If she got banned because people found it offensive is kinda stupid, then again.. why are you advertising that on your xbox live profile, is not a dating site, who cares if you're gay or straight
ok so I thought this was kind of an interesting story and from few details we have it seems MS is over doing it by banning her.
shouldnt 50% of Xbox Live be banned by now? "gay" seems to be the adjective of choice for most of the gaming community (and today's society in general).
what I would like to know is how many people complained? and why cant we get cheaters and real assholes on Live banned seemingly as easy just by complaining they were offensive.
My last post. Since people keep mentioning it the reality is that you are far more likely to get banned for things in the following order to head of this continual post.
1.) Your gamertag.
2.) Your profile
3.) What you actually say in game.
This is because the way the system is designed and the way human nature works you are far less likely to be reported during the course of a match than at any other time because a person has to stop playing. Remember your tag and then report you.
Now you can argue there should be a different method of enforcing things rather than having Xbox Live users (or PSN users or any online community)function as the police but noticing that people are less likely to get banned for what they say versus what is in their tag isn't a shocking insight. Now it might be insight of course into the idea that a different system is needed for enforcement.
The problem with this is that Microsoft knows how much hate speech goes on XBL and yet they ban someone for having lesbian in their profile while the repeat hate speakers seem to go untouched. A simple visit to a match in COD4 or Halo 3 or Gears 2 would give a Microsoft community manager all the evidence they need to ban someone.
ms-07 said:
She brought it upon herself. HAY I'M A LESBIAN LOOK AT ME
Yeah, totally! Like if she did that in real life, a bunch of homophobes should be able to beat her in an alleyway and slash her tires! I mean, she brought it upon herself by telling bigots that she was gay!
Thats a good point actually. Gay can refer to both men and woman who are attracted to the same sex. Though it seems lesbian is intended for girls only. Such a sexist world we live in :lol
fernoca said:
Kinda fix'd.
No, I don't..post Hi-res pictures and videos to understand.
MS didn't make this decision at all. This actually equates to a bunch of XBLers declaring themselves a "No Lesbians Society" (think of the "No Homers Club" on the Simpsons) and making a statement.
Is it fair to this individual? Not in the least. But then, it wasn't fair to Homer either.
Online gaming, including MMOs(I think stuff like this has happened in them) have yet to figure the difference between offensive and harmful. Though, until society is able to make the distinction better, they may not do so themselves. Many and any thing can be offensive, but truly harmful and dangerous is far more easier to define. If you make rules based on what is offensive, then you open up the door wide for manipulation and abuse.
sure, I badly worded it though, I'm kinda saying that they're all the same sort of thing and that hair colour has as much relevance, no-one will whine about that.
Online gaming, including MMOs(I think stuff like this has happened in them) have yet to figure the difference between offensive and harmful. Though, until society is able to make the distinction better, they may not do so themselves. Many and any thing can be offensive, but truly harmful and dangerous is far more easier to define. If you make rules based on what is offensive, then you open up the door wide for manipulation and abuse.
Exactly. Some goons found it offensive that she labeled herself a lesbian? Because I'm pretty sure she finds it deeply offensive that they find it offensive.
I'm not even going to comment on the narrow-minded thinking prevalent in this thread (other than to say that), but this further proves that Xbox Live is the kindergarten version of PC online gaming (although I recognize that the problem comes up in PC gaming too). I doubt MS was discriminating, but I know for sure that Xbox Live users would make it a point to discriminate. The community disgusts me.
So someone can't say their sexual orientation because Live is filled with people who will attack her, which is most likely against the Terms of Service? Microsoft shouldn't be punishing people for "making themselves targets", they should be punishing the people that make the service so unbearable that everyone becomes a target.
saw this earlier on slashdot and thought about posting it here, but there's so many people on GAF that are just as bad about this kinda thing.
i've played online with plenty of people and we've mentioned we were gay (or lesbian in the case of one) and never had anything like this happen.
sucks for her though. maybe someday MS will change the policy. they have plenty of
i think part of the problem is that MS doesn't monitor any of the voice chats, and i'm betting they have a policy of just banning after so many complaints, and they refuse to reverse any complaints because they don't want to appear weak when they really have no evidence to properly evaluate the claims. i don't know how they're going to deal with that, but they certainly need to change the whole 'gay' policy.
That's not her fault. She should stoop to their level in an effort to fit in? What bass ackwards place are we living in?
"She brought it upon herself" reminds me very much of some Muslim authorities who say that, if a woman shows her hair, she is inviting men to rape her, and it is her fault if she is raped or abused.
