I'm resorting to posting here because I've had a few similar reports for country names containing the word 'rape' (in various incarnations).

Now... while I wholly agree that 'rape' meaning sexual assault is a very very BAD thing, 'RAPE' IS NOT A SWEAR WORD. It can mean many things. There's a crop we grow here commonly referred to as rape seed. You can rape a bank account (which doesn't mean you tied it to a bed and forced yourself on it).

I don't have the ability to talk to reporters in-game (yet)... but if you reported a country with this word in it and it wasn't deleted (or changed), this is why - because the country name could have been entirely innocent, depending on context. So please consider this when reporting country names. ;)

we could always just refer to rape as assault with a friendly weapon =)

the name joe offends me. please delete him

I am tired of TAN in country names..VERY offensive...

damn j00 all! in the theme suggestion thread, all i said was TAN...i was joking. i didn't actually mean the theme should be TAN.

now every time there is a KR, my highlights go fluffing apefluff.

bastards.

thank God collab didn't have a TAN theme for their restarts.

I hurt just by thinking about it. i get it now! it's like saying "my bastard of a friend" who's not really a bastard! ...still i won't stick the ... thing into the ... other thing

TAN, think ahead! change your nick :P

If that's the case, then why was my country name changed out from under me? My country name (I'm An AnalRapist) was clearly a reference to Arrested Development, one that many people on AT noticed and pointed out. Yet it was still changed. Any help on this inconsistency would be appreciated.

Your country should have been deleted for that country name. The only thing that probably saved you was that you played in LaF.

uh

Patty...with all do respect, you cannot control all the words and the expressions a word takes in the country names. The easiest method is that you guys, in the Agreement Contract that a person acknowledges when building a country, write a rule like: "The company reserves the right to change the country name, when this is GENERALLY considered offending, racist etc."

To give you an example, what if I named my country "Patty likes fluff (we all know the person even if it's replaced) Cheney" (no pwn intended and no offense either, just trying to make a point here) For me that's an offense, not stating one's political choices (I already see a dude who names his country like that next set, dam). Same is with AnalRapist (sorry bro', but that's wrong) I have nearly 10% American Culture knowledge, so for me an anal rapist is what the word sais. My point is: you cannot control this, instead what you should try is tell people:

"You don't want your country deleted/renamed? Don't go on the edge where it might be."

OK, I realize I am going to take a beating over this - but how about the game mods just stay the hell out of our free expression? So what if it offends somebody, nobody ever died of being offended. This reeks of Micksterism and is a line that should not be crossed.

If you are offended by a country name - organize a fluffing kill run, don't go crying to the mods because somebody uses 'fluff' in a country name. Its the internet people, there has never been an Earth countryname as repugnant as what you can find in a 60 second google search.

get over your candy assed canadianism guys

**due**

detoxx, its a joke based off the guy not realizing the combination of the jobs analyst and therapist makes analrapist
a-nal-ra-pist

is it offensive if i have my nickname peter file?

up until his douche bag canadianism remark, i agreed with what archaic said

Arrested Development is still the best.

did I offend you, lol

Per the starting post of this thread, no it shouldn't have. Hence my request at clarification. I get that trolling is easier, but thinking is more rewarding.

That's idiotic. Freedom of speech does not guarantee you the right to say whatever you like wherever you right. Just as a business owner can ask you to leave their premesis for using abusive language, so the operators of this game have the right to refuse you use of their services and remove any offensive content you post.

Obviously you can find worse if you intentionally search for it on google. But I can also easily find pornography if I buy a porno magazine... that doesn't mean that I want it hanging on the wall of my local McDonald's. The front of this site gives every impression of a game that's appropriate for younger audiences. I think that we should follow through on that.

I'm with Detoxxx, if a name is likely to be interpreted in a manner that's offensive, I would be in favour of mod action.

-Fooglmog
Guy with no clue.

Hence my reference to Micksterism, who gets to decide what is offensive? I am so sick and tired of hypersensitivity to everything - 'being offended' offends me. I am simply stating my opinion, I full well realize that the sense of nannyism that mehul instilled in the original game 14 years ago is going to prevail here as well. I have never been much into vulgar country names, so it will never affect me anyway.

Do I at least get credit for coining a new phrase?

Are you joking? Dude...free expression? All my childhood was spent in communism bro, so don't tell me about means of free expression. Wanna take your freedoms lightly? Build a site and express yourself, THEN, support on your own the consequences of the law. What's next? To be considered morally acceptable fluffing on the streets? To ... what? Hitting someone with a bat cuz he bought from the shop the last item you wanted in front of you? Cuz he used the word crack-head (if you're white) or kool-aid (if you're black) when you happened to pass by that person? Don't you wonder why lately no one talks about specific freedoms? I mean yeah "freedom of speech", but there are so many rules to that, that the single rule in effect there is the morality.

