Gamer Claims Identifying As a Lesbian Led To Xbox Live Ban

[TheCorpulent1]

I don't think the younger kids are the problem. There are plenty of people legitimately old enough to play M-rated games who are just obnoxious *****ebags.

 

[StrainedEyes]

I don't think the younger kids are the problem. There are plenty of people legitimately old enough to play M-rated games who are just obnoxious *****ebags.

Oh, we agree, but younger gamers are as big a part of the verbal abuse problem on XBL as older ones. I've come across just as many prepubescent voices as I have college voices, spouting off racist and offensive jargon.

I lost my headset awhile ago, so I never talk while I play XBL games, I also do my best to ignore what people are yelling at eachother.

It's not even just offensive stuff, people are just annoying with their headsets. I was playing GTA once and this guy was just going "brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr" into it constantly, it was ridiculous.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

That's true. I solved the problem by just not playing games on XBL at all. I've always favored single-player games anyway.

 

[spideyboy_1111]

They just need to find a way to keep younger children out of M rated online games. It would keep so many problems from happening. If you have to be 15 or 17 (depending on where you live) to buy a game, then why on earth should you be allowed to play it online with people who are older, people that are going to be swearing, people who are going to be slinging sexual slurs and innuendos. Microsoft needs to work on that rather than banning someone who identified herself as a lesbian because honestly, my take on the whole thing is, Who gives a **** what your sexual orentiation is. I don't think it in any way affects gameplay. If they're banning for that then why doesn't Bungie ban from Halo people that have their emblem look like a potleaf or there've even been some that try and emulate a penis in their emblem.

thats EXACTLY how i feel about it

 

[Flash Facts]

The problem there is you have no right to tell someone what their child can and can not play. This is all really off topic though.

The problem with the profile has nothing to do with the rating of the game the members were playing. The profile is public to everyone. So if she was playing a game rated E for example than all the children that had any online contact with her ( or even anyone on her friendslist) would be exposed to her expression of her sexual orientation. Which again is something mentioned in the interview.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Kids are exposed to expressions of sexual orientation all the time. That's a pretty flimsy excuse for Microsoft effectively condoning homophobia.

 

[terry78]

Oh, we agree, but younger gamers are as big a part of the verbal abuse problem on XBL as older ones. I've come across just as many prepubescent voices as I have college voices, spouting off racist and offensive jargon.

I lost my headset awhile ago, so I never talk while I play XBL games, I also do my best to ignore what people are yelling at eachother.

It's not even just offensive stuff, people are just annoying with their headsets. I was playing GTA once and this guy was just going "brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr" into it constantly, it was ridiculous.

Yeah, **** like that calls for, "I hacked your system and your IP, and I am watching you right now." Some of these fools just need to be scared out of it.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Is it possible to mute specific people on Live? 'Cause that could solve a lot of problems.

 

[Flash Facts]

I disagree its just a massive corporation trying to protect themselves like always.

Plus there is no way for you to tell what a child has been exposed to. Just becuase we may have been doesn't mean that the child of some other parent must have been as well.

Another thing that people may be forgetting is that LIVE is a global service so what may be accepted or tolerated here may not be in other parts of the world and Microsoft has to build its policies around that.

Yes it is possible to mute people both individual and everyone in the room.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Plus there is no way for you to tell what a child has been exposed to. Just becuase we may have been doesn't mean that the child of some other parent must have been as well.

Okay, let me rephrase it: kids are exposed to straight sexual orientation all the time, so they should be exposed to the fact that it's not the only kind of sexual orientation. Parents who censor the existence of gay people are bad parents and bigots, as far as I'm concerned. But that's just in general, not directly related to XBL.

 

[Flash Facts]

Well the same argument applies as before, it is not our or Microsoft's place to tell a parent what they should and should not do.

 

[Colossal Spoons]

*changes gamertag to "Straight Spoons" just to see what happens*

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Well the same argument applies as before, it is not our or Microsoft's place to tell a parent what they should and should not do.

True. I suppose parents don't really have to explain to their kids that cars or birds exist either.

But whether a person puts it in their profile or not, it seems pretty evident to me that a kid who goes onto XBox Live to play virtually any game that even has an online mode is probably going to be exposed to sexual influences of some kind, along with all kinds of other things their parents might not intend for them to be. Arbitrarily drawing the line at sexual orientation just seems silly to me.

