Anets naming policy

The problem Regina, and I know you are avoiding it completely, but public expectation is that these are the definitions of a Teen rated game. While the term 'may include' does not mean must include, it equally grants expectation to the user that these things are permitted/may be done. If GW was supposed to have been rated without Crude Humor and without Strong Language then a Teen rating should not have been sought to begin with. GW may be fully within their rights as possessor of the game to declare it has a new rating, but in doing so one breaks the advertising placed upon the game over the last 4 years.

There is no getting around it, the new policy is completely contrary to the advertised expectation of the rating. GW has broken the social agreement for truth in advertising. You advertised a Teen rating. You should abide by a Teen rating. If you do not abide by a Teen rating then you are committing fraud.

No, they did not. They voluntarily slapped the ESRB's rating on their box. Please address all issues you have with the Teen rating towards the group that is actually responsible for it. Also, fraud? No, just no. Words mean things.

Not to mention "Killer" which is a reference to real-world violence...sorry, can't "kill" anymore in your name. Nevermind that the entire game revolves around killing to advance through the game. Nope, sorry, violent...ima /report u. lol...so stupid. The whole thing is SO out of hand...Next thing you know, we won't be allowed to use the vowel a,e,i or u...sorry goys, thos sooms stopod, bot ots oll thoy'll lot mo do now...Character name: Boo Hoo, Hobo Bob, Boot On Foot, Oh Nos...lol.

I propose everyone start looking for names in violation of the user agreement...don't "abuse" it, just find 1 or 2 a day and encourage all your friends to do the same...I wonder if 1/1000th of accounts did this if the influx of 6,000-12,000 reports per day would be enough to change anyone's mind about even having a report feature? Just a thought.

Normally, I wouldn't bother chiming in on a thread like this, however there are quite a few valid points being made and I thought I would offer my perspective on things.

First and foremost, I am totally supportive of the naming convention enforcement, there's no dispute that if we did not have it, we would certainly be much worse off. However, the statue of limitations regarding what is considered a "bad" or "offensive" name really needs to be closely looked at. It is quite impossible to enforce naming conventions based upon the many many languages in the world today, not only is it impossible, but would be a ridiculously large task.

I personally think simplification of the enforcement would truly be the best bet. If certain intellectuals and people with education in foreign languages wish to turn to a more anal view of a name simply because it "could" mean a certain thing if used in an improper way, doesn't mean it "does" mean the player meant to cause disruption with the name chosen or that the player intended on people to interpret the name in the worst possible way. It really becomes a matter of discretion on the part of the administrators of the game server.

As a life long gamer, developer and hopefully within the next few years head developer on my own project, I've seen alot of different companies enforce naming conventions in a wide variety of ways. For the most part, they all eventually end up relaxing on name enforcement to a suitable degree, and focus more or less on the truly offensive names which most uneducated and educated people alike can easily identify. Foreign language is complex and a seemingly harmless word could hold several very nasty meanings if used in the correct context, however if used in the correct context it could be something totally different in meaning.

The point is, knit picking and dropping the bomb on players with the name police probably isn't the best way to go about it, because to do so, is to "assume" the player realizes the name is offensive and is doing so in clear violation of policies regarding player names. I tend to think that the administration should do this:

Picture your in a resturaunt eating dinner with your family, the surrounding customers are a mix of teenagers and adults, all having their own conversations. Now consider, one of the teenagers starts throwing some extremely offensive language out there, things that you clearly are offended to. Now in most cases, the management would send someone out to ask that the person leave. This is exactly how you need to distinguish what's offensive in the game and what is not. Blatantly foul names that hold little doubt of their meaning should be enforced, but to go through and presume to know a player means harm with a name that has multiple translations is just wrong.

You further have to keep in mind, we aren't in the 1950s anymore, most teens and adults these days have grown accustomed to a new socially acceptable useage of some of the frowned upon words and uses of the english language since then. Then again, if your rating for the game is being considered, then most of the more frequently used words would be overlooked.

Anyhow, that's my take on things for the moment.

They had an option. They could have insisted on being unrated at all. They could have insisted on one of the following ratings:

EARLY CHILDHOOD
Titles rated EC (Early Childhood) have content that may be suitable for ages 3 and older. Contains no material that parents would find inappropriate.

EVERYONE
Titles rated E (Everyone) have content that may be suitable for ages 6 and older. Titles in this category may contain minimal cartoon, fantasy or mild violence and/or infrequent use of mild language.

