What Constitutes an "Inappropriate" Name?

Today, I attempted to log onto Guild Wars only to find out that I had been banned for "approximately 71 hours" due to an "inappropriate" name that breaches the Code of Conduct. The name that I believe the ban is referring to is "Snype Has A I D S". I have just read the code of conduct to refresh my memory on the rule about character names, and see no reason for this ban to be valid. With this being said, I would like to find out exactly what constitutes a name being "vulgar or inappropriate" for the Guild Wars community. Apparently the name of any disease is considered as such. I will make sure in the future not to create any names with the word "cold" or "flu" in it. Anet might deem it inappropriate.

Well, it's certainly not mature...

Common sense.

I remember when I had my Mesmer name banned. Her name was Honeysuckle Rose. The name had the term suck in it so they banned the name. I was not too upset because it was a PvP character. Just annoyed a bit.

LOL... I remade the Mesmer again for PvE this time named Honeylips Rose. I think it's sexier. What sounds worse Honeysuckle Rose or Honeylips Rose?

In your case A I D S is clearly an acronym so it obviously can be interpreted as a disease that can be spread by sexual or drug needle contact. I would have banned your name too.

NOTE: yes I realize that AIDS can be spread by other means other than sex and drug needle use so no flames please, or arguments over the affliction.

Well....i remember i couldnt create the character with the last name earthburner....... so i went with earthcrasher. i was still able to use the same first name. Dont have the character anymore though. Wonder why i couldnt use it though.

Who is Snype....Wesley? Probably because of the defamation of another person...maybe I Have A I D S would work better for you? Or maybe avoid AIDS altogether and Name your toon I Have A Butt Virus or I Have Warts On It...problem is, "taste"...you have none. Generally speaking, AIDS is about as funny as rectal cancer...on the surface it's all Ha ha...underneath, especially if someone you know has had it, it's a long and painful death with alot of suffering...just not funny. Because someone was offended by it (and why wouldn't they be) thay probably reported you for it....enough complaints and ZAP....bye-bye name. As for the EULA, probably offensive to someone...that's all it takes.

Aww, you're stung because you got your hand slapped by ANet? And you don't think your name wasn't asking for trouble? Get real.

If it weren't for people trying to push the boundaries of what is allowed, then we could have names like Honeysuckle or Jewel.

(By the way, I wonder if thats really your Guild name Amish, considering you just offered 'common sense' as a reply...)

Thats the problem with having a game from all across the world crossing many cultures and languages.

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I would've reported you for coming up with such a stupid name and then having the nerve to complain about being banned.

AIDS and other STDs are not funny, clever, or mature, you ban seems just as far as I can see.

I, too, was once banned for an inappropriate char name. Admittedly, it probably pushed the envelope a bit but what burns me is that I see so many names in the game that are far worse than the one which got me banned.

And the really funny thing is that when I buy armor for this (now renamed) char, it still says "customized for <banned name>". lol

Kinda like ones in the funny names thread?:P

Of course, it doesn't exactly help your case that you broke it up with spaces in what looks like an attempt to avoid a preexisting name filter that ANet already had in place.

To the politically-correct police: Get a life.

If a disease offends you so much, maybe we should rename the plague in Cantha "The Nondenominational Highly Contagious Illness", as plague still exists in countries like India and if an Indian man plays this game he may possibly be offended by a reference to a disease that exists.

Come on people.

Also, interesting tidbit: While words such as "negro" are banned, words such as "Cracker", "cracka", "whitey", "whity", "honky", "honkey", and etc. are all perfectly allowed. What's the deal with this Anet? A lil hypocrisy on your end? Any comment on this one Gaile?

Back on topic... should the topic creator's name have been deleted? Yes, he bypassed the censor apparently (although if he didn't bypass the censor, then that's a whole other story). Should he have been banned? I think a warning would have been more than sufficient.

I think all of you have to grow up and take a look at the real world. People arn't all polite and proper, and are especially not going to be on an online game where no one is ever going to know who they are. Snype has A I D S, why would they ban you for that. People in my old alliance had much worse names, ahhh....coathanger abortion to name one. Alot of people in my alliance went through a faze(sp?) about a year ago when we all did alliance battles together. We would make weird and offensive names and go into alliance battles and talk smack(much like it is today, wow no change ) and nothing ever happened to any of them. Some were even worse than the one mentioned above, but i really dont wanna post them because i know sumone will be all over me about it. I think that the only things that should be deemed offensive are swears, anything sexual, and anything religious. Anything else can be debatable so shouldnt be subject to banning, even if it is temporary.

theres my thoughts...flame away

guess series was posting while i was writing, and i gotta say wish there were more people like you.

Whether or not anyone feels that others should "suck it up" or what have you, there are lines of decency that don't need to be crossed. Demonstrating your lack of maturity or compassion online benefits noone, least of all yourself.

Aids kills, and painfully. It has no place in GW.

I was informed by support that I wasn't allowed to call my pet Tiger 'Bagpuss' because, and I quote, "it's an offensive word"! Offensive to who? The millions of kids who enjoyed watching the well known, and very good, kids TV show?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagpuss

I even had full permission from the BBC to use the name, so go figure!

I'm taking your bait.

Basically you're way off here, and your first statement in your post contradicts the rest - you are the one that is immature and need to grow up.

Talking "smack" being offensive, swearing and whatnot might be ok if you're a kiddie, it's not mature.

Try "Puss in Boots" and see if anything gets said. I think they went into the ridiculous realm there.

I wasn't aware a sign of being "mature" is getting offended at the name of a disease.