Tom wrote: > Personally (and this is JUST my 0.02 mind you), I've allowed it > providing the language remains on the flame channel. I don't limit all > swearing to that, however, if something starts to get rather carried > away, I point 'em there. > There's a few reasons for this: > First, they'll do it anyways (albeit masked or whatever)
I have found that outlawing -all- inappropriate language has had a significant impact on the mud I code for. You just don't hear that language over public channels. This was the implementor's decision to make the mud more family orientated. It is clearly stated that 'foul' language is not tolerated, and penalties are imposed if one breaks these rules. That said, we encourage in-character swearing through in-character channels where appropriate (we have a WoT theme which has a clearly defined set of swearing phrases). Following these regulations, we have a built a culture which doesn't tolerate inappropriate language over public channels. It seems to be working quite well. <snip> > Here's a scenario, that you might run into (one that I actually HAVE run > into) One admin says damn is a swear word, and not allowed over public > channels. Another says damn is NOT a swear word and IS allowed over public > channels. Who's right? They both are actually. To each, it's a different > thing completely. Granted, this is a tough problem to overcome. In our case, if the offence was deemed serious enough, the matter would go to a higher level administrator, or eventually the implementor. That said, harassment is considered an extremely serious matter, and any complaint by any person playing (be it immortal or player) is automatically dealt with by the Senior Immortals and Implementor(s). <snip> > As far as age disclaimers and all? They'll hear (and probably say) much > worse at school, hanging out with friends and whatnot. This is absolutely true. However, I (and the Implementor) had the unique circumstance of young niece/nephew's (in the 5-10 age bracket) watching the screen as we were mudding. If the language was inappropriate for them, it was acted on. This governed the early development of the mud's culture, with quite effective results. My advice would be to work out a strategy, and follow it. If you don't mind swearing, but want to stamp out racial/sexual/etc slurs, then clamp down hard when the circumstance is presented. Make sure you communicate this to your staff and players. If it's communicated well, and your player base can accept such regulation, the culture should evolve. > Like I said just my 0.02. Hope it helped some Likewise, that's my $0.04 Australian (damn exchange rate!) :-)
