The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.
"theGAYERgamer" gamertag banned on XBL; Microsoft explains
Captain K
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
http://kotaku.com/390593/thegayergamer-gets-xbox-live-ban-microsoft-explains
Starting a new thread, as the old one went rather poorly.
I recommend that everyone think twice before making idiotic posts or tongue-in-cheek jabs here. There's already been one tempban earned on this topic today.
Kotaku wrote:The Consumerist printed a letter from a reader, Grant, who claims his Xbox Live gamertag, "theGAYERgamer," was banned from Xbox Live. When he called Microsoft customer support, a rep reportedly told him that while she wasn't offended by his gamertag, "the greater Xbox community" had found his it offensive, thereby warranting a ban.
Hit the jump for Grant's full letter to The Consumerist and for comment from Microsoft reps.
Consumerist,
I have had a bad morning. Last night when i tried to sign into my xbox live account "thegayergamer" I was told that it had to be changed. I figured that it was just from people reporting it as an offensive name being that the greater Xbox live community isn't exactly welcome to gay people, i spend a lot of time muting people on Halo3. I assumed that once i called Microsoft they would straighten things out.
I talked to a supervisor there, Roxy, who told me that she didn't personally find the fact that my gamer tag had gay in the name offensive, but that the greater Xbox community did, so i would have to change it. I hope I'm not the only person who finds this don't ask, don't tell policy disgusting... eek
From Grant, thegayergamer
Microsoft, when contacted, referred us to Xbox Live team member Stephen Toulouse's personal site which explains the Live terms of use in detail. Toulouse writes that the gamertag is in violation of implied "sexual innuendo", one of the many forms of disallowed "content of a sexual nature." Toulouse expands:
We recieved a complaint on the Gamertag and determined that it did indeed contain sexual innuendo. Now granted, there could be an argument that the text is not pejorative to homosexuality and should therefore be allowed. But there is no context to explain that. 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.
Toulouse clarifies that "yes 'TheStraighterGamer' or 'TheHeterosexualgamer' would have gotten the same treatment and would have been found to be in violation and forced to be changed," adding that gamertags along those lines have been banned in the past. The entire post is definitely worth a full read.
What do Kotaku readers think? Is this an extension of what many people discuss as a culture of intolerance on Xbox Live? Should users be able to express themselves on Live in any way they see fit? Or does sexuality simply not belong in gamertags, regardless of orientation?
Starting a new thread, as the old one went rather poorly.
I recommend that everyone think twice before making idiotic posts or tongue-in-cheek jabs here. There's already been one tempban earned on this topic today.
Captain K on
0
Posts
Well then they better ban everybody on XBL with pimp in their name.
Which is a lot of people.
That is a good idea. It would probably eliminate a lot of idiots.
The people who get their kicks from ruining games and insulting others are probably the same people who'd think of gay as an insult and use it in some ironic way, like calling yourself: Thegameruiner or Fucktard.
Also, if the "straight" names are banned too, I don't see any homophobic discrimination taking place here.
I think the bigger question would be: Do you agree or disagree with MS's policies to ban anything bound to offend others? Should Live be a battlefield of opinions and informations, or should it be filtered to be a "clean" experience?
Obviously Microsoft has the final word, but as much of a "freedom of speech" guy I am, I can't help but like the idea of a clean environment, if only out of spite nowadays for the dicks abusing freedom of speech to shout racial slurs and show their balls on their cam.
EDIT: I dunno if titmouse is sarcastic or not (prolly not) but I agree: there are way too much idiots on Live and if banning names will give me a better chance of playing with mature people who seek to have fun and respect each other while doing so, I'll gladly give up most of my freedom to offend on Live. Not in real life, obviously, but this is a privately owned system to connect people together so they can play games. I can do with a few severe rules on it.
So what. No one cares if you're gay straight, tranny, or whatever you chose to identify yourself as. Pick another name or give up the service if it offends you. Their ball, their rules.
@gamefacts - Totally and utterly true gaming facts on the regular!
I think people mean that the gamertag is banned, like, the name.
Others had to do so before and this guy has to do the same, no biggie.
There's something about this argument that just doesn't sit right with me. Why is it that explaining to a child what a homosexual is, is a problem? It's not like you're going to say "oh, well that's a guy who bangs other guys." Which seems to an unspoken assumption when this gamer tag was banned. You'd probably put it a bit more gently, just like you'd explain what mommies and daddies do in a gentle way.
To me, trying to "protect" your children by not explaining what homosexuality brings with it the subtext that homosexuality is something amoral or negative.
Maybe they weren't wrong?
The... TheSonicRetard?
I guess my question is, where does the gamertag cross the line. The first tag is just stated a fact, a fact that may offend people, while the second tag is stating a fact via a racial slur. Of course the 2nd would be more offensive, but now we are talking about thresholds of offense. How can one even begin to determine what is offense enough to warrant a tag ban.
Either way, I don't envy the folks that have to manage it.
