The Racist and Sexist Comments of Xbox Live Are a Real Turn Off
When you play on Halo 2 you enter a pre-game lobby where your game is created, At this point you become introduced to your opponents, and you're able to communicate to one another via the Xbox live headset. This device is perfect for in-game strategy but, but it's hardly ever used for such. Most of the time you listen to people down one another with trash talk, and curse in every way possible. I guarantee that you will not spend a single game online without hearing someone use the F word at least three or four times.
And the way these men talk about woman is horrific! Slang terms for areas of the female body are tossed around like a high school locker room, and sometimes even in front of the few women who actually play the game online. Sometime I think nothing more then crude sexist pigs play online. And then you have the racial slurs that are thrown around.
Men talk about African Americans using the N word, and have been known to say things regarding the KKK. Mexican and Latino players are teased about jumping boarders and Asian players are teased about their physical appearance. The most common term used during play is "Gay" "Homo" and other terms for Gay and lesbians I dare not repeat in this article. It's like a whole bunch of White supremacist got together and formed an online gaming community. If you read the ESRB rating on any online game it will tell you "Game experience may change with online play" but they don't tell you the game will go from being rated T (for Teens) or M (for Mature) to an adult oriented war of words.
I understand that this cant all be monitored; however the feedback system of Xbox live leaves much to be desired. Yes it works for getting rid of cheaters, but does little to stop the barrage of raciest, fascist and crude language common online. For almost an entire week I submitted feedback to Bungie the Company that produces Halo 2. Still after that time period players I knew that had foul mouths were still talking dirty and spreading racist comments like nothing had happened, most likely because it didn't.
I sent an e-mail to Bungie about six months to a year ago addressing the problem, I described what I wrote above and never received a reply. They don't care enough about this problem to address it, meanwhile minorities and people who just want to have fun have to put up with this garbage, and it's not fair. Over the past few months the problem has only gotten worse, with the addition of players come the addition to the problem and so far nothing is being done to stop it. The terms these people use online are so vulgar it makes me blush! It's always sexually oriented and normally they're just upset that they were beaten by you, so they resort to childish name calling, in a not so childish way.
This has got to stop. I am a concerned consumer and plan to take action. I pay good money for my online gaming, I have a job and family and uphold my morals, and I should not have to suffer because of the foul mouthed teenagers trying to be adults plague the online gaming world. It's an unjust and unfair thing to ask of us to put up with this and make excuses for it, and I for one am just plain fed up!
Published by Robert Guinn
I love to write and good at it. View profile
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15 Comments
Post a CommentHomophobic? Yeah I can be afraid of guys that like me. Sexist? Racist?...Fascist? The only fascist thing I see is you trying to tell me what I can and cannot say. F*ck you buddy, f*ck you.
Goes both ways people, white people insult black people and black people insult white people. You want a solution to the bad words that are hurting you? Pull out your mic or mute all when you play. Nothing is going to change, accept that.
This is why I don't play games online.
But, PC gaming really is no better. I used to report people in WoW for calling me 'fa--ot' but nothing ever was done there either.
I also used to be part of an online gaming community (shacknews.com forum regular) and I used to report homophobic slurs (racist slurs were already taken care of) and was told by the moderators that I had to suck it up, because that's how gamers were.
Single player gaming will never die, because of this.
I agree; a few of the Xbox Live gamers are rather pathetic. Yeah, I do trash talk, but I keep it to myself. If I were to speak, I'd probably be bombarded with sexist comments, so I just listen to others argue with one another. It can be quite amusing at times. Anyway, there's no use in getting upset over things you can't control.
Well, the on-line gaming community has been populated by punk-ass white kids since it's infancy. It's in particular bad on live, because the average age of a console gamer is much lower than that of a PC gamer. Thusly you have more griefing, more stupidity, etc on live. The kids aren't going to change, what you need is more regulation on live. Dedicated servers would help. Punk-ass whitey makes a dumb comment, he gets kicked for a bit to think about it. If he doesn't learn his lesson, he gets banned for a while. If he's a knucklehead, it turns permanent. PC gaming is way ahead on that. For the most part, me being a black on-line gamer, playing on PC is a much better experience. The punk-ass white youth of the on-line community (and I reckon of all colors for the matter) keep their comments to themselves. While they are obstinate, they are not completely stupid, and fear losing their on-line gaming privileges, so that keeps them reliable, and in line for the most part. We have to face f
So true ... I bet most of the racist comments are being made by a spoiled suburban teenage brat. haha.
I find it annoying - should be some way of limiting language used.
You're awesome, and thank you for writing this article! Eddie, the idiot above, just proves your point--I can't imagine having to listen to that guy while trying to play a game. It's good to hear that there are mute options and things like that, but it doesn't make it any less sad that bigots and jerks are flooding the online gaming world.
dude who the F*ck are you to tell anyone what they can and cant say. Like seriously, your playing a game! PEOPLE JOKE AROUND. If you cant take a joke when people say bad words turn off your headset. Some people may be serious when they call you names but you know what... once again your playing a game. Its like in real sports. People talk trash to each other to get the better hand against you. Yea i know you pay your money to play against other people. But seriously this is one argument your not gonna win.
"Game experience may change during online play" Deal with it it happens
i am 13 years old and know many people my age who use xbox live and none of them come close to the description you have given, yes i admit you do get the odd person ruining your day but they are just a minority. Most people from 13-18 are not racist or sexist it is just the minority and the best thing to do is to ignore them