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May/086
May/086
Xbox Live Bans Teh Ghey
It just makes me want to set up a new Live account called ImHereImQueer. I don’t exactly know how to feel about this, Microsoft has apparently taken to banning gamertags on Xbox Live with the word “gay” in them, including a dude who supposedly used his last name “Gaywood” in his. Yes that’s right, the service known for being stuffed to the gills with 13 year olds calling each other “faggot” fifteen times in any given match of teh Haloz finds a little gay in your gamertag offensive. Or rather, the “greater Xbox community” finds it offensive according to one supervisor.
Which leads me to question: are they trying to protect gay people from being made fun of by homophobic Xbox Live gamers, or are they trying to protect homophobic Xbox Live gamers from having to knowingly interact with someone who identifies themselves as gay? This insofar is pretty unclear, but many gay gaming sites (yes they do exist) are a tad concerned about this.
Where it may come as a surprise to some people out there that gay people are gamers… and tax payers, and home owners, and can be found walking the streets among the general populous, you can rest assured there are gays on Live. Some have said that it’s stupid for someone to identify their sexuality in their gamertag and gay people shouldn’t be “flaunting” it in the first place. Where they have something of a point, so then this would mean that surely Microsoft is expected to also ban names that identify any sexuality, right? Like “SecksyGurl123″ or “LoveMachineXOXO” or something? What if someone made the name “StraightGuy” or “Heteroman” or “Girl4Guyz”? Would those also be banned? The answer is: probably not (by the way I invite people to go make those names now.)
So what if someone wants to call themselves “TheGayerGamer” (it’s as silly and funny as “Heteroman”)? The fact they’re going about banning any instance of the word “gay” and not judging this reasonably on a case-by-case basis makes it seem like the word “gay” is what’s being deemed offensive, not that its use by some users may be offensive to gay players. This is just a PR problem waiting to happen, especially when you consider the following from Xbox Live’s staff as reported by the Kotaku article:
“We want the Xbox LIVE community to have the freedom to express themselves, but we also have a responsibility to create an inclusive, safe environment,” said Microsoft’s Stephen Toulouse. “While it may be clear to some that Gaywood is a legitimate surname, it may not be obvious to other Xbox LIVE members. In this case, a complaint was filed by a member of the community, requiring the Xbox LIVE team to examine the gamertag within the context of the Xbox LIVE Terms of Use. Based on the these guidelines, it was necessary for the gamertag to change.”
“Gamertags are visible to everyone and it would be hard for me to defend to a parent of a young child who saw it that the name did not contain content of a sexual nature”
Yes, banning someone’s name over the word “gay” because some people might not realize it’s a real surname and one other member of the service complained is the definition of “inclusive”.
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4:20 pm on May 29th, 2008
Ok, so I was reading through the comments on your link to the gay gamer sites, and the only thing that really came to mind was “Wow, these people have a lot of time”. I’m not saying that- well, ok, so from what I see there is a some overreacting about this. Yowzers seemed the most sensible in both his statements. I mean, I suppose on one hand I understand why people are getting all up in arms, but really now. It’s a name, and although Microsoft’s reasons for banning the word may not be too clear, it’s their site, and they can make whatever rules they want. You’re choosing to pay to play, right? Besides, it’s not a hard rule to follow. The only reason a person would/should be using ‘gay’ in a gamertag is as a joke (as you aren’t supposed to be using your real name anyway..).
I dunno. I guess it all just seems a bit… silly. All of it. The guy deciding to use his real name, someone (or a lot of someones) complaining about it, Microsoft having to take action, and then the gay community (though it sounds stupid to have to seperate them like that, to be honest) raising the flags on it.
4:31 pm on May 29th, 2008
Well I linked to GamePolitics which is linking to gay gamer sites, it’s sort of a links upon links thing.
What I resent about Yowser’s statement is the sort of “stay in the closet” sentiment. If you want to be seen as NORMAL don’t identify as gay, he’s basically saying, “normal” by default being “not gay” rather than all of it being considered “normal”. And sure, it’s stupid to act like gay is a subculture, though everything has a subculture in some way or another whether you try to form one or not (there’s even a gaming subculture to a large extent), but like I said so what if someone wants to call themselves “TheGayerGamer”? Which is a joke, not necessarily an offensive one either.
On the flip side some people are overreacting, but it doesn’t make this feel any less uncomfortable. I guess it’s a tricky situation. And you know, gay people are their customers too.
1:09 am on May 30th, 2008
True. Though I guess I’ve never made a real definite difference between gay and straight, besides sexuality (buh-duh), which is your own business. So seeing all this so blown up is just, eh, strange I suppose.
As for Yowsers, I found it to mean more of a “Ok, you’re gay, so what?” kind of a thing. Why would you bother to announce it on something like X-box Live unless, of course, as a joke? As I said in the above statement, it’s your own business. It seems just as silly (albeit humorous in a way) as announcing you’re straight like you joked about. That’s why I stated his statement seemed the most sensible. Apparently we took a different perspective of it.
1:16 am on May 30th, 2008
Aaand I think I lost my reply… So, to repeat myself.
I agree on some parts there, but I’ve never really made a definite difference between gay/lesbian/bi/whatever and straight besides the only difference that there is, which is their sexual preferences, which is their own business. In short, I suppose I don’t particularly care.
On that note, when I read Yowzers statement it struck me as more of a ‘Ok, you’re gay, so what?” kind of a thing. As in, why would you seriously (as in not for a good laugh or joke) announce such a thing? Does it actually matter on something like X-Box Live? It seems as silly (albeit humorous in a way) as making a point to say you’re straight; as you joked about. That’s why I said he seemed one of the most sensible. We apparently had a different perspective of his statement.
3:38 am on May 30th, 2008
Ah no sorry, the spam filter picked up your post. I’ve retardedly had to flag the word “sex” for moderation thanks to certain spam advertisers, I didn’t think it’d pick it up in a larger word. Bah.
Yowzers did use the phrasing “if you want to be viewed as a normal person”.
When I say it’s silly I mean it’s silly in a considerably inoffensive way. In that it shouldn’t matter and definitely shouldn’t be a reason for a banning.
7:21 pm on August 25th, 2008
I don?t really think that it?s fair to ban usernames with ?gay? in it, or anything with words related to sexuality. Whether these usernames are meant to be jokes or for real, I don?t think that Microsoft is in the proper position to do this.
Sure, some people may not be open to gays quite yet, but, for God?s sake! It?s a username. Even a real last name had to be pulled in to these ?Terms of Use?.
Yeah, I?m just a naive adolescent, and even if I used to hate gays and lesbians when I was a kid, but sexuality shouldn?t be the grounds for a person to be able to access these services.