Should Vulgar or Obscene Names Be Allowed?

Vulgar - Lacking in cultivation or taste; Morally crude

Obscene - Disgusting to the senses; Morally abhorrent​

In light of conversation resulting from a recent ban for names such as Kumbucket, Kumtrail, or Vagyna. Players are allowed to freely use words such as "cum" or "vagina" within reason. Or do the optics change for player names since they're persistent? I'm focusing specifically on vulgarity and obscenity, as I think most players would agree that defamatory and discriminatory names should continue to remain prohibited.

ETA: It was recently disclosed by Staff that the names listed earlier were not the direct reasons as to why the player was banned. However, this topic probably remains relevant given that Staff have pointed out the fact the names nevertheless break the T&C.

 

This bit in the T&C means it'll hard to have an objective hard fast rule.

It's a major grey area because what some people find problematic isn't to others (see swearing in Australia).

Do I think there is a right answer to most cases- yes but I'm not enforcing rules and the rule would be to my interpretation. All I can say is this reminds me of the whole Tumblr porn ban where they had to clarify that "male presenting nipples" were allowed (IE topless dudes) which sparked a whole lot of issues within the community about gender and society norms.

If I had to vote I'd leave this alone- you'll know a truly bad name when you see it but trying to expand the rules to be more clear would be even more of a nightmare.

Also- obligatory there's nothing vulgar or obscene about the human body. By the definition of the rules we are not children here, let's not act like we can't see the word vagina without losing composure.

 

Pleas explain me how Kankermage is allowed then ?

for translate reasons only it means CancerMage

This should also be a name that cannot be used in my eyes !

 

Ban coochiepunch

 

What is your point in submitting such a feedback?

Simple answer to this:
No.

Names like Kankermage like @toushiro54321 said means: Cancermage and should not be allowed to.

And if words like you just mention in the begin part of your post should be allowed, that is what kids do back when maplestory got released.

Go play a game you might like and leave mapleroyals alone.

 

Ffffff

 

IGNs like that bother me far more than 'haha peepee' names tbh

 

Even though most of us are oldschool maple players at the age of 25+, Mapleroyals do allow teenagers to play here as well. It's rare for me to find players that young, but it has happened.
Some names aren't really offensive, but rather puns.

Like, BowJob is one such name I think is funny. It's not actually vulgar, but if you know, you know. It's a clever pun basically.

But then we have players with names that are outright pornographic, offensive, or gross. No attempt at being clever, just being edgy for the sake of it. I can't show examples but I'm sure many of you have seen at least a couple players like that. It's not funny or appropriate given the age limit of the server.

 

The point of submitting such a feedback was to provide a space for players to have a meaningful discussion regarding recent events and their broader implications in a long-standing server rule. While I personally do not care whether players want to refer to themselves as Kumbucket or Vagyna, this issue does raise valid questions regarding balancing the fine line between allowing unrestricted free speech and fostering a healthy game environment. Players can make articulated points on their views in a feedback thread rather than screaming into the void on the shoutbox where their messages will disappear within five minutes. Especially considering that staff are having an active discussion internally about whether to allow the player in question to keep their names, this thread and poll can provide guidance on how the community might feel about this issue--even though the sample size is admittedly very small.

Believe it or not, the server's rules aren't (and shouldn't be) unilaterally determined by staff. Rather, it's a collaborative effort between staff and the larger community. It's why scamming is now a bannable offense; it's why harassment is no longer a permanently bannable offense; it's why there's literally an ongoing feedback thread created by an admin to gather feedback from players to clarify a current rule. It's healthy for the community to have an active interest in how the server is managed, and it's why I constantly pushed for community involvement in shaping the server's rules when I was on staff. Telling other players to leave the server because they may want to see a change in the rules is incredibly dismissive to those who want to better their community.

 

I seriously dislike how out of control some of the names have gotten on Royals over the years. Way back in the day there was a player named

Spoiler

ANALMASSACRE

who would smega daily before they got forced to name change. The names I've seen since that point have only gotten worse with time. I'm not looking for people to only have non offensive names, but I also dont feel like reading peoples bodily fluid names or sexually explicit names. Theres gotta be a middle ground on names. What we got right now isnt it.

 

Not just English, also in Spanish they allow swearing and something related to the human body.

It kind of disgusts me that they can't ban Latin people who use those disgusting pronouns.