EVERYONE 10+
Titles rated E10+ (Everyone 10 and older) have content that may be suitable for ages 10 and older. Titles in this category may contain more cartoon, fantasy or mild violence, mild language and/or minimal suggestive themes.

Because they did not choose to use one of these lower rating and chose to accept the rating Teen upon their packaging then they are obligated to that decision. The public expectation is that this rating is the standard of the game. If they then change their standard to a more restrictive one and apply punitive action because people have been following the standard still published on their packaging.

So why an instant 72 hour ban? We've all seen people on here who's posted about being banned and their names weren't really offensive just maybe childish. Some griefers just want to make it their lifes work reporting people. It's them you should hand out bans to.

Sorry but LOL

just to throw a point in here:

I'm offended (really I'm not, but whatever) by guilds having the tag [ban].

ban, according to e.g. urbandictionary.com (probably could find out more sources), is an acronym for 'bitch ass RED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GO'. hence it does not have any relation to the guild's name, I have to think that it is even more meant in an insulting way.

I mean, Super Kaon Action Team [ban]. sounds like they're saying that they are great, and every one else is a bitch ass RED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GO (which is, in my opinion, way more insulting than just bitch in polish. I mean, you got everything there; racial harrassment, sexual harrassment, and pointing to nogo-bodyarea, HOORAY!).

What would you do now? if you ban a guild for 'just' having a possibly offensive word in some random language (it's polish this time, could be kisuaheli next time. this SHOULD NOT make the difference, tbh), that has context as it could be seen as an abreveation of the guilds name, you basically HAVE TO ban a guild for having slurs in MULTIPLE ways in their tag, which does NOT connect to their guildname in any way. which tag YOU gave them.

just my point on this pointless banning-frenzy....

EDIT: references, for lazy ppl:
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=ban

What bothers me is that when I Wiktionaried "suka", I found that out of the EIGHT languages presented for which there was a meaning, only TWO used it as a vulgar term. In the others, it was perfectly innocuous - for example, it is the Fijian term for sugar. It's also a kind of fiddle. If all potentially offensive terms were censored, there'd be very, very few words left. With just a quick run through Wiktionary, I found that all these terms, if ANet were truly consistent, would have to be censored:
John - can mean a toilet or a prostitute's client - upp, all characters named John must now change their names!
academy - apparently a 19th-century term for a brothel - upp, so much for the Ascalon Academy and the Nolani Academy
bog - a vulgar term for a toilet - so much for Lahtendi Bog
iron - a Cockney rhyming slang term for a gay man (so what'll we call them now, Ferrous Ingots?)
jug - well, most people know, it's synonymous with "boob" (time to rename that offhand, folks!)
mo - time for a new abbreviation for Monk, because this is short for homo
trim - The Cape Is A Lie needs a new tag, because this can be slang for getting laid
Heck, we might have to abandon the game entirely due to the more archaic connotations of "fighting in armour".

And those are just English ones... you throw in words that mean something ordinary in one language and but could be misinterpreted in another language, and there're tons of things like this. Quite frankly, I think ANet should be more worried about the clearly intentional ones, like those guild groups I used to see winning HA - there was one about Melonni and Koss, the name of which I don't remember, and there was one I believe to the effect of Is Gwen Legal [yet] or something. Guild and character names along those veins are obviously intentional, yet these don't earn bans while unwitting mistakes do. It's ridiculous.

Also, I think it's kind of sad that ANet is jumping on names that, despite being potentially offensive, were reported maliciously, when they themselves have failed to check their own names in all languages. Remember how long it took them to change Alanna and Edibbo Pekpek's last name to Kepkep? They still haven't done anything about Captain Quimang, who is REGULARLY BLEEPED OUT by the word filter due to "quim" being an obsolete offensive term (I'm not suggesting they should change his name, just adding a point there). How can they expect us to do the research when they do not?

