swears?

I agree, swearing is unnecessary in video games (as in real life I suppose). I think some developers think it makes their game cool-er, in the same way nine year olds think swearing is cool.

George.

"Who says computer games affect kids, imagine if PacMan affected us as kids, we'd all sit around in a darkened room munching pills and listening to repetitive music....uh oh!"

They swear in the DK rap??? Where? Have to check that out...

What do you call swearing? many people say "damn" is swearing....but its hard to say. sure its swearing to say "G*D DAMMIT"... but saying "damn I stuffed up"...i dont think its ''bad'' swearing IMO.

Swearing in games depends on the genre...If you were playing soldier of fortune it''d be a bit strange if the dialog was clean....


-----------------------------
-cow_in_the_well

http://cowswell.gda.ods.org/

quote:

---

What do you call swearing?

---

yes, I consider damn swearing no matter what the context (it is just not as extreme as you g*d damned mother f***ing c**k sucker!), just a matter of degree. I agree that it depends on the genre, it is perfectly acceptable in Quake3 (well, as acceptable as something which is, in my opinion essentially bad[not that I don't do it])

oh, and my 8 year old brother has a pretty bad mouth, not that it comes from video games (they mostly play Zelda 64). I actually think (know) that he picked it up from the kids at day care. it really upsets me that he does though.

btw- has anyone else noticed that, as a general rule, Nintendo is better about not swearing, and in general having less gruesome games? or is that just me? Or is it console games in general?

-arsenius


after three days without programming, life becomes meaningless

Edited by - arsenius on June 22, 2000 5:37:09 AM

I think its N64 games in particular... about a month after buying one I realized it was more targetted at young audiences... There are still a few good games(Zelda, DK64, Goldeneye), but if you look, you''ll notice there are VERY few games for people even in their middle teens... just the ones that are fun for all audiences...

So as they''re targeted at younger people of course they have less swearing

J2xC (J. Connolly)

"Then study this: Borg provokes Klingon, Klingon breaks Borg's nose" Belanna Torres, Star Trek Voyager 5.11 "Someone to watch over me"

i never understand why people get so offended by swearing. they''re just words..if you''re going to classify a few words as "bad"...then you might as well classify every other word in the english language as "bad". i swear all the time, i scream four letter words at the top of my lungs all the time. but its usually when i''m pissed off or in pain.

conker 64 (rareware) has a few swears in it, but they bleep most of them. some of the chipmunks say things like "damn you motherf****er", i think as long as they bleep out the "really bad" ones they can get away with it.

and i will end this message with a big old: f*** the f***ing f***ers!!!

For once, I''m going be be (reletively) serious...

Swearing in games is a reflection on the evolution of the language meme. (at this point I would like to mention I just set my desk on fire.... crap). "Swearing" is becoming accepted in every day language, and you see it more and more on TV before watershed (you do in the UK, anyway). Game designers are only trying to keep up woth the trends shown in modern society (desk fire now extinguished, only minor damage done... i should''ve stopped typing to put it out...).

To stop people swearing in games, you have to stop people swearing. Simple as that. Besides, is there anything wrong with a good fuck now and then? (and I''m sure you enjoying taking a shit every so often)

Mark Collins (aka Nurgle)
me@thisisnurgle.org.uk

I really dont mind swearing but like arsenius, i have 3 litatle siblings aged 12, 9, and 3
i play Halflife which has a reletively good deal of swearing in it(not compared to the new FPSs tho).
I don''t consider damn or hell a bad word
darn means damn it just sounds nicer

Well the DK game is a bit much I agree with you...after all it''s targetted for kids.
But on the rest I say keep the swears! C''mon, Final Fantasy was rated TEEN. It''s got that rating for a reason and if you sit down with a bunch of kids to play it then don''t come whining about swears in video games.
Anyways swears ARE a necessity for development of in-game characters. It brings a degree of realism into the game, and expecially with more "rough" characters, you don''t expect their language to be oxford english. Of course some games go overboard, Kingpin comes to mind, but then again that just had so much in it that I laughed my ass off playing it.
If you''re so concerned about kids and stuff then look at the rating on the box, and don''t play your games in front of kids. Take some responibility for once and don''t blame it on the designers. If a game swears so much that it is ridiculous, then it must not have a too good plot anyways and won''t sell. Geez.



"All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." - The Shining

Where was the swearword in the DK Rap?

My 11 year old brother swears a lot.

------------------------------
#pragma twice

The DK rap says that one of the characters is a "hell of a guy."

lntakitopi@aol.com | http://geocities.com/guanajam/

Hells a swearword? Wow didn''t know we all lived in Amish Country



"All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." - The Shining

that stunk. I finished writing this, and all of a sudden explorer decided to crash, poof, no more post...have to rewrite it(sigh...)

quote:

---

Swearing in games is a reflection on the evolution of the language meme. (at this point I would like to mention I just set my desk on fire.... crap). "Swearing" is becoming accepted in every day language, and you see it more and more on TV before watershed (you do in the UK, anyway). Game designers are only trying to keep up woth the trends shown in modern society.

