The popular custom map Nexus Word Wars has been banned from Battle.net for containing "inappropriate words." For those who are unfamiliar, the map spawns units with random dictionary words above them and players defend their team's nexus by typing the word to kill the unit.
Apparently, a map reviewer at Blizzard took offense at some of the 32000 dictionary words such as "dyke" which can refer to either a dam, a disruptive sheet of rock in geology, or a lesbian.
Nexus Word Wars was banned from Battle.net, and I can't publish it again.
Blizzard just sent me an email explaining why:
Offense: Inappropriate Map published under this account was found to have contained Inappropriate words above some mobs (ex: dyke)
I didn't know what "dyke" means. I had to look up on the dictionary (It's when a woman loves another woman). Blizzard, please, tell me what words were inappropriate because the game has a 32,000 words database and I can't just look up all those 32 thousand words on the dictionary.
Also, can you please let me publish Nexus Word Wars again with the same popularity?
Hey Rodrigo, thanks for posting. We're actually in the process of investigating the ban already; it looks like you also contacted our support department about it, which was the right move. Someone will be contacting you soon regarding the issue.
I wanted to point out though that the reports we received for the words included in the map’s dictionary were fairly vast, and clearly offensive in most cases. The one quoted in the reason for the ban was the least offensive. In any case, please wait for the customer service contact and they’ll work with you on republishing and any changes we’d require.
On that note, forum posts aren’t the right place to dispute a ban. We want to make sure that anyone looking to do so please use the correct forms of contact so we can address any requests as quickly as possible. The support web form is the correct place: http://us.blizzard.com/support/webform.xml
The fucking game contains a language filter.. ugh I must have brought this up a few times since the map editor was released, we should be able to use any word we want in a game, and users have the option of turning on the language filter, just have the language filter parse the game strings this would be SIMPLE for them to implement.
That is beyond ridiculous, the word is only offensive if you mean it that way. If they were using dictionary words then why would anybody take offense to that. I find it beyond stupid -_-
Yeah this seems a little extreme for Blizzard. Is dyke the only inappropriate word used or was that just an example of many? If it's the only one that just makes it worse because its pretty common knowledge that it means bridge :/
Hey I know what, let's take dictionaries out of schools because kids might look up naughty words. If the above statement makes sense to you, than you might just work for blizzard. + Show Spoiler +
Part of me really wants to believe there is more to this.
It's f'king Nexus Wars...One of the most played maps on B.Net...what in the world goes on in those offices at Blizzard, anyone who actually plays this game would realize how bad of an idea this was.
Instead, Blizzard features boring-as-hell maps like that lava money map. Ugh. Pretty much every noun can have an 'offensive' (to someone anyway) connotation, it's nonsense to go all OMG OMG NO YOU DIDN'T! about this. It's a word. Grow up, map reviewer person.
Hopefully no one wants to make a custom game about a Trans am or a transformer, I suppose using those terms would get you banned too. I wasn't allowed to submit a custom map I had made because (after 2 days we eventually found out) my upload was silently failing because of my game description which said "and then blow each other up" (Blow is a restricted word.)
"This place is gonna %@#$! Quick! Every one to the @$^#%port we're getting out of here!"
On October 13 2010 08:51 professorjoak wrote: Apparently, a map reviewer at Blizzard took offense at some of the 32000 dictionary words such as "dyke" which can refer to either a dam, a disruptive sheet of rock in geology, or a lesbian.
The first 2 definitions are for the word "dike". Dyke means only the third, and it is offensive, much like faggot etc.
see everyone is always like wow when blizzard gets control of stuff its going to be so awesome. The truth is player run shit will always be better than Blizzard run shit. (custom maps, melee, maps, tournys, even ICCUP for BW). I can't think of single thing blizzard can do better than players besides artwork. On top of that they go on a power trip all the time like in wc3 they banned like a few thousand people for maphacking without warning which fucked up the ladder. Blizzard isn't stupid but they certainly not good at their job. Which is why i root for KeSPA over blizzard because both are greedy but atleast KeSPA is good at their job.
On October 13 2010 08:51 professorjoak wrote: Apparently, a map reviewer at Blizzard took offense at some of the 32000 dictionary words such as "dyke" which can refer to either a dam, a disruptive sheet of rock in geology, or a lesbian.
The first 2 definitions are for the word "dike". Dyke means only the third, and it is offensive, much like faggot etc.
Actually both spellings are now acceptable for the first two definitions.
I could understand asking you to remove that word of there is a complaint, but why ban the map and not allow for republishing? That makes no sense at all.
On October 13 2010 09:11 Lunares wrote: I could understand asking you to remove that word of there is a complaint, but why ban the map and not allow for republishing? That makes no sense at all.
This pretty much sums up what I wanted to say.
I mean, by banning the map with the word «dyke», you're only empowering people who would have used it for its negative connotation... Seriously, when did Blizzard go all extreme right?
Despite the root of the game being awesome, the infrastructure surrounding a lot of it is failing hard, and every day I hear another crazy story like this, my faith in Blizzard dwindles slightly
...which is sad, because I really love Blizzard
I mean, isn't Kerrigan called a bitch repeatedly? Not only in SC2, but in SC1 as well...
So the level of offensive material in this map is the same as if you're reading a dictionary.. How can anyone be offended by a dictionary o0.. It's beyond me
You guys are implying that they did not get complaints. I mean yeah, they probably did not and it's probably Blizzard (Activision) being politically correct; but do you know a for a fact that these words were not reported to Blizzard by someone offended?
Hey Rodrigo, thanks for posting. We're actually in the process of investigating the ban already; it looks like you also contacted our support department about it, which was the right move. Someone will be contacting you soon regarding the issue.
I wanted to point out though that the reports we received for the words included in the map’s dictionary were fairly vast, and clearly offensive in most cases. The one quoted in the reason for the ban was the least offensive. In any case, please wait for the customer service contact and they’ll work with you on republishing and any changes we’d require.
On that note, forum posts aren’t the right place to dispute a ban. We want to make sure that anyone looking to do so please use the correct forms of contact so we can address any requests as quickly as possible. The support web form is the correct place: http://us.blizzard.com/support/webform.xml
On October 13 2010 09:06 Ravaker wrote: You can strip Emma Watson on Bnet, but can't have a game that may say dyke in it.
yeah come to think of it, compared to all those strip maps from brood wars, 'dyke' is nothing. And honestly, I'm glad I found out how to turn off those chat censors cuz I was starting to get pissed at how it felt like I was playing Runescape again
i loved that kind of game as a kid, it was fun to play and see how fast you could type. to bad about it getting banned though. oh well, the guy who made that is really clever and will come up with another good game.
Wow come the fuck on, I was worried Blizz was becoming more and more like Nintendo (arbitrarily sticks to their shitty, isolated online gaming service despite customer complaints, going for the web2.0 feel), but that worry was only marginal. Now they banned a DICTIONARY based map for having offensive words? Fucking pathetic. There were fun maps in BW that involved selling drugs and killing everyone in a school (good rpg, if anyone remembers it =p), I take it those will get instabanned.
Come the fuck on, I wish they just gave the game an M rating and were done with it.
On October 13 2010 09:34 PinkPrincess wrote: Sigh, Blizzard really needs to stop being such a carebear company. If people want to swear, be racist, sexist, etc. fine: let them do so.
You realise how fast they'd get sued if they did that?
On October 13 2010 09:34 PinkPrincess wrote: Sigh, Blizzard really needs to stop being such a carebear company. If people want to swear, be racist, sexist, etc. fine: let them do so.
You realise how fast they'd get sued if they did that?
Probably about as fast as they did for not caring about it in the first Bnet? (i.e., never?)
To clarify, I mean on Bnet. I have no problem (and in fact think they should) policing their forums.
On October 13 2010 09:34 PinkPrincess wrote: Sigh, Blizzard really needs to stop being such a carebear company. If people want to swear, be racist, sexist, etc. fine: let them do so.
You realise how fast they'd get sued if they did that?
like google gets sued for having racist videos on youtube?
