If I am a proctologist and go with the gamer tag of "the ass man" would I be banned??
After all there is no context to say what it means...

Xbox community is full of idiotic parents and spoiled 12 year olds.... real gamers play PC

bunch.of.wackos

Hell, I'm actually starting to like Microsoft (just a little).

Seriously, I don't care if someone is gay, shut the fuck up and just play the game, and keep the sexuality out of it. It's not like someone's gonna pop out of the blue and give you a gold star because you feel that everyone needs to know you're playing for the other team.

Maybe I should change my name to 'TheMasturbatingGirlFuckingGamer'. Just as offensive? I think so.

Tyber_Zann

By the way, it's not homophobic to be annoyed with gays flaunting their preference. Hating them because they're gay? That's intolerant. Being annoyed because they feel like they have to or are entitled by some special exception to flaunt it, i.e. in a gamertag? Nothing wrong with that. Are you telling me you wouldn't find it a nuisance to have someone going around yelling about being heterosexual?

Ironic that you lot are preaching about tolerance and then you turn around and lynch someone who's simply expressing their frustration with the fact that some people seem to think they're specially entitled to be vocal about their abnormalities. Good job guys.

The first poster shouldn't have been banned for what he said, and I hope he comes back and continues posting.

Norellicus

Or theKOREANgamer. Or theGIRLiergamer. Or how about theBLACKERgamer? I'm sure that some members of the community would have a problem with all of those. I am quite certain that some of them wouldn't want their children in contact with those gamers either.

frieze

@MaxS: Agreed.

AndrewG009

Who cares if this douchebag got banned. And please stop defending him! Don't tell me half the posters here are gay too! What is this world coming to!?

wtf007

Now, I've not read most of the comments on here, but I find this very ironic. Xbox Live gamers seem to refer to everyone as "gay" so the fact that someone actually has it in there name should not be a problem. In fact they should love it even more.

Ryadic

It's flamebait, a direct violation of the TOS, and totally deserving of the ban.

People who justify it saying "But it could mean merry/lively/etc" are making an excuse to defend it against what they KNOW everybody else is thinking.

This is just like that stupid gaygamer 'investigation' about the hate on XBL...his tag and coloring provoked it. Doesn't mean it doesn't happen anyway, but seriously...

Norellicus

I can't believe XBL tries to hide behind the "think of the kids" argument. Every goddamned game they put out says "ESRB rating may change online" or some such crap.

They know full well that XBL is full of the lowest common denominator of humanity, so who gives a crap about the word "Gay" in a gamer tag? You aren't able to get an account w/o a credit card, which presumes you're either an adult or you have an adults consent.

I don't care about his tag, nor do I care that it got banned; just don't cry about the kids, who have worse language and manners than the adults. Eff 'em.

You-Cannot-Untoast

Yes, it sucks. But it is your gamer tag. Don't lose sleep on this one.

mmr

@StevenRafael: Why was that homophobic? He stated an opinion. You'd have to talk to them much more to find out if they were or not. I personally don't like it when people flaunt anything, including their "open-mindedness".

That said, I don't really think this is necessarily "flaunting" his sexuality. He is just saying something about him. Like "gardenerjoe" or "comixcollektr23".

Another post brought up an example of "potsmoker69" which I would think to be more offensive because of the drug reference, more so than the "69". It's illegal in most places. Then again, can you punish someone who may have that name in a country where that it isn't illegal, just because another country's laws are different?

Lachoy

yeah but Gay means "happy"....so he is the "TheHappierGamer"

Kempatsu

I have not been banned yet for my Tag (Kosher Infidel), and I have to admit I should. It could be read as offensive to both Jews and Muslims, though I never meant it that way. I suppose that I too am guilty of 'flouting' my personal lifestyle choice with it...I am an atheist, which you could read from the tag. Never one complaint though.

I was a bit upset that every side of the argument regarding the gayergamer tag was making such a ridiculous spectacle of it, until I thought about my own tag. I never really thought that it could be offending people.

