Swearing: It's not big or clever, but is it allowed?

[TheBrogueadier]

Just a quick question.. Did a search and a look through the faq but didn't spot anything about this (mind you, seem to be half blind today so may have overlooked something)

What are the server and forum rules regarding swearing?

In general I'm not a sweary person but occasionally an IC reaction or in a bit of charicter back story writing might necesitate the use of an expletive or two?

[Leaving Hope]

I would prefer that you didn't, and emote * curses * or * swears * instead, since we could have players of all ages on the server.

However, if it's rare and the people you're roleplaying with don't mind, I won't dock you for IC profanity. We are a mature server, after all.

[cmosier]

On this, Sehron often swears, but usually mildly. If it does offend anybody, just drop me a tell and I will watch myself.

[Peridan]

Actually, it's quite a bit of fun coming up with silly or clever curses. Not to mention, there are some that are common in the Realms that you can find by reading books dealing with Faerun.

[Verrath]

Myself, I don't mind profanity, but I have more fun coming up with emotes such as *growls a curse that she really shouldn't know at her age* or *mutters a curse that would make a hobgoblin blush* - and I like reading those from others as well because they leave so much up to the other's imagination.

[nickbeat]

I know the profanity in some cases has led to people becoming very upset OOC and resulted in their leaving the server. Perhaps good riddance, but important to note that directly insulting other characters requires maturity to tolerate.

[Verrath]

More to think about.

Tell my character he's a son of a hobgoblin and I'll chuckle (though he won't). Tell me I'm a [synonym for "female dog"] and I probably won't

Creative curses that fit the setting are fun and make it clear that they are to be taken ICly, whereas some that we frequently like to use in RL probably have little meaning in a FR setting and may be much easier to take the wrong way.

[Phantom Lamb]

I'd suggest if you have any problems with someone's IC cursing, let them know in a tell. I'm SURE our playerbase wouldn't mind temporarily refraining from cursing in your presence. Really, in the case of people leaving, there's not much to be done about that. They should have tried to work it out in tells, similar to how we deal with PVP frequently.

[nickbeat]

Very good point. I do agree with you, but I think our esteemed hosts expect us all to have a thicker skin.

I personally witnessed Kangleton incite another player to anger through Karthus. He did it completely within character but the other player's character attacked Karthus out of anger at the insults. Considering that the other player decided to leave the server, I presume they were personally insulted by the interaction as well.

PL, maybe you can say more about what that person said to you after the fight? I know you were there during the aftermath.

Really, they should learn to separate themselves from their character, but this is a learned skill that some new players have not acquired. I'm always sad to see the loss of a dedicated player, even some of the more inane. I'm impractically compassionate however.

[Dustiness]

Can you bleep yourself? Like, "You stupid *******!"

[nickbeat]

The issue may go beyond just swearing. One can be hostile to another character without using foul language. In the case in point above, Karthus pretty much just called her character stupid over and over.

He did qualify her as "F***ing stupid" however.

[Jaeram]

I personally witnessed Kangleton incite another player to anger through Karthus. He did it completely within character but the other player's character attacked Karthus out of anger at the insults. Considering that the other player decided to leave the server, I presume they were personally insulted by the interaction as well.

PL, maybe you can say more about what that person said to you after the fight? I know you were there during the aftermath.

Hmm... I remember that, I tried to give them the best recap of the situation I could, but did that player ever come back? I think PL went to put her in the DM chamber to have a chat, but I saw her player tag log off the server after she dropped some stuff on the ground. *shrugs* I haven't seen her on since.

Yeah separate from your characters. I know that one of my characters likes to be a dick, but I've never had an ooc problem with anyone, and hopefully people don't feel ooc offended by him.

Edit to the above post by Nick: I believe it was "Stupid Bi***." Honestly, I thought it was funny lol.

[nickbeat]

I thought it was amusing as well, but I could tell that not everyone felt that way. IC my character tried to get her to ignore him, which was influenced by my OOC tendency to patch things up when I can.

Sadly my efforts were wasted when she continued to take the bait and ultimately attacked him.

[Dustiness]

Well, I've always roleplayed by the principal that if the people you're roleplaying with aren't having a good time, then you're doing something wrong. Even cruel and nasty roleplay can be fun for everybody when done right. So if I felt someone was being hurt by my roleplay, I'd change it immediately, even if it wasn't entirely in character for me to do so.

[Machiavelli]

I'm an Australian, and swearing is a national pastime, so in the name of patriotism I like to do a great deal of it! However, and with great sadness, I must admit many of my favourite four (or more) letter words just don't make any sense in the context (they just seem wrong more than anything else).

If people are finding that certain things cause offence, they should poke whoever's saying them in a tell (whether it's reasonable or not is hard to say). Bear in mind that we have players from all sorts of backgrounds and cultures; it's possible for a mismatch of perceptions over whether a word is particularly offensive to cause trouble.

It may depend also on who you're RPing with; if it's with players you know won't mind or take offence then I can't see any problem with it. I'm sure so long as we all show a bit of restraint and maturity we can survive the profanity issue without major problems!