CoX and Language (bad)

(Long post. For the tl’dr crowd, extend yourself, and go read a fortune cookie trilogy)

First, I will start out by saying that I KNOW this post is rather sad, lame, pointless and sometimes hypocritical. I know this. I understand, I have faced those demons and moved on. So there is no need to point it out to me.

Some background on me as a person. I use bad language, I swear. Not ever second word, but when I feel like it. 'I' do not see an issue with it, I get angry fast, forget even faster. As players may be aware, this game has a Chat Filter, designed to catch all that icky language. A good thing too..I do not go around mouthing off in front of my sister’s young kids for instance. If someone of the team happens to say they are offended by anything I say, I usually stop. Or, tell them to turn ON the filter.

Because, genius move, the filter isn’t on by default.

Hands up who has been reported for bad language? *lifts hand* I have, a few time. I once got banned for three days, for calling someone a whiny lil canine's mother during a ship raid. He then went and proved me 100% correct by reporting me. Now, the year is 2011, is there anyone who can honestly say they are totally offended by being calling a B word? Really? Remember, it was said in basing, not in anger or during some 30 minutes yelling match. And also, if you ARE offended (who knows, I’m sure some people might be)..why do you play with the filter off?

To me, it is like going into a clearly marked smoking section in a pub, then moaning about not being able to breathe.

Now, I am sure a lot of us have played the STF, and Sciroccos patron arc. If you have ever read her dialogue, I am sure you would agree she is a bit of a bad girl. I'll post samples in case people forget.

First blood: "I heard you were Scirocco's new second. Maybe you'll be more fun than Ice Mistral."
At 75% life: "That's pretty good."
At 50% life: "Can't you hit any harder? My blood's barely pumping!"
At 25% life: "All the pain, all the anger! Now that's more like it!"

and then

At 75% Life: Mmmmm! You hurt me so good!
At 50% Life: The pain! The anger! Yes! You really know how to treat a girl!

but there is more

Silver Mantis: You don't have to start slow on my account. I like it rough.
Silver Mantis: Yes! You're so... Forceful!
Silver Mantis: YES! YES! YES!
Silver Mantis: Ooooh... What a fighter...

Now..what do you see when you read the above? A woman who enjoys being hit, being attacked, getting off on pain, on the brink of orgasm? Is this the image the game is promoting for woman? Oh, along with the OTHER image..that all ‘tough’ women get around in high heels, boob tops and tight lycra.

If you were (are) a parent, is that the kind of thing you would want your young child to read? Easy enough to explain the skimpy female costume..it IS just a costume, but that? ‘Mommy, do you like being hit too? –smack-. Even better, none of that chat gets picked up by the all powerful filter..just in case you were a concerned adult and put it on..to stop a child hearing things that could have a bad effect.

On another note, I was doing the patron arc last night with a friend, and ..I really can’t explain it, I must have been in one of those ‘1800s and super touchy to anything’ type moods, where you get very offended at things. So when we got to Silver Mantis, and saw her chat..I was OUTRAGED. What if my young niece and nephew were in the room? Do I have to explain to them that no..most women do not enjoy being hit in the face till they reach sexual ecstasy.

Going by this, I could make a toon, whose background talks about him being a neo nazi women hating child killing cop burning NUTTER..and go through zones spilling fiery and offensive rhetoric..and it is ok, because, I am totally just keeping to MY background. If I did that, I wonder if the GM’s would take such a passive stance, when I quote their own words back to them.
(Please note, I do not condone any of that stuff.)

Going back to the issue of players reporting others (because obviously this is my core issue, I am spiteful), isn’t anything we say to another player, in our own words, simply following our own background? If I call someone in game an idiot, that is because, in CONTEXT, I regard them as an idiot, and it follows my own background of being a bit of a *****.

To further the issue..I got reported a few weeks back, for saying the Rap music is great...if your are either (A color that is the opposite of white), stupid, or drunk. I do not see why that is a problem. I wasn’t saying that all those people share those 3 traits. I happen to know a lot of people who won’t listen to rap at all, but when they go party and get drunk, the happily groove to it.

