Microsoft Apologizes to Gay Gamers, Considers Solutions

[EeveeElectro]

I have absolutely nothing against gays, but I don't think they should be telling everyone their sexual orientation all the time. If it says so on your profile, that's fine, but when they mention it every day, it gets annoying.
I have a few friends who are 'bisexual' (I say that loosely) and they're like, "LOOK AT ME! I'M BISEXUAL LIKE EVERYONE ELSE! I LIKE BOYS AND GIRLS! YAY!"
Ugh...

 

[ChocoFace]

Yeah, Ima go ahead and side with the "why the fuck do we need to know your sexuality" group. Its only a issue with gays and lesbians. How often do straight people feel the need to advertise.

Announcing yourself as gay doesn't necessarily mean you're an attention whore
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZDeAMNIXg8&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxDJAeABxNU&feature=related

 

[Ronwue]

This political correctness shit is going insane. I personally have nothing against any sort of people, color, sexuality and all that stuff, but seriously. What about we all use T-shirts that state our personality, sexuality, food preference, smoking preference, child desire, music preference, alcohol preference, what types of shoes we wear and all that stuff in day to day life. Really, people don't need to know that.

Someone said he'd rather know from the start that the person he's talking to is a homophobe than find out later down the road. Is talking to people even from behind a computer screen that retarded nowadays. I really do not understand the reasoning behind that. Sure, on a dating site where you are searching for whatever, it is important to find someone to match your stuff. A gaming profile does not need many of the things it already have. You want to add sexuality? What's next? Shoe size?

 

[Uncompetative]

I think your profile should contain specific fields for:

- Gender
- Sexual Orientation
- Height
- Weight
- whether you are Left or Right handed, or Ambidextrous
- Date of your last sexual conquest
- How fast you can run

 

[Actual]

You're fields made me laugh Uncompetative.

We don't know the exact situation, but I'm guessing no-one would have bothered checking her profile unless she was somehow drawing attention to herself. Personally I only look at the profiles of people who are my friends or are being complete douches as they sometimes have funny quotes/or I want to mute them. So yeah, I'm guessing she was being a douche, or advertising herself.

 

[Dommyboy]

Richard Gaywood - tee hee

Its Gaywood...Like, homosexual...Hehe

yeah..tee hee

Haha! Richard! What a crazy cook. Oh god, Richard, what will they think of next.

 

[keptsimple]

Why are so many people assuming that she listed herself as a lesbian because she was trying to find dates or "hook up"?

In all likelihood, she was trying to find other gamers who were similar to her, or who at least support gay rights. Considering that it only takes a few minutes of playing any online game before someone gets called a "homo" or a "******," it's hard not to sympathize with her.

 

[keptsimple]

I still say Microsoft should have stuck to their guns. It is somewhat disheartening to always hear people pull out the torches and pitchforks when they feel they have been wronged, but in reality she clearly broke the rules.

No one is arguing that she didn't break the rules. The issue is whether the rule should exist in the first place.

 

[Lord_Ascendant]

it would be nice to let people whose sexual orientations are different from ours are able to say so without being suppressed, homophobics scare me.

 

[not4prophet]

I don't use XBL either, but I am glad that Msoft is trying to make things right for her.

That being said, I still side with the "why?" crowd. I realize that being gay is a big part of one's personality, and of course everyone has a right to express themselves. But I don't feel the need to tell everyone I meet, let alone anyone I play a friggin' video game with, that I'm straight as part of my introduction, you know?

I still think she should be able to express herself, but the community she's trying in is not the most receptive one for that. If anyone's the villain here, it's the thousands of homophobes out there that account for that 98% statistic of misuse of the terms, and the parents that allow or even encourage hateful intolerance in their children.

Fill out your about me section. Something about me is that I'm bi-sexual. It's a major part of who I am. Just like my name is Adelaide. I don't think they should censor stuff like that, but putting it in your screen name is just asking for trouble from the drop-kicks who use XBL. "OMG UR GAY!? ROFLFAG!!!"

If you say so. It's still a bad idea to use your real name for a service like XBL, and I still think it's an excercise in masochism to put your sexual preference in your profile, given the severe amount of dickbags I've heard populate the service. I'm not saying that's right, or fair, just that it seems like an extremely naive and foolish (or possibly inflammatory) thing to do on that particular service.