I live in the United States of America. Let us suppose I am a Chinese American (tho I am not). Let's further suppose I like to ride horses. So, to honor my passion and my ancestry I choose a name which means Horse Rider. Guild Wars does not allow the use of foreign scripts or formats. I cannot name my character in Chinese glyphs. The proper characters for the name would be: 馬 騎士. The correct Pinyin, which I also cannot use, would be Mǎ Qí-shì. So, if I take the name Ma Qishi, how am I going to avoid being banned?
Character - Pinyin - Translation
媽 - mā - ma; mamma
嬤 - mā - ma; mamma
螞 - mā - dragonfly
痲 - má - leprosy; numb
蟆 - má - toad
麻 - má - (to have) pins and needles; tingling; hemp; numb; to bother
嗎 - mǎ - morphine
溤 - mǎ - name of a river
獁 - mǎ - mammoth
瑪 - mǎ - agate; cornelian
碼 - mǎ - a weight; number; yard; pile; stack
螞 - mǎ - ant
馬 - mǎ - horse; horse chess piece; Surname
傌 - mà - to curse, to revile, to abuse; to scold
嘜 - mà - mark
榪 - mà - headboard
禡 - mà - sacrifice to god of war
罵 - mà - scold; abuse
螞 - mà - grasshopper
么 - ma - (interrog. part.)
嗎 - ma - (question tag)
嘛 - ma - (a modal particle)
蟆 - ma - toad

騎士 - qí shì - rider

So, someone could report my passion for horse riding as meaning: Morphine or Mamma rider. They could take offense at either meaning, and because I am prohibited by the GW mechanics from expressing the correct meaning, I must be punished for liking my hobby of horse riding.

GW does not support multiple language characterization in ALL servers. I am forbidden to express the real meaning, but must be punished for their lack of provision.

In addition to holding us accountable to all languages world wide and in violation of a standard (Teen) which they promoted the game under, they are expecting us choose based on how someone else Might transliterate our name choice into a language which we do not speak and where the choice of changing letters may create unintended meaning.

The main problem with this statement is that this is the US rating. And yes, you probably bought a US box of Guild Wars.

But Guild Wars is an international game, where through the district system people can meet people from all other parts of the world.

And the rating systems in Europe for example are completely different, we have the USK in Germany and the PEGI (Pan European Game Information).

And Guild Wars is rated USK and PEGI 12+, and this in case for PEGI means:

"PEGI 12+ - Videogames that show violence of a slightly more graphic nature towards fantasy character and/or non graphic violence towards human-looking characters or recognisable animals, as well as videogames that show nudity of a slightly more graphic nature would fall in this age category. Any bad language in this category must be mild and fall short of sexual expletives."

I have already sent you a PM inquiring for more information to see if I can help your husband with this and if I can, help you with Support.

While the Naming Policy is new, they're just a more detailed set of guidelines that already exist in the User Agreement. There's nothing new about how Support is enforcing the User Agreement. What has happened is that issuing the Naming Policy has directed attention to these issues.

If this is the case then the only way to be fair would be to adjust the policy for naming to clearly state that bans will not be placed on names which could have a multiple meanings, and that in the event that those names are found to be offensive and are reported, a notification should be given to the customer and a request for the name to be changed made. If its a blatantly obvious name violation, the 72 hour ban is fine, but there will still be cases where someone unwittingly creates a name and later finds out it has an actual translation that may not be acceptable.

Pointedly, the focus should probably be kept on the most obvious name offenses, to truly sift through every name and attempt to find possible name violations would be a splendid way to waste time and if you look hard enough, it could potentially be easy to ban half the playerbase.

Truthfully, unless the servers were segregated for U.S customers, European, Middle Easterners, and Asians, and these servers had a set of rules and conventions in place, there's no fair way to enforce a naming policy of this nature. Focus on the truly offensive, and give the player the benefit of the doubt if its a name that doesn't appear to be offensive or could be interpreted differently.

Do ESRB ratings even cover online user interactions?

The way I read their rating guidelines, they just apply to a game's content. Since I wouldn't consider myself part of GW's content (or you for that matter) I can't imagine our textual contributions by means of chat or the names we chose to be covered by the ESRB rating.

That's just my opinion of course. I could certainly see how one might feel that the moderation of a game should live up to its rating, though I wouldn't want to go there myself.

No, and that is the point. I do not live under the United Nations. They are not my government and the moment they take over my government there will be Civil War in my country like this planet has not yet seen.

You do not have the right to destroy my national sovereignty. You do not have the right to destroy my freedoms in my country. If you do not like what you see then stay in your own country.

If you are going to leave your country and encounter others then you are obligated to make allowances for that which is beyond. The rule is not increased restriction but increased toleration. If you are from Poland and you see a tag from Belgium, the US of Brazil, the US of A, the UAE, etc. that means Police Car, then you are to Tolerate It! You are not to use it as an excuse to destroy a guild because they beat you and you are a sore loser.

