Curse

teh_lolli · May 18, 2005, 01:27 AM // 01:27

My friend Upoopupants Dicrosi had his character deleted for an inappropriate name today. His character was level 20 and had 20k gold on it and 30k in items and runes. They didn't try to change his name, they didn't say anything to him in terms of an e-mail, they deleted his character and didn't think twice. I personally think that this is unacceptable and completely stupid for a company to do this. The name isn't half as bad as I see the rest of the people out there have. Ugh.

teh lolli

Mawgleah · May 18, 2005, 01:45 AM // 01:45

Quote:

I'm sorry about the ban. We get a lot of alerts, and sometimes one slips through that we really shouldn't mark. I accept full responsibility and I will attend to this immediately. You character should be freed up in less than five minutes.

Do be aware that the name was alerted. Someone was offended by it, thinking it was talking about, you know, urination. That doesn't mean that you were talking about that, but simply that someone worried that it was across the line.

We are working on a process to allow a simpler process, so that you can change a name without substantial loss. Yes, there will be a mark on the acount, but it's a very brief thing, and soon gone, without further incidents. I'm sure you'll agree that fussing about a name isn't the issue -- fussing about the loss of XP and skills and attributes is the more major issue, I think? So if a name is submitted as a concern, I would, as a player, think, "Oh, well, whatever" and rename, knowing I retained the rights to the character's acquisitions and could rename and move on.

We don't intend to be punative for the "iffy" or marginal names. We truly don't expect everyone to use bland and generic names, but if someone comes in with some of the names I've seen in the last two weeks -- names that would make a sailor blush -- then I would expect that they wouldn't be too surprised by a removal of that name.

Last edited by Gaile : 11-05-2005 at 02:22 AM.

This is a response from Gaile, an Anet rep. The quote can be read at GWOnline.net in the Community Forums, under the thread "banned by the MAN" by poster Lokuas. It's on page 5, post #41.

teh_lolli · May 18, 2005, 02:16 AM // 02:16

They already denied reinstatement of the character, he lost everything and all they had to do was change a name. It is ridiculous.

teh lolli

Mawgleah · May 18, 2005, 02:46 AM // 02:46

Quote:

The rules are all pretty basic: Don't swear or spam or break any laws. Don't use a name or guild acronym that would offend someone; don't harass other players. Don't link to pornography or advertise in the game. Don't sell in-game items. Report hacks and exploits; play Guild Wars on the Guild Wars servers, and so forth.

This is from Guild Wars legal page under the heading "Conduct Breaches and Outcomes". Anyone playing any on-line should make themselves familiar with each games Rules of Conduct before playing the game. Just as you can not claim "ignorance of the law" if you're caught breaking a law, you can't claim "ignorance of the rules" just because you either didn't read them or decided to break them. Why should they have to fix someone's problem that they brought on themselves?

teh_lolli · May 18, 2005, 05:35 AM // 05:35

First off...U POOPED U PANTS. Are you offended? I saw a guy today named frothy jiz and I was fine with it. There is no problem with changing a name tho, why would they have to delete the entire char tho? Where does it say that they will go to such unnecessary nazi extremes to censor a stupid name. You are ignorant if you can't at least sympathize with this guy. How would you feel?

teh lolli

wingedcoyote · May 18, 2005, 05:46 AM // 05:46

On the one hand, I think they can be unnecessarily harsh. They should offer to change your name, or at least give you a chance to hand cash to the storage agent.

On the other, "upoopupants"? Come on, man.

HomerG · May 18, 2005, 05:56 AM // 05:56

Ya, it sure doesn't offend me...but come on, how trashy is that?

lornranger · May 18, 2005, 08:57 AM // 08:57

I saw someone by the name of Saddam Hussien last week.

Zetor · May 18, 2005, 09:36 AM // 09:36

At the risk of being offtopic a bit, I am sure mr. Upoopupants was a fine upstanding citizen of Tyria...

... but most of the people I see with such "creative" names act as obnoxious immature idiots.

just my 2 plat,

-- Z.

Pariah · May 18, 2005, 02:25 PM // 14:25

While I can sympathize with someone with a borderline name that has this problem unintentionally, the fact is that most of the names being banned are made by people who are intentionally trying to come up with names that are offensive. If you name your guy Jizz Bag you deserve whatever happens. If that means you loose everything, fine. You knew the rules and the penalty, you chose to take your chances. My problem is that there should be some kind of a guideline to determine what is and is not to be determined offensive. Right now it just seems to be if someone just says "I'm offended" then it is deletion time. This is a zero tolerance policy and in such a policy there is never room for common sense. Some little kid could name their character "Sticky Buns" (a breakfast pastry) and mean nothing at all by it, but one prude with an over active imagination can make the assumption that it means something sexual and have them banned. Some people can read something into anything, and with the current policy you are automatically assumed to be guilty. I personally couldn't care less what anybody names their characters. If someone wants to be known as "Jizz Bag" that just lets me know who the idiots are.

