People trying to get others banned

There you go, that's the main problem with trying to oppose the T and C, because people like you immediately shoot down anyone whose against it and try to make them look foolish. To you, it may seem like I'm blowing it out of proportion, but that's because a simple comment saying, " why is the n-word banned? That's so dumb...", carries no validity. If you're not willing to actually give reasons why you think its necessary the words should be banned and merely state I'm making too big of a deal over something small then the discussion isn't beneficial to either of us. ( I know you didn't specifically agree with the banishment of the terms, but I'm just giving a general response, not directed towards your personal beliefs regarding it.)

 

No I wouldn't shout out those words amongst strangers in public. That's not the same thing, that's more public indecency which a cop might arrest a person for if they went on long enough. What saying it in maple is more like is saying it in public while your on the phone with someone, which if you did you sure as hell wouldn't be arrested for it if a cop heard. There's free speech in the real world.

 

People are absolutely welcome to say those words in guild or buddy chat or private chats with groups of friends. All we ask is that you keep it amongst your friends who are OK with those words and not use it publicly in all chat or smegas. I really don't think a bit of consideration for people from different places, cultures and backgrounds is too much to ask.

 

It's not. This thread started as a claim that some people see uses of that word as opportunities to ban others and that some leniency should be given to the accused in those cases of predatory banning. This thread kind of went away from that point, but that's the one I was trying to make.

 

Yeah, I just wanted to address the issue being raised by some players.

 

except the places, cultures, and backgrounds that frequently, inoffensively use these words
you could get banned for singing a rap song in reg chat

honestly i really do see a bit of an issue with people enjoying getting others banned, but it's always been like that. The solution shouldnt be "oh take a screenshot if you think someones baiting you so you can take them down with you". If there is a disagreement and someone is being an asshole, i don't want to run to forums and make a report to get them 3 day'd, I just want to say "fuck off" and leave it at that, without them turning it around on me.

i just feel like this is something that everyone should try to remember

 

Yes, although the word used to refer to black people is usually only used by blacks themselves here, I tend not to use it simply because it's quite foreign to me. And I know many others that do the same. 'Straya is a great place to be, this age of excessive politcally correct faggotry is yet to catch on =D

 

A report is made at the discretion of the reportee, this includes their own interpretation of harassment or whatever other rule they're reporting another player for. This topic has been discussed multiple times before, where the community believed that this would lead to vengeful and/or very "minor offense" reports being taken too seriously. If the evidence is clearly within a report, action is taken. Now, I would much rather prefer things be dealt with in-game without the involvement of staff -- and this is my own opinion but I'm sure other staff members and members of the community (this obviously doesn't include everyone) would agree as well. But that is not always the first course of action taken. As many other people have already stated before me, you agree to the terms and conditions when you sign up and whether or not you choose to abide by those rules is completely up to you. With that being said, I don't see the need to smega the N/F word when you still have that freedom in guild/buddy/party, any other chat that is private. I think the topic of us 'repressing' players from saying either word has definitely blown out of proportion to better that side of the argument. Simply put, all we ask is that you keep it within the realm of players you know won't get offended.

You are more than able to sing the lyrics to your favorite song in a private chat (buddy, party, guild, spouse, alliance and whisper), not sure what the big difference is between private vs. all/smegas.

 

Add the baiters to the community black list... done.

 

They're pretty much already on it.

 

I'll be honest, I've been kicked from parties and called names, but I've never seen a reason to file a report because it was just banter
A simple word or sentence doesn't hurt anyone
Now, if someone were to CONSTANTLY whisper/scream obscenities at me, maaaaaaaaaaaybe I'd file a report

Spoiler

I've also been in guilds on other servers where the members would constantly bag on me for being whatever class I chose, but, like before, I never filed a report because it was just banter

Banter =/= harassment

EDIT : I also don't find being "roasted" as harassment

 

It's not about having the "need" to smega these terms, that's just the problem with banning them in the first place because its unnecessary to begin with. No one is going to argue that the words are good words and give reasons for why they should be allowed in all/smega. Why does the staff feel like their accountable for these words people may be offended by? If the banishment of the words have created such a problem over the time the servers been up, why not just allow players from using any words they want, instead of holding onto two specific terms which happen to be offensive to certain people.

The fact that numerous players DO get banned for using the two words is a testament to how many people actually use these words regularly IRL, and don't find them offensive, because even after reading the T and C they still said the word. We can't go out and protect everyone's feeling online but I don't think the players word choices should be limited, even if they're talking in all chat. You can still enforce all of the same rules that have to do with harassment, whether it being someone using the n-word, and ban them. But by lifting the all chat ban on these words it eliminates the factor of people being banned for non-genuine racist remarks.

 

Just because something is normalized in someone's culture doesn't mean it is morally correct.

 

Conversely, the fact that exponentially more players do NOT get banned for using the two words is a testament to how little use they actually have in a normal conversation in an online game, because even without reading the ToC you really shouldn't have much cause to use them. We can't go out and protect everyone's feelings online, but I don't think we need to be using terms that attack or insult groups of people either, especially if they're talking in all chat.

The absolute ban takes away a grey area in determining who should be punished for what they say. If you lift this ban, then does it become two times using a word? Three? does it depend on whether someone was ACTUALLY insulted? If it does, how do you determine that? A single case of a 3 day vs a 7 day ban has previously caused the community to be up in arms over GM favoritism (which is not a thing) so rewriting a rule to be less clear and involve more discretion is a foolish proposition. Since you're championing (and seem to be the only one who cares about) the cause of allowing us to use words we don't need, how would you go about "fixing" the rule as it currently stands?

 

Addressing the first thing you said, no, that's not a testament to how little use the words have in the game because the words themselves are banned from being used, players who use these terms are going against the T&C and can then be banned fair and square, so obviously people are going to re-frame from using it because they don't want to get banned. But again, my argument isn't for having a case to use them, its that no words should be singled out and be banned from using to begin with because it simply isn't necessary. It could go on forever, maybe one day a large population of Jews start playing Royals and we have to ban the word Nazi, because in fact all of those Jews find serious offense in the word. Would you consider the ban of the word Nazi justified, just because people of certain groups take offense to it? Do you see how picking and choosing words to ban can be unnecessary?

You do make a good point in the beginning of you're second paragraph, where you point out potential problems GM's would run into in determining whether the use of the word was offensive. Simply put, they should use their own discretion just like they do to judge any other offensive word used by players that isn't banned. I don't view this as being too much of an extra burden because that's already what GM's do.

I don't believe unbanning the words is a foolish proposition. Even though it technically does make the rules less clear, I think that's a good thing. When you make a rule like the ban on these 2 words, you're saying your going to ban anyone and everyone who uses these terms in all chat, regardless of the context it was used in or the persons own meaning of the word. A more proper rule would be to evaluate each claim of harassment on a case by case basis, which in theory sounds problematic, but I really don't think too many people would go out and start harassing people with use of the n-word deliberately if it were un-banned, because everyone still has to comply with the harassment policy's.

If I could rewrite the rule- I wouldn't. Just allow players to use any word and punish those who directly harrass people. On the other hand I don't think a ban is deserved to anyone who is just using the word casually, in a public place in-game, just because someone else takes offense to how their using it. Ultimately The GM's should respond to any claim of harassment that's made regarding the use of ANY word, and use their own discretion.