Breakfast Topic: Would you join an "Anything Goes" realm?
by Robin Torres 
Jan 15th 2009 at 8:00AM
Some of the commenters in yesterday's Breakfast Topic talked about how we were all adults and shouldn't be bothered by adult content. But we aren't all adults. Kids play this game -- and often it's teenagers who are the ones with the adult oriented chatter.
We've discussed the concept of age restricted servers before and many have expressed that they would join them in an effort to escape what is perceived as underage offensive behavior. But what I'm proposing here is not an adult only realm to avoid adult content, but one that is age restricted because of the adult content.
We've discussed the concept of age restricted servers before and many have expressed that they would join them in an effort to escape what is perceived as underage offensive behavior. But what I'm proposing here is not an adult only realm to avoid adult content, but one that is age restricted because of the adult content.
Restricting ages is a difficult thing to do. To paraphrase House, even 17 year olds know to press the "I'm over 18" button. So, let's say that Blizzard found a way to actually restrict this realm to 18 and over only, therefore eliminating any worries about the children. This realm would be completely uncensored. You could report offensive names or behavior, but nothing would be done about it. Profanity and sexual content would be allowed. Unfortunately, the language of hate would be allowed as well. In practice, there would probably still have to be some guidelines. Names of products and celebrities might have to be disallowed just for copyright issues. And threats of real life violence would also have to be taken seriously.
I play casual games at Club Pogo and some of their game rooms are labeled Anything Goes Uncensored Chat. Late one night, I was playing a competitive solitaire game (it's more interesting than it sounds) and was trying to find a room with enough players that wasn't full. The only one available at that time was an Anything Goes room. Since I don't mind profanity and sexual innuendo, I thought I would give it a try. I expected some profanity and adult chatter and perhaps some mature banter -- maybe even intellectual topics. Yeah, I'm hopelessly optimistic.
The good part about the room was that people actually spelled out their words rather than speaking in acronyms like in the other rooms: "wtg gga ns tyvm". But the chatter was mostly not game related and rarely related to what anyone else was saying. It seemed to be randomly generated sentences with sexual organs and sexual activities thrown in. I wasn't offended, but it was annoying. I suspect that an Anything Goes WoW server would be the same.
I don't see Blizzard creating a realm like this, but hypothetically speaking, what do you think this realm would be like? After the initial month of newness wore off, would the chat just be what Trade/Barrens Chat is now only a bit more explicit? Or would the age restriction actually reduce the potty humor and homophobic rants?
Would you join an "Anything Goes" realm?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 8)
Gordal Jan 15th 2009 8:05AM
To be honest: No.
The problem is that most of the players who claim "anything goes" aren't mature. They may be over the age of 18, but they just aren't mature.
An "anything goes" server would be a immaturity-fest from the very first character roll.
Zaniac Jan 15th 2009 10:09AM
Exactly. Spot on.
[2. Trade] [Sizzler] anal [Corruption]
[2. Trade] [Redrouge] anal [Attack]
[2. Trade] [Grunge] anal [Devastate]
[2. Trade] [DaemonÃca] anal [Rend]
[2. Trade] [Pwntar] anal [Mangle]
[2. Trade] [Legolass] grow up!
[2. Trade] [Dright] anal [Cannibalize]
[2. Trade] [Zentaur] reported...
[2. Trade] [Furballs] anal [Howl of Terror]
[2. Trade] [Smking] anal [Slam]
[2. Trade] [Rykar] anal [Fishing]
... 'nuff said.
Ghrond Jan 15th 2009 1:36PM
No I wouldn't. For the reasons said before, the people would make that realm unplayable because of gross behavior.
Tythian Jan 15th 2009 11:00AM
Lemme guess... Legolass is a NE Huntard perhaps?
Wow... how could I have known.
Please give us an 18+ realm to go to!
Creid Jan 15th 2009 12:12PM
Ah yes, the /b/ of WoW.
