I haven't used Second Life at all, but I found there is a (beta) Japanese version, so you can take a look if you're interested.

Of course, if you give it a try I'll be glad to hear your comments. =)

haa, what exactly is this??

nvm, just found out haha, I'll give it a shot

I used to play World of Warcraft with a Japanese guild. That was my "reason" to start playing it again. It wasn't because I was addictied, honest

Is there finally a Japanese WoW version now?

[ファブリス]

I played Guild Wars a lot last year then got bored then got back into it and play once in a while in the extensions "Eye of the North" etc.

Since last year they have finally made it possible for players in Asia, US and Europe to move freely between the "districts", which are like multiple copies of the towns where you can chat up, make groups, and enter missions.

Unfortunately while the Korean and Chinese players can now play with US and Europe freely, the Japanese versions is still "locked" out. I heard it's also the only version for which you need a subscription, maybe due to server maintenance and low number of players; whereas it's always been the moto of Guild Wars that you buy the game and don't pay a subscription.

The game lets you use the IME, however they limit US and Europe players to alphabetical characters in their character names or guild names.

Recently I've tried out the free MMO Shaiya and while the UI is rough around the edges and it's unfinished in places, the graphics are quite good and overall it's fun to play. A friend of mine told me he came accross a Japanese guild, they would have invited him if he could speak a little Japanese. I have no idea how the Koreans and Chinese manage to chat with text in this game since the font size is like 9 pixels (probably a bug with the english version).

If your Japanese guild uses something like Ventrilo or Skype to chat with voice within the game, there's really potential to practice there.

Pangya (aka. Albatross 18 in the US) is a lot of fun and very popular in Japan but unfortunately gaijins are no longer welcome on the Japanese servers :/

Final Fantasy XI Online, if you want to play with Japanese Just need a small hack to get the IME to work in-game.

Codexus Wrote:Is there finally a Japanese WoW version now?

no there isn't, I played on the US servers with a US copy of the game. You can get a plug in for it that allows you to type Japanese into the chat window, so only other guild members (or people with the plug in) could read what you were writing.

You don't need the Japanese client for Second Life by the way, it's all the same grid.

I've been searching for a Japanese MMORPG to get into for a while now.

I was thinking about just subscribing to the Japanese Guild Wars (in fact, I almost picked it up about 3 times while in Japan), but then I remembered that I kinda left GW fast, even though it was kinda fun.

Basically, I'm looking for something free and at least decent, where the majority of people will speak Japanese.

However, if anyone is in a game in a Japanese guild and wants to introduce me, I'd be all for that.

So, if anyone has any suggestions, I'd be more than receptive!

I was really annoyed when I got FF11 and there was no way to type in Japanese with IME but I guess there's ways around it now, but the game is so old that I probably wouldn't bother going back. (I honestly didn't know like any japanese anyways so it didn't matter at the time)

Square Enix is making a new MMORPG and I find it likely that I will probably participate (I imagine they should know how to make a much better MMORPG now that they've made one and seen all the horrid flaws)

I looked at shaiya a week or so ago and the game does look nice but after playing for 5 minutes I could already tell you what this game consists of, you just sitting in a place, clicking on monsters to kill one by one grinding (and by yourself)

I think you guys should maybe consider trying a Japanese UO server, I wasn't able to find any free servers hosted by Japanese, but there are pay servers, and that is a very chatty game, it's just old (good nonetheless)

Personally, I tried FFXI awhile back, probably around 2004 or so. A friend from my Japanese class was a member of a Japanese linkshell(?) and convinced me to buy a copy and join up. I did, and I played some at his place, with a JP group. At that time, there was no Japanese IME, so we had to rely on romaji.

Honestly, I got tired of it after a few months. I started doing it mainly as a way to hang out with my friend and to practice Japanese, but I soon realized that my time was better spent elsewhere. I could just call up my friend and have lunch or whatever, and I could just as easily call up a Japanese friend and meet up and practice Japanese, or try and write something on mixi, or study, etc.

