Dropping the F-Bomb
Author
Probably should have not said that intelligent people would rather not swear. Intelligent people swear, just alot less than the less educated.
I'd like to briefly mention an example from the film Kick Ass:
One of the main characters in the film is an 11-year-old female superhero who goes by the name of "Hit Girl", and there was quite a bit of controversy over the fact that this 11-year-old character (played by an actor the same age) "dropped the C-bomb". In my opinion however that particular line of dialogue was an example of very clever writing, as the choice of that particular curse-word -- which for no apparent logical reason is currently generally considered more taboo than others -- in a few seconds established the same effect as an hour or more of "lesser" curse-words might have needed.
That being said, in my personal opinion an occasional swear-word is fine as long as
If every other word is a curse word it starts to seem rather abrasive; to me personally that isn't particularly because the words are "curse words", but rather that the writing simply seems lazy and perhaps repetitive, and it annoys me no worse than a teenager constantly inserting "like" as every other word; at some point any repetition -- especially if out of place or technically incorrect -- will become annoying.
It should also be taken into account when writing dialogue that there are people who will be offended if you use even one "mild" curse word, and from there you have a sliding scale where more and more people will take offence.
One of the main characters in the film is an 11-year-old female superhero who goes by the name of "Hit Girl", and there was quite a bit of controversy over the fact that this 11-year-old character (played by an actor the same age) "dropped the C-bomb". In my opinion however that particular line of dialogue was an example of very clever writing, as the choice of that particular curse-word -- which for no apparent logical reason is currently generally considered more taboo than others -- in a few seconds established the same effect as an hour or more of "lesser" curse-words might have needed.
That being said, in my personal opinion an occasional swear-word is fine as long as
- It's either in character for the speaker, or the situation in question is extreme enough to warrant an out-of-character curse; in some cases the fact that such an out-of-character piece of language is used may highlight the seriousness of a particular situation.
- It isn't used excessively. It's difficult to draw a line as to what constitutes excessive, but I generally feel that the majority of dialogue should probably not consist of curse words in most cases.
If every other word is a curse word it starts to seem rather abrasive; to me personally that isn't particularly because the words are "curse words", but rather that the writing simply seems lazy and perhaps repetitive, and it annoys me no worse than a teenager constantly inserting "like" as every other word; at some point any repetition -- especially if out of place or technically incorrect -- will become annoying.
It should also be taken into account when writing dialogue that there are people who will be offended if you use even one "mild" curse word, and from there you have a sliding scale where more and more people will take offence.
Probably should have not said that intelligent people would rather not swear. Intelligent people swear, just alot less than the less educated.
Are you basing that on anything other than assumption and elitism?
Author
Argh! Almost everything I say is eventually nit picked to death! This is a discussion on swearing in games and NOT a dissection of my words, so if you would all kindly stay on the subject at hand.
Sorry, I'm editing this post since it was argumentative and not on topic.
In my opinion an NPC in a game should use whatever language style he or she would in real life. Give your NPCs a personality -- whether or not someone swears, and how he swears, is one aspect of his personality. I think it's as simple as that.
In my opinion an NPC in a game should use whatever language style he or she would in real life. Give your NPCs a personality -- whether or not someone swears, and how he swears, is one aspect of his personality. I think it's as simple as that.
Try to make a sergeant that doesn't swear in a game. Not too easy.
Creating tough/macho cliche characters in a game that don't swear can create some pretty interesting characters.
Creating tough/macho cliche characters in a game that don't swear can create some pretty interesting characters.
Try to make a sergeant that doesn't swear in a game. Not too easy.
Built off the definitive stereotype, I think Sergeant Major Avery Junior Johnson would disagree with you
Creating tough/macho cliche characters in a game that don't swear can create some pretty interesting characters.
Cliché is practically the opposite of interesting. If a writer was developing a character to be 'interesting', cussing wouldn't need to be a defining attribute in the first place.
[quote name='tehgamemaker' timestamp='1306542768' post='4816632']
Try to make a sergeant that doesn't swear in a game. Not too easy.
Built off the definitive stereotype, I think Sergeant Major Avery Junior Johnson would disagree with you
[/quote]
I'd classify his swearing as very mild, but there are plenty of people who would consider some of the Sergeant's dialogue to be cursing. Just from the short samples of dialogue at the top of the page you linked we have "bastards", "raggedy-ass" "anti-son-of-a-bitch". A good reminder perhaps, that there's always someone you can offend no matter how tame you try to keep your language; I think your example still stands though as a character who fits the hard-ass sergeant stereotype with only very mild language and without curse-words making up the majority (or even a particularly sizeable portion) of what his dialogue.[color="#3a3a3a"]
I'd classify his swearing as very mild, but there are plenty of people who would consider some of the Sergeant's dialogue to be cursing. Just from the short samples of dialogue at the top of the page you linked we have "bastards", "raggedy-ass" "anti-son-of-a-bitch". A good reminder perhaps, that there's always someone you can offend no matter how tame you try to keep your language; I think your example still stands though as a character who fits the hard-ass sergeant stereotype with only very mild language and without curse-words making up the majority (or even a particularly sizeable portion) of what his dialogue.
I'd hoped someone would call me out on that.
Movie-wise, I'd peg his language myself as a little over PG and a little under PG-13. The ESRB seems pretty forgiving, allowing infrequent use of those words in E-Everyone titles and more regular use in E-10+, while T tolerates infrequent use of even the strong invectives. (Even more reason for parents to do some homework and not take the rating's face value.) And you're absolutely right about the possibility of offending "someone," even if the writer thinks nothing of the content. There's a few places where even the mundane blasphemes are viewed strongly.I guess it all comes down to asking yourself if you think it's appropriate and if you're comfortable with the risk - The further you head down the scale, the more likely you'll offend someone.
Not to worry though, as Sergeant Johnson shows us, a good writer can always work around the words themselves while keeping the original message intact.
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