In regard to stupid people..well..check this out.
http://www.labnol.org/internet/music...lligence/7489/

Anyway, thank you for reading something that most likely you don’t agree with! It made me feel better to write it. Now, I am going in game to insult someone, just so I can say..’But in the context of my toons background..’ when I get reported!

Obviously depending on how old your niece/nephew are...


You could just say, "this is a game but there are people out there that, for whatever reason, like to get hit/beaten up...no that's not normal, no you can't start hitting people."

This is ridiculous. All the sadists and masochists I know are really great people. You make them sound like monsters.

Ok, so you are allowed to make broad sweeping generalizations about people of a certain race needing to buy better-fitting pants (incidentally, where I live it's mostly the white guys' pants falling off) but you're offended by a stupid S&M joke?

Now what I want to know is, why is a certain synonym for the rear end filtered, both in-game and on the forums, when the Ghost of Scrapyard runs around spamming it all over Sharkhead? And why are Hitler and Stalin filtered but Satan is not? It gets even funnier when you start inadvertently swearing in leet and say something like "Everybody was Kung <bleep> fighting" or "We're fighting level <bleep> and 46s."

I don't know if they're filtered in game, but AE filters a few racial slurs that haven't been commonly used as such in decades. That was even before they broke the filter.

(Fix the AE filter)

Oh, and I thought the chat filter was on by default?

I know all of my toons have the filter on and I don't remember ever changing it to "On."

I have a feeling this thread is going to deliver in a big way.

It sounds like every time you got reported you absolutely deserved it, regardless of the language you used.

There is a reason that the game is labled as Teen: Violence and suggestive themes. Young niece and nephew should not be seeing it anyway.

Then why on earth does it censor the word.

Hmm this may have been from back when I first started playing the game since I've have the autocensor turned off ever since.

I have no idea exactly how Paragon's rules are stated concerning language in game, but I can tell you how another MMO handles it:

The filter is *not* there to allow you to freely use profane language. It is simply there to block said language when people are unable to control themselves and thereby break the very clearly stated game rules against profanity.

I've lost track of the number of times when someone kvetches "then turn on the filter if it bothers you" when people ask them to stop cursing, and the same offenders are shocked when they get reported and subsequently suspended for using such language.

How it breaks down is this: the developers have content rules set down by the ESRB rating and all they have to do is follow those and they're golden and legal-like. Does the ESRB say this is OK for a Teen/Whatever rated game? Yes/No.

Players, on the other hand, have much more restrictive rules to follow to keep people from pushing the boundaries and getting Paragon in big trouble. Give people an inch, and they'll drag that inch through heck and back, twice on Sundays, until it's little more than an unrecognizable red stain on the floor.

Basically, the Devs can pull, "Do as I say, but not as I do." It's their sandbox. We just rent a corner of it.

She's a villain - she's supposed to be depraved.

I read it all but decided not to reply to too many points. Others will cover what I passed up.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MisterD And also, if you ARE offended (who knows, I’m sure some people might be)..why do you play with the filter off?

I would not be able to moderate a global channel properly if I had the filter on. I made my choice.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MisterD If you were (are) a parent, is that the kind of thing you would want your young child to read?

No. I don't care for that character myself. I am uncomfortable being the one attacking her.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MisterD There, proof, that a fair portion of rap fans ARE stupid.

Not for any reasonable definition of proof.

Personally I don't care too much about what she says, I care more about how she's trying to come across as sexy in that outfit when her face is the most godawful thing I've ever seen.

*points to her sig*

My two cents. The dialogue does seem somewhat iffy in one manner. If any of us here were to link to a video which showed a woman being beat up and moaning out that sort of dialogue then that post would most likely be deleted. And we would likely receive a pm stating that it was not appropriate for a rated T forum. Then again the forum mods on occasion can be as sensitive as grandmothers at a church function.

Now as to the swearing in game. As has been stated by devs multiple times (though likely not in these exact words) the filters are like seat belts and airbags. They are in the game in case of accidents. Not so you can go around running your car into whoever or whatever you like.