Gamers Against Bigotry

[chrason]

Sam Killermann over at itspronouncedmetrosexual.com has recently launched a great new site called Gamers Against Bigotry.

http://gamersagainstbigotry.org/

The idea is to promote a more inclusive gaming community: one which doesn't resort to close-minded, offensive exchanges of bigoted insults; one which doesn't push people away because of their race or gender; one which could well form the foundations for games to finally be taken seriously as an artistic medium, rather than dismissed as merely host to an infantile slurry of hate-mongering.

Now, before you get all worked up about the Politically Correct Brigade stealing all your fun, think about it this way: if, in the heat of the moment, you feel the compulsion to unleash verbal fury upon your competitor, but the only thing that you can think of to pull them up on is where they were born, the colour of their skin, or what kind of fun-parts they might have, then it really isn?t worth the air it takes to say it; at the very least, you should try to be inventive with your rapport!

To help you on your way, here?s a short list of exciting new profanities you can try out (which are all suitable for humanitarians):

"Eat hot death, you cheese-jockey!"

"Where did you learn how to play, IKEA?"

"You're so bad at this game, I'll put a carp in your breakfast!"

"Curse your locational advantage, I am bested!"

"What is this?! Gears Of War, or Dodge Socks?!"

We all enjoy a good shout at the television (and maybe even a swear word or three) when we're playing against other people online, and nobody wants to stop that. By all means, curse, criticise, and otherwise smack-talk your opponents, but bigotry in the community can not be tolerated.

If any of you out there play online games, on any level, then please, go to Gamers Against Bigotry and sign the pledge, and share the link with as many people as possible. What's more important, if you hear anybody using bigoted language, pull them up on it! You may find that you?re not the only person who objects.

If you have any issues or queries about this, please consult the FAF below before commenting!

Chris (attacktheblog.co.uk)


Frequently Assumed Falsehoods (FAF):

1) "It's Political Correctness gone mad!"

No, it isn't. That?s just a phrase bigots invented in an attempt to justify bigotry. What it is, is common human decency.

2) "Online gaming is the last place where it's acceptable!"

Wrong again! Nazi Germany was the last place where it was considered "acceptable" to gas millions of Jews to death. That doesn?t mean it was acceptable.

3) "But it's just a bit of harmless fun!"

Harmless fun is by definition, fun that doesn?t harm people. Bigotry does harm people, whether you intend it to or not.

4) "But it's part of the culture!"

Witch burning was a part of our culture, until people came to their senses. Half the bigoted put-downs people use in online games are newborn in gaming years. It isn?t part of gaming culture, and never has been; it?s just unfounded hatred, masked by anonymity.

 

[Windcaler]

You will have to add a lot more to that list then race and gender to be all inclusive.

 

[Ryotknife]

so...the solution is for the gamer community to transplant itself back into the 1950's where people hide behind masks of false goodness? I am sorry, if given the choice between what we have now or vomiting rainbows all the time, I will take what we have now despite its obvious flaws. Being honest with oneself is more important to me than false sensitivity forced down from above.

I mean, dear lord your solution sounds like it was ripped straight from the Demolition Man script. going from one extreme to another extreme is not a solution. Punishing those who blatantly cross a line for purely malicious reasons would be a better course.

 

[Atrocious Joystick]

I don't think any culture ever in the history of man has claimed internet profanities is part their culture. Just sayin'.

Generally I don't think kids resort to racial slurs because nobody has made a helpful website to point out that it is wrong.

 

[chrason]

On a very basic grammatical level, say, calling someone by a race-based insult in an online game doesn't make any sense whatsoever. All it does is perpetuate the bigoted myths that anybody non-white is in some way inferior, which they aren't.

And then look at female gamers - look at http://fatuglyorslutty.com/ - they get a tonne of abuse, everything from the comparatively benign 'get back in the kitchen' to private messaged threats of rape and murder. It's unacceptable, no matter how much you play it down.

That's not to say death threats and insults are one in the same, but as I've said, nobody is trying to stop you from calling people names; shout the F word as loud as you like, it's just not conducive to a diverse community to call people names based on gender, ethnicity, disability, etc... words designed to disparage an entire collective of the population.
It just pushes people away, and for what? So a bunch of angry bigots can be free to spew hate-filled bile at each other and stop everybody else from enjoying it? People don't have the guts to do it in public, for fear of retribution, so they shouldn't behave that way online, either. It's cowardly, and it's small-minded.

