Birog
06-05-2012, 03:41 AM
Hi,
I ran into a problem with the censorship on the chat system a few days ago, but not due to swear words.
Basically, another user I'd just met said "I want to tell something to a stranger who can't judge me".
...and then she came out to me as a lesbian. Possibly for for the first time to anyone, given the prelude she gave before telling.
But I'm not really sure if she came out to me, because instead of "lesbian", the chat system rendered it as "*******."
coming out to me (as I think she did) must have been s a big step for her, and frankly I fumbled in the subsequent conversation, because I was still unsure whether she had really told me what I thought she told me (I'm a straight guy, so it was a bit odd tht she was coming out to me. [No I did not hit on her. I didn't even know she was female until this.])
She wanted support from a stranger and needed more than I gave right then because I wasn't sure if she was telling me what I thought she was telling me, and my mind was still playing catchup.
So here's the problem: the devs, in their effort to combact homophobia (after all, the biggest demographic will be adolescent boys, who are prone to homophobia), they've seriously impaired the ability of LBGT people to talk about themselves. There's LGBT people playing this game, and they just possibility might want to talk about their identity and experiences in this social game in chat.
I don't have an easy answer for this. I appreciate the devs desire to avoid homophobic remarks in chat, but feel there's gotta be a better solution that a blanket ban on terms that the LGBT community uses to describe themselves.
I ran into a problem with the censorship on the chat system a few days ago, but not due to swear words.
Basically, another user I'd just met said "I want to tell something to a stranger who can't judge me".
...and then she came out to me as a lesbian. Possibly for for the first time to anyone, given the prelude she gave before telling.
But I'm not really sure if she came out to me, because instead of "lesbian", the chat system rendered it as "*******."
coming out to me (as I think she did) must have been s a big step for her, and frankly I fumbled in the subsequent conversation, because I was still unsure whether she had really told me what I thought she told me (I'm a straight guy, so it was a bit odd tht she was coming out to me. [No I did not hit on her. I didn't even know she was female until this.])
She wanted support from a stranger and needed more than I gave right then because I wasn't sure if she was telling me what I thought she was telling me, and my mind was still playing catchup.
So here's the problem: the devs, in their effort to combact homophobia (after all, the biggest demographic will be adolescent boys, who are prone to homophobia), they've seriously impaired the ability of LBGT people to talk about themselves. There's LGBT people playing this game, and they just possibility might want to talk about their identity and experiences in this social game in chat.
I don't have an easy answer for this. I appreciate the devs desire to avoid homophobic remarks in chat, but feel there's gotta be a better solution that a blanket ban on terms that the LGBT community uses to describe themselves.