Guild Wars 2

Now I know, some people have a tendency to get foul. And yes, we do have some younger players who may read these forums. But I have to ask, why do you think “kitten” was chosen to bleep out the words?

Not complaining, really. In fact, the way kitten pops in now and then actually makes the sentence quite funny.

So… any clue anyone? Or any particular reason Anet people?

Good question, I wonder if there is a running joke that made them use ‘kitten?’ Or maybe they chose it because kittens are cute and harmless. Idk

Why not?

You are asking the wrong question, my friend.

Probably because it’s funny.

In my experience (specifically my experience creating/modding forums) you’ve basically got 3 options with a word filter:
1) change it to a polite/technical term. For example the S word becomes ‘excrement’
2) change it to [Censored] or some variation on that
3) change it to something funny

The 3rd one IMO has a big bonus over the other two because the fact that it can be amusing makes it far less likely that members will be offended by having their posts censored. It also tends to take the wind out of ranting or trolling posts by making them sound rediculous, which again leads to less hurt/offended members.

@Regina, I know I should probably post this in the forums bugs section, but I thought maybe you’d see it here anyway.

Currently, when the forums censor a word and replace it with “kitten” it doesn’t preserve the space before the word, so stuff like:

This is [badword]!

becomes

This iskitten!

Just a minor annoyance.

Edit: Just so it’s 100% clear, I didn’t use any expletives in my post, every instance of “kitten” in this post was written that way to begin with.

I was wondering why I was being called a “kitten” for my honest opinion.

I have personally started saying bull kitten in real life instead of well the standard way.

When I first saw it I instantly thought of Charr cubs.

I think it’s hilarious, and well done.

Regina, small word from a german native speaker: “Liebsche” is not a word in our language. What you’re probably talking about is Liebchen – I dunno if that word was spelt wrong when the forums were set up, or whether it’s intended to be like that, but I can tell you the word filter wreaks havoc on a lot of german words that are completely harmless just because they contain some letters that slightly resemble (after replacing some letters like k→c) a bad word in english.

Diego “Godot” Armando approves of this.

I laugh every time I see it !
I have started typing kitten on forums and saying it in RL-
kudo’s ArenaNet!

I’ve started using it in my day-to-day life, since I work with the public and lapsing into profanity is frowned upon. Anet may have inadvertently started a language trend.

:)

I love the use if the word kitten to replace profanity
i kitten love that kitten

Point taken – I’d like to suggest Schätzelein for the next time

Still doesn’t really fix the general problem of the filter (or it’s normalization algorithms) for german words – even ingame chat links to items and locations are affected and effectively censored (but forum URLs are not).

Well – the kitten devs can kitten shove their kittens up their kittens for all I kitten care – kitten this kitten if you think I’m letting a bunch of kitten kitten kittens ruin my kitten kitten rants!

…just kitten.

So you know what would be epic? If you say a bad word in game, it automatically filters it with the word Kitten.

So if Jay ‘double it’ Wilson worked for Anet he would of said -

“Kitten that loser”

Not quite got the same ‘sting’ to it, but kinda works.

:)

HAHA – I saw the word being bandied around all over the forums, and had no idea why everyone was using it. I thought it was some sort of internet slang specific to MMOs……I even Googled it.

Well I will just sit here feeling like a kitten

ReginaBuenaobra.6953:

Martin (German Community Manager and ArenaNet Head of Community) told me this: ‘Liebchen’ is the “regular” German form, ‘Liebsche’ is “Mundart” (dialect).

:)

I recognise it as dialect, but I do not understand why you would want to use dialect instead of propper Hochdeutsch? I would find it alienating to have some southern dialect in my posting.

I would of used puppies… Everyone loves puppies… except satalite. They hate puppies.

“In Spanish, it is “minino” (the more harmless form of the word ‘kitten’ in Spanish)”

There’s a harmful word for kitten in Spanish?

