I agree that the dictionary should have been checked, especially since the map is based around this dictionary. This is a little off topic, but when you say you linked the database, did you put it into a data structure in the game's variables or actually link it so it checks an online database. I'm trying to soak up what ever programming knowledge I can ^^
It's a converted database that exists as data in the map. The dictionary he uses is provided to him by someone else, and must first be converted into a database and triggers to be included with the map.
I think that mapmakers should be responsible for their content; adding a word filter into the conversion script would be a simple exercise in programming. Regardless, I believe Blizzard has handled this very poorly.
We should all pitch in to help, since I doubt there is going to be any assistance from Blizzard On High. Let us each post a word that Rodrigo can add to his list of "no-no words".
I would like to remember that if I publish the map with another name, all players' score and ranking will be automatically reset.
I sent an email to Blizzard, and they answered:
"Any disputes or inquiries regarding Account Penalties (such as closures or suspensions) must be addressed through our Webform. Account and Technical Services will not be able to assist with any penalty disputes for StarCraft II."
I guess I will have to use the webform. =/
By the way, I'm at school right now doing some homework, I don't have time to read the whole dictionary and remove the words that are offensive (I have to look up the meaning of all the 32,000 words to know what is bad and what it's not). That will take months, and I need to study.
I would like to remember that if I publish the map with another name, all players' score and ranking will be automatically reset.
I sent an email to Blizzard, and they answered: "Any disputes or inquiries regarding Account Penalties (such as closures or suspensions) must be addressed through our Webform. Account and Technical Services will not be able to assist with any penalty disputes for StarCraft II."
I guess I will have to use the webform. =/
By the way, I'm at school right now doing some homework, I don't have time to read the whole dictionary and remove the words that are offensive (I have to look up the meaning of all the 32,000 words to know what is bad and what it's not). That will take months, and I need to study.
I'm sure some people in this forum would not mind at least searching through smaller sections of the dictionary. Maybe u could email sections of it to different people and they can cut out what they think is offensive. But then you would have to rely on their abilities.
Online interactions not rated. For those of you using the excuse that the rating is affected by what's online, no, it's not. While I agree that Blizzard has done something horrible, I disagree in the fact that some of what they did was good. No doubt many of you agree that removing hostile slang terms, no matter how offensive or non-offensive they are, is an act that should be enforced. However, Blizzard should at least put a "suspension", not a "ban", on a map that has been regarded as containing ill content. The map maker should then diagnose these issues, and resubmit the map to Blizzard, where a moderator team would check the map to ensure that any issues reported have been dealt with. The map could then be republished with the same popularity and be on it's merry way.
I wonder when Blizzard turned from being about being fun into some lame, uptight company that punishes mapmakers for the most insignificant of things that might even possibly offend. I'm sure they'll be able to find some kind of reason to ban every map that might be good, just because some kid clicks on "report."
Honestly, I'd tell you to move your creative efforts into something more worthwhile.
I'm kind of wondering why people would blame Rodrigo. He did nothing wrong. Wasn't someone hacking his map? Maybe he decided to make multiple accounts and just report his map to be an ass.
I'm guessing when they merged. I wouldn't be surprised if they had a system that automatically bans a map and sends an email. The system probably waits for certain amount before doing that. I also wouldn't be surprised if the people who reported your map, hated your map. The people who are offended by swearing shouldn't play the game period. If you are offended by swearing, tell me, why are you playing a game that has swearing all over it? Those people just report the map, and ruin the fun for everyone else. This happened to another really popular map not long ago. If this happens again, I don't think I'll be making maps for SC2 anymore. Blizzard just seems to ban, and doesn't give at least 1 warning. This is just going to get worse. There will be more popular maps that will be banned. More map makers won't want to make maps, knowing that their map will probably just be banned anyways.
They should allow you to revise it, but I feel the taking down of maps is fine.
The news post is ridiculous, you make it sound like Blizzard has some vendetta against map makers. Now that B.net is actually hosting the maps, Blizzard is legally responsible for their content. And since they wan't to maintain a Teen rating, they moderate the maps.
Yes usually online play is unrated, but Starcraft 2 is basically all online play. So it makes me wonder if that applies to this.
_
They are going a bit overboard, but still, people get upset too quickly. Hero Leif has the right idea.
I just find it surprising that they just ban without warning. It's not like Rodrigo was conspiring and laughing to himself, "YES I SNUCK THE WORD DYKE IN... I WINNNNNNN". Although maybe they were less lenient because of past rodrigo/blizzard conflicts haha.
I don't think the news post was intentionally that aggressive/forward, but I think a lot of people have been turned a bit sour with regards to the new Bnet. It's like where you smile and nod but you really feel like "why is it this way, why do we need X, why can't we have unique names, etc..." We were used to luxuries in war3 that have to go with the new system (no porn images when you win a TD and so on LOL).
But for the most part it will all work for the better in the future... we're the pioneers atm :D
Way overboard.
