Swearing and censoring..

[LiveHomeVideo]

It's been a while since we discussed censorship here! That was always fun...

There's no reason why this should be this big an issue. In all honesty, I'm glad there's censorship in a game meant for a wide audience. Sure, we could have set up a password protected censorship block or whatever, but when it comes right down to it, what's offensive and what's not is a thing that's different for every person. I personally am offended by jokes set on the mentally handicapped, but I can handle songs about grisly murder and tons of sex and songs with more f-bombs than the South Park series. Others may find songs that talk about religious ideals different than theirs offensive.

It all comes down to the parents, and setting up a censorship system that would appeal to everyone would be almost impossible, considering all the songs that are downloadable and how much obscure stuff is on the game that people probably wouldn't be able to instantly recognize as offensive.

At least they tried by crossing out words that you can just sing anyways.

[jrbviwiz]

first off sorry for posting so many comments but what about tv? some shows will be rated tv 14 and it has swearing all throughout it like "my name is earl" and "family guy". the only word ive heard family guy censor is fvck. also both shows have suggestive dialoge throughout the show that if a song slightly reffered to it would be censored. here is the esrb's teen rating:

TEEN
Titles rated T (Teen) have content that may be suitable for ages 13 and older. Titles in this category may contain violence, suggestive themes, crude humor, minimal blood, simulated gambling, and/or infrequent use of strong language.

it says infrequent use of strong language. should words such as sh!t, dam/\/, bit<h, vvhore, and a$$ be considered strong language? how about them being used 2 or 3 times be considered frequent use. thanks for your time.
p.s. sorry if my my ways around actually saying swear words annoyed you, im just playing it safe because i dont want to get kicked off the site for "use of inapropriate language".

[LiveHomeVideo]

first off sorry for posting so many comments but what about tv? some shows will be rated tv 14 and it has swearing all throughout it like "my name is earl" and "family guy". the only word ive heard family guy censor is fvck. also both shows have suggestive dialoge throughout the show that if a song slightly reffered to it would be censored. here is the esrb's teen rating:

TEEN
Titles rated T (Teen) have content that may be suitable for ages 13 and older. Titles in this category may contain violence, suggestive themes, crude humor, minimal blood, simulated gambling, and/or infrequent use of strong language.

it says infrequent use of strong language. should words such as sh!t, dam/\/, bit<h, vvhore, and a$$ be considered strong language? how about them being used 2 or 3 times be considered frequent use. thanks for your time.
p.s. sorry if my my ways around actually saying swear words annoyed you, im just playing it safe because i dont want to get kicked off the site for "use of inapropriate language".

Again, I don't see the big deal if they censor some words. Hell, if you play vocals, you can sing them anyways and not get penalized.

Also, it takes a different effect when little Billy has to say the b-word to get a score in a video game. Thus why games like Uncharted can get the s-word in there, but Rock Band censors it.

And comparing the ESRB ratings with TV ratings? Some episodes of South Park are aired with a TV-14 rating now. They've gone really lenient.

[SirDavidTLynch]

"Whore" and "ass" get through all the time; "b*tch" is about 50/50, mostly depending on context; and I don't think there's a single song that censors the word "damn".

[FujiSkunk]

A password toggle would require even more infrastructure, for alternate audio tracks or an on-the-fly censor mute, and for alternate vocal tracks that could lead to different scoring possibilities and therefore more leaderboard controversy, depending on how overdrive was affected. Too much of a headache for so little return, in my humble opinion.

And that's even if the ESRB gave different ratings based on what was toggled and what wasn't, which they don't. Their policy is to rate the game based on the most "adult" way it can be played. That's why Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was slapped with an "Adults Only" rating following the "Hot Coffee" fiasco. You can say it's not fair, but it is their policy, and Harmonix can't change that.

And like everyone else has said, if you really want to hear those words, just sing them yourself.