Gentalia and euphemisms on the bad word filter

[mechahamham]

In the tip mission 'Rescue the 5th Column traitor' one of the opening lines of dialogue is:

 

 [NPC] Raserei Ubermenschen Fire: Why have they kept him alive for so long?

 [NPC] Nebel Rifle: No idea. If they'd put me in the same room with that traitorous dog I would have slit his throat in a heartbeat.

 

The text bubble for this censored 'slit', presumably as a euphemism for 'vagina':

 

"No idea. If they'd put me in the same room with that traitorous dog I would have **** his throat in a heartbeat."

 

I was drinking Diet Coke at the time and nearly snorted it all over my desk when I read that as 'I would have shit down his throat...'.

 

I did some testing in local, making the 5th column guys in my mission blush, and found that penis and vagina are both on the bad word list. I'm personally okay with 'seven dirty words' type of words on the filter, and we can, of course, always turn it off. However, I'm not sure it's very healthy for people of any age to think that their anatomy needs to be censored. Even PG-13 movies get an allotted one 'Fuck' per screening. (I personally play with the filters on JUST for moments like the one above.)

 

Honestly, I'd rather the violent act of murder be censored rather than the genitalia.

 

All that said, what REALLY bothers me about the filtering is that it's not consistent. If it's censored in the text bubble, it should be censored in the chat window as well.

[TemporalVileTerror]

I read that "**** his throat" differently too, but it didn't have anything to do with faecal matter.

 

Amusing catch, @mechahamham.

[mechahamham]

Just now, TemporalVileTerror said:

I read that "**** his throat" differently too, but it didn't have anything to do with faecal matter.

The the way my wife read it.

[TemporalVileTerror]

She clearly has good taste.

 

But, yeah.  I'm there with you on the choice of words being filtered.  I'm from a country where the culture is reversed compared to the u.s. norm of "revel in your violence, but HIDE YOUR SEX!"   One might think with the servers in Canada and Germany that the Homecoming Team would feel inclined to follow suit.  *shrugs*

[TheZag]

I can only partially agree about anatomy not being censored.  I play with the filter on even though its rarely triggered mainly because i dont use vulgar speech meself.  But I've had no instances of seeing someone using anatomy in anything but the vulgar sense.  I also prefer to teach my kids on my schedule and not have them come to me and ask what a certain 'new' word is.

[Coyotedancer]

I'm generally okay with the words myself, but Zag has a point...

 

My middle nephew is playing the game these days and he's both young and from a pretty conservative (in the American cultural sense-) and pretty sheltered background. I'm not sure its something that he (Or his mum, who's also playing with us-) would really be comfortable with.

 

(I mean, we're talking about a kid here who insists on calling the Hellions something different because "Hell is a bad word".  🤣 )

 

It's good to keep in mind that not only do adult people have different standards, but also that not everyone wandering around the City is quite as worldly and grown-up as actual grown-ups. 

 

 

Edited January 29, 2021 by Coyotedancer

[Glacier Peak]

"I know it when I see it" comes to mind when I read about any vulgarity filters. In the eye of the beholder. 

 

In my experience though, filters are not as effective as parental controls. Plus you get to play superheros with your kids!

[Marine X]

"Pancake"

[SeraphimKensai]

That said the average age of a CoH player is in their 40's as well.

[TemporalVileTerror]

I would have guessed late 30s, personally, but if you've got the numbers for that, @SeraphimKensai, I would be very interested to see our demographics!

[SeraphimKensai]

1 hour ago, TemporalVileTerror said:

I would have guessed late 30s, personally, but if you've got the numbers for that, @SeraphimKensai, I would be very interested to see our demographics!

I honestly don't have numbers for that, but I figured the bulk of us started back in 2004, assuming most people player were adults at the time due to the $15/month (12 if you bought a whole year) cost, then consider the that we started playing this 17 years ago. I was 20 when I started playing, and for the player interactions I had at the time, I was honestly in the younger crowd at the time, heck my sg's original tank was a 72 year old grandmother, who passed away about 10 years ago, which is surely an outlier. At the time the youngest player I knew was 11, who happened to be her grandson, once again another outlier I'm sure. Sure its possible and likely some parents introduced their kids to the game, others found about about it via reddit and wanted a free game to play.

 

So realistically, I'm just guessing on the average age based on my limited observations and conversations. I suppose the most pragmatic means to determine the average age of the CoH player would be to create a blind survey that allows individuals to self report their age, which introduces some bias into the data, but likely the easiest means of getting a sense of that data.

 

[TemporalVileTerror]

Back on topic, someone pointed out an important factor last night:  The country (and state) in which the Homecoming Limited Liability Corporation was registered. 
Someone mentioned Delaware, and I can't recall if that's correct . . . but yeah.  Despite the location of the servers, the Homecoming Team is most likely to operate under the purview of the laws in the place which the company is set up.
So . . . yeah.  u.s. standards of "PG-13" are what they operate under.  While the specific choice of words which get filtered are in the Homecoming Devs' hands, the reason for which words get censored will likely be their best reading of the mores and laws based out of the u.s.

 

If we believe a word is on list in error, definitely contact the Devs.  Given the overall conservative (in the non-political definition) nature of Homecoming's development, this is likely something that is "working as intended."  . . . just, clearly working awkwardly with existing game dialogue.