"Rude League Names"

Discussion in 'Gotham City (General Gameplay)' started by Lara, Aug 29, 2020.

  1. WilderMidnight Steadfast Player

    over the years i've seen a few offensive screen and league names. they don't last long in game. they either do get changed by mods, banned or due to the fact they just wanted to rile up some people playing a video game they leave when the attention goes away. they aren't really invested in playing the game or working on their characters.
  2. Hraesvelg Always Right


    For you...that's the operative point of this whole conversation. A line must be drawn and everyone will draw it at a different place. If Dimensional Ink wants to draw it at one point, this is their playground. One also shouldn't automatically expect someone else will draw it at the same place, though. It reminds me of the older arguments about "obscene" material. The standards tend to be arbitrary and capricious.
    • Like x 2
  3. nawanda Loyal Player

    I don’t disagree with anything you’ve said, but again, if you feel that there is a case to be made for allowing the league name Down syndrome, I would be interested to read it. We can all talk in generalities about the nature of the issues being debated. I’m pretty clear that that league name is unjustifiable. You can say it’s all my personal opinion, of course it is.
    • Like x 1
  4. Qwantum Abyss Loyal Player

    No your implying the context. I cant stress enough That my gut says its malicious but absent proof its nothing more than my opinion of it and you simply CANT punish others because “feelings” and because your just “sure”. There must be a governing body to make the call (i.e. the devs) and there must be rules (i.e. the ToS).
    • Like x 1
  5. Proxystar #Perception

    I think realistically a lot of this stuff requires a common sense and reasonable person test.

    Some things are abundantly obvious to most people, for example most people would probably see a league like "Down Syndrome" and think it was inappriopriate, the level of inappropriateness would be somewhat of a spectrum ranging from horribly offended (likely being directly or indirectly impacted by the condition) to those people at the other end less offended but find the name insensitive or tacky but move on.

    In order to ascertain whether something fails the reasonable person test you need to think where most people sit on this spectrum or would sit and determine it from there.

    A name like "Down Syndrome" I'd hazard a guess most people would probably sit in the top half of the spectrum and therefore the name fails the reasonable person test and is inappropriate.

    A name however like "C@#% Bags" would probably not fail the test as despite the fact most people would find it trashy they would be at the lower end of the spectrum in terms of their care factor.

    The reason this is the sensible approach is because there's always someone who's going to be offended at something and just because someone is offended doesn't mean something necessarily has to be changed because of that person or even a minority of people, it's impossible to attain a world of "no offensiveness"

    With that being said of course you don't have to go out of your way to cause offense, it would also be rather obvious to most that a name like Down Syndrome would cause offense so most people again wouldn't even choose the name, in fact probably only an idiot would do so if they weren't purposefully attempting to offend. Therefore contemplating someones intent when saying, naming things is also particularly critical in deciding whether they even intended to cause offense in the first place :)
    • Like x 5
  6. Proxystar #Perception

    I don't think the name covid19 is particularly offensive, but as I outlined just above timing can also play a part. It's somewhat poor timing to name your league after a pandemic "currently" ravaging its way around the world killing people.

    It may be different if you were to name your league covid19, 20 years after the fact but while it's actually happening its a bit distasteful so I could entirely understand why people might take offense and probably more people would take offense (certainly currently) than wouldn't, so it's probably a name that is better off not used and should be changed.

    Such an example would be "what name is worse" - "Covid19" or "Black Death" - would one be acceptable to the reasonable person, ask yourself? I'd probably say no one would bat an eyelid at the latter.
    • Like x 2
  7. Qwantum Abyss Loyal Player

    Agreed but its a difference in what the point is. The game has some
    Default filters as is. Theres all sorts of things the game doesnt allow u to type when making a name of any sort. The game allowed this one so as is, the name is valid. Its making a case for it to be removed/censored. The game design as already made the preliminary determination that its an “ok” name. Now that “judgement must be overturned”. In favor or not, i personally want the context and the facts before making the decision and would hope others would too. “Feelings” or “offended” is simply not enough to ban anything as has been pointed by many dif ppl in this thread because its too Subjective and literally anything can be deemed offensive.
  8. nawanda Loyal Player

    No, I’m not implying the context. This is a real example from the EU server. The context is real, not implied.
    • Like x 1
  9. nawanda Loyal Player

    Really? The developers didn’t prohibit every conceivable combination of offensive terms in the language and so therefore any they didn’t prohibit in this way they are deeming acceptable? Really? You’re arguing that?

    So if I gave you an example of a league name that has been successfully created but then the developers have removed, that will completely nullify your point won’t it?

    Stop saying “literally anything can be deemed offensive”, therefore giving the impression I am presenting a low threshold. I have only ever posted about one specific example and no reasonable person would say that it is an acceptable name. Even you haven’t said it is acceptable. Because for all the whataboutery, you know it’s a disgusting name for someone to choose.
    • Like x 1
  10. Controller Devoted Player

    My thing is this -

    I've never personally came across a League Name that I found offensive. Found a few Player Names that were out there but not much offends me at this stage in my life.