Further, if you cannot while going international effect policy that is uniformly fair to each and every client within their sociological and legal frame work then you Don't. If you advertise a particular rating stating a particular code of conduct and expectation in a jurisdiction then you must follow that code in that jurisdiction or you commit Fraud.

Legal Dictionary: Fraud must be proved by showing that the defendant's actions involved five separate elements: (1) a false statement of a material fact,(2) knowledge on the part of the defendant that the statement is untrue, (3) intent on the part of the defendant to deceive the alleged victim, (4) justifiable reliance by the alleged victim on the statement, and (5) injury to the alleged victim as a result.

1. GW knew that they placed an ESRB rating of Teen on the product.
2. They wrote a policy in violation of the rating they placed.
3. They profit from banning accounts, in order to cause re-purchase, both financially and in ratings of sale. (Motive for intent.)
4. People were fully justified in feeling the advertised position within their language was a reliable standard from which they could take names such as Sucker and convert them to SuKa (close to the Ebonics spelling form), etc.
5. Loss of hours and years of play on a character or building up guild ratings.

Perhaps we should consider a law suit against GW for assisting an obviously white supremacist Pole in attacking the language of African Americans. There is definately a racist reason for reporting a Guild for using an Ebonic word as their acronym and the person who reported it was malicious in a racial manner which GW has supported with their ban.

So, either GW backs Waaay up and goes with the rating they Chose to place on the box at production, permitting exactly what they advertised to us, or they accept this "I may choose to be a victim and shut anything and everyone down by deliberately misconstruing anything as offensive" and become themselves party to prejudicial, tyrannical, and malicious action.

I think I'll stick to my made-up names that sounds like human boss names, and goddess names, XD.

Sorry, goddess names are in reference to "religious figures" and therefor violate the EULA...72 hour ban....change the name....welcome to fascism.

That makes me wonder. What if I would call my character 'Heinrich Die'. In English you can read that as Heinrich must die, but in German it means 'The Heinrich' although 'die' is female if I'm correct. Now which Heinrich? Heinrich Himmler the former leader of the SS or Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst or just because I like the name Heinrich without any reference.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich

Or 'The White Angel' or 'The Angel of Death'? Seems nothing wrong with it, except if you know those were Dr Mengele's nicknames (SS Docter).

Watch out there mate, while I was scanning Wiktionary (look up a little on the page), I found that the Hawaiian goddess Pele's name is also the term for a penis in some Eastern European language... so aside from the religious things, not even goddess names are safe!

Also, @Gli: I took a look at the box, and sure enough, right under the ESRB rating it says "Game experience may change during online play" - i.e. regulating everyone to perfectly fit the standard is impossible. So mostly, no. The T rating just implies that there is nothing within the actual game content (as opposed to things created by players) that would fall outside of this rating. I don't know if it says that on the Euro boxes, but maybe it should.

Remember, an Angel is a religious figure. :P See, a hidden reason for a ban you didn't even consider!

Lol that's like saying lets fire policemen for handing out speeding tickets while hiding behind road signs or where people can't see them. lol I love the guilty or the self righteous when these kinds of issues flare up. Welp I know they aren't going to ban me for reporting offensive names that's for sure. Found 6 more to report yesterday. One person had dudu in their name. The initials of the first two names (not gonna spell them out you figure it out) were E M and then dudu. So you think names like these should be allowed do yah? lol It's ok for naming griefers to make up silly offensive names, but, on the other side of the coin people who report them are griefers. lol Pots calling kettles black as usual.

Oh the irony.

In a related topic, Anet apparently aren't the only ones...

Happy Tree Friends was apparently just banned in Russia

i just want to know what an inappropriate reference to human anatomy or bodily function is.

So i can talk about it with my nupplelick while whirlypluging into a shlurphole safely.

The more people put pressure on Anet on the topic of "policies", the worse the situation is actually going to get, because policies will have to be made more formal, enforcement stronger and this is going to cost money, time and a lot of "trust". Anet is currently dealing with these issues in an "ad hoc" manner, which basically means that NCsoft GMs have basic guidance and then use their judgement. And when they get it wrong, a ticket may correct this. In essence this is what this thread is about, correcting an unfortunate mistake. But if you want to go one step closer to a formal policy on names (which will entail a few unexpected aspects for players), be prepared to face the consequences, that may be worse for many of us.

