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‘Adolf Critler’ and the Question of Video Games and Free Speech

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Poor old Adolf Critler. All he wanted to do was bum around Tyria for a while, hang out with his friends, and seek and destroy the armies of Zhaitan, the undead dragon. Instead, he was ejected from the game. And all because of his name.

Adolf, thankfully, isn’t a real person. He’s a character an anonymous player has created in Guild Wars 2, the immensely popular massively multiplayer online role playing game launched this week. And because the character’s name bares a striking resemblance to that of a certain genocidal Fuhrer, the game’s developers, ArenaNet, decided to give Critler the boot. Determined to provide the hordes of players who flocked to the game—it sold a million copies before it was even released—with good, clean fun, ArenaNet cracked down not only on punchy punsters (much to the chagrin of the player who named his character Verybigballsackk), but also on Holocaust jokers, N-word aficionados, chauvinist pigs, and anyone else whose speech was deemed offensive.

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