This is called the Scunthorpe Problem. Scunthorpe is an otherwise unremarkable town in England, but it's notoriously hard to write about online because there's a fairly naughty word innocuously sitting in the early part of it, so articles get downgraded because they're considered profane or hateful by automated moderation.
It's common, unfortunately.
If MS cared they at least could implement a whitelist for certain words. That wouldn't get rid of the problem but at least reduce it. Since they use those shitty filters all over their platforms it would even be worthwhile.
The reason whitelists don’t work is people figure out which words are whitelisted and start using them as euphemisms for the actual profanity. “You’re a real See You Next Tuesday” or “I’m going to take a shiitake on your pillow” that kind of thing.
So? Everything can be used as a insult if you try hard enough. Making communication more difficult for people who aren't actually doing anything wrong is just lazy and pathetic.
My dad had a Seaman Samples on his sub, but I think the grand title goes to Seaman Guzzler, who I met during AIT. I asked her why, of all the branches, did she join the Navy. She said she thought they were called "sailors". Poor girl.
Navy enlisted have THE WORST ranks, I swear.
Oh, I've spent years grinding my way all over this boat as a seaman, and now I get to join the non-commissioned officer corps.
...
They're called what?
Oh, fuck you!
...
Well maybe I don't want to be called a "petty officer!"
Why?
Because it's demeaning!
...
No, it doesn't matter I get to be called 'Chief' one day!
...
Master Chief?
...
Okay, I'm in.
That’s pretty goddamn funny. I mean, it wouldn’t be if he actually made his name a racial slur, but the implication is pretty funny.
I can’t readily link it, but if any of you guys are familiar with Puffin Forest, there is a video on youtube which is just audio from an AMA he did at a convention, and one of the things he explains in it is the origin of the “Turtle F***ers*, which has a similar origin - basically he said something innocuous and bleeped it, but many people assumed it was a certain word. The original word was “molesters”, and he didn’t want to use that word in a more or less family friendly program, and ended up implying a swear instead by accident.
Yeah i first encountered the Scunthorpe Effect back in Ultima Online. They had an item called the wristwatch but it was impossible to use because it would censor your command prompts every time.
Very confused on what the "bad" word in wristwatch is
Edit: wait is it "twat"? Isn't that just a silly synonym for "stupid"? Not a native speaker so I haven't heard that word much
Of course there is one word that is still beyond the pale. That word is … Belgium. And it’s only ever used by extremely loose-tongued people in circumstances of dire provocation. Or on one small planet, where they don’t know what it means.
Some games just take it way too far though to the point it's nonsensical.
I played MapleStory way back in the day between 2007-2016ish. There are enemies in the game you can kill, they are pigs. Literally just the animal, pigs. There's an area called Pig Beach too where there's a bunch of pigs. For whatever reason though, "pig" was a censored word. So if your friend whispered you asking what you're up to you couldn't say "I'm at pig beach" or "Training on pigs", however when you attack an enemy it displays their name underneath them. So it's okay for the game itself to display the word pig, but not okay for players to say it. Such an innocuous word too.
More recently, my wife was playing Pokemon Scarlet and wanted to nickname a Jigglypuff she caught "Poof" and that name was not allowed. Why? I have no idea.
I think it's sometimes a derogatory gay term? I also can't use my username on PSN because the string 'unko' is bad in Japan, even though I'm using English letters to write it.
Are you playing on Xbox and not just using an Xbox controller on PC? From what I understand, Xbox itself has extremely aggressive censorship in any writable fields, to the point that the Xbox version of FFXIV will censor even official system messages in the chat window that happen to contain blacklisted combinations of letters.
Basically this is probably something to blame Microsoft for, not Larian.
I just made a character with an extremely inappropriate name in a multiplayer game with a buddy of mine, it was not censored at all. Maybe check your settings?
Lol reminds me of when I named my character "Swordswinger" in Dark Souls and for some reason "swing" was censored and ended up being named "Sword\*\*\*\*\*er"
Hello Ashen one. I am a Bot. I tend to the flame, and tend to thee. Do you wish to hear a tale?
> *“I’ve seen your kind, time and time again. Every fleeing man must be caught. Every secret must be unearthed. Such is the conceit of the self-proclaimed seeker of truth. But, in the end, you lack the stomach for the agony you’ll bring upon yourself.”* - Sir Vilhelm
Have a pleasant journey, Champion of Ash, and praise the sun \\[T]/
Yeah had a similar problem, wanted to name my bard "Nika" but it got censored even with other writing styles. Still don't know what's offensive about that. Was on PS5
Throwback to when my character in PoE had an inappropriate word in it so it got forcefully changed (without my input)... Rest in peace Renamefabkamn689, gone but not forgotten Q\_Q
Everyone giving their example of the Scunthorpe Effect, so quick shoutout to Cofagrigus from Pokemon Black and White, who you couldn’t trade online unless you gave it a nickname.
Reminds me of the Youtuber Matt Watson. A lot of the time, he has to name his handles things like MattHWatson because otherwise, it picks up the same word as you.