On October 13 2010 09:34 PinkPrincess wrote: Sigh, Blizzard really needs to stop being such a carebear company. If people want to swear, be racist, sexist, etc. fine: let them do so.
You realise how fast they'd get sued if they did that?
Probably about as fast as they did for not caring about it in the first Bnet? (i.e., never?)
To clarify, I mean on Bnet. I have no problem (and in fact think they should) policing their forums.
Yeah I don't know, the one argument he has in his favor is that it's a T-rated service... but I mean XBL I imagine is 10x worse (from what I hear)... but those FPS are also mostly M, so I don't know.
I miss the good old days of bnet 1.0 where you could host any map you wanted and its qualitiy would determine how much it was hosted not some broken popularity system with admins banning maps all together for what they percieve as foul language.
Awr look you know, it's clear why Blizzard has the policy they do, and while things like this are going to happen and that's unfortuntate and clearly frustrating for the mapmaker, to Blizuz credit they have a process for "appeal" which is in operation and should rescue this particular map.
I appeciate there are people who feel it should be a "wild west"/anarchist state of nature, but it is a Bliz game and it's not unreasonable for them to have a fairly strict "first pass" policy and negotiate on the more difficult cases, such as this one.
The way Bliz handles this kind of thing, no it's not ideal; but it's reasonable in the circumstances.
On October 13 2010 08:57 Meapak_Ziphh wrote: Hey I know what, let's take dictionaries out of schools because kids might look up naughty words. If the above statement makes sense to you, than you might just work for blizzard. + Show Spoiler +
But seriously, wtf?
When I was a kid I looked up naughty words in the dictionary... ._.
On October 13 2010 09:38 Antiochus wrote: I miss the good old days of bnet 1.0 where you could host any map you wanted and its qualitiy would determine how much it was hosted not some broken popularity system with admins banning maps all together for what they percieve as foul language.
Agreed.
Also, even if your map wasn't popular, you could still host it and not rely upon people scrolling down 10 screens to see it. Most of all though, I miss being able to ADMIN MY OWN GAME THAT I HOSTED. If I want to host a custom game and I'm a host of it (in a pub mode), then I can't even kick people who join, even if I know they're laggers/assholes/etc. Plus, for some maps you want to say "only come if you have a level 15 xyz". Wouldn't be such an issue if I could use channels, but the only way to achieve a specific group of people given the lack of custom game control right now is by the terrible party system.
On October 13 2010 09:40 chocopan wrote: Awr look you know, it's clear why Blizzard has the policy they do, and while things like this are going to happen and that's unfortuntate and clearly frustrating for the mapmaker, to Blizuz credit they have a process for "appeal" which is in operation and should rescue this particular map.
I appeciate there are people who feel it should be a "wild west"/anarchist state of nature, but it is a Bliz game and it's not unreasonable for them to have a fairly strict "first pass" policy and negotiate on the more difficult cases, such as this one.
The way Bliz handles this kind of thing, no it's not ideal; but it's reasonable in the circumstances.
2c.
SC1, D2, War3 were all Blizzard games. So far as I'm aware, they never tried to clamp down on people hosting custom games there (D2 they couldn't host custom MAPS, but they never clamped down on game names to my knowledge). I cannot at all see your logic for "it's a blizzard game, that's why they do it".
On October 13 2010 09:42 boxzi wrote: It sounds like some people who played the map found the words and reported it. So you can't really blame Blizzard.
Of course you can. If I report boxzi for making BCs in a game, then Blizzard should just ignore my report since it's retarded. They should similarly do that here.
I didn't realize Starcraft 2 had an ESRB rating of E...
Blizzard is starting to remind me of Neopets in the way they protect against swearing/etc. Next thing y'know they'll start banning people for "inappropriate in-game" language. ~_~
The reason they took it down is because with Starcraft & Battlenet 2, Blizzard is laying claim TO EVERYTHING(remember our maps and replays belong to them). So obviously they're protecting themselves from getting sued. Of course it would be awesome to have a cooperative effort to make something and sue them for it before they could take it down. Teach them a lesson about IP rights eh
Btw just throwing it out there for the SC2 players, there's a wonderful unpoliced world on BroodWar with no filters whatsoever
The real problem is with out government. Under the pretense of protection of the youth lots of laws are passed that end up being censorship laws. Even worse, since those laws are extremely vague and nobody really knows when they will be hit by a lawsuit everyone has to be extremely careful and do a whole lot of self-censorship just to be on the safe side.
Laws that are not precise and force an individual or a company to live in a state of fear because the government could strike at any time are far worse than actual strict laws in e.g. a dictatorship. By forcing people into anticipatory obedience they cause much more harm.
It's very sad to see that Blizzard is following this pattern but it is hardly surprising. Don't blame Blizzard, blame your politicians and fight them with your votes.
On October 13 2010 09:24 some_pro wrote: http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/topic/832103874?page=4#74 Hey Rodrigo, thanks for posting. We're actually in the process of investigating the ban already; it looks like you also contacted our support department about it, which was the right move. Someone will be contacting you soon regarding the issue.
I wanted to point out though that the reports we received for the words included in the map’s dictionary were fairly vast, and clearly offensive in most cases. The one quoted in the reason for the ban was the least offensive. In any case, please wait for the customer service contact and they’ll work with you on republishing and any changes we’d require.
On that note, forum posts aren’t the right place to dispute a ban. We want to make sure that anyone looking to do so please use the correct forms of contact so we can address any requests as quickly as possible. The support web form is the correct place: http://us.blizzard.com/support/webform.xml
On October 13 2010 08:57 Astro Boy wrote: So this person didn't even know what dyke was before they looked it up. Thats so stupid.
Clearly. Everyone who does not speak English is a moron!!111!
Guys... um... oh never mind. :/
This is sad news, at first, but according to the blizz post they only chose the word "dyke" to mention in the email because it was the least offensive. And besides, it looks like once he cleans up the game, he'll be able to republish it.
I think blizz did the right thing. It at least says to me they listen to people's objections on battlenet. Don't get so hung up on it getting pulled down for a couple/few days. Once he fixes it, I'm sure they'll let him put it back up. That's what they aluded to anyway.
Edit: And I know they're just words in the dictionary but.. they kind of have to be in the dictionary, it's supposed to be all-inclusive of a language. Just because words are in the dictionary doesn't mean you need to have those words in just any situation.
On October 13 2010 09:24 some_pro wrote: http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/topic/832103874?page=4#74 Hey Rodrigo, thanks for posting. We're actually in the process of investigating the ban already; it looks like you also contacted our support department about it, which was the right move. Someone will be contacting you soon regarding the issue.
I wanted to point out though that the reports we received for the words included in the map’s dictionary were fairly vast, and clearly offensive in most cases. The one quoted in the reason for the ban was the least offensive. In any case, please wait for the customer service contact and they’ll work with you on republishing and any changes we’d require.
On that note, forum posts aren’t the right place to dispute a ban. We want to make sure that anyone looking to do so please use the correct forms of contact so we can address any requests as quickly as possible. The support web form is the correct place: http://us.blizzard.com/support/webform.xml
"Please don't embarrass us in public".
Hahhaha, I tought the exact same thing when I read that message. How lame they are really.
This makes me very sad. Some areas/sites on the internet seem to have a very pronounced fear of "bad" words.
I never really understood how pixels scrolling by would hurt a person, even a kid. After all, from what I remember of school and hear kids talking about it, they get to hear things about ten times as bad as dyke there and amazingly enough, it neither stops them from growing up nor does it seem to make them turn into insane mass murderers.
People mean well when they are worried about their kids on the net, and there surely are dangers there for them, like pedophiles lurking there.. But reading a swear word ? Talk about being overprotective. And a normal dictionary word ? This is even more ridiculous.
On October 13 2010 08:57 Astro Boy wrote: So this person didn't even know what dyke was before they looked it up. Thats so stupid.
Clearly. Everyone who does not speak English is a moron!!111!
Guys... um... oh never mind. :/
This is sad news, at first, but according to the blizz post they only chose the word "dyke" to mention in the email because it was the least offensive. And besides, it looks like once he cleans up the game, he'll be able to republish it.
