The Profanity Filter

Recently I learned that a single use of profnaity leveled at a player, for any reason, may be enough to result in an action on the account. This being the case, what is the point of having a profanity filter, which is defaulted to on, in the first place? Why not just have no option for players regarding profanity?

When I opt-in for PvP in the world, I am told, in game, that this means other players may attack me regardless of how fair or unfair it may be.

The profanity filter is defaulted to ON meaning that by default, I see no profanity, so if I turn it off, I am thus opting-in to see it.

Why then if I report profanity may they be acted upon? I made the choice to see it. This makes no sense to me that if I choose to see it that I can still report it. I’m not talking slurs, I’m talking about every day usage profnaity from excitment to frustration.

This will hit some cultures more than others. I’m Scottish. We use the F work like other people use ‘uummmm’ when thinking.

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It gets even more funny:

The game is rates as PEGI-12 WITH PROFANITY.
Blizzard themselves admit the game contains profanity, but if you do it : ban/punishment based on the mood of the support agent handling the report.

The outrage about this regarding the player who got banned for it is justified (not the player, he did say some bad stuff), you’re completely subjected to the support agent’s decision. They admitted there’s no clear ruling on what goes and what doesn’t.

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I was fully unaware of any single player in this issue, just saw a YT short on it and asked a friend. It’s such a terrible direction.

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Profanity is not always used derogatorily. You can drop f-bombs left and right with your guild and friends because that’s how you guys roll. The problem arises when you direct profane words at someone to criticize, ridicule or in general make them feel bad. Consider the following filtered content for example:

“What is this ****** player doing? Who gave him the ******* right to play? Go back to playing Tetris you ****** **********”

No profane word is visible, so you have absolutely no idea what words I omitted. And yet, the above is outright 100% going to lead to a suspension if reported because it only exists to make another player feel bad.

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reported for profanity!

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Counter point: When this happens to me, I just ignore it or block them. I don’t report it because I opted-in.

People should be able to do this, even if it isn’t ‘nice’. Honest communication is always favourable.
I’m not gonna try to have someone punished by big mummy blizzarrd because my fe-fees got hurt. I’ve got a much thicker skin than that, and I’d say people should work on being able to take criticism, even when it isn’t contrsuctive and maybe outright aggressive. Coddling doesn’t help. Ever.

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Most people are doing this, and don’t care about profanity.
But there’s also people that will report every little thing because you’ve upset them somehow or didn’t run their key fast enough, or didn’t heal them fast enough.

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No, you opted in to playing the game, not to getting berated by others.

No, they shouldn’t. Someone had said it more appropriately, something along the lines that people are used to saying stuff on the internet because they are not afraid of getting punched in the face for it.

That’s what the ignore option is for.

It was Mike Tyson that said it,what he said was “Social media made y’all way too comfortable with disrespecting people and not getting punched in the face for it.” and I agree with him. This doesn’t mean ‘don’t say mean things’ it means ‘don’t act in a way that you wouldn’t do to their face’.
People shouldn’t hide behind Blizzard’s skirt and ask them to solve their problems when the options to solve it for yourself are there. Don’t enable profanity (default option for all new accounts). Disable chat entirely (Worst option, MMOs are social and need communication. Or just block those you don’t want to hear from or dont like (best option online.)

To quote Tyler, The Creator on this issue:
”Hahahahahahahaha How The F-word Is Cyber Bullying Real Hahahaha N-word Just Walk Away From The Screen Like N-word Close Your Eyes Haha”

Edit:

If you’d prefer a more classy approach, I can throw some Marcus Aurelius at this too:

If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.

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Trash talk has always been part of competitive games. People get frustrated, joke around, and talk aggressively sometimes. A few swear words don’t automatically mean someone is evil or dangerous.But it’s also fair to recognize the line: There’s a difference between saying ‘bro what the heck was that play’ and genuinely trying to humiliate or threaten someone.That’s usually the strongest argument, because most people accept some level of heated language in competitive games, but not nonstop personal attacks.

We probably disagree with this. I only use the ignore option to entirely exclude someone else from being able to communicate with me. In my 20 years of playing WoW, it has been used very few times and only 1 person stayed on it for longer than 1 day: It was a guy who kept whispering me all the time to give him gold back in Cataclysm. He never used a single profane word at all, but he was annoying. I have kept screenshots of parts of his whispers.

I know. I have been permabanned 3 times from League of Legends.

I think the line is at any legit IRL threat, outright racism or a call to have someone remove themselves from the census. To me, everything else is permissable. Someone’s opinion of me, especially in a game, carries no weight.

I often just block people who have no interest in an actual conversation of whatever set off the argument or issue. If they aren’t willing to hear me out, then I’m not wasting my time. I am ok disagreeing with people, it’s gonna happen when you have opinions, which we all do. I think it’s pointless trying to reason with an unreasonable person so I just block them and move on to save us both the headache. Mostly me, but they benefit too.

The issue isn’t the disagreement, the issue would be the policing of any and all profanity at the whim of who I am talking to, an automated system and a review of said automated system being dependant on the read of a third party that doesn’t have all the information to hand.

And I have to agree with Exiasee here.
Just because you cannot control your temper, doesn’t mean other needs to become your verbal punching bag.

I am all for support punishing people with a foul mouth, but it needs to be consistent, and clear.

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Well insults do have entry in the criminal code of my country. In order for a statement to be classified as insulting within the meaning of Criminal Code , it must deny the person concerned their ethical, moral, personal or social worth.
So take from that what you will.

So there is no right to insult someone and no online spaces are not exempt in that case here. Of course thats just from one country so not universal and of course not all profanity are insult’s.

May be I now betray my age but … just don’t use profanity in a game where you are around people you do not know? Just like you hopefully do in the “real world”? In my opinion, if you feel a strong need to insult other players, you are taking the game way too seriously.

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Many people mistake the language filter options for permission to say what they like in any manner. However you’ve never been allowed to do this in World of Warcraft and every so now and then a case like this is a revelation to players who don’t realise.

Blizzard are not going to comment about any action taken against a player but it’s highly unlikely that a one off report of someone swearing would result in account action. Much more likely to be the result of repeated tyrades, and abusive behaviour.

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Look up the twitter drama regarding this.
People don’t take an issue with it not being allowed, but rather the inconsistent behavior of Blizzard towards all of this, and the condensenting response from one of the CS Reps.

I have seen it. It’s everywhere atm.

I’m not sure where Blizzard have been inconsistent, this comes up at regular intervals and there are various blue posts over the years.

However the confusion from Players I do understand. It does not seem to be well understood and Blizzard could make this more clear.

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This is from Blizzard’s In-Game Code of Conduct

Communication

When participating in communication of any kind (chat, voice communication, group finder), you are responsible for how you express yourself. You may not use language that could be offensive or vulgar to others.

Hate speech and discriminatory language is inappropriate, as is any obscene or disruptive language. Threatening or harassing another player is always unacceptable, regardless of language used. Violating any of these expectations will result in account restrictions. More serious and repeated violations will result in greater restrictions.

https://eu.support.blizzard.com/en/help/article/42673

I appreciate most people often don’t read terms and conditions when they sign up for sites,apps or games. Most of us skip through to that agree button to avoid all the legalese.

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what is considered profane also varies from country to country.

for instance where i live the ol’ C word is a term of endearment, where as in the US it considered worse than murder

whilst i don’t expect it to show up in game, it shows the gulf between one region and another. on who’s expectations are we being judged?

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