company policies, and i belief most company that develop & host game right now do some filters with the name. We agreed with their R&R during the registration account, was that our fault in the first place or blizz?

did you try to contact blizzard customer services? maybe they could help u solve this issue.

just my 2 cent.

jtgizmo

Congo161 Posts

May 19 2010 08:57 GMT

#222

On May 19 2010 06:54 ryanAnger wrote:
People associate Dope with Weed (rightfully) and ignorantly are offended by it.

It's just another case of people being fearful of things that are out of their mental grasp, and reacting.

actually i think the entire reason why they use that censorship and all that is not because they are offencive or not, but because to defend themselves against possible law suits. Due to the broken justice system in america you can be pretty much sued for anything and everything....So I dont think Blizz is really trying to be silly about it but rather trying to cover all their options just incase. Always think outside of the box

Grumbels

Netherlands7032 Posts

May 19 2010 08:59 GMT

#223

According to Blizzard's policy I suppose my accountname would be considered offensive as well, since it's the name of a Greek deity (and actually of an asteroid, which is why I named it that way) -- Ceres.

and I have to say, for some reason I don't consider drug references at all offensive. I just don't see what would compel anyone to ban something so innocent such as Dopeman.

gedassan

Lithuania83 Posts

May 19 2010 09:05 GMT

#224

This is not a question whether Blizzard can do this. Sure they can, it is their game. Even when you buy the retail version, you still agree to the TOS.

However, it is obviously not a perfect censorship system and that is what the post is about.

Best to play safe with names, because afterall, I am there for the game (not the name).

The problem would be if I chose a name unaware of what it might mean in some bizarre English slang, and had to face consequences (such as needing to change my name or even reset my account). That would piss me off. And even then, it is Blizzard's game, the only thing I can do to disagree is to not play their game, not buy their expansions and never ever enter www.blizzard.com and try to fight a PR war. Not interested in that, I'd rather play SC2.

It is wrong to be mad at Blizzard, because the developers of the game are not the ones making such PR bullshit decisions as to censor out "Dopeman". Developers are by far the most important people in the company for me, since it is them I can thank for having a good time with SC2. I am sure a lot of them would not mind me choosing a name such as DopeMan or SpeedMan. Not that I want to - but just in case.

Edit: also what jtgizmo said.

Grassy

United States9 Posts

May 19 2010 09:09 GMT

#225

On May 19 2010 17:57 jtgizmo wrote:
actually i think the entire reason why they use that censorship and all that is not because they are offencive or not, but because to defend themselves against possible law suits. Due to the broken justice system in america you can be pretty much sued for anything and everything....So I dont think Blizz is really trying to be silly about it but rather trying to cover all their options just incase. Always think outside of the box

You can sue for anything but it's usually a waste of time. Most frivolous lawsuits get thrown out of court. I can't imagine a legitimate lawsuit against Blizzard stemming from lack of extreme censorship on the bnet servers. Absolutely all games containing online features contain a disclaimer protecting the developers anyway.

If this is truly the reason then Blizzard's legal team is a bunch of pansies.

Prometheus2011

Kazakhstan76 Posts

May 19 2010 09:13 GMT

#226

Does this mean that im about to get banned for
Stimpack.Junkie?
Goddamnit.

xiyuema

87 Posts

May 19 2010 09:18 GMT

#227

its a good policy. think about the good number of parents who buy their kids game (prob alot of you) and they open up sc2 and see retards like dopeman everywhere. whoops thats about 40% of the market when parents dont wnat their kids looking at this stuff.

Jugan

United States1566 Posts

May 19 2010 09:20 GMT

#228

I honestly don't know why you would get banned for "Dopeman"... Sounds a little too crazy. I hope blizzard doesn't go out of their way to censor things like this in the future... Yeah if your name was FUCKINGFAGGOT or something I would be totally for censoring that... but Dopeman? C'mon blizz....

7mk

Germany10157 Posts

May 19 2010 09:21 GMT

#229

it's a brave new world ...

ChApFoU

France2984 Posts

May 19 2010 09:28 GMT

#230

-_________-; This is messed up. I just love the internet, you have the choice between places where ppl will tell you they fuck your mother with a spiked club coz they just lost the game and get away with it and places where "dope" is considered offensive. Me and my friends were just astonished at a few words that were forbidden in French. Like "con" (means dumb/stupid), I mean cmon even my grandmother says that !

