Word Filters, How is it legal?

[Jorias]

Seeing as Games have been ruled as art, it's protected by the Freedom of speech right? So how do games like World of Warcraft (given yes you can turn it off), NavyField, World of Tanks and what not get away with imposing rules that govern what words you are allowed to say.

I am not talking about policing those that start harassing players, (though i find it funny that you can "harass" someone with words alone just ignore them right?) i am talking about censoring words you say to express an opinion or whatever else. Even this website seems to shy away from the subject, and is selective at suspending people for "swearing", yet Youtube, a site that can be said to convey a similar business model of people uploading videos for someone else to watch, people posting commments and whatever, doesn't impose any type of word censorship at all....

How do these organizations legally get away with this, seeing as Video games are an art and protected under freedom of speech laws?

 

[Sean Hollyman]

There's probably something in the terms and conditions that people agree too, that they didnt actually read

 

[Grygor]

See the text of the first amendment: "Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech."

In other words: the government can't tell you what you can or cannot say, but freedom of speech does not extend into privately-owned spaces - on private property, you speech rights are dictated by the property owner.

 

[smearyllama]

Well, it's in the user agreement, most likely. You agree to certain terms when you sign up for a service, like an online game. It's like an age-gate on certain videos, seems to me. It's a way of having their asses covered in case of some parent getting upset that someone called their kid [censored] on Runescape or something.

 

[Sixcess]

How do these organizations legally get away with this, seeing as Video games are an art and protected under freedom of speech laws?

I'm not even an American and even I know 'Freedom of Speech' only means the government will not restrict an individual's right to say what they want. Private companies can do whatever they damn well like within their own business.

The Escapist doesn't disallow swearing because... well, because it'd be pretty ridiculous to do so on a site most famous for Zero Punctuation. Youtube doesn't because... I don't know... probably because Youtube doesn't give a shit about its comments (and who can blame them.)

As for MMOs... I'd say it's to prevent idiots littering ever help and global channel with pointless, meaningless and repetitive cursing, racism and homophobia... and to give the GMs solid grounds to shut them up when they do. I really don't have a problem with that.

 

[Jorias]

That makes sense, considering that the Word filters for lack of a better example, are imposed by the person in control of the product, not the actual Government... yeah it is that simple...

Edit: I feel like an idiot for asking this...but thanks for not reeming me to hell lol

 

[RJ 17]

There's probably something in the terms and conditions that people agree too, that they didnt actually read

Simple; freedom of speech only applies to government censorship.

No, really, it's that simple.

In other words: the government can't tell you what you can or cannot say, but freedom of speech does not extend into privately-owned spaces - on private property, you speech rights are dictated by the property owner.

Yep, pretty much all of the above. Particularly the last quote: when you're playing an MMO or any kind of multiplayer game, you're technically utilizing the services of a privately owned company (since you're playing on their servers), as such they can dictate any rules and regulations they want, and they're well within their rights to ban you for breaking their rules.

 

[T_ConX]

Freedom of speech means the government can't censor you. That's it.

As for MMO-based word filters, you can say whatever you want, but when those words are being transmitted to other players, they wind up going through Blizzards servers. Since Blizzard owns them, they can go ahead and decide that words like 'gently caress', 'fine, upstanding lady' and 'VOTE RON PAUL 2012' should be filtered into something tamer.

 

[Twilight_guy]

Because you are using a service, namely the server and online functionality, that is provided by the developer to voice your opinion and thus they have the right to edit what you say and specifically tell you in the terms of service that they will do so. That's also why they can boot you if you break their rules. Its less censoring art and more controlling the use of a service they own and provide.

 

[twistedheat15]

Simple; freedom of speech only applies to government censorship.

No, really, it's that simple.

Thats too simple! Write up a long overly thought out explanation which means the same thing in the end!