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When did games start using naughty language?

emnmnmeemnmnme Registered User regular
edited October 2007 in Games and Technology
I'm trying to put my finger on it but I can't figure out when videogames started using four letter words. Back in 1994, violence was starting out and people can easily point to Doom and Mortal Kombat and say, "Aha! That's when it became acceptable to use violence in popular games, not just niche titles." But it's harder to figure out when dirty words were allowed by publishers for games intended for adults. I would suspect cussing started when games came out on CD-ROMs and voice actors were hired. By then, the budgets for scripts would be large enough to allow for experimentation with dialog. But I don't remember any Sega CD or 3DO games with foul language included.

The first game I ever noticed a four letter word used was Fallout, with 'Fuck' and 'Shit' written in text. Fallout 2 had Myron swearing like a sailor, actually speaking his obscenities. Metal Gear Solid used 'Damn' a few times but that's a huge leap between what's in MGS for the PSX and what's in, say, GTA: San Andreas or that car combat game Midway put out a few years back.

emnmnme on
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Posts

  • KarennaKarenna Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    There was all kinds of swearing in Ultima 4.



    Wait...maybe that's why I never became an Avatar?

    Karenna on
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  • ShimShamShimSham Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    I remember thinking it was crazy when X said "damn" in MegaMan X (or maybe X3).

    I was young and thought that was awesome because I had never really seen it before.

    ShimSham on
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  • RichardTauberRichardTauber Kvlt Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    emnmnme wrote: »
    Back in 1994, violence was starting out

    Somebody needs to call the jehovas, they need this update.

    RichardTauber on
  • CouscousCouscous Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    emnmnme wrote: »
    Back in 1994, violence was starting out

    Somebody needs to call the jehovas, they need this update.

    Splatterhouse too.

    Couscous on
  • Doc HollidayDoc Holliday Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    Final Fantasy VII was a pretty breakout naughty language game for me. Even though I was in high school at the time, it seemed a little out of place in a vidja game.

    Doc Holliday on
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  • shyguyshyguy Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    Final Fantasy VII was a pretty breakout naughty language game for me. Even though I was in high school at the time, it seemed a little out of place in a vidja game.

    This is what I was going to say. The black guy with the gun on his hand swore a lot, and it was a really big deal at the time.

    shyguy on
  • emnmnmeemnmnme Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    Good call on FF7 - that game used every flavor of 'Damn' in existence.

    emnmnme on
  • DangerousDangerous Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    Hey everyone remember when Spike swore in the Transformers movie? That was awesome when I was like 7.

    Errr videogames, right. I'm not really sure but I think it's been around in PC games for a lot longer than consoles. I remember when I was younger my cousin showing me some pretty crude games he'd found for commodore.

    I've only started noticing it recently in some console games. In the SNES days a damn or hell might have slipped by but that was about it. Games like FF7 had lots but it was almost always censored. I'm not sure when I noticed it on consoles for the first time..Probably around the time games like Manhunt started coming out. Not saying that's what started the trend, just when I personally noticed it.

    Dangerous on
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  • thedude_frombaywatchthedude_frombaywatch Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    I GTA was my first taste Or was it Mafia.. i dotn remember

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  • artifexiteartifexite Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    The first time I can remember someone swearing on my videogames was Vandal Hearts. It was about 3/4 of the way through the game, and something terrible happens to the whole group, and your plucky funny best friend said "Shit!"

    Me: Gasp.

    artifexite on
  • mrotsmrots Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    emnmnme wrote: »
    Good call on FF7 - that game used every flavor of 'Damn' in existence.
    Wasn't there even some "goddamn"s?

    I do distinctly remember a "sh!t" or "sh'it" or something though.

    mrots on
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  • BlackjackBlackjack Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    The first swear word in a video game I can remember is the Gold Fly in Breath of Fire 2. He gets incredibly risky and lets out a "damn."

    Blackjack on
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  • NickTheNewbieNickTheNewbie Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    ShimSham wrote: »
    I remember thinking it was crazy when X said "damn" in MegaMan X (or maybe X3).

