anti lgbt slurs in online gaming

[Long Duck Dong]

lol.... I wish people would get a brain..... you can not create games that turn people from people into a living, breathing killing machine.... and expect them to be PC at the same time......

I am not excusing hate speech or anti lgbt slurs or racial slurs..... but having being in the armed forced and with over 25 years worth of gaming experience... games will get heated, and things will be said.....

good luck to any gaming outfit that tries to clear up the games.... cos they will never win, winning means less profits....

hate speech in online games (http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/games/3591221/Hate-speech-flying-like-bullets-in-online-games)

[FalconAngel]

My wife and I have been gaming since we were dating. The wife started back in the TSN days, but together we have played EQ, EQII, WoW s well as Beta testing about half a dozen other games, and currently, play LOTRO.

The only time that we saw anything like that in chat was in WoW and that was a single, isolated incident. Most of the folks gaming stick to game issues and questions from noobs.

Since it has happened at least once, in our experience, doesn't mean that it doesn't happen more often, but it may not be quite as pronounced a problem, gaming wide, as the article may indicate.

But then again, published articles, like news broadcasts, are supposed to encourage an increase in readership. It may be a slight exaggeration, but it could also be a problem within that particular game.

[TwylaTwobits]

Yeah, it happens a lot in a lot of games where you have kids and anonymity. I play Diablo2 and I wandered into the chat once and got called a lot of very nice things....So I did the computer savvy thing.....screen shot with mouse hovering over character so the account name was visible. The admins at Blizzard took care of it quickly, if they do that for a game 10 years old I'm sure they are even faster on reports from their cash cow, WoW. But on Xbox it's a problem with even the gamer tags. I don't think they will ever remove the option for people to say things, as Duckie pointed out, sales would fall and then no more games will be made. Because there is not a large market for games that feature violence with totally PC speech options.

[Long Duck Dong]

I finished a stint as a online pc game admin after 3 years, a few months ago... in a text based game..... I hold the record for the most accounts banned in one week..... over 700 accounts and there is a average 20 accounts banned a week for offensive / sex / cybering related offenses
in a text based game, its easy as you have logs and proof in text form... so taking action was easier....

but you go in into the console ( xbox and ps console ) online gaming networks... its far worse...... as people are not talking in chatrooms, they are using headsets while in multi player games.... and war games can get the blood flowing pretty fast and as anybody knows, when the blood flows, so can the insults.....

thats the type of thing you will not see in chatrooms, and its a lot harder to deal with..... gamer tags that are offensive, are easy, they are in text form....

[texasman6172003]

I know what you mean LDD,i play online at POGO.Com. And you should see the gay/Bi Bashing that goes on in there when ever some one just mentions the subject casually,or on purpose. Man it is like some one lighting a fuse,they all just start going off on anything remotely connected too the subject. It makes me sick. Of course they all have no idea about me. I usually either leave the room,or just sit there and say nothing when it starts up.

[Lady_Passion]

I've been playing yahoo spades since it was first available. Specific to the topic of glbt bashing in games, I don't hesitate to jump in and bombard bashers with fun repartee. I don't slow the game down - I type fast - but I get a huge kick out of knowing they can't leave the game without FFing themselves, all the while posting intimate details I enjoy :wiggle2: Sometimes I even make up fictitious stories for fun just to get them going. And a bonus is the opponent isn't focusing on the game, but rather their internal struggle with raw details about a subject they feel strongly about, so I usually win too :.) If the basher happens to be my partner, I tell them straight up I'll make sure we lose if they continue. Then I continue on merrily speaking my mind :)

[robert01]

this one is @falconangel

I play WoW; and I am probably on the worst server going. It is known in my battlegroup for having the worst players. My server's trade chat is very colourful to say the least.

Regardless of that it happens in other realms all the time. It bothers me to read it. One of my closest online friends is homosexual, and he doesn't take to kind to it either.

Reporting it to admin ill only do so much.

I would like to establish a general rule of thumb here:
http://www.penny-arcade.com/images/2004/20040319h.jpg (NSFW)