Puritanism or anarchy : I just don't want to choose. I'm all for a good mannered community, but bnet 2.0 is turning into a classroom. What's the next step ? Shall we get banned for peeing inbetween games without asking permission to Blizz ?

hifriend

China7935 Posts

May 19 2010 09:31 GMT

#231

You can turn off the profanity filter can't you? Blizzard are just trying to create a cool and friendly environment in the deteriorating shithole that is internet. Can't blame them for that, hell, a large portion of their target market are only kids. Also in live b.net there will most likely be an option for a name change if your name goes against their policy, whereas in a free beta they probably don't think twice before banning.

nimbim

Germany985 Posts

May 19 2010 09:33 GMT

#232

The best thing about American language filters is, that totally inoffensive German words suddenly get censored and new filters censor every word you write before and after the filtered word...

Grumbels

Netherlands7032 Posts

May 19 2010 09:46 GMT

#233

It's the same for several Dutch words. I mean, I understand the need for a language filter to censor four-letter words since enough people object to that, but seriously, this one tries to censor every word that can vaguely be associated with an 'edgy' topic and comes closer to a failed attempt at thought control than an actual language filter.

slOwdance

United States26 Posts

May 19 2010 09:51 GMT

#234

f*uck blizzard

Navane

Netherlands2757 Posts

May 19 2010 10:07 GMT

#235

Blizzard wants little kids to be allowed to play online too. Totally justified.

machia

Germany7 Posts

May 19 2010 10:19 GMT

#236

in my opnion absolutely justified, no need for that kind of nicknames.

Doomgaze

Sweden89 Posts

May 19 2010 10:35 GMT

#237

The censorship was terribad already back in SC1. Couldn't even write the swedish equivalence to "stop (it)". I remember this one guy who registered the name "MobyDick" before Dick actually got censored. Later, anytime you'd call him, you'd get a stupid !"#¤ in the chat. Seriously, Dick is even a real name.

Also who are these people that think their kids don't already know these words from grade school?
I bet the same people that grew up in an opressed world thinking babies were delivered by the storch =[

Midgetraper

1 Post

May 19 2010 10:47 GMT

#238

Anybody who thinks this stupid fucking censorship is justified is an idiot. It's a war-game where you slaughter people, if it's ok for someones kids to play that, why the fuck shouldn't it be ok to view naughty words in the chat? Oh, for the ratings you say? But the ratings don't take into account "online interactions" so that's a bullshit response. There was an article about internet censorship in the mid-90's where they expressed concern that the internet was turning into a big fat censorship zone where freedom of speech was being stomped on with an iron boot. This is fucking it. And I'm not even talking about the ridiculousness of buying a game and then having to be on your best behavour in order to be able to continue enjoying what you yourself paid for. What the fuck has happened with the gamer community to make it fill up with such a huge load of crybabies?? It's fucking pathetic. People are getting their widdle feelings hurt by the bad things someone said during a match? They're the fucking ones who should get banned, not the legitimate players who act like normal human beings. Well I'm out, I just had to register and post this cause most of the responses here are fucking pathetic. Stop trying to justify censorship on the internet. Stop trying to impose some fucking weird american moral code on the rest of the world where it's cool to kill people as long as you don't see a nipple. WHO THE FUCK WHO IS THAT SENSITIVE ABOUT SWEAR WORDS LETS THEIR KIDS PLAY GAMES WHERE THE POINT IS TO SLAUGHTER EACH OTHER????

Yeah, TL/DR: PEOPLE ARE FUCKING IDIOTS, DEAL WITH IT!

Spenguin

Australia3316 Posts

May 19 2010 10:54 GMT

#239

As what's probably been said numerous times in the thread already (maybe) it's probably an automatic filter, have you spoken to blizzard?

ComaCat

United Kingdom33 Posts

May 19 2010 11:06 GMT

#240

As much as that guy is raging a couple posts up I have to agree with some of his finer points. How can you justify playing a war game where you kill things and then justify the ban of language like the word "dope", its crazy.

With the above logic these words with drug related alternate meanings should also be banned:
speed - Amphetamine
acid - LSD
horse - Heroin
bone - Crack/Weed/Heroin
rock - Cannabis Resin/Crack
solid - Cannabis Resin
meow - MCAT
tabs - LCD
bean - Ecstasy
Ecstasy - lol

all regular words as well, there's probably loads more I cant think of, where do you draw the line?