    I was young and thought that was awesome because I had never really seen it before.

    It was in x3. I remember that and thinking it was awesome. Some guy at my school told me there was a special code to make X say a lot of curse words such as "fuck" and "shit." He was lying. Soon after, he died from an acute asthma attack.

    NickTheNewbie on
  • HevachHevach Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    Duke Nukem 3D was pretty gratuitous on the swears. Came out later than some of the games mentioned thus far, but I think it only stopped short of the F word. Pretty tame by more recent standards, but at the time it seemed very extreme.

    Hevach on
  • AshendarkAshendark Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    The abundant use of Shazbot in Tribes has twisted my world perspective and corrupted my moral sensibilities.

    Ashendark on
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  • WitchsightWitchsight Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    I think it was Bionic Commando that first shocked me with a Damn

    Witchsight on
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  • cloudeaglecloudeagle Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    Witchsight wrote: »
    I think it was Bionic Commando that first shocked me with a Damn

    Yep. And then Hitler's head exploded in slow-motion.

    I was scarred for life.

    cloudeagle on
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  • ArcSynArcSyn Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    Ashendark wrote: »
    The abundant use of Shazbot in Tribes has twisted my world perspective and corrupted my moral sensibilities.

    Shazbot is my favorite word ever to exclaim. More games should attempt to create words.

    ArcSyn on
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  • JulesJules Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    Hevach wrote: »
    Duke Nukem 3D was pretty gratuitous on the swears. Came out later than some of the games mentioned thus far, but I think it only stopped short of the F word. Pretty tame by more recent standards, but at the time it seemed very extreme.

    Not to mention the fact that you could give money to a stripper who would take her top off.

    Duke was certainly a potty-mouth, the MP taunts were great though: "Your face, your ass, what's the difference?"

    Jules on
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  • VoroVoro Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    I think XF5700 Mantis Experimental Fighter (1992), the Wing Commander knock-off, had swearing in the intro/tutorial part. I don't have the disc handy though, and I'm not sure how well it would run under DOSBox.

    Voro on
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  • ChopperDaveChopperDave Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
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    I think Duke Nukem had some racy language and themes, if I'm remembering correctly.

    When I think back on it, most of the swearing I've seen and rememeber being kind of shocked by was in the PSX/N64 generation in some of the RPGs. For some reason Final Fantasy VII (with its many flavors of "damn") and Ogre Battle 64 (which hits on a surprisingly large number of cuss words) stick out in my mind.

    Then, of course, there was Conker's Bad Fur Day. Oh, Conker's Bad Fur Day.

    ChopperDave on
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  • NorayNoray Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingpin:_Life_of_Crime

    The first big game I know of that used more than the occasional damn and was just an all-out swearfest was Kingpin: Life of Crime. A pc game that came out in 1999, it was very violent and heavy on profanity. It was also pretty damn good, and hard. It actually bears more than a few similarities to Deus Ex, in that you can approach missions in a variety of ways and there are a whole bunch of side quests that can be done. No RPG elements though. It was pretty good way back when. Also one of the first games to have detailed hitboxes on NPCs so you could see precisely where you hit them and whatnot. Anyone else play this?

    Noray on
  • Lord YodLord Yod Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    I think the first one I remember seeing was the first GTA.

    Lord Yod on
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  • WienkeWienke Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    ShimSham wrote: »
    I remember thinking it was crazy when X said "damn" in MegaMan X (or maybe X3).

    I was young and thought that was awesome because I had never really seen it before.

    It was in x3. I remember that and thinking it was awesome. Some guy at my school told me there was a special code to make X say a lot of curse words such as "fuck" and "shit." He was lying. Soon after, he died from an acute asthma attack.

    Well obviously it was the Capcom ninjas. You don't lie about Megaman.

    As silly as this sounds, I would almost exclusively ask the question for consoles since haven't there been like underground porn games and all kinds of crazy stuff for PC since the dawn of time?

