World of Warcraft
Having spent months doing an endless chain of missions, upgrading our spells and hunting for crazy phat loot in dungeons, we needed to surface for air and find other ways to amuse ourselves. The main difference between AI and humans, we found out, is that humans swear more…
Swearing
Set-up:
In a crowded area, we ask everyone to say a swear word. This will allow us to assess the effects of suggestibility and peer pressure on gameplay, while allowing us to say rude words.
Outcome:
In Orgrimmar, just four people replied to our plea to say "bums." However, everyone responded far more readily toour suggestion that they all jump together, and "try to shake the server." Meanwhile, in Stormwind City, the Alliance was proving far more mature. Only Electrolux replied to our appeal for "any swear word you like," happily improvising such obscenities as "nipples." Apart from a single "lol," no one else took part.
We think:
Virtually no one will make up their own swear word. More will repeat a provided word and nearly everyone will jump. The level of compliance is inversely proportional to the effort required; in other words, no one can generally be bothered.
