Feedback: Remove Sexual References and Lower Profanity of NPCs

Do you guys really listen to those 2 though? They talk about other stuff (sometimes lol)

I have found things to be amusing thus far, I am older in real life :) I am again just going to be my broken record self and say I like the way the game is real and not trying to be a cupcake storyline :) <3

It is more Monty Python than offensive to me but eh, these days I am sure people would find Monty Python humour offensive.

Can Rita and Blanche or someone in game please say "To the winch wench!". Hah. Now that I'd love.

All I can say is I love the game as it is other than tweaks that are needed of course and that the sex starved elves are good because I love that they are not going to homogenize everything because if you do that the game goes back on rails like all the others that I am not playing.

I am not sex starved in real life and my elf won't be roleplayed as such but I like that as a rule the species has its up side and perhaps for some, its downside.
I hope all the races are very unique like that.

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Originally Posted by rastaah

What relevant in game information are we missing being given in Serbule? I am curious now :)

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Spend 10 days watching 'help' and you'll see the same dozen or so questions specific to Serbule coming up. The stock response is "read the wiki" which defeats the purpose of paying attention to what happens in the game and reading the text.

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Originally Posted by rastaah

I am older in real life and honestly don't see the immaturity what I see is a rather sarcastic world which I quite enjoy so far anyway

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I'm older in real life as well. I'm not saying it's immature to have sex come up. I feel it becomes immature because of the sheer volume of sexual commentary in Serbule. I really enjoy Rita and Blanche but they're not the only ones. There's missions about sex, and favor text for Small Talk about sex. It just feels like it's "everywhere".

It's like using the word fuck. I'm an adult. I say 'fuck' whenever I like and I'm not shocked to see it used in a game. If I ran through a town where the NPCs used 'fuck' as every third word I wouldn't think "I admire how mature the developer is who wrote that". I would think "That feels a little immature." There's a difference between quantity and quality.

lol Ok that makes sense (the fuck reference that is :P ) I see. Hmmmm, see here is my only thing and just take this as a new player as no matter how much I might like this game the truth is just a newb !!!

So....based on my newb self running around doing things I don't notice what you just said, but keep in mind have only done each quest once if that as I am seriously struggling hah....soooo while I have noted the sex references from Rita and Blanche...a bit (not excessively but I don't hang out by them I just happen to run by and talk to them etc.) I have not noted an excess in the game design, at least not 'yet'.

I do remember some guy offering services to some other guy and laughed....but that was it. :)

I just have not seen it as overdone 'at this point' in my play time and questing, if I were here a long time and hanging out there it may end up bugging me but not sure as I have not done that ever. So for me Rita and Blanche always seem to be talking of something different.

I have seen the help requests but not sure why or how Rita and Blanche would help those people or even me. Perhaps their quests but you have to earn favour first.

Here is what I suggest :) Rather than changing NPC talking about sex why not do a little work on the beginner island and make it just slightly more usable and intuitive. People will quit if they can't figure out in some sense that a quest is required to get out of there. I figured it out but I am an old timer in gaming....if I was not weaned on MUD rather than WOW like many I would get frustrated and quit when I could not figure stuff out.

Maybe just a touch more hand holding on newb island and then Rita and Blanche don't need to do it themselves :D

And by a touch I don't mean make it easy, just make it so there is some sort of understanding that an event has to occur to get off and at least elude vaguely to what it is so your average 'WOW' player will get it. I agree that if you don't want them here leave it as is though :)

And I guess I just feel the Island was more lacking than Serbule in help and direction giving!!! Just my 5 cents worth here.

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Originally Posted by Yertle

While there are quite a few aspects of PG that I am enjoying, one area that I'm not a fan of is the high amount of sexual references and profanity of NPCs. I have two main problems with this text being so prevalent...
1) I sometimes have my younger kids are nearby and possibly reading over my shoulder, so having these types of things going across chat and quests is a drawback.
2) If you want a more mature audience, then I don't think this is the way to go. I actually think you could end up with a less mature audience by feeding sex and profanity (for generalities, think Darktide for an AC reference). I would propose going with deeper questions/lore/riddles than talking about having sex with a tornado.