MS is a logic robot when it comes to complaints like this. They submitted, MS read them and acted. Unfortunate you can't fuck off with a simple handle, but it is they way it works right now. A friend of mine is a communications assault specialist and used to use the GT CommShot. Yeah, he got the same message to change it as it had offended some folks who thought he was trying to get around saying cum shot. He was pissed, called and tried to explain, and the MS machine won in the end. How it is.

KosherInfidel

One more thing...'theGayerGamer' allegedly spends most of his time on Halo 3, so it seems probable that the name was reported by other users playing Halo 3. Now seeing as Halo 3 is an M rated title, from Microsoft's point of view there shouldn't be anybody under 17 playing it online in the first place, and if there is, and they find the name somehow offensive Microsoft can't be held responsible. The 'young child' argument doesn't really stand up.

qizarate

Unfortunately it seems many of the commenters here seem to overlap with the majority of the (largely puerile) Xbox live demographic.

"...it would be hard for me to defend to a parent of a young child who saw it that the name did not contain content of a sexual nature."

In my eyes that's paramount to saying that young children should be 'defended' from 'the gays', and shouldn't learn to understand that it's perfectly alright to have a different sexual orientation. Microsoft is just pandering to its largest installed userbase, conservative America.

qizarate

@ScreechSkater: You phrased you initial post to deliver shock value and nothing more. Surely you were aware that what you said would have caused offense to just about everyone viewing this article.

Spiraltribesman

FFS! People really need to get a grip, I have a friend whose gamer tag is Genosyde.
How is it that you can get away with naming yourself after a term for mass murder but can't just happen to mention that you're gay.
I think that you should be able to call yourself whatever the hell you want, just lay off the swears and the obvious innuendo.
Reminds me of this story. [kotaku.com]

cakester

@SolCross:

I expect gamers from Scunthorpe have cause for complaint too.

phicaluk

He should learn to be more creative with his "innuendo", change his tag to FriendOfDorothy or UphillGardener or something.

phicaluk

@flashtut: These are the same incredible censors that also accidentally censor words like "grape". ;) There are many reasons why it's not utilized more often, that only being one of them.

SolCross

@ScreechSkater:

Yeah, they should stay in the closet where they belong huh?

As for people saying someone shouldn't reference their sexuality in their gamertag... why the hell not? If it is a big part of his life or something he takes pride in, whats the big deal?

Haha my gamertag has vegan in it, should I be banned? I mean my gamertag could have children asking their parents "Whats a vegan?" and "Where does meat come from?" and "Mommy, I want to be a vegetarian". All hell could break loose! Microsoft, take note!

Vegan Shinigami

Deserved a ban imo. It has sexual connotations, PERIOD. i realize the gay community feels persecuted on a pretty daily basis. But this is crossing over into them wanting special treatment, strong-handed tactics to get special treatment using the threat of crying "prejudice" as blackmail to try and keep a name that would be banned whether it was gay or not.

I applaud XBL for having the balls not to back down.

@MaxS, nobody uses it for that anymore; this isnt 1908 its 2008.

string_theory

@Detre: Totally agree with you there. But i guess some people are just like that, and the best you can do is just ignore them.

Another thing - people tend to type stupid things in their nickname when they can't come up with anything original (you think ZEROcool wasn't taken?)

Lajcik

It's a double edged sword.
Everyone has the right to complain about something and that means that person is as culpable as the next.

It's not MSs fault, they're providing the same service to the folk that didn't like that gamer tag as to those whodon't like other gamertags.

Tough titties. No special allowances should be made for anyone on the basis of their gender, race, sexuality, religion, culture or bank account. To do so is discrimination to some else. MS are fine.

As for the people that complained - well they're shallow minded.

edhe (xbl)

I'd have to add that gay is not just a sexual preference, but an identity and a way of life. Banning one would just be banning someone who says "I like to do it from behind", but more like banning someone identifying themselves as a particular race, nationality or sex.

