darthpepito

Random J

Person + Audience + Anonymity = Total Dickwad

And really, it's not really homophobia as much as just being a jerk in general. In a lobby of random people, insulting a minority is reasonable for most idiots.

purplepopcorn

ablemancain

So, in essence you are saying "Don't call gays badnames" while you hurl insults.

Very hypocritical of you.

zodiacattack

rlh445

kuriakos

Starofspace

Starofspace

I can't even use a headset on Halo anymore because of the idiots.

BigDaddyStray

I think this whole story is ridiculous.
While most have made great, valid reasons arguing why this was 'so hateful' and how he was 'so undeserving' of such comments, they are only reflecting on ideals, and not on the society in which we place them.
It is -far- more likely that some would use the tag 'xxxgayboyxxx' for the purpose of humor, as opposed to openly describe their, apparently, top-priorital trait of themself.
To say 'OH W3L IF I PUT XXWOMANXX DOES THAT MEAN IT'S OK TO SAY 'HEY BITCH YOU GOTZ A VAGINA?" (Even though 'she' more then likely does..) is irrelevant past an exterior only definable by those too bias to delve deeper.
The term 'Woman' is NO LONGER synonymous with the term 'stupid', but because of (I'm sure) a large percentage of people like the fine, fellow respondants of this article, the term 'Gay' is -- which only brings me back to the usage described in my previous point.
Furthermore, the letters 'XXX', when placed in such arrangement, form an unmistakable (albeit, non-traditional) sign of pornography and/or other pornographic content.
To place such an alluding-acronym (?) as a barrior of such a blunt and attention-worthy title (Read: GAY'FUCKING'BOY) can only lead one to assume A. This is a 15 year old trying to score some cock and/or balls with a side of Capture the Flag, or B. An idiot trying to be a funny lil' douche bag by infiltrating the intriguing instance of an inseminating insignia, known as 73h ph4gx0r.
Now, unless your a 40-y/o leather daddy with an insatiable appetite for jail bait, I'm pretty sure you'd conclude that regardless of which reasoning said 'homo' put behind his GT, that all he wants is attention.
Anyway, anyone who thinks "upside down crab-walk moves" and "Wearing fabric from Aquaman's old costume" denotes prominent homosexuality, probably deserves all this boo-hoo Halo-homo-hating, as he doesn't even know what he's arguing for.
Perhaps I'll play as 666Minionoflord666 and note any and all inquiries form my Lord-loving LAN-mates.
:D

And I'm gay, ftr.
IT'S TRUE. I <3 COCK AND/OR BALLS!

_Fairy

The idea that "u can't make that ur gamertag and not expect ppl saying stuff like that..." may be true based on the current XBL culture, but obviously Major Nelson and MS don't want that to be the case, and blocking/banning may be the best way to send the message that XBL is a public place and hatespeech will not be tolerated.

amigarad

@SirUrza: He did actually speak in that, and there was gameplay too.

Also, lul at FriendlyUncle.

DigitalFigure

silentbobfan

CyberSkull

Chozobill

fullmetalkira

CalcioFool

boberthavok

"Klan influence was particularly strong in Indiana, where Republican Klansman Edward Jackson was elected governor in 1924, and the entire apparatus of state government was riddled with Klansmen. In another well-known example from the same year, the Klan decided to make Anaheim, California, into a model Klan city; it secretly took over the city council but was voted out in a special recall election."
[en.wikipedia.org]

California a bastion of Klan activity? Would be shocking to a lot of people if that had come to pass, eh?

ビッグ ボス

I bet that it is. Good for you =)

djbrandon

For some reason I kept thinking about a chapter in Indiana, but that wasn't the original one. My mistake.

ビッグ ボス

If you dont want negative attention, then dont feed the trolls.

Altima NEO

People seem to be too concerned though with how everything in the world is like. "Like amigad someone on XBL is making fun of a gay person!" If you don't like what someone say just mute them and/or leave bad feedback. It's not that hard. Obviously in the real world something like a gay dude not being hired because he's gay would be an issue. But this? No I don't think it's an issue. Why? Like I said the mute button. I don't know about you guys, but personally I wouldn't want XBL mods trying to bait me to get me banned. I personally like the chaotic nature of the internet. Again, in real life I wouldn't like this, but I don't look at the internet like it's real life.

kojirodensetsu

Every other match is "cute fuckin unicorn Robbotronz you faggot." or "Robbotronz take your unicorn and play Barbie Horse Adventure you faggot."

