Crazy censorship

[insane_alien]

Okay so i was playing 'hitman2' 5 minutes ago, in case you don't know, this is a game where you go around assasinating people and causing general gorey slaughter by the bucket load with various interesting weapons. now, this game is rated 16+ as well. anyway, to the point. during one of the cutscenes i noticed a very crazy peice of censorship. the word 'goddamn'(it was in the subtitles) was bleeped out. what... the... hell...? what were the people who made that thinking? 'sure you can have all the gore you want, just don't cuss while your doing it'

 

and why even use it if its going to get bleeped anyway? why can't people just leave things alone and let the profanity flow along with the blood and guts in games like these. surely the fact that your assassinating people by the hundreds is more obnoxious than a word(or two).

[Dak]

In the words of southpark:

 

Just remember what the MPAA says: Horrific, deplorable violence is okay, as long as people don't say any naughty words

 

 

tbh, i dont get the point of sensoring words in any medium where you can't accidentally hear it, like computer games, as long as there are warnings so that people can choose to expose themselves to it or not.

 

mind, i only bearly see the point of sensoring profanities on TV after the watershead.

 

not that 'god damn it' is really a profanity

[MolotovCocktail]

My guess is that they are attempting to pass off the game as some sort of game that is "for everyone", since most games like that are usually targeted for people below 16 in any case. But on US servers and games, I don't think they bleep out any obscenity, at least when I play games like battlefield.

 

Also, I'm not sure which country you live in, so you may want to look up laws regarding use of language.

 

<edit> we are so used to violence now, it seems, that the kind of violence you see on that game is probably seen as "not so bad" or "normal" nowadays.

[Pangloss]

I suspect humor. Kinda like saying "!@#%*@(" instead of cursing. (shrug)

[insane_alien]

it took e a while to register that they had bleeped it cos it was so random. if your ever in glasgow then you'll realise that there isn't much we would consider 'profanity' you'll probably learn some new ones as well makes no sense.

 

i don't think it was for humour pangloss it isn't a very funny game.(well, there is a bit where a maid looks like shes getting taken from behind by the invisible man which is pretty funny and a guy peeing using his index finger. but nothing funny about the story line.)

[MolotovCocktail]

I really don't get why some words are "bad", especially since we use them so often and very casually.

[ParanoiA]

And particularly since they're only bad because we say they are...why is "crap" just fine, but "shit" is a dirty word? They mean the same thing.

 

Let's just eliminate the silly idea of a word being dirty...

[Pangloss]

I don't know, but I can tell you that with most content ratings there is a cumulative effect on the earned rating. The level of objection to the content is a factor, but so is the amount of objectionable content. How this works specifically with electronic games I'm not sure.

 

This often impacts on films in a similar way, so you'll hear about directors clipping a few seconds off an objectionable scene, getting it checked by the MPAA, then having to remove a few more seconds, get it checked again, etc.

[john5746]

And particularly since they're only bad because we say they are...why is "crap" just fine, but "shit" is a dirty word? They mean the same thing.

 

Let's just eliminate the silly idea of a word being dirty...

 

That would be nice. Then people wouldn't think they were so cool to put them in songs and games.

[ecoli]

It may have been censored because of the God part of the swear, which could be more offensive to some than a different curse.

[Glider]

"We train young men to drop fire on people. But their commanders won't allow them to write "f**k" on their airplanes because it's obscene!"

-Kurtz, Apocalypse now

[Haezed]

And particularly since they're only bad because we say they are...why is "crap" just fine, but "shit" is a dirty word? They mean the same thing.

 

Let's just eliminate the silly idea of a word being dirty...

 

What is kind of funny is that everyone seems to be in general agreement here but I've not heard anyone write the worst words as examples.

 

I think there should be some taboo against using certain words in certain places.

[insane_alien]

why? its almost like saying certain numbers are taboo.

[Saryctos]

why? its almost like saying certain numbers are taboo.

 

23? (car falls fro mthe sky killing me mid senta

[grifter]

Like the number 13, oops I mean the number *bleep, bleep* oh and notice the post who mentioned this taboo number topic, yes thats right folks, this is no mere coincidence.....this, my friends is a conspiracy, one aimed at that most taboo number.

