Halo 4 Sexism Earns You a Lifetime Ban

[Erttheking]

I think that perm bans might be the best way to go. There is an argument to be made that maybe there should be a three strike system with a warning and then a three day ban THEN a permaban instead of just a permaban right off of the bat, but I believe that permanent ban should be included in the punishment because anything else will just be shrugged off as a slap on the wrist. I'm always careful when it comes to the Escapist nowadays because one more moderation incident and I'll never comment on this site again, if that wasn't the case I doubt that I would be as careful.

And I'm glad that they aren't talking like that, that's a very lazy policy to take. Besides, they want your $60 next year.

I stand rooted in the belief that taking away their ability to communicate with other players, unless (maybe) those players opt-in to hearing said players, is the better way to go. Their entire offense is that they are rude to other players. So, by taking away their ability to be rude, you have effectively crippled their offensiveness. And if ONLY other players who opted to hear them could hear them (or maybe even no one at all could hear them), you have effectively removed the problem. I just don't see how a permaban is better than that...

Mainly because not being able to talk anymore isn't really that much of a deterrent. Having your in-game voice being taken away isn't really that effective at saying "cut it out or this will happen" and that's the point of this, to get people to behave. A sword of Damocles if you will.

 

[LadyZephyr]

If this turns out to be accurate, it'll be the first time I buy a Halo game and I know a lot of female gamers who feel the same. Awesome.

 

[Helmholtz Watson]

So basically "your rights end where my feelings begin"? Since when did game producers have a say in what people do on Xbox live.

 

[Meight08]

If there is one thing I always respected is that Halo had the Aliens feel with its Marines, I know Halo was actually inspired by the Alien and Predator movies combined to make awesomeness (Not AvP) but the fact that there are marines, even ODSTs, and Spartans who are females only adds to the credibility of the franchise.

Now take that to the design team and BOOM great diversity.

Anywho, how come I feel like SOMEONE out there will see this as a bad thing?

Only a few more days......go faster......

http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;263489527;86576933;g
Suuuure

Not meant for 13 year old adhd kids at all. /Sarcasm

You know, Halo isn't exactly well known for sexualized women. Case in point, some of the women from the Halo games.

Spoiler

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_X1IWXuEbgXI/S144gAFVmqI/AAAAAAAACDc/4zmZBSqoLqg/s400/kat+spartan+halo+reach.png
http://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/_img/chars/char_27242.jpg http://buttonbasher.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/halo3_odst-dare.jpg
http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20111019192057/halo/es/images/2/21/Lieutenant_Commander_Miranda_Keyes.png
http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100811203629/halo/es/images/5/58/Mh-hw-anders.png
http://i.minus.com/jx8gpEBS1bgXw.PNG

Sure the fact they sexualised the only woman in the series worth a crap means nothing.

 

[Erttheking]

If there is one thing I always respected is that Halo had the Aliens feel with its Marines, I know Halo was actually inspired by the Alien and Predator movies combined to make awesomeness (Not AvP) but the fact that there are marines, even ODSTs, and Spartans who are females only adds to the credibility of the franchise.

Now take that to the design team and BOOM great diversity.

Anywho, how come I feel like SOMEONE out there will see this as a bad thing?

Only a few more days......go faster......

http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;263489527;86576933;g
Suuuure

Not meant for 13 year old adhd kids at all. /Sarcasm

You know, Halo isn't exactly well known for sexualized women. Case in point, some of the women from the Halo games.

Spoiler

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_X1IWXuEbgXI/S144gAFVmqI/AAAAAAAACDc/4zmZBSqoLqg/s400/kat+spartan+halo+reach.png
http://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/_img/chars/char_27242.jpg http://buttonbasher.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/halo3_odst-dare.jpg
http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20111019192057/halo/es/images/2/21/Lieutenant_Commander_Miranda_Keyes.png
http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100811203629/halo/es/images/5/58/Mh-hw-anders.png
http://i.minus.com/jx8gpEBS1bgXw.PNG

Sure the fact they sexualised the only woman in the series worth a crap means nothing.

