What would you do if you THINK you see inappropriate name?

[ispano]

You are comparing real life misdemeanors with internet game names....it's a game, don't take it so seriously lol.

So if someone chooses to spend what little time they may have for entertainment, playing a game, they should treat that time non-seriously? Because that's basically what you're saying. Not everyone is entertained the same way you are. Someone may take the game seriously because they have very little time, and you telling them to not do so is just as demeaning to them as you being told to be serious about something in said game.

[ispano]

and some people are too stuck up in their own little world to learn how to take a joke and laugh about something. omg..... i heard a joke at work let me go report them all to get them fired.

sometimes people need to get their noses out of other people's business and this is just one of those instances. if it was not a racial slur or profanity laced i look at the name, laugh to myself, and move on.

Ever heard of jokes some people laugh at but others do not? What's funny to one or some, may not be funny to others. Don't assume anything someone does with an intent to be funny, is automatically funny to everyone. You don't have to agree with someone on whether it's funny or not, but you should at least understand why they don't. Heard a joke at work... what kind of joke? People that say "learn to take a joke" are basically trying to push their opinions on others.

And it's not just his Business, his name is displayed publicly in game, and if it also violates the rules, it should be reported. If you choose not to report it, no problem, but don't berate those who would.

[Rowyne]

A person in an old linkshell I was in was named Itchi Ballzak. It honestly drove me up a wall. The guy had a jerkface attitude to match the offensive name.

I quietly celebrated when I logged in one day and he was complaining because he was prompted for a name change before he could log in.

And, no, I wasn't the one who reported him. Someone else did it before I had the chance.

[darkstarpoet1]

Ever heard of jokes some people laugh at but others do not? What's funny to one or some, may not be funny to others. Don't assume anything someone does with an intent to be funny, is automatically funny to everyone. You don't have to agree with someone on whether it's funny or not, but you should at least understand why they don't. Heard a joke at work... what kind of joke? People that say "learn to take a joke" are basically trying to push their opinions on others.

And it's not just his Business, his name is displayed publicly in game, and if it also violates the rules, it should be reported. If you choose not to report it, no problem, but don't berate those who would.

any kind of joke. people can make anything offensive. you could say "three women walk into the bar....." and get blasted for making sexist jokes and defaming women. don't act like it doesn't happen because that type of thing is always ongoing. if you dislike someone do like i do and stay away from them. as long as what you are doing is not insulting, racist, or sexist i have no issue with it.

if your name calls out any person, race, or sex then yes it should be reported, but otherwise it is taking that too far. this is not a game for 13 year old kids like wow and even states it in the tos. i am sorry there's nobody over the age of 16(which is all that can play the game) that hasn't heard any of that type of talk before.

i'm not stating that you should either take the joke and live with it. all i am saying is unless that person is doing anything rude or disrespectful towards me or anyone else them i am not going to go play hall monitor and report someone for something like that. if you don't like someone's name treat it the same if you just don't like their personality and just don't play with them.

[Aleczan]

Wow, the thread grew so much in depth. Thank you everyone for sharing your opinions.

Just to clarify, I was more shocked (surprised) than offended when I saw the name. Imagine if you speak another language other than English, then suddenly found someone naming their character "D*ckhead" in your language. Mind you, I did not exclude the possibility that it might have been yet another language, and thus was not intended to mean "D*ckhead." That was why I hesitated and got curious about how other people would think.

And nope, I am not the kind of person who cannot take jokes. I would laugh too if it's funny. But for me, the word "D*ckhead" or "Mofo" (and its full form) are blatantly vulgar and apparently not funny.

I would laugh if my friend tells a good joke, even if it's perverted. And I would laugh if anyone comes up with a good pun, even if it's perverted. However, when my friend swore "d*ckhead" "f*cker" and "b*tch" over and over near me (it really happened) I said to him stop that or I'll smack your nose and we won't be friends anymore, both because I found it inappropriate to yell those words out loud in public (it's also embarrassing me to be seen with such friend doing such action), and because I was extremely annoyed by his repeated cursing (right into one of my ears). Why do people have to swear every other word in their sentence?

