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

[Aleczan]

Have to write one more reply because it's related to my previous reply. Still have to get to talking about words, but it's complicated topic and need to be well-thought well-written. Probably I'll get to it tomorrow.

i hate saying this because i dont know you but half of your sentiment toward this dilemma is pretty Prudey McPrudence.

reading throught these forums really makes me feel like im the only one that feels a PCs personality and battle performance really is the only thing that matters.
their name,nationality, jump fetish, swim fetish, and anti instance fetishes really have absolutely no effect on my feelings for this game.

As for your view about my sentiment, Dreadnaught, I hope you can reconsider that after reading my previous reply. I am not just going by the rules or guidelines of the community or the game. But it does have an emotional impact on me due to the explained reasons from previous page.

Also, I am not sure what you meant by PCs personality, but as for judging players in the game only by their performance, I shall present you my reasons why I do not do so, in the specific case.

First off, I do not know the person, hence it is impossible for me to rely on his personality to make a judgment. I have also never partied with him, so I do not have the slightest idea of how he performs in battle. Maybe if I have a chance to know him, I might change my view. But for now, and even if I do change my view later, it is a fact that the name gave me a negative first impression about the person. So, more likely, I would never get to know him, his personality, or his battle performance in this case.

Now, to move onto the next point in general (not directed to Dreadnaught’s quote);

Like many people have already stated in their replies on this thread, they can’t help but feel that a person who would use offensive names might have a bad attitude or rude personalities to match their name. If nothing else, words you choose to use (and naming one’s character also is the word choice of the person) normally reflects your way of thinking, or your current mood/attitude. Angry people use angry words, cheerful people use cheerful words, positive people use positive words, and negative people use negative words, etc. Words cannot describe everything in you, but they do, more often than not, describe a part of you.

You might call it a bias, but it is just natural that people, namely me, would want to avoid anything or anyone that they think have a chance of hurting them in some way. I avoid rude people because they are rude. I don’t like to be around rude people. I do not enjoy seeing/hearing insults or vulgarity. It spoils my fun and is distasteful. That’s all my personal preference, which is also based on personal past experience.

For instance, someone may say a monkey is cute and cuddly. I will say otherwise. Monkeys are scary. This is due to my own experience. I used to get bitten by a monkey. I had to get 3 rabies shots and 3 tetanus shots from that incident. Other people can be like, oh you silly, this monkey won’t bite you like that one, or, come on, grow up, don’t be scared, or, come pet it and take a photo, it’s tamed. But that will not change my fear of monkeys, and nor will I approach one.

Again, this is all psychological, and not everyone feels the same. Not everyone has gone through the same experience. It is possible to not agree with other person who feels strongly towards something, but I would expect those who don’t understand to at least be considerate enough to not say it’s just a stupid fear or that I am such a crybaby.

People are only offended by what society tells them to be offended by. Since Final Fantasy is a global game you can't bring in your own view of society and expect everyone to abide by it. So a name that someone picked because it's funny to him/her and the social group he/she belongs to may be offensive to someone else. If you ban every name that offends a person, we won't have names at all.

Having said all the above in reply to Dreadnaught and to other people in general, I think I’ve adequately demonstrated my disagreement to this statement. It is not the society who tells people what is offensive. Personal experience and personal preference plays a big role in this. And for me, context is also important. When I talk among friends, telling them my story of angry encounter, I may use mild swear words in my storytelling. However, if I am to tell it to my parents, or teacher, those swear words would be omitted for propriety.

Retaining one’s conduct and politeness isn’t always restricted by the society’s standard of offensiveness, either, but rather by audience and one’s self-awareness, and most of all, by whether the person cares or does not care about public. Let me tell you a true story that happened to me the other day.

I was at a Japanese sushi bar (it’s not a real bar, but a small shop stall with a big counter and stools so everyone sits in line instead of many tables for individual group of customers) with my bro and his GF. The three of us ate while having trivial chitchat with the waitress and the cooks. When we’re almost finished eating, another customer started talking too, and loudly. He repeatedly teased one of the cooks (a guy) about making women pregnant, because that cook talked to my bro about salmon and salmon roes (pregnant salmon, of course). He then proceeded to talked about how he was annoyed by such and such people back home. All the time he kept using impolite choices of words. Like maybe using 2 swear words per sentence. Those are just mild swear words and are somewhat acceptable by general public. People use it a lot, as in commonly heard anywhere. But to use them repeatedly, loudly, in public, to unfamiliar audience, and especially when we do not want to listen to him, was rude in my opinion.

We paid our bill and left the scene because my bro no longer enjoyed the dinner.

Is he a bad person? I can’t tell. And nope, I wouldn’t want to get to know him better just to figure it out.

Is he an undesirable company? Oh yes, for me he is. It was extremely unpleasant to be near him, not only because he’s impolite, intrusive, and inconsiderate towards other customers, but also because I find his excessive use of swearing annoying and offensive. He didn't stop his loud story-telling even after we left. He probably wasn't aware, didn't get our hint, or simply did not care what other people feel about him.