I'll have you know that my unicorn is fucking rad.

Robbotron

what I think is most appalling is in the original article at gaygamer, it is mentioned that the player fell under friendly fire, people dropping from the same team etc. as if the verbal abuse wasn't enough, they went to lengths to make it as un-fun as possible.

fillerbunny9

About that line, let me know if you make any progress.

It's long been on my mind as well.

Culture is something that should be embraced, but conflict is inherent with differences.

Dismissing who you are destroys your self, but overemphasizing it separates.

Again, I hope you find an answer.

Mact

In this case, yes, the guy was definitely being oversensitive. It's one thing to be insulted by people of meaningful intelligence, but to take something so hard when it comes from the mouth of a preteen moron is something else.

There are certain things worth getting offended by and other things that aren't worth the time. One that definitely is not worth the worry is when a faceless being on the other side of an internet stream hurls insults. If those guys were in front of my face in real life, I'd be offended. But they aren't. Why care?

A perfect example is when someone insults your mother online. They don't know your mother. A big part of a personal insult is being personal. If the person doesn't know your mother, what damage does the insult do?

Personally, in that situation, I'd mute the moron and move on. That or start agreeing with them, they tend to shut up when you agree with them because, honestly, what can they say to you?

Mact

Its reality , this stuff will never go away in society.

SamuelRPGstory

Great post. I agree 100%.

LUCYMONO

But some people may actually do that too.

That Girl Hates You

@Strangelove: Unfortuanitly people do think that and do use that reason.

I sometimes wonder why I'm not a hermit with crap like this. Hell I wanted to bash my head in after watching the mist just because I know there are people out there just like that (and of course for the ending /sigh)

That Girl Hates You

bodmodkub

djbrandon

I'm a straight-white-male, and in my daily life, Xbox Live is the only place where I'm regularly exposed to this much idiocy.

Aside from muting 1/4 of the people you meet on Live, there's nothing you can do about it.

Reporting people doesn't do shit all.

argh

As XBL players, though, the power is in our hands to curb this kind of nonsense. When a Kotaku commenter starts in with blatant abuse, we report them to the Banhammer. XBL has a Banhammer, too- the complaint function. I'm kind of sorry to say I've never used it, even though I've heard plenty of abuse.

The players who are actually participating in the abuse deserve to be banned from XBL, but the rest of us deserve some of the blame for this state of affairs. Every time we hear slurs (racist, sexist, homophobic, etc.) our thumbs should be leaping to the "complaint" button. MS designed a self-regulating online community, for better or worse. We should get off our asses and self-regulate the hell out of this thing.

Steel_Pelican

Made a post about this over on GameFAQs... The response is not as immature as I had believed.

[boards.gamefaqs.com]

seym0ur caKe

If you don't want to hear it, fine. Thats your choice and I can understand why. But don't lead such a sheltered life and understand your not going to be able to mute society.

Wardog

yeah the whole "i want to hang you bit" was very disturbing. =(

djbrandon

Yes... in general women and gays are generally harrassed in various ways. Women because men imagine them as an anamoly when they play online and gays because they need an easy scape goat for their insecurities and aggressions i imagine.

In capable hands, one can still nulify some of it... mitigate some of the flack and turn it into something positive. Though I can't imagine having that happen in a FPS.

MMORPG? Much better chance. There's a lot time invested into character building- teamwork- relying on others in a large world of people where you can't accomplish things on your own (typically).

But hey! I'm just making broad generalizations!

Thanks for making the effort to note that you're a gamer with a functioning brain. It's good to know there is intelligent life out there. ^____^

xoxo,

DjBrandon

djbrandon

execrationist

I cannot fathom how some people think acting like this online, or in the real world is acceptable. It's infuriating.

This garbage makes all gamers look bad, and genuinely has me thinking of giving up on Xbox Live, and Halo 3 altogether. I don't want to be interacting with morons like this in any shape or form.

I know not everyone on Halo is like this, but unfortunately a staggering amount are. This video has completely destroyed the already poor reputation of the Halo community, and I commend the author for releasing this video for the world to see.