Also, I don't think that the "he should have seen it coming" argument works here. If a group of people didn't like me using a particular street or entering a particular shopping centre because I'm wearing a flag of my country on my T-shirt, I would not be at fault for being attacked there because (1) I chose to flaunt my nationality or (2) I knew what was coming. Likewise, the free market argument doesn't work here, because minorities don't really have the size to protest by merely not buying a product and because there is no competing Xbox LIVE to offer them the same services.

mcderek3000

Seriously I have no problem with this persons gamer tag, and anyone who does is obviously narrow minded and prejudiced. So he's a happy person, people always just look at the negatives these days and blow it way out of proportion. Every person has their freedom to be what they want and where they want. Let it be.

Word Man

Wow... I hope mine doesnt get ban. Ive had this name for like 10 years.

randomshagz

@DUOPHONIX.com: I heard a lot of offending things on Live. Because I'm German a lot of people called me "Nazi", "Kraut" etc. So why should I just take these insults? I use the report tool on these guys. Sadly a lot of the insulted people don't use them and these idiots won't get a temp ban on live, which they should!

So if someone is offended by a gamertag or the behavior of another gamer they should complain.

erdbeerheld

Funny story. First he chooses a gamertag which attracts homophobes and lead to controversy. Then a lot of people complain about his nickname and MS decides that his gamertag violates the TOS.

I'm sure he was aware of the fact that that name would definitively lead to this controversy. He deliberately provoked these reactions and now he is complaining that MS banned his gamertag and the world hates him?

The next thing is writing a letter to get even more attention.

I don't care if he's gay or not. I just don't see the point in whining about such irrelevant topics. Also I don't get why he has to tell everyone that he's gay. I think someones sexuality should be a privat thing that you don't tell every stranger you just met. It's like he's walking down the street and telling everyone he's gay.

erdbeerheld

I think that some people get FAR too offended by simple things. If you use xbox live, the chances are that you will hear far more offensive things that this guys user name. What the hell is happening to human tolerance of things that aren't REALLY going to cause you harm? its just a name!
I could argue that anyone with the world "ginger" in their name offends me as i have ginger hair. Even IF it were true - who cares if im "offended" by it. Its not causing me physical harm. If it really hurts me that badly then i should stop trying to socialise on xbox live. I should probably stop talking to people in the real world too, because everyone gets offended every now and then. You cant just constantly keep looking after daft people that go out of their way to complain about something as trivial as someone's name! I mean come on! So he is suggesting he is gay in his user name. So what! if it really offends you then it sounds like the problem is with you, not with his user name.
I personaly dont consider his name to have any sexual innuendo, but even if it was something like "manlove12" or whatever - its only offensive to small minded people anyway. Who wants to have to look after such small minded people? You only encourage intolerance when you allow things like this to BE a problem.

I give up!

DUOPHONIX.com

@ScreechSkater: I have a question, does the fact that your name contains "Skater" in it qualify you as "flaunting that you skate"? If not, then you are an idiot.

Siskoraban

the fact that everyone is talking about this... makes it a good reason to ban... if we gamers talk this much about a simple gamer tag, imagine how casuals and non-gamers will react... geez...

neo177117

@kingclip:
Zippy's. I'm not sure they have them outside of Hawaii. Don't get me wrong, they didn't both happen in the same night. That'd just be preposterous!

@Philondra:
I re-read your first post and I see what you're saying. I misunderstood it the first time around. You get an "orz" from me.
OTL

Channing

My bio. reads something like:

Hi, I am a 23 year old non-racist homofriendly male.

You have been muted.

Wonder if they'll come after me next.

Red Peter

I felt sorry for him, but throughout reading it all I just found it amusing the first idea I thought of was to rename to "TheGaymer", I'm pretty sure that nick would just fly over the heads of most live players.

suntorytime

@SolCross:

It doesn't take "magic" to implement a language filter upon registering a gamertag. In fact many software companies have successfully implemented such filters for use with account registrations. One would think, Microsoft, the largest software company in the world could manage such a task. If the account can't be created in the first place, upon checking a database of illegal words, numbers, symbols, etc., then it wouldn't be necessary to do a "searching and destroying" of names that violate the TOS.

flashtut

I don't care about people being gay, I have a few friends who are, but do you really need to have gay in your gamer tag? Does that mean people should be putting "straight" in their gamer tags too?

