Guild Wars 2

I find it ironic, while creating a new character certain names are “filtered” or prohibited due to possible profane or obscene content (IE “Honeysuckle Rose”, a name the wife was going to use for a Sylvari) and yet there is an NPC in Gilded Hollow named Fion in the Guild Hall…
In my 6+ months playing, I never knew this was a problem until I tried to tell a fellow guild member where to turn in his 26 Teq tailpieces and my messages were filtered. I was dumbfounded to say the least.
You may ask, “Where am I going with this?” Well, it turns out Fion, is French for an inappropriate English word; hence the reason all my in-game guild and private tells were filtered. And hence, the reason its translation is also filtered on this forum.
I submitted a Ticket in reference to this impropriety and was told to post my “idea” in our Official Forums; so here I am. Just Google translate “Fion”.

My great grand mother used to say trou d’fion.
It’s weird that the word is filtered. I doubt anyone who’s younger than 100 years old even use that word.

I googled Fion and all the results were a popular Wine Bar Company in the US. I guess you should send them complaints as well since they have street signs.

Also this game is in English so it’s not using French words. People complained before cus of a name that meant something else in Spanish, but it’s not in Spanish so it doesn’t matter. Complaint amounted to nothing.

This reminds me of that scene from Clerks 2 about racial slurs. Apparently I wasn’t the only one confused by the scene at the time… and in an uncharacteristic bit of insight in the youtube comments, someone pointed out that the reason no one was familiar with it was because no one bothered to perpetuate it.

While not exactly the same as this situation, it manages to highlight how language gets around. But at this point, everything is, sounds like, or is implied to mean something offensive in one or more languages…. and got that diverse in the first place because of censorship.

So our only solution is to start taking the non-entrenched ones back!!! And if people can’t move past that…. well… it just tells us who aren’t willing to let it die.

Sylvari names are usually of Celtic origin and about Fion I get this:
“From Irish fionn (older Irish finn) meaning “fair” or “white”. Fionn mac Cumhail was a legendary Irish hero…"

When you use a name you can’t check every possible meaning of the name in other languages.

When you look at the name in the context (English game, Celtic names for Sylvari), there isn’t anything offinsive about the name. It is also a common name in real life.

You can’t look at foreign names and try to find words from other languages in it. It wont end well

Doggie.3184:

I googled Fion and all the results were a popular Wine Bar Company in the US. I guess you should send them complaints as well since they have street signs.

Also this game is in English so it’s not using French words. People complained before cus of a name that meant something else in Spanish, but it’s not in Spanish so it doesn’t matter. Complaint amounted to nothing.

Actually the game isn’t ‘English’ it’s an international game. People with inappropriate names in languages such as Polish and Hungarian, not to mention the four supported languages (French and Spanish being two of them), have been forced to change in the past.

penelopehannibal.8947:

Doggie.3184:

I googled Fion and all the results were a popular Wine Bar Company in the US. I guess you should send them complaints as well since they have street signs.

Also this game is in English so it’s not using French words. People complained before cus of a name that meant something else in Spanish, but it’s not in Spanish so it doesn’t matter. Complaint amounted to nothing.

Actually the game isn’t ‘English’ it’s an international game. People with inappropriate names in languages such as Polish and Hungarian, not to mention the four supported languages (French and Spanish being two of them), have been forced to change in the past.

Those cases are due to people directly using foreign words to bypass the filter. That doesn’t apply when the name in question is a legitimate name that happens to have the same spelling as an inappropriate word in another language.

Panda.1967:

penelopehannibal.8947:

Doggie.3184:

I googled Fion and all the results were a popular Wine Bar Company in the US. I guess you should send them complaints as well since they have street signs.

Also this game is in English so it’s not using French words. People complained before cus of a name that meant something else in Spanish, but it’s not in Spanish so it doesn’t matter. Complaint amounted to nothing.

Actually the game isn’t ‘English’ it’s an international game. People with inappropriate names in languages such as Polish and Hungarian, not to mention the four supported languages (French and Spanish being two of them), have been forced to change in the past.

Those cases are due to people directly using foreign words to bypass the filter. That doesn’t apply when the name in question is a legitimate name that happens to have the same spelling as an inappropriate word in another language.

My point was the game isn’t ‘English’ not sure why you had to explain that to me.

KarmaKrash.5931:

You are all missing the point. I tried to tell a fellow guild member WHO to turn in the Teq tailpieces… and the GAME filtered the NPCs name.

We all understand perfectly…. and we all agree its dumb. So all thats left to do is talk about the idiosyncrasy of language that caused the problem in the first place.

