@Notch and the 'F-bomb'

[mjc0961]

Half of what you said was right, the last bit can only be responded to with "Then don't fucking watch it and let us who like Yogcast get on with it without people saying things which equate to "fucking suck. Boring mindless dribble." on the escapist.

And this can only be responded to with "then don't fucking read it and let those who don't like Yogcast get on with it without people saying things which equate to 'you're not allowed to post your opinion on a forum I frequent.'"

I'm just going to say this: the day western society gets over this ridiculous notion that certain words are inherently "bad" will be a good day indeed.

Agreed.

 

[Sixcess]

The Youtube 'community' is one of the deepest cesspools of casual racism, homophobia, sexism and just plain ignorance on the internet. I'm not fond of that terribly overused phrase about losing faith in humanity, but even the most cursory scan of a typical Youtube comments section could push me to it.

Perhaps Notch is being naive, but he's got every right to say what he damn well wants. Minecraft's initial popularity surge on Youtube came from series like "X's Adventures in Minecraft" (brilliant, and he's said in the past that he intentionally doesn't swear in his vids) and Seananners (who's an asshole but oh well...) He owes these Yogcast guys absolutely nothing.

 

[Spongebobdickpants]

I think jokes are always ok, aslong as they are jokes.

For example I went to see Jimmy Carr a well known offensive British comedian and his jokes taken out of context could be seen as offensive but as he says himself if your taking him seriously then you are retarded (again another ironic joke).

But the stuff you see on youtube i.e fags should die of aids is the opposite of this it isnt a joke and is supposed to be serious

OP: I've yet to see a kid that by the age of 9 hasn't heard a swear.If you know of one let me know and I'll give him the most sheltered child of the decade award. So no clearly an over reaction

Side Note: Dont you think F Bomb is the most retarded replacement for fuck or indeed any swear in the history of existance

 

[SyphonX]

Why were the children not locked in their government-mandated censor closets at the time? All children need to be placed in their locked censor closets until they are 18 years old. Anyone exposing to their children the "F-Bomb" or any sort of deviancy when they are outside of the censor-closet, then the offending adult should be executed on the spot.

 

[DaJoW]

Considering how common cussing is in Sweden, I'm guessing he's doing this for the sake of his foreign audience. English speaking countries do after all seem to use terms like "f-bomb", "c-bomb", "r-bomb" and "n-word" along with bleeping out "bad words", making you at least appear as quite sensitive about cussing.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

I take the George Carlin route, in that I don't give a fuck whether people are offended by how I speak or not. I do know when it is appropriate to swear, and don't go out of my way to be an asshole in public, but at the same time I still speak my mind and sometimes swear words pop out.
Words of advice to Notch, don't invite people who have a penchant for swearing if you have a problem with it, or grow up and deal with it. And #2, why the fuck would you have a Con in Las Vegas (not necessarily a family friendly atmosphere) and expect people to censor themselves?

 

[AngloDoom]

If your brother is nine and he hasn't heard the world 'fuck', I'd be massively surprised.

Most kids in my old area were swearing and drinking like pirates about age thirteen and fourteen, and were getting their leg over each other around fourteen/fifteen.

 

[Jambolaty]

Why does he kick upsuch a fuss about some people blasting off some swears, when he is holding his "kid-friendly" convention in Las Vegas, gambling capital of the world?

 

[ChocoFace]

It's funny because the children already know those words and would only use them because of their taboo status.

 

[Treblaine]

So today there's been something of an explosion over on Twitter with the revelation that someone at the Minecon event in Las Vegas 'dropped the F-bomb' in front of some kids, much to the dismay of Minecraft creator/demi-god, Markus Alexej Persson, aka Notch. Apparently, the culprits were in fact the Yogscast with their opening skit being the offending article(can't confirm this). This is an interesting case as in the past I've questioned the sensibilities of the Youtube gaming community, in terms of censorship, and thought I'd ask The Escapist community how they feel.

