Poll: Obscene usernames

Unia

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Jan 15, 2010
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The anonymity(sp?) of the Internet is grand. You get judged by only your deeds and words, nobody knows your gender or race unless you disclose it. There is still one way to give a negative impression without really doing anything: choose to name your avatar **** Slime, Periodblood or Itchy_crack. Yes these are all names I've come across in various online communities.
Whenever **** Slime is online, I don't say a peep in the voicechat of my outfit in Planetside 2. Somehow I just don't think anything good will come from letting that player know I'm a girl. To clarify, the name is in Finnish, otherwise I'd like to think moderators would have requested namechange by now. In the same game a Portugese guy insisted to be called something other than his character name. When I asked why he admitted his name meant "Huge breasts". Classy.
Usernames make the first impression; calling yourself any variation of Master or God tells me you're likely conceited (and propably delusional). xXx*insert popular character*xXx - has no imagination or is a fanboy of the worst order. I just don't know why anyone would shoot themselves in the foot with a name that says "I'm trying to offend everyone". Maybe they forget this is online and the other players are real people, not NPCs. I would imagine getting called something cringeworthy gets old fast.

/rant
Feel free to tell me to grow a thicker skin or get out. I would prefer some insight on why actions that would cause frowning in real life are seen as the norm online.

EDIT: for some reason one of the options is missing half text and I can't fix it. It should be "No, but I don't mind when others do"
 

Queen Michael

has read 4,010 manga books
Jun 9, 2009
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I do have an obscene username. In Swedish "Queen Michael" means... well, I can't spell it out or I'll get suspended, but it's an extremely obscene act that involves a camel, a bottle of motor oil, a photo of a cushion, and at least two members of ABBA.
 

BathorysGraveland2

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Feb 9, 2013
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I haven't, but it doesn't bother me at all. As a heavy metal fan, I've gotten used to what a lot of people might consider "offensive" and as such doesn't really concern me. I can see how it'd make a poor first impression though, not that that's really important if you're playing a video game or whatever.
 

Kae

That which exists in the absence of space.
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Nov 27, 2009
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Lose 1d20 sanity points.
I've never done it but I mostly don't mind it, I'm likely to roll my eyes and won't try to start a conversation with players that do but if they talk to me I'll respond, I won't ignore them but I don't think I've ever friended anyone like that however I'm pretty antisocial when it comes to online games or anything else tell the truth.
 

Albino Boo

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Jun 14, 2010
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Queen Michael said:
I do have an obscene username. In Swedish "Queen Michael" means... well, I can't spell it out or I'll get suspended, but it's an extremely obscene act that involves a camel, a bottle of motor oil, a photo of a cushion, and at least two members of ABBA.
Please tell me its Benny and Bjorn. Bjorn does mean bear after all.
 

Thaluikhain

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Jan 16, 2010
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Queen Michael said:
I do have an obscene username. In Swedish "Queen Michael" means... well, I can't spell it out or I'll get suspended, but it's an extremely obscene act that involves a camel, a bottle of motor oil, a photo of a cushion, and at least two members of ABBA.
I'm led to believe that it's only meant that for about 3-4 years. I see you've have that username on this site for 5...
 

Sassafrass

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Aug 24, 2009
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Nah, I've never done it and I don't really mind people that do use the name, as long as it's overly vulgar. Like I played a game once with a guy called Dixie Normous, and I thought that was an OK name. Not the most mature but it's better than others.

I'm more concerned with what they put in chat to be fair, that shit is way more annoying. Played some Town of Salem last night, you'd be surprised at the amount of slurs used and how many times the word ****** showed up. Then again I guess that's what happens when you play when kids are gonna be online. :p
 

happyninja42

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May 13, 2010
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I've never done it, but I don't really care if someone does, however I do automatically assume they're fairly juvenile, and will take anything they post with a big grain of salt until they can prove they're actually able to behave in a mature manner.

That might be biased of me, but I find in my history online, that people with names like "Smellyballsack" or "Ipoundedyourmomsass" are more likely to be an online douche, and that usually their content won't have much worth.

If they prove me wrong, great, but I'll stick with my personal experience on this subject.
 

Jesterscup

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Sep 9, 2014
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Happyninja42 said:
I've never done it, but I don't really care if someone does, however I do automatically assume they're fairly juvenile, and will take anything they post with a big grain of salt until they can prove they're actually able to behave in a mature manner.

That might be biased of me, but I find in my history online, that people with names like "Smellyballsack" or "Ipoundedyourmomsass" are more likely to be an online douche, and that usually their content won't have much worth.

If they prove me wrong, great, but I'll stick with my personal experience on this subject.
Yeah same here.

I work with people who regularly do this, in public, thinking it's part of what they do ( I'm talking about drag-queens here, seriously I was introduced to one last week who called hereself "penny the prostitute", inventive no?), personally if I'm going down that route, I'll choose something suggestive and evocative rather than explicit ( both meanings of the word there ). That being said most of the names I've chosen in that manner have have the effect that people don't realise the inherent connotations, and it's kinda ruined if I have to explain :-/ so at least the juveniles are being clear with their intentions.
 

Lieju

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Jan 4, 2009
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Ah, the joys of speaking a language that most people don't...
You get away with that stuff.
Although most fellow Finnish speakers I have seen mostly just give themselves very mundane and dumb names like 'Hattuteline' or 'Karjalatakasperhana' or 'Sukkatukka' or 'Lusikka'.
 

