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The Irony of Profanity Filters

DoofusMax
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@ZOS_Kevin: was someone on your end aware that ESO's profanity filters censor "Trainee" in chat? Yep. Saying "Armor of the Trainee" gets you "Armor of the *******". Just a bit overboard, there, wouldn't you say?
I'm fresh out of outrage, but I could muster up some amused annoyance if required.
  • Lugaldu
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    Sometimes, seriously, I'm afraid I'll get banned for chatting with a friend in German, because completely normal words like ham or cabbage get censored. Or, even more bizarrely, combinations of different words in a row—even with spaces in between.
    Sometimes I don't even understand what these words might mean in English, why they're censored.
  • SkaiFaith
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    In English if I type "in werewolf form the skills..." It would censor it because of: foRM The (RM T).

    There are soooo many such similar cases that render speaking normally of the game almost impossible and "scary" since any time you see your words get censored you don't know how AI moderation will take it.

    If you wanna laugh, I was messaging via Xbox chat with an Hungarian player, debating what language would be harder to learn, and said player typed "Hungarian is harder" - I'll let you guess why it got censored lol
    Edited by SkaiFaith on June 28, 2026 12:17PM
    "..........Anyway, here's how
    to tell if your RPG
    sign is cheap" - Tony(?)
  • SilverBride
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    The game doesn't even follow it's own profanity rules. Here is an example.

    I wanted to name my character Analyssa but it was not allowed. I had to add another "n" to break up the first 4 letters and make it Annalyssa.

    Yet the game has a prominent NPC named Vanus Galerion whose last 4 letters of his first name are every bit as bad.
    PCNA
  • LootAllTheStuff
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    Lugaldu wrote: »
    Sometimes, seriously, I'm afraid I'll get banned for chatting with a friend in German, because completely normal words like ham or cabbage get censored. Or, even more bizarrely, combinations of different words in a row—even with spaces in between.
    Sometimes I don't even understand what these words might mean in English, why they're censored.

    I put "ham or cabbage" into Google Translate in the faint hope that it might give me the correct words in German. Assuming it is correct (big assumption, I know):
    • the word for ham contains an old pejorative term for a Chinese person starting at the second letter
    • the word for cabbage (which looks wrong*) contains a two-letter abbreviation for "knockout" which is baffling

    Bottom line is, it looks like the whole thing is a library of strings with simple direct character matching that ignores context (additional letters and spaces) and assumes everything is in English. Which is terrible.

    I was on one forum where someone updated the bad word filter, and all of a sudden you could not discuss the circumference of cucumbers without seeing [elided] in your text. Needless to say, there was a rash of posts exploring all the possible innocent discussions about Benedict Cumberpatch you would have while tripping up the filter, which in turn accelerated the errant regex being fixed. Fun times.

    ETA: * the word Google Translate suggested for cabbage is one I am more familiar with as a type of eyeliner used in theatre and dating back to the Egyptians. Is that right?

    Edited by LootAllTheStuff on June 28, 2026 6:23PM
  • Soarora
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    It really is useless. And puzzling that it’s on by default. Does it even censor the NPCs when they swear? The game is rated 17+, the filter doesn’t need to go out of its way to censor every possible “bad” word. It’s not going to teach anyone words they wouldn’t already know.
    [PC/NA] Dungeoneer (Tank/DPS), Semi-retired Trialist, and amateur Battlegrounder (DPS) with a passion for The Elder Scrolls lore.
    Current GM of Hard Dungeoneers
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    Dungeons: 34/34 HMs - 28/28 Tris
  • Lugaldu
    Lugaldu
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    SkaiFaith wrote: »
    In English if I type "in werewolf form the skills..." It would censor it because of: foRM The (RM T).

    That's a terrifying example. And as a non-native English speaker, I don't have the faintest idea what that's supposed to mean...


    ETA: * the word Google Translate suggested for cabbage is one I am more familiar with as a type of eyeliner used in theatre and dating back to the Egyptians. Is that right?

    No, its another one - And at least as far as this word is concerned, we’ve speculated that it has something to do with a derogatory term for Germans. But nevertheless, in the end, you’ll be in trouble if you accidentally talk about your lunch...

  • LootAllTheStuff
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    Lugaldu wrote: »
    SkaiFaith wrote: »
    In English if I type "in werewolf form the skills..." It would censor it because of: foRM The (RM T).

    That's a terrifying example. And as a non-native English speaker, I don't have the faintest idea what that's supposed to mean...


    ETA: * the word Google Translate suggested for cabbage is one I am more familiar with as a type of eyeliner used in theatre and dating back to the Egyptians. Is that right?

    No, its another one - And at least as far as this word is concerned, we’ve speculated that it has something to do with a derogatory term for Germans. But nevertheless, in the end, you’ll be in trouble if you accidentally talk about your lunch...

    Oh, that word. That's considered derogatory? Is it considered derogatory by actual Germans?
  • Lugaldu
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    Oh, that word. That's considered derogatory? Is it considered derogatory by actual Germans?

    To be honest, I don't care at all, especially since it's a historical term. I suspect that many Germans aren't even familiar with it.
  • Gabriel_H
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    A friend has the name in-game of ***berk (Self-censored just in case). Obviously we tend to shorten names to 3 or 4 characters as shorthand. The profanity filter blocks their name, because in a certain language it has a "dirty" meaning.
    PC EU
    Never get involved in a land war in Asia - it's one of the classic blunders!
  • Gabriel_H
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    Soarora wrote: »
    It really is useless. And puzzling that it’s on by default. Does it even censor the NPCs when they swear? The game is rated 17+, the filter doesn’t need to go out of its way to censor every possible “bad” word. It’s not going to teach anyone words they wouldn’t already know.

    It's not 17+ in all places the game is sold.
    PC EU
    Never get involved in a land war in Asia - it's one of the classic blunders!
  • NoticeMeArkay
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    DoofusMax wrote: »
    @ZOS_Kevin: was someone on your end aware that ESO's profanity filters censor "Trainee" in chat? Yep. Saying "Armor of the Trainee" gets you "Armor of the *******". Just a bit overboard, there, wouldn't you say?

    I think I spotted you wondering about that in cyrodiils zone chat just this morning? :smiley:
    Yes, the profanity filter is doing some really strange stuff sometimes. There are a couple of names ingame that cannot bypass it.
  • DoofusMax
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    DoofusMax wrote: »
    @ZOS_Kevin: was someone on your end aware that ESO's profanity filters censor "Trainee" in chat? Yep. Saying "Armor of the Trainee" gets you "Armor of the *******". Just a bit overboard, there, wouldn't you say?

    I think I spotted you wondering about that in cyrodiils zone chat just this morning? :smiley:
    Yes, the profanity filter is doing some really strange stuff sometimes. There are a couple of names ingame that cannot bypass it.

    Wasn't me. Sorry. Was chatting with a guildie who had looted some Boots, was wondering if anyone would trade for Sabatons, and my reply got censored. Aside from a laugh over ZOS censoring itself, the temporary fix was that I made them five pieces of Heartland in Training and came over here to rib ZOS about it.

    Also considered a post ribbing them about going to all the trouble of having Wes Johnson redo the existing Hermeus Mora dialogue and then Mora's audio in the cellar of the Vile Manse doesn't fire. The rest of it plays fine, but that one bit in the cellar just refuses to (across all accounts and all characters who could still do that quest).
    I'm fresh out of outrage, but I could muster up some amused annoyance if required.
  • JustLovely
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    Ya, if you really want to insult someone effectively you don't use profanity. And we've all heard the bad words before. They haven't killed anyone yet.
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