A gay gamer with the gamertag "theGAYERgamer" has had his name banned from Xbox Live for being "offensive." As we all know, Xbox Live is a hotbed of homophobia, but it seems that if enough bigots raise the alarm, they will be appeased.
I have had a bad morning. Last night when i tried to sign into my xbox live account "thegayergamer" I was told that it had to be changed. I figured that it was just from people reporting it as an offensive name being that the greater Xbox live community isn't exactly welcome to gay people, i spend a lot of time muting people on Halo3. I assumed that once i called Microsoft they would straighten things out.
I talked to a supervisor there, Roxy, who told me that she didn't personally find the fact that my gamer tag had gay in the name offensive, but that the greater Xbox community did, so i would have to change it. I hope I'm not the only person who finds this don't ask, don't tell policy disgusting... eek.
So, even if Microsoft employees don't find a name offensive, they will take it down if enough people whine about it. Of course, it's not certain whether people complained because they thought the name was homophobic, or if they were themselves homophobes who were offended because of "dem darn faggits on mah Live," but given Xbox Live's majority clientèle ... I think we can more or less rule out the former case.
That's just sad. While I don't agree with one advertising their sexuality (I don't scream mine from the rooftops unwarranted), one should have a right to do it if they wish. The man wants us to know he's a gayer gamer than everybody else, so he should be able to tell us. It's a shame that small-minded idiots on Xbox Live can have their way instead.
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Contest:
11:25 AM on 05.14.2008
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While I personally don't have anything against gays ( I have a few good friends gay, bi, all that stuff.), I think it's pretty fucked up that because people on live don't like it, it has to be banned. So in a sense, if a lot of people didn't like my name "Shin Oni", all they'd have to do is report it enough times and it'd be banned? Something doesn't sound completely right.
Though if you look at it, it looks just like America outside of games. Isolating gays from others....in a sense.
@Trevor McGee- I think that user is exercising his freedom of speech, if he wants to express his sexuality then more power to him. If someone wants to be an attention whore then they should do it, it's not like there are a lack of those in the videogame world anyways, especially the Xbox live community.
http://www.machall.com/view.php?date=2006-08-28
Ofcourse, i don't know squat about the xbox live community and have a tendency to want to believe in the good in humanity... i'm just naive like that
Listening to 14 year olds that think being homophobic is cool.
I understand your point about if it is necessary to announce your sexuality (I don't myself), but think about the repercussion if your gamertag WAS "TheStraightGamer".....probably nothing.
I think the whole point is that you have the right to make your gamertag what you will, barring any breaking of Microsoft rules (which "TheGayerGamer" didnt), but if the greater Xbox Live community deems they dont like a name for whatever reason, Microsoft has set a precedent for forcing you to change your name.
If he thinks it's the defining factor for him then why shouldn't he be able to define himself by his sexuality? You don't go around calling yourself strightgamer but you do define yourself via TrevorMcgee if I hated that it doesn't mean you don't have a right to announce to everyone that you don't.
"While I sympathize with the gay community and the bigotry they face, I strongly oppose any form of homophobic hate, is it even really necessary to announce your sexuality through your gamer tag on anything? I mean I don't go around putting "TheStraightGamer" as my name for anything, is there really any point to it other than to call attention to one's self?"
I personally have no problem with whatever sexuality you choose for yourself, but something tells me that when you advertise yourself above and beyond the norm, all you are doing is trying to get attention. Its good to have pride and confidence in yourself but I think at some point it becomes self-pandering.
Something tells me that other gay people that play on Live, and draw no attention to themselves, saw this and thought it was some punk making fun of gay people rather than being gay himself.
I see nothing bad.
On the other hand players named "Bigballs" "MassiveCock" "WomenWrangler" "TittyFuckerMcGee" in games like COD4 or UT do.