Pestilence

@Presidentpez: See: Terms of Service.

SolCross

@Presidentpez: Maybe the way he capitalized it? the way he set up his name is asking for a flame bait. I think he's just trying to be the next chris crocker.

s0ulzx

Please explain to me...

How is his name "Flaunting his gayness"?

I'm sure he's aware that his name will cause reactions from the homophobic/ignorant (yes, it's interchangeable) croud on Xbox Live, but he paid his fees live everyone else so he deserves a bit more explanation.

Here's the top 25 gamertags of 2007...I see at least three names that can be equally offensive (under the presented criteria). [trixie.spaces.live.com]!7B5BF90AD4B76A39!14025.entry?wa=wsignin1.0

Presidentpez

@laughingmangits: Because the fastest way for them to get caught is by people reporting the username, and if people don't do that, then it takes forever to weed the names out. It's not rocket science, and many other people have mentioned it here.

Microsoft doesn't have a "magic program" that instantly does all this work for them, and combined with the amount of Gamertags on XBL, searching and destroying the TOS-breaking names is no small feat.

SolCross

Can someone answer me as to why people with 666, 69, and drug/sex references don't get forced username changes?

Good Ol' Microsoft. The forced Vista upgrade fiasco, the cost of a failing system, and poorly moderated rules is really sending me further and further away from them.

laughingmangits

@Sailorcancer: ...which is why it's always a good thing to read the TOS before you pay for it. It's not there for you to shrug it off, if it says DON'T DO IT, you better believe you shouldn't do it.

When you agree to the Terms of Service, you're agreeing that you will allow them to ban you if you disobey one or more of the rules, regardless of whether or not you're paying for it. It's your own stupid fault if you get banned for using names or phrases that you're not supposed to, regardless of the context.

SolCross

lol, well I'd be ticked off as well if I got a ban from a service I have to PAY for.

Sailorcancer

sure its not allowed by MS bcoz of the sexuality thing but what about all the 12 year old on live screaming stuff like that? (at last I have heard something like that..)

Shad0X

Doesn't MS have a right to ban his gamertag? I mean he is using a private service through a private corporation, their rules and he must follow them.

CFStang

Well, looks like that this attention-seeking type has got all the attention he wanted.

I'm no homophobe- gays can be great- but I agree that MS were right to ask him to change his name. It's a rubbish name, designed to provoke response and attract attention. Which it has done. If I had a gay friend who tried to sign up with a tag like that, I'd advise them they were being an idiot and were asking for trouble. What does sexuality have to do with gaming anyway? It's hardly the subtlest of tags. The guy's obviously wrong-brained, not about his choice of where to put his penis, but in his choices of how and where to advertise it. It's not like he's got a life-ban either. Just come up with a better name. One not screaming for attention like a spoiled brat.

Ungruntled

I have no problem with gay people, however, i do think the name is inappropriate. It is stated in the terms of use that Gamertags cannot contain sexual references and I'm glad to see that rule being enforced. also, the guy obviously did it to get negative reactions. he just wanted to stir up trouble.

Now we just have to get rid of all those guys with "muffin" and "69" in their gamertag.

ReconToaster

In the end it comes down to players on Live not policing their own community. Send feedback. File complaints. It's there for a reason and it works.

I teach high school, and one of the kids I teach got a voice ban. His friends told me it was because he's always using homophobic slurs online. They told him to stop as one of the kids they play with has gay parents and they knew it was upsetting him. They set up a custom game with 16 people in Halo 3 and all 15 dinged him with a complaint for in-game voice. The kid got a voice ban. I don't know if he learned anything, but it apparently worked. Secondhand story, of course, but I believe the kids.

lionkitten

This really shouldn't have to be newsworthy. I'm siding with Microsoft on this one, as any name with a touchy subject like that is against the TOS, regardless of context. Maybe in a few decades the whole gay taboo will blow over in society, but right now it's crap like this that doesn't help.