The main weak point, in my opinion, is that you're somewhat limited in terms of what you'll end up talking about. It's the same problem with having lots of 知り合い/buddies and few real close friends -- the subject of conversation doesn't vary enough. In terms of Japanese study, one of the best parts about having a close relationship (girlfriend, best friend, boyfriend, etc.) is that you have more variety in your conversations, and talk about more difficult things in greater detail, versus "ok lets go raid on saturday" or "man that test last week was tough huh".

I understand that not everyone has the luxury of having Japanese around to practice with, but as has been discussed previously in other threads, there's various sites where you can meet up and practice/study with Japanese. Honestly, I think, in terms of Japanese study, your time would be much better invested there.

HAH I'm surprised I didnt start this thread :| I was looking for a Japanese server for WoW a while back, no chance.... Any mmorpg that has a lot of Japanese ppl, I'd prolly start playing it...

yorkii Wrote:I used to play World of Warcraft with a Japanese guild. That was my "reason" to start playing it again. It wasn't because I was addictied, honest smile

Wow man, what server? ahha I'd consider making a new char and joining ur guild asap

@ajishiosean

I think you are completely right about everything you said. The only thing is, websites like mixi are still a bit intimidating to me at this point. Once my Japanese improves, I'm all for it, but right now I think I'd actually prefer more of a limited-topic environment. I would classify myself as an intermediate learner at this point, but compared to my recognition which is fairly decent, my output is still awful. There is a certain comfort in the idea of playing an MMO because I know I won't have to stress out as much at learning new vocab because it will probably be, as you imply, fairly repetitious. That way, I can concentrate at improving my basic sentence formations using correct grammar and syntax because that is where I really need the practice. (although, do people even talk in full sentences on these things???).

Plus, I think a semi-anonymous character-based RPG is a little less embarassing to make mistakes on. I know I'm being too self-conscious but I can't help it sometimes.

@nestor

I really like your idea. I think a guild like that would need to set up a web page with a long printable list of basic Japanese expressions that would be commonly used in the game. That would be a lot of help for the noobs, and would take some pressure off the more advanced speakers who would otherwise be constantly instructing and correcting. I'd really enjoy something like that.

@Dragg

In my experience, yes, they more or less did speak in full sentences when they had the chance to. There's a lot of こんにちは／おつかれ〜 going on, since people are always logging on/off.

Yeah, mixi can be a little intimidating at first, that's for sure. Having said that, it's immersion -- which is always intimidating at first, but that's the best way to learn. Keep in mind that unlike, say, going to a bar in Japan, you can slowly use the dictionary/textbooks/whatever to figure things out, etc.

Some other ideas would be going to a penpal site like worldfriend.net, or that lang-8.com site (everyone's there to learn a language, so no sweat if you're not perfectly fluent).

Also, if you live in Sacramento, surely there should be some Japanese around -- you might want to look around mixi for a Sacramento community.

Good luck, and remember: the sooner you get over the fear of making mistakes, the sooner you'll get much better. It took me a few years, but it's a wall every language learner has to get past eventually if they're serious about it.

lazar Wrote:HAH I'm surprised I didnt start this thread :| I was looking for a Japanese server for WoW a while back, no chance.... Any mmorpg that has a lot of Japanese ppl, I'd prolly start playing it...

yorkii Wrote:I used to play World of Warcraft with a Japanese guild. That was my "reason" to start playing it again. It wasn't because I was addictied, honest smile

Wow man, what server? ahha I'd consider making a new char and joining ur guild asap

The good thing about playing WoW with a Japanese guild is that although you have a disadvantage on the language front with the guild, if you make a pug (pick up groups of randoms) you will obviously have the upper hand because there will be American members that don't speak Japanese and so you can help out with translations and stuff like that. Also the whole game is in English, so i never felt myself over-whelmed by all the Japanese. Learning a new game and trying to learn a language seems a bit of an uphill struggle. choosing an English speaking world with a Japanese group of people playing could be considered a little easier to get into.

I played in a guild on Akama server (a name that sounds very japanese which is prolly why there are multiple J-guilds on there (stick an "n" on the end and you got yourself something a little messy btw, but enough of my filthy j-skills))

if you google "WoW ギルド" you should find LOADS of guilds on many different servers

have fun