I think blizz did the right thing. It at least says to me they listen to people's objections on battlenet. Don't get so hung up on it getting pulled down for a couple/few days. Once he fixes it, I'm sure they'll let him put it back up. That's what they aluded to anyway.
Edit: And I know they're just words in the dictionary but.. they kind of have to be in the dictionary, it's supposed to be all-inclusive of a language. Just because words are in the dictionary doesn't mean you need to have those words in just any situation.
Maps should be whatever the hell people want. If they want to swear and have the entire game be typing Shit, Piss, Fuck, Cunt, Cocksucker, Motherfucker and Tits, then that should be their choice. It probably wouldn't be a particularly popular game if that were the case.
damnit I never got to play this map. Wait.. the people that used to have "Sexy pics ###" that I would look at when I was 13 now started banning maps? How. Dare. They?
I wanted to point out though that the reports we received for the words included in the map’s dictionary were fairly vast, and clearly offensive in most cases.
That is from the Blizzard employee's response on the forum.
Apparently dictionaries are offensive in most cases, clearly. Fortunately they do not use urban dictionary, otherwise the word Blizzard may have to be banned as well.
This is the biggest, most ridiculous over reaction I've ever seen. It's like you all feed of each-others negativity. Blizzard banned a map that had many offensive words in it, the least of which was "dyke" and because of misinformation and basically drama-mongering it's become a huge deal.
All the mapmaker needs to do is dialog with blizzard and make some fixes to get his map back onto the list.
Calm down, grow up, and express your own opinion based on facts, not based on what shit everyone else is smearing around. Part of being a human is being able to formulate your own perspective. Don't just jump on the bandwagon without doing some damn research first.
Thats a real dumb move by Blizzard, I mean maybe they take offense to this but this is the internet. Not to mention, Nexus Word Wars is fucking awesome.
On October 13 2010 09:34 PinkPrincess wrote: Sigh, Blizzard really needs to stop being such a carebear company. If people want to swear, be racist, sexist, etc. fine: let them do so.
You realise how fast they'd get sued if they did that?
Probably about as fast as they did for not caring about it in the first Bnet? (i.e., never?)
To clarify, I mean on Bnet. I have no problem (and in fact think they should) policing their forums.
Yeah I don't know, the one argument he has in his favor is that it's a T-rated service... but I mean XBL I imagine is 10x worse (from what I hear)... but those FPS are also mostly M, so I don't know.
No online games are rated by the ESRB. XBL is terrible, to be honest though. 13 year old kids (clearly that age or younger, you can tell by their voice) shouting racial slurs and obscenities that I've never even heard of.
A perfect example highlighting the choke-hold blizzard has on Custom games. Why is the simple method of "publishing" custom games appropriate to begin with anyway?
this makes me sad. I wonder if blizzard will ever sell the code to run a sc2 server? I doubt it, i think we have better luck finding some employee about to retire to leak a copy or a really pissed off intern.
On October 13 2010 10:05 Uncultured wrote: This is the biggest, most ridiculous over reaction I've ever seen. It's like you all feed of each-others negativity. Blizzard banned a map that had many offensive words in it, the least of which was "dyke" and because of misinformation and basically drama-mongering it's become a huge deal.
All the mapmaker needs to do is dialog with blizzard and make some fixes to get his map back onto the list.
Calm down, grow up, and express your own opinion based on facts, not based on what shit everyone else is smearing around. Part of being a human is being able to formulate your own perspective. Don't just jump on the bandwagon without doing some damn research first.
It was one of 32000 words from a dictionary that were randomly generated in the course of the game (correct me if I'm wrong). This is like the equivalent of pouring out a thousand cans of alphabet soup and some of the letters just randomly formed a swear word. It's not like when you started up the map, it immediately started finding the most offensive words possible and started throwing them at you nonstop until you died. It's not like the mapmaker deliberately typed in the most offensive words he could think of to be included in the map and then turned up their spawn frequency to share with everyone his scintillating wit.
Also, it was a custom map and part of custom content that was in no way forced upon you. It would be different if when you loaded up the single player campaign and right in mission 1 Raynor just starts dropping N-bombs all over the place, but this was a custom map not created by Blizzard, you were not obliged to play, and indeed many players probably would never play (there's a large population of people who rarely/never play custom maps, myself included). This would be different if it was for instance World of Warcraft where someone had a guild with an offensive name and you'd have a pretty much guaranteed chance of meeting one of the guild members eventually in Dalaran or something, lots of people would have gone their entire Starcraft 2 careers without ever finding these words on this particular map.
Also, it wasn't like Blizzard sent an email to this guy saying "hey, we were playing your map when we noticed once when the cosmos align it comes up with some words that some over-sensitive morons and middle-aged mothers might find a tad offensive, could you edit the map to remove these words please?". No, they straight up banned the map without a warning and he can't ever publish it again.
Also, this is a pretty serious issue in that's probably the first example of Blizzard's new draconian bnet 2.0 measures finally clashing with a custom mapmaker (which many of us predicted). It would be one thing if it was an actual situation where for instance someone was trying to sell maps, or mess with the map distribution system somehow, but this (by this I mean a tiny case of some idiots getting upset over characters on a screen) is pretty small potatoes and it's disheartening to see such a massive overreaction by Blizzard.
on a side note, I'm rather interested in what these other 'offensive' words that were excluded from the explanation for the ban are. Many of the more notorious swear words for instance, are not in the dictionary whether due to archaism or slang origins, so if it's some words that are usually construed as offensive but actually have legitimate definitions like damn, bitch, and bastard, that's even more stupid.
soemthing needs to be done about the custom map system,
I can seem to remember a few "HAVE SEX WITH BRITNEY SPEARS" maps in sc1 that made it through....
however this guy like crying about is way too over the top, Take the bad words out and blizz will let your map go, especially since it was somewhat popular. It might take them a week to get their shit straight at blizz but they usually do.
how bad is our society (US) that something that draws from the DICTIONARY is offensive. I swear this is a mass conspiracy to devalue intellect in the US. What's next? Will Thesauruses be outlawed from all Blizzard events?
here is my impression of Blizzard/Western Society: "Words with multiple meaning and definitions are offensive, we shouldn't use them anymore. On top of that, grammar is getting awfully suspicious. ME NOT LIKE BOOK BRAIN PEOPLE, ME GET ANGRY, NO LIKE INTELLI-(word too hard for them) BRAINS."
gg no re Western Society's obsession with being inoffensive to the point where it offends people who appreciate dictionaries and their usefulness
but blizz games say 'bitch' and 'shit' but nexus wars is banned...
sigh....how do i get outta this chicken **** outfit? blizzard lost its balls, a shame. just makes me shudder when i think about what d3 is going to look like.
This is just stupid, and i my be a little bite mess up but in my mind i would , if was a dyke that is, be offend not that word is in use but that blizzard has it labbel as an inappropriate word and banned the game becuse of it.
WC3 was a better game for custom maps, IMO......at least it wasn't censored or moderated (except for maps with viruses). Wish I could sell SC2 ;_;, I haven't played it since release much. I really love watching melee matches from pros, but I don't like playing it and I didn't enjoy the SP/customs as much as WC3 =/. The custom maps will get better over the years, though...
People keep saying that it's a permanent ban. Can someone provide proof of this? I haven't seen a shred of evidence saying this map can't be fixed and re-published.
eDit: SOO Much QQ and over-reacting. Did you guys get lost on your way to the blizzard forums?
dont see why they would ban over words... again i direct you to the single player campaign where every other character swears...
and another point is nothing can be offensive in the dictionary as none of it is used in context at all.
for example "Dyke" has several meanings, none of which are offensive.Even in the most logically possibly offensive definition. If your a lesbian the term itself is not offensive, it only becomes offensive in a derogatory context.
in the english language there are truly only a few words that are offensive by themselves, which i know those werent in this map =/
I liked the other online games that had the simple disclaimer "Warning: game experience may change during online play" and after that anything goes. I really liked this map..
It's nice how they'll ban a map like this, but let maps like Nazi defense where you have to kill Jews and the plethora of "Strip ______ " games circulate throughout b-net 1.0 ums.
