WoW Rookie: Filter out the #$%!
by Lisa Poisso 
May 13th 2009 at 9:00PM
Hey, isn't that the same screenshot we used for WoW Rookie just two weeks ago? Indeed it is, faithful readers – because frankly, "Who wants my man meat?" is the perfect illustration for today's topic.
The World of Warcraft is your refuge at the end of a long, hard day – and the last thing you want to see rolling across your screen is the kind of lowbrow posturing that's given Barrens chat its notorious reputation. Or perhaps you'd like to let the kids try their hands at WoW, but you don't want them soaking up the rough language that seems to turn up more and more frequently in busy city Trade and General channels.
It's time to take charge of your game chat.
Turn on the profanity filter. WoW's profanity filter is on by default, but many players disable it as soon as they realize it's bowdlerizing their chat text. If your kids are beginning to eye their own characters, you may want to revisit the profanity filter. Hit your Escape key to go the Main Menu, and go to Interface Options, then Advanced Options. Look for the Mature Language Filter in the Chat section.
Be forewarned that the existence of a profanity filter does not give players an excuse to use inappropriate language in game. "The Mature Language Filter is only an extra means of protection from obscenities in chat channels, not an excuse to use them," says Blizzard. "All players need to adhere to the World of Warcraft Harassment Policy at all times."
Leave the public chat channels. Whether you're trying to dodge Barrens chatter for a more peaceful, immersive play session or trying to protect young ears from the kind of ear-blistering talk that's likely to erupt in zones frequented by immature players (Barrens and Elwynn Forest, we're looking at you), sometimes it's easier to simply leave the General and Trade channels. To leave General chat, type /leave general; to rejoin, type /join general. Note that you may not be able to rejoin Trade or city-specific channels unless you are in that city.
Ignore problem players. You can keep from seeing chat messages (both public and private) from players who annoy you by adding them to your ignore list. To ignore a player, type /ignore playername. You can view your Ignore list by clicking your Social button (the same place you'd look for your Friends list).
WoW offers a relatively small ignore list. If you run out of room on your list, you may find you need to remove some players from your list or install an add-on that allows you to ignore more players.
WoW Rookie feeds you the basics to get you off to a good start in the World of Warcraft. Find more tools you can use in the WoW Insider Directory and WoW Insider Leveling Guides.Filed under: Tips, How-tos, WoW Social Conventions, Features, WoW Rookie
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 4)
Thander May 14th 2009 3:11AM
Changing those settings will work but kids will quickly figure out how to turn them back on. They usually figure out technology stuff faster than their parents. Parental controls doesn't seem to have a way to lock settings when kids are playing.
Dude May 14th 2009 3:34AM
Censorship is wrong. Just put up with it and stop with the whine already.
Amaxe May 14th 2009 11:36AM
Aren't you trying to censor the censors? Just put up with it and stop whining ;-)
More seriously, such a sentiment is a double standard which in effect says "Your standards are wrong, mine are right."
The question becomes why we should tolerate your standards, but not one which is more extreme (openly racist and other forms of "hate" comments for example).
You have a line drawn in one spot. Others draw the line more sharply or loosely. Why should one accept your line and not another?
Dude May 14th 2009 3:02PM
More exaclty is what is appropriate? What you find appropriate obviously differs from what I do. But that doesn't mean I can't voice it here.
Urza May 14th 2009 4:09AM
Nothing worse then questing in Arathi and then hearing two people cybering in voice chat in the dwarven farms to the west (on the other side of the mountains) of the horde camp.
nav May 14th 2009 5:11AM
Two addons - Baud Spam Filter: Blocks on keywords you supply. Great if your Trade channel has a running 'joke'.
devnull - Turn on and off certain types of chat and certain channels depending on if you're in a city or instance. It lets me turn off General in raids, but leave it on in other zones.
Dude May 14th 2009 5:56AM
Well there's always Club Penguin for those who can't handle it.
Aw cute.
www.clubpenguin.com
Noctiluca May 14th 2009 8:14AM
I always leave general and trade chat OFF at all times. No matter what. I don't want that pollution in my game. If I want to trade, I use the AH.
99.9% of the chat channels consist of trash talking and foul language coming from children and adults who act like children.
