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Changes to Foundry profanity filter?

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  • bluedarkybluedarky Member Posts: 1,232 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    ghestapw wrote: »
    You say that, but the only thing it takes to stand up to the legal bullies is a spine and a sense of purpose. IE Lavabit closing it's doors rather than letting the USGovt bully them into spying on their users.

    In the scenario you used in your example the US Government had no leverage, the people the devs would have to stand up too do.

    Morality, sense of purpose and doing the right thing for the players is one thing, having to go home and explain to your family that they have to move because you lost your job and can't afford to live there anymore because you stood up to your boss is another.
  • ghestapwghestapw Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    bluedarky wrote: »
    In the scenario you used in your example the US Government had no leverage, the people the devs would have to stand up too do.

    Morality, sense of purpose and doing the right thing for the players is one thing, having to go home and explain to your family that they have to move because you lost your job and can't afford to live there anymore because you stood up to your boss is another.

    1st, I wasn't drawing a direct comparison, but giving a VERY recent example of morality in the computer world.

    2nd, I've had to that exact thing, happen to me. I had to move back in with my parents for a little over 2 months as an adult because I refused to accept the immoral actions of my boss. I refused to look the other way, and it cost me my job (eventually), and he got what amounted to a promotion (they claimed it was a lateral move inside the company, but it came with a pay raise and relocation fee). But I was able to sleep at night, and a person who was being wronged was compensated for the pain she suffered. In the end, I don't regret it as much as I'd have regretted doing nothing. So i find it quite hilarious that you actually used that exact metaphor.


    To paraphrase the well known saying, 'all that evil needs to triumph is for good men to do nothing.'
    Rhev@ghestapw - Co-GL <iTyrant> - ityrantguild.com - Beholder server
    Try out my first foundry mission - The Missing Youth - NW-DGX79EG65
  • wuhsinwuhsin Banned Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    ghestapw wrote: »
    To paraphrase the well known saying, 'all that evil needs to triumph is for good men to do nothing.'

    I like your way of thinking.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • nieaniea Member Posts: 2 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    Add another one to the list. Somewhere between last weekend and this weekend the word "Jungle" started getting flagged. Thus my gravel path called "a jungle path" is now flagged as profane. =-_-=
    still not as bad as one game i tried that bleeped out the word "And" but its getting there.
  • moonchipzmoonchipz Member Posts: 96
    edited August 2013
    niea wrote: »
    Add another one to the list. Somewhere between last weekend and this weekend the word "Jungle" started getting flagged. Thus my gravel path called "a jungle path" is now flagged as profane. =-_-=
    still not as bad as one game i tried that bleeped out the word "And" but its getting there.

    Yeah we know about that one already. Check page 2 of this thread for the current list of newly added words.
  • koboldbard2koboldbard2 Banned Users Posts: 334 Bounty Hunter
    edited August 2013
    You can understand how the word "child" is profane? Then please explain it to me.
    It's not that child is profane per se, it's just that their filter apparently only has a single category called profane for forbidden words. "Child" is almost assuredly disallowed because you could kill "children" in missions by resizing and dressing npcs to something appropriately child sized, then giving the mob the name "child". Very few games let you kill children, or even have children ingame (and if there are children they tend to be unkillable). Companies just dont do it, even if you can kill everyone else around.
  • bluedarkybluedarky Member Posts: 1,232 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    ghestapw wrote: »
    1st, I wasn't drawing a direct comparison, but giving a VERY recent example of morality in the computer world.

    2nd, I've had to that exact thing, happen to me. I had to move back in with my parents for a little over 2 months as an adult because I refused to accept the immoral actions of my boss. I refused to look the other way, and it cost me my job (eventually), and he got what amounted to a promotion (they claimed it was a lateral move inside the company, but it came with a pay raise and relocation fee). But I was able to sleep at night, and a person who was being wronged was compensated for the pain she suffered. In the end, I don't regret it as much as I'd have regretted doing nothing. So i find it quite hilarious that you actually used that exact metaphor.


    To paraphrase the well known saying, 'all that evil needs to triumph is for good men to do nothing.'

    Here's a question, lets assume that those with the moral fibre to speak up when they know they can change things all speak up at the wrong moment and get fired. We'd be left with an even worse game than we have now because we'd only have those who blindly do everything their bosses say without thinking about the players.

