"Gaymers" Speak Out On Homophobia

[Cyclomega]

Spoiler: I have no opinion on the subject, but I wanted to point this out, so you know who I respect and who I despise

Now please hate me with all your might, and report me to your heart's content.
I can't stop people from feeling offended...

And by the way, did the **** who coined the phrase "homophobia" even do the slightest etymological research ?
It would mean "he who fears those who are like him", which would be closer to sociopath, antisocial and misanthropic, and not "he who fears homosexuals"... anti-homo or something close would have a closer meaning.

Journalistic illetrism ? God only knows... (I assume future or full-fledged journalists will hate me, but I swear I stopped counting the retarded ones who make up words or fail at grammar, even in reknowned publications -at least in France, but I'm sure we're not the only ones) This last rant is a lost battle, I have been saying this for already 6 years or so, but it's always been in vain...

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

Love the picture, but using your logic, wouldn't "anti-homo" mean "against people like him?"

 

[Cyclomega]

Well anti is Latin, the meaning is then different, but strictly etymologically speaking it could yes... then let's suggest anti-homosexuals or anti-homos instead, in the semantic logic of antisemitic. Well of course it's a bit more cumbersome, but the meaning is here then...

The greek structure determines the meaning of homo (see homeopathic and homosexual -homo being the shortened homeo).

 

[Orekoya]

I have to admit that I only read the first and last page of this thread, only because I knew there would be a ton of ignorant answers from people who I can only assume talk in a southern accent (My apologies to the south). Therefore, please forgive me if what I say has been said already.

I'm going to put it out there (let's see how THIS goes...) that I do not agree with the homosexual life style.
Now before the attacks begin, please hear me out.
I don't agree with it, but I would certainly never 'bash' or attack (verbally or otherwise) homosexual people. I've had plenty of friends who were gay, and I told them how I felt. But we were still friends. I learned a lot about the struggles that homosexuals can have in facing their families, friends, and the public. I'm sorry to say I wasn't always as understanding. But after having friends who are gay and talking with them and arriving at a mutual understanding, I'd have to say that all this hate for homosexuals I see online (this can go for racism too) stems from misinformation, lack of education, and good ol fashioned immaturity.

A no-brainer, ehh?

Also, as a side note: I really disagree the term 'homophobic' to describe someone who doesn't agree with homosexuality. There is no 'phobia' for me. I'm not afraid of you.

I would have words for this but frankly it can be summed pretty much by saying the reason you don't agree with the lifestyle is that it might not be the right lifestyle for you. It really is the only thing that can be said to those that say "that I do not agree with the homosexual life style." could come from a crippling case of being heterosexual. When men suffer from their love of vahgaigay or women who engorge on trouser roosters.

 

[Cyclomega]

"A crippling case of being heterosexual" ? WTF ?
What the hell are vahgaigay...
Trouser roosters... don't tell me you're trying to pull a zimmerism here...

 

[SenseOfTumour]

Also, I couldn't care less about people being gay or straight, it's just two sets of people who won't want to sleep with me.

(stolen from somewhere I think, but still true.)

 

[Erana]

What I don't understand is why they are kind enough to call them only, "Homophobic." I've seen people with actual homophobia, and it is just because they have been sheltered. At an all women's college, the open-minded ones quickly become comfortable with homosexual relationships.
I mean, we don't call Jew-haters "Semitophobic," we call them, "Anti-Semites." Isn't there a more appropriate name for such people?

 

[Aries_Split]

I am not a homophobe or gaybasher, I'm perfectly comfortable around homosexuals, but I also believe that someone's sexual preference is not the kind of thing that A) matters in gaming, B) other players need or want to know. In my experience, most gaybashing I've seen (sans 4Chan) is brought about by some gay person declaring their sexual orientation where they should have just shut up. Not saying they can't be proud of who they are, not saying they shouldn't mention they're gay, but there are places where it's just not appropriate. I don't go around in BF1942 declaring to my whole team that I'm straight. It's not relevant and nobody cares. If you feel like you have to announce to the world what particular gender you like to hump, expect some backlash for it.

Yep. If we needed to know what your sexual preference was, we would ask. If we don't ask, SHUT THE FUCK UP!

The hypocrisy in this is that most straight people reference they're sexuality at least 5 times a day.