There are much better ways to banter than with bigotry.

 

[Hazy992]

So your answer to speaking out against bigotry is to simply become the No-Cussing Club? Yeah, no fuck that shit, that's ridiculous.

If someone calls me a 'cheese-jockey' online then I reserve the right to call them an asshole.

 

[Ryotknife]

People don't have the guts to do it in public, for fear of retribution, so they shouldn't behave that way online, either. It's cowardly, and it's small-minded.

There are much better ways to banter than with bigotry.

I agree with this in theory. If it is something you would not say in public, probably shouldnt say it online either.

However, there is one important aspect to consider. People are scared to death (at least in the Northeast US) to say ANYTHING. Everything is so highly censored that people are not allowed to express themselves, lest one person either PRETENDS to be insulted and uses it for their own personal gain, or they have very thin skin and need to grow the hell up.

I DO NOT want to see the internet become what the Northern US has become. A place ruled by fear, where honesty and truthfulness are seen as sinful. where doing the "right thing" often means taking the path of least resistance regardless of if it is morally right or not. I am as Yankee as Yankee can be (NY state), and although we northerners consider ourselves "enlightened" compared to our southern brethren (whom we consider backwards, barbaric, and racist), after spending a year in the heart of Banjo country, nothing could be further from the truth. While the people i worked and lived with down there were not politically correct (almost ever), their relationships are based on respect compared to northerners relationships which are based on sensitivity and fear. If a child is lost in a northern city, people are too afraid to help the child lest they get charged for kidnapping or sued for some bizarre reason. That child's best hope is either stumbling into an officer or an older couple who are set in their ways and dont give a crap what society thinks about them.

Now, there are things that are off limits to a group and that is fine. The N word for black people, the F word for homosexuals, etc etc. That is fine, using those words nearly always illicit a negative reaction, as such they should not be used for comedy's sake. But forcefully barring everything related to any group is foolish. Comedy is done at SOMEONE or SOME GROUP's expense. All that will do is make the world a darker and less enjoyable place.

Now, if you want to volunteer this kind of life that is your prerogative, and you know i can even respect it in some ways. But your thread implies that if we do not agree to your terms then we are for bigotry

 

[chrason]

Now, there are things that are off limits to a group and that is fine. The N word for black people, the F word for homosexuals, etc etc. That is fine, using those words nearly always illicit a negative reaction, as such they should not be used for comedy's sake.

This is exactly what it's trying to promote. These words are a no go. It's not about censoring people, or even about banning people from speaking like that; it's just asking people to think about it, and show some empathy. Nobody is trying to ban it.

So your answer to speaking out against bigotry is to simply become the No-Cussing Club?

No, it isn't. I've clarified this already; you can swear as much as you like, but you should try not to be bigoted. If you were part of a marginalised group in society, would you like to be belittled every time you settled down for a "friendly" bit of computerised escapism? I wouldn't, so I wouldn't impose it on others.

Swearing and bigotry are mutually exclusive, and the latter is needlessly offensive.

 

[Hazy992]

So your answer to speaking out against bigotry is to simply become the No-Cussing Club?

No, it isn't. I've clarified this already; you can swear as much as you like, but you should try not to be bigoted. If you were part of a marginalised group in society, would you like to be belittled every time you settled down for a "friendly" bit of computerised escapism? I wouldn't, so I wouldn't impose it on others.

Swearing and bigotry are mutually exclusive, and the latter is needlessly offensive.

So why are you advocating using such tame language as 'cheese-jockey'?

In fact what the flying fuck is a cheese-jockey?

 

[Kahunaburger]

Maybe the solution is a combination of:

A) trying to avoid being racist/sexist/homophobic.
B) being a good sport.

So (for instance) if I'm playing tribes and my reaction to being blown up is "ARGH YOU ******" and not "wow, that was an awesome mortar lob!"I or "looks like I got outmaneuvered" or "maybe next time I should try to avoid the disco grenade" there's something wring about how I'm approaching this game that I'm playing in order to have fun with other people, because the mindset isn't particularly conducive to my fun or anyone else's fun.

But I'm not sure we need acronyms for that. (Or that raging in tame language is solving the core mad-because-I-lost problem.)

