Hammeroj said:
Just in case I was going to think about buying an Xbox, they throw gems like these in. How fucking retarded is this, a permanent ban from the network as opposed to, say, forcibly muting the offender? No, no, we just gotta masturbate all over ourselves and the ultra-PC, thin-skinned, whinging audience we hope this is going to reach.
Whatever.
No, it's not retarded. I imagine this isn't a case of "You made a sexist joke, you're banned." I think it's closer to the constant harassment people get, and it DOES impede the game. I rarely use my microphone in games - I prefer to only talk to my friends. Occasionally, when other people are using their microphones, I decide to use mine. Communication is integral to teamwork. A coherent team will stamp all over a group of red or blue individuals. However, during one Capture the Flag game of
Halo: Reach, my attempts at working with the other players were continually drowned out by an American voice of indeterminate gender repeating "Would you like some fish and chips?"
I'm not offended by this mockery of my nationality. However, I was pissed off that I couldn't get a word in edgeways, because this little shit was too busy trying to be funny. I could mute them, but then what. Then I'm not communicating with the team, and should this wee fuck decide to be useful, I won't know about it. Besides, I was not raised to ignore problems.
Now I got one voice using a single stereotype for a short while during a game. I've got an English accent, and I rarely hear English people being harassed. I DO hear people with definite 'foreign' accents get mocked a lot, and women get it worse than anyone. You hear a lot of insults get thrown around - ****** a common one, but from these kids it doesn't mean anything. Kill his avatar, he shouts "you fucking cheating ****** I fucked your mom". A total non-insult. I'm not gay, I have no issue with being gay, and I'm fairly sure he hasn't met my mother. Any gay person insulted in this way would likely not be offended either - A non-insult. No particular target.
Female voice however. The insults stop being non-insults. Now she can't communicate because people on her OWN team are either making her verbally and loudly unwelcome, or trying to defend her. Either way, the game's pretty much over because nobody can concentrate for all the screechy children abusing the poor woman.
So yeah. It's not single comments, it's not jokes, it's harassment.