Gamertag:
Captain Sanity

argh

drbrownt0wn

DoggySpew

dont like the "label" or term homophobia ... well how about bigot? does that work better for you? does that fit your vocal public dislike, hate and ignorance?

and can everyone stop calling being gay/homosexual a "lifestyle"! Owning a yacht, being a member of a country club, going green, deciding that you want to be a harajuku princess 24/7; that's a lifestyle. Being gay is not.

icarusprime

egyptiansushi

Crankyhobo

DCPlayaPride

Something about couch potatoes with fake guns.....

lionkitten

Don't harass, abuse, or spam other players.

Don't scream, yell, threaten, or stalk other players.

Don't distribute, post, publish, upload, disseminate or discuss defamatory, infringing, obscene, sexual or other unlawful materials like child pornography or illegal drugs including images, audio, video, or text.

Don't create a gamertag or motto that other users may be offended by, this includes comments that look, sound like, stand for, hint at, abbreviate, or insinuate any of the following: profane words/phrases, sexually explicit language, sexual innuendo, hate speech (including but not limited to racial, ethnic, or religious slurs), illegal drugs/controlled substances, or illegal activities.

Don't create a gamertag or motto that references controversial religious topics, notorious people, organizations, or sensitive current or historical events that may also be considered inappropriate.

Adam In Texas

SirCletus

thaichaiguy

[cache.gawker.com] (if nobody posted it already)

I still partially blame M$. Since the Beta days of Live 5 years ago, they encouraged "talking trash" as a selling point for the VOIP part of Live.

You reap what you sow. (it's too bad we have to also)

Billkwando

That's a bummer. If you decide to keep your Live account and want to play with some fun people send me a message. Actually, that goes for anyone who is looking for a more civil/adult/friendly group to play with on Xbox Live. I'm a member of the AGN (Adult Gamer Network) and everyone on there is nice and friendly. Not too serious and always inviting to people wanting more 20+ friendly people to play with.
My gamer tag is "Adam In Texas"

I started playing with AGN after the CoD4 beta ended. My wife loves that game and when she plays that or Halo 3 (two worst offenders by far) and people realize that she is a girl they do all sorts of crazy stuff.
It's so random too. Guys will follow her character around on screen (her character is a guy) commenting on how nice her ass looks and make it look like they are humping her or they'll start talking dirty to her. One started asking about our sexual relationship the other day. We laugh at it though because for the most part it's pretty funny. The way they make fun of one guy for losing to xxxGayBoyxxx happens all the time when she comes in first during a match. "You lost to a girl!" or "The chick on our team kicked you butts" "I can't believe I lost to a girl" etc., etc. AGN has a number of Live players that are husband and wife. It's pretty cool.

For those of you on live that have trouble with people being rude or talking in a manner you dislike go and submit a player review. It's simple to do and you select "avoid this player" and Live will try to keep you from playing with that person again. I do it all the time. You get to specify why you want to avoid them and anyone can go and look at their own reputation and see why people avoided them. It'll show you percentages. You can also set you Xbox Live Gamer Zone to the area that suits you best:

read about gamer zones here

Recreation
Pro
Family
Underground

I see that xxxGayBoyxxx has his set to recreation. Maybe the zone setting just matches you to people in your zone and it's supposed to be self-regulating (like, Microsoft just assumes that only people that pick underground will trash talk) but maybe selecting "family" for his zone would yield a more tolerable group for him.

Most gamer tags just blend in because they are so random. xxxGayBoyxxx sticks out to me even at a glance of a user list. Evidently so does "Adam In Texas" because the most often heard "joke" is "Hey Adam in Texas, are you from TX?" or they bust out the "Only steers and queers come from TX" and the list goes on. I wasn't trying to use Texas in my name because I'm necessarily proud of that fact, it was just something easy to remember and normal. When people start making fun of it I usually reply with, "Yeah, I was going to use XXXX but it was already taken." (replacing XXXX with their name) When I do that they usually realize how stupid their name sounds.

This is a huge post but I wanted to throw that out into the masses if anyone wasn't aware of the moderating system on Live or you're still looking for a fun group to play with.

