Gaymertags Enabled: Microsoft Acknowledges Live Sex, Webcams

[aubergine]

Well who hasn't though of using their otherwise useless Live Vision camera for some cam-whoring?

With Natal blowing the motion-controlled Cyber-Wank market "wide open" so to speak in mere months, Microsoft has finally allowed people to advertise their sexuality as part of their online profiles. (http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/xbox-live-welcomes-gay-gamertags)

I'm now working on a subscription-based service with a whirling, vibrating peripheral and will register it as soon as my injuries heal.

What the **** being gay has to do with your computer gaming is beyond me, and it's utterly inappropriate to have it as part of their service, so I guess Microsoft finally caved to the legion of whining homosexuals who think what they poke has an impact on completely unrelated aspects of their lives.

[AranchineD]

ElPrez cheers as he can actually use his name on Live for once.

[aubergine]

What's his name? Sexman McHomo?

[FrozenSoul80]

Hang on, what? I've never understood the need to spew your sexual orientation at people. Who cares if you are gay or not, it's not the defining factor of your personality, surely.

HEY GUYS, I'M STRAIGHT. YOU DON'T REALLY NEED TO KNOW, BUT I'M TELLING YOU ANYWAY JUST IN CASE YOU FORGET.

[aubergine]

Maybe it's to help people when sledging online, like some guy kills you and you see that they are gay via their gamertag, so you can then more accurately insult them by saying that they are straight and eat pussy or do it in the missionary position, and so on.

[Lazlow]

Wouldn't work on Bean unfortunately :(

[Stevorooni]

Woohoo Straightorooni here I come!

[Natrak]

I'm confused. Why are we outraged?

[Stevorooni]

I'm not outraged, I don't care!

[Clockw0rk]

So if my flatmates change my motto to "I LOVE PEEEEENIS" I won't get banned this time?

[JubeiSaotome]

Well that sounded pretty homophobic, aub

[drzaius]

i see his point.

[Natrak]

Well that sounded pretty homophobic, aub

Indeed.

[Second]

I find this whole thread offensive.

[aubergine]

Here's a great comment from Kotaku:


I still haven't read anyone in the comments who can explain the difference between a gamertag that labels you as gay vs. a gamertag that labels you as a Star Trek fan or a USC grad or a Marine or anything else not having to do with sexuality.
If being gay is really irrelevant and unimportant to you, there should be no difference, and all such tags ought to be equally disruptive of your experience.
The truth is that ALL custom gamertags are unnecessary. If all we need is some identification, then all XBL needed to do was assign us a number. At the point that XBL users place value on IDing themselves using other things besides random number generation then why shouldn't gay gamers be able to use their sexuality as an inspiration for their tag? Other people use all sorts of other inspirations for their ID's and no one bats an eyelash. What is it about gay gamertags that make them so damn "unnecessary" and objectionable?
Instead of "Why do people need to proclaim their sexuality," the statement needs to be, "Who cares if people proclaim their sexuality? And if someone wants to ask why people need to proclaim their sexuality, the answer should be "I dunno, why do you feel the need to proclaim whatever the crap it is you proclaim in your gamertag?"

[Xanafalgue]

Well now I can change my GamerTag to CUMPIGFAGG0T like I've always wanted to.

[Mr Pie]

Wow i can finally change my name to Mr Vagina... cant wait...

[Almighty Beanchild]

so I guess Microsoft finally caved to the legion of whining homosexuals who think what they poke has an impact on completely unrelated aspects of their lives.

Hang on, what? I've never understood the need to spew your sexual orientation at people. Who cares if you are gay or not, it's not the defining factor of your personality, surely.

HEY GUYS, I'M STRAIGHT. YOU DON'T REALLY NEED TO KNOW, BUT I'M TELLING YOU ANYWAY JUST IN CASE YOU FORGET.