I.E "I'd hit that"

"That chick is fucking hot"

"Sex with my wife is amazing!"

"I'M STRAIGHT!"


*Last two are jokes.

 

[Azeban]

I am not a homophobe or gaybasher, I'm perfectly comfortable around homosexuals, but I also believe that someone's sexual preference is not the kind of thing that A) matters in gaming, B) other players need or want to know. In my experience, most gaybashing I've seen (sans 4Chan) is brought about by some gay person declaring their sexual orientation where they should have just shut up. Not saying they can't be proud of who they are, not saying they shouldn't mention they're gay, but there are places where it's just not appropriate. I don't go around in BF1942 declaring to my whole team that I'm straight. It's not relevant and nobody cares. If you feel like you have to announce to the world what particular gender you like to hump, expect some backlash for it.

Yep. If we needed to know what your sexual preference was, we would ask. If we don't ask, SHUT THE FUCK UP!

The hypocrisy in this is that most straight people reference they're sexuality at least 5 times a day.

I.E "I'd hit that"

"That chick is fucking hot"

"Sex with my wife is amazing!"

"I'M STRAIGHT!"


*Last two are jokes.

So you're using the gross, juvenile, semi-sexist (for the objectification of women) behaviors of others to justify your need to tell Master Chief that you're gay?

There's a difference between the context of gaming and the context of socializing. In game, I want to discuss strategies over voice/text chat. I really don't want to hear about your personal life. That's not due to homophobia. I don't want to hear about your pets or your favorite color for that matter. I don't care.

In a social context, like at a party? Sure, go ahead and tell me about yourself. It's not like there's a bomb to diffuse. In a game, however, there is one.

 

[Azeban]

the gross, juvenile, semi-sexist (for the objectification of women) behaviors

hey, i say "That chick is fucking hot" a lot and its not because i want to objectify her. its because i want to tell my friends that if i stand up and walk towards her its because im interested in her and not going buy another drink, or to signalize that i want to stay in the club we are in. sure i could use some more appropriate words but if thats what i think about the girl, i say it. dont be such a raging feminist (or an idiot since i hear women saying "thats a nice piece of ass" more often than men these days)

Well it's good that you find dates based solely on looks. I'm sure you'll find a keeper that way.

Your scenario was besides the point anyway. We're talking about what people say in video games.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Your scenario was besides the point anyway. We're talking about what people say in video games.

Do people really say "that chick is fucking hot" in video games?

Most of the time I'm playing it's more like "NERF THAT SPY!"

 

[Phoenix Arrow]

So you're using the gross, juvenile, semi-sexist (for the objectification of women) behaviors of others to justify your need to tell Master Chief that you're gay?

There's a difference between the context of gaming and the context of socializing. In game, I want to discuss strategies over voice/text chat. I really don't want to hear about your personal life. That's not due to homophobia. I don't want to hear about your pets or your favorite color for that matter. I don't care.

In a social context, like at a party? Sure, go ahead and tell me about yourself. It's not like there's a bomb to diffuse. In a game, however, there is one.

Rich coming from someone on a forum. If you don't care about what other people have to say then why are you here? Apart from obvious trolling.
If I want to have a chat to my friends about this sort of thing on Live then why should I have to care what you think about it? If you have a problem with it then take off your mic. The whole point of having a microphone in the first place is for social interaction, making friends and having a good time.
And there's no difference between "the gross, juvenile, semi-sexist behaviors of others" and homosexuals doing the same thing. In both cases, it's the minority making these kinds of statements and it's not fair that you've grouped all homosexuals together.
£100 says if you met me, or played me on 360, you wouldn't know I was bisexual.

 

[Azeban]

So you're using the gross, juvenile, semi-sexist (for the objectification of women) behaviors of others to justify your need to tell Master Chief that you're gay?

There's a difference between the context of gaming and the context of socializing. In game, I want to discuss strategies over voice/text chat. I really don't want to hear about your personal life. That's not due to homophobia. I don't want to hear about your pets or your favorite color for that matter. I don't care.

In a social context, like at a party? Sure, go ahead and tell me about yourself. It's not like there's a bomb to diffuse. In a game, however, there is one.

