Offensive player names in other languages

[Danae]

While MERP is a server based in the UK with English as default language, several players are from other countries and have other native languages. Today -and a few times before- I saw a player online who has a very offensive -read: gross- name which directly translates into Dutch. I wonder if the rules about player character's names extend towards languages other than English.


Do not give your character a name inappropriate for the roleplaying environment. So no names like “Blooddagger”, “Killa”, “Ripper”, “Mouse” or any other name inappropriate for the role-play environment.

That's the only rule I found on player names, but in my opinion it shouldn't be allowed to give a character a really rude name in another language and pass it on as a 'slightly weird' name to English-speaking people.

I warned this player his name policy was probably against the server's rules, and did advise him to create a new character and login account (for that too was highly abusive in language). I hope I did do the right thing, and would like to know what's the character name policy in such cases.

When the name isn't rude or abusive, I don't mind that much. Some other players have given their characters names which directly translate to items, situations, or anything a name shouldn't be in other languages, but I suppose the line should be drawn somewhere in what is and what's not allowed.

[DM_Kev]

I will have to ammend the rules on this, well spotted. You did the right thing too.

Before I set it in stone properly, anyone who uses a character name or login name, which is in any way offensive or suggests any form of vulgarity will be deleted. This applies to all languages. Players who identify foreign obsenities in names should report this immediately.

[dsan1]

i once saw a char named "blitzkrieger" in the player-list. when i sent him a tell he disappeared. i think even without knowing a word of german you can easily recognize the nazi-reference of this name. this was 2 or 3 months ago, i had completely forgotten this. perhaps you could add that name to some ban-list...

p.s. i know player names shouldn't be mentioned in a negative way here in the forums. as this pc has never showed up again as far as i know and has - by the choice of his name - shown sympathy for the brutal so called "blitzkrieg" ("flashwar") of the nazi in ww2, i think i can make an exception. i know well politics have no place here, but nazi shouldn't have a place anyhere.

see you

dsan uno

[morez]

:spam:
hehe so you are german too??

but dsan is also german so let us discuss this anywhere
it could be a loooong discussion
:spam:

[ghost81]

On the naming front I will point people towards the player support thread in the PCT forums.

For those of you stuck with names there are lists here of Shire Hobbitt forenames/surnames and Rohirrim (the people of Rohan according to the Tolkien dictionary - not just the riders) names. There are also links to Elven sites which can help. Again if people put in requests I'm sure some of us could provide other lists/useful naming sites too.

[dsan1]

the so called "blitzkrieg" was the attack of nazi-germany on france in early 1940. so "blitzkrieger" is a nazi-related name to me. but morez is right. let's discuss this elsewhere.

[DM_Kev]

Let us not get into specifics now, otherwise we go down the dangerous road of political correctness which is not always as good as it sounds.

I made our position clear. If the word Nazi was used, we would consider this offensive and delete the account.

[morez]

i remember in UTT1 when cuferedir accidently called Ragebow Rageblow and he gave me a tell what Cu means in his language (cu==ass)...:)
unfortunately tolkien meant cu the sindar word for bow (not blow)

:)

[Shiryu]

Sorry , I must laught at this last post, for indeed "Cu" is a rather amusing word in my language...

I wasn't around UTT1, but I wonder if that player was portuguese ? Perhaps he was brazilian...

[Lorien]

Rage was brazilian

[san~raal]

words can mean different things to different people. i'm sure there are quite a few people who would take offence to the word "fuhrer" because of things that happened in WWII.

For me, "Fuhrer", instills a since of pride because that is my RL last name (surname). Pride, because i come from a good and honarble family who has always been willing to help others. (which is probably why i became a firefighter) Not to mention, my family has had that name long before some madman decided to use it as a title. In fact, my great grandfather served under Teddy Roosevelt during the Spanish-American War as one of his "Rough Riders".

i've seen others use some form of thier RL name as a login name or a char. name. If i was to do the same; would you want me banned? would you call me a nazi?

[morez]

to explain: 'führer' is the simple translation of leader so dont care about having leader as surname:)

[Lorien]

I feel there's a difference between people using their own names as Logins, and people deliberately taking abusive/offensive names - the fact that its not in english and this is an english based server doesn't matter.