I like the fact WoW is a multiplayer experience, but that doesn't mean I have to play with idiots.
/leave general
/leave trade
Always.
Solo May 14th 2009 9:46AM
I always /leave trade and general chats but then there are the children who love to /yell. You can filter that too by right clicking the general tab on your chat window then clicking "settings" under filters and uncheck "yell".
Atomsk May 14th 2009 8:47AM
This conversation has to be from Executus. I even remember the guy selling Fire Bloom. /leave trade is the best command in the game, followed only by /leave general. LOL
Striker May 14th 2009 9:24AM
Good spam filter: Badboy- http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/bad-boy.aspx
* Block, all spam that is found from appearing
* Report, the spamming player automatically
Also, you can make a nice macro for your trade skill and not have to have your trade channel on:
/join trade
/2 [insert tradeskill here] LFW - PST
/leave trade
This will allow you to advertise your skill and not have to read the channel, since you are asking customers to send you a tell.
If you are letting your 'youts' play, I highly suggest to turn off general and trade by default and allow them to play the game.
Irshalthra May 14th 2009 9:38AM
Nice ideas Striker.
Fairlane May 14th 2009 9:43AM
Terribly appropriate that this column about "whine" follows Mike's column on "cheese".
Woolwort May 14th 2009 10:26AM
Q: "Who wants my man meat?"
A: Nobody! 'Cause ya still live in your momma's house!!!
epic May 14th 2009 10:34AM
luckily being in a guild and 8 other associated guilds with guild2guild we don't need general or trade we do everything in house we're still just as dysfunctional but our officers are more hands on then blizzard gms
Jyotai May 14th 2009 11:36AM
One more option which I use frequently: Report.
Reporting people who cannot conduct themselves properly in public serves a number of functions.
1. Hopefully they'll get banned. Enough bans and maybe the remaining people will learn how to behave in public.
2. If not, at least a record starts getting made, and maybe after enough reports they will get banned.
3. Blizzard gets to learn of more text that might need to be added to the filter.
Selene May 14th 2009 12:42PM
I was very surprised to realize how much using the profanity filter improves my own mood, lol.
I'm 26 and have no kids, and I do sometimes swear verbally (out of game) when the occasion calls for it (smacking your funny bone, when the computer crashes, shattering a glass on the kitchen floor...you know the drill), but listening to foul language 24/7 really grates on me, and in WoW it's almost impossible to avoid. I generally run with General turned off, and I haven't used Trade in months, but that still leaves dungeons and guild chat (my guildies are nice people, but their guild chat is generally not G-rated :P ).
I initially resisted the idea of turning my filter on, because then I figured (1) it would bug me to see all that 'mystery' text, wondering what exactly that ninja looter was saying after I called him out on his behavior, for example, and (2) the speaker's intentions are still quite clear even without the filter on, so what difference does the filter really make? Well, for me, it turns out to be a big difference, and I can't really explain why. The 'mystery' text bothered me initially, but it quickly became apparent that I don't need to see exactly what such people are saying--if I really don't care what that jerk thinks, why should I care what he says?
The language you're exposed to tends to stick with you, whether you like it or not--that applies to accents, vocabulary, syntax, everything--and not having f-bombs and racial slurs bouncing around in my head makes Selene a much happier person, lol.
Selene May 14th 2009 12:43PM
Er...
"the speaker's intentions are still quite clear even WITH the filter on"
Kylenne May 14th 2009 1:40PM
You know, Barrens chat might have been the worst in its heyday but nowadays Eversong chat gives it a run for the money, on Moon Guard at least. Between the ADD kiddies who think it's their personal Myspace, illiterate trolls, people whining and wanking over RP/lore, and yes, Chuck Norris jokes, it's enough to make you want to stab your eyes out with icepicks. And you can always tell when a PVP server is down by the number of trolls there.
The first thing I do on a new belf is /leave general.
jdryner May 15th 2009 6:11PM
Normally, swearing and what not don't bother me in the slightest. It's when the 'children' start typing the words, that I get a little frustrated. Hearing the same curse words over and over and over because 'they can feel a sense of power' when they use them, bugs the bejesus out of me.