    What if it's most the department and they are left without the staff to further develop the game, then the game gets put into maintinance mode and we only get patches when the few staff left manage to fix bugs, I mean, how can you train new staff on the engine if almost all the old ones are gone?

    And if there isn't enough staff left even for that, they'll most likely just cut their loses and shut the game down.
  • koboldbard2koboldbard2 Banned Users Posts: 334 Bounty Hunter
    edited August 2013
    bluedarky wrote: »
    Here's a question, lets assume that those with the moral fibre to speak up when they know they can change things all speak up at the wrong moment and get fired.
    Remember, you are producing content for the game, and because you do it for free it doesn't cost you financially if you fire yourself. There's nothing stopping authors from having moral fiber. Actions speak louder than words, so you can "speak up" by removing your content.

    Alternately, you can do nothing and nothing will change.
  • bluedarkybluedarky Member Posts: 1,232 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    Just checked, whispers is not in the filter even with period after it.
  • ghestapwghestapw Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    bluedarky wrote: »
    Here's a question, lets assume that those with the moral fibre to speak up when they know they can change things all speak up at the wrong moment and get fired. We'd be left with an even worse game than we have now because we'd only have those who blindly do everything their bosses say without thinking about the players.

    What if it's most the department and they are left without the staff to further develop the game, then the game gets put into maintinance mode and we only get patches when the few staff left manage to fix bugs, I mean, how can you train new staff on the engine if almost all the old ones are gone?

    And if there isn't enough staff left even for that, they'll most likely just cut their loses and shut the game down.


    So, accepting your assumption, you suggest that the two choices are;
    1. A game that is substandard and one where you get no no choices and are forced into ridiculous censorships. But at least you have a game.
    2. A game that folds and goes under because all the good people have left.


    Honestly, of the two choices, I'd much rather the second. Because at least then you have the potential to play a good game. I have no interest in playing a substandard game. There's a lot of choices out there and there's going to be a lot more in the future. As zahinder said, this game is going to make or break on the strength of the foundry and authors like us. When we get slapped in the face like this, it speaks very ill of the future for the game.
    Rhev@ghestapw - Co-GL <iTyrant> - ityrantguild.com - Beholder server
    Try out my first foundry mission - The Missing Youth - NW-DGX79EG65
  • bluedarkybluedarky Member Posts: 1,232 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    ghestapw wrote: »
    So, accepting your assumption, you suggest that the two choices are;
    1. A game that is substandard and one where you get no no choices and are forced into ridiculous censorships. But at least you have a game.
    2. A game that folds and goes under because all the good people have left.


    Honestly, of the two choices, I'd much rather the second. Because at least then you have the potential to play a good game. I have no interest in playing a substandard game. There's a lot of choices out there and there's going to be a lot more in the future. As zahinder said, this game is going to make or break on the strength of the foundry and authors like us. When we get slapped in the face like this, it speaks very ill of the future for the game.

    Or we could have a game where those who would speak up speak up at the right times to improve the game which was the point I was trying to make.

    Also I keep seeing people acting like this change to the filter was intentional. We don't know that yet, (the selection of words leads me to believe it was accidental if it isn't a bug). Once we have confirmation one way or the other, then the rage can start.
  • moonchipzmoonchipz Member Posts: 96
    edited August 2013
    That would be a shame if this game went under. I've put so much work into my quest already and to have it disappear would be very sad indeed. Though I hope another game company will adopt the idea of user created content in an MMO.
  • narayansinghnarayansingh Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 243 Bounty Hunter
    edited August 2013
    It's not that child is profane per se, it's just that their filter apparently only has a single category called profane for forbidden words. "Child" is almost assuredly disallowed because you could kill "children" in missions by resizing and dressing npcs to something appropriately child sized, then giving the mob the name "child". Very few games let you kill children, or even have children ingame (and if there are children they tend to be unkillable). Companies just dont do it, even if you can kill everyone else around.

    You do realize that that makes no sense? Right? I am not only talking about what Cryptic might think, but your explanation as well. The word "child" has nothing to do with your explanation. You could substitute many different words there, but are they on the profanity list? Such as youth, infant, adolescent, etc...

    Narayan
    Sweet Water and Light Laughter Till Next We Meet.
    Narayan
  • narayansinghnarayansingh Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 243 Bounty Hunter
    edited August 2013
    bluedarky wrote: »
    Here's a question, lets assume that those with the moral fibre to speak up when they know they can change things all speak up at the wrong moment and get fired. We'd be left with an even worse game than we have now because we'd only have those who blindly do everything their bosses say without thinking about the players.

