In game racism was a perma ban on OSI.

[mrbojangles]

The internet is full of foul-mouthed morally repugnant trolls who want nothing more than to get a rise out of you.

The people who say racist remarks probably aren't even racist, they're just trolling you.

When you take them seriously, make posts like this, complain, or react to them in any sort of way, you are giving them exactly what they want.

There is no way to shelter yourself from internet trolls, the best thing you can possibly do is to just ignore them. It's no fun for a troll when their character "n**ger child molester" doesn't get a rise out of someone.

Banning people is stupid, like others have said, take it into your own hands. If someone wants to build a reputation on this shard as an immature jackass, then that's their perogative, they will feel the reprecussions when the day comes that they need something from the community.

As for the children playing this shard, that is such a minority of the player-base that I don't see any justification to start banning people "because of the children". This is an adult community. It's nice that your children play as well, but when you run into homophobes and racist, it's your job to explain that that type of behavior is unacceptable, it's not the staff's job to protect your children from inappropriate content.

[DarkWing]

The internet is full of foul-mouthed morally repugnant trolls who want nothing more than to get a rise out of you.

The people who say racist remarks probably aren't even racist, they're just trolling you.

When you take them seriously, make posts like this, complain, or react to them in any sort of way, you are giving them exactly what they want.

There is no way to shelter yourself from internet trolls, the best thing you can possibly do is to just ignore them. It's no fun for a troll when their character "n**ger child molester" doesn't get a rise out of someone.

Banning people is stupid, like others have said, take it into your own hands. If someone wants to build a reputation on this shard as an immature jackass, then that's their perogative, they will feel the reprecussions when the day comes that they need something from the community.

As for the children playing this shard, that is such a minority of the player-base that I don't see any justification to start banning people "because of the children". This is an adult community. It's nice that your children play as well, but when you run into homophobes and racist, it's your job to explain that that type of behavior is unacceptable, it's not the staff's job to protect your children from inappropriate content.

I Dissagree with this Post,

anyone using racial slurs is a Racist, maybe a racist Troll ... but a racist all the same

and if we are shooting for an Era Accurate Shard we should not Allow Racism,

[Pac]

The internet is full of foul-mouthed morally repugnant trolls who want nothing more than to get a rise out of you.

The people who say racist remarks probably aren't even racist, they're just trolling you.

More truth than I've heard in a while, I bet people are doing it more after reading this post since so many people are out to grief.

And to the other whiner: Once again, if you want to play the "we have to do this for era accuracy" thing then you better kiss unattended macroing goodbye as well.

Bring it on.

[ClowN]

The internet is full of foul-mouthed morally repugnant trolls who want nothing more than to get a rise out of you.

The people who say racist remarks probably aren't even racist, they're just trolling you.

When you take them seriously, make posts like this, complain, or react to them in any sort of way, you are giving them exactly what they want.

There is no way to shelter yourself from internet trolls, the best thing you can possibly do is to just ignore them. It's no fun for a troll when their character "n**ger child molester" doesn't get a rise out of someone.

Banning people is stupid, like others have said, take it into your own hands. If someone wants to build a reputation on this shard as an immature jackass, then that's their perogative, they will feel the reprecussions when the day comes that they need something from the community.

As for the children playing this shard, that is such a minority of the player-base that I don't see any justification to start banning people "because of the children". This is an adult community. It's nice that your children play as well, but when you run into homophobes and racist, it's your job to explain that that type of behavior is unacceptable, it's not the staff's job to protect your children from inappropriate content.

couldnt have said it better

[ClowN]

anyone using racial slurs is a Racist

not really. i can think of several real life examples where this isnt true. turn on comedy central, or any other tv network for that matter. you will hear racial slurs all the time. watch an episode of south park, or family guy, or just about any comedy show. you will hear racist remarks in almost all of them. that doesnt mean the writers are racist. it means they understand the fact that words and actions are different. they understand that sometimes you can get humor out of a controversial subject like racism. this is the internet. the words cant hurt you unless you let them.

