Comments on: MS XBL Gay equals sex? – Article

By: writer-jm

writer-jm — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 04:54:03 +0000

Sorry, ignored the MS indignation because I was remembering the alleged Warcraft incident.

From the screenshots I’ve seen, the guild was purposefully trying to be provocative and disrespectful. If they had not been using vulgar sexual term and having virtual orgies in public zones… they might still exist. I was very disappointed in their behavior after wanting to support their cause.

By: Danny

Danny — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 19:58:13 +0000

Okay this pisses me off to no end when this happens but I just wanted to mention one thing on what you said about Blizzard. I won’t argue that when that incident occurred I was more than a little unhappy with them but Blizzard is one of the better companies in my opinion based on the fact that recently their games have been more open to homosexuality which is a great thing in my opinion and shows that they’ve grown up.

By: hazelam

hazelam — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 08:03:18 +0000

because we’re not ashamed like they think we should be we’re shoving it in their faces?

and as for the “what has sex got to do with gaming?” argument, how many articles go up on just about every website after a games show about booth babes and cosplayers?, invariably female with the skimpiest outfits.

though for the first time i did see a booth boys article about the tgs this year, not of interest to me, or anybody else here i’d imagine, but it was nice to see some balance for once.

By: LesbianGamers

LesbianGamers — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 06:59:29 +0000

Hi Hazelam,

you know we are not even going to click on the link, we’ve had trouble with ng4 before, but they don’t represent all gamers thankfully.

The shoving it down throats is always going to be an issue because we constantly need to come out. I had to come out to my dentist this week when he referred to my ‘husband’ in a conversation. Is me stating I have a girlfriend and not a husband me shoving it down his throat, or merely representing who I am?

Perhaps the assumption is unfair on his part as opposed to me correcting him?

Thanks for the input and don’t let it get you down xxx

By: hazelam

hazelam — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 16:23:55 +0000

it seems to me ms are just pandering to the lowest common denominator, far too many gamers it seems have backwards views when it comes to homosexuality.
any time the issue comes up you get the usual hate mongering and the one that i find particularly annoying, that invariably start with “i’m not homophobic/against gays” “but why do you have to shove it down our throats that you’re gay”

that by not being ashamed and hiding it like good little gays we’re shoving it in their face.

you want to know how messed up the gamer community is?
http://n4g.com/news/608529/lesbian-gamers-and-geek-look-at-3d-video-games-and-tv-viewing
a link to the 3dtv review on n4g, look at the replies, i have never been more ashamed to call myself a gamer.

it’s times like these i despair for humanity.
in many ways the gaming community is forward thinking and open, but then in other ways it’s just so depressingly backwards.

By: Grant

Grant — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 07:45:17 +0000

“The more we accept people using gay in a derogatory manner such as “that’s so gay” to denote something is bad, sub-par, stupid or unworthy, the longer the hatred will flourish.”
That’s a bit backward, isn’t it? The whole point of banning the word gay from name filters is that online games are swarming with kids who will use the word in its derogatory, schoolyard sense. Filtering the word is a vain attempt to prevent people from using gay in a derogatory manner, and it’s this attempt that has led to the banning of the word in its other two senses – and the resulting message that ‘gay’ is obscene.
I think we all need to accept that English words having multiple meanings. It’s part of the nature of the language. A lot of old and conservative people were upset when ‘gay’ was co-opted to refer to sexual orientation instead of happiness; but they couldn’t stop it from being co-opted, and neither can you. Gay means happy, lame, and homosexual, depending on context, and rather than try in vain to eliminate one of those meanings, it would be more productive to decouple the ‘gay’ and ‘lame’ meanings from one another.
As long as the ‘gay’ and ‘lame’ meanings are seen as synonymous, “that’s so gay!” will be regarded as hate speech, and ‘gay’ will be filtered in online games. When people use the phrase without any thought to its homophobic origins – as many do now – then it will be much easier to argue that the word ‘gay’ is like the word ‘screw’ – it can be used in a vulgar or derogatory fashion, but it makes no sense to filter it because it also refers to ordinary aspects of everyday life.

By: mattias silva

mattias silva — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 12:45:11 +0000

that other straight guy is so wrong, it would be great to be able to call yourself gay or lesbian in your gametag because that would help gaygamers meet other gaygamers on live, there should be a gaygaming channel or something because that way it would be easier for gaygamers to meet online. and they wouldn´t have to listen to stupid homophobes making stupid jokes about gay people, right, this guy doesn´t understand that as a straight person you mostly dont have to deal with this kind of descrimination, I have the right to call myself the straightguy, but gay people are not allowed to call themselves gay and that is wrong. If microsoft says that gay is a sexual word, then straight is equally sexual and should also be banned. Shame on you microsoft for hating so much on your loyal and devoted gamers =(

By: Mattias Silva

Mattias Silva — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 12:23:10 +0000

Hello it is at times like this that I feel ashamed for being a straight gamer, this is horrible, that is so wrong what microsoft is doing, seriously what are they thinking, how can it possibly be offensive to call yourself gay. i mean seriously its the year 2008 and we still have issues like this! Im hating microsoft so much right now. I hope that nintendo and sony shows more love for their gamers. I cant believe they scored a 100% on that equality index, its crazy, cant we do anything about this, like sending a complaint to microsoft or that HRC thing. PS: I love you lesbian gamers, you have so much humor and great articles keep up the good work =)

By: carora13

carora13 — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 18:54:08 +0000

This is sad, especially hearing about it from a company that scored a 100% on HRC’s Corporate Equality Index the last four years in a row.

By: ocdcdadd

ocdcdadd — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 18:23:27 +0000

I was just about to make the comment about putting “straight” in a gamertag and then saw Faye’s at the bottom.
I think it’s quite the opposite. You don’t see people touting “straight” in their gamertag, and, frankly, I do think it would be considered “sexual” in certain contexts, including the two you provided.
Obviously, “straight” has other definitions as well. I’d be fine with “TheStraightedge” or “StraightFive”. If it were clear to me that the gamer were labeling themselves as heterosexual then, yes, I would consider that sexual.
Also, regarding LeftofSender’s comment, MS is not alone responsible for the term being considered offensive on XBL. The reason ANY offensive term is an issue at all is because XBL is used by lots of players the world over.
I think you’d find that even if Microsoft okayed “gay”-mertags, there’d be plenty of XBL members that would be offended by it all the same.
As for teh spikey’s comment- you’re completely removing the sexuality out of it when you explain it like that. I know you’re trying to argue that “gay” is not at all sexual but, as in your example, can’t a “gay” person love somebody that is opposite-gendered like a child does (or vice versa)? The love between two people in a serious relationship is sexual with or without actual sex.
I am straight and I don’t think that sexuality boils down to who you’re having sex with. However, if you think the terms “straight” or “gay” aren’t sexual at all, that’s simply wrong. Gay or straight is your *sexual orientation*, or in other words, what you are naturally inclined to *sexually*.