    What if it's most the department and they are left without the staff to further develop the game, then the game gets put into maintinance mode and we only get patches when the few staff left manage to fix bugs, I mean, how can you train new staff on the engine if almost all the old ones are gone?

    And if there isn't enough staff left even for that, they'll most likely just cut their loses and shut the game down.

    IMHO... Then so be it! If things don't change I won't be playing much anyways.

    Narayan
    Sweet Water and Light Laughter Till Next We Meet.
    Narayan
  • narayansinghnarayansingh Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 243 Bounty Hunter
    edited August 2013
    bluedarky wrote: »
    Or we could have a game where those who would speak up speak up at the right times to improve the game which was the point I was trying to make.

    Also I keep seeing people acting like this change to the filter was intentional. We don't know that yet, (the selection of words leads me to believe it was accidental if it isn't a bug). Once we have confirmation one way or the other, then the rage can start.

    To me it seems intentional. It is not like it was a lot of words that are being flagged. At last count less then 10. To me that does not indicate an accident. Either on purpose or very very poor QA.
    Sweet Water and Light Laughter Till Next We Meet.
    Narayan
  • nieaniea Member Posts: 2 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    well... until they get more reasonable with their profanity list, they can expect new bug reports from me every \\\OMG!PROFANITY!!EEK!!\\ing time i open the foundry. >:)
  • koboldbard2koboldbard2 Banned Users Posts: 334 Bounty Hunter
    edited August 2013
    You do realize that that makes no sense? Right? I am not only talking about what Cryptic might think, but your explanation as well. The word "child" has nothing to do with your explanation. You could substitute many different words there, but are they on the profanity list? Such as youth, infant, adolescent, etc...

    Narayan
    I can post links all day long to games that don't let you kill children even though you can kill everything else in the game, but it would be beside the point. Don't give them ideas for more forbidden words.

    What is your explanation? Mine follows the "no killing children" industry standard behavior.
  • ambisinisterrambisinisterr Member, Neverwinter Moderator Posts: 10,462 Community Moderator
    edited August 2013
    The number of words that are outright filtered by the game should be minute and should only prevent the basic use of certain words.

    I don't like the use of profanity but dam* is a staple to the D&D genre. Some of the little ones which aren't considered offensive but best avoided by the FCC should probably be censored on an individual basis by the players themselves. The big ones should still remain censored but only in their direct text forms.

    I am all for making foundry missions safe and friendly for everybody but if somebody wants to make something offensive they will. It should be a matter of reporting those who go out of their way to make truly offensive content and having the filter as a basic guideline.

    So I don't see why they are hurting legitimate foundry authors with a filter to this extreme.

    Stop the nudity. Stop the ****, ****, <two words banned by the FCC not censored on the forums> and other things which are banned by the FCC. But do not try to remove everything automatically because the only people who will get hurt are those trying to make great content because in the end every dirty word can be replaced with clean words and get the same point across.
  • glantorxglantorx Member Posts: 189 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    The number of words that are outright filtered by the game should be minute and should only prevent the basic use of certain words.

    I don't like the use of profanity but dam* is a staple to the D&D genre. Some of the little ones which aren't considered offensive but best avoided by the FCC should probably be censored on an individual basis by the players themselves. The big ones should still remain censored but only in their direct text forms.

    I am all for making foundry missions safe and friendly for everybody but if somebody wants to make something offensive they will. It should be a matter of reporting those who go out of their way to make truly offensive content and having the filter as a basic guideline.

    So I don't see why they are hurting legitimate foundry authors with a filter to this extreme.

    Stop the nudity. Stop the ****, ****, <two words banned by the FCC not censored on the forums> and other things which are banned by the FCC. But do not try to remove everything automatically because the only people who will get hurt are those trying to make great content because in the end every dirty word can be replaced with clean words and get the same point across.

    It's nice to know that semi-officialdom agrees with us, now if we can only get an Official response as to weather this is staying as is or to be reworked, would be nice too.
  • narayansinghnarayansingh Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 243 Bounty Hunter
    edited August 2013
    I can post links all day long to games that don't let you kill children even though you can kill everything else in the game, but it would be beside the point. Don't give them ideas for more forbidden words.

