A Report on Swearing in Online Games 324
A Next Generation article references an informal study done on the frequency of swearing on Xbox Live. From the study: "When you logon to Xbox live more often then not you will be greeted by a 14 year old that learned a new word on the playground that day, or maybe it's the drunken 24 year old who hates black people, gays and anyone who isn't in his frat. No matter who you are if you have played on live you have run into cursing and lewdness. If you look at the rating for the game you can see that it is intended for ages 17+ but parents don't care/understand/listen so lots of underage kids have [Halo 2]." Warning: links contain profanity.
Swearing online (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Swearing online (Score:2)
Re:Swearing online (Score:4, Funny)
I have TOURETTES you fucking insensitive shitty buggering cunt!
Re:Swearing online (Score:3, Funny)
That's what happens when you can't make up your mind.
Re:Swearing online (Score:2)
French?! (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Swearing online (Score:4, Insightful)
On the other hand, we don't have any word as versatile as 'fuck'.
Re:Swearing online (Score:5, Informative)
On the other hand, for flat-out obscene, French doesn't work very well. It just seems too damned refined.
Piss off a southeast Asian, like someone Vietnamese or Laotian, if you ever want to hear stuff that puts English, or even French, cursing to shame. They won't think twice about tossing in bestiality, violence, and incest, often all at the same time. Really disgusting stuff. You gotta love it.
Re:Swearing online (Score:2)
Re:Swearing online (Score:3, Informative)
You can be insulting in any language.
Re:All I can say is... (Score:2)
Re:Swearing online (Score:5, Informative)
<p> : This is a paragraph tag. You can use it to break your post up into logical, coherent groups of sentences.
There are several uses for the paragraph tag, including:
Expected (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Expected (Score:3, Insightful)
Thought it must be stressed that online people feel more anonymous so they restrain themselves less when referring to others. You won't throw an offensive remark infront a person who might not be calm and will likely pounce you.
Re:Expected (Score:4, Insightful)
When lawmakers shield children from what you consider "garbage" they take on the role of moral parent for those children. And since those children exist in the same society and media which adults do, then those lawmakers become everyone's parent. I for one do not want Dennis Hastert, George Bush, Harry Ried or anyone else telling me what to listen to. Force is the only means of government action...it's what they do, and when you use guns to dictate speech, thats called fascism.
Congress shall make no law...abridging the freedom of speech. It means what it says.
Re:Expected (Score:3, Insightful)
I fully support efforts of lawmakers to shield kids from garbage, because it's a good failsafe mechanism.
I'm a fundamentalist Christian and I intend to homeschool my children when they get to that age, but I do not agree with that. I don't see the government as being effective or trustworthy enough to accomplish this task, and I can easily imagine collateral damage as material that I might want permitted could get censored. (The Bible does condemn homosexuality, after all, and in some jurisdictions th
Re:Expected (Score:5, Insightful)
When I was in middle school, I spent a week working at a cub scout day camp. I think I was around 12 or 13 at the time. The adults warned us that we had to watch our language around the cubs (who were probably around 8 or 9), because they didn't want the kids picking up any bad words from us. They needn't have bothered. The kids were far more foul-mouthed around us than we were amongst ourselves, and actually managed to shock us. This was in the late 1980s.
Kids don't need TV, movies, video games or the Internet to learn bad words. They learn them from their friends at school, or they learn them from parents, or from neighbor kids.
There was a B.C. comic strip a few years ago that I thought illustrated this point well: Two kids (well, ants) walk into the room, one crying, "Mom, he said the Z-word!" The parents send the kid to his room, then have this brief conversation: "Where'd the little %@#&! learn the Z-word?" "Beats the #@*$ out of me."
Re:Expected (Score:4, Insightful)
Why do I remember it so vividly?
Because the whole time he was on that swing, he sang "FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK" at full volume, non-stop. 3 years old, and singing for all he was worth, and effectively screaming one of the most hated words amongst language minders.
He's 34 right now, almost 35. He still considers it one of his shining moments.
