[MUD-Dev] Trouble Makers or Regular Citizens

[Rasdan]

Jon Lambert wrote on April 6, 2000:
> In the past, I have proposed the idea where administrators could
automatically
> censor and filter player speech by removing or replacing keywords making
such
> communications difficult and less offensive simply by virtue of requiring
players to
> express it in synonyms, symbols and phonetics (i.e. "f**K you", "u mf", or
"mucker")
> Or as an option, players could choose to set up their own filters as well
as
> gags.  Now besides the issue that there are an infinite number of ways
players
> can subvert such silly code, there was a sizable share who felt this was
an
> incredibly evil idea since muds are "all about creativity and free
speech".
> I would maintain most of the major issues of mud administration (and as
> expressed in this thread) really revolve around, "How can we censor xxx"?

I don't think swearing excessively or racial insults can ever be acceptable
behavior on a MUD or Game
that caters to the general public. On that note, I've added code that simply
replaces their swear words
(for example f**k) with symbols (%$*!). The substitutions are random and are
reminiscent of comic-book
style cursing. The players I have seem to prefer this to outright censorship
because they're still allowed to
say whatever they want. The system is fairly robust in that words can be
added or removed from the
substitution list on the fly so many idiomatic versions of swear words can
also be modified.
Granted, the system can be gotten around rather easily but this is
discouraged by muting anyone who
does so. While perhaps a harsh thing to do, people are used to it and they
don't try to get around it
anymore.

Rasdan





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