However I do think we should keep it to abusive/offensive language, not things some people don't like. The reason for this is it keeps polotics out of it, and with the number of players we have, your almost bound to upset someone.

[SNarfel]

I cetainly wouldnt want you banned or any such thing.

The sad fact is that when a name becomes associated with a madman it leaves its mark a long time after the madman has been dealt with, especially if individuals are ignorant of the fact that it is a name not a title.

I didnt know fuhrer meant leader, always thought it a title.. so certainly would have been suspicious as to why any one chose it as a login in name if you had not educated me:)

[dsan1]

as your family name is fuhrer not führer (fuehrer) i wouldn't even have thought about a nazi-relation. as ü equals ue in german, your family name has nothing to do with the term führer!

[Argon Balros]

its a bit like saying president is a evil word just because g w bush is on occasion refered to as that. but hey lets leave politics out of this

[clone number 3]

Though to be fair Dsan1, most people on this server do not have your mastery of the German language!
I could see why some people would jump to conclusions if san~raal had "Fuhrer" as a log in. I guess the answer is not to jump to conclusions and make rash accusations!

[Gloin]

I don't think "Fuehrer" is *anything* like President, largely because Hitler was the only person to ever use it as an official term for his position. It definitely has connotations unimaginably worse than "president".

Not that this discussion is very relevant to MERP, of course. :)

[Argon Balros]

furher in german means leader so it seems like a perfectly reasonable thing to call the the leader of your country if you speak german the mere fact hitler was once the leader of germany.

[dsan1]

i didn't bring up the whole fuhrer-thing. and i didn't accuse san~raal of anything. my point was on the guy "blitzkrieger" where things are more than clear.

[Danae]

I think this post has deviated a bit from what it was originally intended to achieve. Some players may use a word that could be offensive or questionable in another language without knowing it. After all, the world is a huge place, and there are a lot of languages... so while 'Cu' doesn't mean anything to me -and neither to the person who did use it in his name- the same word accidentaly might actually mean something in a language unknown to me. In that case, we can't speak about offensive language, and such occurances should just be ignored.

On the other hand, I started this post because a player was actively making rude words and using them as name. Words which -by their very meaning- had no other use than being vulgar. I'm glad the rules got changed a bit so such occurances can be dealt with adequately.

[san~raal]

the point that i was trying to help make; is that we have people from all over enjoying this server that speak different languages. while there are those who specifically use vulgar names that will offend people(which is thier intent and should be dealt with accordingly); there are others who might be oblivious to a words meaning in a different language(those should be talked to politely and explained why it is offensive).

i was only trying to use my name as an example to show how people could see it in different ways. as for the spelling, the two dots over the u were dropped over the years to fit in the english language.

[SNarfel]

Am in full agreement with your views there San~raal:)

[san~raal]

*nods* this is an awesome server with a great group of players and DM's....alot that goes on here can be policed amoungst ourselves in a civil manor; but sometimes a DM has to make his presence felt...which is why we are down at this time....but no doubt; we will be involved in a great adventure in the near future!

[DM_Olórin]

As far as i am concerned, politics aside, the name "blitzkrieger" is not offensive its simply inappropriate. If a name doesnt sound like it fits into Middle Earth please, DONT USE IT. Its common sense folks and it requires only a modicum of Middle Earth knowledge. :)

[Silverleaf]

Would it be okay to use NwN campaign names? I for one use Valen as my first name (taken from Valen Shadowbreath :)), I've seen another player named Argali Nasha, and a Maugryym. I would think just a first name or a last name would be fine, but if someone came in as Aribeth de Tylmarande, would that character be deleted?

[SNarfel]

I think it is reasonable to expect that "full" names from other sources would deifintely not be looked upon favourably as they would distract from the Tolkien atmosphere. I suspect part use of names would be ok unless they are extremely clearly linked with other famous sources, which again would distract from the Tolkien atmosphere that the DM's are working so hard to create

e..g Skywalker would be dubious... but Luke Skywalker would clearly be a no no, as I read things.

[DM_Kev]

You've generally got the idea on how names should be. And may I also point those unsure on names or making new characters, to our range of possible names in the pct area.