Me, I learned how to use it when it was appropriate. Being in the fire service as a volunteer, there are tons of times when dropping a well thought out curse just fit. See a 4 story apartment building engulfed in flame? "Holy fucking shit!" made perfect sense. Of course, it was immediately followed by "Damn, this is almost as good as sex. Grab a hose! We're going in!"
But, you also learned to have an innate sense of who was around you. That same "Holy fucking shit!" wouldn't escape most mouths if there were civilians around.
The problem with these online games is that there is an inherent "cool" factor people seem to think surrounds the use of this language. And it isn't just kids.
Back when MSN chats were free to everyone, I used to chat in ChatDallas, one of their city chats. The use of profanity would get you kicked by a bot, or banned by a mod. One enterprising individual created a private room for adults to chat in. Wanna guess what happened?
Folks from ages 18-50 sat in this private room and just used one profanity after another in all imaginable combinations. Because they could, and they felt they were being cool. And after 5 minutes in there, I felt like I was back in H.S. listening to guys in the locker room. It was all pointless.
So, until folks figure out how really lame they sound, they will keep doing it. There's no art to it. It's one thing to say "fuck you, you fag". Anyone can do that. It takes a little more creativity to drop a "listen, you dried up husk of a cunt, shut your yap and go away".
Ah, but there will always be sheep.
Re:Expected (Score:5, Insightful)
People who swear every other sentence have serious problems expressing themselves because their speech are very binary. Either someone is a fucker or an ordinary person, but the inbetween doesn't exist. It is of course possible to place different values on each swear word, but that rarely happens because it would defeat the purpose of using swear words to simplify sentences.
This is why it is very important to make sure that children don't swear. Swearing is addictive because it is easy to do and doesn't require thinking and as long as someone uses swear words he/she won't learn to take advantage of the full range of the language.
Swearing is in my opinion best reserved to expressing extreme emotions. The more they are used the more diluted they become.
Re:Expected (Score:2)
People swear for shits and giggles. Calling someone a preposterous windbag might work on Slashdot, but in meatspace that preposterous windbag is simply a stupid motherfucker.
Re:Expected (Score:2)
Re:Expected (Score:3, Interesting)
I think that's a crock. Swearing doesn't prevent vocabulary development, nor does it stunt verbal communication skills. What I think you're missing is the primary reason some people choose to swear so much -- because it causes a reaction differe
Allow me to offer this intelligent rebuttal (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Expected (Score:2)
Gamesmanship (Score:5, Interesting)
If you can just goad them a little bit into cutting loose with their mouths, you are are halfway to victory.
Conversely, it is important to keep your own cool and your focus on the game. A few taunts when the other guy is down may help in keeping him down as you compound his anger, but this must be done out of strategy, not out of an effort to verbally 'get back' at your opponent.
Re:Gamesmanship (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Gamesmanship (Score:3, Insightful)
Making your opponent lose his cool is ok, but if you have any talent at it, you dont need profanity to do it.
Re:Gamesmanship (Score:2)
Right. But definitly not the case on XBL.
Re:Gamesmanship (Score:2)
Ha HA, MULTIPLE entendre! (Score:5, Funny)
You must have had a good hand, eh?
Re:Gamesmanship (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Gamesmanship (Score:5, Interesting)
I used to play Half Life 2 with a guy who was obviously a troll. His nick was "sand nigger" and he kept uttering profanities all over the chat, both profanity and ethnic slurs.
People used to get all worked up about him and play badly, or type often and get killed - which is exactly what he wanted.
I decided to try anti-trolling him, and instead of responding to the "nigger" in his tag, I began objecting to his use of the word "sand". This confused him, and when I said things (that I don't actually agree with) like: "Well, I find the word 'sand' and all the implications that it carries, I am offended by that. You can keep using 'nigger' thats ok, I am not offended by that, 'nigger' is an ok word to use."
He suddenly lost his temper - and began accusing *ME* of being a racist, because I was clearly not offended by the term "nigger". I kept harping on him about his offensive use of the word "sand" and ignored all his ethnic slurs. His voice became very animated over the chat until he was positivly screaming. He finally left the server in disgust.
So, clearly, he was using his nick and his ethnic slurs as a way to get to people and have an advantage, when I came along and pretended not to be offended by these things, he thought I really was a racist, and went off on me.
