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Censoring character names in a singleplayer video game is rather odd but Obsidian decided to do it anyway. According to the , there are almost 500 words that are banned and cannot be used as character names in The Outer Worlds.
The game's filter is mostly justified, preventing usage of potentially offensive words such as tranny, rosbif, asfalt and camel jockey. The first one is obvious to anyone who speaks English these days but the latter three may need some elaboration:
- Rosbif is a derogatory term for English people
- Asfalt is Polish version of asphalt, also a derogatory term for black people
- Camel jockey is normally a camelback racer but it's also a slur for people from Middle East
Considering each of these three terms are not widely known, one could think Obsidian were thorough with their filter but then it gets weird. For some reason, the words "transexual", "trans" and "homosexual" are banned, despite many people referring to themselves as such and not considering it offensive.
To make things weirder, the word "kafir" which is an Arabic word that means the same as "infidel" is banned. The latter is not. Think that's odd? Here is one to top that as well - "semen", a normal term for certain bodily fluid, is banned but its derivations that are often used by foul-mouthed individuals are not.
The Outer Worlds, action RPG by Obsidian Entertainment
Furthermore, localisation-related bans make it even weirder. Polish version of the word "masturbation" is banned but the English one is not. Similarly, "zlo" is banned. It means "evil", which is allowed.
There are just too many inconsistency examples, along with some funny ones to list them all out. On the bright side, you can have a look at the yourself and see what can or cannot be used as a name in The Outer Worlds. Fair warning, a chuckle or two might happen.