By sensibilities I'm referring to the casual sexism, disablism, homophobia, crude language etc. Personally, I have no problems with cursing. I would say that I swear fairy often and I find it strange that people would be offended. Fuck is a great word for enunciating views both critically and for comedic effect. The issue of swearing in front of children is a bit of tough one. My nine year old brother loves the Yogscast, he watches it for their gameplay and humour, most of which clearly goes over his head. They regularly make suggestive references (case point: masturbation with Notch) which he clearly does not understand. All of his friends also watch the Yogscast which means they are privy to language and information I wasn't until much later on life. He does, however, understand that to repeat this language is wrong. Is Notch overreacting?

As for the sexism, disablism and homophobia, that nonsense makes me cringe. Even revered Youtubers such as Seananners(who I love by the way) make silly throwaway comments about 'acting gay' or 'no homo '. The same thing goes for the overuse of the word 'retarded' as an insult. Chat about 'banging chicks' is fairly normal too. So many kids watch these videos and assume these attitudes are acceptable. I'm sure the people in the community who are female, disabled or gay don't enjoy it. Female presenters, such as Tara Long on Destructoid, are open to regular abuse from viewers/trolls, purely because they are female. The irrelevant comments they receive quite often project pure hatred.

We need to remember that playground politics do after all originate in the playground.

So, what do you think? Are these problems that need to be addressed? Do you think they are acceptable? Are they even there?

Erm, it's it pretty reasonable to assume that little children aren't in a Las Vegas convention centre.

I mean this is LAS VEGAS! Home of gambling, prostitution and vice. if you can't swear in Vegas where can you swear? If Notch didn't want people to swear then now he knows in advance to request people no to swear while on the floor.

And there is no reason to shield 16 year olds (technically children) from hearing the F-word. Especially considering in Nevada 16 year olds can actually DO "the F-word" themselves. It is parent's responsibility to raise their children, not all of society to set an example to children. Minecraft is great because it IS NOT all one community. Parents can limit their kids to only join family-friendly servers or servers with no swearing, not by parental locks but by the same way curfews work: by forbidding them. Curfews don't work by physically locking children up as prisoners, the kids are told and if they break the rules the get found out and punished.

"no homo"

Didn't know that was homophobic. It's simply the gay version of "that's what she said" only with sexual innuendo of the homoerotic nature. If the intention is to normalise homosexuality and put it on the same level as heterosexuality then it should be expected to have the same kind of jokes that you get with heterosexuality. You using "that's gay" to describe things that are merely pathetic rather than of a same-sex screwing thing... that is homophobic.

 

[bdcjacko]

I agree, it ain't classy to cuss in front of kids.

 

[Formica Archonis]

So today there's been something of an explosion over on Twitter with the revelation that someone at the Minecon event in Las Vegas 'dropped the F-bomb' in front of some kids, much to the dismay of Minecraft creator/demi-god, Markus Alexej Persson, aka Notch. Apparently, the culprits were in fact the Yogscast with their opening skit being the offending article(can't confirm this). This is an interesting case as in the past I've questioned the sensibilities of the Youtube gaming community, in terms of censorship,

There's no censorship involved here. Mojang runs the con, Notch runs Mojang, therefore they play by his rules. He wants no swearing, then no swearing. If he doesn't want anyone there who's not wearing a silly hat, he's allowed. If he wants to limit it to anyone under 20 or over 20 or between the ages of 27.2 and 62 1/2, he's allowed. It's a private affair and he can set the rules as he pleases. Contractual obligations aside, he can also associate or stop associating with whoever he pleases. People who swear aren't a protected minority of any sort, so they can't even claim discrimination.

and thought I'd ask The Escapist community how they feel.

First I've heard of this, but going off the info you provided: It's an interesting situation. Notch has been trying (not saying succeeding, mind) to keep the game kid-friendly to a fault (remember how the zombie pig blood got turned to green ichor) and after that recent fiasco that Blizzard wound up apologizing for (with that Cannibal Corpse video at a con), I could see him being sensitive to what's put out at an official convention.