I mean, how stereotypical can you get when you're gay and you're making a big "to do" about everything? Was he honestly expecting Microsoft would be okay with this, or was he just testing them? I don't see how any smart person would *not* have seen this coming a mile away. A little bit of a tangent, but yeah, this kind of stuff just annoys the crap out of me.

SolCross

There are already a ton of comments, as is the nature of this sort of thing, but I might as well throw my two cents into the mess:
If they really enforced the rules as they claimed, would I have a problem with his Banning? No. But that's not the case. They can spew all the bullshit they want, but in the end, there are still hundreds of other names and people doing far worse on Xbox Live, and they're being ignored. That's the nature of discrimination and prejudice. Not banning him, banning him exclusively.

Palladium

360 comments and people are still not getting that LIVE members reported the gamertag in sufficient amounts to warrant him to have to change it. He didn't get banned, just had to change his name, which was a violation of the TOS to begin with.

"-Create a Gamertag or use text other profile fields that may offend other members. 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."
[www.xbox.com]

Also, if enough people report "straightgamer" or whatever shitty examples you tin-foil hat wearing bigotry crying fools keep coming up with, it will be handled the same way. Remember, it has to be reported.

I_Hate_This_Place

@Metro Mapper: That gamertag exists but also has "0" gamerscore. Either it was just created, he plays no games or he is the worst gamer ever. This gamertag was not banned b/c someone running Live decided they were offended. It was banned b/c other Live members voted to say that it was offensive. If you find Straightgamer offensive and get several people to vote that it is offensive, then I'm sure they will take action to have it changed.

Spartan1308

Some of your arguments are pretty dumb.

Saying he should have been banned because his gamertag was flamebait, and that he "should have known" the outcome of being openly gay on XBL is ignorant.

Naming myself "TheBlackdude" would probably get some racist remarks from ignorant gamers, but does that mean it's flamebait?

It's a fucking name, get used to it.

YUYU

Honestly, I would be offended by the gamertag if I were gay. It seems almost like it is poking fun at gays.

I am in no way small minded, but that is just a dumb tag.

cmonty06

i think thats pretty stupid, i mean, lets say a chinese person put thechinesegamer as their gamertag, or someone who is a woman put thefemalegamer, shit lets say someone thats celibate put thecelibategamer, none of those people would have shit flung their way, so i think people should be allowed to express their identities on xbox live, you know if microshit had any brains they would separate the young users from the old users like myspace does so that kids and adults are separated so that kids don't have to be exposed to "adult inuendo" and that adults don't have to hear kids using worse language than most adults

gstatty

@TRT-X: You'd have to be looking for a reason to complain to jump to that conclusion.

Roto13

@Space_Cakes: You make it sound like it was one random complaint. I'm pretty sure the response was fairly large.

And again, this story is somewhat biased. There are names banned every day that we don't see. I'd love to see a list of names that were banned in the same "session" as "theGAYERgamer"

The only reason this is a story is because it's a guy with "Gay" who's actually gay.

Because you KNOW if it were a straight guy he'd be dismissed as a bigot and MS would be herald for "skimming the fat"

TRT-X

@dixon0396: And I would guess some of those names would be banned IF there were complaints from other LIVE users.

That is the key everybody is forgetting. The Gamertag was brought to MS's attention by the service's "report" feature.

@VampHuntD: Those waters are "tainted" so to speak. The name would have to draw complaitns from the XBL user base as this one did.

Also, if it were banned, I would guess there'd be a number of responses along the lines of "Well you know they're only doing that because of the gaygamer thing."

TRT-X

Parent of a young child... who might've seen this tag playing Halo 3? the shame

Space_Cakes

@lionkitten: Well, many people in the past have killed for their "Lord and Savior", so it sounds like the crusades are just being brought to the digital realm.

