+Audioboxer Subscriber² Posted July 17, 2009 Subscriber² Share Posted July 17, 2009 This weekend the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation is hosting a talk about homophobia online and in games and Xbox Live's head of policy and enforcement will be on hand to hear what they have to say. Stephen Toulouse is going top the talk at Electronic Arts as his team works to find a solution to Microsoft's current position on mentioning one's sexual orientation in a Gamertag or profile on Live. Right now it's not allowed, but Toulouse says that will change once they figure out the best way to implement that change. "The overall policy we have today is that the expression of sexual orientation in a Gamertag or text field is not allowed," he told Kotaku today. "That doesn't matter what the orientation is." Toulouse said the team felt that the policy was even handed in its treatment of the issue, but have since learned that some consider it unfair. "We recognize that the policy is not just, that some communities feel like they are being targeted," he said. "Our challenge is how do that. We are working on that now." When looking into the issue Toulouse's team found that 98 percent of the uses of the word "gay" on Live was pejorative. The team is working now with GLAAD to best figure out how to resolve the issue in a way that allows people to identify themselves without allowing for something that could amount to hate speech. "I don't know what shape or form it will take," Toulouse said, "but yes we will go back and figure out how to make it work." Source: http://kotaku.com/5317094/microsoft-gay-al...orative-on-live Anyway I agree with MS, you give 15 year olds headsets and Halo 3 and you'll probably hear "you're gay, I'm going to pwn you" often. The saga carries on, but I totally agree with everything MS has done with censorship and sexuality, it really isn't needed to be used as an iconic state when playing a game. They're protecting YOU from the seas of immaturity that will hurl abuse at you within online gaming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZonoBurk Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 That's so gay. Sounds about right. :rolleyes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miuku. Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 Let's see. Would I use daP or HeterodaP. Yes, that's a damn hard choice and it really hurts my sexual identity. Jesus christ.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deathray Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 I'm with Microsoft on this one... People eventually always argue to be allowed to voice their opinions as they see fit, but as soon as someone takes that "freedom" and turns it around on them, then we'll hear crying and moaning about how this shouldn't be tolerated Simplest way to avoid this is to not allow anyone to bring specific things into the mix, in this case, controlling gamertags. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CL114C0777498D Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 i would agree that sexual orientation is mostly irrelevant to gaming, but then again, i don't see why it must be censored. free speech and all that. i also don't get the argument of "They're protecting YOU from the seas of immaturity that will hurl abuse at you within online gaming". i don't need microsoft to protect me from myself in a social sense, or from others. i know what a 'public space' is, and what 'consequences' are. i don't want any other person or collection of people to limit or determine what i can or cannot do based on their own values. though, that said, it is their infrastructure. and if they want things like religion and sexuality and other topics they regard as irrelevant to social gameplay to be censored, then i respect their right to do that, from the standpoint of maintaining experiential control of their product. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrunknMunky Veteran Posted July 17, 2009 Veteran Share Posted July 17, 2009 They should just keep it the way it is now tbh, there is no need to share your sexual preference on XBL and nobody really gives a toss who you sleep with. But I suppose that's not "PC" and they'll have no option but to somehow allow people to freely talk about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yusuf M. Veteran Posted July 17, 2009 Veteran Share Posted July 17, 2009 (edited) People shouldn't be mentioning their sexual orientation on Xbox LIVE. It has nothing to do with the current gaming environment and it'll just create situations of tension and hate. Seriously, why would I want people to know if I'm homosexual, heterosexual, or anything in between? It's totally irrelevant! Imagine the wave of intolerance and prejudice that will sweep over Xbox LIVE once people start including "Gay" or "Homo" in their Gamertags or taglines. It wouldn't be pretty and the best way to avoid it is not allow it at all. Edited July 17, 2009 by Anaron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Audioboxer Subscriber² Posted July 17, 2009 Author Subscriber² Share Posted July 17, 2009 