I've played Nexus Word Wars hundreds of times and I haven't seen a single blatant offensive word appear. I think its creator has done a good job of filtering out some of the terms. Even if there were a couple of slips here and there, you gotta admit, Blizzard ought to have acknowledged the objective of the game, which is to type as many words as you can, not to spot the most obscene ones. A term like "dyke" has a really broad definition. I know that word was not their sole basis on banning the map, but by that example you kind of get an idea of the criteria they're on; and it's an incredibly unfair criteria. A warning would have been nice, at least, eh?
I hope NWW gets republished. There were days when I would log on Starcraft 2 just to play that map.
I have only heard of two maps being banned (i'm sure there have been more) but were insults towards people. Here it's dyke, and another had redneck. The blizzard forum about the map with redneck in it the guy said he found the word, bad ass marine or something like that for one of his units names, but a blizzard employee who wrote on the forum said something like, "I doubt your map was banned for the word bad ass...". So i'm guessing they only care if the word was made to offend somebody, rather then just cause words in general.
Btw if you put fag in ur map and it's obvious your referring to cigarette it probably wont be banned. Maybe it would for the US, but I highly doubt it for the UK.
A warning would still allow people to see the word until the next update... so from a company stand point that would be a bad idea. Besides it doesn't matter what the map is about, it matters if it breaks any rules. If I remade the map from wc3, kill the mexicans crossing the border or nigger patrol, then wouldn't that be the same type of deal? My map would be intended to do this and that as an objective, but overall i'm insulting somebody.
Actually the spelling "dyke" is used interchangably with "dike". Its only recent the the term "dyke" had any meaning whatsoever relating to lesbians.
Try reading a dictionary meant for grown-ups.
Just to get this out of the way; no need to be such an ass about it, SouLCarveRR, but yeah, you are right. From what I can find both 'dike' and 'dyke' are derived from the Dutch word 'dijk'. Which none of you will be able to pronounce. In Dutch, the 'ij' is often written as an 'y', and the two are generally interchangeable depending on the region of the country you live in. Hence the translation to both 'dike' and 'dyke'.
Ingorance is not a defense, if you are going to use a dictionary or include someone elses mod, you are still responsible for the final content.
Having said that, I don't think the ban itself is the problem, it's the process. Fine you made a mistake and have some words they are not going to allow, they need to allow you to fix it and reupload it.
They should provide you with the list of words so you can setup a trigger blocking those words. Even if it happens again they should warn you and let you know - they should only permanently ban people that are clearly trying to make vulgar and innapropriate maps.
Blizzard has posted an offical response in your thread by the way
Quote from Blizzard:
Hey Rodrigo, thanks for posting. We're actually in the process of investigating the ban already; it looks like you also contacted our support department about it, which was the right move. Someone will be contacting you soon regarding the issue.
I wanted to point out though that the reports we received for the words included in the map’s dictionary were fairly vast, and clearly offensive in most cases. The one quoted in the reason for the ban was the least offensive. In any case, please wait for the customer service contact and they’ll work with you on republishing and any changes we’d require.
On that note, forum posts aren’t the right place to dispute a ban. We want to make sure that anyone looking to do so please use the correct forms of contact so we can address any requests as quickly as possible. The support web form is the correct place: http://us.blizzard.com/support/webform.xml
I agree that the dictionary should have been checked, especially since the map is based around this dictionary. This is a little off topic, but when you say you linked the database, did you put it into a data structure in the game's variables or actually link it so it checks an online database. I'm trying to soak up what ever programming knowledge I can ^^
It's a converted database that exists as data in the map. The dictionary he uses is provided to him by someone else, and must first be converted into a database and triggers to be included with the map.
I think that mapmakers should be responsible for their content; adding a word filter into the conversion script would be a simple exercise in programming. Regardless, I believe Blizzard has handled this very poorly.
We should all pitch in to help, since I doubt there is going to be any assistance from Blizzard On High. Let us each post a word that Rodrigo can add to his list of "no-no words".
pussy
I would like to remember that if I publish the map with another name, all players' score and ranking will be automatically reset.
I sent an email to Blizzard, and they answered:
"Any disputes or inquiries regarding Account Penalties (such as closures or suspensions) must be addressed through our Webform. Account and Technical Services will not be able to assist with any penalty disputes for StarCraft II."
I guess I will have to use the webform. =/
By the way, I'm at school right now doing some homework, I don't have time to read the whole dictionary and remove the words that are offensive (I have to look up the meaning of all the 32,000 words to know what is bad and what it's not). That will take months, and I need to study.
Ouch, man. Ouch. :(
@RodrigoAlves: Go
I'm sure some people in this forum would not mind at least searching through smaller sections of the dictionary. Maybe u could email sections of it to different people and they can cut out what they think is offensive. But then you would have to rely on their abilities.
Online interactions not rated. For those of you using the excuse that the rating is affected by what's online, no, it's not. While I agree that Blizzard has done something horrible, I disagree in the fact that some of what they did was good. No doubt many of you agree that removing hostile slang terms, no matter how offensive or non-offensive they are, is an act that should be enforced. However, Blizzard should at least put a "suspension", not a "ban", on a map that has been regarded as containing ill content. The map maker should then diagnose these issues, and resubmit the map to Blizzard, where a moderator team would check the map to ensure that any issues reported have been dealt with. The map could then be republished with the same popularity and be on it's merry way.
a really bad move from blizzard, I hope they stop doing things like that
I wonder when Blizzard turned from being about being fun into some lame, uptight company that punishes mapmakers for the most insignificant of things that might even possibly offend. I'm sure they'll be able to find some kind of reason to ban every map that might be good, just because some kid clicks on "report."
