On use of strong profanity in games

As long as it is in character then yes, I have no problem with it. If it's just there for the sake of being there then no. I espeically hate when people in games do F***, or something similar. Bbecause it breaks my immerson, because unless there's a child around in which case most of my own cursing turns into "Sugar!" or of it needs a lot of curse power "Sugarlumpheads", people curse. If the games for chiildren, or young people, or you just don't like cursing, then don't add cursing, if you feel it nees to be included, do it right and just write the word.

Sorry... it just does my head in.

If it's supposed to be there, then let it be there. While it's not a game, imagine Game of Thrones without the profanity (and violence). It wouldn't be the same. And in a game like GTA 5 I also expect there to be some foul language (and again violence). Not that I particularly enjoy those kind of things, but if it's supposed to be there and the writer tries to write around it... well, sometimes they can, sometimes they can't.

Making up your own curse words as a replacement can work really well as a substitute though, and I'd say it's always preferable to censorship.

Why make up your own words when you can just use the even more offensive words that our current taboos were originally "more polite" versions of in the first place and get patted on the back for being "clean" at the same time? The history of cursing is a hilarious hypocrisy of people constantly co-opting benign words as substitute for taboos and slowly turning those words to new taboos while simultaneously de-stigmatizing the original curses through disuse. Some examples.


Okay, enough of that (though there are endless other examples) TL;DR I'm for whatever is needed for the narrative portrayed. People curse all the time, there are situations where it's unbelievable not to have at least someone issue one. At the same time I hate it when people make up their own words. Words need meaning to have any power, cursing is all about the power of the reaction. Bring back the past before you invent the future, and you can both be praised as a 'clean' game dev and use more offensive insults than 9/10 games at the same time and most people won't ever be the wiser.

To me cursing is all about the intent and the context, without that it is pointless juvenile rambling. Will I quit a game because it drops random curse words thinking they are cute? No. I also won't respect one for doing so. I love it when media gets clever with it though, and pushes the envelope 'benignly' rather than just relying on the shock value of current taboos.

When I write dialogue for my game, I like to pretend that I was subtitling a TV show: in other words, I'm trying to create an illusion of natural speech without actually mimicking spoken language. Sometimes that might mean adding swearing. I find excessive swearing to be far more jarring than the lack of it or the usage of milder/made-up curse words (I actually like the latter a lot - I mean, I'm a person who sometimes exclaims "Holy halberd!" when I'm surprised IRL).

The characters in my game do swear, but it's quite rare and they mostly use very mild variants. The teenager gets to ask "what the hell?" a few times because it suits him, but others say things like "gods be good" or simply just "curses" because they carry similar emphasis (to me, at least) and feel more natural in the context.

I enjoy the "less is more" approach to profanity. That however is not to say I don't use it. On the contrary, I feel it has its needs.

In my game, the profanity is filtered using symbols. For me personally, I like to use that because it makes me laugh, I find it hilarious to see a character raging but all you see is %*#&^.

I use it to exclaim one of two things. The first is the character's demeanor. If the character is the type that would curse, and it comes naturally to them, especially during a moment of extreme duress, then I enjoy when it's capitalized on; especially when it's used in comedic fashion.

The second is to get the attention of the reader/player, when you want your audience to pay attention because something is either not right, or not safe. A cleverly placed curse word does in fiction as it does in real life--say you're walking and stub your toe, you may curse--but if you do and there's people around, they immediately know something's happened to warrant that kind of response. Same for media, to drop a curse at the right time is definitely a good tool for driving home the point that something is not well.

One thing I like to think about when including cursing is impact. If a character has been saying "" all game, then having them curse at the character that betrays them is going to be more of the same. But if it's a princess who hasn't said anything stronger than "sugar" since she joined your party? That is going to stand out. (For good or bad. If it isn't a moment where you can justify the emotional punch, it's just going to be weird.) So it can be a good thing to hold back on the swearing all story until you get to the moment you were building up to.

That's certainly true. But on the other hand that might also become very out of character for her. If we've spent all game learning about this prim and proper princess, only to suddenly have her cuss like a sailor, that could cause the player to stutter.

That's true, and ultimately, I think it's a judgment thing. There are a lot of factors that go into whether she would suddenly curse, including whether she's been exposed to a rougher and more uncouth world on her journeys, and not only is each case unique, each member of the audience is going to evaluate it differently.

Well there's a big difference between cursing like a sailor and say, a "shut your damned mouth" as the last straw breaks from a partymember who's been teasing her the entire journey. Or a quiet shocked "f*ck" or "sh*t" as said partymember reveales they're the final boss by transforming into a dragon.

As a whole, I feel like the fantasy genre would be much better off without it... Otherwise, its just so...bad.

Also, It really irks me when people remove just one letter from an otherwise obviously foul word and call it censorship. It's not...

Saying "damn" does not, to me, equal strong profanity. Granted, I am Scandinavian and we can come off as uncouth and have been known to be very liberal with English swear-words that other countries might find offensive.

Profanity, I think, can work in most cases. Strong profanity, on the other hand, is a bit iffier because it can trigger the reader or put them off to a story or character if it is not in a proper context.

I guess "context" is the keyword in this discussion. At the right time, in the right place it works. But without a good buildup or explanation, it might just as well fall to the ground.

Oh hey, fellow Scandinavian! Yeah I agree damn isn't that strong, though for a princess who won't go further than "sugar"... Which is what I was thinking about when writing. You could easily substitute it with a stronger swearword though, f*cking or g*ddamn...

I come from a family that is "don't say that in your **** 'cause nobody's gonna like it" and I finally decided that instead of also doing an explicit cut I'd just tone it down and go total kiss (as in keep it simple, stranger).