Well first of all, I'd say that those women were worth quite a bit, being major parts of the game that they were in. And has Cortana been sexualized? Maybe a little bit, but to be perfectly honest it's pretty damn tame, it's not like they made her a double D and we can't recognize her anymore. I can still look at her and my mind automatically goes "Cortana" and she doesn't look like she was dressing up to go out on the town as a working girl, and I'm good with that. Hell, all they actually did was make her look more Human, and is that really a bad thing?

 

[Valis7]

So basically "your rights end where my feelings begin"? Since when did game producers have a say in what people do on Xbox live.

They don't, but they certainly have the right to ban anyone they want from their servers - justified or not.

 

[D.L.390]

I wonder if the studio would be so quick to ban a girl for saying something sexist about men?

Methinks a double standard is the cause for this, rather than any hope to remove free speech (which is bad anyway). XBL is meant for over 15s due to things like coarse language in free speech.

However I don't even plug my mic in when I'm not playing with friends, and when I am, I'm in a party with them - this won't affect me.

 

[klaynexas3]

This seemed to be a little misleading article, as most people aren't reading the whole thing and just seeing the sexist part. It also said discriminatory remarks, as in if someone says ****** or the N word they would also get permaban. Granted, that might be a bit severe, but hopefully those that actually look into the matters of whether to ban someone or not will actually be thorough about it, and use an innocent until proven guilty mentality. And since they're actually letting people know of this policy, it's not like they can pretend they didn't know, or actually not know, and so they should know to keep their mouth shut on those topics if they want to stay online with that account.

 

[LostintheWick]

So basically "your rights end where my feelings begin"? Since when did game producers have a say in what people do on Xbox live.

When they decided to take it.
I can't really blame them. When people think about Halo multiplayer, they think about the community. Personally, I wouldn't want that association with my meticulously crafted game, either.

Besides, who cares about the game-time of foul-mouthed, hateful individuals. Even if you piss them off, they will crawl back with a new account or something.

 

[Rainboq]

Read the article, racism gets you the ban hammer as well. Also, as a woman, the sexism on XBL really needs to be reined in, I've had a lot of fun times absolutely ruined by people telling me to go get in the kitchen.

Are you really so sensitive that you allow random dicks on the internet to spoil your fun?

Its not one, or two, but dozens upon dozens, constantly messaging me for pics and to be friends and/or shouting at me to get back in the kitchen.

 

[Bashfluff]

I don't like this. I'd be wary of a more liberal application of mutes, but permabans for speech? People are too thin-skinned these days. I sincerely hope that if they try this, it utterly fails, and they learn their lesson.

 

[Lt._nefarious]

This is a good day. This is a very good day. I'm so happy about this. I hate the dicks that ruin my Halo experience with there stupid, fucking JIBBER-JABBER!

 

[Rainboq]

...I've had a lot of fun times absolutely ruined by people telling me to go get in the kitchen.

Why? Why do you let some dumbass on XBL ruin YOUR good time? People say stupid shit sometimes. They're going to say stuff that offends you. But if your good time is lost because they say something to hurt you, then their job is complete. YOU give them power. YOU allow them to ruin your good time. If I got offended and stopped having fun every time somebody insulted me, I'd be a shut-in with no friends and little-to-no human interaction...

TL;DR: Screw them. Have fun, and don't let a little prick on the internet ruin your fun time.

Its not one, two or even three, but scores and scores of the morons that ruin my time. The constant messages asking me for (often naked) pics, random friend requests, and/or telling me to get back into the kitchen. Because its never one. Its often pairs, trios or even teams of the morons.

 

[D.L.390]

They don't, but they certainly have the right to ban anyone they want from their servers - justified or not.

That doesn't justify it, that's just agreeing with him. You've got to admit, it seems a bit much that now 343 is having a go at people about speech, rather than something like using exploits etc.

The worse online spaces generally do have lots of regulation on communication, including profanity filters and monitoring etc, so this isn't really a new thing.

I'd laugh so hard if they somehow monitor voice chat (which I don't think they will). If they do that, do they monitor parties, too? Does it work on an honour system where, if a girl feels like it, she can just ban whoever she chooses? Would the mods/judges/whatever treat this equally if a guy were to complain about a woman being sexist towards him? I can't really see how this would be implemented effectively and still achieve what it was originally intended to do. Not that I'm complaining, XBL is notorious for having many less-than-polite players.

 

[LadyZephyr]

So basically "your rights end where my feelings begin"? Since when did game producers have a say in what people do on Xbox live.

