(EPIC) Media #Fail: Microsoft afraid sexist banhammer would eliminate business
On the heels of women developers from 343 studios declaring that sexist comments would incur the wrath of the forerunners (Halo joke) in the form of a lifetime ban from Xbox’s online gameplay service, Microsoft has released a statement declaring that it won’t actually ban people for being douchekazoos.
“While Xbox Live indeed does not condone harassment of any kind, account and console bans are issued based on a robust complaint and evidence-based system,” said a spokesperson. “There is no difference in the Xbox Live Terms of Use and Code of Conduct for Halo 4.”
FREE SPEECH seems to be the white dude battle cry in the comments. I leave you with a quote by Kate Kane:
If you are a straight, white, able-bodied, cisgender man, you possess immense privilege. There’s nothing wrong with being straight or white or able-bodied or cisgender or a man, and the vast majority of the world will happily affirm you in your identity as all of these things. But there is something wrong with feeling entitled to your privilege, as if you deserve special treatment because you are any or all of these identities. And when someone who is not straight or not white or not able-bodied or not cisgender or not a man complains about the inequality in society, you are a jerk if you claim that that person complaining about inequality is the one perpetuating it.
And, some trolling from the comments…
2 Comments »
Leave a comment!
It gives me kicks when they use the “free speech” defense. Yeah, free speech, but you can be expelled from school for saying some of those things I’ve heard on live. That is most the reason why women don’t even want to get on there. I don’t want to sit around listening to over-used kitchen jokes when I’m trying to enjoy my game. No thank you.
Now that the PS4 has been unveiled with it’s social media component, I’m wondering if there has been any thought put into how this functionality might increase online harassment/bigotry. Did anyone get an idea of what the TOS would be for the PS4? To be transparent, I didn’t catch the live presentation, but I’ve been following reports on the “social-media function,” which seems to be more of a tracking device than a value-added gaming function. Thoughts?