    Wienke on
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  • master_kaosmaster_kaos Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    Now I know there was games before this, but Kingpin was non stop swearing pretty well.. If I remember right.

    One of the earliest games I remember was Monkey Island with damnation.. For some reason I remember it being in the first one, but I have no idea which one in the series said it first.

    master_kaos on
  • ArikadoArikado Southern CaliforniaRegistered User regular
    edited October 2007
    There were porno games on the Atari 2600 so it wouldn't surprise me if there was cursing in games a few years after it.

    It didn't pick up until the SNES/Genesis/PSX years. Especially with all the imported games with rough translations.

    EDIT: Wolfenstien 3D had some stuff in it, from what I hear. I just never played too much of it to remember.

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  • syndalissyndalis Getting Classy On the WallRegistered User, Loves Apple Products regular
    edited October 2007
    damnfool.gif

    fisrt mainstream game to do it.

    there were FAR more offensive PC games that go back earlier, like Custer's Revenge.

    syndalis on
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  • DaedalusDaedalus Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    Wienke wrote: »
    ShimSham wrote: »
    I remember thinking it was crazy when X said "damn" in MegaMan X (or maybe X3).

    I was young and thought that was awesome because I had never really seen it before.

    It was in x3. I remember that and thinking it was awesome. Some guy at my school told me there was a special code to make X say a lot of curse words such as "fuck" and "shit." He was lying. Soon after, he died from an acute asthma attack.

    Well obviously it was the Capcom ninjas. You don't lie about Megaman.

    As silly as this sounds, I would almost exclusively ask the question for consoles since haven't there been like underground porn games and all kinds of crazy stuff for PC since the dawn of time?

    Indeedy-do. In fact, you'd only ask the question for post-NES consoles, as the Atari and other stone-age consoles didn't need licensing or approval to make a game. But yeah, I remember there were certainly old Zork-like text adventures that didn't skimp on the language.

    Daedalus on
  • Clint EastwoodClint Eastwood My baby's in there someplace She crawled right inRegistered User regular
    edited October 2007
    FF7 hands down. I mean, it was somewhat ludicrous how much Mr. T swore in that game but hey. It was Mr. T, what do you expect?

    Clint Eastwood on
  • The_ScarabThe_Scarab Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    Bioshock surprised me by having a lot of instances of 'Fuck'. More than any other game for a long time that I can remember.



    Other notable uses of swear words:


    Condemned


    Protagonist: 'Come out with your hands up!'

    Villain: 'Fuck you'

    The_Scarab on
  • XaquinXaquin Right behind you!Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    The first time I saw 'shit' was in FFT

    Xaquin on
  • TheSonicRetardTheSonicRetard Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    I remember the what the heck level of Earthworm Jim was the source of controversy. It was obviously hell, but the title was officially "what the heck." On the level select screen, it was titled "HELL." it was changed for PC reasonings.

    I remember being pretty shocked by the cussing in snatcher, so I'd say around 1993 is when cursing started creeping in.

    TheSonicRetard on
  • OrogogusOrogogus San DiegoRegistered User regular
    edited October 2007
    syndalis wrote: »
    there were FAR more offensive PC games that go back earlier, like Custer's Revenge.
    Wasn't that a 2600 game?

    Not an early game by any means, but I was kind of surprised by the swearing and innuendo in The Longest Journey. It seemed really unnecessary.

