Some games allow player characters to slowly learn alien languages, to find ruins faster and understand artifacts for better rewards, ship items, etc. With a growing library of languages for the Vanduul, the Xi'an and the Banu, what are your plans for integrating these languages into the game?

Outside of pure environmental stuff, we have started integrating them. I believe we have Banu stuff on some of the food vendor carts and stuff like that.

We have Banu and Xi'an signage.

Area18 has a book.

Yes. I was like, oh God, are they up yet?

But yeah, again, the way we'd always been talking about it, we'll see as they come more online. I believe the early conversations were always like, if you take the time to learn this stuff, it will open up some possibilities and facilitate some kind of cool stuff. And you might get to navigate some social minefields that other people might fall into because they're not familiar with the language. But it was also trying to balance it, because we don't want to be punishing to people who don't have time to learn an alien language. That seems kind of unfair to me, because I'm terrible. I speak English. And so it's making it fun for the people and rewarding them for learning Xi'an, which is impressive, but not being too crushing to people who haven't, or making the game unplayable to people who haven't.

I can see a mission that doesn't require you to be able to read Banu to complete it, but a secondary objective, like an optional objective, that would benefit you more if you could.

Or you can read the signs on the ruins and it'll take you down a different path or something like that, that still leads to the same place, but maybe you get...

We also have to figure out how our 30th century tech ties into this, because we're talking about how your mobiGlas AR ties into the world around you and what information you're going to be getting for identifying stuff. Our whole idea is that if we do end up having automatic translation happening through your mobiGlas, that it's rough. It is the bare bones.

70% accurate type thing.

Trying to do a translation online in 1999, that kind of level of translation.

Maybe it just translates the words in the order that they're written, but since it doesn't translate the grammar, it's like, box big.

You're missing out on the nuance, which might give you a leg up.

We haven't talked with the design team yet about the idea that there would be a skill that you could acquire where it's, I know Banu now, and it translates it differently or something like that. I don't know where we would fall on that.

I want to make sure that folks heard the part: we have not talked to design about that.

This is all speculation.

These are all cool ideas. Have not talked to design.

We are not describing actual gameplay.