DeeBG

This is kind of disappointing but not surprising. I guess if enough people complain about your name, and it has what could be considered ANY offense content to ANYONE, then M$ bans them. Of course it's fully in their rights as per the Live contract, and I do believe complaints did come in, so I am more disappointed about the Xbox Live community (which I didn't hold in high regard to begin with) than anything else.

DeeBG

@StevenRafael: Homophobia = fearing homosexuals. I don't personally know of anyone here that would run screaming in the oppisite direction, do you?

Keeping it off Xbox Live though is different. Although personally, I wouldn't be offended if I came across this person. But if you don't like it, don't play on it. It's as simple as that.

Kovitlac

Go with the ban. It's inflammatory considering the culture of Xbox Live.

Does it mean it's bad being gay or accepting publicly that one is gay? No, not at all. It just means that there's no real reason to do so, considering the context of the community and that well, frankly, it's completely out of place.

If you go to play at a bowling or tennis or whatever tourney and while registering you just claim "I'm gay", and start greeting people saying "hi, I'm gay", you're being a pest. Good, you're a homosexual. Nobody cares. It's as if I went and greeted people with "Hi, I'm a playa. I like them ladies".

Grive

@tehFluffz:
And when I said "him" I meant a hypothetical kid playing on Live.

tehFluffz

@dixon0396: Good point. I was playing GTA the other day with a guy named something like "Gaming4Christ", which I found ironic to say the least, as we were shooting cops and running over pedestrians.

lionkitten

All I know is this actions saves the rest of us from hearing a million anti-gay sentiments being hurled his way in a game chat.

noelix

If you're saying it's the word "GAYER" people are offended by then seriously, do you think that after 3 hours in which he played COD4 online and heard the words "FUCK", "FAGGOT" and "MOTHERFUCKER" over 1000 times, him meeting a person named "theGAYERgamer" is what's going to damage his mind?

I personally wouldn't let it slide.

tehFluffz

@TRT-X: A name like JewBoy over the Internet (and by extension, XBL) would attract more vitriol and/or ignorance from the bigots out there, culminating in insults and reports to MS. I don't think Jewish gamers wouldn't take offense to a name like that, much like I don't believe some gays wouldn't take offense to "theGAYERgamer", but I have no doubt they're a minority in comparison to the ones who would "take offense" based on bigotry/ignorance and act on that in some fashion.

Zeliard

I'd like to point out that the example of 'straightgamer' is an active gamertag: [www.xboxlc.com]

I'm sure other related ones are too.

Toulouse's claim that that "yes 'TheStraighterGamer' or 'TheHeterosexualgamer' would have gotten the same treatment" does not appear to be true.

Bad decision and unfortunate double standard in our society.

Metro Mapper

@Channing:

I understand your point, and completely agree with you that like all things, there are appropriate times and places for everything.

however, XBox live is a fry cry from a fancy, upscale restaurant. If you want to go with the communal dining eastabilishment analogy, it's a lot closer in atmosphere to a frat boy kegger.

Philondra

Wow. Whatever happened to just having a gamertag so you could play a damn game?

ekstrapiksels

I'm just curious to know if it would truly be banned on both sides. Anyone willing to test those waters in a few months?

VampHuntD

And if this guy wasn't gay, but felt like causing a stir on every server he went on, this would be ok?

Darkest Daze

"If people on xbox live find it offensive, then it's going to be taken off. That's all there is to it, it is in the rules." Darx, then they shouldn't allow anything along the lines of "JewLover", "No1Jew", "MoreJewthanJewman" or "No1Black", even if I am dating a Black Jew. LIVE would have to emulate French govt. policies and not allow any religious, racial or sexual identity markers in our gamertags. Otherwise, it would be hypocritical. And yes, I will start marking anything that remotely falls in those parameters. And yes, people, please stop t-bagging my Hal0 corpse.

dixon0396

With a name like that you're just crusin' for a bruisin'. Especially on XboxLive. I've probably been called the F-- word like every time I've played Halo3 and I'm not even gay.

cybereality

@MeateaW: We'll never know. Because if somebody runs out and makes "StraighterGamer" it would obviously be in response to this and would be subsequently banned.

