Yes, I was often called a fag in elementary/middle/high school. Mostly because I only wore short shorts and Wham! t-shirts, but also because I once kissed a dude at lunch. (It wasn't a gay thing, though. I was looking for my gum.) But never in my adult life have I been more insulted over my perceived sexuality than while logged in to Xbox Live. I'll put it this way: I doubt real gangs of international super-spies call their teammates cocksmokers when they fail to steal a hard drive from a gang of mercenaries. Though, who am I kidding? I'll still play Splinter Cell online anyway. But now it seems like Microsoft is getting in on the homophobic fun themselves. Last week, they forced a player to change his gamertag from "theGAYERgamer", and this week, they've censored the name "RichardGaywood". According to their official policy, the word "gay" constitutes a sexual reference, which they don't allow in officially sanctioned gamertags. But they also claim that they flagged those two names in particular due to complaints from other Xbox Live users. Look Microsoft, just because your members don't want to be reminded of their own repressed sexuality while p0wning other basement-bound virgins in Halo 3, that doesn't mean you have to jump on board. Also? "RichardGaywood" was the guy's real name. He is, of course, British. More details here. And experience the excitement of rampant homophobia in this video:
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Xbox Live: Idiots