Man, this was one of the few custom games I actually played in-between ladder matches to take a break..
Was extremely fun and relaxing, great to just to calm down after playing some intense games.
Can't believe people would get offended by words in the dictionary. Shouldn't be able to remove one of the most popular games because a handful of people complained.
Fucking stupid, that game is so unique and more enjoyable than most of the custom games and I don't think anyone is getting offended by the random swear words that come about every now and then.
Although I am totally against blizzard banning this based on 'inappropriate language' in a game with a word pool from a dictionary - I will note that it was not only the word 'dyke' that came up in the game. Playing it myself after the update, I also encountered 'cock, tit, and even cunt'. The first two I can reason. The last one i'm not so sure.
Blizzard should have requested a fix on the game, not banned-without-warning. That's ridiculous.
On October 13 2010 09:34 PinkPrincess wrote: Sigh, Blizzard really needs to stop being such a carebear company. If people want to swear, be racist, sexist, etc. fine: let them do so.
You realise how fast they'd get sued if they did that?
Did anyone sue them for old battle.net? So much nasty/offensive shit. Its user generated, they should not be accountable for it, the users should. This level of map moderation is just fucking annoying.
This just sucks. NWW was so much fun, and I really hope he's allowed to re-upload the map. Sure there was some questionable language, but every online game has the tag "Experience may change during online play". It was against the TOU so I guess it's justified that way but still, some logic would be nice. I just want to know which players actually reported the map for being inappropriate. Someone who got rocked their first time playing probably.
On that note, forum posts aren’t the right place to dispute a ban. We want to make sure that anyone looking to do so please use the correct forms of contact so we can address any requests as quickly as possible. The support web form is the correct place: http://us.blizzard.com/support/webform.xml
In other words, don't make us look like dicks on our own forum.
Ugh... I can understand Blizzard banning wildly innapropriate maps (like the old WC3 porn maps), but banning an entire map, and all the effort put into it, just for a couple of offensive words? Not cool blizz.
Honestly, prolly 1 of maybe 3 good UMS maps... A ban is WAY overboard. Some of the words WERE offensive and made me giggle in a 10 year old sort of way, but really, a BAN??? Just let him get the offensive words out and put it right back where it belongs.
On October 13 2010 12:49 SeeDLiNg wrote: Honestly, prolly 1 of maybe 3 good UMS maps... A ban is WAY overboard. Some of the words WERE offensive and made me giggle in a 10 year old sort of way, but really, a BAN??? Just let him get the offensive words out and put it right back where it belongs.
Blizzard has a language filter in game, a slight adjustment to how it works could prevent any text fields in the game, not just chat text from containing offensive language. Along with the rating of the game, and the fact that players can choose at any time to turn on a language filter, Blizzard's decision here is not only a great abuse of power through its EULA/Terms of Use but also one of laziness for not simply fixing their language filter to filter all offensive words and text appearing in custom maps.
Good to know Blizzard is on it. Hopefully the map maker can just ctrl f some obvious offensive words out of his 32,000 vocabulary, or incorporate Blizzard's word filter in somehow.
In any case, Blizzard would be extremely dumb to keep this custom map off the radar, it's freaking amazing. Such an amazing game mode for competitive and casual players.
This is retarded, if Blizzard can pick out like 3 bad words from a specific UMS game in SCBW, then why is it not monitoring the entire UMS games list on bnet (including d2 and wc3) which contains billions of 3rd party item store ads (d2) and actual pornographic ums scenarios (wc3)? It's not the language, it's the game. Blizzard is seriously trying to destroy their own game (SCBW) to promote their new one (SC2) and it's just disappointing.
I can understand illicit graphics but... banning due to certain vulgarities? It's not even like they were being used in an offensive way - they were just appearing randomly as per the game dictates.
this is just retarded... what makes me more mad than the ban, is the response by the mod.
first of all, words are not offensive unless directed towards people, anyone who cries over a word simply existing needs to grow the hell up especially when it is made clear that every single word is in the dictionary and is therefore no more offensive than reading the dictionary.
second, this game has curse words in the single player and i regularly get people insulting the shit out of me in ladder just for using any given strategy. blizzard doesn't seem to mind either, so why the hypocrisy?
third this is a T rated game so people who are crying about offensive words should've read the damn rating before buying the game and realized that online play isn't even rated and you are running the risk of being offended by simplying having the internet.
fourth this is a custom made map that blizzard shouldn't be trying to control and censor in the first place. how about you make a not shitty custom map system before you go and try to censor one of the only custom maps that even make it through that garbage?
if blizzard keeps pulling this hands-on-everything bullshit i'm going to get out of their system with the quickness as soon as its possible to play on private servers. honestly i think i'm already at that point as it is, but stuff like this makes me impatient for it to come out already. it feels like i lose faith in them with every move they publicly make and that they can't do anything but take 5 steps backward before accidentally stumbling forward a step.
On October 13 2010 14:37 Herculix wrote: this is just retarded... what makes me more mad than the ban, is the response by the mod.
first of all, words are not offensive unless directed towards people, anyone who cries over a word simply existing needs to grow the hell up especially when it is made clear that every single word is in the dictionary and is therefore no more offensive than reading the dictionary.
second, this game has curse words in the single player and i regularly get people insulting the shit out of me in ladder just for using any given strategy. blizzard doesn't seem to mind either, so why the hypocrisy?
third this is a T rated game so people who are crying about offensive words should've read the damn rating before buying the game and realized that online play isn't even rated and you are running the risk of being offended by simplying having the internet.
fourth this is a custom made map that blizzard shouldn't be trying to control and censor in the first place. how about you make a not shitty custom map system before you go and try to censor one of the only custom maps that even make it through that garbage?
if blizzard keeps pulling this hands-on-everything bullshit i'm going to get out of their system with the quickness as soon as its possible to play on private servers. honestly i think i'm already at that point as it is, but stuff like this makes me impatient for it to come out already. it feels like i lose faith in them with every move they publicly make and that they can't do anything but take 5 steps backward before accidentally stumbling forward a step.
Blizzard should not ban for this because online play is not under any rating system anyways. It is the user's obligation to decide whether or not to expose himself/herself to the risks on online video gaming. It does no good to ban maps like this because sc2 isn't getting a better rating out of it.
lol wow blizzard's starting to get carried away =/ hackers and cheaters i understand, but i dont know about this theyre controlling out freedoms and liberties kinda
On October 13 2010 15:12 LlamaNamedOsama wrote: The moral of the story is that blowing organisms into bloody bits is fine, but curse words are not. Yay for inconsistent social norms!
Agreed ^^
Ripping a head off a greek god? Fine.
A woman who has breasts and nipples? AO!! SOCCER MOM RANT!!
I though Blizzard would be better than this... At least they could of contacted the uploader with a list of words to remove.
I find it quite funny that Blizzard starts to censor their own platform. It´s deeply appreciated in the FruitDealer props post that you cant post the word Grapeling without being censored as well.
I do not think it will be helpful for Blizzard to censor its own fanbase, on the other hand they want to keep the game as clean as they can (iE giving the option to report players for excessive flaming).
It is hard to judge over words and the meaning of it, but I think Blizzard is doing well with reacting to the users who put effort into it and are willing to change the "inappropiate" content.
Honestly, dyke is one of the least offensive words I've had to type on that map. Sometimes you have to type cocksucker and cunt and this, that, and the other thing. If I'm not mistaken, all the "curse words" come out of the same unit type as well (cant double check since its not online), so while they can be defined via other dictionary purposes, they are grouped together in such a way that might imply that dyke is meant to be offensively used.
This isn't to say that I agree or disagree with Blizzards stance in regards to "all content online should be safe for 10 year olds," I'm simply saying that there's undoubtedly a large amount of swears/curses/vulgarities that I've had to type.
:-( Blizzard is realy disapointing me, more and more bad choices from them.. what happen to this cool games creators, maybe wining to mutch money force them to be like that ?
In the nexts Patch, we'll have warn/ban for be impolite ingame ?
