Confusing Restricted Names

[Theodric]

It's a problem that arises as a consequence of businesses seeking to appeal to a 'global audience'. What they often really mean with such double speak is that they desire a one size fits all approach.

I loathe it, personally. I'm sure most people can agree that there are certain words that absolutely should be banned outright. However, a lot of words are filtered out because they are offensive in one country but mean something completely innocent in another. Furthermore, the severity of a word can differ significantly from region to region - a word may very well be technically offensive in one region of the UK, for example, but in another it'll be used affectionately.

Context is important - and unfortunately, businesses do not want to hire enough people to fairly judge such cases. More and more moderation is being made entirely automatic, or pre-empted through filters that can and do go awry with unexpected blips that unfairly punish innocent players.

The best I can suggest is to just put every potential name through an internet search to see if it translates to anything potentially offensive/questionable.

[Kolsykol]

This annoys the hell out of me when I am typing to people on Steam in Swedish and words get randomly censored lol...
I remember there was someone who was banned on the Playstation I think it was because they used their real name and it was in Spanish and meant something bad in English.

I feel like context is pretty important...
And it easily becomes pretty bizarre when you just censor things based on English and then people speak in their native language and there's random censored words all over the place.

[Yvresse]

That is really odd. Thule is the name of a brand of expensive laptop bags in my country.



Unless that is why? Maybe Pepsi, Monster etc are also blocked.

[kaynide]

Last Christmas I met a guy named "Definitely Jesus". His cosplay was on point and he was going around giving hugs and love to everyone. I'm sure he's been banned by now, but it was a wonderful, goofy moment.

[Imora]

This annoys the hell out of me when I am typing to people on Steam in Swedish and words get randomly censored lol...
I remember there was someone who was banned on the Playstation I think it was because they used their real name and it was in Spanish and meant something bad in English.

I feel like context is pretty important...
And it easily becomes pretty bizarre when you just censor things based on English and then people speak in their native language and there's random censored words all over the place.

How the hell does Swedish get randomly censored? Tbf I haven't tried it (use English online) but still.

And I've seen Spanish names censored. Jesus is a Spanish name that gets it sometimes.

[Kolsykol]

How the hell does Swedish get randomly censored? Tbf I haven't tried it (use English online) but still.

And I've seen Spanish names censored. Jesus is a Spanish name that gets it sometimes.

One of the more common ones is '' slut '' which well you can google translate it, it has A LOT of different meanings depending on the context in Swedish.
But in English it obviously means something else and is often censored.

So I'll type sentences in Swedish and there will be words censored all of the sudden.
What makes it funnier and more bizarre is that you can curse as much as you want in your native language, you just can't do it in English.
It just feels kinda pointless I've never understood this obsession with censoring language but it's a very common thing in US media which companies correct themselves by.
It's kinda stuck in this '' family friendly '' age where angry parents called into tv stations because their kid heard a f-word on tv.

Edit: With random btw I meant that I am typing in Swedish and not thinking about this, it's not like it's on my mind all the time what something means in English.
Then when I send it, it ends up being censored and I am like wtf...
Not that just random words get censored.

On Steam in particular I think that words get censored because they just have '' bad words '' in them too which makes it even more bizarre.
And there's a ton of other words with it, so for example if I say '' slutsten '' then the whole word will get censored..

[Haprimac]

I've had a similar instance when I made a roleplay venue, a cloth shop, called Eifawyb Draperies, but the name wasn't permitted. Apparently draperies is crude slang for something else. Really annoying as a non-English-native-speaker that I have to deal with stuff like that, but /shrug . What can you do.

[ItMe]

It just feels kinda pointless I've never understood this obsession with censoring language but it's a very common thing in US media which companies correct themselves by.

As far as I can tell it's just an easy way companies can appear more responsible, though it also originally stemmed from more conservative groups, and now it's just an non-issue that fuels itself.

Because the "badness" of certain words is enforced, that leads people to regard that badness more seriously. So even if those words aren't a big deal, by treating them as such you create the mindset in some people that they are a big deal in a way that makes a lovely feedback loop... compelling more companies to treat those bad words seriously (just to be safe) regardless of if they think they're really an issue or not. Thus widening the feedback loop.

[Ayuhra]

It's a problem that arises as a consequence of businesses seeking to appeal to a 'global audience'. What they often really mean with such double speak is that they desire a one size fits all approach.

I loathe it, personally. I'm sure most people can agree that there are certain words that absolutely should be banned outright. However, a lot of words are filtered out because they are offensive in one country but mean something completely innocent in another. Furthermore, the severity of a word can differ significantly from region to region - a word may very well be technically offensive in one region of the UK, for example, but in another it'll be used affectionately.

Context is important - and unfortunately, businesses do not want to hire enough people to fairly judge such cases. More and more moderation is being made entirely automatic, or pre-empted through filters that can and do go awry with unexpected blips that unfairly punish innocent players.

The best I can suggest is to just put every potential name through an internet search to see if it translates to anything potentially offensive/questionable.

It's more than just that in some cases, though. Some names are blocked because they CONTAIN a word that the filter finds offensive. That limits options a bit. ....Filters like that also make forums a hoot. WoW forums uses that filter and it censors a certain word for the human behind which is an issue in a game where "Assassin" is a playable class (it's a Rogue specialization).

[RitsukoSonoda]

One of the more common ones is '' slut '' which well you can google translate it, it has A LOT of different meanings depending on the context in Swedish.
But in English it obviously means something else and is often censored.

So I'll type sentences in Swedish and there will be words censored all of the sudden.
What makes it funnier and more bizarre is that you can curse as much as you want in your native language, you just can't do it in English.
It just feels kinda pointless I've never understood this obsession with censoring language but it's a very common thing in US media which companies correct themselves by.
It's kinda stuck in this '' family friendly '' age where angry parents called into tv stations because their kid heard a f-word on tv.

Edit: With random btw I meant that I am typing in Swedish and not thinking about this, it's not like it's on my mind all the time what something means in English.
Then when I send it, it ends up being censored and I am like wtf...
Not that just random words get censored.

On Steam in particular I think that words get censored because they just have '' bad words '' in them too which makes it even more bizarre.
And there's a ton of other words with it, so for example if I say '' slutsten '' then the whole word will get censored..

It's even funnier on things when they only censor the part of a word because of their filter on things because then it even starts hitting people speaking english on those things like they'll type assassinate and it will appear in chat as ******inate.