Doggie.3184:

I googled Fion and all the results were a popular Wine Bar Company in the US. I guess you should send them complaints as well since they have street signs.

Also this game is in English so it’s not using French words. People complained before cus of a name that meant something else in Spanish, but it’s not in Spanish so it doesn’t matter. Complaint amounted to nothing.

You are missing the point. I tried to tell a fellow guild member he needed to turn the Teq tailpieces into Fion… and the GAME filtered the NPCs name. “Complaint amounted to nothing.” Just shows how narrow minded you can be. When the game filters an NPC name it is problem. Otherwise, I could care less.

starlinvf.1358:

KarmaKrash.5931:

You are all missing the point. I tried to tell a fellow guild member WHO to turn in the Teq tailpieces… and the GAME filtered the NPCs name.

We all understand perfectly…. and we all agree its dumb. So all thats left to do is talk about the idiosyncrasy of language that caused the problem in the first place.

I need to be quicker on my edits. Yes, I realize what everyone is doing. And I agree with you that language is the problem per se.

Rhiannon.1726:

You can’t look at foreign names and try to find words from other languages in it. It wont end well

I wasn’t looking to start trouble. I speak one language, English. I only discovered the irony in the name Fion, when it was filtered by the game. Point being, if the game filters the name, perhaps the npc should not be named Fion.

KarmaKrash.5931:

Doggie.3184:

I googled Fion and all the results were a popular Wine Bar Company in the US. I guess you should send them complaints as well since they have street signs.

Also this game is in English so it’s not using French words. People complained before cus of a name that meant something else in Spanish, but it’s not in Spanish so it doesn’t matter. Complaint amounted to nothing.

You are missing the point. I tried to tell a fellow guild member he needed to turn the Teq tailpieces into Fion… and the GAME filtered the NPCs name. “Complaint amounted to nothing.” Just shows how narrow minded you can be. When the game filters an NPC name it is problem. Otherwise, I could care less.

Sometimes Name Filters make mistakes. I had to contact Support peepz before to have a normal name lifted from filter that wasn’t inappropriate and they did it.

starlinvf.1358:

KarmaKrash.5931:

You are all missing the point. I tried to tell a fellow guild member WHO to turn in the Teq tailpieces… and the GAME filtered the NPCs name.

We all understand perfectly…. and we all agree its dumb. So all thats left to do is talk about the idiosyncrasy of language that caused the problem in the first place.

karmakrash.. if u are having trouble typing something that is getting blocked you can all ways send a single letter at a time ,,, may be painful to read but at least u can get the word through.
With out needing to dive in to the "idiosyncrasy of language " cough cough lol

KarmaKrash.5931:

Rhiannon.1726:

You can’t look at foreign names and try to find words from other languages in it. It wont end well

I wasn’t looking to start trouble. I speak one language, English. I only discovered the irony in the name Fion, when it was filtered by the game. Point being, if the game filters the name, perhaps the npc should not be named Fion.

Yes, this is the core point. IF the name is inappropriate for a player in a game where French speaking people might somehow be offended, then it SHOULD be changed for the NPC for the same reason. Be consistent or drop the pretense. The odds of the NPC name changing are probably far into the noise because someone in charge actually has to do something about it, not just rely on a filter they obviously didn’t apply to their own naming of game characters before the fact.

(Rant below. You should stop here if you value your time.)

I wanted to name a pet bristleback the incredibly clever name of “Spiker” but the game told me I couldn’t because some people in some region of some country used the word “piker” as a slur at some point in history and so I, in this country where probably no one would even know the connotation AS PART OF ANOTHER WORD, much less care have to go with “Spikey” which, so far, apparently is not a slur somewhere in some country to someone or group. Jeez. Oops, sorry, hope that didn’t offend anyone. Maybe “S P I K E R” would have worked, hmmm…..

To make this post even more unnecessarily long, I once thought about naming a Sylvari character with the mushroom head “kittenaki Joe” (the filtered part is the first four letters of the name of a very popular type of mushroom…this is fun, isn’t it?) ‘cause it amused me, but then I noticed the first four letters and said to myself, I sez, “Why bother?” Maybe such shrooms should have their name changed in real life so as not to o-fend the super-sensitive micro-minority among us so us players won’t think of using an otherwise perfectly apropos and legitimate word in a name for a plant person. Or, maybe these stupid robotic filters could include whitelists for legitimate words that otherwise would be filtered due to the inclusion of scary, mind-breaking letter strings? Too much work? There again, someone would have to lift a finger to do it….