I know no country where they try to censor swearing as much as the USA. Yet I'm sure every kid at age 5 has heard the f-word already. Such a waste of energy at Blizz..
So freedoom of speech is not even allowed in UMS according to blizz now? I mean i wc3 there were maps like escape gay heaven and are you a retard which may have been offensive to some but if we're gonna spare everyones feelings by censoring everything offensive then blizz is gonna have to work a lot and get hated for doing that shit.. So yeah the is ridicoulous.
I blame activision for these kind of nitpicking bans and such. Blizzard has always come off as gamer dudes who want to improve the gameplay and dont really care about little problems, only large and VERY offensive ones. I'm very happy with sc2 in general, but custom maps are incredibly weak compared to sc1, even early on sc1, because many map developers get turned off by silly stuff like this. I loved customs in both sc1 and WC3 so much that i pretty much neglected the real RTS game, now it's the opposite.
Can't they just add a tag to maps with what they consider inappropriate content and be done with it? It sounds like a lot less trouble than banning popular maps because of a few gaffes by the author.
Yes, it's a trash policy that we've known for a while came with Battle.net 2.0.
The Internet is supposed to be a place where 13 year olds can get exposed to adult humor, not a place where adults all get subjected to Disneyland nonsense in every other custom map.
America, land of the free! Where we even ban words from our own dictionary!
Dunno how much @#$@$@ words the sc2 campaign consists off, but if any, they should ban their own single player campaign....
I can't understand the people who make such standpoints, I wanna talk with them can anyone bring me in contact with those people who are offended by those words?
*** Newsflash *** Words mean nothing until you give a meaning to them
-ps I am so happy we can say garbage words on Dutch television, its awesome!
So freedoom of speech is not even allowed in UMS according to blizz now?
America, land of the free!
Hurray, more people who don't know what "Freedom of Speech" means.
Civics lesson. The First Amendment to the United States of America's Constitution prevents the government from making laws that would impede the freedom of speech. Note the key phrase "prevents the government".
Blizzard Entertainment is not a government. God willing they will not become one anytime soon. They are not the United States' government, and thus the First Amendment does not apply to them.
It's fine to not like the heavy handed way Blizzard goes about maintaining their game rating. But calling it a violation of free speech is simply ignorant. Blizzard has never said that you have free speech rights on their servers, nor has any legal document forced them to do so.
Words mean nothing until you give a meaning to them
... and? I fail to see how this stops particular words from being a priori offensive to people.
The simple fact is this: having a set of rules makes it easier to enforce the rules. It's much easier to simply ban all uses of the word "Dyke" than to have someone analyze each use to see if it is used in an offensive way. The latter takes far more effort. And, because the inoffensive uses of the word can easily be substituted by other synonyms without losing any communicative ability, there's no real problem with forbidding the use of the word.
Don't you guys think it's weird that gay and dyke are banned words? They're not even insults unless you're a homophobe. I wonder if the gay starcraft players feel a bit pissed about it.
Just go back to SC and WC3 where you could say whatever the hell you wanted, no problem. then they came with wow and started censuring words like fuck and really I'm okey with that. But now they are just getting ridiculusly out of control. They need to seriouly rethink their whole "Big Brother Blizzard-Activision is always watching you" attitude. Now they think the words BLACK & WHITE is offensive, next week they will censur the words korean, american and german.
this is US only i hope? Havent logged to SC2 in a while i hope there is Nexus Word Wars in EU server.
It sux that in US Sc2 is for 13+ years old and in EU for 16+. years old (Sux for you americanos)
According to the rating in EU the game can have:
This rating is applied once the depiction of violence (or sexual activity) reaches a stage that looks the same as would be expected in real life. More extreme bad language, the concept of the use of tobacco and drugs and the depiction of criminal activities can be content of games that are rated 16.
So words like dyke are allright in EU. If according to Blizz they arent it would mean they aim at pegi 13 rank ^^ which would shoot them in the leg (stimpack anyone).
EDIT. Well the Teen rating in US also allows bad language... so it makes it even more laughable
I would say that it's completely justified. Blizzard has taken a stand on what kind of words/profanity they want to have in their game. Regardless of how lame this might be, they are at least showing that they are standing up for their principles.
I actually think it's nice that they seem to be willing to cooperate with the author to find some kind of compromise.
Personally I don't mind profanity in the game and I think censorship is not something that should have a place in modern society. But nonetheless, Blizzard has their rules and they are following them up.
On October 13 2010 20:29 Zrana wrote: Don't you guys think it's weird that gay and dyke are banned words? They're not even insults unless you're a homophobe. I wonder if the gay starcraft players feel a bit pissed about it.
IIRC, came is also censored. I mean, seriously, came is an obscure way of saying drugs in french, why would it be censored ? Let's not even mention "black" and "white". I don't see how Blizzard expects to launch the Marketplace anytime soon, nobody would want to make a map given the tou.
And Again some people who feel offended ruin it for everyone. If you guys haven't seen it you should watch "This film is not yet rated". It is about american movie rating as a form of censorship by (SPOILER).
What really bothers me about this new system that I won't be able to play "inapropriate" maps. There was this great map in WC3: Randgruppen TD (Fringe group TD). Highly offensive. You could pick one of several minorities. Like East germans, foreigners, Drug users, sick and old people, women etc. Every tower had his own insulting, but hilarious description, often using the popular clichés. Also the map gave you helpful hints. Like "Use a maze to defeat the enemy" and later in the game these tips changed to "It is often a good idea to shake a persons penis as a form of greeting". So this map was very tongue-in-cheek, but increadibly offensive and I will never be able to play it with my friends in private, because of this ridicioulus custom map system.
I think it's justified. Battle.net is a large space with lots of users, young and old. It has to take the least offensive road. Do you think kids learn the meaning of the word "dyke" as being a dam or a vertical lava flow first? Do you think that they learn "faggot" as being a bundle of sticks first? I sure as hell didn't.
Now if these words were used in context (ie. "Jim, go blow up that dyke and flood the zerg") I think it would be fine. But nexus word wars has no context.
I remember in beta the French word for "yesterday" was censored if you didn't desactivate the language filter, that was kind of problematic...I don't know if it's still the case.
On October 13 2010 22:02 NormandyBoy wrote: I remember in beta the French word for "yesterday" was censored if you didn't desactivate the language filter, that was kind of problematic...I don't know if it's still the case.
Same with the German word for "less" - "weniger" becomes "we*****". But that change still exists on live.
On October 13 2010 21:57 sikyon wrote: I think it's justified. Battle.net is a large space with lots of users, young and old. It has to take the least offensive road. Do you think kids learn the meaning of the word "dyke" as being a dam or a vertical lava flow first? Do you think that they learn "faggot" as being a bundle of sticks first? I sure as hell didn't.
Now if these words were used in context (ie. "Jim, go blow up that dyke and flood the zerg") I think it would be fine. But nexus word wars has no context.
I don't understand the context of Nexus Word Wars because I don't play many custom maps. That being said I don't understand Blizzard's stance on this issue. As it has been mentioned there is an in game word filter, the single player campaign is loaded with dubious morals and drug use and in the greater context of the gaming world the online experience over Live playing Reach is probably ten times worse (or for that matter playing any game over Live), when it comes to expanding a young person's vocabulary.
I can understand it, given the power of blizzard's map creator, that they don't want things which are blatantly obscene running about - but then again thats what the report function is for. Banning a map which seems to pull words at random from a dictionary list strikes me as an over reaction.
1. an embankment constructed to prevent flooding, keep out the sea, etc 2. a ditch or watercourse 3. a bank made of earth excavated for and placed alongside a ditch 4. ( Scot ) a wall, esp a dry-stone wall 5. a barrier or obstruction 6. a vertical or near-vertical wall-like body of igneous rock intruded into cracks in older rock 7. informal ( Austral ), ( NZ ) a. a lavatory b. ( as modifier ): a dyke roll
So because a word is co-opted as a a derogatory term for something, we can't use it?
Someone tell Fruit Dealer to change his name, he's obviously a pimp trafficking in male prostitutes.