I'm not even going to comment on the narrow-minded thinking prevalent in this thread (other than to say that), but this further proves that Xbox Live is the kindergarten version of PC online gaming (although I recognize that the problem comes up in PC gaming too). I doubt MS was discriminating, but I know for sure that Xbox Live users would make it a point to discriminate. The community disgusts me.
Way to lop "America" into this when it's a microsoft thing, unless you're referring to the gamers that found it offensive, which could've easily been from other nations. This is not like LOL@EU or something when they get the later release date on a title, or LOL@NA for the box arts type joking posts. "Stay classy America" and the sort is actually getting a little disgusting to be honest when it's nothing pertaining our laws, our beliefs, or our society. I'm not sure why that stuff has bothered me, maybe it's my hormones or that i'm in a bitter mood overall today. This case is of an American based company that is established world wide, an individual entity, not a country nor it's people within it that have rallied much throughout the years for people's sexual preferences.
Anyways, they'll fix it like everything else though and just throw some money at it to make it go away. Lucky girl is about to get paid.
Not really seeing how her sexual orientation is relevant to her gaming profile on XBL, but I don't see why she shouldn't be able to post it.
BUT
MS just reacted to the complaints here, it seems, which is totally understandable, assuming that complaints are most likely handled automatically. So you get banned first, questions are asked later. So I totally get how it ended the way it did.
MS just has to unban her and everything's peachy, I'd say.
I don't think banning was a good solution, but I don't see why she had to put the fact that she's a lesbian in her profile. That's just calling for attention and is nowhere relevant to games. Why should I know you're a lesbian when I see your profile? It's unnecessary info.
As much as I hate to say it, she practically walked into a wolf's den dressed as a sheep.
Did she deserve to be banned? No. Did she really need to advertise her being a lesbian on xbl? No.
It's a personal user profile, so why should it be related to games? Tons of profiles out there have stuff in them that's not videogame-related. I also don't care that DirkFan07 writes in his profile that he hopes the Mavs will go all the way this year, but it's his profile, so he can.
can I get a ban on BudSMOKER420, XGaNjAmAnX, and all of their friends? Marijuana is illegal in the United States and I don't want my children exposed to it! What does it have to do with video games! It has no place in an online profile! They're just asking for attention!
Cough.
Also, let's get a ban on races! Identifying yourself as a race is just asking for racism. Oh, and women. There's no need to tell me you're a woman online, it only fuels my misogyny. Is my sarcasm coming through yet?
It is silly to put your sexual orientation into your profile, it's so irrelevant to playing games, and the XBL fanbase is rife with homophobic, racist idiots. Microsoft are no better though, it seems. Apple from the tree and all that.
re: the consumerist story. Expression of any sexual orientation (straight or gay or otherswise) is not allowed in gamertags (cont)
about 8 hours ago from TweetDeck
However we've heard from the user base they want that capability, so I am examining how we can provide it in a way that wont get misused
about 8 hours ago from TweetDeck
I can't say any more at the moment, except to say I'm working right now in finding a way to safely express relationship preference.
about 8 hours ago from TweetDeck
can I get a ban on BudSMOKER420, XGaNjAmAnX, and all of their friends? Marijuana is illegal in the United States and I don't want my children exposed to it! What does it have to do with video games! It has no place in an online profile! They're just asking for attention!
Cough.
Also, let's get a ban on races! Identifying yourself as a race is just asking for racism. Oh, and women. There's no need to tell me you're a woman online, it only fuels my misogyny. Is my sarcasm coming through yet?
Private organization, private service, private usage, they can claim that bringing up "sex" is a violation of their terms of use or some such nonsense if it is in there. I mean, I assume that if you put "I fuck bitches and hos" up on your Xbox Live profile, they will probably ban your ass.
I don't know, read the TOS or something. I'm too lazy.
Oh, and for the person who said "you hear gay, fag, etc. every 10 seconds on Live": I'm pretty sure if a Microsoft representative heard you say that, you'd be banned. And if people made complaints, you'd at least get some sort of warning/punishment.
What does anything people put in gamer profiles/tags have to do with playing video games? People put things like country, age and race in gamertags all the time.
Love the "are you bi?" ad at the bottom of the page for this thread.
At any rate. I cancelled my Gold sub last summer for these very reasons. I got tired of hearing the more foul, juvenile, racist, homophobic hate-speech when I was trying to "have fun". YMMV.
But do people put "I'm Straight" in their profiles?
Maybe some do, but I've never come across it.
Either way, it's dumb on both sides. Dumb of this girl for putting this out there when everyone knows XBOX Live is full of homophobic idiots, and dumb of Microsoft for blowing it up by banning her.