Censoring

[Firefly]

Originally Posted by AncientVanu

The attention-hungry kids who want to demonstrate the new words they've learned around the 'hood by constantly spam-swearing are pretty annoying. Turn off the goddam chat and swear as much as you like, just don't spam the chat with your useless profanity.

Exactly. This is why I do not play console games and I do not play games where any idiot with a microphone can transmit into my ear. The last time I played Global Agenda was the day I got into a match with my team and some 12yr old kid was screaming obscenities over the in-game voice chat. Maybe it's my fault somehow for leaving it on - I didn't actually know it existed because I play with a "guild" that uses Teamspeak, exclusively. So when this shrill-voiced little yappy-dog starts calling people every thing he could think of, I managed to turn my mike on and imitate him in my best falsetto Martin Price voice before I logged out and stopped playing. Shitty game anyway.

I'm all for saying fuck, shit, damn and cocksucker. I think it's an art form to be able to creatively swear so all these yokels crying about how it indicates a lack of intelligence can eat a dick. What I'm not for is having to wade through sixty lines of "fuck this" and "fuck you". So I generally turn it off and I generally /ignore hate tells. I have Teamspeak so I can listen to swears from people I know, except we don't actually end up doing it all that often.

And for the whole "but my kids play this game!" argument, I got something for you (I forgot you in my last rant). Letting your eight year old play DAoC unsupervised means you're a shitty fucking parent, dickhead. Blaming some troll 13yr old for sending a hate tell to your kindergartner means you're a stupid shitty fucking parent. I'm a parent. I know what goes on in online games. My kids will not play online games until I feel they're damn good and ready. Maybe it's draconian but I don't have to worry about sitting there watching them play. And when they do finally play, they'll learn what's appropriate and how to avoid/prevent inappropriate-to-me content.

Originally Posted by Raymac

That's all besides the point. The right thing to do is just not swear in front of little kids whether they are "supposed" to be there or not. By your rationale, we should show porn to pre-schoolers because they'll see it eventually. That's asinine.

I think a language filter is pretty much a standard feature anyways, but there is no place for racist comments or sexual harassment.

I agree completely. As much as I'm in favour of growing a spine, if there are kids playing I cannot in good conscience A) allow them into my outfit and/or B) use profanity in front of them.

[magnatron]

Originally Posted by Raymac

It's about keeping it away from kids. (earmuffs) I think you should let people swear all they want on the private channels but keep the public channels censored.

There's a difference between swearing up a storm as you are in your own living room watching football with your friends, and saying the same things if you are actually at the game and there is some family with 8 year olds sitting right in front of you.

I think the first Planetside struck a great balance when it came to censoring, at least towards the beginning when it was actually moderated in a timely manner.

im sorry what other peoples children hear in the mature video game i play is really of no concern to me, its not my job to raise your kids or set an example for them.

on top of the fact that there is vulgarity on the news, in commercials etc. and neither of those are a game focused on war, where in fact teaching kids its ok to indiscriminately murder others cause they are a different color than you (see what i did there). ok maybe murder is not the right word but you get my point.

with that said i think the best recourse would be the standard profanity filter that can be toggled, and if your child is not 17 years of age please make them play a different game. stop expecting a group of people that are armed to the teeth, low on Prozac and have total anonymity to care about what your child hears.

[Vancha]

Originally Posted by Raymac

By your rationale, we should show porn to pre-schoolers because they'll see it eventually.

Uhm, no. The most you can take from that is that porn shouldn't be removed from the top shelf in offlicenses.

Not to mention, profanity means nothing to a child. Words don't inherently hold any meaning, whereas pornography is far from conceptual.

[Raymac]

Originally Posted by Vancha

Uhm, no. The most you can take from that is that porn shouldn't be removed from the top shelf in offlicenses.

"Why not say it if they are gonna learn it anyways." = "why not let them see it if they will see it eventually anyways."

I don't want to turn this into a debate about censoring in society in general, but there is such a thing as common decency and I for one don't think it is completely dead, even on the internet.

[Firefly]

I think that my point of view, as a parent, has changed my entire outlook. When I'm in the company of kids under the age of, say, 16, I am incredibly careful about what I say. Especially if their parents are around. I don't know too many fellow parents who are different in that regard and I don't know too many parents who let their kids swear until they're much much older. I, for one, don't think it's cute when kids swear so I make an effort, out of common decency, to avoid contributing to that.

Originally Posted by Raymac

I don't want to turn this into a debate about censoring in society in general, but there is such a thing as common decency and I for one don't think it is completely dead, even on the internet.

I think anyone who thinks it's okay to expose kids to porn needs to be kicked in the fucking face. I basically grew out of the porn phase when I discovered it was more fun to get laid than to jerk off. So it got old rather quickly. I find myself not enjoying it if I ever come across it. And people with an obsession towards porn, I find boggling. Consequently, I don't want my kids exposed to porn until they're much older when they can make a conscious, informed decision. I do my hardest to raise my kids the way I think they should be raised, which means keeping them off the internet unless I'm monitoring them. I can't be everywhere at once and they're going to get it somewhere else at some point. So I can only prepare them and help the build their ability to know what's right, what's wrong, and what's acceptable. Now having said that... if you willingly expose my not-even-teenage-kid to porn, you're not only committing a felony but you're also going to be a dead motherfucker, and that's only after I fuck you in the ass with a broom handle.