Though I imagine XBL will be hit with a number of "___Straight___" "___Hetero___" type user names for the next few days.

I fully expect a story within 24 hours of somebody with a name such as those I just listed reporting in that they have/haven't been banned.

TRT-X

I think this is a little unfair for the person but at the very least the name change should have been free.

gamecrazychris

@haty: Oh, and it kinda is somewhat of a big deal , considering it costs 800 Microsoft Points to change your gamertag. So, because he's gay, he pretty much has to pay a fine. Which is kinda wrong.

SniperLaser

i doubt anyone really cares if you're gay or straight on xbox live, as long as you're playing nice with everyone else. that said, there is absolutely no reason to put that in your gamertag knowing full well that you're going to get some crap for it. they're videogames, not an opportunity for civil rights posturing. RELAX and enjoy the damn games.

For the record, if the gamertag was indeed 'thestraightestgamer', ms would not ban it because no one would get the joke to report it.

decodergrizzly

@Channing: So what restaurant is that? It sounds fascinating.

kingclip

"I hate gay people who flaunt their gayness everywhere, keep that shit off Xbox Live." Screech, I hope you get banned. Why do you have to impose your beliefs on other gay people? I hate self-hating gays and gays who hate other gays but I support you choosing any gamer tag you want. Practice what you preach and keep your hating "shit" off Kotaku and LIVE. You don't speak for other gays or this one.

dixon0396

I would be willing to bet my companion cubes that the guy on Xbox Live with the name "TheStraighterGamer" has a perfectly fun time on Xbox Live, and will never be banned, even though his title is pretty much "Sexual Innuendo"

PS: (I'm not gay or supporting the gay community, just sayin.. is all)

SniperLaser

"TheStraighterGamer" would not have gotten banned.

That is an outright falsehood.

This guy needs to take MS to court over it. It is NOT sexual Innuendo. It does not *imply a sexual act* or it does not *allude to sexual acts*.
(from wiki on 'sexual innuendo')
An innuendo is a remark or question, typically disparaging, that works obliquely by allusion. The intention is often to insult or accuse someone in such a way that one's words, taken literally, are innocent. Innuendo can make use of, but is by no means restricted to.

This is sexual discrimination. Parents from conservative/homophobic/bigotted families will have problems with this. (OH NOES! MY CHILD SEES THE WORD GAY!! HIS POOR MIND! HE WILL BE RUINED FOR LIFE!)

MeateaW

@Zeliard: I don't hear homophoic comments as much as I hear a bunch of kids adhering to the Greater Internet F***wad Theory.

Who do you think is more likely to get offended by gamertag "JewBoy"? A neo-nazi or a jewish gamer tired of being the butt of jokes?

TRT-X

Well then the gay community is assuming something that might be true. i.e. He may be gay and they assume he isn't. The issues can go all the way into forever.

Blake Ruff

@Roto13: "The only people who could possibly be offended by this shit are homophobes."

You couldn't be more wrong. I've known a number of gay people who get aggravated by misuse of the term "gay". - "Those shoes are gay." "That movies was gay" etc...

In this case, that's exactly what could be the case here. You've got "theGAYERgamer", and users have no idea what the context is.

That's the first thing I thought of. Not homophobes, but gay gamers who are tired of seeing that word thrown inappropriatly.

TRT-X

What's the big deal with having to change his gamertag? You have a gamertag so you can get onto Xbox Live. So Microsoft doesn't like his gamertag...boohoo...cry me a river. If I was told to change mine I couldn't care less. Doesn't take much for someone to get offended these days.

haty

Oh, and as far as "flaunting sexuality," if this is something you have a problem with, I suggest you write a comment complaining about every time you see an arcade player's ass or read an article about Playboy models liking games or ass flashers ass flashing on Kotaku. Double standards are a double-edged sword.