 

[Cunning Stunts]

Honestly, I'm just as big of a *****ebag on XBox Live as anyone else, 100% because of the fact that the vast majority of users have the ability to hide their scared little asses behind their T.V. screens, and uses that to be as mean, nasty, and aggressive as they never could or would be in person.

I love it when it all comes crashing down around them when they realize that there's always those people out there who can shut them up and get some pretty nasty laughs at their expense, no matter how "tough" they can act on the internet.

Sure, sounds mean of me, but I don't care. You come into my game to ruin my experience, I'm going to fire it back ten fold.

 

[spideyboy_1111]

Honestly, I'm just as big of a *****ebag on XBox Live as anyone else, 100% because of the fact that the vast majority of users have the ability to hide their scared little asses behind their T.V. screens, and uses that to be as mean, nasty, and aggressive as they never could or would be in person.

I love it when it all comes crashing down around them when they realize that there's always those people out there who can shut them up and get some pretty nasty laughs at their expense, no matter how "tough" they can act on the internet.

Sure, sounds mean of me, but I don't care. You come into my game to ruin my experience, I'm going to fire it back ten fold.

same goes for the hype and fights people pick on here

but yeah, i've never been one to understand "masculinity" this way, i just find it immature and pointless.

 

[Flash Facts]

True. I suppose parents don't really have to explain to their kids that cars or birds exist either.

But whether a person puts it in their profile or not, it seems pretty evident to me that a kid who goes onto XBox Live to play virtually any game that even has an online mode is probably going to be exposed to sexual influences of some kind, along with all kinds of other things their parents might not intend for them to be. Arbitrarily drawing the line at sexual orientation just seems silly to me.

But is it really arbitrary? And is that really where the line is drawn?

Again you have to take into account LIVE global presence. I'm sure sexual orientation is not considered arbitrary in other parts of the world.

Stating your sexual orientation is is just one of the many actions that result in a ban/ code of conduct message and it carries a punishment much less harsh then the others.

If you really did change your gamertag a update on how long it took you to get banned/receive a code of conduct message would be appreciated.

 

[Cunning Stunts]

same goes for the hype and fights people pick on here

but yeah, i've never been one to understand "masculinity" this way, i just find it immature and pointless.

Oh, I know... Almost every user on here will swear up and down that they're, "Just as witty and ballsy in person" as they are on the Hype... But I know that it's definitely not true in most cases, and in the rare cases that are, a lot of them just do it to try to get attention or to be as mean as possible, and they're just not funny or admirable to be around.

On the Hype/XBox Live, everybody knows everything, everybody's the wittiest person in the world, and everyone has slept with your girlfriend, mother, and sister- perhaps all at the same time.

Almost every one of those same people will ***** out and stay silent in person, and it's hilarious.

 

[Matt Mortem]

I suppose trying to monitor what is acceptable on Xbox Live is the same as defining what's legal on the internet. Since Live is global, it makes it a bit different. I do know that Microsoft needs to chose one of the pendulum and stay on it. They can't ban for homosexuality and then allow people to get away with SOOO many other things. It's unbelievable. I saw a guy that had the Breast Cancer Awareness thing for his gamerpic, and on his profile it said "I love boobies, save the boobies". And yet, a lesbian is banned. Makes sense huh???

 

[ProjectPat2280]

I suppose trying to monitor what is acceptable on Xbox Live is the same as defining what's legal on the internet. Since Live is global, it makes it a bit different. I do know that Microsoft needs to chose one of the pendulum and stay on it. They can't ban for homosexuality and then allow people to get away with SOOO many other things. It's unbelievable. I saw a guy that had the Breast Cancer Awareness thing for his gamerpic, and on his profile it said "I love boobies, save the boobies". And yet, a lesbian is banned. Makes sense huh???

I dont think some of you get it, and I'm certain this has been explained earlier in this thread, but the lesbian wasn't banned because she was a lesbian, she was banned because she was a lesbian telling everyone via her profile that she was a lesbian. Some of you just want to go protest on the streets so badly and shout bigot from the top of your lungs that you jump straight to the conclusion that MS is homophobic, bigots etc etc. MS states in their TOS that stating your sexual preference is against the TOS, some straight individuals have been banned for the same reasons. Do they catch everyone? Nope, but thats the nature of the beast when you have that many users.