Other people might ignore him, and police will not arrest him. Passer-by might think he's spicy in his storytelling. Society wouldn't ban him because he only used mild swear words in his storytelling, not to offend someone in specific. Nope it’s not the society who tells me what is offensive. Each person, even in same society, has their own variation on definition of what's offensive. Each person, even from similar background, can tolerate different things to different degrees.

[Lavani]

[COLOR="#9932cc"]Having said all the above in reply to Dreadnaught and to other people in general, I think I’ve adequately demonstrated my disagreement to this statement. It is not the society who tells people what is offensive. Personal experience and personal preference plays a big role in this. And for me, context is also important. When I talk among friends, telling them my story of angry encounter, I may use mild swear words in my storytelling. However, if I am to tell it to my parents, or teacher, those swear words would be omitted for propriety.

Retaining one’s conduct and politeness isn’t always restricted by the society’s standard of offensiveness, either, but rather by audience and one’s self-awareness, and most of all, by whether the person cares or does not care about public. Let me tell you a true story that happened to me the other day.

People are a product of society, that is to say, the person we become is directly influenced by society. Society is composed of the following institutions; Religion, education, government, media, family and economy. So your personal experiences and preferences are directly influenced by society. Your family try's to teach you to uphold certain values they feel are important as does your affiliation (or lack of) to a specific religion. Anything we experience falls under these institutions and our ideas and behavior are shaped by the experiences we have.

Those words you omit have been socially constructed to be "offensive". Not every society is the same, and some words you find offensive may not be offensive to everyone and vice versa.

Here are some real life name examples (that I have come across) that consist, or sound like "offensive" words:

Dick is used as a first name for a man.

Boner is the last name of a person I have met.

My 8th grade math teacher had the last name of Gaylord.

So if a man has the name of Dick Boner, who am I to demand he change his name because I find those words to be offensive?

[ispano]

People are a product of society, that is to say, the person we become is directly influenced by society. Society is composed of the following institutions; Religion, education, government, media, family and economy. So your personal experiences and preferences are directly influenced by society. Your family try's to teach you to uphold certain values they feel are important as does your affiliation (or lack of) to a specific religion. Anything we experience falls under these institutions and our ideas and behavior are shaped by the experiences we have.

Those words you omit have been socially constructed to be "offensive". Not every society is the same, and some words you find offensive may not be offensive to everyone and vice versa.

Here are some real life name examples (that I have come across) that consist, or sound like "offensive" words:

Dick is used as a first name for a man.

Boner is the last name of a person I have met.

My 8th grade math teacher had the last name of Gaylord.

So if a man has the name of Dick Boner, who am I to demand he change his name because I find those words to be offensive?

Except this person's real name isn't part of this Virtual World. ie a world where SE makes the rules and Free Speech does not apply. You also choose your own name, it's not chosen for you at or near birth. I understand the point you're trying to make, but that's not all there is to it.

[Lavani]

Except this person's real name isn't part of this Virtual World. ie a world where SE makes the rules and Free Speech does not apply. You also choose your own name, it's not chosen for you at or near birth. I understand the point you're trying to make, but that's not all there is to it.

Some societies chose their own name (read native american cultures).

[ispano]

Some societies chose their own name (read native american cultures).

And I really haven't seen this issue with said Native Americans.

[Lavani]

And I really haven't seen this issue with said Native Americans.

Ok, all I have to say to you is, you can lead the horse to the fountain of knowledge, but you can't force it to drink.

[AngryNixon]

Ok, all I have to say to you is, you can lead the horse to the fountain of knowledge, but you can't force it to drink.

There's a horrible thought. Once the horse decides the drink the water of the fountain of knowledge we're all screwed... The world will be overrun with super intelligent horse overlords.

[ispano]

Ok, all I have to say to you is, you can lead the horse to the fountain of knowledge, but you can't force it to drink.

And you're still going around the main point. You choose your name in this game. Yes, some cultures let you choose your name as well. But when you do that, it's something you use in real life, and you have to deal with that. In game it's different, if you can skirt the rules, or the rulemakers are lenient, you can hide behind the anonymity of the internet. Plus the game is open to almost everyone, not just cultures where they're used to choosing a name for themselves. And some, not all and not the majority either, will see that as an opportunity to be funny, harass, whatever you can think of really. And still, the rules are SEs, and there isn't free speech in game. Or on the forums for that matter. If you feel it's offensive, report it. If SE agrees, they do something, if they don't agree the name stays and you can leave or deal with it.

[Molly_Millions]

Some societies chose their own name (read native american cultures).

You're really grasping at straws with this one.

[Lavani]

You're really grasping at straws with this one.

Really, how so? Because he did mention the fact that people don't chose their own names. I simply replied with an example of how people do. Here is another, a friend of mine legally changed his last name not long ago. people can and do chose their own names.

Still does not change this fact



I don't care what the NPCs say, and on top of that, I have never heard a really vulgar word from an NPC, just the normal curse word now and then (in taste I might add)

I guess you have never done LL quests, their language can be considered offensive. If SE is going to use language that has the possibility of offending anyone, then we should be able to give our characters the names we want.