Social Contract & Mature Language Filter

[Grubz-hyjal]

This new social contract had me thinking. If language and behaviour is such a big deal, why does the mature language filter even have a toggle? This might be an unpopular opinion, but the feature is on by default, which means you have to manually turn it off. If any person takes the time to go into the settings and turn off the filter, you lose the right to be upset about seeing swear words. If it is such a big deal to Blizzard to not see certain language, why not just add a bot that auto bans and auto removes a set amount of phrases and words, just like in discord. Drop a racial slur in chat? Boom. Chat window disabled for 24 hours. Drop another racial slur? Boom. Three day account ban. Blizzard, you’re trying to apply deterrence theory, but you’re doing it poorly. Language and behaviour in WoW is treated like a speeding ticket. Maybe sometimes you get caught. Most of the time you probably don’t. When you do get caught the consequence is minimal. If you want to properly apply deterrence theory you need to apply it every time with a consequence sufficient enough to deter the deviant behaviour.

Edit
Couple clarifications.
a) I do not condone harassment or hate speech. There is never an acceptable use of racial slurs.
b) I do believe casual profanity should NOT be a punishable offense.
Casual profanity when not directed as an insult towards another player. Profanity is easily filtered by the default settings of the mature language filter being enabled. You have to choose to see the mature language. It would be like being upset that you saw naked people at a strip club. You knew what you were going to see, you chose to see it. This view does not apply to racial slurs like the “N” word or “Fa” word.
c) The “be nice, help other people” is a suggested gameplay approach, and not enforceable.
d) We as a community are so bad at policing ourselves we lost Master Loot and it was replaced by Personal Loot. If we can’t distribute loot fairly, how are we going to solve racism. Come on, be realistic.

[Stabmcstabby-aegwynn]

Having unpopular opinion is not a personality trait.

[Humanbeak-drenden]

The social contract needs to say “Use paragraphs please.”

[Rita-velen]

It’s so easy nowadays to not get in trouble for being rude to someone, just have them get in discord with you. This is why I don’t like to get in discord with pugs, anything you don’t want to say to me in game either (1) doesn’t need to be said because I already know or (2) is something you don’t want to say on Blizz chat for some shady reason.

“Get in disc [link]”
Rita-Velen has left the group

[Moritz-proudmoore]

Mature language is like saying the f word or the c word

Its not the same thing as throwing slurs like the fa word against gay people or the n word against black people

People often use general cuss words as part of their normal speech.
If you dont like it, thats why there is a toggle.

That’s not a pass for hate speech.

However a bot to search for the language would lack any nuance. For example a private chat where someone is complaining about how they got called by hate speech

[Humanbeak-drenden]

Profanity gets you silenced or suspended if you’re reported. No racism or other slurs required.

[Moritz-proudmoore]

Saying you like kittens will get you silenced if reported

Edit: never mind it’s a talonel thread

[Nokolk-eonar]

they need to define
what is and is not acceptable
some people get offended at the
slightest little thing that may or may not be wrong
thats the huge problem with so called “hate speech.”

[Grubz-hyjal]

Way to miss the point. The point was the system is broken and doesn’t function, because it is applying a theory from criminal psychology and doing it poorly. This is an alternative system that would work as intended and apply deterrence theory correctly.

I wasn’t condoning hate speech, I was establishing that you manually agree to physically see words of a mature nature, and that you can’t be upset when seeing the words because you chose to see them. All the words you mentioned would appear are gibberish had you left the feature enabled, and then all that profanity, and hate speech you don’t want to see would’t be readable to you. However, it’s blatantly clear this feature is not addressing the issue adequately, hence the need for reform. Hope that clear things up for you.

[Vulpes-hydraxis]

If language and behaviour is such a big deal, why does the mature language filter even have a toggle?

Reporting Language

No. The Mature Language Filter is there for parents of children and others who wish to block it but it doesn’t excuse the language used. Our game is and has always been Rated T for Teen. It always has had policies that govern that kind of language and subject matter we deem inappropriate. Yes, it was handled by the community by allowing the community to report it via a ticket. That was inefficient and often took way more time as some folks would forget to include character names or the realm …

[Thallia-sentinels (Thallia)]

@Grubz-hyjal

This new social contract

It’s not new, as in, new rules. So keep that in mind.

These are the same rules we’ve had in the EULA and CoCs for ages.

@Grubz-hyjal

why does the mature language filter even have a toggle?

Because mature language is swear words, not hate speech. There’s a huge difference.

Moritz’s comment said it best.

And props to Vulpes for finding the Blizz quote!

[Dingringding-zuljin]

It’s context. If you say [dolphin noise] just by itself it isn’t bad. But if it’s like “You’re a [dolphin noise] and bad.” Then that would cause massive red flags.