 

No but on a slightly more serious note, i think censoring "rude" words is useful in some situations, including games, despite the HUGELY effective method of writing the number "16" on a game the is a remote minuscule chance that your younger brother or sister may walk past and hear some guy screaming something "rude" as he shoots the living daylights out of some totally innocent shopkeeper, and they may repeat said profanity in front of grandmother, and that isn't right now...is it? And before someone says, "yea but grifter that same kid saw a guy blowing someones brains out, so why is swearing such a big deal"

 

my preemptive strike of a response is:

yes, this is true, but it is very unlikely said younger person will shoot grandmother, (or other innocent civilian) namely because they don't posses a gun or have easy access to one, BUT this child certainly does have a mouth, and that is a dangerous weapon!

[insane_alien]

pfft, i learnt how to swear from my granny

[ParanoiA]

I think there should be some taboo against using certain words in certain places.

 

Why?

 

...is a remote minuscule chance that your younger brother or sister may walk past and hear some guy screaming something "rude" as he shoots the living daylights out of some totally innocent shopkeeper, and they may repeat said profanity in front of grandmother, and that isn't right now...is it?

 

Well is it "wrong" to repeat the words "crap" or "frack" or "darn it" in front of grandmother?

 

I'm still waiting for a good reason for certain words to be declared "dirty", while other words, with the same meaning, are not.

[Saryctos]

Well is it "wrong" to repeat the words "crap" or "frack" or "darn it" in front of grandmother?

 

I'm still waiting for a good reason for certain words to be declared "dirty", while other words, with the same meaning, are not.

 

The only reason I keep coming up with is, the intense emotional response that's hardwired into a lot of people. Certain words will just get you angry, and it's not comfortable to be angry for no good reason.

[Dak]

swearing's useful.

 

not sure why, but i'd feel i'd lost something if no words were 'naughty'...

 

The most I can say is that it possibly plays a role similar to informal/formal ways of addressing someone in other languages... generally, if you can drop the odd swear-word into conversation with someone without raising a complaint, you're quite confortable with them; if you have to refrain from swearing whilst talking to someone, there's an air of formality about the conversation.

 

kinda like (as i understand it) 'du' v 'Sie' in german, or calling someone 'vladmir' v 'vlad' in russian. or saying '**** yeah' v 'yeah' in english.

 

basically, effin' an' blindin' is a way of talking to someone that also says 'hey, we're cool, no need for formality between us'.

 

not to mention that, if someone's been rude to you and you want to reciprocate, '**** off you twat' does a pretty good job, which it wouldn't do if those words were 'ok' (it'd be equivelent to 'go away, you non-offensive pronoun').

 

as an aside, ever seen red dwarf? they replace swear-words with 'smegging this', 'smegging that', 'smeg off you smeg head', and stuf like 'gimboid' and 'goit'.

 

it does kinda makes the whole 'naughty words' thing seem silly

[JohnB]

On a similar vein. I've always wondered if blaspheming is as satisfying for an atheist. If a theist hits his thumb with a hammer there are several very satisfying curse and blasphemes that can be said, but, what does an atheist say?

 

Can a creationist say "Well I'll be a monkeys uncle" with the same depth of feeling as an evolutionist?

[bored_teen]

why does saying "**** you" make sense whilst "sex you" doesn't? or "you dirty bitch" vs. "you dirty female dog"? why are these words even bad? they are WORDS. to quote Dane Cook from Vicious Circle, "Words don't control us. Not anymore."

[bored_teen]

holy shit! did my post get censored????

[bored_teen]

lemme try this again. ****. **** **** ****. yup. censored. oh the irony.

[insane_alien]

well this is forums does have young people visiting it and it is not up to us to decide whether their parents want them viewing swear words. there is that much call for it in science either so its not really a problem. the example i was giving was from a video game that shows a whole lot worse than swearing.

[Pangloss]

Personally I'm with you, bored_teen, but just as I have to watch what I say when I'm teaching a class (I'm regular potty-mouth), we also have to watch what we say on these forums, for much the same reason. (shrug)

 

But it's an ironic twist to your post, sure.