As for the whole breast cancer thing. Maybe the guy was an idiot or maybe he was just trying to bring some humor to a serious situation. Ya ever seen the bumper stickers that display that same pink ribbon but says "Save the Ta-Ta's"?

 

[Matt Mortem]

I dont think some of you get it, and I'm certain this has been explained earlier in this thread, but the lesbian wasn't banned because she was a lesbian, she was banned because she was a lesbian telling everyone via her profile that she was a lesbian. Some of you just want to go protest on the streets so badly and shout bigot from the top of your lungs that you jump straight to the conclusion that MS is homophobic, bigots etc etc. MS states in their TOS that stating your sexual preference is against the TOS, some straight individuals have been banned for the same reasons. Do they catch everyone? Nope, but thats the nature of the beast when you have that many users.

As for the whole breast cancer thing. Maybe the guy was an idiot or maybe he was just trying to bring some humor to a serious situation. Ya ever seen the bumper stickers that display that same pink ribbon but says "Save the Ta-Ta's"?

I just phrased my post wrong I suppose. I understand her sexual orientation had nothing to do with the banning, her proclaiming she was a lesbian got her banned. I just think it's an interesting and tough position Microsoft was in. Since she violated the ToS then she should be banned, but I think they need to make sure that the ToS are uniformally upheld (though I've not seen anything to the contrary). Break a rule and your gone.

 

[StrainedEyes]

I just phrased my post wrong I suppose. I understand her sexual orientation had nothing to do with the banning, her proclaiming she was a lesbian got her banned. I just think it's an interesting and tough position Microsoft was in. Since she violated the ToS then she should be banned, but I think they need to make sure that the ToS are uniformally upheld (though I've not seen anything to the contrary). Break a rule and your gone.

The problem is, they can't waste their time going through everyone's profile. It only happened to her because her profile came up because I guess either she or the people harassing her submitted it.

It's not like MS is unwilling to figure the situation out, the whole beginning of that podcast was about them admitting it's not perfect.

 

[ProjectPat2280]

I just phrased my post wrong I suppose. I understand her sexual orientation had nothing to do with the banning, her proclaiming she was a lesbian got her banned. I just think it's an interesting and tough position Microsoft was in. Since she violated the ToS then she should be banned, but I think they need to make sure that the ToS are uniformally upheld (though I've not seen anything to the contrary). Break a rule and your gone.

Yea i get what your saying, and i agree. Its just hard to police something like Live when you have that many users. Ya catch some, ya miss some.

 

[Fading]

I've been reading thru some of the comments (just noticed this thread), and agree with a lot of you like Matt. Truth is, I can care less which sexual orientation you are, that's inbetween you and God. As long as you're not stuffing it in my face, I'm fine. However I see the hypocrisy as well in this. You can have a hero kiss a heroine on the cheek in an E game (aka straight sexual reference), you say you're gay or lesbian and you get banned. I can see why the girl who was banned would be mad, and think MS was overly harsh.

I get that they're protecting themselves. Last thing they want is a wave of angry soccer moms who let their kids buy M rated games taking them to court over small crap (as for some reason sanity fails in some cases and they win). However this is a BS situation IMO. If she described a sexual experience, or went into detail....that's another situation. Saying she's lesbian is describing part of who she is, just as if I said I'm a single straight male I'd be describing myself.

 

[ProjectPat2280]

I've been reading thru some of the comments (just noticed this thread), and agree with a lot of you like Matt. Truth is, I can care less which sexual orientation you are, that's inbetween you and God. As long as you're not stuffing it in my face, I'm fine. However I see the hypocrisy as well in this. You can have a hero kiss a heroine on the cheek in an E game (aka straight sexual reference), you say you're gay or lesbian and you get banned. I can see why the girl who was banned would be mad, and think MS was overly harsh.

I get that they're protecting themselves. Last thing they want is a wave of angry soccer moms who let their kids buy M rated games taking them to court over small crap (as for some reason sanity fails in some cases and they win). However this is a BS situation IMO. If she described a sexual experience, or went into detail....that's another situation. Saying she's lesbian is describing part of who she is, just as if I said I'm a single straight male I'd be describing myself.

And according to the TOS, ud be subject to punishment.