There are still three things I was gonna avoid in an explicit cut (and where I'd reasonably draw the line had I not backed off):

1. The "n" word (because context)
2. The "r" word (because subject matter)
3. "Jim Crow" material (because racism)

Your situation may vary of course (historical context, audience consideration etc.) but in general these are the three things I would avoid the most unless it's absolutely necessary for accuracy, authenticity and/or perspective among other matters.

EDIT: Another thing which could affect this, and building on this point...


... is that one thing I have noticed in building a game where a modernized, near-future residential district ends up in another metaplane of existence that (with reasonable exception) is nowhere near as modernized aside from public inclusion concepts will force even royalty to play "comfort level" upon those infused from a gen-24XX when outside of formal court. In this situation, the point in question gets voided out in order to accommodate the circumstance if but to understand each other a bit more. The result: achieving a more effective understanding by going for terminology more like that of what the crew leader knows from his own world compared to some of the more typical "middle ages" shtick that he normally gets.

Slightly off topic. but find I really need to ask... Do people actually say Dayum? Because I have never actually heard or read that word (at least not as a curse). I presume It's the same as "Damn!" which I and everyone I know, or have ever seen it written. seeing "Dayum!" makes me think of those awful comedy films I hate where everyone is too over exagerated and going "Daaaaayum girl! You look hot tonight!" and things like that. I personally don't actually count that as a real curse.

Just saying, because that's the only context I've ever heard it. I much prefer "Damn!" it sounds shorter and has more emotional "Uh oh, we're possibly all about to die because the thief couldn't keep her hands off the glowing rock and has released a fire breathing giant bunny rabbit!"

eg. "Da mn! Good work Thief! Now we're all going to die!"
or "Dayum! Good work thief! Nnow we're all going to die!"

Iit doesn't have the same impact, Dayum sounds more like your about to compliment them on something... maybe that's just me.. Sorry. just had to get it clarified, so if someone could actually tell me if Dayum is supposed to be used in this context as a curse or not? and even if it actually means Da mn the same way I use Damn... thanks.

Edit. Aaaahhh. I see. The website changes it! You can see I don’t curse on this site often. Lol.

I think cursing can be very effective but only when used sparingly and meaningfully, even if you're making a potty mouth character. There's a certain impact and feeling of raw emotion behind cursing that can really add to a scene when it isn't completely expected. I think cursing should be viewed as sort of "sentence enhancers" in that while they are never really needed, using them at certain points can add just that little bit of raw emotion, comedic value, discomfort, or shock factor.

I think an interesting example of this is having a character you never thought would swear, swear in a tense or dramatic moment, such as when confronting a villain. One may call it out of character, but personally, I think in this case it shows the desperation of that specific character and the struggles of what they are going through. Their rage against the villain has gotten the best of their self-control, which shows just how much is at stake for that character.

There is, of course, much more ways to use swearing but I think that's just one of the more powerful examples. It's just about hitting that balance so that nobody thinks "Wow, did they just discover swear words?" while playing your game.

I think a good way to go about it when adding a swear into a line is to think "Does this add anything to this sentence?" And if the answer is no, you should probably remove it. :stickytongue:

Imo a really potty mouth character would use swearing pretty casually though, like f**king instead of really to enchance a sentence or just instead of the random sounds people use like "um" or "oh".
Some examples:
"Let's f**king go already."
"You look f**king amazing."
"Can you f**kers shut up already?"
"This food is so f**king good."
"F**k that hurts!"
"Ah.. F**k. Really? I wasn't expecting a confession today."

Substitute with other fitting swears as you wish.

I agree, I meant that in a sense that you should still think about why and how they are using swears even for those kind of characters. Even people like Gordon Ramsey aren't always swearing.

Actually the best way I've ever seen a 'potty mouthed' character done was to see her adopt a more overly polite, clipped manner of speaking when things are really getting bad. When the foul-mouthed captain whose always sprinkling f-bombs and into her commands starts enunciating orders with phrases like "please and thank you" instead you immediately know something is very wrong, and seeing the crew get real quiet and attentive when it happens can be a great way to emphathize it.

For characters that curse as a form of rote, situations where they don't can be just as powerful if not more so then when the prim character finally does for the first time.

Another hilarious way I've seen cursing done is have the prim, princess character want to curse, repeat curses she's heard but because of her station and the fact everyone's always walking on eggshells around her she doesn't understand the context and literal meaning a lot of the times and will choose curses that don't quite work in the context of what she's saying.

There's a lot of interesting ways to handle how characters curse, at the end of the day it's all just language, and should be thought of as such rather than "just shock value" or included to "push envelopes" or what have you.

I'm going to agree with the people in this thread that either way tends to be fine when done well (and either way can be done badly), but that the worst is when strong profanity is used but censored with symbols. Rips apart immersion.

It's worth considering that - like violence, gore, and nudity - profanity may not be appropriate for young children who don't really understand it yet. If you think that a decent portion of your audience might be children below the age of about 10, do the right thing and leave strong profanities out. It doesn't need to be stupid bowdlerizations like 'shucks'. Euphemisms can be great, because they're funny and kids who don't understand the profanity being left out probably won't even notice it's a euphemism. It can be words that come completely out of left field but express the character's anger, frustration, or amusement.

I am not a fan of swearing, in life or in games.

I will have to admit I am just as guilty when aroused to toss out a few choice words and then get a little more annoyed for having said those words.
If it is REALLY necessary, MAYBE a swear word can be used, but there should always be a limit to the amount of fowl language used in games (and life), in my opinion. Using bad language just because you can, or trying to seem cool isn't good. There is always a time and place and one needs to use their own judgment as to whether language (excessive or not) is appropriate and necessary.

All these comments can also be made in life as well as games too.