@Simphanatic

game chat channels are a lot like virtual roads (hmmm, "information superhighway" pops into mind atm).

its basically the same thing as road rage, that you are seeing.

people feel so disconnected by being seperated by the metal/glass of their cars + the metal/glass of OTHERS cars, plus the concrete between them.  we are even MORE blind to others on the internet.  most people have a hard time seeing any of the normal cues of humanity when its reduced to purely text chatting, with absolutely NO physicality to go on.

while current offerings may all be a bust for you, we WILL have online games in the future that transport WAY more of our personality/humanity into the interactions.

we will be seeing each other's actual head movements, actual facial expression, hearing their actual voice, seeing all of their body language in all of its amazing nuance.... etc.

things like Kinect and SOEmote (perhaps try EQ2, and see if that feature helps any? its free2play) are JUST STARTing to trickle into use.  but one day those kind of things will be in ALL online games (to speak of).   these kind of things will dramatically decrease the impact of "virtual road rage".  if you notice, even switching from pure text comm to pure voice comm makes a huge difference in the kind of unattached callousness people can be prone to.

so..... there's a little brightness for the future.  8)

Originally posted by Starpower

Just to provide some equilibrium to this thread.

Just like the examples mentioned which I agree with. It's equally bad to be part of communities with women or people in general that tries to slap a PG-13 on the guild chat, just because she/they are offended by the F word. Specially if said community is an adult one and can easily distinguish betweem excessive foul language and the occational swearing and said drug reference. I'd much rather you people just removed yourself and play in your own little bubble.

Other than that your other examples are spot on which I again... largely agree with

Yup ... I've been in factions where leaders tried to censor members' language. It does not work. However, game-provided language filters do work -- as I recall, SWTOR had a user-enabled filter, which I liked. I used to chuckle at the fact that some players' conversations were absolutely unintelligible because of it. It served as a reminder of just how far written language has progressed in 30,000 years. I'm a big kid, I get that use of taboo words have utility with respect to conveying emotion and impact. Notwithstanding, excessive use of these trigger words diminishes their effectiveness.

BTW, use of so-called taboo words is only a small component of my disgust. Griefing, ganking, kill stealing, ninja'ing drops, snerting, and stalking reign more supreme within the context of my utter disenchantment with contemporary MMORPGs. And these are issues game managers absolutely can and should deal with.

Originally posted by aleos

i laughed so hard.

The entire post was direct and serious and then turdmuffins

Such is the impact of careful application of vulgarity.

Originally posted by Simphanatic

No more watching snotty bastages pop their zit-sized brains onto game chatboxes or being ganked by immature turdmuffins.

Some might consider 'turdmuffins' to be somewhat profanic too So you are nicely illustrating your point :D

I know what you mean though, and agree with you... Other people, the rude players everwhere, are easily the biggest downside of online games. Common courtesy has gone the way of the dodo... It's all a sign of our society's decay :( 

Originally posted by lowendahl

It's all a sign of our society's decay :( 

That's perhaps a bit extreme. Certainly, all societies reach an apex of sorts, but I'll wager such judgments are based more on technological achievement, wealth, and the arts than on civility or 'common courtesy,' whatever that means. We need only look to the likes of authors Elizabeth Browning, Henry James, Edith Wharton, Sylvia Plath, or Malcolm Little to realize that even so-called polite societies have a more insidious underbelly.

Traditionally, it has been a very thin blue line that separates law-abiding citizens from anarchy. Cities, states, and national goverments accept it as a universal responsibility to deploy that line. From a pragmatic perspective, I posit policing authorities are deployed less for individual welfare than to ensure economic viability of the respective cities, states, and national governments. Game developers would be well-served to take a lesson from this.

Originally posted by Bathnor
*Picks up the phone* * Calls nine whine whine* "Hurry, send out the Waaaaaaambulance!!!"

Quite intelligent and on point, Bathnor; though, I might have expected something cogent from a 37-year-old.

I know you didn't intend it, but you've provided a flaccid example of why I quit playing MMORPGs.

Thank you for your most helpful input.