Trippy Turtle

Elite Member
May 10, 2010
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Unia said:
I would prefer some insight on why actions that would cause frowning in real life are seen as the norm online.
You kind of answered your own question.
You are anonymous on the internet, you can do these things and get away with it. I'm sure cuntslime would call himself that in real life occasionally if the people that frown at it would just get over it.
And I'd like to point out that not everyone puts so much effort into their usernames as you like to think. Assuming someone is conceited because they called themselves Master_of_all or something is pretty ridiculous. They probably thought it sounded cool and just wanted to start playing so they took it.
I mean, I normally go by FearTheSnails. I'm not scared of snails nor do I think they are particularly scary. I just liked snails at the time.

I just don't know why anyone would shoot themselves in the foot with a name that says "I'm trying to offend everyone".
And again, thats the beauty of the internet. Relatively few people take offense to stuff like this. If I went on a raid with Big-Dick-The-Manly I'd chuckle at his name and it would get a conversation going.

Instead of asking why people do something so obscene in a game I wonder why people think its such a bad thing in real life. There is of course a time and place for being formal and polite but in most cases I prefer a less polite atmosphere. My philosophy is that if nobody takes offense stuff like this stops being offensive. Could be a cultural thing though. I hear everyone who visits Australia (Or plays games with them) is a little surprised by our, for lack of a better word, trashtalking.
 

giles

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Feb 1, 2009
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I have never done it but it has never bothered me.
Unia said:
Feel free to tell me to grow a thicker skin or get out. I would prefer some insight on why actions that would cause frowning in real life are seen as the norm online.
For the same reason it's fine to fart on the sports field next to your teammates but not at the dinner table in a classy restaurant. Context matters. Also, no joke, grow a thicker fucking skin.
 

Username Redacted

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Dec 29, 2010
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Obscene names that are moderately clever are, to me, the most amusing and memorable. It's been a while since this happened but I still remember that I hold a win over OPRAHS VAHJAYJAY in Street Fighter IV. Yes their screen name was in all caps and no, they weren't any good at the game. I don't think it's possible for something as trivial as a screen name to actually offend me and after all they're the one who, depending on the service, is stuck being called/referred to as whatever dumb name they've chosen. A good example of this would be an upper echelon Smash Bros. player who, as a joke (so I'm told) registered for his first few tournaments as 'Dr. PeePee' and became too well known too quickly to really chance the alias. In general I actually appreciate PSN for this as they seem to give ~zero fucks about obscene screen names whereas on XBLA there is actually some censoring and/or filtering going on.

In direct answer to the question posed I personally do not chose to assign myself screen names that could be considered obscene but neither do I care what others chose to call themselves. I am also of the opinion that those who do care what others chose to call themselves are veering dangerously close to being someone who is actively looking to be offended by stuff so that they'll have something to complain about.
 

Redflash

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Mar 21, 2012
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I've called myself 'A Big Poo' in a certain moba, and the sheer unwittiness and childishness of it still makes me snigger everytime I see it. I voted 'Yes, and still do', although it would be more accurate to qualify that by saying in general I use non-profane/silly usernames and une grande merde was more of an exception to the rule.
 

Solsbury_Grille

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Oct 31, 2014
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I don't really care for them, but it usually demonstrates the approximate level of maturity in the user, so that does come in handy.

The only one I even thought was remotely amusing was a guy on a Bad Company 2 server named JewBacca.
 

Something Amyss

Aswyng and Amyss
Dec 3, 2008
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I'm still surprised my username hasn't set off any filters. On my home planet, this is an incredibly vulgar term and I would probably be assaulted for saying it about someone's mum.
 

Thaluikhain

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Jan 16, 2010
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Zachary Amaranth said:
I'm still surprised my username hasn't set off any filters. On my home planet, this is an incredibly vulgar term and I would probably be assaulted for saying it about someone's mum.
Eh, a while ago, I called someone on this forum "Zachary Amaranth" by mistake, and they were ever so upset.

Oddly enough, I don't think they'd even heard of your planet.
 

Shymer

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Feb 23, 2011
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Are offensive user tags "the norm" online? I don't think so. Is acceptance of the occasional examples "the norm"? Given moderation by companies and effective tools for reporting, banning, blocking or muting other players, we are fortunate that we are not regularly forced to face people with offensive tags.

Most games have moderation to remove these issues even before people get to self-moderate (or not). As you say - if they are in a language that the moderator doesn't have easy access to, then examples can slip though the net. This would require you (and others) to act as appropriate social enforcement by reporting it, if it has offended you.

I would never intentionally select a username to shock or offend, but many people are more motivated by notoriety than I am - and so I am not in the group of people most likely to consider their gamer tag as a way of presenting themselves 'unforgettably'. If the limit of people's societal rebellion is to choose a controversial gamertag, then they probably aren't the rebel they think they are.

There are clearly words expressing concepts that are offensive and unsuitable for game communities. Actually - those referring to genitals, sex acts or toilet humour I find only immature and annoying - probably exactly the reaction intended. I'm a bit of an old fuddy-duddy. Those expressing hatred for minorities, or affiliation to extremist views I find more upsetting. However I am more likely to report them for appropriate moderation than anything else and I have seen very few examples of this category.
 

Vendor-Lazarus

Censored by Mods. PM for Taboos
Mar 1, 2009
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I would never name myself something vulgar.
That's just not me, and yes, I am me even on the internet.

Offensive though..well, anyone can be offended by anything so..
There are probably some christians out there offended by my use of Lazarus. meh.