Yeah must be really nice to not have to worry about your sexuality ever being a ****ing issue. People don't really seem to get that when you're gay, you don't make a huge issue out of your sexuality, everybody does. You get stares while walking down the street with your partner, and people throw "******" in your face every 6 minutes in Halo. There's a special kind of politics all for you, and that means there's a side of it which is just throwing hate at you for being gay. Being gay is not a private issue basically thanks to straight people who can't handle letting people be gay quietly and privately, and having to make a huge ****ing issue out of it. So now we have the gay movement where the only way to handle that is to be OUT. You wear your sexuality like a badge to show every dropkick dickhead that you don't give a **** what they think. That's why this change got made, and neither of you has a goddamn leg to stand on.

[V²]

how about, you know, not being a gay homosexual?
problem solved

[Vindik8or]

That's sage advice from the world's first straight homosexual.

[Blob]

Yeah must be really nice to not have to worry about your sexuality ever being a ****ing issue. People don't really seem to get that when you're gay, you don't make a huge issue out of your sexuality, everybody does. You get stares while walking down the street with your partner, and people throw "******" in your face every 6 minutes in Halo. There's a special kind of politics all for you, and that means there's a side of it which is just throwing hate at you for being gay. Being gay is not a private issue basically thanks to straight people who can't handle letting people be gay quietly and privately, and having to make a huge ****ing issue out of it. So now we have the gay movement where the only way to handle that is to be OUT. You wear your sexuality like a badge to show every dropkick dickhead that you don't give a **** what they think. That's why this change got made, and neither of you has a goddamn leg to stand on.

Because telling everybody you're gay means the "****" comments will stop on Halo? I can appreciate that your sexuality being part of your identity and that you shouldnt have to worry about the crap society throws at you, but advertising it on Xbox live still seems pointless and I can imagine it causing the issues you seem to dislike.

[Lazlow]

I'm more annoyed by gamertags written with alternating caps or numbers for letters. They are the true f*****s of Live.

[Second]

http://www.lletuga.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/gay_musical.JPG

[aubergine]

That dude is never going to get that pillar in there.

For Bean; what would your position be on every minority or interest being expressed over an irrelevant gaming service? By which I mean race, religion, political persuasion, gender etc.

I'm a supporter of gay rights from the state and think issues like marriage and safety are ones that should be pursued - not all gay people are actually interested in that though. I object though, which I feel is my own opinionated right, on wasted energy getting the 'rights' to inherently stupid things.

If there is a reasonable argument that this move may actually be a step toward reducing sexuality-based sledging over Live then that's a good aspect, but I feel that sexualising Live at all is simply not a good idea. If anything it will give the conservatives something else to fear monger about when it gets extended (as it naturally will) to people propositioning each other in lobbies.

In unrelated news, did anyone else see the article that Bungie promises to retain "teabagging support" after Reach previews had the player's camera instantly going to the respawn point instead of lingering over their (teabagged) body?

[Shorty]

If there is a reasonable argument that this move may actually be a step toward reducing sexuality-based sledging over Live then that's a good aspect, but I feel that sexualising Live at all is simply not a good idea. If anything it will give the conservatives something else to fear monger about when it gets extended (as it naturally will) to people propositioning each other in lobbies.

Then homosexuality will become a new addition to the increasing repertoire of things conservatives and the mainstream media will completely lose their shit over, right along "alien sex" in Mass Effect, beating hookers in GTA or people of the opposite sex propositioning each other over Live. Remember, these are the same types of people that came up with the War on Christmas. We can't be building everything around the sensibilities of the grossly irrational.

[aubergine]

Sorry, not clear enough from me. NOT homosexuality, sexuality, period. This change to Xbox Live goes a bit beyond announcing you are gay, it opens the service up to announcing your sexual interest straight OR gay, which was never part of the deal before. This is the exact reason why services like Live and WoW are against this and get attacked by queer rights groups - they don't want their service to be sexualised because, let's face it, Sex and WoW just don't mix. They want the services to be seen as safe for kids, safe for women and just generally safe for people who don't want cock in their Karateka.