Any long-term sanctions would be a complete over-reaction; kids learn profanity long before they're old enough to go to a convention. But a scowl and a finger-wag (and maybe even cancelling an interview if it looks like something official needs to be done) to stave off any trouble from the oversensitive parents in the audience would be understandable. Once the risk of complaints has passed, business as usual.

 

[Emperor Nat]

I'm no advocate of mindless swearing. In fact, I think it essentially cheapens the word which was intended to be noticably offensive for the simple reason it had a strong connotation.

That said, I think this is an overraction. People swear, on and off Live TV and in real life. I understand if he's a bit annoyed about the incident, as he's trying to keep things family-friendly, but that said I still think disassociating from them entirely is a massive overraction.

Especially considering the fact that they swear in their vidoes semi-regularly. And the fact that HATFilms say the same if not worse stuff and more frequently, and they do all the trailers.

...Plus, they gave him a Dovakhiin hat. Give them a break. D:

 

[Cenequus]

I don't see a problem with his reaction. Minecraft is a pretty kid friendly game, I think that part of its designs was on purpose. Makes sense Notch would want to keep his convention kid friendly too.

Yes people usually hold child friendly conventions at Sin City. Scumbag Notch.

 

[Rad Party God]

Spoiler: I think this image is appropriate for this situation.

I think this is stupid, I knew a lot of offensive words at their age and we didn't have internet back then!, I think they're simply overreacting.

 

[Beryl77]

I just watched the video with Notch and the Yogscast. I wonder whether he realised that children also watch the Yogscast when he talked about masturbation and doing that guy's mother.
I'm so tired of this, "think of the children attitude of some adults". I get that in some points we need no protect them but this? I don't even see the problem with curse words, when you grow up you learn, when you can use them and when not. What's the problem with children saying curse words?
Also, I fucking knew the fucking word fuck when I was a fucking kid and guess fucking what, it didn't fucking make my life fucking worse in any kind of fucking way.
Additionally, fuck, fuck, fuckedy fuck.

 

[Anchupom]

Swearing is good for children. Seriously. Those who can't articulate accurately how they feel are more likely to show signs of physical aggression. (At least in younger ages)
So, swear more and fight less.

 

[4173]

So, uh, what's the problem? An employer asks their employees to comport to certain behavioral standards. Perhaps based on personal values or perhaps as an act of public relations, or both.

This is going on every second everywhere on the planet. Yawn.




Is this just another excuse for group-think backslapping about how evolved and post-modern we all are, and to laugh at the apes who care about manners?


Grow the fuck up.

 

[Yetipumper]

I'm sure the people in the community who are female, disabled or gay don't enjoy it.

And there's your problem. Don't presume to know what offends other people. (for a more erudite comment, look up Stephen Fry bits on youtube.)

Also: In British English swearwords are much more common, deal with it.

Hmmm, I don't think that's a problem but fair does. Funnily enough, I was thinking about Stephen Fry as I wrote the post. His defence of the art of swearing is fucking brilliant. "Deal with it" doesn't really bring much to the discussion. Also: I'm Scottish.

 

[Brutal Peanut]

It was probably Simon - that silly Simon. Always telling Hannah to watch her language and then drops all kinds of F-Bombs all over the place. It was an overreaction. You don't think those kids have heard worse over the internet or television? Or say worse over multiplayer chat, or in forums? Or just to each other when they hang out and break mailboxes with bats, or what-the-hell-ever they do.

I know children/tweens who are left to watch HBO alone, the parents not even batting an eyelash at what they are watching. Most shows on HBO are akin to soft-core porn with violence and curse words aplenty, and then of course them sneaking downstairs or out to the living room to watch whatever comes on after their parents go to sleep. The word 'fuck' being said isn't going to hurt them.