When Nintendo adds additional phrases to its restricted list, the online Nintendo Switch experience should be somewhat safer.
Many people perceive the Nintendo Switch to be a more family-friendly console than its competitors, and Nintendo itself strives to uphold this reputation by, among other things, publishing more titles geared toward families and making the Switch’s online experience friendlier to children and parents.
However, words and their meanings evolve with time, thus it’s Nintendo’s responsibility to revise the list of forbidden terms from online games.
More terms have been added to the restricted vocabulary after the 16.0.0 upgrade.
Twitter updates from OatmealDome, a data miner for the Nintendo Switch who has previously reported on Nintendo’s prohibited phrases, have revealed the full scope of version 16.0.0 for the device, including a brief rundown of the terms that will no longer be allowed.
They tweeted that the code handling inappropriate phrases on the Nintendo Switch operating system had been “slightly altered,” with the original location of the code being changed to “prevent needless code duplication.”
In addition, they state that the forbidden words include “sexually charged language, drug-related terminology, words connected to grooming, profanity, etc.”
In addition, “salv8dor” and other phrases were reportedly added to the banned list after Kotaku reported on OatmealDome’s efforts.
In recent years, the word “groomers,” which originally referred to those who preyed on children online, has been appropriated and used to discriminate against members of the LGBTQ+ community, while the term “salv8dor” is most closely associated with the Uvalde school killings in Texas.
The use of once-acceptable terminology might become objectionable as time passes.
Companies need to adapt to ensure that some groups of people who use their goods are not exposed to offensive material, such as the Sinnerman questline in Cyberpunk 2077, or are given adequate warning before doing so.
Nintendo updates its list of banned sites on a regular basis, presumably to ensure the safety of its younger players who use Nintendo’s online games.