A decent solution would be to hire more personnel and check the names upon creation .
Example : I go run to the guild maker in kamadan and enter
"We camp like Anne F[rank]"
then i submit and poof a message to the "Official Anet Name Checker" with the information of the New guild / New player and he should be able to confirm or reject name based on :
» Researching the data on google ; yahoo ; etc
» Researching the data with several dictionary's
» Researching the data with common sense
» ...

This is probably the worst and best solution to our problem . No complaining after creation only whining about rejection . And then remove the stupid report shizzle . Because well , everyone can find something everything .

Example :
Chopchop The Panda : Offensive » I had a panda pet named Shizzle and he was chopped into piece .
Gaile Gray : Offensive » I saw a picture of her and it was so ugly i still have nightmares of it .
Regina : Offensive » Regina is a great figure in my religion . Please ban .
It can go even further , I'll use my (retarded) warrior's name :
Darksin Shanto Ehas : Offensive » Sin refers to a bad thing and shanto refers to Guyanese music so basicly i'm claiming that Guyanese music is a sin . roflwtflmao ? :')

The ban thing is a joke because almost everything is based on personal perception and interpretation .

So Anet , you know what to do ; hire more 'experienced' personnel and fix this retardness .

Why is all this stuff coming up now?

I've seen in game for long time a lot of names that are offensive, break the rules, and no one bothered about them.

Just few examples:

Benedetto X V I = Benedict 16th, the Pope, the highest figure on earth for my religion... the representative of St.Peter and the voice of Christ on earth. Should I attack and kill a monk named like that in RA? It was a couple of years ago, and I left the match because the thing troubled me a bit. (Two years, and very likely this char is still around).

Sukia Pomp = "Suck and Blow", in italian, the name of a female ele character. "Pomp"/"pompa" is commonly used for both sexual intercourse and oral sex. If you search on google for "pompa" you will find oil pumps, water pumps and so on, but if you google "pompa amatoriale" ("amatoriale" = "amateur"), well, you will get really explicit explanations. "Pompino" (small "pompa") is used for a bl0wj0b, and there can be no mistake about that.

Gina Lava Gina = literally means "Gina Washes Gina", but just change the spaces and you get "Gina La Vagina" (= "Gina The Vagina"). Which do you think was the intention of the creator?

And I could point out many many more of them...
Some of them related to feces, "poop" and so on.
I've seen so many running around in the past years, and no one did care.
Why all of a sudden all this?

Honestly, I think the ones in my examples are way worse than "SuKa" (it doesn't only mean "bitch" in Poland, in italian, mainly in Sicily and surrounding southern areas "suka" or "suca", same sound, means "(you) suck (me)" )... I don't think they deserved a ban for that, really, there is a lot worse.

Actually, the only thing to do is follow the definitions of the ESRB under which we were sold the game. It is not a game for little children. To meet the tenets under which the game was sold NC West should require people to accept Crude Humor and Strong Language, regardless of their perception.

We have created a society where the imbecilic perception (perception without foundation) of an individual can destroy the lives of others. The person so perceiving and destroying has no obligation to be correct in their assumption. This leads to abuse.

To avoid the problem of people abusing this one simply eliminates the restriction. You tell people to learn to deal with the immaturity, vulgarity, tactless humor, or whatever. If they dont like a persons name they do not have to play on their side. Forced restrictions will only make the animosity and rebelliousness worse.

Have I ever reported someone? Yes. For mistreatment of others. Not because of a name that cannot hurt me.

This made me laugh, do people actually get "offended" so easily?
I think there's something wrong with people who get offended this fast.
Some people need to grow a thicker skin.

Laugh as much as you want. Did I say I got "offended"?

Since That Person means something that is more than winning a match in a videogame I simply choosed not to play with that player that was doing something that disturbs me.
(While I may disagree with some views of the Church, I still respect their opinion without turning them into a joke.)

But if after standing aside without saying nothing, without a whisper, without reporting something I find quite disturbing... What do you want more? I kept silent and moved away, and even so, I am being told that I am "offended" too easily... wasn't I allowed even to leave the match? Was I supposed to play anyway? What is the boundary when something is too much?

Read the poster before you:

That is just what I did, no report, no fuss.
I removed myself from the game.
Am I allowed at least to do this?