Elydian.1763:

There’s a harmful word for kitten in Spanish?

Probably words that could have a double meaning with references to female genitalia or something :P

Elydian.1763:

“In Spanish, it is “minino” (the more harmless form of the word ‘kitten’ in Spanish)”

There’s a harmful word for kitten in Spanish?

Depends on which spanish dialect you are refering to. Not all have the same meaning. For instance in cuban spanish papaya: No1. papaya Noun The Cuban word for female genitalia.

I think there might be a more offensive word in spanish for the kittencat. Every language has it’s dual words that are normal and vulgar depending on the way they are used.

Dam “kitten” wasn’t even a swear. Anyways you get the point

ReginaBuenaobra.6953:

Think.8042:

Regina, small word from a german native speaker: “Liebsche” is not a word in our language. What you’re probably talking about is Liebchen – I dunno if that word was spelt wrong when the forums were set up, or whether it’s intended to be like that, but I can tell you the word filter wreaks havoc on a lot of german words that are completely harmless just because they contain some letters that slightly resemble (after replacing some letters like k->c) a bad word in english.

Martin (German Community Manager and ArenaNet Head of Community) told me this: ‘Liebchen’ is the “regular” German form, ‘Liebsche’ is “Mundart” (dialect).

:)

As someone who has studied german and knows about the different dialects, liebsche is only known in very specific regions, most german speaking people haven’t heard that word ever before, you could also put some chinese or japanese symbols there instead.

Just as another little bug report, if the title is censored, the URL isn’t :P

It is Liebsche in German??? Man, that is hilarious (if it is really the case). Well, it means something like honey, but I assure the connotations are really a version of honey being voiced by a tipsy man from the cologne area for most germans.

Yeeeaaah. “Liebsche” most likely points to the Rhineland, specifically Cologne. A Hessian/Rhine Hessian origin is possible as well but it’s not common. To people from other German-speaking areas it will likely just seem bizarre.

The proper form “Liebchen” is not really used in common parlance in Germany these days either. Moreover, replacing a verb or adjective you deemed offensive with Liebsche will come out far more awkward and jarring than replacing an English verb or adjective with kitten.

Never mind that it’s far from the cuteness factor of “kitten”.

Using euphemisms won’t take out the bite out of anything – the result is the same, the context is the same. Words are just sequences of sounds, it’s our brain that gives those meaningless sounds “color”. If you think that some word is bad, profane, you might want to look into how perverted your own mind is. Overtime, maybe people will realize this, but currently – this is kittened up.

The cutest thing around has to be a motherkitten.

VakarisJ.5619:

Using euphemisms won’t take out the bite out of anything – the result is the same, the context is the same. Words are just sequences of sounds, it’s our brain that gives those meaningless sounds “color”. If you think that some word is bad, profane, you might want to look into how perverted your own mind is. Overtime, maybe people will realize this, but currently – this is kittened up.

this is not euphemism…. ?

ReginaBuenaobra.6953:

Kittens are cute. Even the most hardened internet denizen has a soft spot for kittens. :-p

The filter words in the German, French, and Spanish official forums are different.

• In German, the word is “Liebsche” (a term of endearment roughly equivalent to ‘honey’)
• In French, it is “papillon” (butterfly)
• In Spanish, it is “minino” (the more harmless form of the word ‘kitten’ in Spanish)

The goal for these filter words is to diffuse the abrasiveness and take the bite out of posts containing profanity.

Regina I disagree!! I for one find kittens, and their full grown counterparts “cats” repulsive and evil!

Name another animal that stalks humans as if we were no better than the mouse they would normally pray on in the wild? What is the most common animal to be found on your face attempting to murder you while you sleep? Survey says, a freaking CAT! They make me itch, sneeze, and make my eyes water, clearly all clever ways of slowing me debilitating me to a point of attack!

These cat videos on the internet, yeah just propaganda from the cat overlords used to brain wash the masses! Everyone is worried about terrorism, disease, and economical crisis I however keep my eye on the cats!