I realize I'm a bit more conservative in my viewpoints and that there are ways to avoid/remove some of these interactions, but for general feedback of the game and where I could see it actually leading to, I just thought I'd mention it here.

Thanks for a fun (and currently free!) game!
=Yertle

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I agree completely with the OP. I played Ascheron's Call for years, and my brother invited me to try out this game as it has some of the same....flavor as AC did. I've played for a couple of days, and am really enjoying the game mechanics and everything, but unfortunately I'm not going to continue playing the game due to the vulgarity in the NPC language. Simply put, I have quite a few small children, and the oldest (8 years old) is becoming very proficient at reading and enjoys watching me play games. Due to the language in the game, I will not play it with him around. NPCs that drop the f bomb is simply something I can't put up with. I know this game is being made for adults, but even some adults have issues with this kind of language being so prevalent. You are inherently going to be limiting your audience due to the vulgarity of the game. And I know that 'it's in society and it can't be avoided' and unfortunately that's correct. But I can limit it as much as I can, and not playing this game is one of those ways. I wish it was otherwise as I think a fantastic game is being produced here, and I'd have loved to have supported it both with my time and my money.

Vulgarity may limit the audience in one demographic, but it will expand it in others. The fact that it is done fairly well, means that it be hard for small indies to replicate and the big corps are going to play it safe and go no where near it. Which gives PG a unique market niche. Adults with small children will just have to get crafty in playing the game, closing the chat, hunting in the wild while the kids are around, and playing normal once the kids have gone to bed or school. Basically stay clear of NPC if kids are watching.

I think it is in a way a fight for the culture and personna of the game and I don't mean some brawl kind of fight but I mean a fight of people who are here because it is different, not hand held, not on the rails, not sugar coated, medieval world was kind of gross to be honest....and so I will continue to put my 3 cents in on this subject as I actually believe in games being a bit real, not totally as obviously that can't happen and I would not want it to, I come here for escape not for more real life stuff but one thing I really went off most MMORPG for was the constant appeasement of whiners.

I don't think OP or anyone else not liking the language is a whiner to be clear but it is back to that slippery slope thing.

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Originally Posted by rastaah

as I actually believe in games being a bit real

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Originally Posted by rastaah

I come here for escape not for more real life stuff

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I get what you're saying, but I found this a bit funny :P

Thanks for the clarification on not being a whiner, as your comments about that seemed a bit like it. You can probably always read feedback as whining if you want to, or you can read it as just feedback (which was the intention of this thread).

I think the backstory that elves are promiscuous is great. It creates good opportunities for atmosphere and tension.

in practice, some of the dialogue comes off as overly juvenile or corny. For example, the rita and blanche sillyness about wanting to have sex with a goblin or elves having two penises feels juvenile. Also there are some NPC's who just tell you to "fuck off" or something similar. Mostly, I've just assumed this is just placeholder placeholder dialogue and would be improved when they get to that part of the design.

LOL well I am glad you got what I was saying but I don't think I am the most articulate writer in the world when it comes to explaining my thoughts on gaming stuff.

And indeed that is a paradoxical statement :D I really am just having a back and forth debate is what I meant on the whining thing, not thinking people are whining thinking they don't like bad language in a game :)

My issue is I have seen game after game after game after game dumbed down, made happy rainbow sparkly and so I feel like I should speak up going forward in games when I see it .

And if it changes I won't cry too hard :) Just something I think again, is a slippery slope of changing things due to erm....(thinking of a better word) 'complaining'.


I am not even sure what I meant by that comment though lol. What I really mean is that I like the game to be realistic in the sense that the girls are talking like real medieval people not REAL today poltically correct people :D i think I meant that hahah.