If he wants to play Halo 3 with a name like that and weather the storm of abuse it will bring, more power to him. I don't think it's an amazing thing to do, to have "gayergamer" in your tag, but I do think he should be able to do it if he wants.
she couldn't think of a gamertag, so she went with PowerLesbian
last month she was asked to change her name. Now I barely notice her online :P
And just for the record, I have absolutely nothing against the guy being gay or not, I just happen to throw my vote for what Trevor and Corak said.
On the other hand I think this says a lot more about the Microsoft dispute management than anything else, to be honest.
And, as much as I'm going to get flack for saying this, HE WAS ASKING FOR IT. Seriously. Don't think like a politically correct prick, you know it's true.
I agree with the sentiment that this name was likely reported (in part) by OTHER gay gamers on Xbox live.
Gay, to some people, isn't a perfectly fine word. It entirely depends on it's context. Everyone from straight people, to moms, to gays themselves can, have, and will continue to have the capacity to be offended by the usage of the word dependings on it's context.
Seriously though, I would love him to phone up M$ again and record the conversation and release it on the interweb as I am sure it would cause M$ blatent embarrassment and maybe enough to change there silly rules.
I say temp-ban those complaining.
He should contact http://www.lambdalegal.org/cgi-bin/iowa/index.html
If it's offensive to someone, it has to go. Let's try a nickname or two that I could give myself that is the equivalent of "theGAYERgamer"...
"imaDICK," "thebiggestPRICK," "theFATTESTfatass." Each of those will offend enough people, despite them describing ME, that I'll have to change my name. Though thousands of names like that have likely been banned from Xbox Live, there is no public outcry about it because there's no minority or anything of that nature involved.
Personally? Yes that would be fine. However, I would understand why MS would remove that one. Having a tag like "blackergamer" however, I would think is a lame banning.
If offensive and EULA-breaking names are going to remain as unchecked as they are, I don't this one should be singled out ---- but I wish there were much broader enforcement on all names that break those rules, including ones that needlessly point out sexual preference.
This is like saying that I don't need to advertise the fact that I'm Irish.
Maybe theGAYERgamer wasn't intentionally slamming in your face that he's gay. Maybe he just liked the name. I just liked the name "Angry Irish" and decided to use it. DO NOT ASSUME HIS MOTIVES! Really look at yourself and ask "Why do I care?"
Questioning his name OVERALL shouldn't even have to happen. Stop wasting your time.
You're comparing the word gay to words that are considered curse words that are offensive. Are you saying the word gay or gayer is an offensive word? I he was thefaggiergamer I would see the problem where in fag is a derogitory term but gay is not offensive or deragatory in anyway.
@Yashoki
Sure he knew what he was getting into by naming himself that and he knew that he'd most likely be getting a ton of shit from people in games but do you think he was asking for getting banned from Live because other people are ignorant or who he is?
lol
Remember, this is Microsoft we're talking about. Unless they've got idiots making the decisions (okay, yeah, I guess that is pretty likely) then they're not going to intentionally make a bad, bad PR move like this.
"There is nothing to be proud about... it is a ----ing genetic accident" -George Carlin
That being said, I like girl/gay/bi/(Race here) gamers, I just don't really give a damn about their background.
Microsoft does suck though for giving in to the the racist and idiots on Live. Unless he was breaking the ToS with his name (I don't believe he was) they really should have just ignored their requests.
We've been ignoring thinks so we don't have to talk about them for years, and we ain't gonna stop now!
MURICA!!!
MURICA!!!
......
soooooooo lame.
I personally am of the opinion that this gamer purposefully chose the name that he did so it would get banned eventually and he could run and cry to the internets about how homophobic everyone on Live is. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised that he chose the name that he did just so that people would make derogatory comments about his sexuality so he could whine to MS and get people banned.
I'm not saying it's right. But until MS fixes XBL to make these things easier to defuse or less likely to happen (somehow), I think you're just gonna have to live with it happening from time to time. It's not really a civil liberties issue here, it's a company with a company network consisting of a majority of brand-aware consumers who happen to be racist and homophobic. What do you think will happen? :P