[Lazlow]

Because telling everybody you're gay means the "****" comments will stop on Halo?

Its possible if you use these preference markers to set up a gay friendly room.

[aubergine]

Its possible if you use these preference markers to set up a gay friendly room.

How?

Do you mean adding a function to matchmaking so it read "Pick best connection." "Fastest" "Gay Friendly."

With the current system you can "avoid" being matchmade with certain players. I don't think there's any benefit to introducing this new thing unless it actually starts to act to alter Xbox Live / online culture altogether.

And I think the only way you'd effectively do that is actually to start where the problem actually starts, which is in the schoolyard. I have a young nephew and a flatmates ten year-old who come around here and game and everything is "gay" now. I don't think they actually comprehend or deeply mean it as a slur against sexuality, it's picked up via verbal osmosis to mean "something that sucks."

[Shorty]

Sorry, not clear enough from me. NOT homosexuality, sexuality, period. This change to Xbox Live goes a bit beyond announcing you are gay, it opens the service up to announcing your sexual interest straight OR gay, which was never part of the deal before. This is the exact reason why services like Live and WoW are against this and get attacked by queer rights groups - they don't want their service to be sexualised because, let's face it, Sex and WoW just don't mix. They want the services to be seen as safe for kids, safe for women and just generally safe for people who don't want cock in their Karateka.

I think you'll find that this aversion to "sex" in online services is a distinctly American puritannical trait, and one at odds with the seeming tolerance, if not acceptance, of gamertags like "Sniper Blood Wolf Blade" or "SmokeALottaWeed420". Perhaps my attitudes in this regard are particularly liberal, but I find it rather arbitrary to allow people to mention how they get high but not how they get laid. Granted, some people will be idiots about it and as you pointed out there's still the greater issue of society's attitudes towards sexuality in general, but I see little reason why this particular manifestation of obnoxiousness would be markedly worse than any of the others.

[Almighty Beanchild]

That dude is never going to get that pillar in there.

For Bean; what would your position be on every minority or interest being expressed over an irrelevant gaming service? By which I mean race, religion, political persuasion, gender etc.

I'm a supporter of gay rights from the state and think issues like marriage and safety are ones that should be pursued - not all gay people are actually interested in that though. I object though, which I feel is my own opinionated right, on wasted energy getting the 'rights' to inherently stupid things.

If there is a reasonable argument that this move may actually be a step toward reducing sexuality-based sledging over Live then that's a good aspect, but I feel that sexualising Live at all is simply not a good idea. If anything it will give the conservatives something else to fear monger about when it gets extended (as it naturally will) to people propositioning each other in lobbies.

In unrelated news, did anyone else see the article that Bungie promises to retain "teabagging support" after Reach previews had the player's camera instantly going to the respawn point instead of lingering over their (teabagged) body?

It's very easy to say that sexuality should not be at all public when yours isn't. I agree in an ideal world, there shouldn't be any focus on it whatsoever. But there is, and saying, "Well just don't talk about it," is well and good when you never have to suffer for your sexuality. All don't ask don't tell does is maintain the status quo where being gay is something you have to hide. Why shouldn't I be allowed to casually mention my boyfriend during a game of halo? You are focusing on the fact that sexuality is, at its base, a sexual issue and ignoring the fact that it's grown into every other aspect of life. It's not exactly a stigma anymore but it's still not universally accepted, and it's definitely not regarded as "normal." At least this way, there can be obvious public support from Microsoft for homosexual people being on their service. It can let gay people identify one another and further bolster their sense of community. And Lazlow's right, in time Live could grow (and it is a service that grows) to allow you to do any number of positive things with the publicly declared sexuality, from making gay friendly games, chat rooms, etc. You say being gay shouldn't be a public thing, why should it be private? Sex is private but my life isn't, a lot of it takes place in public and enough of it is shaped and defined by my sexuality that I can't help it being that way. It's easy to say you don't announce you're straight all the time. Of course you don't, you don't have to, it's just taken as given. If everyone's sexuality was public or easily known, I'd take that as an actual step towards normalising homosexuality.