Now time for coffee and I might really know what I meant.

This reddit thread from 1 month ago is what changed my mind on the topic. It started out great then people started mentioning this stuff (not adult things specifically... but KoL references, which I assume extends to adult content) https://www.reddit.com/r/MMORPG/comm...roject_gorgon/

I don't mind it one way or the other. I find it funny, otherwise I'm good at ignoring/zoning things out while playing when I want to. But the obvious solution here is to code in the ability to turn off "adult content": the devs can tag all of these dialogues at some point in the future and can let people toggle on/off. (That said, I saw Silvonis' post about this not being that easy to do/implement)

But basically I understand the argument that it kills immersion for some people and I wouldn't downplay that. And I also wouldn't ignore that some people have children nearby when playing. It may be dumb to not play a game because of the vulgarities, but I think it would be just as dumb (maybe even dumber) to write these players off and lose potential players in the indie game world if there's a common-sense solution that works for everyone. Even if it's tough to do, I think it's worth looking into adding this feature before release.

Just my 2 cents.

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Originally Posted by chill

This reddit thread from 1 month ago is what changed my mind on the topic. It started out great then people started mentioning this stuff (not adult things specifically... but KoL references, which I assume extends to adult content) https://www.reddit.com/r/MMORPG/comm...roject_gorgon/

I don't mind it one way or the other. I find it funny, otherwise I'm good at ignoring/zoning things out while playing when I want to. But the obvious solution here is to code in the ability to turn off "adult content": the devs can tag all of these dialogues at some point in the future and can let people toggle on/off. (That said, I saw Silvonis' post about this not being that easy to do/implement)

But basically I understand the argument that it kills immersion for some people and I wouldn't downplay that. And I also wouldn't ignore that some people have children nearby when playing. It may be dumb to not play a game because of the vulgarities, but I think it would be just as dumb (maybe even dumber) to write these players off and lose potential players in the indie game world if there's a common-sense solution that works for everyone. Even if it's tough to do, I think it's worth looking into adding this feature before release.

Just my 2 cents.

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If these said people were really concerned at what their children heard then they would play with headphones. I am fairly certain that the dialogue in PG is the least of a parents worries when if comes to language their child is hearing.

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Originally Posted by forphase1

Due to the language in the game, I will not play it with him around. NPCs that drop the f bomb is simply something I can't put up with. I know this game is being made for adults, but even some adults have issues with this kind of language being so prevalent. You are inherently going to be limiting your audience due to the vulgarity of the game. And I know that 'it's in society and it can't be avoided' and unfortunately that's correct. But I can limit it as much as I can, and not playing this game is one of those ways. I wish it was otherwise as I think a fantastic game is being produced here, and I'd have loved to have supported it both with my time and my money.

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I posted something about this few times and I was attacked. Although the post is made in a very respectful and polite manner, what it implies is "If you didn't insist on this feature I dislike I would've paid for your game. If you keep the dialogues the way they are you lost me as a customer". Some made similar "threats" when it came to multiboxing. Why would a game developer change anything based on basically monetary blackmail?

This was brought up by the OP too, kids. Sorry but it is not the media's fault if you guys do not establish boundaries for your children really. Would you let them watch porn over your shoulder? Would you let them watch a horror at 6-8 years of age? I bet the answer is a big fat no. Would you contact pornhub to ask them to remove the adult content cause your kids might see it? Okay I'm giving an extreme example but it really applies here. Why should Citan change his (crude sometimes but funny overall) dialogues because you cannot explain your very young children "When daddy plays it's daddy time, it's for grownups. You can do this when you are a bit older" and send them to another room. That's not too hard and it won't traumatize your children.

Although I worked as a middle school teacher for a few years I will not try to teach you parenting any further but you guys should stop trying to police language in NPCs dialogues. It's ridiculous.