Don't be obtuse. This isn't about my poor widdle fee-fees. This is about the fact that XBL has such a systemic culture of hate that folks like me literally don't want to go anywhere near it. It doesn't matter how much I love a game and want to be part of its online community-- I am not going to go into an environment that is unsafe and abusive. I don't need your sexist, homophobia, racist bullshit in my escapist past time.

To be honest, if most Halo 4 gamers end up permabanned for this, then good. It's a long time coming. If you cannot play a game and trash talk without coloring your language with hate speech, thereby breaching the terms of conduct, then you deserve to be banned.

This is a small step to making games more inclusive and I'm thrilled about it. Maybe my 360 will stop collecting dust on my shelf.

 

[D.L.390]

If you cannot play a game and trash talk without coloring your language with hate speech, thereby breaching the terms of conduct, then you deserve to be banned.

You would define "friendly" trash talk how?

 

[LadyZephyr]

Read the article, racism gets you the ban hammer as well. Also, as a woman, the sexism on XBL really needs to be reined in, I've had a lot of fun times absolutely ruined by people telling me to go get in the kitchen.

Are you really so sensitive that you allow random dicks on the internet to spoil your fun?

Its not one, or two, but dozens upon dozens, constantly messaging me for pics and to be friends and/or shouting at me to get back in the kitchen.

Male gamers as a whole don't get it. It is not one or two instances of people "being dicks." It's every single time you open you mouth in a gaming environment while in possession of a feminine username or voice. It's constant abuse. it's people remembering your username and following you out of the match and telling all their buddies. It's never, ever about the game, it's about the fact that you are a lady and you don't belong here, so we will harass you until you leave.

It is not about sensitivity, it's about abuse.

And it needs to stop.

 

[Sethzard]

Awesome.
Maybe I'll even play the damn thing if I can go on Xbox live for five minutes without someone having to make a big deal out of my voice (and purple armour).

It's about time someone did something about Xbox live.

Well if you do get it send me an invite and we can do some multiplayer together.

OT: I'm conflicted, everyone knows Xbox's reputation as a place where it's unsafe to tread unless you're a 12 year old boy. I share the opinion of Christopher Hitchens that I don't want someone else to censor what I'm exposed them to because I don't trust someone else to decide what I deem appropriate. I think it's too hard to draw a line in the sand, over what's a joke and what's just unpleasant. I think something needs to be done but I'm not sure what that is.

 

[Bashfluff]

So basically "your rights end where my feelings begin"? Since when did game producers have a say in what people do on Xbox live.

Don't be obtuse. This isn't about my poor widdle fee-fees. This is about the fact that XBL has such a systemic culture of hate that folks like me literally don't want to go anywhere near it. It doesn't matter how much I love a game and want to be part of its online community-- I am not going to go into an environment that is unsafe and abusive. I don't need your sexist, homophobia, racist bullshit in my escapist past time.

To be honest, if most Halo 4 gamers end up permabanned for this, then good. It's a long time coming. If you cannot play a game and trash talk without coloring your language with hate speech, thereby breaching the terms of conduct, then you deserve to be banned.

This is a small step to making games more inclusive and I'm thrilled about it. Maybe my 360 will stop collecting dust on my shelf.

So it IS my poor little fee-fees. If you say something over the internet I find offensive while playing a video game with me, you don't deserve to play that video game online. I'm sorry, but I cannot view the freedom of speech as less important than your want to not be offended.
You are not "unsafe". It's an online video game. Someone telling you to get back in the kitchen is not abuse. This will not make games more inclusive, but turn people off, because if there is one thing that gamers love, it's people trying to control their speech. You may not like others' "sexist, homophobic, racist bullshit," but I don't like your overeactionary, thin-skinned, oppressive bullshit. Does that mean that you no longer get to play Halo online?

 

[fozzy360]

The main thing that bothers me about all this is the "zero-tolerance" policy that 343 wants to take to these individuals. Look, segments of the community can be idiotic at best and hateful at worst, but instituting a system where there's zero-tolerance involved can't lead to anywhere good. Just one misstep, and you're done? I actually like the idea of a tiered warning system better than that. In that case, you can basically track a user's behavior, making the ineivitable permaban that much more deserved.