 

I wish blacklisting also affected the ability to see someone's smegas because seeing vulgar names/avatars once in a while is one thing but being forced to see them because they spam is incredibly annoying.

Like it's understandable if you want to be edgy but it gets old real fast

 

I will add that I think vulgarity restrictions based on the fact that teenagers are allowed to engage with this server is a poor argument.
Teenagers on average already act plenty vulgar and obscene by themselves and I don't believe that them seeing someone with a username like PenisExplosion is going to affect them negatively in any significant way. (Personal experience, but even below the age of 13 I've had peers who'd act far more vulgar than anything I've seen mentioned in this thread so far.)

Furthermore I don't really vibe with the argument of something needing to be restricted on the basis of it being 'gross' without it actively seeking to offend or demean a given identity (which I'd constitute as targeted harassment). Vulgar or toilet humour itself is - meaningfully - a common type of self-expression, which I believe any community having such is overall a net good for said community - even if it also allows for cases of discomfort to occur. Rules on harassment make a good upper limit for how far such self-expression should be allowed to go in my opinion.

This is a fallacy, but I also just don't like adding restrictions like this on largely subjective sensibilities because it means you'd have precedent to also restrict a whole swath of other expressions.

 

Aslong its no Harrasment,Sexism or Racism im fine with almost every Name. Not everything should be moderated imo

 

Based on personal reflection, I'm actually surprised that the poll results are pointing towards no. During the initial discussion on shoutbox, there were comments that a nostalgic private server which likely skews towards an older audience would also likely have less issues with inappropriate names. But perhaps it has the opposite effect, in which an older audience would find less novelty and amusement in "haha vagina" type names.

Just some other food for thought that was raised on shoutbox:

1. What is the prevailing interest here? As I mentioned earlier, the heart of this discussion is balancing free speech with a culture of sensibility. On one hand, there's an inherent interest in permitting free speech outside of direct harassment or discrimination. However, it's worth nothing that a filter already exists in the game to prohibit names such as Cumbucket, Cumtrail, or Vagina (I even just checked lol). So does changing a single letter to bypass the filter meaningfully change the optics of this issue? And does prohibiting these specific names potentially open the door to potential moderation of other names that may not be as vulgar or obscene?

2. Is this an issue that can be moderated fairly and consistently? It was noted that these names in question have existed for years, and were only flagged after a ban for other reasons. It was also noted that other names have long existed which are arguably equally vulgar or obscene. These are all valid points. But my personal viewpoint is that if this issue is important enough to the community, the difficulty of moderation should not be an excuse to forgo moderation (something something don't let perfect be the enemy of good). In addition, prohibiting inappropriate names has been a historic practice for staff since the beginning of the server. Players are now allowed to play on other accounts while waiting for a name change, which is already a huge step up from the past in which players were forced to remain banned on all accounts and unable to play for months at a time.

3. Is this worth the effort for staff to moderate? At the end of the day, we also have to consider if this is significant enough of an issue to invest all this moderation energy into. I mentioned on shoutbox that "it's not a big deal" is a perfectly valid reason to oppose moderation of this rule. Of course, the flip side is that "it is a big deal" is an equally valid reason to support moderation of this rule. But this would require staff to remain vigilant for inappropriate names, field potential reports from the community of inappropriate names, invest time for internal discussion to determine which names should be changed, and then actually process the name changes which can only be done by the admins. Are these names so objectionable to the community that we believe staff should take all these steps to moderate them? This is a question that staff themselves are best positioned to answer, but it certainly is worth asking.

 

People are bothered by Vulgar/Obscene Names but scammers and with morally low ethic are still allowed to play here. I think thats kinda funny

 

I don't like it because when i want to play cute, nostalgic mushroom game, names like that kinda take me out of it

And also the reasons Dave mentioned.

But I get that there's free speech and there's some logistics involved in enforcing it and all that.

Just my personal preference. I don't like those kinds of names

 

I don't think this one is much of a debate. If it's offensive to you as an individual report it and Staff will decide if it's actionable. If someone created a vulgar name for fun, but it gets reported that's kind of on them.

Feel free to go police all the IGNs that are offensive to you and make individual reports on each one if you want to dedicate the time to do so.

Maybe I am in the minority with this opinion - but I ain't got time for all that and I don't care to invest resources in being offended by someone's in game name.