Respectfully, I disagree with the Moderator's ruling. Words like Rape should not be used in most instances.

We actually had an internal discussion on this issue earlier this reset within the Monsters in regards to one of our own countries, 5TR8 R4P3 (#44). In this instance it was not about actual rape ("nerdy gamer lingo" is how he described it). However, even in this usage, it still refers to domination, the complete and humiliating domination of one person by another. Considering how rape is not a sexual act but an act of domination, I personally fail to see the difference.

In the end, we did nothing about this country name as an alliance. I can't put it any better than one of our wisest members who said "I believe that the words a person chooses to use provide an insight into their state of mind. And I for one use that tool of insight when forming my own judgement of a person's character."

As an alliance, we have that luxury. I believe this game does not have the same luxury. This game has a stated goal of growing. Allowing names like these has the definite potential to turn prospective players away, while allowing names like these is a minor inconvenience to players already in this community. If you don't mind turning away these prospective players, then keep this policy, but... Its like the reason the Methodist Church uses grape juice instead of wine - they don't want to scare away a single alcoholic - a relatively small demographic - who might be afraid to take communion because it might be what causes them to fall off the wagon.

Further, if I may expand this discussion, there are other words or phrases which should not be used for many of the same reasons. Words like Nazi are generally highly inflammatory, but can have acceptable uses. Also, the word Gay is in this category, such as when it is used in a derogatory fashion as an insult.

I had a professor in college who once put forth the argument that there were even appropriate uses for the scholarly use of the "N....." word. His example was "The Palestinians are the N.....s of the Middle East." Not unlike the previous examples with the word rape, he specifically chose his words for what they evoked. Specifically he wanted to illustrate how Palestinians in the Middle East were oppressed and treated as a lower caste by both Jews and Arabs in the Middle East, not dissimilar to how "N.....s" were treated in segregated America and earlier, times when the term was used copiously. I disagreed with him then for many of the same reasons. Just because you are not calling someone of African decent a "N....." doesn't mean you aren't still invoking the same hate. Just because you are not refering to the physical act of rape doesn't mean you aren't still invoking the same hate.

This game needs to set higher standards for itself.

well I personally change the name on any country that is reported when it has swearing in it.

Do I swear myself?? all the time but I dont think it has a place here. We are looking for more people and 13 - 18 is still an age bracket that we should be protecting.

This is my personal opinion and i only change the swear word to "fluff" :)



and before anyone asks " why do we allow swearing on the forum?"
well the forum has an option to Turn on and off Swear Filter but u dont get that option in game

further more...why would I love the use of "rape" "d**k" "c**t" etc and rate this game 18 when there's a whole line of players under 18? Now ... as much as I'd hate Mickster's methods (sorry man, sometimes I just plainly hate you and I think many left this game because of you, not that you did wrong, but the problem was in your handling of the situation and in your diplomacy skills) in this situation it applies very well. ONE person (mod) should handle these things and rename or delete countries for use of inappropriate words and expressions. again: don't try to control and contain the problem, treat it as it was no problem, just a mod option.

offend me? not at all.

doesn't change the fact it was a douche bag thing to say.

unless my use of douche bag offends you?

it is a mod option. On the servers I moderate I'm more likely to rename then delete. However the issue is extremely rare to begin with.

I think the blanket policy is to rename

the rule I have for renaming is that the renaming must be humourous to both the owner of the country & those who are offended by it. :p

*rapes patty's bank-account*

humor is in the eye of the moderator:P

aliens don't have humor.

Trust Marshal to make this thread turn a 180. Be serious for once?

I have to agree that the only thing I can think of here is a disclaimer in the Create Country acceptance, although I think a more accurate disclaimer would be "renamed at the whim of the moderator," because in situations (like this one) where you have half of the community on one side of the fence and the other half on the other side, it's really up to the mod's discretion. Of course, there being more than one mod, I'd be very interested to know what happens behind closed doors when they have to discuss these things...

the N-word should be banned at all times

n-tting ;P

Some seriously retarded people in here if you are looking at ways to defend the word 'rape' by saying it was used cleverly in a sitcom.

/me rolls eyes at all of the thin skinned sheltered people.

You really think restricting country names is going to drive AWAY 13-18 y/o age group?!? You obviously don't spend a lot of time around them.