[uofuntime]

On the subject of "anyone who uses racial slurs is racist":

I agree with that. We're not talking about hardcore Nazi/KKK racism, where they have an extreme hatred for other races, but anyone who uses such demeaning words obviously doesn't think too highly of that race. People get heated in arguments and instead of using appropriate words, they use fag and n*gger, because to them, these words represent cowardice, inferiority, etc. The words only represent cowardice and inferiority if you think lowly of Black people and gays. For example, I never use these words as insults because I don't think lowly of Blacks nor Gays (using these two groups as example because n*gger and fag are always used). To summarize, anyone who uses these words as insults harbor some degree of a racist attitude towards said group. This can be just schoolboy ignorance, but my point is if you think of Black people as equals and respect them, n*gger would not be in your vocabulary of insults.

[Karik Verlee]

On the subject of "anyone who uses racial slurs is racist":

I agree with that. We're not talking about hardcore Nazi/KKK racism, where they have an extreme hatred for other races, but anyone who uses such demeaning words obviously doesn't think too highly of that race. People get heated in arguments and instead of using appropriate words, they use fag and n*gger, because to them, these words represent cowardice, inferiority, etc. The words only represent cowardice and inferiority if you think lowly of Black people and gays. For example, I never use these words as insults because I don't think lowly of Blacks nor Gays (using these two groups as example because n*gger and fag are always used). To summarize, anyone who uses these words as insults harbor some degree of a racist attitude towards said group. This can be just schoolboy ignorance, but my point is if you think of Black people as equals and respect them, n*gger would not be in your vocabulary of insults.

Very well said.

[Pristiq]

This entire thread is a steaming pile of fail, to be honest.

For starters, understand that just because someone uses a racially charged word or remark does not mean they are racist. While the word 'n***ger' does still have its racial roots, it's no longer become a word used against solely black people. To anyone who has been called a faggot or n***ger ingame: are you homosexual or black? No? You're white? Well then, the other guy must be racist against white people. It has become a general insult, especially in the online community. It's this kind of touchy feely censorship nonsense that ruins societies.

Now that we've covered the moral argument for allowing "racism" (racially-charged words) in the game, let's look at the technical: There are only a handful of GMs (Yoda, Kaivan, Derrick, Braden, Maahes and Nevermore off the top of my head). At any given time, only one or two are on. In the late hours, if Braden is busy, then there are usually none on. Now ask yourself: how many times does the word n***ger get thrown around on UOSA per day? Do you really think that 6 people will be able to find the time to police all the interactions? Nor will a wordfilter work to end racially-charged remarks. People are clever; assholes are even more clever. They will come out with variations such as nugga, niggah, nurga, niigga, etc. Sure you can document and block all of these, but then what about remarks such as calling someone a jew? There are times ingame when the word jew just comes up, yet it can be used to offend: "You God damned f***king jew-rat!" Also take into consideration the racial stereotypes (blacks like watermelon, chicken, kool-aid). Are you seriously going to filter all those words, too?

There's also the fact that we are, indeed, a small community. Perma bans are rare. Population needs to stay high. Perma banning anyone who says n***ger will begin a decrease in population. As for guild titles, there are restrictions in place. Foul named characters get renamed to GenericPlayer. A GM will step in if a guild is too offensive (Alcon comes to mind).

The final nail on the coffin? Derrick has repeatedly said that UOSA mirrors game mechanics, not policy. He has also said it is up to the players to police themselves.

[uofuntime]

For starters, understand that just because someone uses a racially charged word or remark does not mean they are racist. While the word 'n***ger' does still have its racial roots, it's no longer become a word used against solely black people. To anyone who has been called a faggot or n***ger ingame: are you homosexual or black? No? You're white? Well then, the other guy must be racist against white people. It has become a general insult, especially in the online community.

