Guild Wars 2

I have a friend that went by the name “Stealthy Britches” that was asked to change her name in the game.

This is the word britches, as in pants, “too big for one’s britches.”

We were planning on making a set of theme names together in our guild. Should we avoid using that word from now on, or was the name change for another reason?

Remove the ‘r’ from the word and you will see why they were asked to rename.

Yes, some people try to circumvent the naming rules and in this case you might be a victim of that.
Why not choosing a different name. I don’t know but “breeches” don’t seem to me that close to the bad word.

Michael.4791:

Yes, some people try to circumvent the naming rules and in this case you might be a victim of that.
Why not choosing a different name. I don’t know but “breeches” don’t seem to me that close to the bad word.

That’s why I’m asking this question. Do we need to choose a different name because a legitimate word for pants is too close to another word?

And if so, is this the case just for ‘britches’, or should people not be able to use the word ‘skritt’ because of proximity to another word as well? I don’t really see a set of theme names like “Stealthy Britches”, “Spooky Britches”, and “Smarty Britches” being intended as swearing.

And if britches if a problem word, breeches seems just as much a problem. I’m looking for confirmation from someone that knows for sure.

Sadly as it is, there can be no 100% confirmation. This is a game, that is played internationally. So while it is acceptable behaviour in New Zealand to show your tongue to somebody else for a welcome, it might be considered bad behaviour in other countries. There are just so many vulnerabilities in so many nations and cultures. If somebody chooses to be upset and it is accepted by his environment, Anet might have to follow this lead of opinion.
What was ok once, might change too.

Although I am not an official, but a player like you, I don’t expect anybody to say a “last word” on this. I know I might be a victim myself someday.

Remember when I learned English in Hastings back in my younger days, I was living with a british family. Their father told me once, there would have been a perfect way to describe somebody full of youth and happiness and fun. That word was “g a y” and now the Americans would have captured that innocent word and made it into something completely different. There was some fun in his speech, but that simple, funny word has been changed forever.
Such is life – sadly but true.

Michael, there actually can be 100% confirmation on whether the use of a specific word is against the naming policy. I understand context matters, but if a word itself is the issue, then I’d like to know.

Unfortunately it’s the weekend, so an answer to my question might take a while to get. However, thank you for your input.

If you’re aware of a country where the word ‘britches’ is used as a pejorative, as with the word you mentioned, that would be interesting to hear.

On the more philosophical side of things, the most reasonable thing to do is stick to the mentality and culture of English language family in the western hemisphere. Otherwise we run into a problem of "offending" someone, when in fact it’s a breakdown in communication, and unfortunately, every language has it’s soul - it’s impossible to fully comprehend it without it’s historical context and people born into that language (this leads to silly arguments of american/british nationalism and geopolitics, unfortunately).

As for the topic itself, I find the name hardly offensive. In fact, it’s rather stupid to put it mildly. In original Guild Wars game, naming policy was very lax and it was generally a well accepted part of reality that over half the ones were sentences, slogans, memes, some form of slang or provocative language. For someone without thick skin, first venture into the PvP side of things would quickly see them turn bald from the assault on their moral conscience, with innocent names starting with "pink eyed gigolo" and ending with "spandex masturbator". That, and the generally hostile attitude to underperforming people in a team, especially ones immune to english language in chat.

In GW2 as you’ve likely noticed, most names are actually names. The better question is, was the golden measure found in name policy, or could the policy be slightly relaxed? Personally I’ve mixed feeling about this, simply because I’d rather not see more slang/sentence/meme names ruining the atmosphere of the game and provoking me in PvP venture, even at the cost of hyper-sensitive naming policy of "if you can’t convince us and general player population that your name is appropriate and fitting to the fantasy world of tyria, then we won’t give you the benefit of the doubt and enforce a name change over your character". So yes, the mentality changed from "unless your name is extremely offensive and obvious to the point my eyes are bleeding" to the "be prepared to defend validity of your name, if someone has a problem with it, we still take it seriously".

Frank.7452:

Michael, there actually can be 100% confirmation on whether the use of a specific word is against the naming policy. I understand context matters, but if a word itself is the issue, then I’d like to know.

You are wrong. There are situation where you can’t be 100% sure.

Read this post and the full thread:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/account/Naming-Violation-or-misunderstanding/1532170
As you see, even Gail can’t guarantee 100% confirmation that the author, won’t be banned again.

I think that You have a similar situation.

Gaile,
The name in questions is on my account. Thank you for answering and looking into the situation. The issue may have been rectified on your end, however I haven’t recieved any e-mails confirming it and I haven’t seen any opportunity to change my character’s name back, although it’s possible that I’m just not looking in the right place.

I’m sure it seems silly to others, and I get that many people play the game for the lore and want names that fit, but I’ve grown very attached to the name and the character I built on it, as I’m sure there are many other players who are attached to their more serious names. I get that there have to be naming rules, and I’m not trying to get rid of them or around them. I originally tried to make an Asura named Britches because I thought it was a cute name and Asuras are cute to me. I wound up misspelling the name and it was on a friend’s account, but playing that character is what convinced me to buy the game myself, and I wanted to keep it.

Thank you, Gaile. You’ve been very helpful.