Although I can understand Blizzard's standpoint a little bit, I believe a complete ban is absurd. A request would have been fine and if the mapmaker doesn't comply then a ban would have been just. I remember the array of maps back in SC1 UMS: "Dodge the Rapist", "Strip Kerrigan/etc", "Nude Pic #1329". So I can understand the need to regulate the publishing of maps to some extent, but Blizzard needs to be clearer as to what gets deemed offensive rather than being too sensitive/scared on the topic.
On October 13 2010 20:45 shinwa wrote: I would say that it's completely justified. Blizzard has taken a stand on what kind of words/profanity they want to have in their game. Regardless of how lame this might be, they are at least showing that they are standing up for their principles.
Hurray, more people who don't know what "Freedom of Speech" means.
Civics lesson. The First Amendment to the United States of America's Constitution prevents the government from making laws that would impede the freedom of speech. Note the key phrase "prevents the government".
Blizzard Entertainment is not a government. God willing they will not become one anytime soon. They are not the United States' government, and thus the First Amendment does not apply to them.
It's fine to not like the heavy handed way Blizzard goes about maintaining their game rating. But calling it a violation of free speech is simply ignorant. Blizzard has never said that you have free speech rights on their servers, nor has any legal document forced them to do so.
Words mean nothing until you give a meaning to them
... and? I fail to see how this stops particular words from being a priori offensive to people.
The simple fact is this: having a set of rules makes it easier to enforce the rules. It's much easier to simply ban all uses of the word "Dyke" than to have someone analyze each use to see if it is used in an offensive way. The latter takes far more effort. And, because the inoffensive uses of the word can easily be substituted by other synonyms without losing any communicative ability, there's no real problem with forbidding the use of the word.
Thank you...its amazing to me that people still believe that the 1st Amendment grants them immunity to all criticism and retribution in the private sector for what they say. If you talk shit about my mother in my house, the 1st Amendment doesn't protect you and I reserve the right to kick your ass out. If a pundit on CNN starts talkin shit about Jews, they have every right to terminate his contract. If you post useless, whiny troll posts on TL.net, they can ban you. And finally, if you use words in you custom map that BlizzardActivision doesnt agree with, they can ban it.
Oh, and to all those "sticks and stones" guys who try to justify their usage of offensive slurs, whether they be racist, homophobic, or otherwise, prove to the rest of us that you have never in your life taken offense to something someone has said. Yea, you can be above all that and that is admirable, but you should be able to understand people who take offense to certain words or phrases.
Edit: Oh, but I still feel that banning this map based on a word like "dyke" is kinda stupid. "dyke" is an accepted form of spelling for "dike" meaning a ditch. I havent played this custom tho, so if they were using "dyke" as the derogatory term for lesbian then i guess the ban is understandable.
On October 13 2010 20:29 Zrana wrote: Don't you guys think it's weird that gay and dyke are banned words? They're not even insults unless you're a homophobe. I wonder if the gay starcraft players feel a bit pissed about it.
IIRC, came is also censored. I mean, seriously, came is an obscure way of saying drugs in french, why would it be censored ? Let's not even mention "black" and "white". I don't see how Blizzard expects to launch the Marketplace anytime soon, nobody would want to make a map given the tou.
Came is the past tense of come, which in the US has another meaning besides the one you learn in ESL. Come = cum(ejaculate). Came = ejaculated.
Is it filtered in the US as well I wonder? Or is came a more common French way of referring to drugs than you are letting on?
Its funny how many porn maps there were for WC3 and then now they are so draconian over anything
honestly considering how hard they censor everything Im almost surprised they didn't go the nintendo method and just forbid anyone from talking to anyone else. Those crazy users could say something that someone somewhere might find offensive BAN HAMMER! They really need to lighten up on the chat filters (and yes I do have them off, but it still effects map publishing.)
On October 13 2010 21:57 sikyon wrote: I think it's justified. Battle.net is a large space with lots of users, young and old. It has to take the least offensive road. Do you think kids learn the meaning of the word "dyke" as being a dam or a vertical lava flow first? Do you think that they learn "faggot" as being a bundle of sticks first? I sure as hell didn't.
Now if these words were used in context (ie. "Jim, go blow up that dyke and flood the zerg") I think it would be fine. But nexus word wars has no context.
That's just stupid. The amount of censorship exhibited by Blizzard in ALL their games, not just sc2, should be abhorred.
You used the wrong word in your sentence by the way - "go blow up that dike. Sounds like you need to play more word wars - oh wait, you can't, because Blizzard is staffed by a bunch of sissy prudes.
This stance by blizzard is so disgusting to me I've decided not to buy starcraft 2. I really love the game but I can't morally justify supporting a company that's in such stark contrast to my personal opinions on freedom of speech/expression.
On October 13 2010 20:29 Zrana wrote: Don't you guys think it's weird that gay and dyke are banned words? They're not even insults unless you're a homophobe. I wonder if the gay starcraft players feel a bit pissed about it.
IIRC, came is also censored. I mean, seriously, came is an obscure way of saying drugs in french, why would it be censored ? Let's not even mention "black" and "white". I don't see how Blizzard expects to launch the Marketplace anytime soon, nobody would want to make a map given the tou.
The reason for came being censored is not the french meaning of the word... However its still ridiculous.
The word "slut" means "the end" or "depleted" in swedish, which is also funny when it gets censored ^^
On October 13 2010 21:57 sikyon wrote: I think it's justified. Battle.net is a large space with lots of users, young and old. It has to take the least offensive road. Do you think kids learn the meaning of the word "dyke" as being a dam or a vertical lava flow first? Do you think that they learn "faggot" as being a bundle of sticks first? I sure as hell didn't.
Now if these words were used in context (ie. "Jim, go blow up that dyke and flood the zerg") I think it would be fine. But nexus word wars has no context.
I think its absurd for Blizzard to act as some kind of nanny in this regard. At the very least, offensive maps should just get an 18+ tag and people can decide for themselves (assuming they are old enough).
I find this to be a little... extreme (to not use the word stupid). My God, it's not like the game was made only of inappropriate words. The words came from a dictionary - a DICTIONARY. Words are words. People give them meaning. Black and White are colours. I'm sure the people that invented this language and it's grammar, didn't invent those words specifically just to use them to look down upon other human beings -.-.
Blizz needs to stop trying to police the whole language being a grammar nazi.
I'm sure this'll be sorted out soon; but not before Rodrigo gets his laptop repaired, which he needs to upload a fixed version of the map.
Keep in mind that there actually word less harmless words than "dyke" in there, among them "cocksucker", "crap", "cunt", "fuck" and "bullshit". So it's actually understandable that Blizzard bans the map if it gets multiple coherent reports that these words are used offensively in the map (assuming they can't find the time properly checking the truthfulness of all these reports). Obviously few objective observers would report that map as offensive because of these words (and the way they are used) - but seeing the popularity of the map the number of complaints of nit-picky/cruel/actually offended people would eventually have to reach a critical point.
Now please stop qqing about "fascist blizzard," when all they're doing is complying with the esrb.
Blizzard is still in compliance with ESRB without the word filter or any oversight on the community produced UMS maps. There is always a *Online experience may change attached. This is why we were blessed (/sarc) with such maps as Dodge the Rapist et al. in SC1 and yet SC1 still maintained a T rating. Blizzard is choosing of their own accord to censor their online community.
Lol who the hell get's offended by randomly generated words in a NExus word wars game.
Omg lol. It's like
"Oh yea I have too much time on my hands, let me report this game because I'm an idiot with a broom stuck up my arse".
The people who get offended by a game are going to have a very harsh and difficult life ahead of them.
Also, I'm almost certain people just reported because they didn't like the gameplay of those games. (Perhaps they thought it sucked?) I mean seriously......
wow this is just a sad move from blizz. I actually like that map more then all of the other ones guess ill be switching games when i dont feel like laddering
An another note, I understand where Blizz is coming from, but doesn't every game have a ESRB notice saying "gameplay experience may change during online play," or something? What if there was just a warning in the map description.