    What is your explanation? Mine follows the "no killing children" industry standard behavior.

    My explanation was stated above... Either on purpose or very very poor QA. The word "Child" has noting, not one thing, to do with killing children. Period!

    edit to add:
    Show me someplace where the word "child" is profane. And not the NW foundry. Not a game, but the real world.

    Narayan
    Sweet Water and Light Laughter Till Next We Meet.
    Narayan
  • ghestapwghestapw Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    bluedarky wrote: »
    Or we could have a game where those who would speak up speak up at the right times to improve the game which was the point I was trying to make.

    It wasn't clear that was your point.
    bluedarky wrote: »
    Also I keep seeing people acting like this change to the filter was intentional. We don't know that yet

    Very true. We do not know it yet. But just as you're assuming this was an accidental change, which is a perfectly valid assumption, many of us are assuming the opposite. Just as you've got your logic for your assumption (the selection of words) many of us have our logic for our assumptions (I would say the selection of words as well, in addition to past history with mmos, and cryptic / PW's horrible customer service).

    So how about we agree to disagree, and both hope for the best?
    Rhev@ghestapw - Co-GL <iTyrant> - ityrantguild.com - Beholder server
    Try out my first foundry mission - The Missing Youth - NW-DGX79EG65
  • bluedarkybluedarky Member Posts: 1,232 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    ghestapw wrote: »
    It wasn't clear that was your point.



    Very true. We do not know it yet. But just as you're assuming this was an accidental change, which is a perfectly valid assumption, many of us are assuming the opposite. Just as you've got your logic for your assumption (the selection of words) many of us have our logic for our assumptions (I would say the selection of words as well, in addition to past history with mmos, and cryptic / PW's horrible customer service).

    So how about we agree to disagree, and both hope for the best?

    Actually that's only one point of evidence, the other is that the Foundry over in STO is unaffected by this.
  • koboldbard2koboldbard2 Banned Users Posts: 334 Bounty Hunter
    edited August 2013
    My explanation was stated above... Either on purpose or very very poor QA. The word "Child" has noting, not one thing, to do with killing children. Period!

    edit to add:
    Show me someplace where the word "child" is profane. And not the NW foundry. Not a game, but the real world.

    Narayan
    As I already posted, it's not that it's "profane", they just have a verboten list and the Foundry calls it "profane" instead of something generic like "forbidden". This isn't the first time a silly forbidden words thing has come up.

    "Either on purpose ..."
    Yes, it's on purpose. I've explained what the purpose most likely is. These new words got patched in, they weren't forbidden previously. Someone sat around and made a list of things that need to get patched, other people signed off on it. Someone added it to the forbidden words list, the updated list got rolled into the patch by someone else, and more people signed off on it being included in the patch. Bad QA is not checking for the textures on all armor sets (there's a TR set that went without a texture in the live game for a long time.)
  • koboldbard2koboldbard2 Banned Users Posts: 334 Bounty Hunter
    edited August 2013
    bluedarky wrote: »
    Actually that's only one point of evidence, the other is that the Foundry over in STO is unaffected by this.
    Yet... Remember Cryptic has publicly said they are porting stuff from the NWO Foundry to the STO Foundry, because the NWO Foundry is supposedly more advanced (I've never used STO Foundry to confirm that).
  • karitrkaritr Member Posts: 662 Bounty Hunter
    edited August 2013
    They obviously don't want children featured in the Foundry at all.

    I've read on many occasion that there are no child NPCs in the toolset, so maybe it's time to honour Cryptic's intent and stop shrinking little people. It's probably this circumnavigating of the 'rules' that has led to the title 'Master' being removed altogether.

    In an ideal world, there would be a combination of an automated and manual system, but not many companies can afford the manpower for the latter, especially as the internet is global and you have to consider laws and cultures of several countries, not just your home territory - for example, you used to have to go through hoops just to advertise a whiskey tumbler online in the UK.

    Don't get me wrong, I am not supporting the additions to the filter, but they are what they are and unless the additions are removed, you will just have to work with what you are allowed to include, rather than worry about what you can't. It's what you have already been doing since the Foundry's inception, you will soon get used to these new additions to the filter system and before long work around them without having to think about it.
  • ambisinisterrambisinisterr Member, Neverwinter Moderator Posts: 10,462 Community Moderator
    edited August 2013
    glantorx wrote: »
    It's nice to know that semi-officialdom agrees with us, now if we can only get an Official response as to weather this is staying as is or to be reworked, would be nice too.