That is really the best way to handle people that are trying to emotionally troll you - either ignore them, or troll them back, most will quite ironically bite.
Wait, teenagers swear? (Score:2, Insightful)
Yeah, I never once used a "bad word" when I was a kid. Never... nope...
While true that we shouldn't encourage this behaviour, for the most part kids are gonna use profanity and when you put them in an "anonymous" situation, well, the flood gates will open. Kinda like all the arseholes that will post in this "anonymous" thread.
Re:Wait, teenagers swear? (Score:5, Funny)
When I grew up, it was one of those "Just hear it, don't say it." It was pretty much true for every other kid, too. So when I heard people swear, it was mostly adults. To be specific, it was mostly male adults. With deep male voices saying, "C'mon, move you goddamn pig-fuckin' bastard" while trying to move a rock out of the way or some other strenuous male activity. When women swore, it was usually in an expletive sense, like "Oh shit! I forgot to pick up milk at the store!"
But still, mature voices.
So, yes, I hate hearing little kids swear just because it sounds so wrong to hear, "motherfucking asshole" in this high-pitched voice.
The problem being what... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:The problem being what... (Score:2)
I really don't remember my friends swearing at all either.
Re:The problem being what... (Score:2)
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-71531520
Re:The problem being what... (Score:3, Funny)
What about... (Score:5, Funny)
... cunt? It's not in his fucking list of damn swears. Fucking cunts always use that fucking cunt word. Cunt, cunt cunt cunt cunt. It's all you hear sometimes.
Fuck.
Re:What about... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:What about... (Score:4, Interesting)
Well, it was good enough for Chaucer.
Now I'm at a loss as to why such an important part of the anatomy (or any part really), should be regarded as an insult, but profanity? The origin of fuck, cunt, and a couple of others as vulgar language goes back to when the Normans invaded Britain. Fuck and cunt are traditional english words, whereas the educated and powerful were all speaking old french at the time. To use these english words was to show how common you were. Basically, it's a class thing. So if you like, you can proudly show your rebellious streak to the Normans with every fuck and cunt you say.
Being British (not to steretype here), I probably swear more casually than most americans... not necessarily more, but with less emphasis because I don't regard it as a big deal. I don't usually say cunt, simply because it seems such a odd thing to be an insult. I thought guys liked cunts?
Personally, I think the word has been used as an insult so much by now, that it's going to be hard to reclaim it. Vagina sounds far too clinical so I'd like to propose a new word for it. From now on, I'd like everyone to call it a "wooha" (emphasis on second syllable, like Bruce Lee is hitting someone). I think that it would be impossible to use this as an insult, and yet it still conveys a sense of fun.
What do you think?
Re:What about... (Score:2)
I create, therefore I am.
I am, therefore I fuck.
I know the summary sounds biased (Score:3, Informative)
Re:I know the summary sounds biased (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:I know the summary sounds biased (Score:3, Insightful)
/. hits the nail on the head (Score:4, Interesting)
And that's the problem. I don't care if every other f*cking word is a curse. Parents can't complain when they don't know what their kids are doing. I know parents that monitor what their kids play, watch on TV, and listen to on the radio. It's not impossible. Parents who claim they can't prevent their kids from seeing these curse words are simply irresponsible.
These studies aren't needed because it doesn't matter. If the fear is kids seeing/hearing it then parents are letting these kids get exposed to it, either knowingly or ignorantly.
Re:/. hits the nail on the head (Score:2)
This is a fairly backwards part of the US, but this kind of thing must go on throughout the country.
Re:/. hits the nail on the head (Score:2)
Then why the hell are you censoring yourself?
Re:/. hits the nail on the head (Score:2)
Re:/. hits the nail on the head (Score:2)
Re:/. hits the nail on the head (Score:2)
Thank you very much for putting in that asterik instead of actually typing out a letter 'u'. I was almost offended!
Re:/. hits the nail on the head (Score:3, Funny)
Parents who claim they can't prevent their kids from seeing these curse words are simply irresponsible.
I feel the same way about parents who let their kids be exposed to Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh. Kinds being exposed to this kind of trash is simply bad parenting.
