Amount of realistic profanity in VNs

[aphosphene]

I'm not going to include "verbal insults" here, only cursing and gestures.

Sometimes it bothers me that there is very little swearing in the games I've played, I don't even usually swear in reality. I just think that it's natural to hear/read people/characters respond to things this way. I know not every game is meant to portray real life conversations and I know that one of the reasons they're not usually incorporated is because some of the audience might think it's too vulgar and may feel offended (especially if it relates to religion). Due to this, they're often times replaced with more mundane phrases such as "Oh no", "Oh my god", or "What the hell!"

So here's the question: How much realistic swearing (as a player) can you tolerate or (as a writer) will you include in a VN?

Examples:
"I left the oven on! God damn it!"
"Fuck the butterflies. I feel the whole zoo inside me whenever I see her."
"Shit, we gotta go."
"Just give him the coconut for God's sake!"

*one characters says something awful*
*second character flips finger and walks away*

[Hazel-Bun]

I think it all depends on what genre you're writing and what your character is like. I for one don't write it much because I don't curse regularly and am the type of person to substitute it with a "What the heck!" and the like. I tend to shy away from any work that drops f-bombs every other line because it gets tiring to read and losses its impact.

That said, it is normal to hear other people swear in day to day conversation. My rule of thumb is to use it in moderation for characters that swear regularly and only for impact for those who don't. For example, lets say your story is set in some gritty noir like city and the MC is a drug dealer. It is expected and warrented to use more vulgar language. But, instead of making him/her curse every line, try to limit yourself to more dramatic scenes and mix it in with vulgar actions so it doesn't become repatitive.

Vice versa, if your character is a middle schooler at a prep school, I'd expect less swearing but that doesn't mean there can't be any. Maybe they flip the bird or substitute more of their swearing instead (ex. That lady can go to hell rather than f*ck off).

We're all human so flipping the bird every once in a while is a-ok! Just don't clutter your dialogue with it or use it too to much

[KomiTsuku]

Know your character and stay true is the best advice I can give. If they cuss like a sailor, it is going to feel weird if they say "Oh, poopyblocks" instead of "Oh, shit". The only exception I'd give to the write them like they are rule is if you are targeting a specific audience where it may not be appropriate, such as children or a non-fiction setting.

[aphosphene]

I suppose moderation is the key. It always is anyhow in almost everything. The bigger the amount of foul language will obviously turn some readers away, especially younger and sensitive ones. It depends on the target audience I suppose. And the I agree with the rule of staying true to what your character is like. A sweet, gentle character that works as a librarian saying "that is some serious shit" would be absolutely out of place.

I myself don't like flipping the finger but I sure do enjoy watching other people do it to others. Especially if the receiver of the gesture deserves it.

[Lesleigh63]

Follow what your character would do. If the age of your audience is a problem perhaps put in the first and last letter but use asterisks in the middle.

[Katy133]

The genre and setting your story uses is also very important in relation to the levels of profanity in your VN. For example, The Wolf Among Us (Episode 1) is a Detective Noir and mainly takes place in a rough neighbourhood, so there's quite a lot of swearing in it. And I went in expecting it.

You could also "semi-censor" the swearing by creating an interruption (another character talking, and loud noise in the background, having the camera cut to somewhere else, etc) before the end of the profanity.

Example from The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Film, 1996):

Phoebus: All right just - calm down. Just give me a chance to apologize.
Esmeralda: For what?
Phoebus: [kicks Esmeralda, making her stumble] That, for example.
Esmeralda: You sneaky son of a-...
Phoebus: Ah ah ah! Watch it. You're in a church.

In The Road to El Dorado film, Tulio exclaims "Holy...Ship!" as a boat appears and nearly runs over his raft. Of course, as a ship of the conquistadors, it literally WAS a Holy Ship... -TV Tropes

Or, if it’s appropriate, you could have the characters use fake swear words (Captain Haddock used "Blistering Barnacles!" in The Adventures of Tintin series). Shakespeare and Herge used this technique in their writing. Alternatively, the character could use slang/swearwords that are considered outdated (and no longer considered to be "real" swear words). The 1990s series, Jeeves and Wooster, had the main character use 1930s slang (Bertie Wooster: "Well, I'm dashed!").
Having other characters shocked at this kind of "swearing" can be used for comedy:

Bertie: I don't want to go to some blasted museum!
Aunt Agatha: (Shocked) Bertie!
(Bertie looks around. Several elderly people sitting nearby gasp in shock. A baby starts crying the the background.) -Episode: Bertie Ensures Bicky Can Continue To Live in Manhattan.

Also, swearing can even be used as a way of helping to tell the story. For example, let's say there's a group of characters. All of them occasionally swear... except one (let's call him/her Alex). Alex never swears. Then, some time later in the story, something really bad happens and Alex swears when she/he finds out about it. Now the audience knows that this is serious bussiness: Because Alex acted out of character.