    Zebular can't even republish his quest line. They are filled with "profane" of "forbidden" words.
    You can only reduce language so far before you lose the point. ;)

    Oddly enough the further you reduce the number of words you use the easier it is to make something dirty. If that's the point of these changes it seems a bit counterproductive.
    karitr wrote: »
    snip
    That all may be true...
    But as I just said, and said in my last two posts in this thread...it still going to be just as easy to make an offensive quest. Words can be used in good or bad ways...that's fine and normal. Many words should be outright censored...

    But if you go too far into trying to remove words automatically you'll reach a point where the only people hurt are those who are trying to make the best content they can possibly make. And that is surely shooting themselves in the foot.
  • narayansinghnarayansingh Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 243 Bounty Hunter
    edited August 2013
    As I already posted, it's not that it's "profane", they just have a verboten list and the Foundry calls it "profane" instead of something generic like "forbidden". This isn't the first time a silly forbidden words thing has come up.

    "Either on purpose ..."
    Yes, it's on purpose. I've explained what the purpose most likely is. These new words got patched in, they weren't forbidden previously. Someone sat around and made a list of things that need to get patched, other people signed off on it. Someone added it to the forbidden words list, the updated list got rolled into the patch by someone else, and more people signed off on it being included in the patch. Bad QA is not checking for the textures on all armor sets (there's a TR set that went without a texture in the live game for a long time.)

    I have to disagree... You have explained why we can't kill children. You have not explained the reason why the word "child" is forbidden.

    And bad QA has everything to do with testing the game. Testing every part of the game. That included misspelled words, bad textures, broken quests... Every part of the game should be tested and looked at by QA. Including a list of forbidden words.

    Here is a question. Would you publish, in real life, a list of recommended children's book without, at least, checking to see that they were suitable for children? Of course you would not. Just like Cryptic should not have put out a list of profane (forbidden) words without checking them first.

    Narayan
    Sweet Water and Light Laughter Till Next We Meet.
    Narayan
  • narayansinghnarayansingh Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 243 Bounty Hunter
    edited August 2013
    karitr wrote: »
    They obviously don't want children featured in the Foundry at all.

    I've read on many occasion that there are no child NPCs in the toolset, so maybe it's time to honour Cryptic's intent and stop shrinking little people. It's probably this circumnavigating of the 'rules' that has led to the title 'Master' being removed altogether.

    In an ideal world, there would be a combination of an automated and manual system, but not many companies can afford the manpower for the latter, especially as the internet is global and you have to consider laws and cultures of several countries, not just your home territory - for example, you used to have to go through hoops just to advertise a whiskey tumbler online in the UK.

    Don't get me wrong, I am not supporting the additions to the filter, but they are what they are and unless the additions are removed, you will just have to work with what you are allowed to include, rather than worry about what you can't. It's what you have already been doing since the Foundry's inception, you will soon get used to these new additions to the filter system and before long work around them without having to think about it.

    This may be true (about the children), but why have children (Young street urchins) as quest starters in the foundry?

    Narayan
    Sweet Water and Light Laughter Till Next We Meet.
    Narayan
  • bluedarkybluedarky Member Posts: 1,232 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    Yet... Remember Cryptic has publicly said they are porting stuff from the NWO Foundry to the STO Foundry, because the NWO Foundry is supposedly more advanced (I've never used STO Foundry to confirm that).

    There are two filters used in the STO Foundry, the profanity filter (generic profanity) and the naming filter (to prevent using trademarked characters). This combination of filters means that I can mention Captain Picard in my mission, but I can't actually create an NPC named Jean-Luc Picard.

    Now as far as I'm aware this change is too the games profanity filter (confirmed), which should be shared between all three games as all three use the same chat system, however the change isn't in STO.

    Conclusion, given the generic words and the fact that this isn't also occurring in STO and CO it's likely that a test was done to see if they could implement a profanity list for a particular game without affecting the others and the test list was accidentally transferred onto the live server (not the first time this sort of thing has happened in an MMO and it won't be the last).
  • moonchipzmoonchipz Member Posts: 96
    edited August 2013
    Featuring children in a Foundry quest is banned? Most of my quest takes place in an orphanage, does that mean it'll get banned?
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