D&D 4E Should 4e convert to metric?

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

No, no, no.

Beer is still in imperial (mostly)

Wine and liquor in metric.

I am not interested in alcoholic beverages, but I am pretty sure Beer has little to do with America, and a lot more with Germany.
(To be fair: When I actually was in the US for one week, my colleagues seemed to enjoy the "micro-brews" available locally (Seattle/Tacoma). But they wouldn't have touched anything from the large brands...)

 

[The Little Raven]

Its strange. People are ok with squares as primary measurements and very abstract combat but using grams instead of pounds for weights is too much?

The US never officially adopted the International System of Units (aka metric system), therefore our citizens don't use it except when dealing in particular industries and international business. Congress passed a resolution in the late 1980s stating that the "preferred" system of measurement for trade and commerce, but since it has no real power, it means little. There was going to be a push to move to metric by 2000, but that was canceled in 1998, because frankly, Americans just don't care enough about the rest of the world to go along with a standard that would make things consistent. In day-to-day life, the metric system is almost never used.

So yeah, we're okay with an abstract measurement (squares) which translates to a familiar measurement (feet) as opposed to an unfamiliar one (meters).

 

[The Little Raven]

(To be fair: When I actually was in the US for one week, my colleagues seemed to enjoy the "micro-brews" available locally (Seattle/Tacoma). But they wouldn't have touched anything from the large brands...)

Smart guys. Most of the large brand beer available in the US is pretty poor, with the good stuff usually being imported. Microbrews have exploded in popularity over the last decade, so we're getting a lot more good beer (like New Belgium... good beer).

 

[Chibbot]

And I'm voting Imperial. When I buy a game from Games Workshop, armor and color have this extra "u" in them. I just accept that and get on with my life.

This.

 

[Lucius Drake]

I do think France rocks -being a student of, among other periods of history, Revolutionary France- but that's not why I'm voting metric. I live in New Zealand and we've used the metric system since 1976 (started in 1969)!

 

[Oni]

Bah, the metric system is for conformist. Really, who wants everything to be neat, tidy, and just so.


Really I'm much more comfortable with the Imperial system.

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

Bah, the metric system is for conformist. Really, who wants everything to be neat, tidy, and just so.

Indeed to go along with our non-conformist Imperial measurements I also propose we adopt a duodecimal number system. Let's see the Euros convert THAT to metric

 

[Mal Malenkirk]

It's been said, but I'll say it too. Functionnally, distance is in square. You can decide that's five feet, one meter and an half, two meter. Does't rwally matter.

All that will remain is how many pound instead of how many kilogram a halfling weighs. It would be respectful of WOTC to use metric for translation though perhaps a simple conversion table at the end of the book would suffice.

For flavours, I prefer imperial. I'm (trying) to write a novel right now and even though I was born to metric I instinctively use an imperial derived system for my story (fantasy in the vein of GG Kay). It just feels right. Metric is too modern.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

Human weight and height has never been a issue for me being in Imperial. In a weird sorta twist, the weight and height of a person I can only visualize in Imperial, while weight, distance, etc. for everything else I can only visualize in metric

 

[TwinBahamut]

The main reason for the metric system is, imho, the weird relationship between the imperial units. Twelve inches make a foot, three feet make a yard, how many yard make a furlong, a mile, a statute mile, a nautical mile?

How do you convert square feet to square miles?

In the metric system, the name of a unit makes clear its relationship to related units. And I'm very much for systems I don't have to learn by heart.

I am not sure that this is a valid criticism of the Imperial system, actually, at least when talking about day to day life...

The value of the Imperial system is that each unit is ideally suited for a single task. Measurements of roads and long distance are made in miles, and shorter distances are measured in feet or yards, so there is very little need to ever use the 5280 feet = 1 mile conversion value in daily life. Human height is very easily measured in small values of feet, such that you can easily know that 5 feet = shorter than average, 6 feet = slightly taller than average, and 7 feet = basketball player, without even looking at a more precise breakdown.

Similarly, the acre is a great unit for measuring land, and while the conversion between acres and other units can be nightmarish (1 acre = 43,560 square feet, 1 square mile = 640 acres, though it makes a lot more sense if you know about the more obscure chain and furlong units), most measurements of land can easily be made with just acres, and conversion is not important.

I guess to turn thing around... when is it ever necessary in daily life to ever make the conversion between square feet and square miles?

For the units in which conversion is actually necessary, like the closely related inch and foot, or the pint, quart, and gallon, conversion is made using intuitive numbers like 2 and 12, rather than the unintuitive ten. Ten may be the base number of our mathematical system, but it is not very good for division and multiplication of substances without measurement (it is a lot easier to pour a gallon of water into two even half-gallons, and divide those into four even quarts, than it is to evenly divide a liter into ten deciliters without measuring).

SI units are great for complex mathematical calculations and plugging numbers into equations without using conversion factors, but they nowhere near as good for day to day life. I would never use miles and pounds when calculating force and energy, but I hate using SI units for basic things like height and weight in my normal life. Imperial units have a big advantage in how they evolved over hundreds of years through being used by normal people, rather than be imposed from on high by some guy who thinks he knows better like the Metric system was.

Edit: Regarding the whole "The US has already officially converted to metric" thing. If the US Federal government can't try a citizen for murder, give someone a driver's license, or give legal status to a marriage, then I say it simply doesn't have the authority to tell people what units of measurement they should be using.