For those who're angry with me because I made this thread, I honestly was seeking opinions from different angles of view, and did not intend to flame the guy at all. And in case you didn't read my OP carefully, I didn't report the guy, so calm down. I even said I might just try to forget about him and do nothing, you guys apparently missed that part. Please read before getting mad.

I have tight time schedule today but I will come back again to answer some of you guys' replies individually because I saw several interesting points.

Again, thank you for your input.

[Treach]

I'm just kinda amazed you needed help in making a yes or no decision.

If it really bothers you then do it, if you are just reporting him to be cyber police and a jerk then don't. (But if you are a jerk then you wouldn't ask here, you would just do it.)

[Seif]

http://www.engrish.com/wp-content/up...s-somebody.jpg

It's the internet grow some tougher skin or keep out. Hell it's the world , grow up.

[Aleczan]

I'd say go ahead and report it. If it's an issue that's to close to trouble, it'll get told to reroll. If it is some sort of mix up, it should be ok to pass.

But it's really not your position to judge either way, so it's no your fault if the person is seen as breaking the ToS agreement. If you find it to be questionable and suspicious, pass it along and let those with the authority to make those judgement calls do so.

Better that, than to let a troll keep trolling because he's skirting ethnic lines as a shield. That would be even worse.

Thank you! You have very good points (not my position to judge, and that of ethnic lines).

By the way I love your signature pic (and text in it).

Its not just americans.
I think the same way.

Why do ppl use such stupid names instead of thinking about one, who fits better into the virtual world we are playing in?
Its still a Massively Multiplayer Online >ROLEPLAYING< Game.
I wouldnt play games like Fallout, Neverwinter Nights, Skyrim etc. too, if the Character is named "Pe**s" who tries to save his Girlfriend "vag**a" from the Villain called "Erectile Dysfunction" u know...

LOL Your examples are so bizarre! I am glad we don't see those directly vulgar names in FFXIV, at least on my server. It would be the mind/eye pollution, for me.

I usually laugh. Anita Kaukenhand, you so crazy...

@.@ I don't get this pun. What does it mean?

But yeah if I saw funny names, I would laugh too.

I usually just ignore it lol unless it is some kind of personal attack or something creepy....but if it bothers you, you can always try and report it.

Thanks. Honestly I think it's creepy (to see my language's version of the word "d-head" in international MMO) but yeah it's not personal attack. I think I am OK with having this name around on my server because I have actually never bumped into him.

Most Americans i feel would not care really..atleast i could care less about someones virtual name lol reporting it would probably just be a waste of ur time really, i can imagine anyone with a name like ur describing would just find another vulgar name anyway. Those people will always be around just ignore it and dont let one person ruin any enjoyment u have in the game.

Another vulgar name, eh. Yeah he might still get another rude name anyway (if the first name was intentional) so it would be kinda useless to report, I guess? I overlooked this possibility. You brought up a very good point. Thank you.

Considering there are alot of mature dialogues littered in the game to begin with ("base-born bitch" being among one of my all-time favorites), I really don't see what the problem is if it's not racist or bigoted.

Maybe if people started running around with names like F*ck F*ck there would be a problem, but the case seems pretty slight IMO and not really worth the time for anyone to bother with.

Yeah borderline vulgar words or vulgar puns are not as obvious or as offensive as racist or bigoted stuff. Totally agree. But LOL, the name in your example, I wouldn't hesitate to report it. But I doubt I would have a chance to, if I ever get to see such name. Because I think so many people would have beaten me to reporting already.

And LOL for that in-game insult. If I remember correctly I saw it during a Grand Company quest (or in other quest mentioning a GC authority) and had to mention it to my friends because it's so-oh-sticking-out.