Braden, the Canadian comment was pure troll bait, Canada is one of the 'nanniest' countries in the world and a large proportion of the game staff is Canadian. Congrats on taking the bait - I was fishing for Pan, but he obviously had no interest in humoring me. Pissing you off always makes me smile - especially when I do it while making a point you agreed with.

wasn't refering to driving them away archaic, teenagers swear all the time


its the fact that there are parents who wont let their teenagers play cos of it

also this is a business, and its the job of the admins and staff to make it a clean enviroment for everyone

I wanted to quote warster again because he replied EXACTLY what i wanted to say. I have friends with kids and they don't let them stay on certain sites on account of foul language and derogatory expressions (and they are Romanians, keep in mind, not Americans or English). Yeah well...I guess we're not living in the Stone Age anymore lol (that was for the ones that thing Romania = Afghanistan/Iraq) :P

i am so fluffing angry. like that gubernatorial race in new york, when the guy sent his "goons" to his daughters house.

you caught me. Now, I'll take you out. How, you ask? Just wait and see!

i've got, archaic, under my skin
i've got him deep in the heart of me

and you fishing for troll doesn't change at all the fact that you're a douche bag (who, might i add, got his ass kicked in that war that you're so angry at me over)

(canada might be nanny, but america is a fluff hole)

troll bait, anybody?

I plan to rape my countries Netting set with my what am I doing strat, coupled with my intense need to kill and or be killed.

Assuming you're American (which might be a bad assumption, I am aware), here's the actual text of the 1st amendment:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

The people running this game are acting as neither members of Congress nor representatives of the government. They are the owners and chosen moderators of a private website, and as such, have no obligation to give you the right to express yourself here. Despite this, they allow you to make posts like the one you just made, which, again, they are under no obligation to do.

So basically your point is completely moot. You have no say in this decision, and continuing to debate it is merely showing you think you're far more important than you actually are.

PATTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's true that you don't really have any standing to complain about other people's country names being changed, but providing feedback about moderator policies and game rules is fine.

so Twain, you are saying that I am not allowed to voice an opinion? Did I mention the US constitution? No, I said 'free expression' which is universal.

I think you should be allowed to draw Muhammad, I think you should be able to protest in Tianiman Square, I think that governments should not be shutting down radio stations, I think the neo-nazi's should be allowed to march, I don't think that words or expression are ever truely harmful when viewed with an open mind. I do however think that the supression of words can be truely harmful.

Having a country named 'I'm An AnalRapist' probably does not really do any harm to any of you, but creating an environment where a mickster is lurking around every corner making arbitrary decisions based soley on his mood at the time is not in anyones interest.

I DO have a say in this decision because I have a voice and a forum and because YOU read what I had to say. Funny how that works.

First off, the tone of my last post was a little harsher than I intended it. My apologies as I'm sure it came off as rude.

However, the overall point I still fully stand by. On this forum, you don't have any right to freedom of expression. There is no inalienable right to free expression. If the moderators and owners of this game want to delete a couple called, to use your example, "I'm An AnalRapist" then that is entirely within their right, because this is a privately owned forum and a privately owned game, and even if this was some inalienable right to free expression, these things don't exist within private sectors.

Furthermore, the fact that you're comparing this game to China, radical Muslims or the FCC definitely constitutes both hyperbole and reductio ad absurdum.

If you want to voice opinions, that's fine by me. My point was (and still is) that it's a "right" that, at least as far as this forum is concerned, can legally and rightfully be taken away by any of the moderators, and to indignantly argue that "the game mods [should] just stay the hell out of our free expression" is really rather rude considering it's their forums and game and therefore their prerogative on whether ANY of us get to post to begin with.

If you want to be taken more seriously, you should come up with a better argument than "this reminds me of mickster".

I'd like for you to guess how many people are currently banned from posting on this forum.

You have no rights here. Only privileges.

Anal rape is not content suitable for children. I do believe the admins of the game would prefer to have children playing than countries about anal rape, even if it is an Arrested Development reference. Their game, their rules.

Thats my point slaggy, there have been no mass bannings and deletions to date. I like it that way and would rather not see the game traverse down the slippery slope where individual mods are randomly imposing their morality on the participants.

Right now it is easy, there are 500 players and a dozen or so very responsible mods. But in the future (fingers crossed) there will maybe be a LOT more players and mods and at some point one of them will decide that 'killinSoFmakesmeHard' is inappropriate. Its a slippery slope that we have already been down. We know where it leads, lets let our Jets be the moderator of morality.

For the record guys, it may be 'their game' but it is our content and without us there is no them. We DO get a say - thats what makes Dave >>>>>>> mehul.