And saying that it will give conservatives another reason to attack something is a terrible argument for anything. That's just an argument against conservatism.

[Vindik8or]

MY GIRL... MY BOYFRIEND!
caps

[Bokracroc]

'sif my post was deleted. I was showing the warnings if you use a 'homo' gamertag, it was educational you fool!

[Ninjalada]

I'm so going to change my name to Transgender Ninjalada.

[immol8]

I'm changing mine to SmokeALottaWeed420

[Australian Ninja]

How many "Straigt Daves" will crop up now on Xlive?

[texta]

And saying that it will give conservatives another reason to attack something is a terrible argument for anything. That's just an argument against conservatism.
It is a truly awful argument. Conservatives do not rule the world. We don't have to self censor the our lives so that the conservatives don't get angry.

If they don't like it, that's their problem.

[sausage]

I want to join gay friendly games so I can say "I'm going to dick your ass!"

[Australian Ninja]

Have to admit I'm with Aub on this one, "Why sexualise Live?"

To me gamer tags are "gamer" tags and people should be able to put whatever they want in them. What religion/race/sexuality/creed a person is is irrelevant to me, I just don't care. I'm all about the games.

If Live if gonna be sexualised then it better be politicised, communised and every other thing you can think of or it's just going to cause as many problems as it solves.

[Shorty]

To me gamer tags are "gamer" tags and people should be able to put whatever they want in them. What religion/race/sexuality/creed a person is is irrelevant to me, I just don't care. I'm all about the games.

If Live if gonna be sexualised then it better be politicised, communised and every other thing you can think of or it's just going to cause as many problems as it solves.

See, now you're getting the idea! ;)

For the record, I think it's pretty naive to assume that there aren't already people out there being political in their Gamertags or bios. If we can handle someone identifying themselves as a Republican, black or a weed smoker on Xbox Live, we can handle them telling us they're straight as well.

[Australian Ninja]

See, now you're getting the idea! ;)

For the record, I think it's pretty naive to assume that there aren't already people out there being political in their Gamertags or bios. If we can handle someone identifying themselves as a Republican, black or a weed smoker on Xbox Live, we can handle them telling us they're straight as well.

So you are saying I should have a gamertag that reads "eatdickcockfag", or am I just reading between the lines resovoir buscemi?

I'm sensing you are against me smoking weed while being black, are you one them "prejudiced" types I've been hearing about in the "media"?

Thinking of changing my name to Straight Dave before microsoft subjects me to gamertags that may imply things I'm uncomfortable with like free speech and independant thinking. Rather stick with the old moronic lazy responses to poorly conceived questions on topics I'm abhorrently ignorant of.

[Shorty]

So you are saying I should have a gamertag that reads "eatdickcockfag", or am I just reading between the lines resovoir buscemi?

Only if you believe that "expressing sexuality" and "insulting others using sexual epithets" are the same thing. That's not "reading between the lines". That's "completely missing the point".

[Australian Ninja]

No, not at all. My post reflected the opposite of what I think about it all. It's meant to be so ridiculous and stupid that nobody would actually think it was serious.

But I guess some people do actually behave like the red necks at the MMA fight in Bruno. I like to make fun of such backwards attitudes by saying things that I've realised really don't work in posts. Next time I'll think twice, I would not want to be associated with the people who actually believe the racist/sexist rhetoric etc they spout.

Have to admit, sometimes I will say something odd or controversial just to see the expression on a persons face. Only people I know though, which is why my post failed. That, and it was crap.

[Shorty]

Good thing we cleared that up, then. :p

[fearofthesky]

While I don't know what the deleted posts said, I could tell OzNinja's post was intended to be tongue in cheek. It wasn't well written, I agree. But kudos for keeping it interesting.