Bombard cannons
Yes this is the known abbr. for most people, and yes it gets used alot
Tired of seeing ##### everywhere, funny thing is most people who play the game are already too old, dunno why we need this garbage
18 Likes
all the censor system should disapear, itâs ridiculous.
14 Likes
I donât know a single person who approves of the censoring. It solves absolutely nothing when it comes to actual âcensorshipâ, a practice I disagree with as a concept, and it censors words so utterly meaningless that moderators or devs have been repeatedly pinged in this very forum to try and de-censor some important words (THAT ARE JUST NAMES, SOMETIMES) that might have the vaguest hint of other, not-so-innocent words hidden within them. It throws context so far out the window you can see it orbiting Mars, and causing unwanted confusion in a game where communication is vital to success in team gameplay. The entire system is so appallingly executed in Age of Empires that it really makes you wonder whatâs spinning through the heads of those at Microsoft who appealed this - pardon my language but itâs the most fitting word I can come up with - retarded idea.
5 Likes
Yes, I agree that the censorship system should go entirely. Unfortunately, that will open players up to new forms of abuses, particularly if theyâre a racial minority or disabled, but thatâs just how the internet is. Usually, if someone is offended by something, they should just suck it up and deal with it, rather than trying to destroy the other personâs ability to talk. Most things that are being censored are not objectively or even subjectively offensive.
Something like 90% of the online playerbase is adult anyway, and adults should in theory be able to handle their feelings being hurt, but this is 2024, so even that isnât guaranteed. Still, the average player is old enough to know how to deal with these things.
2 Likes
There shouldnât be any abuse, I believe one can totally mute / block another player ⊠which just solved the problem.
Also they can add the ability to report other players for hateful speech [like other games] which would penalize them some way or another
I dont think the game is getting much attention anymore from the devs, and they just leaving us with the game in this terrible state
things you can write without getting censored:
âI want to kill youâ
âI want to murder youâ
âyouâre life is sadâ
the censor doesnât stop abuse, it only makes one rephrase it
12 Likes
Profanity filter should just be a checkbox in the options menu. Make it a keyboard shortcut. Block / mute player should be a custom hotkey too.
6 Likes
âShut upâ works also ) Good to know when someone is spamming signal on the map.
2 Likes
I donât think it should disappear, but generally profanity filters are opt-in in other games. Not sure why it isnât in AoE2. Thatâd really be the easiest fix to the profanity filter settings.
At this point I have no idea what the code for the profanity filters are like and what they actually look for. I can only assume, as AoE2 is a pretty global game, that it also looks at profanities in other languages and censors those as well, so if youâre speaking in English and get censored for seemingly innocuous words that might be the reason why.
However, thatâs just a guess and likely not true for how often innocuous things get censored. On the other hand, a whole lot of profanities in English donât get censored (or somehow only get censored some of the times), so itâs just really weird and inconsistent. I think maybe the code thinks youâve said a bad word and censors it, and then continues to censor your messages for some time as well. So with âbbcâ as example, if the censor thinks itâs a bad word it gets filtered out and later when you say âpls send hereâ thatâll also get censored by the system? 
I think it might be easier to understand if the mechanics of the censor system is made a little bit more transparent, maybe some devs can shine a light on the code, maybe at least some more tech-savvy players can offer suggestions to fix it. 11
But until then, it should at the very least be opt-in, at playerâs risk for seeing actually âbadâ things. But thatâs also probably for the better, because then the players can more easily report such speech anyway, instead of having to guess whether the censored speech actually was reportable or not.
The funny part is that Iâve seen slurs not get censored. Or standard internet insults. Itâs been really jarring to see someone trying to communicate actual strategies in team chat and get censored, only for some toxic person later to tell the team to off themselves and not get censored.
This is also true, and is true for the internet in general. The gen alpha on TikTok have basically made a new language that circumvents algorithmic censorship by replacing words with emojis or different phrases. Same is true for AoE2, people just say âbombardsâ right now instead of âbbcâ, which is a bit more annoying to type (especially with character limit for in game speech)⊠but at least it gets through. However, AoE2âs censoring is inconsistent, so itâs harder to rephrase things as youâre not even sure what actually was bad.
This is also a problem on these forums, as if you do say something bad, the forum replaces it with #s after posting, meaning if you donât remember every word you said, those words are actually forgotten. Other Discourse forums at least give you an alert pointing out the bad words and prevent you from submitting the post, instead of letting them through. No idea why here the more awkward solution is taken instead.
Might get a little clumsy with how many hotkeys there are in the game, and you might accidentally press the mute key in the heat of the game. It only takes you two clicks to mute someone anyway, Iâm not sure if a specific hotkey is needed. Same for a profanity filter. How often would you even turn it on/off in one game anyway, for a hotkey to be warranted?
2 Likes
Yea honestly why do we even have this censorship? It makes no sense?
Is it to protect kids? Well put a parental lock system on the game and be done with it.
Is it to protect people from abuse? Thatâs why we have a mute function isnât it? Just mute the person being ## ################
Is it to punish people who abuse in chat? Thatâs why we have a reporting function. Just let players report problematic players and deal with it on a case by case basis.
This is really a case of overkill on the part of the devs.
5 Likes
They donât even need to âsuck it upâ they can just report offending people which is as far as I know how most other social platforms and multiplayer games work.
4 Likes
Not really a fan of profanity filters in general (unless we are dealing with slurs like the one that starts with ânâ), butâŠâbbcâ is a banned term? I know why some people might read the wrong intentions into it, but among other things, itâs the abbreviation of a major British television network. It shouldnât be banned.
3 Likes
Major BBC
4 Likes
When you have to Google something I donât think itâs worth filtering. I would have just been confused if someone attempted to use that acronym. Bombard Cannon makes more sense in context.
hahaha. I know, the whole word filter thing messes up communication. I donât think any sane person supports the filter. At one point, the word filter used to even censor its own AI. It used to censor complete sentences for just one word (that could have been interpreted as naughty). In aoe3, saying something like âI will send you cowsâ⊠(itâs a unit created at the livestock pen) would get censored. -.-"
However, I think the devs are not going to do anything about it. Whoever came up with it had some reason and the devs were probably told to do it or get fired. I mean Iâve expressed a strong dislike about it like right from February of 2020. Like I had demanded that they remove the word filter and apologize.
The responses on the forum (from microsoft) are pretty much like âOK, OK. Shut up nowâ. Theyâve archived threads and moved them. So, they donât even want to talk about it. They know that if they have an open poll, it would be like 95% of the player base is against it. Of the remaining 5%, most would be open to making it optional.
The irony is like most of the players are millennials or kids born in the late 90s. The youngest millennial is like going to turn 30 this year. This is the demographic thatâs being babied right now.
1 Like
Why though? I didnât get the reference. How is it naughty?
This censor system is worse than it was in 1600. 
no idea, bro. There was a game Hera played in which he wanted to say âggâ⊠that got censored. Next, he said âyour mother is ggâ⊠and that did NOT get censored. It can be weird at times.
3 Likes