I seriously disagree with you about n*gger "transcending" into a modern day insult devoid of racial context. Obviously, everyone knows that here, n*gger is an insult thrown by White kids at each other. But the fact that they'd use a derogatory word for a Black person as an insult meaning cowardice and inferiority (among other things stemming from Racist opinions of Black people) shows what kinds of attitudes they have. The racial context does not nullify just because it's thrown at a White person. They're basically implying that that White person has qualities of a "lowly" Black person. This is exactly what it implies. I can't believe some people don't understand this. It's like me calling my landlord a f*cking Jew in front of my Jewish friend, then explaining to him "I'm not making fun of Jewish people, my landlord isn't Jewish. I just wanted to imply he's a greedy, money-grubbing a*shole". Or calling the bad driver in front of me a "damn ch*nk", but then claiming to harbor no racist attitudes as the driver is White! (if you can't see the parallels with those examples and the usage of n*gger, then you must be ignorant to anti-Black racism)

Just to clarify, I am perfectly fine with no censorship or admin intervention on this matter. But I just wanted to point out what silly logic people use to justify usage of racial slurs--you're a racist; accept it and move on.

[DarkWing]

The final nail on the coffin? Derrick has repeatedly said that UOSA mirrors game mechanics, not policy. He has also said it is up to the players to police themselves.

Derrick has also stated that he would love to have more players Join the Server!

having a clean Civil server is a Great Way to attract and Keep New Players!!!

[MatronDeWinter]

Derrick has also stated that he would love to have more players Join the Server!

having a clean Civil server is a Great Way to attract and Keep New Players!!!

Hate to say it, but I agree with DarkWing.

People (even newbie PvP'er) do not want to log on, start their bard to fund their player, get immediately PK'd and deal with a player following them around spamming n*****fa***t for the next 20 minutes.

[Pro]

That doesn't actually happen so let's not make up ridiculous situations.

[Corbin]

Hate to say it, but I agree with DarkWing.

People (even newbie PvP'er) do not want to log on, start their bard to fund their player, get immediately PK'd and deal with a player following them around spamming n*****fa***t for the next 20 minutes.

Exactly. Some of the most populated shards I've seen have been the ones with the strictest rules, usually being RP shards that require you to be in character all the time. Anyone caught using language like this would be insta-banned from the server because they want a clean atmosphere that all players can enjoy.

That being said, do I think this shard needs to be that strict? Not at all, but I do think that the racist comments, or comments that could be used in a racist scenario, should be very much ban worthy. Especially if we want this shard to grow.

[Heskey]

they want a clean atmosphere that all players can enjoy.

Exactly.

Why are the 'nay sayers' so pro-racist comments anyway? Whether you harbour racist thoughts or not other than running up and down screaming racist terms; is it necessary to your enjoyment of this shard? Do you feel completely inept to express yourself in a more civilised manner?

[Smelly Ira]

Personally I don't care if my fellow players are racist, I also don't care what they think about Obama, Healthcare, Glenn Beck, Tiger Woods sex scandals etc. All totally irrelevant in a game where we come to escape reality, I didn't come here to learn about the enlightened -or- moronic opinions of my fellow UOSA players.

That said, the issue here isn't about curing racism or trying to modify someone's attitude or anything, and the people who keep saying "just deal with it" are missing the point. It's really about the kind of environment it creates when (for instance) a large number of racist guild/characters names are allowed to persist.

There's a reason threads keep popping up about this, it really is annoying, people aren't complaining about nothing, or just whining..it's a legitimate issue to bring up.

I'll admit though...there is a slippery slope question here, I got a forum warning for racism the other day, it was taken totally out of context and was a sarcastic remark, and curiously it didn't even even contain an actual racial epithet. I don't blame the staff for doing their job, but it does make me wonder how it is possible to ban racist names without banning alot of folks who are not actually doing something racist.