If it's bothering you, report it and let the GMs decide. We have rules for a reason, and if he's breaking them, it's on him.

Thank you for the suggestion.

[Aleczan]

I'll be coming back to answer little by little, or one by one. This discussion has gone so in-depth and much more informative than I thought, and some of the replies has so many aspects and I'd love to respond thoroughly. Replies from all of you brought up several interesting points and perspectives. So I don't want to just skim through or disregard any of your precious opinions, but rather want to allow myself plenty of time to carefully study them.

- picture removed from quote because it broke the page on my screen -

I would have a disappoint.

LOL I never realized my thread title was too long to fit in the index list. Tried to fix it after seeing your reply, but it just stayed the same no matter what.

But in all seriousness, what is the point of Flagging a name 'similar' sounding to a 'bad word'?
Dixie is a real name.
and the ONLY people who would get "Dixie Normous" are people who have already heard the bad word.
It's too late to censor it now...
That's like making a joke about someone I never heard of, and thinking I'd get it. (If the point of the joke focuses on the identity of the person.)

Yeah I wouldn’t understand what’s the meaning of the pun “Dixie Normous” if my friends have never discussed about it before. It took me like 5 minutes to figure out back then, however. Personally I think such puns should be fine because it’s not openly vulgar. (But the mofo word was so openly rude… yet the writing isn’t the same, so I’m really undecided whether it’s meant to be rude or not.)

It reminds me of Halloween, when I hear parents complaining about content on TV being too bloody, when a severed head is shown, but when it comes to decorating... there is nothing wrong with placing severed hands and other body parts in their front yard!
Teaching anyone with the methods of censorship is stupid, it does NOT teach, it just creates ignorance.

I know SE is going to do what it can to please the largest number of ppl, so this is no complaint to the, just the ppl who flag someone for "Dixie Normous" type of names.

(And for clarification, I find the name stupid, but I find flagging it even more so.)

Seems TV censorship shares general problem in many countries. In my country people were raging about TV stupid censorship too. One stupid example I could think of is, when they put mosaic blur on the cigarette someone was smoking. The mosaic wasn’t there when he picked up the cigarette, but once he lit it and put it to his mouth, there goes the mosaic fest.

I had to shake my head about this one, because what…. Censoring is expecting people to forget that the blurred object in the actor’s hand was a cigarette even though we just saw it, uncensored, 3 seconds ago? Even if they censored the cigarette since the start, I still think it’s a stupid censorship. Better solution, if you don’t want your young citizen to pick up smoking from watching someone on TV smoking it, is probably put a subtitle in that part of the show, saying smoking is harmful to your health and can cause lung cancer and other lung diseases, blah blah blah. Or maybe something like “underage smoking and underage drinking is unlawful and offender will be punished by the law” or whatever that’s more influent than just blurring stuff.

And oh I just remember now >< I was so mad, indescribably mad, at the censorship one time. When I saw a documentary program talking about Santa Clause. It was my work. I translated the English script to my language, then the TV station dubbed it, then aired it. So I kept a close watch for when it got broadcast. Guess what, when the show was showing a painting of Santa Clause, the version which he's having a pipe in his mouth, there was that ugly mosaic blur on the pipe. Seriously, censoring a pipe.... Pipe in a painting.... Pipe in a painting of a fictional figure?? WTH!

At least they didn't -bleep- out when narrator said "pipe." So I am HAPPY. *sarcasm*

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The ONLY reason I would use censorship, is if it is harmful, and or can't be understood yet, until previous steps were taught. (AKA basic math before algebra.)

I totally agree with this. Teaching should come first. And on some subjects, teaching and educating is far, far more effective than censoring. And sometimes, on some specific subjects, if the teaching is done correctly, we won't even need a tiny bit of censorship. But for stuff that still "is not the time to teach yet" censorship is still needed and could still work.

[Betelgeuzah]

What would I do?

I'd mind my own damn business.