Keeva has an excellent post on the use of offensive language here. What I find curious about the post is the almost apologetic tone of it, as if it is somehow unreasonable to ask people to stop being racist, sexist or ablist.
I'll be a little more direct. If you ever describe someone you dislike as a "retard", something you dislike as "gay", someone you think is being mean as a "Jew" or a victory as "rape", the very least you can expect is a permanent /ignore. I don't care if it was "just a joke" or "that's just how people like me speak" or that you think it's "political correctness gone mad".
If you're in any party or raid I have any control over, I will kick you. If I'm an officer in your guild, I will /gkick you.
Except ... I don't.
I rage at my monitor, sometimes put repeat offenders on /ignore, but mostly I stay silent and do nothing. Anything for a quiet life; just collect the epics and go. I suspect most other people do too.
Perhaps we get the community we deserve...
I wrote about this some time back, and I think you're onto something. For the most part we accept the language that people use in WoW (and other places). We don't generally speak up (unless it's way further across the line than usual) even if we probably want to.
ReplyDeleteI do the same. I really dislike certain words, but I very seldom tell people off when they use them.
I wonder why that is.. do we assume it's a losing battle even before we start? Hmm.. this definitely deserves some thinking about..
It's our guild policy to kick for racist or sexist language. It's why I spent my money transferring to my server. I could qualify in a bigger raiding guild in a second, but I prefer not to waste my energy restraining the urge to yell at people for being offensive every 15 minutes.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I'd stay long in a guild without such a policy. Fortunately, on an RP server, such things are common.
ReplyDeleteBut it's more a case of me seeking such an environment, rather than trying to actively create it on the server. I guess that's what bothers me.
With Azeroth (as with life) you're always going to get a cross section of people, it my best answer.
ReplyDeleteI get more antsy about somethings than I do others (I'll hold my hand up to using 'lame' and then wincing as I remember it's ableist... but I am getting better), equally I've reported every single guild called "Sapped Girls Can't Say No" (3 thus far) because it's just NOT funny. And I've followed it up until a GM assures me that they've been re-named.
Is it everyone's responsibility to try to change language? Does it make a difference to how people actually think? Do you/me/anyone have enough energy to even try...? Or do we, as Saga commented, view the battle as lost before we even begin? I'd hold the view that most people opt for the latter, rather than any of the formers.