Comments on: Xbox Live Bans Teh Ghey

By: Chemical Rainbow

Chemical Rainbow — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 23:21:12 +0000

I don’t really think that it’s fair to ban usernames with “gay” in it, or anything with words related to sexuality. Whether these usernames are meant to be jokes or for real, I don’t think that Microsoft is in the proper position to do this.

Sure, some people may not be open to gays quite yet, but, for God’s sake! It’s a username. Even a real last name had to be pulled in to these “Terms of Use”.

Yeah, I’m just a naive adolescent, and even if I used to hate gays and lesbians when I was a kid, but sexuality shouldn’t be the grounds for a person to be able to access these services.

By: MangaPunkSai

MangaPunkSai — Fri, 30 May 2008 07:38:51 +0000

Ah no sorry, the spam filter picked up your post. I’ve retardedly had to flag the word “sex” for moderation thanks to certain spam advertisers, I didn’t think it’d pick it up in a larger word. Bah.

Yowzers did use the phrasing “if you want to be viewed as a normal person”.

When I say it’s silly I mean it’s silly in a considerably inoffensive way. In that it shouldn’t matter and definitely shouldn’t be a reason for a banning.

By: Lunar

Lunar — Fri, 30 May 2008 05:16:51 +0000

Aaand I think I lost my reply… So, to repeat myself.

I agree on some parts there, but I’ve never really made a definite difference between gay/lesbian/bi/whatever and straight besides the only difference that there is, which is their sexual preferences, which is their own business. In short, I suppose I don’t particularly care.

On that note, when I read Yowzers statement it struck me as more of a ‘Ok, you’re gay, so what?” kind of a thing. As in, why would you seriously (as in not for a good laugh or joke) announce such a thing? Does it actually matter on something like X-Box Live? It seems as silly (albeit humorous in a way) as making a point to say you’re straight; as you joked about. That’s why I said he seemed one of the most sensible. We apparently had a different perspective of his statement.

By: Lunar

Lunar — Fri, 30 May 2008 05:09:06 +0000

True. Though I guess I’ve never made a real definite difference between gay and straight, besides sexuality (buh-duh), which is your own business. So seeing all this so blown up is just, eh, strange I suppose.

As for Yowsers, I found it to mean more of a “Ok, you’re gay, so what?” kind of a thing. Why would you bother to announce it on something like X-box Live unless, of course, as a joke? As I said in the above statement, it’s your own business. It seems just as silly (albeit humorous in a way) as announcing you’re straight like you joked about. That’s why I stated his statement seemed the most sensible. Apparently we took a different perspective of it.

By: MangaPunkSai

MangaPunkSai — Thu, 29 May 2008 20:31:44 +0000

Well I linked to GamePolitics which is linking to gay gamer sites, it’s sort of a links upon links thing.

What I resent about Yowser’s statement is the sort of “stay in the closet” sentiment. If you want to be seen as NORMAL don’t identify as gay, he’s basically saying, “normal” by default being “not gay” rather than all of it being considered “normal”. And sure, it’s stupid to act like gay is a subculture, though everything has a subculture in some way or another whether you try to form one or not (there’s even a gaming subculture to a large extent), but like I said so what if someone wants to call themselves “TheGayerGamer”? Which is a joke, not necessarily an offensive one either.

On the flip side some people are overreacting, but it doesn’t make this feel any less uncomfortable. I guess it’s a tricky situation. And you know, gay people are their customers too.

By: Lunar

Lunar — Thu, 29 May 2008 20:20:54 +0000

Ok, so I was reading through the comments on your link to the gay gamer sites, and the only thing that really came to mind was “Wow, these people have a lot of time”. I’m not saying that- well, ok, so from what I see there is a some overreacting about this. Yowzers seemed the most sensible in both his statements. I mean, I suppose on one hand I understand why people are getting all up in arms, but really now. It’s a name, and although Microsoft’s reasons for banning the word may not be too clear, it’s their site, and they can make whatever rules they want. You’re choosing to pay to play, right? Besides, it’s not a hard rule to follow. The only reason a person would/should be using ‘gay’ in a gamertag is as a joke (as you aren’t supposed to be using your real name anyway..).

I dunno. I guess it all just seems a bit… silly. All of it. The guy deciding to use his real name, someone (or a lot of someones) complaining about it, Microsoft having to take action, and then the gay community (though it sounds stupid to have to seperate them like that, to be honest) raising the flags on it.