Try to put things into perspective. Kids hearing swearing is really the least of our problems. You sound like you're out of the 1950s.
New disclaimer on XBOX games (Score:5, Funny)
By logging onto the XBOX Live service, you understand and agree that you may from time to time hear Steve Ballmer threatening to "fucking kill" you.
Re:New disclaimer on XBOX games (Score:2)
with a chair.
Swearing?!? Won't someone think of the children! (Score:4, Interesting)
My CS Glory Days (Score:3, Interesting)
I had a couple of server admins complain that they had kids playing there. My response was "It's OK for children to pretend to blow people's brains out, guard hostages, and plant C4 charges but it's wrong for them to see buttocks?"
LK
Re:My CS Glory Days (Score:2)
Re:My CS Glory Days (Score:5)
Swearing? Online?? (Score:2, Funny)
I bet they won't play this game on the X-Box.
I bet you they won't play this new (bleep) game.
It's not that it's (bleep) or (bleep) controversial,
Just that the (bleep)ing kids cuss all the time.
You can't say (bleep) on the X-Box,
Or (bleep) or (bleep) or (bleep).
You can't even say I'd like to (bleep) you some day
Unless you're a doctor with a very large (bleep).
So, I bet you they won't play this game on the X-Box.
I bet you they daren't (bleep)ing well program it.
I bet you their
I know why (Score:5, Insightful)
Comic [penny-arcade.com]
Re:I know why (Score:2)
"Anoninimity"? That sounds like a combination of anoninanity and anonenmity.
Warning: Slashdot comments contain profanity (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Warning: Slashdot comments contain profanity (Score:2)
The Class of the Typical XBox User? (Score:3, Funny)
Why is a 24 year old in a frat? Are these 7 or 8 year college students the target demographic for the XBox?
Re:The Class of the Typical XBox User? (Score:2)
>>...or maybe it's the drunken 24 year old who hates black people, gays and anyone who isn't in his frat.
> Why is a 24 year old in a frat? Are these 7 or 8 year college students the target demographic for the XBox?
Delta House [npr.org] now features Xbox instead of keggers.
Re:The Class of the Typical XBox User? (Score:2)
Re:The Class of the Typical XBox User? (Score:2)
just one word to describe this (Score:2)
Profanity filter code. (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Profanity filter code. (Score:2)
Re:Profanity filter code. (Score:2)
Why does it matter????? (Score:2)
Oh and btw nowhere in the world but in the US do people care so much about swearing
Re:Why does it matter????? (Score:2)
Personally, it's not the words, its that fact that they aren't handling the situation in a correct manner and loosing their temper.
Some people think certian swear words are 'bad', I don't believe any word is 'bad'. Inappropriate, unthinking, and impolite, but not 'bad'.
Re:Why does it matter????? (Score:2)
Maybe it is an American thing...Since I haven't traveled to,
One reason I let my XBox Live account die. (Score:4, Interesting)
I don't play games in order to listen to a bunch of obnoxious children who think the Internet gives them the right to behave like complete asshats with imounity. I play to have fun.
Re:One reason I let my XBox Live account die. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:One reason I let my XBox Live account die. (Score:5, Interesting)
And just in case any of those kids are reading, let me spell it out: it's not okay to use "gay" as a synonym for "crap", "fag" as a synonym for "asshole", "rape" as a synonym for "achieve victory over" or "nigger" as a synonym for, well, anything.
[1] These are often the same execs who mouth platitudes about wanting the industry to be less male oriented, and more welcoming to women, while surrounded by giant advertising placards featuring anatomically impossible women with heavy weaponry.
Re:One reason I let my XBox Live account die. (Score:2)
That's why you create an anti-bigot coalition across a large number of guilds. When certain players develop a pattern of overtly violent bigotry across multiple servers, they are banned from the larger chunk.
Re:One reason I let my XBox Live account die. (Score:4, Insightful)
Not related to Xbox live, but... (Score:2)
Yep
XBox live... (Score:3, Insightful)
Incidentally, the "solution" to the "cheap boys" I have found is to speak to them first, and then don't let them win. Invariably, these cheap players play that way because they lack good general skills and strategy. I recall one time I was being "cheaped" and after a few kills, I put my foot down, played the same game he was and whooped his butt to the point that he simply disconnected from the game since he wasn't going to win and wasn't going to get another kill from me.