And I appreciate your outlook on what I quoted, Raymac. Got off track. Sorry.

[Vancha]

Originally Posted by Raymac

"Why not say it if they are gonna learn it anyways." = "why not let them see it if they will see it eventually anyways."

I don't want to turn this into a debate about censoring in society in general, but there is such a thing as common decency and I for one don't think it is completely dead, even on the internet.

Yeah, letting them see it is not the same as actively making them watch it.

But this is getting redundant, agreed. The age group we're talking about aren't young enough to need to be sheltered from swearing. Not only will most kids have a full repertoire of profanity by age 11, but the novelty of senselessly swearing will long have worn off (it's the newfound novelty of anonymity that turns some of them into idiots).

You also seem to assume swear words are a violation of common decency. Personally I'd be more offended if people went out of their way to avoid swearing in front of me.

[Graywolves]

As stated before, ESRB doesn't rate online content for a reason and when you are online you as an individual control what content you want to see.

There's a filter you can use. If you are worried about your kids then that's on you as a parent, the world isn't going to walk on eggshells in fear of offending people. Most human beings don't, just because you find something wrong doesn't mean it is from every perspective.

If you can't live with certain types of other people around then don't be around them. It's very easy to do on the internet.

[ThGlump]

I dont have anything against swearing, those who overuse it only show they arent mature yet.
But i have problem with filters, with very strict filters. Those usually dont take other languages in mind, preventing to use chat in national outfits/squads. Try to say that something is south of here when it contains jiz as part of a word in my language, and whole sentence is ignored (yea one game was that strict).
Let you have your filters, but allow to disable it, or not use it in outfit/squads.

[Trolltaxi]

First: it's a game.
Seconds: it's played in teams.

Till this point I could as well speak about soccer or rugby or basketball. You aren't allowed to swear in any of these games. The ref may even send you to take a shower if he wants.

There is no good match without some random "fucks" involved (no, not way...). It's ok, it's adrenaline, it's your efforts ruined by a lucky bastard etc... It may be your empire zerging mindlessly for a lost cause base while you are doubleteamed on both homeconts... The least you can do is to spam the chat with your anger in an uncensored way. (Actually, it's the most you can do it seems... )

That's ok, no one will halt in his mental and physical progression just because that word (or the Finger during Superbowl - man, human stupidity still amazes me!).

But harassing others in hatetells, spamming the chat with profanity (or whatever), screaming in TS with that annoying pre-puberty high pitch voice reciting every interesting word he learned - now that's something that annoys everyone and it must be dealt with.

And remember Cyrano's Nose monologue. It's archaic and all, but there may be skill in those hate tells. Best thing to do with a primitive hate tell is to answer in a mature way but make sure his anger will increase with each turn. Then send the log in an appeal if you feel like!

[Aurmanite]

Originally Posted by Firefly

*Several posts of complete and total ownage*

You need to post more.

[Yelena]

DCUO is a fine example of over censoring. In that game, for example, it censored character names, normal words that were near other words and basically made such a mess of itself that it got in the way of perfectly normal speech.

Pity the guys whose actual names were censored so nobody could even speak to them, despite the character creation process allowing them to be chosen.

[Redshift]

Originally Posted by Raymac

That's all besides the point. The right thing to do is just not swear in front of little kids whether they are "supposed" to be there or not..

If you tell me your kids are next to you i probably won't swear. I'm sure we've all been on TS and had someone mention thier kids are in the room.

However if i'm swearing and you start bitching because you allowed your kids in the room knowing full well what might be there, well sorry but that's your fault.
Likewise if you allow your child to play an online game, again that's your fault if they're exposed to swearing.

[Lord Cosine]

Freedom of fucking speech, as long as there are adequate muting/ignoring options so I can quickly mute annoying people.

Oh and for the sake of our sanity limit broadcast range and make global chat a tough thing to unlock, otherwise you get the trollocom of general city chat.

[BloodySoul]

I HEREBY ANNOUNCE THAT EVERY WORD IS A SWEAR WORD AND OFFENDS ME IN EVERY MANNER! AS SUCH I HAVE OFFENDED MYSELF AND DEMAND ALL WORDS TO BE FILTERED AND WE SHOULD ALL TALK WITH EMOTICONS.

[Graywolves]

Originally Posted by BloodySoul

I HEAR BY ANNOUNCE THAT EVERY WORD IS A SWEAR WORD AND OFFENDS ME IN EVERY MANNER! AS SUCH I HAVE OFFENDED MYSELF AND DEMAND ALL WORDS TO BE FILTERED AND WE SHOULD ALL TALK WITH EMOTICONS.