LANGUAGE IN GAMES

You wouldn't hear people saying "Stand down you fucking piss taker (Excuse me)" in the medieval era, now would you? (This isn't to say that this applies to ONLY games set in the medieval era, but you get my point.)

This is one of the things that annoy me the most. People's perception that somehow people didn't swear as much in earlier times. Sure there have been times and groups of people that don't swear quite as much. But there's no evidence whatsoever that people of, say, medieval times were not as dirty in their mouths as any of us here today.

Of course that's a tangent.

On actual colourful language I think it's a great way to build a character. Having a character that swears a lot is an easy in to tell what kind of character it is. Same with having someone not swear at all. I mean one of the easiest things to do is to have a bit of opposites. Classic examples are the street thug with an eloquent vocabulary and the posh guy who swears like there's no tomorrow.

Of course some people do get up in arms about a bit of language, just like they get up in arms about almost anything else (sex and violence being common). But I suppose they are not really the target audience. I suppose though that the reply to the guy complaining about language could have been a bit more "sorry you didn't like it" rather than "you're a moron for not liking it." (extremes maybe)

I also think that in the age of more voice acting swearing feels more natural. When reading you really have to keep up a naturalistic tone without feeling too naturalistic or if you don't it's probably best to keep some of the low-brow language out of it. While in voice acting it tends to feel more natural to have some emotional words in there. Still it's all a matter of style in the end.

Get these motherfucking snakes off this motherfucking plane.

I don't mind swearing as long as it's in-character and appropriate to the environment.

Personally, I wouldn't expect a dwarf in a traditional high fantasy setting to say "Get the fuck out of my cave, asshole!" without considerable character development, but I would expect that dwarf to say "Get out of my bloody cave, stinking surface dweller!".

It all depends on context, presentation, and not overdoing it.

Having played some of the Dragon Quest DS games i've come to really hate heavily accented dialogue moreso than swear words used in the wrong context.

Funny story, I threw an F bomb into Fragile Hearts somewhere in the third episode way before the demo release, but amongst all the slapstick humour it just felt wildly out of place. Since taking that out, it has zero fucks, cunts, or anything else I consider foul.

It definitely depends on the type of game you're making though. There are F-bombs all throughout Esoterica, because it's a modern day setting and focuses on a police squad... just makes sense. I don't suppose many people would say "gosh" or "gee wilickers" (how do you even spell that?) if they were getting shot at.

I think if you do swear, it's important to have the other characters react to it above all. It just deepens its effect, like with everyone here giving their own two cents on swearing. Some people are cool with it, but a lot of people seem to think it's quite vulgar and tasteless. After what people have said, I feel bad about swearing now. XD

Like the scene LockeZ quoted from Firefly, the characters are actually setting up the swear before it even happens. If Simon had just gotten off of the ship and yelled "son of A BITCH!", it wouldn't be funny because a) it's not in his character and b) it just doesn't have any taste to it. It's funny because it's set up beforehand, and you could guess at how Kaylee was gonna react after their previous discussion and that sort of deepens their relationship in a way, but also the watcher's relationship with them as characters.

I personally never used to swear up until age 16. My sister swore. A lot. Like, I'm sure she used "fuck" as punctuation at times. When you're around someone for a long time, particularly someone who swears a lot, you don't really consider your language very much. I still don't swear in front of authoritative figures or strangers, and I've been cutting back as of recent, but I'll quite comfortably use some less offensive swears in front of friends.

My point is, I think that if one character swears a lot, people are going to react. Like, "what did you just say?" or "you kiss your mother with that mouth?" or they might even pick up on it themselves. Particularly a love interest might try to mimic certain words to make themself seem more likeable and appealing to the other character, or even just a child/younger character trying to look cool or learn. Also, not everyone swears all of the time. A lot of people don't swear in front of their mothers or grandparents, or like me with strangers. And as has been mentioned, most people will stick to the same set of words so you shouldn't throw in a cuss from out of the blue that hasn't been said before.. unless this person really, really tries to make use of every swear word under the sun.

TLDR; Uhh, show progression in your games when it comes to character personality, and also reactions to the actions and words of other party members. Helps player relate to them.