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Dictionary
In conversations, room descriptions, and other places where players are allowed
to enter freeform text, players can only type words on the game's list of
allowed words (which contains a total of about ten thousand word forms derived
from about three thousand base words). If a player types a word not on the list,
it flashes in red to warn him that it will not be accepted. If the player
presses Return twice, the word appears to other players as "###". Some of the
more notable words missing from the allowed list are numbers, names of states,
and names of major cities. Typos are not accepted, and only the first letter of
a word can be capitalized. These restrictions presumably exist to protect
players by preventing them from divulging their ages or locations.
Attempts to work around the limited dictionary by using homophones or other
awkward shorthand are called "dictionary dancing." For example, common
substitutions for numbers are the use of "on", "too", "tree", "for", "ive",
"fix", "even", "ate", "mine" and "tent" for the numbers one through ten.
Staff have stated that "players who dictionary dance will be banned for their
safety and others'." Rooms in the game can be monitored by administrators, and
other players can report inappropriate behavior to the admins; attempting to
outwit the safeguards and reveal personal information or use profanity or other
inappropriate language will result in being warned or banned from the game.
However, action against players who dictionary dance has not been consistent,
and staff members themselves have been observed dictionary dancing.
Previously, players had been able to use the names of other characters in
conversation; thus, if a player existed with the name "Bubba", everyone could
type the name "Bubba" and have it appear in chat. As a result, users created
throwaway characters whose names were words they wanted to be able to use in
chat, and many of these names were approved by the administrators. This was
changed so that players may now only type the names of characters who are in the
room with them, who had been in the room recently, or who are on their friends
lists.
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