[Varidra-shadow-council]

We all agreed to a code of conduct when we joined the game. In that agreement it was stated that we are not allowed to say or do certain things. And if we disagree don’t play the game.

I personally don’t understand why shifting the responsibility away from the person who can control what they type is the answer to the problem.

[Mirasol-mannoroth (Mirasol)]

@Grubz-hyjal

If language and behaviour is such a big deal, why does the mature language filter even have a toggle?

Spotlight on: Harassment

While adventuring through Azeroth and surrounding lands you will encounter a myriad of other players. They could be out questing, exploring a dungeon, trying to smash the opposition in a Battleground, defeating a raid boss, or simply hanging out in town. The certainty about an online game is that you will likely be engaging with these other players to one degree or another. Some communication will be helpful, adding to your experience in a positive way. Other contacts may not be so rewarding. W…

Mature Language Filter (aka The Profanity Filter)

This can be activated within your Interface Options: Main menu (ESC key by default) Click Interface > Social and check - Mature Language Filter.

Once enabled, all inappropriate words in our profanity database will be filtered and masked to appear as jumbled characters, such as ‘*##@&’.

Note: The filter does not excuse the language used. The filter serves as a temporary shield, to help parents of minors and others who do not wish to see it, to block it. Our policies prohibit the use of both clear and masked inappropriate language.

The existance of the filter does not mean people can break the rules, it is for those who still don’t want to see it.

Having a filter automated to give vacations though seems like it would hit too many innocent in addition to guilty.

At this point human decisions are still best for any real punishment like a suspension.

@Grubz-hyjal

I wasn’t condoning hate speech, I was establishing that you manually agree to physically see words of a mature nature, and that you can’t be upset when seeing the words because you chose to see them.

Absolutely incorrect. All of it is still punishable. Has been since 2004.

---

Someone asked about this this earlier today so I looked it all up. Original documents that we agreed to in 2004.

@Joederp-akama

where’s the 2004 CoC?

Original User Manual from 2004 https://bnetcmsus-a.akamaihd.net/cms/template_resource/LO0VQ46XB1281555957773363.pdf - which has the EULA at the end. It points to the requirements for accepting Terms of Use with the website for it. I selected the first archived Wayback Machine TOU for WoW from 2004. I have copied out the relevant sections for you. Yes, it included hateful names and speech.

https://web.archive.org/web/20041217101250/http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/legal/termsofuse.shtml

3. World of Warcraft Rules of Conduct.

As with all things, World of Warcraft is governed by certain rules of conduct that must be adhered to by all users of World of Warcraft. It is your responsibility to know, understand and abide by these rules of conduct. The following rules are not meant to be “exhaustive,” and Blizzard Entertainment reserves the right to determine what conduct it considers to be outside the spirit of the game and to take such disciplinary measures as it sees fit. Blizzard Entertainment reserves the right to add to or amend this list of rules at any time, and you are responsible for checking these Terms of Use for any newly amended or posted rules each time that you log on.

A. Rules Related to User Names.

Each user will select a user name for his or her character, or allow the World of Warcraft software to select the name for him or her. Additionally, users may form “guilds” and such guilds will be required to choose a name for the guild. When you choose a user name, create a guild, or otherwise create a label that can be seen by other players of World of Warcraft, you must abide by the following guidelines as well as the rules of common decency. If Blizzard Entertainment, in its sole discretion, finds such a label to be offensive, it reserves the right to change the name, remove the label and corresponding chat room, and/or suspend your use of World of Warcraft.

In particular, you may not use:

1. Names of another person with the intent to impersonate that person;

2. Names which incorporate ‘swear’ words or which are otherwise offensive, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable;

3. Names subject to the rights of any other person without authorization;

4. Names of popular culture or media personalities;

5. Names that are trademarks, or registered trademarks of Blizzard Entertainment or other companies);

6. Names of religious deities or figures;

7. Names of characters from Blizzard Entertainment’s Warcraft products, including character names from the Warcraft series of novels; or

8. Names related to drugs, narcotics, or criminal activity, including references to drug substances; or

9. Name comprised of partial or complete sentences (e.g., “Inyourface”, “Welovebeef”, etc);

10. Names comprised of pure gibberish (eg, “Asdfasdf”, “Jjxccm”, “Hvlldrm”);

11. Names that refer to pop culture icons or personas (e.g. “Britneyspears”, “Austinpowers”, “Batman”)

12. Names that utilize “Leet” or “Dudespeak” (e.g., “Roflcopter”, “xxnewbxx”, “Roxxoryou”)

13. Name that incorporate titles. The term “Titles” as used herein shall include ‘rank’ titles (e.g. , “CorporalTed,” or “GeneralVlad”) and/or fantasy titles (e.g., “KingMike”, “LordSanchez”)

Additionally, you may not use a misspelling or an alternative spelling to circumvent the name restrictions listed above, nor can you have a “first” and “last” name that, when combined, violate the above name restrictions.