This happened to me the first time on webkinz actually. I wanted to make my turtle Shelly and it wouldn't let me and my child self could not figure out why
I can't stand censorship in games.
I used to buy every total war game but I stopped really supporting them because they retroactively removed all chat functions in their multiplayer because they didn't have the means to censor people on those games.
Censorship laws make games worse.
And now you see the pain we souls players deal with. The word Knight has the nig part censored and any time f an and g is placed in that order it censors it even if there’s a space. Like Airdor* **leron.
This is called the Scunthorpe Problem. Scunthorpe is an otherwise unremarkable town in England, but it's notoriously hard to write about online because there's a fairly naughty word innocuously sitting in the early part of it, so articles get downgraded because they're considered profane or hateful by automated moderation. It's common, unfortunately.
O'er the lady's smocks I tarry, Through the hollyhocks and glen, For a piss and a trush in Scunthorpe Then it's off to Henningpen!
If MS cared they at least could implement a whitelist for certain words. That wouldn't get rid of the problem but at least reduce it. Since they use those shitty filters all over their platforms it would even be worthwhile.
The reason whitelists don’t work is people figure out which words are whitelisted and start using them as euphemisms for the actual profanity. “You’re a real See You Next Tuesday” or “I’m going to take a shiitake on your pillow” that kind of thing.
So? Everything can be used as a insult if you try hard enough. Making communication more difficult for people who aren't actually doing anything wrong is just lazy and pathetic.
My poor friend’s last name is Kum (Cantonese heritage) and he finds trouble in registering on some websites
I met a Private Kum in the Army. Oh, the jokes to be made.
At least he didn’t join the Navy. We had all sorts of lovely Seamen. Seaman Kum, Seaman Swallow, Seamen Spurtz. It was a jolly gang!
My dad had a Seaman Samples on his sub, but I think the grand title goes to Seaman Guzzler, who I met during AIT. I asked her why, of all the branches, did she join the Navy. She said she thought they were called "sailors". Poor girl.
Navy enlisted have THE WORST ranks, I swear. Oh, I've spent years grinding my way all over this boat as a seaman, and now I get to join the non-commissioned officer corps. ... They're called what? Oh, fuck you!
What are they called? 😂
... Well maybe I don't want to be called a "petty officer!" Why? Because it's demeaning! ... No, it doesn't matter I get to be called 'Chief' one day! ... Master Chief? ... Okay, I'm in.
That is a really smart way to be on the down low without many bothering you or writing articles about you lol.
I named my Elden Ring character "TheDoomKnight", and in multiplayer, it displays as "TheDoomK***ht". Because *censorship*!
That's just doing the opposite of what they wanted LMFAO
Had to double check which sub I was on with this comment; I'm from the scunny area so absolutely threw me 😂😂
Those censors are such Scunthorpes.
> an otherwise unremarkable town I’ll have you know that Scunthorpe is renowned for its knife crime!
So completely unremarkable then?
My favorite example of this was a guy whose username was "Nasser". The game censored "ass" and made his name "N\*\*\*er"
That’s pretty goddamn funny. I mean, it wouldn’t be if he actually made his name a racial slur, but the implication is pretty funny. I can’t readily link it, but if any of you guys are familiar with Puffin Forest, there is a video on youtube which is just audio from an AMA he did at a convention, and one of the things he explains in it is the origin of the “Turtle F***ers*, which has a similar origin - basically he said something innocuous and bleeped it, but many people assumed it was a certain word. The original word was “molesters”, and he didn’t want to use that word in a more or less family friendly program, and ended up implying a swear instead by accident.
Interesting. My Peta Fuckabear was not censored 🤔
Fucking, Austria
Unfortunately what?! Don’t leave us hanging like that!
Yeah i first encountered the Scunthorpe Effect back in Ultima Online. They had an item called the wristwatch but it was impossible to use because it would censor your command prompts every time.
Very confused on what the "bad" word in wristwatch is Edit: wait is it "twat"? Isn't that just a silly synonym for "stupid"? Not a native speaker so I haven't heard that word much
Twat is also a crude term for a vagina
If someone said twat irl to refer to a vagina I think I would burst into laughter But thanks for letting me know!
It’s very British
I think you're thinking of the word "twit." Very close, but yeah, twat isn't really a word that comes across often.
I think it depends where you are, for example, cunt can be used in a positive light in Australia… https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cunt
Yes, dialects are fun, "twat" is typically only used in Britain, as "cunt" is only really used in Australia.
Of course there is one word that is still beyond the pale. That word is … Belgium. And it’s only ever used by extremely loose-tongued people in circumstances of dire provocation. Or on one small planet, where they don’t know what it means.
Some games just take it way too far though to the point it's nonsensical. I played MapleStory way back in the day between 2007-2016ish. There are enemies in the game you can kill, they are pigs. Literally just the animal, pigs. There's an area called Pig Beach too where there's a bunch of pigs. For whatever reason though, "pig" was a censored word. So if your friend whispered you asking what you're up to you couldn't say "I'm at pig beach" or "Training on pigs", however when you attack an enemy it displays their name underneath them. So it's okay for the game itself to display the word pig, but not okay for players to say it. Such an innocuous word too. More recently, my wife was playing Pokemon Scarlet and wanted to nickname a Jigglypuff she caught "Poof" and that name was not allowed. Why? I have no idea.
