Xbox Live: Racist haven?

[SteveThaiBinh]

All in good fun. Happens a lot...so either grow some skin, preferably the thick kind, or take your ball and go home.

 

And like Aurora said...since when is the new?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It's not new at all, but it's very important that adults and non-racists make it clear that they object to this kind of language, otherwise it will increase still further.

 

Racist abuse used to be acceptable behaviour in public, in school and in the workplace. Now it's not, and it's taken a lot of effort to get us to this state of affairs. There is still abuse, but usually the system forces it undercover. Unless we keep beating it down, it will get up and start spreading again.

[LoneWolf16]

It's not new at all, but it's very important that adults and non-racists make it clear that they object to this kind of language, otherwise it will increase still further.

 

Racist abuse used to be acceptable behaviour in public, in school and in the workplace.  Now it's not, and it's taken a lot of effort to get us to this state of affairs.  There is still abuse, but usually the system forces it undercover.  Unless we keep beating it down, it will get up and start spreading again.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think you may be giving these people, both sides, too much credit.

 

Most of it is merely people being jerks for the sake of being jerks...just to see the other person's reaction. A lot of confrontations usually end up with everybody laughing...strangely enough.

 

The only real way to stop this is to completely eliminate all forms of communication when it comes to gaming.

 

 

And I don't want it to come to that...so suck it up, turn down the volume, or fire back.

[Gfted1]

A sp--? What in blue blazes is a sp--?

 

 

Im guess its the slang for a hispanic, "spIc".

[SteveThaiBinh]

The only real way to stop this is to completely eliminate all forms of communication when it comes to gaming.

I agree that it probably can't be stopped, unless or until attitudes in wider society change. But it can at least be contained, so it doesn't start leaking back into other arenas of public life. I don't play on-line games, so it doesn't affect me, but reading about this makes me much less likely ever to give them a try.

[Meshugger]

Xbox Live needs a maturity test before allowing the player to go online. For example, the player has to play a game of Halo 2 offline against bots with the headset on. If any slurs like "n*gger, gay, b1tch, pigf*cker" and so on are detected, the player can't play online until the next maturity-test(which can't be re-started until 24hours later).

[Moose]

I will never get racism.  I mean we all are from the same race.  Human.  Human is human.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Desperation/Laziness, sometimes ignorance but tbh I think that's rarer than is hyped.

 

Basically it's a result of culture being so closely connected with race. One culture sees itself as being "invaded" or "chipped away at". New religions pouring into what was once a pretty much atheist place will leave people hateful of the "intellectual suicide".

 

But rather than do the sensible thing and attack against a specific culture / religion (that's politics btw), a lot of idiots screw both sides over by using racism.

 

Meh, worked for the Nazis.

Edited November 29, 2005 by Moose

[alanschu]

It's not new at all, but it's very important that adults and non-racists make it clear that they object to this kind of language, otherwise it will increase still further.

 

The problem with the internet is that it's exceptionally hard to enforce. Sure you can ban a guy from a server, but he just anonymously jumps to a different one.

[Aurora]

I'm a little disappointed I didn't get more mileage out of my faux-sexist comment. 

 

Not even one or holier than thou poster getting caught in a sarchasm. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

So, okay, you live on the internet for a while, and you get plenty of guys making genuine sexist remarks. You learn to ignore them or briefly mock them and move on.

 

You live on it for a while longer, and there are a few guys who like to make "sexist" remarks - chock full o' irony, they are! And then suddenly they breed or something, because there's like millions of them all over the place, eager to show that they're either funny-yet-anti-sexist or so-super-offensive-they-can-piss-people-off-by-saying-things-that-are-offensive or aware-enough-of-sexism-that-they-can-apathetically-make-such-remarks-but-not-super-aware-enough to-acknowledge-the-existence-of-the-other-million-guys-doing-the-same-thing. So you reply to some of them still, but playing along with the game gets old fast, because you've already played that game a lot, and just rolling your virtual li'l eyeballs also gets old fast, because it results in people realizing that you are, in fact, a Monstrous Feminazi With No Sense Of Humor. And when your cover is blown all over the internet, splattered like goo of a sort, if you will, what *are* you going to do ? Start over with a new identity? That's great until you realize that 90% of the people on the board are your former alts - in fact, the whole freaking internet is littered with them because this has happened so many times. It's like the dead spaceship place at the end of that game, I mean the end of that movie - NO SPOILERS.

 

Honestly, nothing personal, it's just a game I really don't have time for any more. Time like I spent composing this reply. Whoops.