The general solution to this should be self-evident: no admission into adult areas without parental permission or otherwise proving you are an adult in some way... otherwise keep kids at the kiddie table. A tough notion to apply to the net though.
Fuddy duddies (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm always amazed by people who simply seem to never have been young at all, ever.
Or else, there is some condition or secret government experiment that causes people's brains to be wiped of all experiences had before age 22.
Earth to shut-in researchers: Most kids know all such words well before age 12.
Maybe some parents don't manage to hear them until 14, but that's because they are uninvolved with their children's lives, or else drastically shelter them.
Acts of Gord, Book of Annoyances, Ch. 23 (Score:3, Funny)
Oddity
Ten year old child brings Grant Theft Auto to the counter and asks to rent it. Gord speaks to the father.
"Sir, might I suggest a different game? This title isn't really a title for children due to inappropriate material."
"Why is that?"
"Substantial violence and swearing."
"Holy fuck! You're shitting me! I can't expose my son to god damned swear words at his age. That sort of shit will fuck him up. That's bullshit they make games with swearing. What son of a bitch would make a game like that?"
<dramatic pause>
<Gord types into the computer>
Note: Nathan can rent mature games - so says his father.
"Here's your game. See you in a couple days."
Re: (Score:2)
Well he probably deserved it (Score:2)
If some anal retentive dickwad was sitting at his PC typing up all the ingame chat swearwords into a bloody Excel spreadsheet when it was his turn to be guarding the flag from those fucking Redteam fuckbags, I'd swear at him too!
Mom! Get me some F-ing Chocolate Milk! (Score:2)
Despite His Claim This Defends Parental Censorship (Score:2)
I mean imagine if someone said, "I gathered data on the frequency of bl
The real problem... (Score:2)
I remember a Halo 2 match on Live! where every sentence out of some kids mouth involved 'your mom'. Absolutely no creativity! He didn't even try to add variety to his smacktalk. 20 minutes of that will drive anyone insane.
If you're going to be vulgar and rude, you better be entertaining in the process or I'll report your ass.
Oh the horror (Score:2)
Tor
Bah.. who cares about swearing. (Score:2)
All while playing different online poker games:
Person who didn't know headset wasn't muted (or that it even could) who reacted to the cards. You knew what he had every hand.
Idiot that also didn't mute the headset and carried on conversations with his wife, on his cellphone, etc.
The best one was the time I joined a game and it would pause on the same player everytime it was his turn, until it timed out and his hand folded automatically. After a couple of times,
Dunno what the point of that article was, but.. (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Profanity filters? (Score:2)
Re:Profanity filters? (Score:5, Funny)
1) Guy that scrapes up dead animals on the side of the road
2) Chicken sexer
3) Bull semen collector
4) X-Box Live voice chat moderator
Re:Profanity filters? (Score:2)
Re:Profanity filters? (Score:2)
Re:Let us swear (Score:2)
Because of a name.
Changed from my normal name to {rto}Fudge_Pakr. See, I was on the [FDG] server, and their clan seems to revolve around cute uses of the "fudge" clanname.
Someone told me to cut it out - but I didn't think they were talking to me. Wham. Kickbanned.
Worst thing is, is their server is pretty happenin' now... and for UT2k4 being as old as it is, there isn't a whole lot of action anymore.... Ah well.
Re:Big Fucking Deal (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Big Fucking Deal (Score:2)
Why is "nigger" an insult? It's meaningless. If I call someone stupid, or a liar, or ugly, these can be insults. But if nigger means black then it's just a description of fact. There's no more anything wrong with being black than there is right about being Eskimo, so why should it cause offense?
Re:Slashdot.. (Score:2, Insightful)
I'm not offended easily but the fact that every Halo2 game you jumped into had a 12 year old pussy calling you a nigger every 10 seconds was more than irritating. They wouldn't last 10 seconds in real life with that mouth.
Re:That's why... (Score:2)