?obscene

[Ewan]

Ok, as most (I Hope) of you know, ?obscene is turned on by default in TW, whether it's checked or unchecked in your continuum options

This means you don't see any text (excluding red text) with the words fuck, cunt, gay, fag, some other swear words and also racist terms.

If you want it off put ?obscene in your auto commands.


Anyway, on to the subject of the thread. I've always wanted auto obscene to be turned off but upper-staff just turns away without even arguing properly for it.

My argument, is that many players (hell, even some staff) aren't aware of it being turned on automatically, and therefore miss text which they would want to see. If I am talking to someone, and am going to have to say somethign with a swearword in, I have to check first to make sure that they don't have obcene on. Often it'd go like this:

Me: hey do you have obscene turned on?
Them: lol, no
Me: type ?obscene just in case
Them: LOL it was on

I think it's unfair on the majority of players. I think I'd be right in saying that the majority of players would opt to turn the filter off, so why is the minority being catered for by turning on the filter by default (silently).

The point of this thread, think of it as an informal poll, is for me to get a general idea of what the general population thinks of what I think are the three options for ?obscene, and hopefully when upper staff sees people do care, they will stop saying stuff like

9:UnnamedSMod> I just dont get why no one can move on with their life in TW and not worry about so many trivial things


Anyway, this is what I think can be done:

1. Turn off automatic ?obscene (obviously this would have to be announced so people can remove it from their auto command otherwise they'll be turning it on!)
2. Remove swear words, and words such as "gay" from the obscene.txt, but keep racist slurs in there. This is probably the most sensible option, and means normal conversation can occur, but without racism which is, of course, illegal.
3. Announce somewhere that most people will see reminding them that ?obscene is turned on, with instructions to turn it off. Either on the TW enter message or maybe on TW.org (although I don't think everyone reads tw.org).

Of course there is a 4th option of leaving it how it is, or this wouldn't be a very even poll.

Please, in your post say the number 1,2,3,4 (if applicable) followed by reasoning and any other comments/suggestions you might have related to this topic.

Thanks for your time.

Just so you know, I'd be happy with 1 and 2 is ok as well. 3 I think is quite impractible and obiously I do not support 4.

[Chao.]

I'm not sure what would need to be done to add this, but along with that put another periodic green message in saying something along the lines of:

"To turn on the obcene words filter type ?obscene"

[moltenrock]

yay

I go with choice ....... 1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have been feeling the same way as you for a long time.

[Noah]

1. Turn it all off.

I would understand 2 as well.

I agree with you all the way Ewan.

[duel pasta]

4uel Pasta> hmm, I don't think I ever had that problem :P
4uel Pasta> but your right, it should be turned of

[Weaver]

The problem with bringing up the issue of the obscene command here on the forums is that the people who want it on by default are underrepresented on the forums to say the least. Who are those people? The parents of the children who login to TW on a daily basis. I'm almost certain that there is no parent who would wish for their child to be exposed to the amount of shit talking and racism that goes back and forth between players in pub. I should also point out that most games with an obscene function do have it on by default, and it can either be removed by the player or by the parent of the player (like WoW).

Those of us who are here reading and are able to post an arguement for or against it already know about ?obscene or they've just found out about it by clicking this thread. So whoever has read this thread now has the knowledge required to either disable or enable it depending on personal preference. You also now have the knowledge to educate your friends about the obscene function if they don't already know. I'd assume that most of our forum goers are probably old enough to make their own decision regarding what they want and don't want to see. I obviously can't make any assumptions about how many really young kids play this game, but based on my experience and the number of years I have spent here, I'd guess its a pretty significant number.

Also, that unnamed Smod in Ewans post was me. I think its rather unfair to take that quote and use it to push the "SMODS don't listen or brush lower staff aside" agenda. I have spent a few years heading up TWD and I have made every effort to ensure that every TWD Op gets his/her say in any changes involving TWD. I have made every effort to inform the public about changes, and I also spend a great deal of time talking with various TWD players about things we need to improve both in game and in our forums. So please don't jump to such unjust conclusions.

[Kolar]

As a game server catering to a younger crowd I don't think it would be a good idea disabling the obscene filter by default. It's easy to remove with auto commands. The choice is yours to remove it, I can't think of an analogy right now but being uneducated of a function of this game is not a deciding or supporting factor in my opinion for remove or disabling a function, especially when that function is in the best interest of this zone.

There are other options though. I don't know if the green messages are editable but why not add a line like "Your obscenity filter is on by default, to remove it type ?obscene or add it to your autocommands on your profile"... The F1 help pane is editable from what I know, we could update that..

[PH]

2.

[WuTang420]

ive had it set to auto for years. never given me a prob.

i do however deffinatly agree that people should be educated of its existance and how to turn it off, not sure how this could be done efficently, but yeah it should be at least a lil more obvious

[genocidal]

I agree with Weaver. If you really want to see cunt, faggot, and your racial slurs then you can do your research and turn it off. It's not like people are missing out on vital information that contain racism or profanity.

[Noah]

I don't want this to be removed so players can see spam like:
"fuck fuck fuck".

The problem is entire sentences like: "Everybody meet up to the fucking practice this time, it's AT 6AM CEST". Players misses out of some of these due to obscene.

Could the captain not have sweared? Yes
Could the players have found out about auto and ?obscene themselves? Yes

But let's just make it as simple as possible, or atleast just filter away the word and let the sentence stand.

[Troll King]

Fuck Obscene, Cunt Ass Whore.

You guys act like the younger crowd we are targeting doesn't play online games.. and most online games are as if not more foul mouthed then continuum. Whether at school, at home, on the bus, on the internet, on TV, on the movies, anyone who is old enough to competantly play this game has already been exposed to far more foul language then we could possibly offend them with. Besides who really needs the obscenity filter to be obscene? I just tell newbies to google search for yaoi, it is much better then saying shit.

That's a common argument used for this issue, and others like racism and even forum policies, but as always, arguing that people can find that stuff elsewhere is not reason enough to change the policy.

[Jason]

i definitely agree with taking auto ?obscene off

make it the players' prerogative to put it in their autoexec if they find certain words offensive

i also agree with taking (what i believe to be) slightly less offensive words like gay and cum and what not completely out of the obscene list.

our playerbase consists of a vast majority of teenaged kids (if not older) who have heard these words a million times before. we don't need to be so overprotective.

as a matter of fact, i'm in the process of talking (or trying to talk to when i can get a hold of him) kim about this very sort of thing.

[Facetious]

Leave it on. Set it so that when you come into the zone it says "obscenity block on, type ?obscene to remove it." People curse less when they know everyone can't read what they're writing. I wouldn't advocate turning it on if it were off, but there's no real reason to turn it off, either.

[Sarien]

Yeah... I know it's always a good idea to change shit not because it's necessary but for the convenience and the sparing of a few seconds.