EDIT: Realize my comment was already posted, but I 2nd it.
even tho the map was extremely boring this is just ridiculous. Whats wrong about a lesbian and whats wrong about these words..? Blizzard once again astounded me, even more than when 1.1 was released.
I never knew what dyke meant, be it lesbian or... whatever else it can be, but if those are the least offensive words.. then good for blizzard, they at the very least responded to that email quickly and explained. now I think the only thing to be done is have some one look at the map then send it to blizzard to check.
however every word from the english language can prolly be offensive if used properly. for example:
"you're nothing but an example to show kids to not drop out of college!" Although I guess it's not really the same
BLizzard does need to grow up. I say if the words are double meaning don't ban them, it's not like that word was wh*re. and besides, all these second meanings have come around in the last 20 years, dyke was a spire of geologic rock ever since the first geologists were around, and because some remote little town in the middle of no where started using it as lesbian then blizz bans iy. I mean come ON blizzard, I understand if some other words in there were more offensive but you prolly noticed many more words similar to dyke. ugh!
I guess Blizzard feels they need to watch out for the 8 years old and their little virgin ears (or eyes in this matter)... while there playing a war game... that Blizzard made...
I wouldn't really add this to Blizzard's responsibility, but i really fucking hate how everybody is trying to play saints like there should be no cursing and shit. I mean the world is dirty hellhole as it always was and humanity is a big ruthless pile of money hunting shit that doesn't really care about anything besides itselves (and still manage to damage the enviromenment we live in). Kids that are 4 years old running around and cursing even they don't really know what it means and people care about a game which says words like "dyke"...reallly?
On October 13 2010 15:12 LlamaNamedOsama wrote: The moral of the story is that blowing organisms into bloody bits is fine, but curse words are not. Yay for inconsistent social norms!
Agreed ^^
Ripping a head off a greek god? Fine.
A woman who has breasts and nipples? AO!! SOCCER MOM RANT!!
I though Blizzard would be better than this... At least they could of contacted the uploader with a list of words to remove.
Good point.. in the campaign you can literally shoot innocent colonists into a blood smear and somehow that's OK. Puritans :-/
What the hell is wrong with the people reporting these maps ? I cant understand whats going on with them. I mean on the european server 90% of the maps are stupid fakes and every jerk tryes to copy the map and get it up in the list via bots. Those maps don't get banned... But a original map gets banned becasue of some "offensive language". That just shows how horrible the system is atm. God i hope this gets fixed asap.
It was never a problem in wc3.. Really everything was perfectly fine from the get go. I played custom maps through the entire time of wc3 classic to tft and never thought the system was stupid. And i couldn't imagine before sc2 beta release how a system really could be so much worse than wc3 custom map system. So really if the aim was to really mess up custom maps, hosting games and releasing maps, i think the current system is what it would look like.
this kind of stuff annoys me, the games full of gore in every battle and its rated T for Teen ffs, if it were rated E thatd be another story but come on.
Kids that are 4 years old running around and cursing even they don't really know what it means and people care about a game which says words like "dyke"...reallly?
What do you expect? They come (uh, sorry, banned word) from the USA, the land where some old broad's pierced nipple falling out of her attire for 2 seconds on TV was discussed for a year as a heinous crime against morality.
Blizzard is just jumping on the morality bandwagon. If they outlaw the word "come", the bigotards can't really say they didn't do enough to protect their children from the perils of being a part of the internet community. Doesn't matter these kids have probably already had the pleasure of viewing such unforgettable classics as "two girls one cup", it's important they never see the word dyke, for they may learn its true secondary or tertiary meaning.
In the beta, when the language filter was on, I remember it CENSORED the word TRANSPORT (!). Apparently, trans is an evil prefix.
"My marines came over a dyke on a transport" would probably get an account banned.
What's next in the wonderful word of selective puritanism? I say the letter X should be banned as well. Not only does it stand for "X-rated", it is also necessary to make the terrible word "sex". There are no other common uses for this letter. Ban it!
On October 13 2010 08:57 Astro Boy wrote: So this person didn't even know what dyke was before they looked it up. Thats so stupid.
User was temp banned for this post.
I think the real question is, why didn't blizzard know the REAL definition of dyke.
"A levee, levée, dike (or dyke), embankment, floodbank or stopbank is a natural or artificial slope or wall to regulate water levels. It is usually earthen and often parallel to the course of a river or the coast."
I had the understanding that online interactions are not rated by the ESRB? Why does this even matter? This is like banning Xbox Live because people cuss on it.
Put yourself in Blizzard's shoes for a moment. They probably just want to prevent the maps that are full of profanity, so they ran automatic filters, and got some good maps under the axe too. So now they have to re-review manually and undo the damage. It's not easy to handle such issues...
On October 14 2010 03:06 figq wrote: Put yourself in Blizzard's shoes for a moment. They probably just want to prevent the maps that are full of profanity, so they ran automatic filters, and got some good maps under the axe too. So now they have to re-review manually and undo the damage. It's not easy to handle such issues...
The simpler way is to remove the filters and put in an option for the community at large to flag undesirable maps. Obviously those maps which are filled with profanity would receive the largest number of flags and will be brought to the attention of Blizzard.
Seriously there are so many ways Blizzard can approach the problem yet they are choosing the most ineffective and unpopular one. It makes me start to think if they have an ulterior motive behind all that..
I don't see why people are arguing whether blizzard can do this, or whether it is morally sound that companies regulate there products. You're missing the fucking point.
The question is how does the company creating a system designed to give them full monopoly over user created benefit benefits the user, aka, the end consumer, aka all that (should) matter to you.
Arguing anything else is just being a corporate shill.
Throwing misguided fanboying out the window, does anyone actually want words such as "gay" and "dyke" to be subject to arbitrarily censorship and punishment on b-net for themselves? Anyone? Anyone?
I just learnt the word "dyke" thanks to this thread. Thanks Blizzard, I know how I'll call her next time a lesbian pisses me off. (doesnt happen everyday, but who knows).
So because a word is co-opted as a a derogatory term for something, we can't use it?
Not out of context, you can't.
In a sane world, it'd be the other way around. A non-profane word that's co-opted as slang should only be deemed offensive if it's clear from context that the intended use is offensive.
Are they banning the word "fairy"? It's only offensive if the context is "you're a fairy".
Or is the standard used the vocabulary of the lowest common denominator morons who don't know that "dyke" is used for anything other than denigrating lesbians?
I'm really starting to worry about the map making community. I think this is a little extreme, banning a map that a map has put a LOT of effort in, for one simple word? Honestly, I'm pretty sure whoever reported that map was just doing it to troll.
I just hope that it's possible to reupload his map after removing the word.
I read the first page of replies to this thread and I have to say... some people are tremendously close-minded. Why would you assume that this is the result of a Blizzard map reviewer? Each custom map has a "Report for Offensive Content" button on the Score Screen where users can submit a detailed complaint. If enough people complain about it, action will be taken (perhaps even automatically) until a suitable resolution has been reached.
It's annoying how quick people are to lynch Blizzard when this is merely a user issue. It's not like the map maker has been personally punished or anything like that. Just review the words that could be considered "potentially offensive in any context" and republish the map. Drama dismissed...
Or how about you have an ignore button if you find something offensive in a map? Like you ban it for yourself not for all the other people just because YOU don't like it? Fuck those assholes pressing their shitty morals onto normal people who don't get butthurt about some lame words.
ridiculous.. a UMS should be able to use whatever word they want. second, nexus word wars was 100% rated G and did not even use the word in an offensive way. i am really surprised they would make this move.
On October 14 2010 03:39 Half wrote: I don't see why people are arguing whether blizzard can do this, or whether it is morally sound that companies regulate there products. You're missing the fucking point.
The question is how does the company creating a system designed to give them full monopoly over user created benefit benefits the user, aka, the end consumer, aka all that (should) matter to you.
Arguing anything else is just being a corporate shill.
Throwing misguided fanboying out the window, does anyone actually want words such as "gay" and "dyke" to be subject to arbitrarily censorship and punishment on b-net for themselves? Anyone? Anyone?
Exactly.
