What do you guys feel about bad words on games?

[Tachyglossus]

Personally I am one of those persnickety wet blankets who hates profanity. However, I am just one person here, and if your game isn't aimed at persnickety wet blankets or impressionable children, than you should be fine.

To be honest, I detest the overuse of strong language. There are more creative ways that are equally powerful to get one's message across (The British have some WONDERFUL insults that don't rely on over-used curses). However, as a writer I have to accept that some people swear. If I am doing a narrative style over a script style I usually isolate profanity in the descriptive portions to say something like "Bob let out a string of curses, alerting the entire room that he had just stubbed his toe." or "And the insults continued, the language growing more colourful as he gained momentum, until he was finally hauled off by security." I occasionally drop the so-called lesser words in dialogues to add a bit of reality, but I still refuse to use harsher words like the F-word or the C-word (and I don't mean the word 'crap'). I also don't fuss about using the words in their original, intended use, such as having a dog breeder correctly identifying a female dog as a bitch, or someone referencing a donkey as an ass. I even once heard an alternate Jingle Bells that, instead of a Five Horse Open Sleigh, it was an Eight Bitch (something can't remember the next two syllables) Sled. It was my grandmother singing it, and she's more strict than myself about polite language.

To be honest, a lot of swear words are losing their power. Either people use them so often they are desensitized to it, so it's meaningless or unnoticed when it is used to add emphasis or stronger expression to something, while others are so uptight that they get hung up on the word itself and indignantly narrow in on it, rather than seeing it as an amplifier to a meaningful expression. Yes, there are those in the middle, but they are shrinking in numbers.

[Deji]

People over here (in my experience) use bad words so often they barely mean anything - they're often more colorful replaces for "idiot" or "evil mean horrible person" or just an exclamation of surprise or sudden realization - (now, sure, there are people that say worst words and every other word they say is a bad word, so it feels really insulting). Bad words in English don't bother me, personally.

[LateWhiteRabbit]

Bad words in English don't bother me, personally.

Hahaha. Bad words in a foreign language rarely carry the sting of those in a person's native tongue. I just found your comment humorous.

Use bad language where appropriate, avoid it if you can. Even to give character to punks or criminals, using too much bad language can turn off a lot of people.

Personally, I don't care. I was a Marine - "live like soldiers, curse like sailors". We used curse words for every possible adjective and adverb. We sprinkled them into everything like salt on food. I'm sure your countrymen do the same Deji. I trained with the Chilean Marines on a few exercises - I'm sure if I could have understood what they were saying, there were curse words involved.

[James]

That's a good question. I'm fine with them if they serve their purposes, but it's understandable if parent won't like your game when their kid is expose to profanities.

In general follow the Entertainment Software Rating Board guidelines and rate your game accordingly. If you want to make game for younger audiences try to either replace the swear words with #$%^ or replace them with other words. If you are unsure which words are considered swear words, look up List of Bad Words

For example I had no idea twatwaffle was a swear word or even heard of it until recently.

[lordcloudx]

I feel that "bad words" should simply just work in context with the personality of the character saying them along with the setting of the whole story. If it feels just "tacked on," then I wouldn't like it. Of course, this applies to the use of other types of words or elements as well.

Anywayz, if you believe that said "bad word" would work for your game, don't even hesitate to use it. If it will just make everything look weird, then you're better off just censoring it or using a milder term with a similar connotation.

[Suikama]

:3c

[James]

:3c

Ha ha, that really made my day. Kind of amazing how you just get use to hearing those words.

[LateWhiteRabbit]

:3c

Oh, my . . . .

I want to be clear when I mentioned we cursed a lot in the Marines, it generally wasn't so . . . genital based. Wait, okay. That's a lie. It was just the opposite genitals.

That video is hilarious. The hero obviously has something on his mind.

[Sapphi]

I agree with everyone that says you should use them for characterization. However, I think I'd also consider your general audience. For example... when Bandai acquired G Gundam, they gave it a dub with absolutely no cursing so that it could be aired on CN. Since watching the show in Japanese, I could tell that if they had chosen to dub with some swear words, it definitely wouldn't have seemed out of place. (On at least two occasions on the dub, they just have Domon go "What the?!", which is kind of comical.) But because they chose to go the kid-safe route, tons more kids got to see G Gundam because it aired on CN's Toonami block and not adult swim. (I'm using G Gundam as an example because I'm a kid who wouldn't have seen it if it were on adult swim.)

