• Xbox blocks W.Va. gamer over town's name: Fort Gay
    70 replies, posted
[quote] Microsoft Corp. and the chief rules enforcer for Xbox Live are apologizing to a small West Virginia town and a 26-year-old gamer accused of violating the online gaming service's code of conduct by publicly declaring he's from Fort Gay _ a name the company considered offensive. The town's name is real. But when Josh Moore tried to tell Seattle-based Microsoft and the enforcement team at Xbox Live, they wouldn't take his word for it. Or Google it. Or check the U.S. Postal Service website for a ZIP code. Instead, they suspended his gaming privileges for a few days until Moore could convince them the location in his profile, "fort gay WV," wasn't a joke or a slur: It's an actual community of about 800 in Wayne County, along West Virginia's western border with Kentucky. "At first I thought, 'Wow, somebody's thinking I live in the gayest town in West Virginia or something.' I was mad. ... It makes me feel like they hate gay people," said Moore, an unemployed factory worker who plays shooters like Medal of Honor, Call of Duty and Ghost Recon under the gamertag Joshanboo. "I'm not even gay, and it makes me feel like they were discriminating," said Moore, who missed a key Search and Destroy competition because of last week's brief suspension. His team lost. Angry and incredulous, Moore contacted customer service. "I figured, I'll explain to them, 'Look in my account. Fort Gay is a real place,'" Moore reasoned. But the employee was unreceptive, warning Moore if he put Fort Gay back in his profile, Xbox Live would cancel his account and keep his $12 monthly membership fee, which he'd paid in advance for two years. "I told him, Google it _ 25514!" Moore said, offering up the town's ZIP code. "He said, 'I can't help you.'" Mayor David Thompson also tried to intervene, but with little success. He told television station WSAZ, which first reported the dispute, that he was informed the city's name didn't matter. The word "gay," he was told, was inappropriate in any context. "It was so inappropriate for them, they wouldn't even say the word," Thompson told the AP Wednesday. "They said, 'that word.' It's beyond me. That's the name of our town! It's appalling. It's a slap in our face." Stephen Toulouse, director of policy and enforcement for Xbox Live blamed miscommunication. "Someone took the phrase 'fort gay WV' and believed that the individual who had that was trying to offend, or trying to use it in a pejorative manner," Toulouse said. "Unfortunately, one of my people agreed with that. ... When it was brought to my attention, we did revoke the suspension." Complaints, he notes, come to agents with no contextual information, including who the suspected offender is or what games they play. The agent simply looks at the language and determines whether it complies with policy. The Xbox Live player's contract says users cannot "create a gamertag, avatar or use text in other profile fields that may offend other members," and lists potentially dangerous topics such as drug use, hate speech and racial, ethnic or religious slurs. Fort Gay has been a community since 1789, when 11 people tried to establish a settlement at the junction of the Tug and Big Sandy rivers, across from what is now Louisa, Ky. It was incorporated as Cassville in 1875 but was simultaneously known as Fort Gay until 1932, when town leaders changed it to the latter for good. Toulouse said he will contact Moore and apologize. Staying ahead of slang and policing Xbox for offensive is a constant challenge, he said. "In this very, very specific case, a mistake was made," he said, "and we're going to make it right." [/quote] [url=http://azstarnet.com/news/weird-news/article_36131b9b-ab38-5709-9743-d97a2afe0597.html] Sauce [/url] Another reason why I play on PC.
How the hell is having "Fort Gay" as your town a bannable offense in the first place? Is gay really that bad of a word to them?
[QUOTE=Micr0;24720446]How the hell is having "Fort Gay" as your town a bannable offense in the first place?[/QUOTE] If I remember correctly... Last year a girl got banned for listing herself as lesbian for sexuality.
[QUOTE=JoeSkylynx;24720456]If I remember correctly... Last year a girl got banned for listing herself as lesbian for sexuality.[/QUOTE] I heard about that too. Microsoft is full of homophobes.
Because as everyone at Microsoft knows, gay, lesbian and homosexual are words only used to insult some one :downs: Infact, if they're banning people from Live if they SAY they're gay/lesbian, isn't that not letting them access a service they paid for because of their sexuality? As in, illegal as all hell? It's like if some one paid me for a chocolate bar and before I handed it to them I asked "Wait, are you gay?" and they said "Yes" and I put the chocolate away and said "Well you can't have this then, and you aren't getting your money back either"
couldn't an unemployed factory worker be doing something better than playing call of duty? I mean I know that's not the issue here but really [editline]08:41PM[/editline] [QUOTE=JoeSkylynx;24720456]If I remember correctly... Last year a girl got banned for listing herself as lesbian for sexuality.[/QUOTE] yes
[QUOTE=Lust;24720471]Because as everyone at Microsoft knows, gay, lesbian and homosexual are words only used to insult some one :downs:[/QUOTE] I can't see lesbian being used as an insult, considering the majority of people on xbox are little kids that are boys. I wonder how you insult a guy by calling them a lesbian?