Clearly Regina you are either one of the blinded who foolishly fell to the cats plan or you are a under cover representative for the cause of cats. I for one will be watching your kitten.

Good day!

Osborn.4891:

this is not euphemism…. ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euphemism
A euphemism is a generally harmless word, name, or phrase that replaces an offensive or suggestive one.

I though it was some meme I was missing out on. Didn’t realize it was the profanity filter.

VakarisJ.5619:

Using euphemisms won’t take out the bite out of anything – the result is the same, the context is the same. Words are just sequences of sounds, it’s our brain that gives those meaningless sounds “color”. If you think that some word is bad, profane, you might want to look into how perverted your own mind is. Overtime, maybe people will realize this, but currently – this is kittened up.

So, if I’m understanding you correctly, you’re saying that since we humans are already perverted, we should just avoid trying to clean up our speech?

VakarisJ.5619:

Osborn.4891:

this is not euphemism…. ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euphemism
A euphemism is a generally harmless word, name, or phrase that replaces an offensive or suggestive one.

An offensive word will remain offensive, no matter if you look at it innocently.

On the other hand, a kitten will always be kitten.

“smurf” was already taken.

this is bull kitten

As a native German speaker i must add that i find the use of ‘Liebsche’ just bizarre.
Why would you use a word which looks to most germans like some mispelling of another word.

Not to mention that Liebsche looked to me like a mispelling of Liebste. Wich is clearly female. Replacing swear words with an female endearment struck me as somewhat tasteless. Mispelled or not.

Why not use something like kitten in german. Häschen could be appropriate.

Oh and by the way, could you add a way to disable this filter if i’m logged in? I find word filters annoying because they often twist the meaning of sentences.

Let us choose our own filtered words based on a list lol.

I wanna see “pudding” everywhere.

Fortunately, I know enough synonyms for the profanity words that are filtered by the system. Thank you, Witcher 2 and A Song of Ice and Fire! -cackles maniacally-

I had recognized that “kitten” was being used as a placeholder for swearword in the forums – I first thought users had somehow decided on that themselves
Anyway, I immediately adopted that to not-swear when I want to make apoint ^^

Btw: I propose “Haasi” or “Schatzi” as surrogate swearwords in German (It’s what I tend to use when swearing while driving XD)

You know, this can also backfire, someone may innocently say he’s playing with his kitten right now, and people will think he’s obscene :P

I find the German choice weird too. Why not simply Kätzchen? Schnuckel? Haasi would be funny. But eh, it’s just a word replacement. Maybe Martin is from that region.

but…..you’re REGINA!

brown nosing aside, I didnt even notice the filter, just figured that people were throwing around some meme that I didn’t know about.

Tlu.4269:

So, if I’m understanding you correctly, you’re saying that since we humans are already perverted, we should just avoid trying to clean up our speech?

I’m saying that people that are perverted enough to take offence at sequences of sounds shouldn’t be catered for. Yet we see the opposite all over and that’s perverting the perversion even more – teaching people to shun what they shouldn’t be bothered by.

Using euphemisms isn’t cleaning up speech, it’s just temporarily hiding the truth from the shortsighted.

An offensive word will remain offensive, no matter if you look at it innocently. 

On the other hand, a kitten will always be kitten.

That’s why I began using “kitten” instead of “offensive words” here on the forums. With time, I suspect, the sound sequence “kitten” will instantly invoke the same reaction as motherF. No matter which word we use, if we tie it to a negative situation it will gain a negative meaning, even kittens are not absolved from this.

VakarisJ.5619:

That’s why I began using “kitten” instead of “offensive words” here on the forums. With time, I suspect, the sound sequence “kitten” will instantly invoke the same reaction as motherF. No matter which word we use, if we tie it to a negative situation it will gain a negative meaning, even kittens are not absolved from this.

Doubt it. You just see too much into it.