Adam In Texas

Benjo

brodie123

NikolaiFuroski

UncleScrotar

First off, I hope no one was surprised that this actually happens. Yes, it's sad. Yes, it's wrong. Yes, it hurts the feelings of others. Yes, in a politically correct, this type of BS shouldn't happen. But that's the thing. This ISN'T a politically correct world. This isn't even a sane world. THIS IS THE INTERNET! It is here were people let lose their basest desires, to unshackle the chains of empathy and remorse. We can say anything we want without fear of personal repercussions. People who dislike a certain group, be it black, gay, blind, or furry, can come and howl to their hearts' content. There will always be people like that, no matter how everyone else may think of them. It's a sad fact, but that's the price we pay for "free" speech.

You guys talk as if this only happens to gays, when in fact it happens to everyone. Those hounds will go after anyone. If I went as BlackNProud, I'd no doubt get called a nigger. Same for Mexicans, Jews, Christians, girls, etc. Even adding "Straight" to your name will give the dogs a target. Do you really think they care who you are? They're just looking for fodder.

That said, I noticed something that's been bothering me for ages. Most of my gay friends would get offended if called fags just as most of my black friends would get offended if called niggers. These people have told me time and time again that life would be better if society would not look at what makes us different. Yet, there are some of the same people wearing gay pride bands or going to the Million Man March, deliberately WANTING society to look at what makes us different!

As a 19-year-old Black Male, I'm at the point where I don't give two shits what people think of me. However, I can't help but feel apathetic when Black History Month (my birth month no less) comes around. I just would like to know where the line lies between trivializing our differences and casting them in the spotlight.

P.S. Sorry for the long post. I'm just an idiot who spent an hour reading comments. I'm going back to playing Odin Sphere.

Jason144

lionkitten

Too different points.

@jayntampa: True nuff

lionkitten

Aw well. Those who know what they're talking about and do so well get my props.

drbrownt0wn

UncleScrotar

But I would make every single one of them stop talking.

I'm so good at being an ass over the mic, I am a real internet tough guy. In my TF2 server, -anyone- who has a just barely high-pitched voice, I'll tell them not to talk again until they grow balls or stop holding their nose. And all of those kids on that there Halo 3 video game sounded like that.

Bryan_

God.

egyptiansushi

egyptiansushi

jayntampa

randlsa

Kum0

Bob6k

Kaedex

Now if only we could confine people like you into Live.

Mact

I'll pay $50 bucks a year for the rest of my life to shout obscenities at noobs and idiots like Gay Boy. I work my ass off all day and whatever tone I choose to take on Live is my decision. Whether it's shooting shit with friends or cussing out some noobs It's my subscription and I'll do as I please.

Sounds like most of the people here need to wake up and see the reality we live in. I'd rather have the whackos going ape shit on Live rather than in real life.

tljent

Their stupidity will die out with them.

balls187

Because, obviously only gay, ethnic women can be sensitive to issues.

Hypocrisy in such issues burns my brain.

Mact

You said that heterosexuals have never been ostracized for being straight.

I was wondering what scale you were using.

Because, again, if you claim that straight people have never been ostracized by a gay person/persons for being straight, you are either ignorant or a liar.

Mact

No, I wouldn't tell him that the KKK was formed in the North because then I'd be a liar.

The KKK was started in Tennessee in 1866.
Tennessee seceded and became part of the confederacy in 1861.

I appreciate your agreement, however.

Mact

bebop4one

nxp3

Billkwando

Billkwando

neuroelectronic

You clearly don't get it. I'm going to take a wild guess that you are straight, male, and white. See post directly above yours.

lionkitten

neuroelectronic

So how is that different than taking abuse for having the tag "surfergal" and getting rained down with sexist crap. Or someone with an ethnic-sounding name or whatever.

Silly argument.

The people that tend to not get why this stuff sucks are almost always straight white males. Unless it's only complaints about homophobic crap, then for some reason people that suffer discrimination and hate it in their own lives decide to jump in as well.

lionkitten

PlayerX

PlayerX

sj4iy

Golem29

Granted, some of it is obviously directed at his sexuality, but 50% of it could be directed at a straight person too.

DDRMidian

You're part of the problem. Why do you feel the need to come to the forum and proclaim you're straight by responding that way? Why do we know that you don't?