So, what do you suggest Anet should do to/about those who are hurt by names (and that are not kids)? Ask them to be like you (obviously not an imbecile) or leave this game? Hand them a copy of your posts in this thread or a copy of the US laws? Close your eyes when you see these names?

Massive, who was the one that reported Suka has been banned for abusing the report system. This is very well known due to him sharing most of his support e-mails openly. I feel that this is a very dangerous precedent.

I have been running around with [Dong] for about two years now. Over 7 incarnations of our guild have been banned. Fair enough, we can't reference male genetalia in a T rated game, suka is still polish slang. As in the other case the people that reported us did not do so because they were offended or because they were policing the game, they reported us because they disliked us and knew that it would get us banned.

The Resevoir Dogs ban Kaon mentioned. That was us. Our Mr White was banned mid monthly for having an offensive name. Again because we were disliked and people knew that by reporting us enough, we would get banned.

Recently we had someone banned for something said in guild chat. The person reporting him was someone encountered during PvP and had no way to see our guild chat. The investigating GM found foul language in our guild chat (Which we don't care about) and issued the ban anyway. Again we were being reported not because we had offended anyone or even commited an offense of which they were aware; we were being reported because we were disliked and they knew that enough reports would get us banned.

Here is where this precedent becomes dangerous. Almost every single report every filed is an attempt to be malicious and get someone punished. You don't report someone because you like them, you report someone because you hate them. The feelings fueling every report are hatred and malice. Look at people talking about bots/syncers/leechers the overwhelming opinion is "ban those RED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GOers."

People will report simply because they dislike someone. In any PvP tension and emotions run higher, which lead to friendly rivals and some that are not so friendly. Surely you can see the absurd situation of trying to determine report validity based upon the reporter's intent especially in a PvP game.

Those who lack sufficient ego strength to encounter a word should stay off the internet altogether. Yes, they should be told:
Perhaps, they could even consider talking to the person about their name and what it means to them. Children under the age of 13 should not be playing. There should be no childrens viewing hours of the game.


Yes, you are allowed to avoid playing with someone. I find names with drug references to be offensive. I have seen several over 4 years. I do not find them offensive because they are a word, but when they promote a style of life that is illegal, personally and socially destructive. One of my guild leaders, who is currently on the line in Iraq, has given almost every one of his characters the last name of Benedictat. He is a strong Catholic. He did not take this name out of mockery but out of reverence. It may very well be the person whom you did not ask, were disgusted by for their name, had in fact chosen that name because it represented something of value to them. While I applaud your choice to be tolerant, I would ask you to question yourself as to whether you acted based upon what you profess to believe. I cannot answer that. But what I do know is that the one I worship ate with sinners, beggars, prostitutes, and thugs whose reverence was imperfect and whose language was certainly the common language of the street (not the prim and proper language of the well educated and the elite).

That aside, what I do know is that we have created a situation where:

1. A person is guilty of harassment, offense, denigration, degradation, assault, etc. based on what is convenient for the person claiming to be a victim.
2. A person may be punished for expressing the best part of their beliefs and ideals because someone else chooses to be offended for any purpose.
3. A group of people may lose years of effort because someone else chooses to be offended as a form of retribution.
4. A person may be punished because another individual chooses to have a dirty mind and extract in any twisted manner a sexual or other offense from a name. (This is not the same as the average person finding something sexually explicit.)
5. People of one society, raised in a group of laws and heritage, are to be punished according to the heritage and restriction of another. I refuse to allow GW to hold me responsible to live according to Shariah.
6. The rules eliminate artistic, political, and literary expression - the driving forces of a creative mind, by instructing people they may not have names which hold spiritual and philosophical meaning for them.
7. Everyone will be required to restrict themselves to language and expression appropriate to 5 year olds even if they purchased an Adult content game, just because one person doesn't want to participate at the level of the advertised content.

The only proper and correct response can be to require thicker skins and greater toleration. Otherwise they must become thought police.

ArenaNet wants it to be a game for little children, though.

Case in point

OMG!!!

