LANGUAGE IN GAMES

I tend to have different characters have differing degrees of vulgarity. For example, in Speak no Evil, Gloria never swears that I can remember. Not once. Victor swears approx. five times a dialogue box. I doubt anyone familiar with the characters would confuse a dialogue box from Victor as being said by Gloria, or vice-versa.

I don't like it when EVERYONE swears like a sailor, just like I don't like a cast of introverts, or any other homogeneous cast.

post=98622
I never use the word fuck.

This is amusing.

Depends on the character.

It's like when Omega in BR cussed, I thought that was out of place, and someone wrote about it in their review.

Of course, my own games are of a darker nature.
One of them is a horror scifi adventure, and the other is a detective game dealing with racism. Both probably will have some swearing, as the detective game is a historical game and I want it to be realistic, and cussing will fit in certain parts of the horror game. But I won't really use it for the sake of using it. Like, having a character cuss and going "heh my character is cool because he just cussed."

Everybody swears in life. In games where I'm trying to capture that essence of life, I would use it, regardless if it's 16-bit style or whatnot (it would have to be a more gritty style, though, nothing like Tina of the Stars :P). I agree with karsuman in which you really need to know how to do it. Placing the word "fuck" everywhere in your dialogue just makes your product look like something produced by a 12-year-old.

In my view, there are two main things to consider about the use of swears: the audience you are directing your game towards and your characters in the game. You certainly wouldn't use many cusses in games primarily directed towards a young audiences, and with character personalities, a sweet, little girl who grew up in a rich neighborhood is less likely to drop f-bombs than some prudent, streetwise male living in the slums of Detroit. I'm ultimately not against the use of it, you just have to do it right.

Mine is a 50 year old Irish Old Man that loves being drunk in alcohol and curses but not that much, mostly when he's just drunk and disappointed at how his granddaughter came to be...

I don't like putting swearing and curses to a character that usually won't say it or inappropriate in a situation, like, BlazeBlue, almost everyone shout Son of a Bitch, and in the ending, around 8 SoaB was said

yeah I don't put it in just for the sake of being a game with swear words. Basically I don't censor myself, I just get into the character's head and write, and if a swear word comes out then whatever. I have the freedom of not having to worry about what ESRB rating I'll get so there's no reason to stifle my characters. The characters that swear, they swear, and the ones that don't, don't. So basically the words are just peppered once or twice in the dialogue exchanges of certain characters. (though I have one boss who is incredibly vulgar and nasty and who will probably cuss to the point where is becomes ridiculous, my game's bosses are meant to have a wide range of wacky personalities so that's the main reason for that.)

Though I also will have a random NPC who is being fried by a spell or somthing go "oh fuck!" instead of "ARGHHHH!" because I find that to be hilarious. The game is all about breaking the mood when that mood is serious or dramatic, so its like Lennon said, except that breaking these moods up for comedic purposes is my intention so yeah.

I've never finished a game before but I would probably just use #*&% or something. It gets the point across.

I use any level of cursing when appropriate. Fuck/damn/shit/bitch/etc. If it doesn't sound like complete ass, I often make up world-appropriate words to replace them.
Example: in my current project, the vast majority of the characters are miners. Miners aren't going to be too careful about what they say. They're not cursing at each other meanly, though, it's just the way they speak. They are going to offend some people later in the game, though...
On another note, as my miners don't have any concept of heaven/hell, I'm working on coming up with new words to replace them, hell in particular.
My characters aren't going to be swearing every sentence, or three times in one breath. Just where it feels appropriate.
That said, example two: derogatory terms. Say one of my miner characters really pisses on someone who's not from their community. I'm certainly not going to call them spics or what have you. That's where new derogatory terms, relating to the earth they work in, are born. The word "mole" is very offensive in the game world, as is "insect."

I don't think a lot profanity of any kind really helps your writing, regardless of who the characters are. Just like a person who swears a lot in real life is not very articulate and creative, having a lot of profanity in your writing shows that the writer is not very articulate and creative.

For example, James Lee Burke writes really gritty books. They are really dark. All of his characters are addicts and prostitutes and hustlers and other examples of humanity's worst. But, there isn't much swearing in his novels - only a tiny amount. In real life, people of these classes are really vulgar. But, in writing, there are much more creative ways to show this aspect of a personality.

post=98699
I don't think a lot profanity of any kind really helps your writing, regardless of who the characters are. Just like a person who swears a lot in real life is not very articulate and creative, having a lot of profanity in your writing shows that the writer is not very articulate and creative.

I second this.