Rich coming from someone on a forum. If you don't care about what other people have to say then why are you here? Apart from obvious trolling.
If I want to have a chat to my friends about this sort of thing on Live then why should I have to care what you think about it? If you have a problem with it then take off your mic. The whole point of having a microphone in the first place is for social interaction, making friends and having a good time.
And there's no difference between "the gross, juvenile, semi-sexist behaviors of others" and homosexuals doing the same thing. In both cases, it's the minority making these kinds of statements and it's not fair that you've grouped all homosexuals together.
£100 says if you met me, or played me on 360, you wouldn't know I was bisexual.

Well thats great! That's what I want! When I'm playing my game I don't want to know about anyone's sexuality. And you're saying that I wouldn't know. So fantastic...what are you arguing with me about? And what do you mean that I've grouped homosexuals together?

They're a group of people. How could you not group them?

Furthermore, duh. Of course it's a small minority who talk over their headsets about their boyfriends and girlfriends on Xbox Live. But I think we both agree that sexuality really doesn't have a place in gaming.

On the server of TF2 I run, if you use the voice chat to blather on about things not related to the game, I kick you.

And why is anyone who disagrees with you a troll? It's a forum. Should we all just post responses that say "I completely agree"? Then again, we don't really disagree on anything, I think. Except for the Azeban's a troll issue.

And now I'm sort of confused.

"If I want to have a chat to my friends about this sort of thing on Live then why should I have to care what you think about it?"

"If you met me, or played me on 360, you wouldn't know I was bisexual."

I think I'd know that you're bisexual if you're talking about it in game while I'm trying to discuss strategy with the other players.

 

[Zorg Machine]

As a white person who happens to not be gay, I treat the usage of "fag" the same way I treat the usage of the N-word. It holds similar power in that it is a term originated by a dominant group who wants to ridicule a minority.

uhm you do realise that you said that you treat fag and the N-word the same when you actually just said one of them?

 

[AceDiamond]

Since I don't really have the time or the patience to wade through 8 pages of crap with maybe one page of actual thoughtful discussion, I'll just leave my thoughts on the whole issue.

The problem here, as someone pointed out earlier, was that there is no real need in a gaming context for anybody to announce their orientation. And if you honestly expect everyone to be "oh, cool" after you say that, especially online, well you're just fooling yourself. The Internet is 99% idiots because of the shield of anonyminity, after all. I personally have no problem with any person of any orientation...until they try to let their orientation speak for who they are. That isn't how it's supposed to work. No person should be viewed by their orientation and what many gay people are failing to understand is that this is exactly what they do when they choose any and all opportunities to remind people of what their romantic/sexual leanings are. I have many bisexual friends and a couple gay friends and none of them immediately walk into a place and go "ATTENTION WORLD: I AM *insert orientation*. DEAL WITH IT." Instead they do the intelligent thing which is to allow such information to become known to people when they are asked, or when it's necessary.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

As long as it's real gaybashing they're getting upset over, and not the average "man thats gay" or "EAT IT FAG!" comment. That stuff comes out of me on reflex- I have no problem with homosexuality and support full marriage rights for them acrossed the board (f**k you California senate). I don't even think of it as a reference to homosexuals. It's a nuanced thing.

 

[cobra_ky]

man where to even start with this thread

1. anti-gay comments are pretty much never provoked by someone announcing their sexuality to anonymous strangers on the internet. if you think otherwise then you're just not paying attention to what others are saying. (This is a common problem on the internet.)

2. The term homophobia doesn't really make sense because people are stupid and don't know what Greek and Latin roots mean. anti-Semitism, pedophilia, and agnostic are stupid terms for the same reason. Feminists who insist on the spelling "Womyn" make the same stupid mistake.

3. It turns out it's really hard to "just ignore it" when people repeatedly say hateful things about you. If someone told you you were a fat, antisocial nerd loser shut-in because you played video games, wouldn't you get offended?

4. Some people claim they don't really mean it, and distinguish themselves from people who actually mean it. The problem is

this is what Innocuous Trash Talk looks like: "You suck, ******!"

and this is Hateful Gaybashing: "You suck, ******!"

They're identical. It's great that you actually support gay rights, but the people you're playing halo with don't know that. As far as they can tell, you're indistinguishable from a violent misohomosexual ("hater of homosexuals", see what I did there?). Online communication loses a lot of context and nuance doesn't transmit easily.