B. Rules Related to “Chat” and Interaction With Other Users.

Communicating with other Users and Blizzard Entertainment representatives is an integral part of World of Warcraft and is referred to in this document as “Chat.” Your Chats may be subject to review, modification, and deletion without notice by Blizzard Entertainment. Additionally, you hereby acknowledge that Blizzard Entertainment is under no obligation to monitor Chat and you engage in Chat at your own risk. When engaging in Chat in World of Warcraft, or otherwise utilizing World of Warcraft, you may not:

• (i) Transmit or post sexually explicit images or other content or language which in the sole discretion of Blizzard Entertainment is deemed to be offensive; nor shall you transmit any unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable content or language, nor may you use a misspelling or an alternative spelling to circumvent the content and language restrictions listed above;

• (ii) Carry out any action with a disruptive effect, such as cause the Chat screen to “scroll” faster than other users are able to type to it, including setting up macros with large amounts of text that, when used, can have a disruptive effect on the normal flow of Chat;

• (iii) Disrupt the normal flow of dialogue in Chat or otherwise act in a manner that negatively affects other users, individuals or entities, including, but not limited to, posting “Spam” messages on World of Warcraft (“Spam” messages as used in this document include, but are not limited to, any effort to use a computer or other electronic device to post an unauthorized and/or unsolicited advertisement to World of Warcraft);

• (iv) “Spam” by posting or sending more than one unsolicited message or piece of mail to a single address or in a chat area;

• (v) Communicate or post any user’s personal information in or on the World of Warcraft, or websites or forums related to World of Warcraft;

• (vi) Use bots or other automated techniques to collect information or communicate or post any user’s personal information in or on World of Warcraft, or websites or forums related to World of Warcraft or Blizzard Entertainment

• (vii) Harass, threaten, stalk, embarrass or cause distress, unwanted attention or discomfort to another user of World of Warcraft or other person or entity; or

• (viii) Cheat during game play, including but not limited to modification of the game program files.

• (ix) Participate in any action that, in the opinion of Blizzard Entertainment results in an authorized user of World of Warcraft being "scammed " or ‘defrauded’ out of gold, weapons, armor, or any other items that he/she has earned through authorized game play in World of Warcraft.

Now can we please agree that these rules have always been in place for WoW and that updates may refine phrasing, but not core content? If anything the rules are more lax now than that were then.

[Dingringding-zuljin]

@Mirasol-mannoroth

Names comprised of pure gibberish (eg, “Asdfasdf”, “Jjxccm”, “Hvlldrm”);

I’ve seen so many names that literally looked like someone’s cat walked on the keyboard.

@Mirasol-mannoroth

Names that utilize “Leet” or “Dudespeak” (e.g., “Roflcopter”, “xxnewbxx”, “Roxxoryou”)

wow I haven’t seen leet speak referenced in forever.

But anyway, I’m glad you found that older article that’s pretty cool!

[Mirasol-mannoroth (Mirasol)]

@Dingringding-zuljin

wow I haven’t seen leet speak referenced in forever.

Well, yeah - it was 2004! They have relaxed some of it over time, but the core things are all the same. Updates rephrase, or talk about penalties, but nothing really different.

This is why some players get frustrated seeing people act like being kind and not swearing, not using hateful speech, etc. is something new and trendy in WoW.

[Grubz-hyjal]

The existance of the filter does not mean people can break the rules, it is for those who still don’t want to see it.

Missed the point entirely. I never said it was intended for people to break the rules. What I said was that philosophically, when you make the conscious decision to turn this feature OFF, as it is ON by DEFAULT, you are deciding to see this language. You’re implying you must turn this feature on in order to not see it, which is not how it works by default settings.

Having a filter automated to give vacations though seems like it would hit too many innocent in addition to guilty.

That’s a lazy answer for a lazy person who would rather side step the issue instead of directly deal with the issue. Either it’s not tolerable to say racial slurs or it is. There should be a zero tolerance on racial slurs. There is no setting or scenario where these words are appropriate to use within the game. Auto banning use of racial slurs makes sense.

Also, just because you auto ban for racial slurs doesn’t mean you need to auto ban for casual profanity such as the “F” word, “S” word, or “A” word for example. So again, lazy approach for lazy development.

At this point human decisions are still best for any real punishment like a suspension.

See my last point.