I’m not done yet! So, I wonder if Japanese players have their names rejected if they happen to include that offensive four letter string I noted above in a name, seeing as how that four letter string is not all that uncommon in Japanese names. I would be rather OFFENDED if my actual surname was considered inappropriate! How insulting would that be!? Gods!

The mind boggles at the spaghetti.

Drama is fun.
The major research hospital where I live decided to use just the first letter of each word when several hospitals where merged several years ago. The short form is on all letter heads and signs. It also happens to mean a female only body part in several languages.

Kruhljak.2705:

KarmaKrash.5931:

Rhiannon.1726:

You can’t look at foreign names and try to find words from other languages in it. It wont end well

I wasn’t looking to start trouble. I speak one language, English. I only discovered the irony in the name Fion, when it was filtered by the game. Point being, if the game filters the name, perhaps the npc should not be named Fion.

Yes, this is the core point. IF the name is inappropriate for a player in a game where French speaking people might somehow be offended, then it SHOULD be changed for the NPC for the same reason. Be consistent or drop the pretense. The odds of the NPC name changing are probably far into the noise because someone in charge actually has to do something about it, not just rely on a filter they obviously didn’t apply to their own naming of game characters before the fact.

(Rant below. You should stop here if you value your time.)

I wanted to name a pet bristleback the incredibly clever name of “Spiker” but the game told me I couldn’t because some people in some region of some country used the word “piker” as a slur at some point in history and so I, in this country where probably no one would even know the connotation AS PART OF ANOTHER WORD, much less care have to go with “Spikey” which, so far, apparently is not a slur somewhere in some country to someone or group. Jeez. Oops, sorry, hope that didn’t offend anyone. Maybe “S P I K E R” would have worked, hmmm…..

To make this post even more unnecessarily long, I once thought about naming a Sylvari character with the mushroom head “kittenaki Joe” (the filtered part is the first four letters of the name of a very popular type of mushroom…this is fun, isn’t it?) ‘cause it amused me, but then I noticed the first four letters and said to myself, I sez, “Why bother?” Maybe such shrooms should have their name changed in real life so as not to o-fend the super-sensitive micro-minority among us so us players won’t think of using an otherwise perfectly apropos and legitimate word in a name for a plant person. Or, maybe these stupid robotic filters could include whitelists for legitimate words that otherwise would be filtered due to the inclusion of scary, mind-breaking letter strings? Too much work? There again, someone would have to lift a finger to do it….

I’m not done yet! So, I wonder if Japanese players have their names rejected if they happen to include that offensive four letter string I noted above in a name, seeing as how that four letter string is not all that uncommon in Japanese names. I would be rather OFFENDED if my actual surname was considered inappropriate! How insulting would that be!? Gods!

The mind boggles at the spaghetti.

They’re called shiitake mushrooms. Two "i"s. I’ve had a character named after them for almost 5 years now. Never gotten a single peep from any person about it being an offensive name nor any forced name change. Heck, I actually kind of WANT someone to be offended by it and force a name change, because the name doesn’t really fit the character any more. As you’d expect, I originally created him with the mushroom hairstyle, but have long since changed it. Someone get offended so I can get a free name change!

Kruhljak.2705:

Yes, this is the core point. IF the name is inappropriate for a player in a game where French speaking people might somehow be offended, then it SHOULD be changed for the NPC for the same reason. Be consistent or drop the pretense.

There are a bunch of different reasons and a bunch of different filters. If you think something should be blocked, /report it. If you think something should not be blocked, file an appeal via support ticket.

If you think there’s an inconsistency, then also tell ANet.

They can only act on the things that they know about. And, keep in mind, our first point of contact might not have the power to do much more than look at a list to see if they can divine the reasoning; if you want someone to make an exception, you might have to be patient until the relevant staff member can take a look.

The language filter is optional.

If you run into this problem again you could ask the other person to open the options menu, disable the filter (3rd drop down on the first page) and then turn it back on again once you’ve said what you need to say.

Admittedly it’s not ideal, but it’s a ‘fix’ everyone can use, rather than hoping Anet will get the profanity filter working perfectly, something which (as far as I know) no one has ever been able to do.

P.S. I’m mildly surprised the conversation has gone on this long without anyone mentioning a certain Kournan general from GW1. I can’t even search for the page because I’m on my work computer but lets just say if you think GW2 NPCs have some inappropriate names you’re in for a surprise.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

If you think there’s an inconsistency, then also tell ANet.

Or don’t.

