Recently I was watching my sister play Bioshock, helping her get the audio diaries and which plasmids she should get. She is enjoying the game and it is nice to spend time with her, she is going for the good ending like me but she doesn't find the game as scary as I did. As she was finishing up one level, she casually remarked there was more swearing in that level then in the rest of the game so far. Quickly thinking back, it did seem vaguely to be true but I couldn't swear that it is true, perhaps simply I don't remember them as much.
It didn't really matter but it did give me food for thought and reminded me of James Barclay's book, Shout of the Dead. Set ten years after the, in my opinion, superior Cry of the Newborn, it does contain some excellently tragic moments and interesting conversation as it's predecessor. While Cry of the Newborn was a classic for me, Shout of the Dead was good but didn't quite live up to the first. Song of the Dead was nearly ruined for me though, one of the returning characters, a favorite, began swearing nearly every scene he appeared in so by the end, I wanted him dead. While the change made sense, it was overdone which is a surprise considering how brilliantly Barclay handled most sensitive subjects in the book.
Swearing in itself in a book or a game is not a problem nowadays, the time when a swearword in a flim or tv show would provoke a public debate is long gone. I'm glad that is the case, those seeking to create art or entertainment should be allowed to convey what goes on in everyday life and to push boundaries. Once the initial fuss dies down, nudity and swearing (among other things) becomes just another string in the bow, it won't save a poor piece of work but done right, can be a nice part of a good film/book/game. The main thing I can say for swearing is that nowadays that I could not tell you if Modern Warfare, Cry of the Newborn, Troy, Heavenly Sword, Phantom of the Opera film or anything else had swearing in or not.
Yet the problem is that sometimes people can try to be too radical or, for whatever reason, try to include so much swearing. GTA San Andrea's always made me feel uncomfortable with it's language, maybe a bit odd with all the violence and certain other factors but after I had done the killing, I would fear the cutscenes for what came out of the characters mouths. That game was the worst I could think of for that but been a couple of other times, Saints Row 2 for example, where a game/book/movie has been a little too quick to begin cussing.
Perhaps I just dislike it when things cross the line with swearing as I can't turn the volume off without missing some important piece of dialog whereas other things, I can just look away. Or maybe I'm just too conservative in this but I just wish that sometimes cussing would be used just a little less.
Sorry about the rant