Oh, and we’re just completely disregarding the blatant abuse of this feature in Classic for taking out PvP Ladder competition, and toxic players trolling people they don’t like via mass right click report. Got it.

Absolutely incorrect. All of it is still punishable. Has been since 2004.

Absolutely incorrect. There has never been an official “Social Contract.” there has been a “Terms of Service”, but never an official “Social Contract” as it is being dubbed that you agree to adhere to. I have never is 18 years been “Social Required” to help players I pass by under fear of punishment from Blizzard. Part of the game, more so in Classic, is rivalry. I am not going to help a rival guild, but this social contract says I have to. In fact, for PvE realms, it is severely limiting to Roles I may want to play. I am now forced to role play only a “good guy”. Completely negating anything but a Lawful Good character.

Now can we please agree that these rules have always been in place for WoW and that updates may refine phrasing, but not core content? If anything the rules are more lax now than that were then.

No, the control over a players choice to let another player die, to not help them on a quest, to not help them kill a rare spawn, has never been a rule of the game.

You were so focused on proving me wrong, you side stepped all the issues. You still can’t accept that the current model fails to apply a proven scientific method called Deterrence Theory. So if you want to actually fix the toxic player base, you need to fix the system that doesn’t work. Since this system has been in place for over 18 years, and it still doesn’t work, maybe it’s time to fix the problem instead of trying to band-aid something that doesn’t work. The problem is that the player base cannot adequately police themselves, and your solution is to continue letting them police themselves. It’s literally that simple.

[Grimsoldier-vashj]

What about the H word or C word against white people?

[Mirasol-mannoroth (Mirasol)]

@Grubz-hyjal

I have never is 18 years been “Social Required” to help players I pass by under fear of punishment from Blizzard.

And you never will be. Go back and read the datamined social contract again. The “be nice” part is suggestions for how to get along in an MMO. Many are already on our tips on the loading screen. Those are not enforceable and you won’t get reported or penalized for not helping or answering a question.

This is the major misunderstanding you seem to have. You seem to think the “be nice” parts are enforceable when they are not.

The enforceable stuff is the bottom of the social contract about language and such, as proven, has been in the game since 2004.

I also remain adamant that an automated ban system for language based on AI is not good. Even optional filters pick up normal words that contain partials and filter those. That is annoying, but it does not remove you from game. I much prefer account suspensions to have human eyes on them.

[Grubz-hyjal]

I also remain adamant that an automated ban system for language based on AI is not good. Even optional filters pick up normal words that contain partials and filter those. That is annoying, but it does not remove you from game. I much prefer account suspensions to have human eyes on them.

Literally millions of discords do this everyday. Completely lazy cop out. What you’re saying is that a multibillion dollar company can’t make a feature that freeware uses on the daily.

This is the major misunderstanding you seem to have. You seem to think the “be nice” parts are enforceable when they are not.

Maybe, but its in a contract now. Maybe they enforce it. Maybe they don’t. Once I click agree though I have to play that way just incase they decide to enforce it. Generally speaking when I see something is a condition of a contract I’m signing I am usually required to adhere to that condition. Oh, by the way, you have another massive hole here. Trade chat is not intended to be used as an in game Google. So this contract creates a contradictory set of rules or suggested gameplay. Filling trade chat with information on various WoW Q&A would constitute spam in the channel. That is of course, unless they offered some sort of trade for the information.

has been in the game since 2004.

You’re really hung up on this one for some reason. Not sure why. Never once said that these words or phrases were allowed. Not sure where you got that from. What I said is that you lose the right to complain about mature words if you turn the filter off. That is not the same as saying it is a free pass for the other person to use them. It’s saying you don’t get to walk into a strip club and be upset there are naked people. You knew what you were going to see when you turned it off. In that moment you said to yourself, yes, these are the things I want to see.

Not related to you, but saw this gem above.

Our game is and has always been Rated T for Teen.

This is only half true. The game itself is rated T for Teen. The online interaction is deemed unrated by the ESRB.

Now can we please agree that these rules have always been in place for WoW and that updates may refine phrasing, but not core content? If anything the rules are more lax now than that were then.

I never said a variation didn’t exist. I am stating that this is indeed, 100%, a new contract with a new name, and new expectations.
It’s like the Ship of Theseus.

the rules are more lax now than that were then.
No. The rules are not more lax. The enforcement of the rules is what has become lax. That’s what happens when you fire your in-game GMs.

SO.
If you think the current system is so great, explain why we are experiencing the worst toxic community we have ever had. Let’s recap.

No in-game GMs. Horrible application of Deterrence Theory. Lazy developers. Community Council that wants to put band-aids on broken non-functional systems.

It’s all here for you plain as day to fix. Now do your job as a “Community Council” member and actually fix the game.