Mawgleah · May 18, 2005, 05:24 PM // 17:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by teh_lolli

First off...U POOPED U PANTS. Are you offended? I saw a guy today named frothy jiz and I was fine with it. There is no problem with changing a name tho, why would they have to delete the entire char tho? Where does it say that they will go to such unnecessary nazi extremes to censor a stupid name. You are ignorant if you can't at least sympathize with this guy. How would you feel?

teh lolli

Whether I am offended is not the question. Obviously someone was. And no, when you push the limits knowingly and then get caught I have no sympathy. I wouldn't want my character deleted, that's why I tried very hard to come up with a name that hopefully no one would find offensive.

According to Gaile, it takes more than just someone saying they are offended. Gaile and others at Arena Net look at the reported character's name and if they agree it's not offensive, they don't delete the character. In the case where I quoted Gaile, someone had reported a Mr. PePe and they deleted the character. He appealed, and after further consideration Gaile reinstated his character.

She also said they were trying to find a way to allow those who had been reported the chance to change their name.

ssnider75 · May 18, 2005, 05:47 PM // 17:47

It stinks to lose all of your stuff but you have to be realistic. If a name has anything even remotely controversial about it, don't use it. There are millions of names to choose from. Be creative but not stupid. Your friend could have easily strung together two real names and there would have been no problems at all.

Talizar · May 18, 2005, 06:11 PM // 18:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by teh_lolli

They already denied reinstatement of the character, he lost everything and all they had to do was change a name. It is ridiculous.

teh lolli

This post is ridiculous all he/you had to do was not pick a retarted name.

teh_lolli · May 18, 2005, 06:22 PM // 18:22

He had that name since he started online gaming in 1996. That would make him 10 when he made the name. He made a multitude of online friends that knew him by THAT NAME ALONE. So he stuck with it so that people from other games that he has played would know it was him and say hi. It's not offensive, it is completely stupid. It is a stupid name but there is nothing wrong with being stupid, as almost everyone playing guild wars has shown me. Being known as "teh lolli" is obviously stupid as well, but how is it any more offensive than upoopupants?

And for the love of god, to everyone in guild wars, I am not retarted. I AM RETARDED, THERE IS A D. I normally don't care but the overuse of this typo and the sheer ironic value to it is ridiculous.

teh lolli

kalaris · May 18, 2005, 06:30 PM // 18:30

The Worst Name I ever saw was in FFXI I'llpeeinurbutt -- If memory served, got their character deleted... now come on...

Why is it so hard for people to come up with Non-retard names?

One of the funniest bad names I ever saw ina MMORPG was "his small balls" in asheron's Call (part 1)

it was a level 1 player on a PK server, so anytime someone killed him... you got awesome messages like

"Leetpk123 has cleaved his small balls in twain." or "Leetpk123 has given his small balls a firey death."

it was hillarious.

But Seriously Guildwars has alot of Dumb names from players who think theyre so cool... it makes me cry every time I go into a town, and thankful we have instanced wilderness maps =)

Mountain Man · May 18, 2005, 06:46 PM // 18:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zetor

... but most of the people I see with such "creative" names act as obnoxious immature idiots.

It could be argued that they're just roleplaying.

Virtuoso · May 18, 2005, 06:53 PM // 18:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mountain Man

It could be argued that they're just roleplaying.

Please, for the sake of my entertainment, come up with a detailed example of how a person would roleplay a character named "upoopupants." Please.

-Virt

teh_lolli · May 18, 2005, 07:10 PM // 19:10

Walk around holding your ass all day with an embarassed look on your face. It could be done. Orrrrr, look at peoples butts all day until you find any inkling of a brown spot and then scream at the top of your lungs UPOOPEDUPANTS!!!

teh lolli

Virtuoso · May 18, 2005, 07:17 PM // 19:17

And this would warrant naming your character "upoopedupants"? As if someone who went around doing such things in a real or fictional world would be named that? Give me a break.

Seriously kid, you and your "friend" need to grow up. While I disagree with them deleting your... er... your friend's character, maybe both of you should take it as a lesson? Act stupid and it will be assumed that you are in fact stupid.

-Virt

dikdiputs · May 18, 2005, 07:47 PM // 19:47

Changing names isn't really such a great way to solve problems. By changing your name you've effectively changed your identification, your reputation. Upoopupants could have scammed thousands of players and be hated by everyone in the world of Guild Wars and a simple name change would render him free of his previous actions and resume the gutting of newbies. That's just an extreme example but you get the idea.

That's not to say I'm all for what the GM's did but like everyone else said, he chose a name that could be considered inappropriate and he will have to face the consequences. There are so many cultures and so many problems in this world that it's possible to have someone be offended by just about anything (eg: dikdiputs just because it has dik as the first syllable).

Basically, sorry for what happened to your friend.