I am going to expect the latter. Toulouse apparently thinks it is okay for a child to play (violent) videogames, but heavens forbid they see the word "straight" or "gay". It is this kind of of prudishness that lead to some great Victorian novels, so I'm all for it. When are top hats and "thee" coming back in fashion?
The answer to that is, in my opinion, unequivocally, yes. I believe that suggesting "theGAYERgamer" is sexual innuendo is incorrect. Microsoft needs to take a more pro-active stance in this space and realize that instead of simply plugging their collective ears and/or removing what they believe to be offensive, they need a more comprehensive policy that embraces sexually, religiously and culturally diverse gamertags.
Will this create usernames that folks find offensive? Yes. But, in my opinion, it's a greater evil to restrict the (positive) expression of their some of users than it is to offend some of their users.
In my opinion these issues should be handled by Xbox Live Customer Service on a case by case basis. The user should be involved and should be given the opportunity to justify the positive nature of their name. That is the type of customer service Microsoft should be aiming for - and it's something that is very much within their grasp.
They ruined the results by attempting to measure the controversy.
The Sixth Annual Triwizard Drinking Tournament Part 1 |
Pokecrawl Episode 4: The Power Of One!
Portalflip
Pokemon X: Atlus | 3539-8807-3813
And to complete your thought: if the gamertag had never been reported, there's a decent chance it would have gone unnoticed forever and never caused any problems at all.
If this wasn't all so dumb it would be amusing.
Interestingly enough some people do in fact believe that homosexuality is amoral or negative in some way. Crazy, I know. People believe a lot of things are bad, from electricity to doing shit on Saturdays to drinking coffee to dancing to well, just about anything.
People are silly, such is life.
Exactly. What you just said describes what pretty much 95% of the Christian community believes. You may be Christian and not believe that, but I think this is a religious issue for the most part. Most Christians believe that homosexuality is a sin (a very big one), and thus they do not want their children exposed to it in any way whatsoever. Simply explaining to a child what homosexuality is would be considered a bad thing to do; to them, the children would be safer simply not even knowing such a thing exists.
Not only that, but they specified that it WAS in regard of sexual nature and NOT of homosexuality.
85% of statistics are stupid as shit.
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
Yes, I guess that's true. Even then, I don't think they should ban something like "Ilikewomen" or "heteroguy". I don't feel that those names are sexual in nature. They do pertain to sexuality, but I don't feel that they are innuendos.
Besides, if I had children, there is no way in hell I would let them near XBL unless I felt they were at an age where they would be able to deal with swearing and other such things.
I guess it boils down to the fact that I think it's a bit silly of Microsoft to enforce something like this with that kind of reasoning, yet ignore the rest of the shit that goes down on XBL, which is much more prevalent and offensive.
If you're attempting to say my statistic is wrong, I was obviously just using it to make a point, not an actual fact that deserves to be in Wikipedia.
I few this as protecting the gamer himself (in this case, thegayergamer) from the fucktards on live. I am not thinking about the poor little christian children.
That said, Microsoft can do what they want. Their service, their rules.
Sadly, no... But here's a list of what you will get out of Rock Band:
[too much to fit in a sig, thats what]
It seem pretty straight-forward to me. Just like a MMO, your name gets changed if enough bitch about it.
BOTP'd
On the topic of protecting children: Agree with it or not, parent's have a right to raise their children as they see fit as long as it coincides with federal and state law. Sure some potentially good kids are turned into idiots by their parents but what's the alternative? Government education camps?
Which brings me to kind of an off topic thing... is diversity special if it's forced?
Thus, friends codes came to be.
As a Christian myself, it annoys me when people say things like that. I'm not going to play dumb and pretend that most Christians don't consider homosexuality to be a sin, but you could have gotten your point across better by saying "What you said describes what a large majority of the christian community believes" rather than making it sound like those who aren't dumb as hell only constitutes 5% of the Christian population.
But thats just nitpicking, I understand your point.
Would I personally be offended and thin M$ is trying to be anti-gay or something like that; no. But at the same time, I think this is just getting dumb. They really ought to check out the gamer tags that have been 'reporting' him and I am sure we will find plenty of innuendos. Like "Bluntmaster69" or "Fister666" or "xXPimpChief69Xx" or other stupid fucking names.
So you /can/ report everyone with "pimp" in his/her username. As the act of pimping is pretty obviously illegal in the US of A.
Go, G+T! Go forth and report everyone with pimp in their username!
That was exactly what I thought. I think it's a bit silly to ban that sort of name on the grounds that you have to explain it to children. There are plenty of ways to explain sexuality without being explicit.
83.7% of all statistics are made up on the spot.
Personally I don't see what's so special about this thing. Don't people get banned for having offensive names all the time?
That would be the saying I was referencing.
The only difference between gay, straight and bi people is who they're attracted to (and that entirely include sexuality). It's not as if gays had all red hair and straight people had black hair, so you could claim that your gay name means you're a redhead and identify to this. It has to involve sex in a way, since that's what your orientation determines, and nothing else.
Sounds like Nintendo's WFC.