    My time online is mostly spent grinding, pugging and helping a friend or league mates.

    I truly understand those that take offense to some things, though. My advice to them is to submit a trouble call on it and try to hold your distress. Don't engage someone you see in the game with a player name (or League Name) that you find bothersome. That will probably lead to MORE problems if you do.

    Just let the Mods sort it out.
    • Like x 3
  11. Brit Loyal Player



    What if it were to turn out that the League "Down Syndrome" was a League that was formed by players who were diagnosed with actual Down Syndrome, and feeling uncomfortable playing alongside other players who do not necessarily have experience with mental disabilities, they formed a League for those who have been diagnosed with the condition and their friends and family who are better prepared to understand the unique situations that may arise through voicechat.

    I think we'd all feel pretty cruddy if we tried to report and get people banned for trying to form a supportive group of like-minded people centered around a disability.

    At the end of the day, it's easy to snap to judgments, but unless you're actually there, it's all just assumptions. We have a Terms of Service. If it doesn't violate the Terms of Service, then it's up to us to either choose not to be offended, or choose not to associate with those players.
  12. Proxystar #Perception

    That's potentially very true, which is why you're right, understanding intent is quite important.

    and you're right players should just report it, then you'd expect the game administrators to then talk to the league leader about it to ascertain exactly that, whatever that result might be people should then move on.
    • Like x 1
  13. nawanda Loyal Player

    Really. A league for people with Down Syndrome called Down Syndrome. You’re presenting this as a plausible situation.

    I think I’m done with this thread.
  14. Brit Loyal Player


    One of the major effects of Down Syndrome is a diminished mental capacity, with studies indicating that the average IQ falls somewhere in the range of 50.

    If you wanted to make a group for people with Down Syndrome, and you didn't want people to be confused about it and join when they didn't know what it was about, and you had operated at the intellectual level of an 8 year old, do you think you would come up with some sort of incredibly clever, roundabout way of hinting at it, or would you just be open and clear?

    Maybe you're right. Maybe they're just making light of a hard situation. But without actually talking to them, we don't know. And I don't believe in making snap judgments and assumptions about people.
    • Like x 3
  15. myandria Item Storage

    Hmm..

    Umm..

    if "feelings' or " being offended" is not enough, then why is in the TOS that "harrassment" of ANY KIND is not tolerated? Harassment deals with "feelings" and "being offended", so why should offensive and hurtful names/terms not receive similar treatment? What you may feel is acceptable may be a form of harassment and disrespect to many others; it is not good to assume that your level of tolerance should be every one else's level of tolerance. Reporting such names and terms is a key tool that the devs can use to determine what the majority of players will and will not accept. Many of these offensive names and terms are NOT subjective and get right to the point of who/what they are targeting.

    Using a name or term that is clearly offensive or sensitive to any situation is harassment, practically downright bullying; players who use such names and terms are looking for that knee-jerk shock from others without painful consequence because as you know, if they used those terms face to face or even in social media, they would get an unwanted and harsh backlash.

    Whether or not we agree with one another, more threads like this are needed to prove to the devs that this is an issue that needs more of their attention and to give players more reasons to report such offensive names and terms.
    • Like x 1
  16. Proxystar #Perception

    Terms like that aren't there actually to pander to people perpetually offended by everything, they're actually there to provide Daybreak with the necessary means to enforce their own ideals of harassment or offense, not that of the end user.

    When they use the terms "ANY KIND" it's because it empowers them to use their discretion as to what that ANY KIND might be while of course saying to the end user "you'll probably want to be at least somewhat careful about what you say and do".

    With that being said of course players shouldn't feel like they're walking around on egg shells. I don't think we're essentially in disagreement and you're right there are obvious terms and words that aren't as subjective as others, but there are certainly occurences where offensives words could be used that really aren't that offensive and some people arguably do make more out of it than they should.
    • Like x 1
  17. Mepps Sr. Community Manager

    Let's not go further into discussing politics. In DCUO, your behavior is subject to the terms of service, and that includes appropriately naming things.

    We do not actively monitor character or league names beyond the basic filter that's in place at creation. If you see inappropriate names, or names that *you* think are inappropriate, please open a ticket with our team at http://help.daybreakgames.com.

    It is always a judgement call on some level, but our team will determine if the name is appropriate or not and take whatever actions necessary.
    • Like x 15
  18. Magnificent Loyal Player

    There's no fixing anything when there's not even agreement on root cause. Heck, many people can't even agree to disagree these days.
    • Like x 1
  19. MsTickle Fate Devoted Player

    On a Dimensional Ink/DCUO game? Dimensional Ink/DCUO gets to decide.

    Anyone who owns a website gets to decide who speaks on it and who does not.

    Period. Hope this clears things up.
  20. MsTickle Fate Devoted Player

    This is a load of horse pucky. On a privately owned game, the owner gets to decide who can do and say what, and if you don't like it, you can leave.

    What's OK or not in DC UNIVERSE ONLINE is strictly what Dimensional Ink says it is.

    There's no "free speech" involved. There is no free speech right to use someone else's property.
    • Like x 3