SE GM's going on a rampage?Follow

If you recognized that your character names might cause people to be offended, you should have named them something else from the start.

This game is huge. Even after playing on my same server for 9 years, I still see names I have never seen before. It is entirely possible that you were just incredibly lucky and those that would be offended never saw your name until now.

You're clearly violating the Terms of Service and people are reporting you. The GMs are just doing their job.

Now the people reporting you may be doing so for reasons other than being offended by your name, and if so I don't agree with the tactic they are taking at all, but you're kind of setting yourself up for it. Just choose a name that meets the TOS and keep your proverbial nose clean, and there's not much the GMs can do to you no matter who has an issue with you.

It is a very ambiguous clause though. Take Blizzard for example. Trademarked food product by Dairy Queen, supervillain by Marvel. And its the name of a video game company too. Then there's McDonald (no s), easily confused with the fast food chain but it can be a person's name. And celebrities, I'm sure they only focused on current names (Anyone going to flag Willrogers, Jimmystewart, Maewest, Rodserling, Hgwells, Janeausten?). How often were character names gone after? (Jamestkirk, Spock, Iamnotspock, Perrymason, Kojak, Jimrockford, Thebeaver, Eddiehaskell, Wardcleaver, Magnumpi, etc).

Now, the OPs names are basically asking for it. A lot of people won't be offended or think the name is in bad taste but go meh at it. Natzi might offend some Germans given that being a touchy subject in Germany just as Tojo and some of the names of the top military figures in wartime Japan would be touchy (as would Aum Shinrikyo or any mention of sarin) and any misspelling of Hitler certainly would trigger some kind of response at some point. Of course, names like Napoleonbonaparte or Papadocduvalier might not get a reaction. I think the clause is just a loose "just in case a celebrity contacts us and is offended by a name they saw/heard was in the game or a company doesn't like a player using their product/character's name". When a GM gets a offensive name request, no matter what the motive on the person reporting the name (legitimate offense, trolling, revenge), if it's brought to their attention they are going to have to respond if it fits the criteria (i.e. someone offended by Uglykitten isn't going to get the name changed).

As for recent political names (Bush, Obama, Hillary Clinton), they may react to that because the political climate has become increasingly toxic from the late '00s on. It's approaching 1850s-1880s levels of vitriol and combativeness. Non-political/non-news sites/forums tend to avoid politics and try and enforce it because it often degenerates into a lot of fighting once again because of that climate (like some sports forums) because in some venues (ahem, Yahoo Sports) it spills over into comments that have absolutely nothing about politics. It's that some people are so worked up, their bile just bubbles up and spills over everywhere they post. Those are political names. Ironically, Georgehwbush might get less reports than Georgebush or Georgewbush (and the reports might come from idiots who think H.W. was W.). I doubt you'll get flagged for Williamhenryharrison or Grovercleveland. The political climate in Japan, Korea, China, from what I see in the news (mainly NHK) doesn't seem anywhere near as rancorous as in the US (occasional throwing of chairs aside).

As others noted, you set yourself up for it. It was a matter of time before someone reported it and luck there was no reports for so long. Also note SE has been very cautious with FFXI due to trying not to garner offense in multiple markets, thus why Gambler was renamed Corsair. In a 2006 interview they directly said they couldn't name it Gambler because of anti-gambling sentiments or laws in some markets and so they covered it with the pirate motif (which people were asking for because when one remembers the '00s, it was zombies & pirates).

It's fit well with the other moronic threads over there, I agree.

Let's keep the political talk from this section guys. While it may have some relevance to the topic given the names the OP used, this isn't the section to start having discussions of country leaders and potential atrocities they have under their belts. That's more for the OoT and Asylum, so leave it at that. The reason that the OP's character names were GM'd have already been established, so there's no real need to talk about that more, at least not in =10.

Lest we not forget one of the biggest copyright infringements of all time - but apparently if you try to sue the perp he just mutates his operation into something else, so his organization cannot be killed effectively

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTitP5_yDUU

No it's not, but it's an example of a common word with a common use also used as a trademark. Also, I was being snarky. What can I say?

Damn I wish I could rate you up XD.

Any chance you'll Admin the ff14 forums? :P

It's right there in the Terms of Service though that they can ban you for any reason they see fit, and for the most part they never say why a character is banned, or if they do, it's a very vague reason as to why. However, you've commented that you have been required in the past to change character names because they were deemed offensive in some manner, and naming or having a character something that could be deemed offensive or against the Terms of Service (which Presidentobama would fall under, as pointed out that it falls under "celebrity status") after having been warned in the past about it would be considered a repeat offense in their eyes. That is why your character is temporarily (possibly permanently) banned. Having a character name that is deemed offensive falls under the blanket offense of harassment, since it is "harming" the other individual. The reason it "happened" while you were offline was probably because it was reported to a GM at some point while you were online, and by the time they reviewed everything and made a decision on the matter, you had already logged off.

We can't say whether or not those that reported you were legitimately offended or wanted to do it out of malice, but as said, the GMs are not the ones to blame in this circumstance.

Edited, May 24th 2012 12:57am by Vlorsutes

Whenever Grover Cleveland gets mentioned, everything stops, EVERYTHING. I've seen it happen several times in any number of forums. True story. So if you ever want a thread to come to a complete stop, just mention Grover Cleveland. Haven't seen if it works in real life (dude walks into a loud bar, yells "Grover Cleveland" loudly, bar comes to a sudden silence, music comes to a screeching halt).

If you intend to start a row, Millard Fillmore is your best bet. Scholars just can't stop debating his legacy. Gets my blood boiling just thinking about his stupid looking face!

Agreed. If you dig your self a hole dont complain when some one tries to bury you in it.

For example if you pick the name:

Douchesucker

Yeah, eventually someone will report you since no one in their right mind will ever name themselves like that if they're seriously set to playing an MMO. Most people go with popular names and add 1-8 xs to it because they're unoriginal and sephiroth is taken ontop of xsephiroth and xsephirothx, but purposefully naming yourself something offensive and getting upset you get reported...yeah you knew what you were doing.

So no, it's not "Tanaka's idea of harassing people", it's called make an appropriate name and not worry about being reported.

Edited, May 25th 2012 7:13am by Theonehio