 

[keptsimple]

It's still a bad idea to use your real name for a service like XBL, and I still think it's an excercise in masochism to put your sexual preference in your profile, given the severe amount of dickbags I've heard populate the service. I'm not saying that's right, or fair, just that it seems like an extremely naive and foolish (or possibly inflammatory) thing to do on that particular service.

Someone is certainly opening themselves up to attacks from homophobic troglodytes if they self-identify as gay in any online game. But Microsoft shouldn't let the needs of immature asshats set their policies.

 

[Rednog]

I still say Microsoft should have stuck to their guns. It is somewhat disheartening to always hear people pull out the torches and pitchforks when they feel they have been wronged, but in reality she clearly broke the rules.

No one is arguing that she didn't break the rules. The issue is whether the rule should exist in the first place.

Considering there is outrage about the problem I think that it isn't clear to everyone that she broke the rules. The articles don't mention the fact. Both articles give an implication that Microsoft singled her out because she is a lesbian. This however is untrue, the banned her because of complaints against her. Banning someone for breaking the rule of "No mentioning of sexual preference whatsoever" is different from Banning them because the person is a lesbian. One is discriminatory and the other is not.

 

[keptsimple]

Considering there is outrage about the problem I think that it isn't clear to everyone that she broke the rules. The articles don't mention the fact. Both articles give an implication that Microsoft singled her out because she is a lesbian. This however is untrue, the banned her because of complaints against her. Banning someone for breaking the rule of "No mentioning of sexual preference whatsoever" is different from Banning them because the person is a lesbian. One is discriminatory and the other is not.

The rule may appear neutral with regard to sexuality, but in practice it's not.

Anyone who has spent five minutes on XBL knows that that place is, unfortunately, a breeding ground for homo-bigots, racists, and general morons. Not to say there aren't plenty of nice folks on there (or else I wouldn't be a member), but you don't have to be playing for too long before someone gets called a "******."

This is where the problem with the rule comes in: enforcement is based on user complaints. When the users making the complaints are bigoted mouthbreathers, we have a serious problem. The rule, in effect, empowers bigots to ban people whose existence makes them uncomfortable. If I put "I'm a man who loves the ladies" or something in my XBL profile, do you think I would have any chance of getting banned as a result of complaints? Of course not. Yet even that fairly benign statement is far more sexually charged than simple self-identification as a lesbian.

 

[not4prophet]

It's still a bad idea to use your real name for a service like XBL, and I still think it's an excercise in masochism to put your sexual preference in your profile, given the severe amount of dickbags I've heard populate the service. I'm not saying that's right, or fair, just that it seems like an extremely naive and foolish (or possibly inflammatory) thing to do on that particular service.

Someone is certainly opening themselves up to attacks from homophobic troglodytes if they self-identify as gay in any online game. But Microsoft shouldn't let the needs of immature asshats set their policies.

Why not? Those immature asshats are their primary clientele!

Just playing devil's advocate. Seriously though, like I said, it's not fair, it's not right, but given that particular community, it's just asking for trouble. I still maintain that it is those very asshats, as well as the parents who raised them to be asshats, who are at fault here, but we're talking about a large, fairly well-established "community" of asshats. It's like stirring up a big hive of homophobic, asshat bees.

Hee hee. Asshat.

 

[sanzo]

I still say Microsoft should have stuck to their guns. It is somewhat disheartening to always hear people pull out the torches and pitchforks when they feel they have been wronged, but in reality she clearly broke the rules.

No one is arguing that she didn't break the rules. The issue is whether the rule should exist in the first place.

Exactly. Just because something is a rule, it doesn't mean it's not wrong. Shit changes all the time, and you have to be able to adapt to that.

Also, just because it's x-box live, it doesn't mean you should have to be wary about what you are. That's like the equivalent of saying "Don't go into that restaurant there, your kind isn't wanted."

 

[Xan Krieger]

Considering there is outrage about the problem I think that it isn't clear to everyone that she broke the rules. The articles don't mention the fact. Both articles give an implication that Microsoft singled her out because she is a lesbian. This however is untrue, the banned her because of complaints against her. Banning someone for breaking the rule of "No mentioning of sexual preference whatsoever" is different from Banning them because the person is a lesbian. One is discriminatory and the other is not.

