Acceptable Names

I'd petition for the old name back. The R doesn't disappear in game and there's no indication that your goal was to display the word b!tch.

 

You can certainly petition for a reason to get it retracted. Before that occurs though, does anyone notice how it looks with just one letter, R, removed? We're not going crazy on name changes here, just very blatant phrases. There are billions of names to choose from in the world, so it's not like there is a void beyond these questionable ones .

 

No.

 

Berek, if is the word. You are speculating on how some people might omit the letter but britches is an old word and only the demented see it otherwise. Its the perversion of the person thinking that it could mean it beingbad instead of the litteral meaning of the word. So if YOU have a dirty mind you might see it that way.

 

Part of my job is to see things from a big picture view, or from a variety of angles. Dirty minds included .

 

I'm sure we can all read what the word actually says and like with many words you can play around with spelling to make it something "naughty". The fact is this is yet another prime example of going OTT; looking to moderate people rather than looking to try and expand the player base.

 

Yes but britches is not a dirty word.

 

We never look to moderate people, let's not go off the deep end of what we're doing here. I should note that for the last few months, we've only changed a handful of names, and this is certainly one of the more gray area ones.

Not by itself, but that's where the context comes in with the full name that should be considered. It can go either way. We've already mentioned that name changes can be petitioned, if there is good reason. The cases presented here are valid arguments.

 

This is completely absurd, Berek.

If someone reads "Stinky Bitches" they'll probably do a double take, and then laugh when they realize they just missed a letter. If someone has a problem repeatedly seeing Bitches then they have worse problems and should go see an optometrist.

 

Im much more worried about vendor names. Have yoy seen some of them?

 

Most people would have looked at it and not given it a second thought.....maybe if they did it would have been "meh" kind of view.

 

Substitute Britches for Pantaloons since Pantaloons is a much better word anyways?

 

Except Berek has already said it was the similarity to 'b*tches', not the nature of the name itself, that forced the change. Port themselves have introduced ridiculous things (I don't say that negatively). Stinky Britches is out of bounds and juvenile but Portalarium coconut mounts, a Month Python reference no less, are not? Headless masks are not? The Razer company logo in game is not?

 

Is "Nob the stableboy" still an NPC? @Berek you do know what "nob" is slang for don't you? Shouldn't this be removed?

The whole thing is getting absurd!

Explanation in the spoiler.....DON'T CLICK IF YOU ARE EASILY OFFENDED!

Spoiler

to be clear:
"Nob" is slang for penis
"to nob" is slang for to have sex with

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controversies_about_the_word_"niggardly"

This may have been the right thing to do, but it was for the wrong reason.

Bathroom humor? Yes.
Somewhat common word spelled almost like a completely unrelated word? No.

 

This almost sounds like an invitation to make a list of every word that is one letter different from an offensive word.

How about we skip that step and just realize how long that list would be, and how ridiculously absurd it would be to try and enforce such a policy.

I'm into roleplay and immersion, but this sounds a little extreme.

I'm offended by people who use "taking offense" as a manipulation tactic to gain undue influence and control over a situation. Pandering to such types is an exercise in futility because they will never be satisfied and continue to push the envelope of what they find offensive.

I would suggest implementing a system where a player name needs to have been reported X number of times before calls for censorship are taken seriously.

TL;DR Britches is not only a real word, but is actually appropriate to the context of the game.

Also people go by nicknames IRL, why not in Novia?

 

This position isn't a big picture view, it's a small picture one. Big picture would imply you'd look at the word, see its long history of use, and conclude that this is part of the language of the period and is still occasionally used in English today, and on its face is not offensive, and even in the context of the name is used correctly if a tinge immaturely.

Instead you've taken one report, looked at their reasoning, and apparently used a microcosm of thought that entertains difficulties with literacy to outweigh the entire history of an established word and to censor it in this case, on the basis that you are able to interpret that one perspective. That's just about as small a picture as one can get of a conflict of interest.

 

Moderating this particular name because someone took offense at what the name would be - if you remove the letter "r" for crikey's sake - pretty much seems like the definition of going off the deep end.

I think the name is silly, but not as silly as moderating it for the above reason.

 

Just sayin if Stinky Britches is censored Berek should be censored too. I find the discussion amusing and its another time the communities moderation results in discouraging players from getting into the game rather than attracting more players.

 

Isn't Berek Hebrew for "knees"? As in Genesis 30:3?