Being gay is a fundamental part of someone's identity, just as being staright is. It shapes many facets of someone's daily life. It's not "who someone is", but it's a large part of creating who someone is. Saying "I'm gay" is not talking about sex. Many gay men go through life without ever giving/receiving anal sex.

lionkitten

Project Thanatos

schlizzag

kidnicky

josephmcklay

Jet Set

thegetupkid

don't feel sorry for him. with a name like that he was asking for it.

hungry_for_worms

thegetupkid

ビッグ ボス

thegetupkid

execrationist

Universally or individually?

Because, if referring to the latter, you're either ignorant or a liar.

Mact

People keeping on referring to this, so I guess I'll actually deal with it.

I don't see the big deal with people saying "that's so gay". Personally, I don't say it, but I don't see why it's offensive.

Now, before you rant, let me give my reason.

Mostly, and almost exclusively, the people I know who say it ARE gay.

Mact

And why is it that the majority of straight people usually want gay people to walk about on tip-toes around them as not to 'offend' them? You dont fucking own the planet just because yer more common.

FUCK YOU!

Basscadet

Because they don't like it when you play double-standard?

Mact

The fact that you seem to think that the south was the only area of the country that was pro-slavery and pro-bigotry is just as amusing as your earlier hypocrisy.

Because I'm fairly certain that it wasn't just the south that opposed the right for blacks to vote.

But, please, continue. You're providing the perfect example of people who make themselves superior by making others inferior, which is what this entire topic is about. Let the hypocrisy continue.

Mact

That being said, we are becoming a society of overly thin-skinned people. People need to learn to take their lumps sometimes. Everyone has gone through verbal abuse for something. Everyone. You dealt with it then, you can deal with it now.

ビッグ ボス

elpuga

ビッグ ボス

Homophobia IS rampant in online gaming. However I've actually led multiple guilds on World of Warcraft as a Guildmaster who happens to be gay. If someone asks, I have no problems mentioning it. Or it's brought up if someone makes a homophobic remark. I've found that the best way to fight against it, is to be proactive.

(We're talking raiding guilds too... with nearly 300 members... these aren't just family guilds).

In any event, my point is that people eventually learned to behave and respect me- even if I happened to be gay. I did my job and took care of the politics and did what I could to make everyone's experience better. Our guild lasted for over a year before I had to shift my gears and focus on stuff outside of WOW. However I still have lasting friendships with many of the straight members in the guild outside of WOW to this day.

There is SOME tolerance in the online spectrum. Sometimes you just have to take the diplomatic approach and remain steadfast. I'll admit that "GayBoy" probably wasn't the best screen name to use... but it's his choice. If he wants to be "FairySprinkleMagicRainbow"... let him! He's expressing himself. However the old addage "If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all" rings true here.

xoxoxo,

djBrandon

djbrandon

My screen name on PSN is t_rodz_99 and I get the same comment over and over once I frag somebody,
"t_rodz, you love the rods don't you? Rod smoker!"

I don't even bother to explain that rodz is short for Rodriguez or argue with them. I just click the mute player option and focus on that jackass the rest of the round, usually killing him in the cheapest ways possible in order to piss him off.

Mr_Pointy

But the guy on the video just asks for it.
He may have edited pretty well, but it's obvious that most people are responding to something the guy said.

Also, his tag is provocative... just as much as if someone called himself as "The Manliest Guy ever".
He'd also have lots of jokes about his sexuallity, specially if he kept taunting people around.

So, I'm all in favor of banning homofobia... but I fucking hate people who dress themselves as the "opressed people" when in fact, they do everything they can to piss others, be them gay or not.

Bokusatsu_Tenshi

PlaidNinja

Who exactly are you hanging out with? I've never walked up to a random person and said/done any of those things, or know, or even seen, anyone else do that. I did LOL at the pelvic-walk part, never seen or heard of that, but imagining it is hilarious.

In its basic form, sex is purely an animal instinct. Anyone and everyone can screw. To identify yourself solely on the fact that you nail guys OR girls makes you one-dimensional and generally uninteresting.

DougA

Jakaricat1

elpuga

I think everyone should have a "tag" IRL. This would translate to their online gaming, license plate, ect. With this "tag", you should be able to report them to the authorities, or at least inform their employer of their actions in private... Maybe a nice video montage to their mum.

NotSoCool

Some of the users just said his name tho, feels like he's wanting the attention when making a vid like that, including people just saying his name.

but many of the comments were very immature, and inappropriate.

