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SeptemberCrab
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« on: August 03, 2014, 12:02:42 PM » |
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Good day lads,
Recently (actually for a few months now) I've been thinking about avoiding "bad" words in games.
By "bad" words, i mean words like "attack, kill, destroy, annihilate, loot, burn, guns, death".
Whilst working on my own project, i've got to the point where i have to make a tutorial, and add some text. And the fun begins here.
I can't find proper words to replace these "bad" words.
"attack the boss"
"while on move, tap, to attack. Kill the red cell"
"attack green cell and pick up upgrades"
As they say "as you think, so you become". We have enough man slaughtering games as it is.
Maybe someone knows some good sources, where such things are reviewed?
Or maybe someone has ant ideas, hints and thoughts on this matter?
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ndke
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« Reply #1 on: August 03, 2014, 12:34:14 PM » |
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Some ideas: maybe insted of "attack" you could use "defeat" and instead of "kill" you could use "stop"?
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Eigen
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« Reply #2 on: August 03, 2014, 12:54:31 PM » |
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Online thesaruses with synonyms, listings of similar words are your friends in such cases. Some ideas: maybe insted of "attack" you could use "defeat" and instead of "kill" you could use "stop"?
To defeat is the objective ("Defeat the boss"), attacking is the means to do so. You could try some of the synonyms like charge or strike or hit which don't sound too bad to me. |
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« Last Edit: August 03, 2014, 01:00:03 PM by Eigen »
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Whiteclaws
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« Reply #3 on: August 03, 2014, 02:49:16 PM » |
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Vanquish?
PopCap tried to make a family-friendly CoD
PvZ: Garden warfare, check it out
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SeptemberCrab
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« Reply #4 on: August 04, 2014, 09:33:14 AM » |
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Thank you all for the tips!  And also, ill look into those games, maybe ill find something enlightening. |
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DrDerekDoctors
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« Reply #5 on: August 06, 2014, 03:05:55 PM » |
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It's an interesting discussion and something I have to be conscious of in the writing I do for my job (as the games I work on are primarily aimed at kids).
I find it less of an issue with tutorial text because, as has been stated, you can always use things like "defeat" instead of "kill". It's more involved when it comes to dialogue, although I often find the limitations can lead to more amusing dialogue as you have the characters themselves try to avoid talking about death, rather than it coming across as them being externally nerfed.
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Me, David Williamson and Mark Foster do an Indie Games podcast. Give it a listen. And then I'll send you an apology. http://pigignorant.com/ |
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Eigen
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« Reply #6 on: August 07, 2014, 01:12:42 AM » |
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I don't see how "vanquish" or "defeat" are even remotely the words that fit this case. Defeating an enemy is something you want to accomplish, not the means to do so. To defeat an enemy you must strike / hit / damage / attack it. It's like saying "The objective of this game is to complete the game". That'd be a pretty useful tutorial message, yeah ...
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guybrush
Level 0
Mighty Pirate
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« Reply #7 on: September 01, 2014, 06:48:28 AM » |
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Good day lads,
Recently (actually for a few months now) I've been thinking about avoiding "bad" words in games.
By "bad" words, i mean words like "attack, kill, destroy, annihilate, loot, burn, guns, death".
Whilst working on my own project, i've got to the point where i have to make a tutorial, and add some text. And the fun begins here.
I can't find proper words to replace these "bad" words.
"attack the boss"
"while on move, tap, to attack. Kill the red cell"
"attack green cell and pick up upgrades"
As they say "as you think, so you become". We have enough man slaughtering games as it is.
Maybe someone knows some good sources, where such things are reviewed?
Or maybe someone has ant ideas, hints and thoughts on this matter?
Just a few ideas, depending on context: attack engage, take on, charge, "perform an attack", "fire your weapon", "swing your weapon" (the last three being related to more specific an action, depending on what weapon is equipped, for instance)kill vanquish, terminate, eliminate, finish, dispatchdestroy obliterate, wipe out, annihilate, crushannihilate see aboveloot plunder, rob, pillage, despoilburn set fire to, set on fire, char, sear, ignite, torchguns firearms, weapons, pistols, rifles, revolvers, handgunsdeath demise, end, extinction, ruin, obliteration |
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\"I must have left it in my other pants.\"
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ithamore
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« Reply #8 on: September 06, 2014, 06:06:54 AM » |
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In no particular order: pacify, rectify, render unconscious, correct, mitigate, negotiate, clean up this mess, engage, relinquish, put to rest.
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Please help TimW, a longtime promoter of indie gaming everywhere and an old friend of TIGSource, to write about indie games full-time.
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Cheezmeister
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« Reply #9 on: September 10, 2014, 07:38:24 PM » |
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As they say "as you think, so you become". We have enough man slaughtering games as it is.
Arguably. I'd say it really and critically depends on the style/aesthetic/feel/vibe you're going for. If it's an aggressive, competitive, old-school-cool kind of arcade game, you *know* 90% of your players--including the 5-year-olds--are going to call it shooting, killing and dying anyway, so IMO, why bother? On the other hand, if you're crafting more of a make-blooms-not-war kind of title, I *would* tone the verbiage down, in which case, yup, thesaurus! My $0.02! |
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