Question about the sexism thing

Games Other Halo
1

Me and my friends all play halo together. One of whom is a girl.

We all joke and laugh and pretty much bully eachother, since we all grew up together for the last decade.

My question is, occasionally her boyfriend will make comments such as ‘get back in the kitchen’ and similar ‘sexism’, that we are all in on and enjoy, including her.

If we were to talk like is in a game, outside of a party, would someone be eligible to report us, and although none of us take offense, get us banned for sexism?

Bearing in mind that we don’t like being in a party, since we like meeting new people and having fun with the randomers we get put up against.

2

I guess if her sexist boyfriend gets reported for sexism, then yeah.

3

I am still failing to see why homophobic and racist comments are not included in this…

4

What bothers me is the lack of info on this. I dont care that they have come up with this system because its needed. Also banning the making of any CoD titles would help this alot. But its a good point why only cover a lil bit of the issue

5

> I guess if her sexist boyfriend gets reported for sexism, then yeah.

I don’t understand how it’s such a terrible, terrible thing for someone to make a joke.

Perhaps among strangers, it can be considered offensive, but to a group of friends that grew up together, it shouldn’t be up to someone else to tell us if it’s offensive or not.

Why should we be punished because someone else thinks we are being offensive to our friend, despite the fact that our friend is in no way offended and, in fact, finds it just as funny as we do.

6

> I guess if her sexist boyfriend gets reported for sexism, then yeah.

My boyfriend isn’t sexist. It’s a joke, if I felt it was meant to hurt me it would be a different matter, but it’s harmless.

7

im not worried about this at all since i rarely ever use a mic, but imo it should be nobody’s business what i feel like saying over a mic on xbox live, people sre way to sensitive, not to mention that if people truly have a problem they can use the mute function

8

> I am still failing to see why homophobic and racist comments are not included in this…

Isn’t it obvious?

Being female doesn’t make you a second-class citizen. Being attracted to the same gender as yourself and being a visible minority does.

Hence, no representation.

9

I don’t mind jokes. I even take Daniel Tosh’s side on the rape joke thing from a while back. What I DON’T like is people who repeatedly just insult others with hateful slur when their intention is to hurt them. The guy joking with his girlfriend? Well, they have their own issue with that. But people calling me a fg and ni**r all the time should be grounds for banning. It’s not a joke, it’s meant to be harmful and they laugh and get of on it.

It’s a joke to them but they are the only ones who think it is funny. The people they are insulting who may be female, LBGT or of a race being mocked PROBABLY don’t think it’s funny and shouldn’t have to deal with hateful morons every damn game they play.

I fully believe in freedom of speech but when you play on xbox live you agree to the terms of service which says you can not threaten people or use hate speech against people (I don’t know the exact phrasing but I know it’s in there). Maybe some of you should just quit making excuses for your homophobia, sexism and racism and shut your mouth some times.

10

> I don’t mind jokes. I even take Daniel Tosh’s side on the rape joke thing from a while back. What I DON’T like is people who repeatedly just insult others with hateful slur when their intention is to hurt them. The guy joking with his girlfriend? Well, they have their own issue with that. But people calling me a fg and ni**r all the time should be grounds for banning. It’s not a joke, it’s meant to be harmful and they laugh and get of on it.
>
> It’s a joke to them but they are the only ones who think it is funny. The people they are insulting who may be female, LBGT or of a race being mocked PROBABLY don’t think it’s funny and shouldn’t have to deal with hateful morons every damn game they play.
>
> I fully believe in freedom of speech but when you play on xbox live you agree to the terms of service which says you can not threaten people or use hate speech against people (I don’t know the exact phrasing but I know it’s in there). Maybe some of you should just quit making excuses for your homophobia, sexism and racism and shut your mouth some times.

Don’t get me wrong, I do think certain things should be bannable. Someone repeatedly calling you a N***r or Fg should be banned.
What I’m talking about is joking between friends being reported as abusive and offensive on behalf of someone who isn’t offended and doesn’t feel abused at all.

If a randomer, for example, started telling her she was a bad player because she was a girl and belonged in the kitchen, then yeah, that’s not right. Maybe not ban-worthy, but easily fixed by muting. If he starts sending messages after, that’s a different case. That’s harassment.

But a group of friends talking and joking amonst themselves? It shouldn’t be anyones job to tell them they should be offended by something they simply don’t find offensive.

