Your Rights Online: Gamer Claims Identifying As a Lesbian Led To Xbox Live Ban

[Bob Hubbard]

Your Rights Online: Gamer Claims Identifying As a Lesbian Led To Xbox Live Ban on Wednesday February 25, @04:24PM

Posted by timothy on Wednesday February 25, @04:24PM
from the you-have-crossed-the-line-ma'am dept.

Goatbert writes "I just read on the Consumerist about an XBOX Live user being banned for identifying herself as a lesbian. Despite appeals, Microsoft has stood by its position that merely mentioning that you are gay or lesbian is grounds for terminating your XBOX Live membership."
http://slashdot.org/#


Read More...

 

[Carol]

" We've heard of gamers being suspended for identifying themselves as gay in their GamerTag, and even one case of a guy whose name was actually "Richard Gaywood" but his tag was suspended anyway because apparently the word "gay" is so offensive that it doesn't matter if its actually your name."


Why do I have the fear that it won't be long before I can't use my name online either because "Carol" could be a religious reference and the use of such could be offensive to non-Christians...

 

[CoryKS]

*facepalm*

I am shocked -- shocked! -- to learn that there are some things Micro$oft won't do for money.

 

[tellner]

...and one Jewish guy was banned for having "Jew" in his screen name.

Thank Cthulhu my first name isn't "Gaylord".

 

[Thesemindz]

If you read further into the articles there you see that Microsoft claims that self identifying as heterosexual would get you the same treatment.

http://www.stepto.com/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=434

Somehow I doubt their honesty.


-Rob

 

[Bob Hubbard]

This from a company that used to allow employees to work in the nude.

 

[Cryozombie]

This is not about Microsoft, its about lawyers and overboard protectionism.

Its about a world where an Illegal Alien can come onto your property and damage your home, but if you detain them for arrest you have to pay 70k in damages.

Microsoft is a target. Its only a matter of time before some Mommy sues them because her son played Grandtheft Auto with Gaylord Lesbian Licker

Cuz, GTA is appropriate, but "Gay" and "Lesbian" isnt.

 

[Nolerama]

I'm under the assumption that Microsoft would have their customers use sexless avatars while they are playing on that network.

I get that it decreases liability for the company.

But Cryo does point out the irony in the fact that while kids can play a violent sociopath that picks up prostitutes, steals cars, and uses a variety of firearms to shoot at police officers, it's NOT okay to point out one's personal sexual orientation.

It could be seen that Microsoft would rather gamers visit their online community to play, and not socialize with sexual overtones.

Can the Internet be gender-less? Free of immediate sexual orientation? Yeah, it can. But that sort of thing might allow predators to come into contact with children.

It could also mean that this is a swat at preventing sexual harassment online; which can prove detrimental to overall sales. If a person listed as "gay" gets harassed in-game, what does that say about harassing a heterosexual person in a predominantly gay game room? Again, this might be an attempt to squash that sort of behavior and return the gamers to their game.

 

[Carol]

I'm under the assumption that Microsoft would have their customers use sexless avatars while they are playing on that network.

I get that it decreases liability for the company.

But Cryo does point out the irony in the fact that while kids can play a violent sociopath that picks up prostitutes, steals cars, and uses a variety of firearms to shoot at police officers, it's NOT okay to point out one's personal sexual orientation.

It could be seen that Microsoft would rather gamers visit their online community to play, and not socialize with sexual overtones.

Can the Internet be gender-less? Free of immediate sexual orientation? Yeah, it can. But that sort of thing might allow predators to come into contact with children.

It could also mean that this is a swat at preventing sexual harassment online; which can prove detrimental to overall sales. If a person listed as "gay" gets harassed in-game, what does that say about harassing a heterosexual person in a predominantly gay game room? Again, this might be an attempt to squash that sort of behavior and return the gamers to their game.

But the point and purpose of these online gaming communities is the ability to socialize around a game. That is why they are profitable. I play games on pogo.com all the time which is run by another gaming giant, Electronic Arts.

There are game rooms marked for all kinds of interests, from book reading to staying up late, to gay themes, to "uncensored chat" which can either be tame or raunchy, depending on who is in the room. There are many players that have expressed their relationship status and/or orientation. I have yet to hear of EA coming under fire, and Pogo has no shortage of players.

 

[Empty Hands]

This is not about Microsoft, its about lawyers and overboard protectionism.

Its about a world where an Illegal Alien can come onto your property and damage your home, but if you detain them for arrest you have to pay 70k in damages.

Microsoft is a target. Its only a matter of time before some Mommy sues them because her son played Grandtheft Auto with Gaylord Lesbian Licker

Cuz, GTA is appropriate, but "Gay" and "Lesbian" isnt.

No, it has nothing to do with any of that. This is a hamfisted attempt to curtail gender, sexual and race-based trash talking that is rampant on XBox Live, particularly in certain games like Call of Duty or Gears of War that draw in the 13 year old boy demographic. Being called a "fag" constantly by a snot nosed kid does get annoying.

Of course, this is absolutely the wrong way to go about it, but the overall desire is sound.

 

[Kreth]

Just playing devil's advocate here... Do we know for a fact that this was just because of a gamer tag? Or, like a member we once had here, did every in-game chat have to include a reference to her sexuality?
Over the top, but this is what I mean:
[yt]VZDeAMNIXg8[/yt]

 

[Cryozombie]

No, it has nothing to do with any of that. This is a hamfisted attempt to curtail gender, sexual and race-based trash talking that is rampant on XBox Live, particularly in certain games like Call of Duty or Gears of War that draw in the 13 year old boy demographic. Being called a "fag" constantly by a snot nosed kid does get annoying.

Of course, this is absolutely the wrong way to go about it, but the overall desire is sound.

Hmm. Do you really think MS cares? Or are they trying to maximize profits while Minimizing lawsuits?

 

[CoryKS]

No, it has nothing to do with any of that. This is a hamfisted attempt to curtail gender, sexual and race-based trash talking that is rampant on XBox Live, particularly in certain games like Call of Duty or Gears of War that draw in the 13 year old boy demographic. Being called a "fag" constantly by a snot nosed kid does get annoying.

Of course, this is absolutely the wrong way to go about it, but the overall desire is sound.

Of course it's hamfisted. Who wants to spend time and money to develop a cool video game system only to find out that now you have to spend more time and more money to babysit the users and keep them from throwing "ha ha ur a fagg lol" insults at each other?