The rule may appear neutral with regard to sexuality, but in practice it's not.

Anyone who has spent five minutes on XBL knows that that place is, unfortunately, a breeding ground for homo-bigots, racists, and general morons. Not to say there aren't plenty of nice folks on there (or else I wouldn't be a member), but you don't have to be playing for too long before someone gets called a "******."

This is where the problem with the rule comes in: enforcement is based on user complaints. When the users making the complaints are bigoted mouthbreathers, we have a serious problem. The rule, in effect, empowers bigots to ban people whose existence makes them uncomfortable. If I put "I'm a man who loves the ladies" or something in my XBL profile, do you think I would have any chance of getting banned as a result of complaints? Of course not. Yet even that fairly benign statement is far more sexually charged than simple self-identification as a lesbian.

The rule is neutral, public opinion is not. The rule is completely fine and should stay. Why would Microsoft let people open themselves up to trolling like that? The rule is sparing people from being made fun of.

 

[sanzo]

Considering there is outrage about the problem I think that it isn't clear to everyone that she broke the rules. The articles don't mention the fact. Both articles give an implication that Microsoft singled her out because she is a lesbian. This however is untrue, the banned her because of complaints against her. Banning someone for breaking the rule of "No mentioning of sexual preference whatsoever" is different from Banning them because the person is a lesbian. One is discriminatory and the other is not.

The rule may appear neutral with regard to sexuality, but in practice it's not.

Anyone who has spent five minutes on XBL knows that that place is, unfortunately, a breeding ground for homo-bigots, racists, and general morons. Not to say there aren't plenty of nice folks on there (or else I wouldn't be a member), but you don't have to be playing for too long before someone gets called a "******."

This is where the problem with the rule comes in: enforcement is based on user complaints. When the users making the complaints are bigoted mouthbreathers, we have a serious problem. The rule, in effect, empowers bigots to ban people whose existence makes them uncomfortable. If I put "I'm a man who loves the ladies" or something in my XBL profile, do you think I would have any chance of getting banned as a result of complaints? Of course not. Yet even that fairly benign statement is far more sexually charged than simple self-identification as a lesbian.

The rule is neutral, public opinion is not. The rule is completely fine and should stay. Why would Microsoft let people open themselves up to trolling like that? The rule is sparing people from being made fun of.

/facepalm

Yet another "Don't be who you really are cause people will hound you for it" argument.

Now I'll agree that yes, people will, as a whole, not take kindly to things that are foreign to them. But, seriously, how are things ever going to change, or get better, if you just ignore the problem?

 

[Xan Krieger]

Considering there is outrage about the problem I think that it isn't clear to everyone that she broke the rules. The articles don't mention the fact. Both articles give an implication that Microsoft singled her out because she is a lesbian. This however is untrue, the banned her because of complaints against her. Banning someone for breaking the rule of "No mentioning of sexual preference whatsoever" is different from Banning them because the person is a lesbian. One is discriminatory and the other is not.

The rule may appear neutral with regard to sexuality, but in practice it's not.

Anyone who has spent five minutes on XBL knows that that place is, unfortunately, a breeding ground for homo-bigots, racists, and general morons. Not to say there aren't plenty of nice folks on there (or else I wouldn't be a member), but you don't have to be playing for too long before someone gets called a "******."

This is where the problem with the rule comes in: enforcement is based on user complaints. When the users making the complaints are bigoted mouthbreathers, we have a serious problem. The rule, in effect, empowers bigots to ban people whose existence makes them uncomfortable. If I put "I'm a man who loves the ladies" or something in my XBL profile, do you think I would have any chance of getting banned as a result of complaints? Of course not. Yet even that fairly benign statement is far more sexually charged than simple self-identification as a lesbian.

The rule is neutral, public opinion is not. The rule is completely fine and should stay. Why would Microsoft let people open themselves up to trolling like that? The rule is sparing people from being made fun of.

/facepalm

Yet another "Don't be who you really are cause people will hound you for it" argument.

Now I'll agree that yes, people will, as a whole, not take kindly to things that are foreign to them. But, seriously, how are things ever going to change, or get better, if you just ignore the problem?

Do you want a microsoft to start a gay-pride thing? How do you want them to change who plays the games?