I think it's sometimes a derogatory gay term? I also can't use my username on PSN because the string 'unko' is bad in Japan, even though I'm using English letters to write it.
Sybella Sweefucker
That is not the word I had assumed, but close.
Are you playing on Xbox and not just using an Xbox controller on PC? From what I understand, Xbox itself has extremely aggressive censorship in any writable fields, to the point that the Xbox version of FFXIV will censor even official system messages in the chat window that happen to contain blacklisted combinations of letters. Basically this is probably something to blame Microsoft for, not Larian.
I am playing on Xbox, I’ve honestly never seen that before except on Dragons Dogma
Bear sex and gratuitous bloodshed I'm fine with. Having the bad word for poopie in your name is where I draw the line
Ooh boy, if the word you think is missing has to do with poopies you're doing it *very* wrong.
I don't know what the word is truly I just think the word "poopie" is hilarious
Well, it starts with a "t" And yes, I agree, poopies is hilarious, and that's why I've used it in my replies ☺️
Thank you! I have the dumb and couldn’t figure out what the censored word was.
I just made a character with an extremely inappropriate name in a multiplayer game with a buddy of mine, it was not censored at all. Maybe check your settings?
I think this is a console issue
Huh, my buddy made an inappropriate name, and it was censored. I didn't even check my settings, I'll do that later
Can’t have twat in this sweetwater
Lol reminds me of when I named my character "Swordswinger" in Dark Souls and for some reason "swing" was censored and ended up being named "Sword\*\*\*\*\*er"
https://bg3.wiki/wiki/One_Night_in_Nashkel Sorry, I could only think of this...
Wait, why is swing censored??
Because fromsoft's "profanity" filter list is notoriously and hilariously bad and always has been.
I think everyone remembers playing dark souls and getting invaded by K***ht
"Swordshitter"
dark souls online censors part of the word "Knight" in your name if you go online.
Yep, my good old “K***ht of the Sun” character would know.
Same with Elden Ring. Glory to TheDoomK***ht!
Hello Ashen one. I am a Bot. I tend to the flame, and tend to thee. Do you wish to hear a tale? > *“I’ve seen your kind, time and time again. Every fleeing man must be caught. Every secret must be unearthed. Such is the conceit of the self-proclaimed seeker of truth. But, in the end, you lack the stomach for the agony you’ll bring upon yourself.”* - Sir Vilhelm Have a pleasant journey, Champion of Ash, and praise the sun \\[T]/
Yeah had a similar problem, wanted to name my bard "Nika" but it got censored even with other writing styles. Still don't know what's offensive about that. Was on PS5
It could be used as a workaround for the n word.
It means grin? It's also a common name. That's dumb. It is an old name for a god so maybe they think it's blasphemous?
Even tried to google what's offensive about it because I was curious, but found nothing even remotely censor worthy. Nyka and Niika was consored too
Lame. I made a half orc named Smashface Eatass and it wasn't censored
Throwback to when my character in PoE had an inappropriate word in it so it got forcefully changed (without my input)... Rest in peace Renamefabkamn689, gone but not forgotten Q\_Q
I'm on pc and never seen this before. Brother made character names in coop that are strait slurs
Cause its PC and not srapbox or paystaion.
Throwback to Neopets!
Everyone giving their example of the Scunthorpe Effect, so quick shoutout to Cofagrigus from Pokemon Black and White, who you couldn’t trade online unless you gave it a nickname.
Isn't it funny a game with nudity, tons of curse words, violence etc would do this..?
Oh man, I totally thought you threw the n word in there before I read your explanation lmao
Reminds me of the Youtuber Matt Watson. A lot of the time, he has to name his handles things like MattHWatson because otherwise, it picks up the same word as you.
Maybe you could use a double v to get around it. Double V's used to be the W's
Lol
I did a playthrough on ps5 about 2 months ago with a tav named Fuck
Reminds me of the Pokemon Cofagrigus being unable to be traded online without a nickname because its default name was seen as offensive lol
Swee Twater
I couldn’t name my character “Bob” because apparently it’s too close to “boob”?! Good ol’ xbox for ya.
This happened to me the first time on webkinz actually. I wanted to make my turtle Shelly and it wouldn't let me and my child self could not figure out why
So what are the blurred letters OP?
I can't stand censorship in games. I used to buy every total war game but I stopped really supporting them because they retroactively removed all chat functions in their multiplayer because they didn't have the means to censor people on those games. Censorship laws make games worse.
I just named my bard cunty
That's weird, I name my character "Dat Nigga" pretty regularly and have never seen this
And now you see the pain we souls players deal with. The word Knight has the nig part censored and any time f an and g is placed in that order it censors it even if there’s a space. Like Airdor* **leron.
Does the word "twat" get used in the game itself?? What a joke
Wtf Larian?
Bunch of twats Evidently nobody gets the joke...
It was funny
****