The Art Of Calling People Out (by @mikefalzone) Video talks about the use of swearing to make a big statement:

"Most importantly, the best possible candidate for calling people out are people who don’t normally swear. This person trusts your judgement. … And maybe you look this person in the eyes and say, 'You know what? [That’s] not for nothing. But you’ve been kind of a f***ing a**hole lately'. Swearing in front of someone that isn’t used to hearing you swear is ground-breaking. The truth will hit them like a blizzard in the pants. ... Now this [person] is like,'Woah. Even the voice of reason is pissed'." -Mike Falzone

TV Tropes refers to it as the Precision F-Strike:

"A perfectly-timed, contextually appropriate expletive from a character or work that doesn't normally use them." -Larconic page

Hope this helps.

[aphosphene]

Hope this helps.

Thank you very much for your response! This is absolutely helpful especially now I'm working on a story where a few of the characters tend to swear in ridiculous amounts. I have never thought of using swearing for comedy, that is one good way to go.

[Fungii]

I'm the kind of person who doesn't even notice when she swears until I'm in a situation where I can't, so I can't say I have a problem with it personally.

I think the option is to not have every character swear that much, otherwise you might come across as a try-hard. Unless of course they're meant to all be unpleasant. Basically have a proof reader go through it and tell you if it's too much is the best advice I can give.

[Cith]

So here's the question: How much realistic swearing (as a player) can you tolerate

Usually not much, but it depends. When people curse it's rarely different, so I find it a little boring to read. That's just me, though.

[SundownKid]

It depends on the skill of the writer, overusing profanity can turn me off of a story if it doesn't make sense in context.

However depending on the target audience of your game, it's okay to use some profanity when using fake or no profanity would sound stupid.

[Taleweaver]

I think it depends on the characters you're depicting. Personally, I can't imagine Breaking Bad's Jesse without a healthy dose of "...bitch!" for emphasis, or Tony from "The Sopranos" calling everybody he didn't like "cocksucker" (which said a lot more about him than about those persons; it defines him as deeply conservative, with homosexuality as something he despises), and other characters may use profane language even more gratuitiously if it fits them and the role they are playing in the story.

[trooper6]

First off, I have to say that I don't think that lots of swearing is "realistic." More than one person mentioned that they don't swear...and I'm another person who doesn't swear. Further, I'm a professor and rarely do I hear swearing in my work environment (except some of the music I okay in class), and my friends also rarely swear. I doubt I'm singular in this regard.

So I think one can have a game with little to no swearing and have it still be "realistic."

On the other hand I have no problem with swearing at all. And I don't mind if my media includes swearing. It just has to work with the character. And swear words, like every other word choice, have to be chosen with intention by the author in order to forward the story, characterization, or atmosphere.

What I mean to say is, no work of art is "real." They are always the products of creative and deliberate choices. Some people swear in real life (some don't). But just that people swear in real life is not enough a reason to include swearing (or exclude it). People also urinate in real life and that is rarely depicted in VNs. Because while going to the bathroom may be realistic, we rarely find it interesting for our stories (there are some exceptions). So you don't include everything...you include things for a purpose. So should it be with cursing, or anything else.

[Katy133]

How much realistic swearing (as a player) can you tolerate or (as a writer) will you include in a VN?

It's just occurred to me that I've watched the series The Thick of it, so even though I generally don't use extensive swearing in my writing, I apparently have an extreme tolerance for it (though again, the swearing was often used as a source of humour, especially with the Malcolm Tucker character).

[Mad Harlequin]

The most important thing, to me, is finding a balance. It can be entirely realistic for a character to swear often, but it shouldn't be so gratuitous an occurrence that it drowns out the messages you want to send and therefore becomes less effective. When this happens, swearing can also have an undesirable comic effect on writing.

[Shinoki]

I personally don't like swearing, and since I'm a kiddo~ well, it's pretty easy to replace swearing with descriptions so kiddos can read it without their parents being like... "omg, Bobby stop reading that type of profane thingy!" Percy Jackson got away with that.... *whistles*

Anyways, the jokes aside....
Honestly, most people probably wouldn't swear too much in real life even if it's a big event unless it's something that aggravates the person-I mean, a lot of real people don't actually swear, but still just tone it down even if they're mad.

If the character is hot-blooded, a hoodlum, a bad person, delinquent, or someone in an environment that's not uptight, school-y, or very dignified like an aristocrat-like thing (ah, I'm making it sound like people who curse are bad....it's not really....those are just examples) then that's probably fine to swear a lot and vulgarly
(I find it funny when there's a censor noise~ if you want some comedy... and more than just a beep-like replacing things with cat noises and etc XD completely random.).

There are other personality based alternatives to swearing in certain situations....like threatening to pluck out an eyeball, stab you with a fork....mutilate limbs.... maul a face....hating on the world....etc.

I think that most things with themes or characters that swear... tend to be PG-13 or up anyways. So, I don't find it problematic with the age group thing.

Swearing too much can clatter up the dialogue and make it annoying to read sometimes though.

It just depends on if the dialogue fits the character~
This was a messy.... bunch of a paragraphs, sorry if you can't understand.