[alanschu]

It's like those people that would always refer to the lemon water for washing your fingers when eating greasy food like ribs as "Lemon Soup!'

 

 

aaaaHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA, you are sooooooooooooooo funny....haven't heard that from the first 300 customers TODAY ALONE!

 

 

I concur with Aurora, and add a *zing*

 

Everybody's a comedian...unfortunately they don't realize it.

[LoneWolf16]

Um...Aurora...that was...er...informative.

 

Perhaps a pill of chill is in order.

[Aurora]

I'm really quite calm. My pulse is as slow as the pacing of "Capote." My veins have sunken so deeply into my flesh from lack of use that my doctor hasn't been able to find my veins for years, which interferes greatly with my weekly leeching.

[Atreides]

Mmm, pie.

[Child of Flame]

I'm a little disappointed I didn't get more mileage out of my faux-sexist comment. 

 

Not even one or holier than thou poster getting caught in a sarchasm. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

So, okay, you live on the internet for a while, and you get plenty of guys making genuine sexist remarks. You learn to ignore them or briefly mock them and move on.

 

You live on it for a while longer, and there are a few guys who like to make "sexist" remarks - chock full o' irony, they are! And then suddenly they breed or something, because there's like millions of them all over the place, eager to show that they're either funny-yet-anti-sexist or so-super-offensive-they-can-piss-people-off-by-saying-things-that-are-offensive or aware-enough-of-sexism-that-they-can-apathetically-make-such-remarks-but-not-super-aware-enough to-acknowledge-the-existence-of-the-other-million-guys-doing-the-same-thing. So you reply to some of them still, but playing along with the game gets old fast, because you've already played that game a lot, and just rolling your virtual li'l eyeballs also gets old fast, because it results in people realizing that you are, in fact, a Monstrous Feminazi With No Sense Of Humor. And when your cover is blown all over the internet, splattered like goo of a sort, if you will, what *are* you going to do ? Start over with a new identity? That's great until you realize that 90% of the people on the board are your former alts - in fact, the whole freaking internet is littered with them because this has happened so many times. It's like the dead spaceship place at the end of that game, I mean the end of that movie - NO SPOILERS.

 

Honestly, nothing personal, it's just a game I really don't have time for any more. Time like I spent composing this reply. Whoops.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

[mkreku]

So, okay, you live on the internet for a while, and you get plenty of guys making genuine sexist remarks. You learn to ignore them or briefly mock them and move on.

 

You live on it for a while longer, and there are a few guys who like to make "sexist" remarks - chock full o' irony, they are! And then suddenly they breed or something, because there's like millions of them all over the place, eager to show that they're either funny-yet-anti-sexist or so-super-offensive-they-can-piss-people-off-by-saying-things-that-are-offensive or aware-enough-of-sexism-that-they-can-apathetically-make-such-remarks-but-not-super-aware-enough to-acknowledge-the-existence-of-the-other-million-guys-doing-the-same-thing. So you reply to some of them still, but playing along with the game gets old fast, because you've already played that game a lot, and just rolling your virtual li'l eyeballs also gets old fast, because it results in people realizing that you are, in fact, a Monstrous Feminazi With No Sense Of Humor. And when your cover is blown all over the internet, splattered like goo of a sort, if you will, what *are* you going to do ? Start over with a new identity? That's great until you realize that 90% of the people on the board are your former alts - in fact, the whole freaking internet is littered with them because this has happened so many times. It's like the dead spaceship place at the end of that game, I mean the end of that movie - NO SPOILERS.

 

Honestly, nothing personal, it's just a game I really don't have time for any more. Time like I spent composing this reply. Whoops.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Are you sure you're on the right forum for this sort of verbal bulimia and nonsense bitterness?

[kirottu]

Hrpmf. Aurora simply said that some jokes have gone old.

 

Damn.

[Tel Aviv]

Damn feminazis, when will they learn.

[Aurora]

Bitterness? Holy hell. It is a little bizarre that that'd appear, yeah. Weird.

[blue]

1) Why is the article writer acting like that's new?

Where do you see that? I didn't read any suggestion that racism is new; on the contrary, there are quotes suggesting such problems are inevitable in large communities. Yes, it's an old story, but I don't think it's one that grows stale--especially when the angle (Xbox 360) and anecdotes (Black Jesus, Victor De Leon) are fresh.

 

Fwiw, I enjoyed the article.