    Orogogus on
  • taliosfalcontaliosfalcon Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    Noray wrote: »
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingpin:_Life_of_Crime

    The first big game I know of that used more than the occasional damn and was just an all-out swearfest was Kingpin: Life of Crime. A pc game that came out in 1999, it was very violent and heavy on profanity. It was also pretty damn good, and hard. It actually bears more than a few similarities to Deus Ex, in that you can approach missions in a variety of ways and there are a whole bunch of side quests that can be done. No RPG elements though. It was pretty good way back when. Also one of the first games to have detailed hitboxes on NPCs so you could see precisely where you hit them and whatnot. Anyone else play this?

    kingpin was awesome. that aside I couldn't really say when games started using more curses simply because I never noticed. They're so mainstream in culture now I still don't know that i've ever encountered a game that uses them more often than quite a few people I know use them every day

    taliosfalcon on
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  • FibretipFibretip Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    i remember being shocked when i played duke nukem in our local pc store when it came out... i couldn't believe they had the sound up so loud when he was saying....ass

    simpler times eh, simpler times

    if we're talking recent swearing...
    fear had loads of random swearing, like when you're quietly wandering through a fear level and all of a sudden there's a raucous and pointless scream of FUCK as the enemy sees you from across a room.... it had me in giggles every time... just that one sound effect playing again and again in almost every room.

    oh and prey when
    you've killed jen and got the big gun and you run outside into enemy spawn hell, and just run around blasting the shit out of everything and tommy keeps swearing at everything... that was pretty fun

    Fibretip on
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  • DiscoZombieDiscoZombie Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    people think of 'damn' as a swear word? and considered FF7 edgy for 'swearing'? isn't the word 'damn' on, like, network TV? side note: I always thought it was strange that they censor the 'god' part of 'goddamn' on TV rather than the 'damn' part... when I first played FF7, I was amused at how hard they were trying to brush up against being hip and urban without crossing the censorship line. Barrett spoke, like, a Japanese person's view of what they might imagine a censored version of urban street slang to be. it was quite quaint. of course that game came out when I was like 17, and also, I grew up the son of pot-smoking, partying hippies, so it was hard to surprise me.

    When I think of early naughty games, I definitely think of Custer's Revenge. Of course there was always Leisure Suit Larry as well, though when I think about it, they don't really swear in those games, do they? just use a lot of lewd innuendo.

    Just played some of Liberty City Stories on the PSP - that game has the most excessive swearing I've heard in a game in a good while (maybe ever?), in a good way.

    DiscoZombie on
  • chamberlainchamberlain Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    The first f-bomb I remember was either in Shadowman or Shadowman 2.

    Almost positive it was the first, becuase it was on the N64...

    His first line was, "I hate this shit," and it just got better from there.

    chamberlain on
  • TheSonicRetardTheSonicRetard Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    people think of 'damn' as a swear word? and considered FF7 edgy for 'swearing'? isn't the word 'damn' on, like, network TV?

    They say shit on network TV. Does that mean shit isn't a cuss word either?

    Damn is a curse word. Literally. It's THE curse word.

    TheSonicRetard on
  • Lucky CynicLucky Cynic Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    I would say for me, it was probably Duke Nukem 3D. Then GTA3 probably.

    Lucky Cynic on
  • NorayNoray Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    Noray wrote: »
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingpin:_Life_of_Crime

    The first big game I know of that used more than the occasional damn and was just an all-out swearfest was Kingpin: Life of Crime. A pc game that came out in 1999, it was very violent and heavy on profanity. It was also pretty damn good, and hard. It actually bears more than a few similarities to Deus Ex, in that you can approach missions in a variety of ways and there are a whole bunch of side quests that can be done. No RPG elements though. It was pretty good way back when. Also one of the first games to have detailed hitboxes on NPCs so you could see precisely where you hit them and whatnot. Anyone else play this?

    kingpin was awesome. that aside I couldn't really say when games started using more curses simply because I never noticed. They're so mainstream in culture now I still don't know that i've ever encountered a game that uses them more often than quite a few people I know use them every day

    Here is the game's intro: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvnYAQ2PeDQ

    Remember people, this was from 1999. Certainly the first game with this much swearing. Other games may or may not have used to occasional F-bomb, but I still don't think any game does it more than this one. There's like 10-15 instances of fuck in the intro alone.

    edit: Haha, apparently Kingpin beats Shadowman by a month. I personally don't recall 'fuck' in Shadowman, but it did have more swearing in it than most games at the time.

    Noray on
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