Report: Xbox Live Says GamerTag with Gay Reference is Unsuitable

Well "GayGamer" is still up, otherwise I'd think it was both sad and hilarious that they'd label gay people possibly making gay gamertags as offensive but not even bat an eye at the swarms of 14 year olds who continually bark "faggot" at each other while playing teh Haloz.

His name was reported as having an offensive name.  And to be clear, he was not banned from Live, he just has to change his gamertag, which they let you do free of charge if they demand you do so.  MS is extrememly strict when it comes to gamertags that have been reported.  For example, I had a friend whose gamertag contained the word "flaccid".  That had a sexual enough connotation for them to force him to change it.

Since changing a GT usually costs $, we've reported people who wanted it changed enough that XBL forced them to change, free of charge.

IMO, nothing homophobic about it.  MS is strict with all names that imply anything sexual, whether it be straight or gay.  If you get reported enough, they are even more strict.

I personally think it's the use of the "er" in "gayer" that makes it more innappropriate. Saying "straightergamer" would probably be offensive to some gays afterall.

simply "gaygamer" is just stating that that gamer is gay. "gayergamer" has an undertone that suggests he's trying to offend someone.

First, there seems to be some confusion over what happened. He was not banned, he was made to change his gamertag before he could log back into XBL. (A service that usually costs 800 live points, BTW.) Microsoft doesn't monitor Silver and off-line GamerTags, they only enforce improper names for Gold Accounts that can play online. Meaning that this guy was playing games, online, with other people, most likely strangers, strangers that could be any age.

Everybody that is defending this seems to be stuck on the 'gay' aspect of the gamertag, (intentionally, it seems) ignoring the fact that it says GAY-ER. As in, more than. As in, more gay than potentially other gay gamers. The problem isn't that he is gay, because Microsoft doesn't care who you are as long as you're giving them money. (Heck, you could be a purple transexual and from the moon, and Microsoft wouldn't care as long as you paid for the gold subscription.) The problem is that the gamertag is BAIT. There is no innocent intention here, he clearly meant for the name to be provoking.

XBL is a lot like YouTube as far as GamerTags are concerned. Microsoft rarely monitors the names themselves except for a few key terms that they'll ocasionally search the database for. They're mostly dependant on community self regulation. The reason why he was made to change his title was more than likely because enough folks in the community filed a report on an inappropriate name. And just so everyone is clear, it takes A LOT of people complaining about your gamertag to have Microsoft intervene. Not just a single 12yo playing Halo3, or a small group of  homophobe jerks playing Rainbow6.

Also, of all places to declare your sexual preference in life, your XBL gamertag is not the place to do so. What? You're going to pick up dudes on XBL? Srsly.

 

I'm sure MS doesn't like it either when this website makes references to their games. It's offensive to gay gamers!
www.gaygamer.net

They make this out like it's a cut-and-dried issue of having anything in your name that has to do with sex. But, then (as earlier posters noted) it's more that it's an issue of people complaining about names. And is it really the case that someone is just as likely to complain about "TheStraightGamer" as they are about "TheGayGamer"? Clearly not. The complaint system just extends people's unease about homosexuality and empowers them to push it further away from their field of view by forcing people to change their names. Also, I wonder if someone would be forced to change their name if they had an especially oblique reference to being gay ... "HarveyMilkLives" or "IAmTammyBaldwin" or something like that. Then again, probably nobody on XBL would be educated enough to know who those people are and complain. 

This can be taken in one of two ways... Either it's a case of homopobia, or it could be the opposite and be a case of gamers within the community thought the name might be offensive to gays (not realizing the gamer was gay)... unfortunatly, i can't help but think it's more likely the former =/ ... society does tend to constantly disappoint me...

Given the frequency with which you can be called a "fag" while playing Halo and/or Gears of War on Xbox Live (for the low low price of only $50 per year!) this doesn't surprise me.  One more reason why I'm not getting a gold account.