I need to chime in here because your response though honest has some dangerous false equivalencies and likely unintentional misinformation i'd like to address.
Penance, on 25 February 2013 - 06:29 AM, said:
It's almost funny at this point. I've seen threads like this in every game I play..I simply cannot fathom that people are so offended by "bad, offending words" in video games by players, it's almost as if they have never ever never ever never ever stepped foot outside, watched a movie, or TV.
I'm OK with a language filter. Something bothers you OK, I don't understand it, but fine, it bothers you, so put a filter in it. "people will bypass it", then they bypass it.
The reality is, if something is "said" and lets be honest, this is an anonymous medium, everything is nameless and faceless, so a person is told something and gets so offended by it, there are a few things that need to happen here in my opinion, (since this is a thread that appears in every game):
With the exception of oversimplifying hate speech into "bad, offending words" you make some points worth thinking about and I agree some people are too touchy however this is not one of those topics where we can really give a sans context usage a pass. Allowing usage of words that exist specifically for the purpose of and with a history of inflicting harm (regardless of whether harm was intended) will only provide precedence for such language to continue to be used is less "innocent ways", that's a fact.
Penance, on 25 February 2013 - 06:29 AM, said:
1- Get therapy. if something bothers you so much, even something said by a nameless faceless entity, over the anonymous medium of the internet, you have obvious issues you need to deal with...not just OP, but anybody, seek a professional the****** and work **** out.
This misses the point entirely and is pretty unfair. Telling someone who who is deeply insulted by hate speech to "get therapy" is simply justifying and supporting the use of hate speech (implicitly if not explicitly). You never know who is on the other side of your "anonymous" speech or what they have been though, anonymity is no excuse to abdicate human decency. it happens, its not goign to change, but that doesn't make the people who do it any less wrong.
Penance, on 25 February 2013 - 06:29 AM, said:
2- grow up. both parties involved
This is the worst form of a "fairness bias" most stories don't have two sides they have one or many. When it comes to hate speech especially on the internet only one side needs to "grow up" and that is the side using it. Telling both sides to grow up says that both sides are wrong, or in essence that someone is in fact wrong for being insulted by slurs that may or may not be actually and deeply insulting.
Penance, on 25 February 2013 - 06:29 AM, said:
3- get thicker skin. It's nice you finally decided to venture out of your tiny little bubble into the world wide web. i don't know about the fantasy world you may reside in, but in reality people will say a lot of things. some things you may not like. Are you going to censor everybody? Maybe tell mommy someone said something bad on the internet and have her write a letter to your congressman?
This is pretty condescending but bears a tiny kernel of truth. While people can and will say things out of control you do need to try to handle them without breaking down. Counterpoint is that voicing objections is not necessarily whining or crying, it is in fact pointing out a wrong has been done. Equating legitimate grievance with whining is yet another cheap rhetorical trick.
Penance, on 25 February 2013 - 06:29 AM, said:
4- learn how to be competitive...whether you like it or not, it's called trash talking, and it exists in EVERY competitive medium. There are many many levels of it, some acceptable, some borderline, but it's all trash talking nonetheless. learn how to talk back...it helps if you've ever played a sport..
Again good point about trash talk. Being Competetive has little to do with it however, see my response to the first point.
Hate Speech != trash talk
Penance, on 25 February 2013 - 06:29 AM, said:
5- I mentioned it's all anonymous right? I'm pretty sure I did, a few times. How do you know the source of said comment doesn't date farm animals on the weekend..or worse? You don't.
This is very true and why enforcing the TOS aggressiveness is the only bulwark against rampant idoicy.
John Gabriel's Greater Internet Fuckwad theory is alive and thriving. But turn it around for a second how do you know that the person that you just threw a slur out in front of hasn't suffered brutal racism, hasn't been a **** victim hasn't been a victim of abuse, hasn't had that term used as a term of violence against them directly in deeply hurtful ways.
Anonymity swings both ways and it seems it's always ok to say what you want.... except when it's not... except when it's you that gets hurt.
Edited by Agent of Change, 25 February 2013 - 06:54 AM.