Honestly, I'd tell you to move your creative efforts into something more worthwhile.
I'm kind of wondering why people would blame Rodrigo. He did nothing wrong. Wasn't someone hacking his map? Maybe he decided to make multiple accounts and just report his map to be an ass.
@Sephiex: Go
I'm guessing when they merged. I wouldn't be surprised if they had a system that automatically bans a map and sends an email. The system probably waits for certain amount before doing that. I also wouldn't be surprised if the people who reported your map, hated your map. The people who are offended by swearing shouldn't play the game period. If you are offended by swearing, tell me, why are you playing a game that has swearing all over it? Those people just report the map, and ruin the fun for everyone else. This happened to another really popular map not long ago. If this happens again, I don't think I'll be making maps for SC2 anymore. Blizzard just seems to ban, and doesn't give at least 1 warning. This is just going to get worse. There will be more popular maps that will be banned. More map makers won't want to make maps, knowing that their map will probably just be banned anyways.
lol
That is all.
They should allow you to revise it, but I feel the taking down of maps is fine.
The news post is ridiculous, you make it sound like Blizzard has some vendetta against map makers. Now that B.net is actually hosting the maps, Blizzard is legally responsible for their content. And since they wan't to maintain a Teen rating, they moderate the maps.
Yes usually online play is unrated, but Starcraft 2 is basically all online play. So it makes me wonder if that applies to this.
_
They are going a bit overboard, but still, people get upset too quickly. Hero Leif has the right idea.
Wow i really hope this works out... I really loved this map!
@Ardnived: Go
I just find it surprising that they just ban without warning. It's not like Rodrigo was conspiring and laughing to himself, "YES I SNUCK THE WORD DYKE IN... I WINNNNNNN". Although maybe they were less lenient because of past rodrigo/blizzard conflicts haha.
I don't think the news post was intentionally that aggressive/forward, but I think a lot of people have been turned a bit sour with regards to the new Bnet. It's like where you smile and nod but you really feel like "why is it this way, why do we need X, why can't we have unique names, etc..." We were used to luxuries in war3 that have to go with the new system (no porn images when you win a TD and so on LOL).
But for the most part it will all work for the better in the future... we're the pioneers atm :D
Way overboard. I've played Nexus Word Wars hundreds of times and I haven't seen a single blatant offensive word appear. I think its creator has done a good job of filtering out some of the terms. Even if there were a couple of slips here and there, you gotta admit, Blizzard ought to have acknowledged the objective of the game, which is to type as many words as you can, not to spot the most obscene ones. A term like "dyke" has a really broad definition. I know that word was not their sole basis on banning the map, but by that example you kind of get an idea of the criteria they're on; and it's an incredibly unfair criteria. A warning would have been nice, at least, eh?
I hope NWW gets republished. There were days when I would log on Starcraft 2 just to play that map.
@progammer: Go
I have only heard of two maps being banned (i'm sure there have been more) but were insults towards people. Here it's dyke, and another had redneck. The blizzard forum about the map with redneck in it the guy said he found the word, bad ass marine or something like that for one of his units names, but a blizzard employee who wrote on the forum said something like, "I doubt your map was banned for the word bad ass...". So i'm guessing they only care if the word was made to offend somebody, rather then just cause words in general.
Btw if you put fag in ur map and it's obvious your referring to cigarette it probably wont be banned. Maybe it would for the US, but I highly doubt it for the UK.
A warning would still allow people to see the word until the next update... so from a company stand point that would be a bad idea. Besides it doesn't matter what the map is about, it matters if it breaks any rules. If I remade the map from wc3, kill the mexicans crossing the border or nigger patrol, then wouldn't that be the same type of deal? My map would be intended to do this and that as an objective, but overall i'm insulting somebody.
Just to get this out of the way; no need to be such an ass about it, SouLCarveRR, but yeah, you are right. From what I can find both 'dike' and 'dyke' are derived from the Dutch word 'dijk'. Which none of you will be able to pronounce. In Dutch, the 'ij' is often written as an 'y', and the two are generally interchangeable depending on the region of the country you live in. Hence the translation to both 'dike' and 'dyke'.
I'm going to report all of the popular tug of war maps. Their minimap/preview images look like parallel phalluses, which is totally offensive to me.
-eye roll-
Ingorance is not a defense, if you are going to use a dictionary or include someone elses mod, you are still responsible for the final content.
Having said that, I don't think the ban itself is the problem, it's the process. Fine you made a mistake and have some words they are not going to allow, they need to allow you to fix it and reupload it.
They should provide you with the list of words so you can setup a trigger blocking those words. Even if it happens again they should warn you and let you know - they should only permanently ban people that are clearly trying to make vulgar and innapropriate maps.
Blizzard has posted an offical response in your thread by the way