So that might be something to think about, too. Not that kids can't handle some cursing (In Secret of NIMH, which I believe is rated G, Justin the rat says "Damn!" at least once), but it helps you gain a wider audience when you don't have to worry about language disclaimers, I think.

[KomiTsuku]

I've always followed what the character would say. Certain characters don't curse. Not gonna try to make them and have it sound out of place. On the flip, if other characters didn't, it would feel completely wrong. I'm not against cursing, but I'm not going to force it in to make things sound cool and edgy.

The marine comment got me thinking. I don't think I have ever gone a single mission without hearing someone call our computer system some long string of vulgar explicates. In the office, very little. In the plane, BEEEEEEEEEEP!

[LateWhiteRabbit]

The marine comment got me thinking. I don't think I have ever gone a single mission without hearing someone call our computer system some long string of vulgar explicates. In the office, very little. In the plane, BEEEEEEEEEEP!

My senior drill instructor was the only Marine I ever met who tried not to curse. He was really fastidious about it. I mean, he was still an extremely mean, strict, and tyrannical bastard (who I totally respect), but he drew the line there somehow. When he got really mad at someone and they caused him to slip and curse, he would just pause for this long moment, staring at them in rage before growling in a low gravelly voice, "You made me curse . . . YOU MADE ME CURSE . . ." Then he would begin screaming curses and the next two days would be a nonstop punishment hell for everyone for "causing his morals to slip".

You want to talk about effective curses that don't lose their punch - when the senior drill instructor said a curse word everyone stopped and stared in horror.

[nefferinthia]

I'm from the Netherlands and I always wondered why English-speaking people had such a problem with swearing. Around here, 8-year-olds go around throwing f-bombs everywhere. Not that I'm saying that is how it should be, but I'm just surprised others make such a big deal out of it. It's done with Dutch words just the same, so that's not it either. But anyway, back on topic, swearing is fine by me as long as your target audience isn't little children, which I highly doubt.

[salis]

Although it looks safe to say that the majority of your audience won't mind strong language at all, I'm one of the few in complete agreement with Tachyglossus; "There are more creative ways that are equally powerful to get one's message across." Profanity of any kind is a huge turn-off for me, and although this isn't to say I don't still play visual novels that have it, I feel less inclined to when they do. It's true, "bad" words can help express a character and their personality, but overall, I believe their are plenty of less offensive alternatives that will have the same impact. And even though those that don't mind curse words won't avoid a "clean" game, the same can't be said for those against them.

[Aoyama Ryuu]

Well, as a player I don't mind unless it's overly used. Some bad words are simply used for emphasis, losing their original meaning completely. "Fuck off" doesn't translate to "Sexual intercourse off", it's simply a more aggressive way of saying "go away". Still, it depends on your target audience, it would be off-putting for someone to say that in Kimi ni Todoke for example. (Well, not for me, I'd find it amusing)

As a writer, I avoid using them. Not because I think it might harm someone's innocent mind (I'm sure the image of blood being vomited surpasses profanity), but because it wouldn't suit the characters I created. Different characters react in different ways; while a prisoner might spout profanity every second word, most other people would only do it on occasion. So, there, a relative answer. Basically I haven't told you anything.

[LVUER]

My senior drill instructor was the only Marine I ever met who tried not to curse. He was really fastidious about it. I mean, he was still an extremely mean, strict, and tyrannical bastard (who I totally respect), but he drew the line there somehow. When he got really mad at someone and they caused him to slip and curse, he would just pause for this long moment, staring at them in rage before growling in a low gravelly voice, "You made me curse . . . YOU MADE ME CURSE . . ." Then he would begin screaming curses and the next two days would be a nonstop punishment hell for everyone for "causing his morals to slip".

You want to talk about effective curses that don't lose their punch - when the senior drill instructor said a curse word everyone stopped and stared in horror.

NOW that a scary curse that have a really deep impact... Since one curse could cause people tremble in horror ^_^