Wild (finally I've just begun playing it) don't give me the option to keep the Metric system when I'm playing in English.

Yo, seriously ? Fuck this, I won't play these in english then. This is so stupid.

 

[lyrick]

I'm confused, in the US we have to learn both Imperial and Metric and how to convert.

Do other countries simply learn one?

 

[Amneisac]

jealous? lol.

I was being sarcastic, but my point is that even with a large gap between yards and miles we use fractions like quarter mile, half mile, etc. Entirely independent from whether or not America should switch to metric (which it should, and is), it's like people think you need to be using the laboratory-designed metric system to be able to function. It really doesn't matter what system of measurement you're using for almost all daily functions as long as everyone agrees. I don't need to know how far light travels in whatever amount of time to know how far the grocery store is.

I don't even know why I feel the need to defend the imperial system but people are being so openly hostile towards Americans in this thread it's getting silly.

 

[tuxfool]

Is this... Necessary?

I'm an American, and I'm with the OP that an option should be provided. It's easy to do.

I understand that a large portion of GAF is liberal/progressive, but it seems that many use any excuse whatsoever, in any topic, to start hating on the US. It's honestly getting a little old...

You consider gentle mockery to be hating? Is it bad enough that it justifies whining about it?

 

[Blam]

Even better: use the metric system forever because the imperial system is hot garbage and should be abandoned in every way as soon as is possible. Video games can lead the charge!

Yes please Developers do this.

 

[Theonik]

I'm confused, in the US we have to learn both Imperial and Metric and how to convert.

Do other countries simply learn one?

There is no reason to learn backwards things.

 

[Amneisac]

Yes please Developers do this.

So the solution is not actually having a choice after all! This should be easy to fix by just allowing a choice. I think most sensible people are in agreement.