Homophobia In The Gaming Community

[Warning: Explicit Content]

This is an interesting clip and study I heard about a while back from Flynn DeMarco of Gay Gamer.  At the beginning of this clip you'll hear a very small portion of a much larger and more awful collection of DeMarco's recordings while playing your average Halo/Call of Duty/Gears Of War video game.

This isn't surprising I know, this doesn't mean it shouldn't be talked about.  Personally, I'd like to make a recording of all the ridiculous vitriol I've experienced online once a group of people realized I was black. Unfortunately, I have not found the time as of late.

After The Jump The Awful Video and Helpful Advice From Microsoft Xbox Major Nelson...

From N4G.com:

A gay gamer got an earful when he used the name "xxxGayBoyxxx" for XBox's gun-happy Halo 3. He explains:

"This is what happens when gay Masterchiefs don't abide by 'Don't ask Don't tell'.

Watch what ensues when I use a gamertag that's proud and unambiguous, xxxGayBoyxxx.

Other than maybe a quick 'hello' to the chat room or a request to 'veto', I didn't ever say anything first or taunt anyone. What was said by these players was initiated by them with no provocation on my part. The vast majority of the times I wouldn't even respond back so the audio would be clear."

The results aren't pretty. Nor is the language...

Major Nelson is an Xbox spokesman and Director of Programing of Xbox Live.  His response to Flynn Demarco's video on the Gay Gamer's Site was this:

1) Play online only with friends.

2) Turn off voice from non-friends. This is a system level setting that work across all games, and as you can imagine, will only allow you to hear what your friends will say. You can find details on how to set it up here

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/support/familysettings/live/xbox360/familysettings-communications.htm

I also want to let your readers know that if they EVER encounter behavior like that in anygame, they should use the in dash feedback system to file a complaint:

3) File a complaint. Using the dashboard complaint system, file a communications complaint. We DO act on complaints, so I highly encourage people file complaints where appropriate. Details on how to file a complaint here:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/908640?sd=xbox

Also, I’d be happy to play with you and some of your readers sometime as well.

I'm not sure how I feel about this study.  I'm also not sure with how to remedy this issue, because it is the internet...and to put it bluntly...this is the price you pay when you are on the internet. I'm sure if I were to make an xbox user name 'The Black Guy' and play under that name, that I would get more than enough racist and vile words thrown my way.

I'm not trying to make light of this situation, but I just wish there were a better way to execute an experiment like the one DeMarco tried.  I'm wondering what were to happen if someone created an account named 'Super Straight White Male' what kind of attention that would garner from the gay online community as well as all the other subsets.

If anything...it is definitely something worth talking about.