11

I understand the concern for people being banned under the pretense you suggest and I saw a couple of other threads on that. I honestly don’t have an answer. BUT, I also don’t know what their standards are for a ban. If a player gets 10 complaints for racial slurs then they should definitely look into a ban. I can see an issue arising there where in ONE game 10 people decide to complain so maybe stretch it out… if they get multiple complaints in separate games then it’s worth looking in to…

I don’t have the perfect solution but I am just glad that developers will be looking at this further because it honestly ruins the fun for me if I have to go through and block 5 people every damn game I’m playing or have to hear their stupid crap.

We agree here: “Don’t get me wrong, I do think certain things should be bannable. Someone repeatedly calling you a N***r or Fg should be banned.”

We just don’t want innocent people getting banned.

Just remember we all agreed to the terms of service and this is a private contract we signed. The 1st amendment does not reach into this private agreement!

12

> I understand the concern for people being banned under the pretense you suggest and I saw a couple of other threads on that. I honestly don’t have an answer. BUT, I also don’t know what their standards are for a ban. If a player gets 10 complaints for racial slurs then they should definitely look into a ban. I can see an issue arising there where in ONE game 10 people decide to complain so maybe stretch it out… if they get multiple complaints in separate games then it’s worth looking in to…
>
> I don’t have the perfect solution but I am just glad that developers will be looking at this further because it honestly ruins the fun for me if I have to go through and block 5 people every damn game I’m playing or have to hear their stupid crap.
>
> We agree here: “Don’t get me wrong, I do think certain things should be bannable. Someone repeatedly calling you a N***r or Fg should be banned.”
>
> We just don’t want innocent people getting banned.
>
> Just remember we all agreed to the terms of service and this is a private contract we signed. The 1st amendment does not reach into this private agreement!

As much as I want to agree, I almost can’t.

The problem I have here is that offense is contextual. I can offend vegans or lactose intolerant people by saying I am really enjoying this cheesecake.
I think muting is the way forward. If you don’t like something, mute them. If they message you, then it’s crossed into the realms of harassment and direct abuse. People pay money to use this service, and although we sign the terms of service, there should be common sense used by us, the users, to stop these things happening. If people just muted instead of getting upset, then they wouldn’t have to force a rule on us that could risk innocent people losing a full year of service that they have paid for.

Unless every situation is considered carefully, with minimal automated banning, then innocent people will suffer because of the few that want to cause trouble.

There will never be a perfect system for dealing with this, so they should make muting a simpler, less tedious feature, and remind people regularly that the mute button is there for a reason.

People are too sensitive these days, and it worries me because it’s Halo that will suffer. How many people would continue playing a game after losing 12 months of service just because someone was offended by an off-hand comment that wasn’t even aimed at them? The last thing I want, as a huge Halo fan, is for Halo’s community to suffer, because that ruins the game for everybody.

EDIT:

Here’s some food for thought. What about Tea-bagging? Halo is a game that is well-known for it’s Tea-bagging. In fact, even the developers have put in a system where a hologram can tea-bag and created a trailer for a mech that ended in it tea-bagging.
Now, isn’t it hypocritical for that same game to have such heavy rules against sexism?

Surely tea-bagging can be considered a form of sexual abuse or intent, as it is essentially dropping your -Yoink!- on someone elses face to shame and/or embarrass them.
Can no one else see the inconsistancies there?

13

If I tell my girlfriend something along the lines of:

“Get back in the kitchen”

She will usually reply with something witty along the lines of:

“That reminds me, did you enjoy your dinner last night? remember how the dog pooped on the kitchen floor and the trash was full cause you didn’t take it out? well guess where that poo went?” Just silly stuff like that.

It is simple banter between two people who are in on the joke, I don’t think OPs friend should worry to much about getting banned if he is playing around and everyone is having fun. That is one of the things Halo is about after all.

What he is doing is nothing more than poking fun at his friends, in the competitive yet friendly way that we 21 century humans do. When you poke fun at your male friends you say things that relate to them in todays society, (like: “get your weight up bro!” or “Your looking kinda small man.” etc) When you poke fun at your female friends the same thing goes. Just as long as it is in good jest, and recieved that way too.

It is our competitive nature.

A quote from Kiki:
“That’s why there’s a zero tolerance policy for sexist or discriminatory comments on Xbox Live; players who fall foul of the policy face a lifetime ban from the network.”

Its not just sexist, but any discriminatory comments. I read that as any comments that are backed by hate, or aimed at verbally abusing the other person in a negative way that is not in keeping with friendly competitive talk.

I am not to worried about this issue, I am actually glad they are taking some action. I get annoyed by all the stupid incoherent screaming of racist, homophobic, and dumb threats that come my way, or anyones way while I am playing. If they kick all the immature haters off of Halo it is going to be a more enjoyable experience for all the rest of us.