---

I disagree. I think swearing has become more acceptable because of the media. we are all a bunch of sponges!!! we suck up everything they throw at us and call it good! Think about this: Why was swearing bad for beaver (leave it to beaver) and almost expected of malcolm (malcolm in the middle)? Honestly, how many parents out there would say "now son, I would be proud of you if you said ''fuck you asshole'' to that bully at school"? Why? Because swearing is a bad thing, not good! Yet for some reason, society wants to ignore that fact and say, "well, what does it matter if I swear? They are just words after all" (Legal disclaimer: arsenius isn''t saying that he isn''t guilty of this). However, in my opinion, words are an important part of what we are. Complex speech patterns are a crucial part of what makes us human. If we allow ourselves to speak vulgarly, what keeps us from being vulgar in our essence (or soul, spirit etc...)?

Why are we as a society moving away from the ethics of our grandparents? What makes this generation so special as to discard thousands of years of wise men''s teachings, yet honoring these same teachers at the same time?

in case you can''t tell, this has moved slightly beyond the realm of games at this point in the post

quote:

---

Hells a swearword? Wow didn''t know we all lived in Amish Country

---

what is wrong with the Amish? They hold themselves to a higher standard. That is a good thing.

I do agree that swears add realism to games, but, traditionally(going way back, Greek olympics and such), games have been intended as an escape from normal life. Have you ever heard of sportsmanship? Other than basketball, swearing is considered un acceptable in sports, which are games. Also, traditionally, games have been something which has built character, not degraded it.

well, that''s all I''ve got for now
-arsenius

after three days without programming, life becomes meaningless

People swear in real life,

Games imitate reality(well at least some). Thus swearing is brought into games. I don't want my four year old sister hearing it, but she does. She also knows mom and dad really don't like it, so she doesn't do it herself. I play games where I go around shooting people, and I giggle while I do it. I don't do that in real life, although my mouth can be foul. Kids games shouldn't have it. As far as 'hell' being one, that's tought. If I was the developer, and it was in question I would leave it out. But then again the naughty words are the easiest to rap with. Just ask the Insane Clown Posse!

Back on topic manners are taught by the parents, not a video game(well at least in a functional family).

<style>a.h{text-decoration:none;color:blue;};a.h:hover{text-decoration:underline;background:red;};

Snootchie Bootchies!

-=CF=-</html>

Edited by - JwayneT on June 23, 2000 2:32:08 AM

People can choose to be offended by swearing, or they can grow up and accept it as part of the evolution of the language meme.

(btw, I set my desk on fire again last night)

Some people find the word "damn" offensive, while others find it perfectly acceptable. Same with things like "arse", "bitch" and various other lesser-swears. Unfortunely, your fundimentalist approach of "that's bad, it must be stopped" to this forces me to get Taoist on your ass.

Think about before language was developed, how would you describe a chair? Or a fork? Or a small purple elephant wearing a party hat? Now, how would you say "fuck" before language? You couldn't, because it doesn't mean anything. It's only a word, and has all the value of a word. None. It doesn't exist in the physical sense. It can't hurt anyone unless they choose to be hurt by it. (but then, I believe that a bullet can't kill you unless you choose to be killed by it)

Mark Collins (aka Nurgle)
me@thisisnurgle.org.uk

P.S. I'd better quickly explain the concept of a meme for those you you who don't know... A meme is like a gene, but for ideas. The stronger memes get passed from carrier to carrier (be it someone's brain, a book, a website etc etc). With each new carrier, the meme changes slightly, which causes it to evolve (Universal Darwinism) like Chinese Whipsers.. Examples of common memes: Christianity (how many denomitions are there now?), High school shootings (yes, that is a meme) and McDonalds (now where's my cheque?)

Edited by - Godfree^ on June 23, 2000 5:01:58 AM

Edited by - Godfree^ on June 23, 2000 5:28:16 AM

Most ''swearing'' is actually blasphamy (SP?) ie. "HELL" or "G*D D*MNIT!" or "J*SUS CHR*ST!".

i agree with arsenius saying we are just being tuned into whatever the media wants us to be. swearing is actually pretty ugly, thats why they get the ugly people to swear in the video games. to make them look ugly!



-----------------------------
-cow_in_the_well

http://cowswell.gda.ods.org/

You think that a necromantic ex-atheist cares about commiting a little godamn blashpemy????

Mark Collins (aka Nurgle)
me@thisisnurgle.org.uk

N64 are such childish games thats why I don''t like it very much. As far as swaring goes on the the Playstation. I think they don''t use it just to use (well most games anyway) Like in MGS they swear but they use it in a proper situation

Words are words. Whats the harm. Well if someone is going to beat you if you say a word than why say it. If it means nothing why???? Why swear. What do most swear words supposed to mean???? Why don''t we all swear???? Whats the problem with society??? Is there a problem with society???

First off, words might have a symbolic representaion of something someone hates.

Well, someone might be insulted and you might lose a friendship/relationship.

Whats the point of swear words??

What do we acomplish with swear words. People will aviod us. Mock us, beat us.

Why shouldn''t we swear, dunno.

Society, is that thing still around?

End of Program

c:\>

Arsenius: I was the one who edited out the cuss words in DOOM.

---

I don't think that it's really wrong to include an occasional "crap", "what the freak", and those "soft" curses. It's when someone does "f***", "s***", and those cuss words that it's not so cool.


P.S. Since I'm not British, is it considered cursing when I say "bldy"?

- DarkMage139
"Real game developers don't change the rules. Real game developers don't break the rules. Real game developers make the rules!"
"Originality (in games) is the spice of life!"

Edited by - DarkMage139 on June 27, 2000 7:03:11 PM