Also age doesn't always represent maturity...
Vendrill Jan 15th 2009 3:02PM
NO. NO. NO.
What I would like is for Blizzard to enforce their policies on behavior to a greater extent. They need to suspend/ban people more extensively. Punishment is only effective when it's swift, certain, and severe.
If you want to talk about sexually eplicit things and are an adult, then go to an adult chat room somewhere.
If you want to make racist and homophobic comments then you need to seriously reevaluate your perspectives.
Plastic Rat Jan 15th 2009 10:27PM
Totally agree with Vendrill here.
The problem with Blizzard's penalty volcano aka slap-on-the-wrist(tm) is that nobody is scared of it.
On an RP server we constantly get idiots in there, regular as clockwork spamming up trade with idiocy or generally doing their best to grief folks. If these people WERE getting banned, A) the word would spread and their barely literate mouthbreathing buddies wouldn't think to copy them and B) they'd run out of accouts pretty fast. It gets expensive paying for new accounts just to grief people.
Except with our new age, understanding, caring, tolerant approach everybody suffers through bad behaviour that could be handled quickly and cleanly with an example.
Kaeona Jan 15th 2009 8:09AM
No, because the age of 18 is an arbitrary number that really means absolutely nothing at all.
Now create an Anything Goes server in which people have to take an IQ test and some sort of test to prove they aren't some sort of socially-backward assmonkey and now we're talking.
The problem in this game isn't the "kiddies" it's the immature idiots. Sadly, I don't think there's an effective way to screen for them.
Curse you science! You have failed us all again!
admiraljustin Jan 15th 2009 8:58AM
IQ doesn't equate maturity either.
Trust me, I know ;)
ivan256 Jan 15th 2009 10:29AM
Ever played Kingdom of Loathing? They have a literacy test before you're allowed in chat. When WoW adopts it for a server, I'll be rushing to get in line for a transfer.
Izzy Jan 15th 2009 12:59PM
Amen brother!
Kakistocracy Jan 15th 2009 2:10PM
Ooh, by literacy test, do you mean they have questions about literature?
What reason does the Grand Inquisitor give for the lack of public support for the imprisoned man?
Amaxe Jan 15th 2009 6:14PM
Actually you have to show you know the difference between their, there and they're for example, know the difference between its and it's. You need to know how to punctuate and spell etc.
This is just to post on the forums, but it would be great if it was something that could be applied to the global channels in WoW
sephiroth Jan 15th 2009 8:20AM
No i would not join. I imagine that it would be similar or worse to what it is now, especially if immature and offensive people realise they will not get banned for taking things too far.
Neil T. Jan 15th 2009 8:12AM
Gordal is right. There's surely some correlation between age and maturity but it's not absolute - I know some very mature 16 years old who play on my realm (though they're probably 18 year olds now) and some very immature people in their early 20s. And I'd rather not play on a realm where the age restriction is used as an excuse for unnecessary vulgarity.
nobag Jan 15th 2009 8:15AM
No. can anyone say gold sellers? They'd have a field day
Malics Jan 15th 2009 8:16AM
I would be far more interested in a server that did not allow antisocial behavior. The constant childish, racist and homophobic spamming that goes on in trade often ruins my enjoyment of the game.
Then again, Blizzard could actually police this more thoroughly on every server. The punishments are just not a deterrent to these idiots (regardless of age) who have to get attention by spamming trade. The worst you can get is a 3 day ban apparently - a GM told me that they do not permanently ban accounts for spamming/antisocial behavior - great :P
Alfa Jan 15th 2009 12:46PM
you should transfer to an RP server, no real life chats
raully Jan 15th 2009 2:49PM
Nah, even RP servers have mostly spam chat.
Talia Jan 15th 2009 4:15PM
@Alfa: You've apparently never played on an RP server. I've only ever played on one, and if it's true that they're better than "Normal" servers, then I shudder to think what the Normal servers are like!!