 

[chrason]

I was advocating such tame language as cheese-jockey for fun, because it made me giggle at the time. Of course I don't actually expect people to call somebody cheese-jockey, it's bloody ridiculous. There are more alternatives than just racial slurs, though.

 

[wintercoat]

Cheese-Jockey?! Oh, oh, I see. Because I live in a climate suitable for making various cheeses, I'm a cheese-jockey, is that it?! You got something against cheese makers?! Huh?! You sicken me!!!

Also, you have the mistaken assumption that Dodge Sock is inferior to Gears of War. That's insulting to my ancestors and my youth, and I'll have none of it!!!

OT: Yes, it would be nice if gamers could tone down the language to non-hateful levels, but I don't see it happening any time soon sadly. We can hope though...we can hope.

 

[Hazy992]

I was advocating such tame language as cheese-jockey for fun, because it made me giggle at the time. Of course I don't actually expect people to call somebody cheese-jockey, it's bloody ridiculous. There are more alternatives than just racial slurs, though.

I understand that, and don't get me wrong I would never use racial slurs myself and I absolutely support stamping out bigotry, but your method for trying to curb it just seems a bit odd to me. Your examples were more about trying not to curse.

 

[geK0]

So let me get this straight...... they want me to sign a pledge and donate $1.00 to them, and this will stop bigotry? I don't get it...

Why would I want to pay somebody to say "hey guys, stop being dicks" : \

 

[thebakedpotato]

Honestly in multiplayer settings... whenever someone calls me a fag. I call them a sister fucking, web-toed, inbred, redneck, homophobe.

Honestly... while I really do enjoy the whole... "big tent gaming" stuff. Bigoted slurs on online games are small motherfuckin potatoes.

 

[chrason]

I understand that, and don't get me wrong I would never use racial slurs myself and I absolutely support stamping out bigotry, but your method for trying to curb it just seems a bit odd to me. Your examples were more about trying not to curse.

They weren't meant to be taken as literal examples; it was a light-hearted joke, is all. I swear like a fish-wife when I want to, it just didn't really serve a purpose in that context, and would have come across more like "Here is a list of approved insults. DO NOT USE UNAPPROVED INSULTS" rather than the intended implication that there is a multitude of other things you can scream without marginalising a group of people. If you want to call somebody a Shit-brained fuckhammer, nobody will complain. That's not bigotry, that's just heat-of-the-moment rage.

So let me get this straight...... they want me to sign a pledge and donate $1.00 to them, and this will stop bigotry? I don't get it...

You don't have to donate to sign the pledge, and no, it won't stop bigotry. It isn't designed to stop bigotry. It's designed to raise awareness of the issue, so that people can understand why it's a problem, in the hope that people will, of their own volition, choose to be more inclusive and open-minded.

 

[Hagi]

"Eat hot death, you cheese-jockey!"

You do realize that cheese-jockey could easily be interpreted as a racial slur?

I'm not offended by it or anything, I'm actually not even sure if this exists anywhere else but where I'm from (the Netherlands) using cheese when referring to a person is seen as an insult against Dutch people. The traditional form being kaaskop or cheese-head, which whilst not seen as insulting as say ****** is still without a doubt an insult based on race.

Which is kind of a problem with your entire idea. Who decides what is and what is not bigotry?

If I call my brothers gay in a joking manner is that bigoted? If you use cheese in an insult without knowing it refers to Dutch people then is that bigoted?

Certainly, there are things everyone can be expected to know are bigoted. But there's also a rather large grey area, things that are interpreted as bigoted may not nearly always be intended as such.

 

[chrason]

Hagi, I didn't know that; it's not one I've ever heard before. I was just eating pizza at the time of writing.

That doesn't mean the whole concept is a failed idea; it's still a step in the right direction, and for people to appreciate the value of avoiding the obvious choices is still a fundamentally good thing.

If you're calling somebody a cheese-jockey out of a racist opinion of Dutch people, then yeah, it's bigoted. If I said it, unaware, and someone said "Erm, that's actually quite racist, I'm Dutch", I'd apologise and probably make a comment about it being a rubbish insult, anyway. It all comes down to empathy.

 

[Clearing the Eye]

The solution to bigotry isn't a group.

The solution to bigotry isn't a set of rules.

The solution to bigotry is tolerance -- on all sides. That means tolerating that some people like to use words you don't like.