That's a paradox. Monopolizing the community would inherently take away said freedoms and benefits that would otherwise be provided to the comminity.
If only there was some way you could play multiplayer games on custom maps without having to publish the map on Battle.net. Some sort of local area network type of thing...
On October 15 2010 15:52 Dox wrote: I read the first page of replies to this thread and I have to say... some people are tremendously close-minded. Why would you assume that this is the result of a Blizzard map reviewer? Each custom map has a "Report for Offensive Content" button on the Score Screen where users can submit a detailed complaint. If enough people complain about it, action will be taken (perhaps even automatically) until a suitable resolution has been reached.
It's annoying how quick people are to lynch Blizzard when this is merely a user issue. It's not like the map maker has been personally punished or anything like that. Just review the words that could be considered "potentially offensive in any context" and republish the map. Drama dismissed...
Wtf. It clearly says that he couldn't republish the map, that's why there was any drama in the first place. Also, imagine that you put in the effort to make and publish a map, and all of a sudden you get nothing from it because it's removed, you'd be a little upset too. Also it's not like scanning through a 32000 word dictionary for potentially offensive words (words including dyke, so you have to look through all the definitions and slang uses) is just a little bit extra work before he can republish it. When's the last time you read through 32000 definitions in a dictionary?
Holy fuck, America appears to be more retarded then I thought. I would like to blame this on Blizzard, but the way people sue each other over there, makes sense that Blizzard takes action against small insignificant things like this.
On October 15 2010 15:52 Dox wrote: I read the first page of replies to this thread and I have to say... some people are tremendously close-minded. Why would you assume that this is the result of a Blizzard map reviewer? Each custom map has a "Report for Offensive Content" button on the Score Screen where users can submit a detailed complaint. If enough people complain about it, action will be taken (perhaps even automatically) until a suitable resolution has been reached.
It's annoying how quick people are to lynch Blizzard when this is merely a user issue. It's not like the map maker has been personally punished or anything like that. Just review the words that could be considered "potentially offensive in any context" and republish the map. Drama dismissed...
By taking complete control over everyone's ability to play custom maps in SC2, Blizzard takes complete responsibility. If they do not want to deal with the obligation of being 100% responsible for every aspect of battle.net 2, they shouldn't design it to allow only Blizzard-approved behavior.
I find it really weird that Blizzard was so lax in their map policies back in BW (you could find everything up to actual XXX material oO) and now they are so uber strict wheareas their own campaign is pushing what's allowed in a T game.
I guess they have to either ban all or debate with all - and the former is definitely less subjective - but some of the things I hear sound overly restrictive.
Being a Geologist.. the convention for an igneous intrusion is usually spelled as Dike in all text books I ever studied in. I think its warranted. Although I have never heard of the map (I dont play UMS) it actually sounds like a good typing exercise map
On October 15 2010 15:52 Dox wrote: I read the first page of replies to this thread and I have to say... some people are tremendously close-minded. Why would you assume that this is the result of a Blizzard map reviewer? Each custom map has a "Report for Offensive Content" button on the Score Screen where users can submit a detailed complaint. If enough people complain about it, action will be taken (perhaps even automatically) until a suitable resolution has been reached.
It's annoying how quick people are to lynch Blizzard when this is merely a user issue. It's not like the map maker has been personally punished or anything like that. Just review the words that could be considered "potentially offensive in any context" and republish the map. Drama dismissed...
By taking complete control over everyone's ability to play custom maps in SC2, Blizzard takes complete responsibility. If they do not want to deal with the obligation of being 100% responsible for every aspect of battle.net 2, they shouldn't design it to allow only Blizzard-approved behavior.
Well that only makes things boring. Sensorship is always lame.
On October 16 2010 02:34 PTZ. wrote: I find it really weird that Blizzard was so lax in their map policies back in BW (you could find everything up to actual XXX material oO) and now they are so uber strict wheareas their own campaign is pushing what's allowed in a T game.
I guess they have to either ban all or debate with all - and the former is definitely less subjective - but some of the things I hear sound overly restrictive.
The difference is that BW didn't have publishing, and besides that it had things like LAN play so that Blizzard had no means to prevent people from playing maps.
What's so insane is that I cannot even start a private game with my friends now to play Nexus Word Wars. I can understand Blizzard being concerned about maps that are listed by popularity, but why should they care about people's ability to play private custom games among themselves? It's like they sided with the dissent in Lawrence v. Texas.
On October 16 2010 03:06 RoarMan wrote: I am sad to see this map go too but it seemed kind of odd the for the map maker to all of a sudden add in a bunch of swears.
Still I do think that the censorship is lame, was a fun map and I feel bad for the map maker this had to happen
He didn't add in swears, he simply used a dictionary.
In speech, one uses inflection to determine the intended meaning of the words. In writing, we have to look at the context in which a word was used.
Since (approximately) 32,000 other words in that map were found to be 'unoffensive', the only logical thing to conclude is that 'dyke' wasn't used as an insult.
Too bad Blizzard became so ban-happy :-( (re: single player cheater ban)
Woah, really? In Starcraft? I remember when Hasbro decided to censor Scrabble. I also seem to remember the director of the players' association saying something to the effect of "anything pretending to be a dictionary must be a faithful reflection of language as it is used."
Words are just words. They have no power other than what we give them. Abolishing a word does not make the concept it refers to go away, saying a word doesn't make anything true.
I'm sorry but I gotta start this off with giggling at the number of bans on the first page of this forum. Anyways I had never played the map but I'd imagine there were more swears in it from the ones they revealed. The only thing that bothered me is blizzard released that marauder story where they used the word "fekk" in place of the obvious swear. It is only a vowel off from sounding exactly like a proper swear. I've seen people in games before change a vowel in a swear to bypass a chat filter and get banned for it. That's my biggest problem with all this.
Jesus all they had to do was ask the map creator to make sure the RWG wouldn't generate whatever words they found "offensive". That map was actually awesome, I guess they figured this way would be easier.... disappointing .. bullshit really.
I really disagree with what's going on here. They banned one of the most popular games on their own game? Because it used dictionary words? If other people said words that are censored, people who leave the censor on wouldn't be able to see it anyways..
Blizzard has been killing itself with some of the things it does sometimes.
I don't see a big difference in Guitar Hero having innappropriate lyrics and a UMS setting gate having swears. They aren't being applied to anyone, and this game is rated T afterall... So I don't really understand this decision. I like many others would probably prefer they just rate the game M for Mature and get rid of stuff like that. Just my thought atleast.
And any news on this maps coming back? The game was fun, if he removes the works can he publish it again?
I think some people are confusing the fact that Blizzard is legally able to ban whatever they want with whether or not they should ban whatever they want.
For instance, I will be the first to defend that Blizzard had the legal right to ban the map-- but it is just silly. Another example of the suffocatingly politically correct culture that has taken root in America. Are things this bad in the rest of the world?
Blizzard is definitely pushing the political correctness a bit too far ... I don't know what they want to archieve with this. Last time I checked 7 year old kids and soccer moms didn't play SC2. What benefit can they get for being so rigid ? Are they afraid of some kind of lawsuit ? That just sound absurd.
If the map is unbanned then all is good! But honestly, like what the OP mentioned, the word dyke has other meanings other than the colloquial derogatory meaning and do do a lot of other words. I think that if it appears in a widely accepted dictionary, they shouldn't penalise the use of the word.
Seriously. Blizzard is overly sensitive about the silliest things. Inappropriate words? Their own game is full of swearing. And blood. And sexual tendencies. And a naked woman at the end.
On October 22 2010 16:28 Honeybadger wrote: I'll verb their noun with my pronoun.
Seriously. Blizzard is overly sensitive about the silliest things. Inappropriate words? Their own game is full of swearing. And blood. And sexual tendencies. And a naked woman at the end.
The video game industry has proven that they can be more responsible about sexual and violent content. That is how God of War and Mortal Kombat won so many fans.
EPT
Inappropriate words above some mobs (ex: dyke)
(((
, I loved that map
![[image loading]](http://0.tqn.com/d/compactiongames/1/0/r/m/1/starcraft2.jpg)