LarryFabulous

@exkon:

It's actually NOT his "right" to put anything in his Gamertag. His "rights" only go as far as the Terms of Service he agreed to.

I don't really care what MS does, but listening to people complain about "rights" where they don't actually apply drives me crazy.

willyt9

@TTCFCL: I understand how it would upset you to be in a match with him if he was being insulted. But it also goes back to: I chose this name, I have to bear the burden. It all comes down to Xbox's so called "police" not doing their policing job. Stupid things like said gamertag make racial insults, slurs, and gay jokes look like a fucking hurricane.

Blake Ruff

If he gets banned for that, everyone with 420 in their name should get banned. How am i going to explain to my kid why so many people have that number in their name?

Since people with 420 in the name are not banned, this person should not be either.

Also, MicrosoftSucks and MicrosoftIsBad are not allowed - that's completely unfair, you should be able to express your opinions about companies in your GT. I would even bet apple would allow AppleIsABadCompany or similar as your .mac email address, and they love censoring dissension.

Quine

@TRT-X: Have you spent any amount of time on XBL? Homophobic/racist/otherwise hateful slurs and comments are thrown around with the regularity of a train schedule. This notion people keep trying to throw around that any significant amount of the complaints were from XBL users looking out in concern for gay rights is laughable at best, and insulting at worst.

@Heywoodjabloume: Since when is an online gaming service the proper place to vet your ego?

That particular comment has a combination of idiocy, irony and hypocrisy attached to it that you'll rarely find anywhere else. Congratulations.

Zeliard

My opinion? Without radicals, nothing would change. Quiet radicals, loud radicals, obnoxious radicals...they all lend to the betterment of the world either directly or indirectly.

What happened first, did he scream "this place is not gay-friendly!" or did someone shout "I don't want my child to know about sexual orientation?" I still can't fathom what could be detrimental about any person knowing what "gay" or "straight" or whatever means.

But then, opinions are like assholes...

LarryFabulous

@TTCFCL: "and its two minutes of unprovoked gay insults"

"Unprovoked" my ass.

He went onto Xbox LIVE with the user name "xxxGayBoyxxx". And by the looks of things it was for the sole purpose of making this video.

TRT-X

@Kayeliminal Antithesis: EXACTLY! That's what I said too.

Blake Ruff

I see both sides here on the tag. And I find a lot of this thread totally disgusting, by the way. Straight people will never know what it's like to be gay and how offensive they are really being, even when they don't mean to be.

But I question the censoring of tags on XBL when every other tag has 420 in it or is "bluntsmoker420" or whatever. (so much for weed promoting creativity BTW) It's promoting something that, while I personally have no problem with it, is blatantly illegal and not okay for kids to be looking at. I mean, where does it stop? This kid can't say he's gay but 500,000 frat boys can have drug references in their names and that's ok? Whatever.

The real issue here is the rampant homophobia witnessed in this thread and online and everywhere else. I'll never understand how people with penises are so afraid of penises. I think your girlfriend is fat and ugly and wouldn't touch her with a ten foot pole, but you're free to talk about her and do whatever you want with her. It shouldn't be any different for gayergamer and his boyfriend. (This of course is freedom of speech in the real world, not in a TOS-restricted space.)

lionkitten

I wonder if people take into consideration how african-americans and west indians gained their civil rights in this country 50 years ago. Say it loud, Im black and Im proud. You can tell when someone is black, but without a real form of gaydar, nobody can tell if a gay person is actually gay. To be proud of their status quo changing community is natural, especially for a demographic whose support lies in the states. i just wasted like 10 minutes thinking about this, and typing it. whatever, im not gonna be changing any minds on this little forum. I do hope that he gets his gamer tag back, cus then all his friends have to remember his new tag, and thats awfully annoying. ranting is fun.

Mricci424

@TTCFCL: That's not something to be proud of. What you're saying is "I'm intolerant of people (furries and people with gay gamertags) because our society is intolerant too." That's sad and cowardly. You should blame the assholes and yourself, not the people who are having insults hurled at them.

etchasketchist