Anyone looking for a list of names to ban? These are just a few in English, for penis...I imagine the euphamisms internationally will add up to a mighty list...then we hit vagina, breast and anus. After body-parts, we go for religious figures...did you know Michael, John (Jack, a derivation of John), Mary, and a whole slew of other names can be drawn directly to figures in the Bible :O ...after that, we start looking for copyright violators (all those Legolas toons have to go), folowed by all acts of violence in names...there are literally thousands of words that have violent connotations...THOUSANDS! I'm pretty sure we can ban thousands aand if anyone is willing to research other languages, maybe hundreds of thousands. We cam also hit vulgarities and obscenities including all mentioning of pigs, hogs and swine (very bad insult to some)...and all references to shoe-throwing...thinking it might become a new hobby. A quick list for those who want to get started:


The Dicktionary: A list of penis euphemisms

I can't think of using names of something of value to me and go in the arenas taunting my competitors. Maybe other people is different? Maybe...

However, later I had the confirmation that the choice was dictated by mockery. That one was some kind of "novelty name", just for fun. I found some posts in the Guild Wars forum on a big Italian website about multiplayer games ( those who know the site will easily understand which one is it, the Italian guild wars community is quite small after all.)

We are going quite OT, but it is an interesting discussion anyway.
Let's avoid comparing a kid that uses an offensive name just to be "funny" to people whose life has been unfair. Let's keep things in proportion.

Before we keep talking about the thickness of my skin, which seems to be so much under the spot, just read this book, is better than any other explanation.
This is about the places where I live and the people I meet, work, talk and eat with everyday. My everyday's life is the place where I can question myself about such matters, not trivial stuff like kids trying to be funny in an online game.

I can skip a round of the game, it won't hurt me, and I can live without making such things became a state affair.

I'm not some religious zealot, I've got so many "sins" of mine, that I don't have time to bug other people.
I will always avoid pushing my religion onto other people, I live it, I don't expect them to embrace it, but I think I can ask at least some respect.


the system is easily abused.

The reason has been stated here:

Such ease of abuse is why we see Martin and Regina working so much to find a way to fix the issue.
They are doing an amazing work, I've never seen a game company caring so much about the players (which often are a bunch of whiny kids).



Yes, we need greater tolerance.
I've seen so many names that could be offensive, yet I had reported none. I don't care. The only time in the past years of gaming I didn't feel at ease, I just decided to not participate in a match of the game.
Often a videogame is like a venting place for people's frustrations... and if people want to discharge part of their stress using a name with references to sexual acts, scatological humour, drug abuse, or whatever, as long as they aren't breaking any law, well... let them.
They are just words. We should be mature enough to not make a big fuss over small things.

I think that the bolded part of the last of Fitz's post is perfect and should be like an entering message for any online game.

EDIT: Just seen TwinRaven's list... That's a big one, and some of the names are quite funny. LOL

Hey, that was my list....changed to just a link...was way too big (no pun intended) and I didn't want to risk the HAMMER OF DOOM that is the Mods and their 41-ton thumper (no pun intended) and they would surely beat me into submission (again...no pun...).

^ too much time on hands.


HEY! I have an idea! Give that list to anet so they can just match a characters name to it. If it does, slam them with the ban hammer! If not, just ban Red Sonya for a year or two.

^^^LOL...comprehensive list...rofl...read my post about and follow the link...one list, one subject, one language = hundres of words...making a list that covered every possibility and all spelling variations ...it would take YEARS! if it were even possible...omw...I like you...you're funny

I comprehend. I do not PvP. The general attitude of it does not suit me. I am competitive with people, not oppositional. The names I use in PvP are Irez Uno, Icanbe Rezduno, etc. The first was a play against the quote, "I'll be back!" I do not PvP because of the general lack of respect for competitor and self that I see in the behavior there. GW has never seen a reason to promote honorable behavior there in my experience. What is there is a testamony to the good people who are there, and nothing from Game Development or structure.

I also comprehend. I differ. The worst someone has ever been through is still the worst. The grief or stress they release in misbehavior is in response to their experience. Saying their experience is invalid or their stress unimportant because they still have shoes while others do not have feet, only increases their stress. For both, the breaking of a promise by a parent, friend, spouse, child, or personal hero is still crushing.

As I said, I cannot say. I can only offer an idea for you to judge for yourself. I merely pose the question not assert an answer.

Agreed. What we see in the naming policy however is a condition which results in easily targetting people for placing reminders of their path in everything they do. The policy creates a ready made form for religious persecution by denying its expression rather than protecting it.

Also agreed. And it is important, potentially landmark, work that may set the standard for decades of gaming and international interaction. , This is why I won't sit back and let it be half-baked work merely to appease the moment. They are able to do better.

Molte Grazie. (I looked that up out of respect for the compliment and its giver.)