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Player Name Petitions - 15th Feb 2007
I have been wrestling with my conscience following the publication of
this article and especially the follow-up article, which went as far as
to list the obscene names which can be currently found in Eve Online.
I have deleted the follow-up article as I was unhappy displaying such
language on this website. I have also slightly revised this article in
light of new information coming to light since it's initial publication.
Have CCP gone one step too far in their policing of player names? A corp-mate of ours in Agony Unleashed has been playing Eve Online for about 6 months under the name of 'Vittulius'. The other day completely out of the blue he was mailed by a GM saying his character name was offensive and needed to be changed. No-one had complained previously, but once he started pvp'ing in 0.0, suddenly he has an offensive name.
Now I am not Finnish, and therefore do not understand the language, but I am told that 'Vittulius' is equivalent to 'Fukov' in English. Another person said 'Vittu' means poon. A clever play on words maybe, but can only be classed as offensive to anyone who is looking for it to be offensive. The player in question is not Finnish. He was basing his name on the Roman general Vitellius. He was unaware of the Finnish implication. Out of interest, how many Finnish speaking people play Eve in comparison to English speakers. If you carry out a name search in People and Places with such words as c*nt, f*ck, and w*nk, you will be surprised just how many blatant play on words there are in Eve Online, and yet they are allowed? They are less offensive than 'Vittulius'? To most 'Vittulius' sounds like a roman name, and wouldn't think twice about it.
Eve-Online is played around the world and crosses many cultures and languages. We do have to bear in mind that words may have different connotations in different countries, but this is also reason why CCP should be sensible in their censorship. Forcing a name change because of one petition on a name as ambiguous as 'Vittulius' is irresponsible in my opinion, and allows for abuse of the system by anyone who has taken a dislike to another player for whatever reason and wants to grief them.
A thread on the Eve-Online Forum to discuss this matter has been created and can be found here. Hopefully CCP will comment on the thread as to the reasons why they police these petitions in this manner.
Have CCP gone one step too far in their policing of player names? A corp-mate of ours in Agony Unleashed has been playing Eve Online for about 6 months under the name of 'Vittulius'. The other day completely out of the blue he was mailed by a GM saying his character name was offensive and needed to be changed. No-one had complained previously, but once he started pvp'ing in 0.0, suddenly he has an offensive name.
Now I am not Finnish, and therefore do not understand the language, but I am told that 'Vittulius' is equivalent to 'Fukov' in English. Another person said 'Vittu' means poon. A clever play on words maybe, but can only be classed as offensive to anyone who is looking for it to be offensive. The player in question is not Finnish. He was basing his name on the Roman general Vitellius. He was unaware of the Finnish implication. Out of interest, how many Finnish speaking people play Eve in comparison to English speakers. If you carry out a name search in People and Places with such words as c*nt, f*ck, and w*nk, you will be surprised just how many blatant play on words there are in Eve Online, and yet they are allowed? They are less offensive than 'Vittulius'? To most 'Vittulius' sounds like a roman name, and wouldn't think twice about it.
Eve-Online is played around the world and crosses many cultures and languages. We do have to bear in mind that words may have different connotations in different countries, but this is also reason why CCP should be sensible in their censorship. Forcing a name change because of one petition on a name as ambiguous as 'Vittulius' is irresponsible in my opinion, and allows for abuse of the system by anyone who has taken a dislike to another player for whatever reason and wants to grief them.
A thread on the Eve-Online Forum to discuss this matter has been created and can be found here. Hopefully CCP will comment on the thread as to the reasons why they police these petitions in this manner.
Monma Cicov
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