People shouldn't be mentioning their sexual orientation on Xbox LIVE. It has nothing to do with the current gaming environment and it'll just create situations of tension and hate. Seriously, why would I want people to know if I'm homosexual, heterosexual, or anything in between. It's totally irrelevant! Imagine the wave of intolerance and prejudice that will sweep over Xbox LIVE once people start including "Gay" or "Homo" in their Gamertags or taglines. It wouldn't be pretty and the best way to avoid it is not allow it at all. My tag was going to be DrunkScottishBastard until I realised people might tell me I have a drinking problem. So yeah, no point in highlighting irrelevant things to gaming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revvo Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 but I totally agree with everything MS has done with censorship and sexuality, it really isn't needed to be used as an iconic state when playing a game. They're protecting YOU from the seas of immaturity that will hurl abuse at you within online gaming. Because censorship has always worked for the greater good, right? lol... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Audioboxer Subscriber² Posted July 17, 2009 Author Subscriber² Share Posted July 17, 2009 Because censorship has always worked for the greater good, right? lol... Well I never really seen Xbox Live as the central hub for adult entertainment, if it were, yes, censorship would blow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toadeater Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 There's no reason to advertise gayness on Xbox Live because unlike on PC gaming servers there is no sex talk of any kind allowed on Xbox Live! But I suspect it's not really gays that are behind this, but the gay political groups and their lawyers who are doing this for $$$ and publicity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airlink Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 Next, MS will announce Windows 7 Gay edition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomoko Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 Newsflash, the meanings of words often change over time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luis Mazza Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 Why the hell everything must be damn sexualized by this GLAAD community? Shut up. ?Besides that, calling someone gay is absolutely fine if they?re gay or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PermaSt0ne Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 People shouldn't be mentioning their sexual orientation on Xbox LIVE. It has nothing to do with the current gaming environment and it'll just create situations of tension and hate. Seriously, why would I want people to know if I'm homosexual, heterosexual, or anything in between? It's totally irrelevant! Imagine the wave of intolerance and prejudice that will sweep over Xbox LIVE once people start including "Gay" or "Homo" in their Gamertags or taglines. It wouldn't be pretty and the best way to avoid it is not allow it at all. My tag was going to be DrunkScottishBastard until I realised people might tell me I have a drinking problem.So yeah, no point in highlighting irrelevant things to gaming. there's no reason to show your sexual orientation right? there's also no reason to express that you like drunken monkeys, or that you're an audiophile or that you personally like the nickname Anaron there's no need for anything right? in fact there's no reason to have gamertags at all. gamertags, hell even avatars or customizations of characters have no effect on gaming. they don't fundementally change the game at all right? they are totally irrelevant. BAN IT ALL any argument you make for keeping gamer tags around can also be used for allowing people to put "gay" in their title. and the reverse is true, any argument you use for not allowing "gay" you can use to ban everything else as long as humans are different there will be insults and prejudice. giving a reason to selectively censor words, other than "because i can", is pure PR bullsh*t and has no logical basis MS just needs to say the real reason: if they allowed it then soccer moms would be up in arms and screaming "someone think of the children!!!" and MS would loose customers. it's about money Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Audioboxer Subscriber² Posted July 17, 2009 Author Subscriber² Share Posted July 17, 2009 there's no reason to show your sexual orientation right? there's also no reason to express that you like drunken monkeys, or that you're an audiophile or that you personally like the nickname Anaronthere's no need for anything right? in fact there's no reason to have gamertags at all. gamertags, hell even avatars or customizations of characters have no effect on gaming. they don't fundementally change the game at all right? they are totally irrelevant. BAN IT ALL any argument you make for keeping gamer tags around can also be used for allowing people to put "gay" in their title. and the reverse is true, any argument you use for not allowing "gay" you can use to ban everything else as long as humans are different there will be insults and prejudice. giving a reason to selectively censor words, other than "because i can", is pure PR bullsh*t and has no logical basis MS just needs to say the real reason: if they allowed it then soccer moms would be up in arms and screaming "someone think of the children!!!" and MS would loose customers. it's about money There's also no need to look into it too much. You know fine well topics like sexuality, religion and everything else cause 'half' the worlds problems. I don't mean that as a dig at sexuality/religion, I mean it in terms of it's what most people spend half their lives arguing about with each other. Telling someone you're an audiophile or like to drink is probably not going to cause as much of an issue as if you say "I'm a gay muslim". That right there would probably cause the 15 year olds on XBL to explode into a field trip of insults, it'd be like Christmas for them. Whilst going "FLAC or BUST" over XBL would probably just confuse them. MS want to avoid that on their network, rightfully. I just want to play games and enjoy it without drama, MS want me to be able to do that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Argi Posted July 18, 2009 Share Posted July 18, 2009 I'd agree... Xbox Live is bad enough as it is; this would only give kids another reason to start flaming eachother. :pinch: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M_Lyons10 Posted July 18, 2009 Share Posted July 18, 2009 I have to agree with Microsoft here. I just don't think that it's necessary to specify your sexual orientation on XBox Live. It's a gaming space, there's just no need for this. Additionally, if you do put this in your profile, there are a lot of people that aren't tolerant and would make inappropriate statements... I just don't see it as being anything good... Why the hell everything must be damn sexualized by this GLAAD community? Shut up. ?Besides that, calling someone gay is absolutely fine if they?re gay or not. I have to disagree here. Gay shouldn't be used as a offensive name to call people... This is one area where people have to grow up... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PermaSt0ne Posted July 18, 2009 Share Posted July 18, 2009 There's also no need to look into it too much.You know fine well topics like sexuality, religion and everything else cause 'half' the worlds problems. I don't mean that as a dig at sexuality/religion, I mean it in terms of it's what most people spend half their lives arguing about with each other. Telling someone you're an audiophile or like to drink is probably not going to cause as much of an issue as if you say "I'm a gay muslim". That right there would probably cause the 15 year olds on XBL to explode into a field trip of insults, it'd be like Christmas for them. Whilst going "FLAC or BUST" over XBL would probably just confuse them. MS want to avoid that on their network, rightfully. I just want to play games and enjoy it without drama, MS want me to be able to do that. i think the people who want to ban it are looking into it too much gamertags, avatars, forum names and such are a form of expresion. if someone has 12 characters to express themselves and they choose to make 3 of the 12 characters g, a, and y then obviously they feel that represents them best. that's why i say allow it now, why not allow it? what will happen if they do allow it? 1) gay people are used to people disrespecting them because of their sexual oreintation. they know that people are intolerant, so by actively putting it out there then they will be expecting it and will have no complaints 2) regardless of what your gamertag is, those 15 year olds will be just as immature and insulting. they'll either take your gamer tag and insult you with that, or just pull something out of thin air and call you poopy face. in fact, they'll probably wind up calling you gay (and it's variations of) anyways, even if you don't put it in your gamertag if you ban it, you stop people from expressing themselves. if you allow it, it doesn't get any worse than it already is, but at least people can express themselves the way they want. i still see zero reason to ban it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M_Lyons10 Posted July 18, 2009 Share Posted July 18, 2009 1) gay people are used to people disrespecting them because of their sexual oreintation. they know that people are intolerant, so by actively putting it out there then they will be expecting it and will have no complaints This is a very sad truth. It really shouldn't be this way. It's rather embarrassing... 2) regardless of what your gamertag is, those 15 year olds will be just as immature and insulting. they'll either take your gamer tag and insult you with that, or just pull something out of thin air and call you poopy face. in fact, they'll probably wind up calling you gay (and it's variations of) anyways, even if you don't put it in your gamertag The really sad thing is that this isn't limited to the 15 year olds. I've played kids that were more mature than many of the adults I've run into on XBox Live... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ji@nBing Posted July 18, 2009 Share Posted July 18, 2009 If I were MS, I'd tell this 'Gay Alliance" to f off. I don't get this need for gays to tell everyone their sexuality. There is absolutely no reason at all for it on XBL. All it would do is cause problems. If you're gay, be gay. NO ONE CARES!!! There's no need for them to go screaming about it every chance they get. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hjf288 Posted July 18, 2009 Share Posted July 18, 2009 Agreed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M_Lyons10 Posted July 18, 2009 Share Posted July 18, 2009 If I were MS, I'd tell this 'Gay Alliance" to f off. I don't get this need for gays to tell everyone their sexuality. There is absolutely no reason at all for it on XBL. All it would do is cause problems. If you're gay, be gay. NO ONE CARES!!! There's no need for them to go screaming about it every chance they get. Well, a lot of people do seem to care... LOL I understand that in some ways they don't want to feel like they're hiding who they are, so they want to be "Out there", but I agree that in this situation it doesn't make sense. There's just no need to have this in your XBox Live Profile... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trag3dy Posted July 18, 2009 Share Posted July 18, 2009 (edited) i think the people who want to ban it are looking into it too muchgamertags, avatars, forum names and such are a form of expresion. if someone has 12 characters to express themselves and they choose to make 3 of the 12 characters g, a, and y then obviously they feel that represents them best. that's why i say allow it now, why not allow it? what will happen if they do allow it? 1) gay people are used to people disrespecting them because of their sexual oreintation. they know that people are intolerant, so by actively putting it out there then they will be expecting it and will have no complaints 2) regardless of what your gamertag is, those 15 year olds will be just as immature and insulting. they'll either take your gamer tag and insult you with that, or just pull something out of thin air and call you poopy face. in fact, they'll probably wind up calling you gay (and it's variations of) anyways, even if you don't put it in your gamertag if you ban it, you stop people from expressing themselves. if you allow it, it doesn't get any worse than it already is, but at least people can express themselves the way they want. i still see zero reason to ban it So that's just inciting people to do it more then. Maturity levels don't run very high in video game social circles as you said. Why give people more things to flame/make fun of than they already have? You don't cover yourself in honey and stand in front of a bear and expect to not get bitten, do you? The point I'm trying to make is if you don't dangle something in front of someones face it would lessen in this case, incidents where people get into flame wars over gamer tags and what not. Note - not stop, just lessen. Until there's a test to determine a persons maturity level that won't ever happen. Yes, the people who do put those things in their game tags might expect to get some insults thrown their way, and if they are okay with that then it's perfectly fine. Me on the other hand, don't want to know that said person is gay because it's not relevant to the game. More importantly I don't want to see or hear in my entertainment of choice the insults being thrown back and forth. This applies to all things of sexual and religious nature in gamer tags Also it's XBL, not a protest in down town Insertbigcitynamehere or a social network forum like facebook, or a dating website. What does it matter if people aren't allowed to express themselves? We're here to play games, not find dates and hook up. Edited July 18, 2009 by trag3dy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M_Lyons10 Posted July 18, 2009 Share Posted July 18, 2009 Yeah, I don't really feel it's necessary at all, nor do I want to hear the resulting commentary (Which will, I'm sure, be immature and derogatory). It confuses me why you would want to do this, knowing the maturity of the people on that service... And it isn't like Microsoft is saying that gays can't do this, but others can... Nothing like that, whether it be straight, gay, or whatever, can be incorporated in your gamer tag or in your profile. I see nothing wrong with this. Now, granted, straight people don't have to put something in their profile to be assumed to be straight, but it's not a dating site... What would be cool though, is if there were groups you could sign up for on Live. There is for example a gay gamers site. If Microsoft allowed something like this, perhaps it would appease gay gamers, as they would be able to play with people in that particular group? I would probably just play with whoever, but having all sorts of groups being available would probably be cool anyhow... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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