And there ya go! Khaylara see I need to take a note from your playbook and just 'say it' because I was trying to be too nice I ended up talking myself around into a pretzel :D

I think that while it is good to have dialogue the dialogue sort of stops when people start to say "Welp, would have bought your game but not now !!'

I did not think about it but that is probably the reason it got some resistance is the whole 'people won't play it' rather than "does this make the game better, if not what would be a good alternative? etc.


But one thing that caught my very peaked and now committed interest in the game was things like Blanche and Rita, just sayin.

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Originally Posted by Khaylara

I posted something about this few times and I was attacked. Although the post is made in a very respectful and polite manner, what it implies is "If you didn't insist on this feature I dislike I would've paid for your game. If you keep the dialogues the way they are you lost me as a customer". Some made similar "threats" when it came to multiboxing. Why would a game developer change anything based on basically monetary blackmail?

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This feedback is essentially the type of question a developer should be asking for when a customer does not pay or continue a service...'Why are you leaving?'
You ask why would a developer change anything based on "monetary blackmail"... in order to keep that person as a customer and make more money :p Another reason would be that feedback could make the game better, even if the developer may not agree with it. I've accepted Silvonis's reply above, but it is still a ding against PG for my playstyle and could make it easier to leave. Again, that's just my feedback.

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Originally Posted by Khaylara

This was brought up by the OP too, kids. Sorry but it is not the media's fault if you guys do not establish boundaries for your children really. Would you let them watch porn over your shoulder? Would you let them watch a horror at 6-8 years of age? I bet the answer is a big fat no. Would you contact pornhub to ask them to remove the adult content cause your kids might see it? Okay I'm giving an extreme example but it really applies here.

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You're right, that is a bit of an extreme example and I wouldn't put PG in the same bucket as porn and a horror movie. The difference being that with changes to dialogue, then it would not be as big of a concern. I do put in safe guards to not playing when they're awake or interacting less with NPCs, but again, it is a drawback to the game IMO.

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Originally Posted by Khaylara

Although I worked as a middle school teacher for a few years I will not try to teach you parenting any further but you guys should stop trying to police language in NPCs dialogues. It's ridiculous.

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Good deal, I wasn't looking for parenting advice from the PG forums :P

@Yertle - you don't see how out of place and ridiculous this sounds? Until now (Including the old forums) I saw 3 or 4 people complaining about dialogues. What you people are posting is literally "Because I can't manage my kids YOU MUST put filters or change the dialogues in a game that is enjoyed as it is by few hundred adults. Or else I won't buy it".

Hmmmm let's see (pretending I'm Citan cause...roleplay) "Should I please these 4 people so they buy my game or keep doing what I'm doing and have about 1,000 players? Tough decision..." (probably more by now, I'm just using an estimate from ks and indiegogo)

I'm glad you didn't seek parenting advice on the P:G forum. On the other hand I wasn't the one raising concerns about my kids watching over my shoulder while I play. Most of us don't have that problem as far as I've noticed so again, look at this from a third person perspective and see how it sounds.
The same goes for any other game feature that one of us happens to dislike. Post that you dislike it but don't make demands like "Remove Sexual References and Lower Profanity of NPCs"- the title of this thread.

I've been playing PG on/off since 2014 and I kicked a fuss once because due to their datacenter the Oceanic region players were completely excluded from the game for over a month (since we weren't able to play with 2k ping). Now please compare being completely locked out of a game you invested time in for over a year with "my kids watch Rita and Blanche over my shoulder", that should create the above mentioned perspective.

edit, RPing again "Too bad I have 19817365 reports about client crashes and other shizz, I better start rewriting dialogues and moderating the game chat cause PRIORITIES!" (Yes I know I'm being over the top, hoping I'll drive my point home though)

I think we've discussed this pretty much to death now. We're going in circles, and losing the civility we want to keep in feedback threads.

Thank you, @Yertle, for bringing up this feedback and letting us see a lot of discussion on the topic. Even when we choose not to change things, it's good to know how those choices influence your opinion of the game.