 

2) Welcome to being a girl on the internet.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thank you, sister. But if I'm going to stay I'll need to borrow some traveling pants. Can you help me out?

[blue]

Btw, can someone tell me why-tf a 7-yr-old kid is playing Halo online? Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Halo an M-rated shooter? Why is a parent exposing his 2nd grader to that kind of violence? I find it odd that Mr. De Leon's concern for psychological harm seems limited to racial epithets voiced by invisible strangers.

 

Anyway. Carry on.

Edited November 29, 2005 by blue

[Aurora]

Where do you see that?  I didn't read any suggestion that racism is new; on the contrary, there are quotes suggesting such problems are inevitable in large communities.  Yes, it's an old story, but I don't think it's one that grows stale--especially when the angle (Xbox 360) and anecdotes (Black Jesus, Victor De Leon) are fresh. 

 

Fwiw, I enjoyed the article. 

 

The way the writer only used examples from online consoles, which I think are all fairly new, gave me the impression that they were just discovering this. They do talk in more generic terms near the end, though.

Also, I misread the X-Box 360 bit & took it to mean that these were people playing on the X-Box 360 Live. Mostly it was that part.

 

Thank you, sister.  But if I'm going to stay I'll need to borrow some traveling pants.  Can you help me out?

 

All I've got are these purple pretend-fleece sleeper pants with sheep all over 'em. And it's dropped down to an all-time low of 64 degrees in this house, so I can't give them up - I depend on them for SURVIVAL in the unbearable winter.

Edited November 29, 2005 by Aurora

[Aurora]

And like Aurora said...since when is the new?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I certainly don't mean to suggest that it's not a problem because it's not new. I just thought it was a bit of a "duh" moment, and was a bit puzzled that it focused only on racist remarks and not a few of the other -ics or -isms that are all over the game-internets, but I suppose the writer had a word limit.

[blue]

The way the writer...

Ah. You know, I missed the first vowel in your initial "e-people" comment. As in "Wow, people are being called offensive names based on biological traits?"

So I read your initial post too broadly. (Um, let's skip this opportunity for a bad pun, ok folks?)

 

purple pretend-fleece sleeper pants with sheep all over 'em.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I must have them. (Upper 40s last night.) I'll trade you some weathered 501s and a plain white v-neck. I might even throw in a pair of ugg-boots-of-speed. Whaddya say?

[Janmanden]

Youve mentioned this several times, so...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hm, that's right...the first one must have bubbled up, not just after the rock was moved, but also after I made the second one. I just assumed it had been cancelled. It's kinda like a double post, but I didn't quite remember the exact wording the second time.

Im assuming you want someone to ask about it. As such, care to share which one?

Not really... and now that you mention it, I've just removed it from my profile as well. It kinda reminded me of a scene from Police Squad where Drebin runs a tank thru the Zoo and the mayor says "Thanks to you, the city is now being run by baboons" and Drebin replies "Excuse me madame, but isn't that the fault of the voters?". No offense, but after reading about some of the things here it just strikes me as a really bad idea to publicize, somehow... :ph34r:

[Aurora]

Ah. You know, I missed the first vowel in your initial "e-people" comment.  As in "Wow, people are being called offensive names based on biological traits?"

So I read your initial post too broadly.  (Um, let's skip this opportunity for a bad pun, ok folks?) 

 

Excellent, misreading all over the place. We both win!

 

I must have them. (Upper 40s last night.)  I'll trade you some weathered 501s and a plain white v-neck.  I might even throw in a pair of ugg-boots-of-speed.  Whaddya say?

 

My God, upper 40s? I thought I had it hard here.

 

I can't trade my purple pants, but I can give up my slightly torn pretend-satin pink penguin-and-star covered sleep-pants. They're warmer than pretend-fleece. Trade you around the corner of #mistresslair?

Edited November 29, 2005 by Aurora

[blue]

My God, upper 40s? I thought I had it hard here.

Yeah. Temperatures creep any lower and I'll abandon my commitments and relocate to warmer climes. Weather is a fickle mistress, and I suspect my relationship with her is one of mutual mistrust.

 

Trade you around the corner of #mistresslair?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes, perhaps soon.

 

Btw, after further review, I understand why Halo is a children's game: because the goal is to hurl invectives and lethal projectiles at ALIENS not people. It's a very simple moral equation: natives good, outsiders bad. Now I know what to get my 3-yr old niece for Christmas. But I refuse to let little Maria Elena interact with Xbox Live. I'm loath to expose her to xenophobic behavior.

 

Edited November 29, 2005 by blue