Enyeez

Witzbold

Regardless we all know people hide behind a Gamertag/Nick/Avatar etc and throw around hurtful comments or act like a general ass online - because quite frankly none of them have the balls to behave like that outside of their home.

@elpuga: These guys are idiots, theres no point even trying to make sense of their behavior or rationalize with them. I thought my generation was bad -

2kreative

You may not mean it to hurt someone but it does.

lionkitten

He quit. We won. He received 7 sets of feedback.

lionkitten

GrapenutsRobot

difancer

elpuga

shufflemoomin

That said, while I have heard some gay-bashing talk (which is, btw, the weakest kind of trash-talk), I have also played quite a few games where this was not the case. As someone once pointed out here at Kotaku, just because idiots like Halo 3 doesn't make it a bad game. And I have plenty of games where the people talked about strategy and coordinated gameplay, not babbled on about how gay someone was (though I have seen plenty of that kind of unprovoked crap, as well).

Someone upthread discussed how no one picked names that discussed their heterosexuality, race or provocative names in their title. Let me check my recent players list:

bang1bus
tbt curious
stickyfaceshot
theHOTcarl
MoreHead7213
DOOODIRTY
x NinjaZeno x
SkiddMark4U
Mr. Albino Man
whitemuffinman

Ultimately, I don't really give a damn. I find the dude attempting to sound tough by calling someone a 'fag' just as irritating as the idiots who were carrying on a conversation about whatever happened to the members of the band Hanson during a match equally annoying. I mute the worst offenders, but I'm not shutting off the entire world to avoid a few bigoted idiots.

Also: Homophobia, the term as used today (and since the 70s), has it's roots from the word xenophobia. It stems from the idea that many anti-gay men react so because of a fear of being 'turned gay' or perceived as gay by their peers. Psychiatrists and psychologists themselves tend to use different terminology, but the term homophobia caught on in the popular vernacular and so it has stayed.

WizarDru

runandgun

You are a tool.

zaky

essko

GrapenutsRobot

zaky

I didn't misinterpret your statement, I simply just don't agree with it. :)

Did you read the actual video posters remarks on the YouTube site? He was doing it to prove a point that we've known all along - that many online gamers are homophobes. He never was as you articulated 'surprised' by the remarks because he stated some of them were actually funny.

Was he pushing buttons? That is a matter of debate. It was a point to prove what gay gamers deal with on Xbox Live and other online games regardless if 'gay' is in their names or not. Mainly because of this kind of rampant homophobia is why they must segregate themselves into communities like gaygamer.net and gaymer.org just to find games amongst each other without all the primitive heckling.

Your comparing a culturally and religiously offensive situation of someone walking into Baghdad with a Mohammad t-shirt on, to someone who is using the simple word 'gay' in their gamertag? Your kidding me, since when did 'gay' become such a highly offensive comparable term to wearing a Mohammad shirt in Baghdad. So bad of a word to put in ones gamertag that it demands that same level of extreme bullying, trite jokes, and death threats towards a person? It doesn't. I know ya made it clear earlier that your not a bigot, but the logic from that flawtastic analogy seems so.

The only thing that is (as you would put it) grossly ignorant or even remotely offensive are those who are unintelligent enough to let trivial things like a word in someones gamertag bother them that bad that it makes the vocalize their gross ignorance like in that video. No one holds a gun to your head to play with gay people online. No one holds a gun to your head to even speak with someone who is gay. Doing so just proved with the creator of this video did.

You'll never get rid of anyone sharing their personal lives in a social networked environment. If you don't like to hear it, ignore it, if it bothers you thats because its your gross ignorant problem.

TC

Slightly off topic, the following was said over voice chat within a Natural Selection game a day ago:
Person1: "Oh man, I got class in two hours..."
Person2: "Really, what cha taking?"
Person1: "Intro to Artificial Intelligence"
Me: "Ever notice that NS players are a bit more sophisticated than most gamers?"

Also: notice a lot of the people with serious issues had southern accents? hrm...

Only funny comment in there:
"Don't worry, GayBoy has your back. Your back door that is!"

@Bon5ai:
Really? I thought it referred to alcohol. =P

Akin

aelfin

ElderOfNar

KM91