I don’t want the cost of the game to soar because they’re having to check through every language and historical language ever just to make sure there is no obscure connection to any “inappropriate” word in another language, just because a bunch of players make it their job to deliberately root-out these things.

There is a history of ArenaNet inserting slight adult references here and there. The one that sticks out to me is a quest in the Lahtenda Bog called A Sticky Operation involving taking out groups of Corsair Seamen. It’s stuff like this that overly sensitive sorts might deem too inappropriate, but in reality, it just allows those of us with a sense of humour to have a little chuckle to ourselves as we come across it.

I think the word reasonable must be applied to enforcement of the rules and not absolute when it comes to stuff like the OP is talking about. English is the main language here and probably the easiest one to cause offense in given how widespread it is understood. If the NPC was called Kitten, Kitten, Kitten the Kittenable, Tactician Kitten or Kitten Briar, then sure., report away. I don’t really agree that we should be encouraging this kind of behaviour though.

Sarie.1630:

If the NPC was called Kitten, Kitten, Kitten the Kittenable, Tactician Kitten or Kitten Briar, then sure., report away.

Sentences like this are why I sometimes love profanity filters.

But I don’t think anyone was suggesting Anet should, or would, search through every conceivable word in every language to check for possible offenses just because one word has been shown to be problematic.

It’s more likely they could set up an exception for that one word. Many profanity filters allow that – for example you could set it to censor all uses of D, U and C together except when followed by K, so abduct or duc is censored but duck is not.

(No, there’s nothing offensive about duc as far as I’m aware – I was deliberately using a random example that wouldn’t get changed to kitten.)

I had a guild when this game was launched that was named “BitterFittor” and that passed as well and that is a really profane expression in Swedish,. Its an English game, feel free to use any profanity you like as long as its not English.

I couldn’t make a character when in middle of the name was the word “dope”, I found it pretty funny. Fixed it just by changing “p” with “b”.

You know, I just went in-game and typed Fion and fion into chat. Showed up just fine.

I’m not sure what the issue is. Maybe adjust your filters for that NPC?

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

You know, I just went in-game and typed Fion and fion into chat. Showed up just fine.

I’m not sure what the issue is. Maybe adjust your filters for that NPC?

One shouldn’t have to adjust filters to allow for an in-game NPC name. Sure, if I adjust filters it will “Show up just fine” as one other reply to this post recommended (as a work around). Albeit, according to Google Translate and in-game filters it is inappropriate. Therein lies the problem. An NPC name should not be Filtered PERIOD. If the game considers it inappropriate… ITS INAPPROPRIATE. Not my doing, not my choice. Hell, I didn’t event know it was an issue until the game filtered it.

Did you discuss the anomaly with the CS Team? What did they have to say?

KarmaKrash.5931:

Doggie.3184:

I googled Fion and all the results were a popular Wine Bar Company in the US. I guess you should send them complaints as well since they have street signs.

Also this game is in English so it’s not using French words. People complained before cus of a name that meant something else in Spanish, but it’s not in Spanish so it doesn’t matter. Complaint amounted to nothing.

You are missing the point. I tried to tell a fellow guild member he needed to turn the Teq tailpieces into Fion… and the GAME filtered the NPCs name. “Complaint amounted to nothing.” Just shows how narrow minded you can be. When the game filters an NPC name it is problem. Otherwise, I could care less.

The filter can be turned off.

Sojourner.4621:

The filter can be turned off.

Don’t people read or do they just troll.

My point is being lost in the discussions.

I KNOW THE FILTER CAN BE TURNED OFF… NO ONE should have to adjust their filters to permit a NPC NAME.

My intent was to bring this to the attention of the developers. THE NAME IS INAPPROPRIATE BY GW2 STANDARDS. Translated, the name FION is A## HOLE.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

Did you discuss the anomaly with the CS Team? What did they have to say?

As I stated in the OP, I submitted a ticket and was told to post my “suggestion” here.
The following is their generic reply to my ticket:

Thanks a lot for taking the time to explain the meaning of an NPC’s name in Guild Wars 2. We have found that the best way for the development team to gather and review player feedback and suggestions is through our official forums. We ask players to post their ideas in our Official Forums: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum

Please post your suggestion in the forum most relevant to the subject at hand. For instance, if you are writing about PvP, post in the PvP sub-forum. If you are making a suggestion about a specific profession, please post in that profession’s sub-forum. And if you are writing about the Living World, feel free to post in that sub-forum.

Members of the Development Team read the forums daily, and while they usually cannot respond to individual suggestions, the fact that team members can review those suggestions in a public forum helps them gauge the level of interest in a particular idea, and also allows other players to discuss and offer feedback of their own.

The team looks forward to reviewing your input.

WHY BOTHER!!?? Its clear that this is a mute point; they really don’t care and have double standards. Albeit, I don’t believe this was intentional. As I have stated in the OP, and others have commented, some truly inoffensive names are deemed inappropriate when creating characters and yet here is a NPC name that the game filters as such. AND, CAN BE CLEARLY OFFENSIVE (to some) when translated.

Odd fact. Fionn (with 2 "n"s) or Fiona are the “proper” use of the name and translate to “Fair, White” or “Vine”

it gets worse, you can copy dialogue from the game ‘literally’ and it will contain a lot of cute little kitties

KarmaKrash.5931:

Don’t people read or do they just troll.

Or, you know, they just don’t agree with you that there’s an issue requiring ANet’s attention and are offering you what they hope are useful suggestions.

KarmaKrash.5931:

My point is being lost in the discussions.

Or, you know, people don’t agree with your point.

KarmaKrash.5931:

NO ONE should have to adjust their filters to permit a NPC NAME.

I’m not sure why you think anyone has to adjust in this case. “Fion” is an actual name in English. It’s only in French that it’s a vulgarism and in the French version of the game, the NPC is Fionn.

I’m going to repeat that since I think some people missed the facts:

• Fion is an actual name (very uncommon).
• The only language that considers it vulgar is French.
• It’s also the name of a town in Mali, a country that uses French as its official language.

KarmaKrash.5931:

My intent was to bring this to the attention of the developers. …Translated, the name FION is A## HOLE.

Sure, and “bunny” is also slang for something we won’t discuss here, as well as “cookie” and “meat” and, well, there’s just an entire set of words that can be treated as vulgarisms if you dig a little.

KarmaKrash.5931:

THE NAME IS INAPPROPRIATE BY GW2 STANDARDS.

No, it’s not. It’s inappropriate in French, but it’s not used in the French version of the game.

KarmaKrash.5931:

Its clear that this is a mute point; they really don’t care and have double standards.

It’s not at all clear to me that it’s a moot point. You keep insisting that this is an issue and ignore all the replies from others explaining why they disagree.

There’s no such thing as a completely clear line between permissible and inappropriate. Most cases will be obvious, but a significant fraction will be judgment calls. The forum moderators might decide to be overly conservative because what’s posted here is semi-permanent, whereas what appears in /map is transient. Similarly, character names would also need to have extra restrictions.

KarmaKrash.5931:

Albeit, I don’t believe this was intentional. As I have stated in the OP, and others have commented, some truly inoffensive names are deemed inappropriate when creating characters and yet here is a NPC name that the game filters as such. AND, CAN BE CLEARLY OFFENSIVE (to some) when translated.

It’s good that you see that deciding what names to restrict is an art not a science and that folks won’t always get it right.

Just because something can be translated doesn’t mean the name should be considered offensive in English.

KarmaKrash.5931:

Odd fact. Fionn (with 2 "n"s) or Fiona are the “proper” use of the name and translate to “Fair, White” or “Vine”

Well that’s by far the more common usage; it’s not as if there’s any official board of name certification that determines what is or what isn’t allowed. (Well, at least not in the US. There has been in other countries, including France.)

Otherwise, we wouldn’t have Ayden, Izobel, Khloe, Zakkery, Rayan, etc.

tl;dr the fact is that “Fion” is a perfectly acceptable name in English; it’s only in French that it’s vulgar and the NPC is named “Fionn” in the French version. Not everyone agrees that makes it problematic for the English version.

Those who look will find inconsistencies in policy across names, chat filters, and forums because each medium has different requirements and because filtering is part art, part science, & part personal taste.

It’s fine to let ANet know your opinion; it’s not fine to insist that it’s the only possible way to look at things.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

KarmaKrash.5931:

THE NAME IS INAPPROPRIATE BY GW2 STANDARDS.

No, it’s not. It’s inappropriate in French, but it’s not used in the French version of the game.

The word Fion is filtered by the game. Arenanet standards consider this word bad enough to be filtered. But they still give that filtered name to an NPC. Preventing people from saying the name of that NPC in game unless they remove the filter.

Also If you think it’s inappropriate in french, it means you need to actually go learn french language past the google translate.

I remember when Kessex Hills was filtered in chat to Kes- – - Hills.

Just because something is filtered doesn’t mean it needs to be changed. It means that the filter is set to certain letter combinations and will change those letters to —-- when they appear.