[QUOTE=Micr0;24720468]I heard about that too. Microsoft is full of homophobes.[/QUOTE] Or it has a community filled with most homophobic kids.
Crazy fucking Microsoft. Everything with a negative connotation is instantly offensive to them.
i dont see what the logic is behind thinking "gay" is an offensive word Sure there are other words that have the same meaning as gay that are offensive to some but the word gay itself should be ok.
[QUOTE=bobsynergy;24720505]I can't see lesbian being used as an insult, considering the majority of people on xbox are little kids that are boys. I wonder how you insult a guy by calling them a lesbian?[/QUOTE] Justin Beiber
[QUOTE=JoeSkylynx;24720456]If I remember correctly... Last year a girl got banned for listing herself as lesbian for sexuality.[/QUOTE] That was different, she put it straight in her bio. Now anyway, you are able to put it in your profile, I don't know why they took it away this time though.
[QUOTE=Micr0;24720468]I heard about that too. Microsoft is full of homophobes.[/QUOTE] Not so much, they ban words like that for a reason. So it doesn't become a problem to begin with. They would rather ban it rather then have to deal with all the other bullshit that comes a long with it.
That's gay
[QUOTE=MR-X;24720857]Not so much, they ban words like that for a reason. So it doesn't become a problem to begin with. They would rather ban it rather then have to deal with all the other bullshit that comes a long with it.[/QUOTE] Yes, because usually when people put the word gay in, it's not for the proper usage.
[QUOTE=MR-X;24720857]Not so much, they ban words like that for a reason. So it doesn't become a problem to begin with. They would rather ban it rather then have to deal with all the other bullshit that comes a long with it.[/QUOTE] Well I'm sure they're able to pick out which comments are actually homophobic and the ones that aren't. Isn't that the point of a filtering service anyway? Why not just add some sort of instaban if there's absolutely no exceptions for the word gay.
fort gay ahhahahaha
[QUOTE=Lachz0r;24720913]fort gay ahhahahaha[/QUOTE] Are you 12?
They probably did it because they thought it was a joke name, not because of the actual name.
[QUOTE=Mazakrov;24720945]Are you 12?[/QUOTE] His post probably intended to be sarcastic.
The girl case was justified. No one should know or care about your sexual preferences in a service for gaming. This case on the other hand is terrible, seeing as it's a real place
Microsoft isn't getting any brownie points from me for a while. I mean seriously, first they raise the price, make all but one DLC paid, now there full of homophobes :argh:
[QUOTE=johan_sm;24721024]The girl case was justified. No one should know or care about your sexual preferences in a service for gaming. This case on the other hand is terrible, seeing as it's a real place[/QUOTE] Ban everyone from steam who puts their real name/address in their profiles, no one should know or care in an online gaming service How the hell is banning someone from a service based on sexual orientation justified at all
[QUOTE=Itachi_Crow;24721185]Ban everyone from steam who puts their real name/address in their profiles, no one should know or care in an online gaming service How the hell is banning someone from a service based on sexual orientation justified at all[/QUOTE] I don't believe they banned her, I think they just forced her to remove it.
[QUOTE=Itachi_Crow;24721185]Ban everyone from steam who puts their real name/address in their profiles, no one should know or care in an online gaming service How the hell is banning someone from a service based on sexual orientation justified at all[/QUOTE]Because it's irrelevant. You're using the service to play games, not find a fuck buddy. Especially given the fact that Xbox Live is populated with dumbass teenagers and fratboys.
Gay doesn't always mean homosexual or something that is offensive, it also means happy I don't understand why if someone says gay they are just like "HEY THAT IS REALLY OFFENSIVE!" It's annoying
Got a mental image of a very colorful fort Knox with rainbows and unicorns and shit every where. Fuck it, time to go t bed. [editline]09:33PM[/editline] [QUOTE=Xokiller65;24721349]Gay doesn't always mean homosexual or something that is offensive, it also means happy I don't understand why if someone says gay they are just like "HEY THAT IS REALLY OFFENSIVE!" It's annoying[/QUOTE] Who seriously uses it like that anymore in casual conversation?
[QUOTE=Xokiller65;24721349]Gay doesn't always mean homosexual or something that is offensive, it also means happy I don't understand why if someone says gay they are just like "HEY THAT IS REALLY OFFENSIVE!" It's annoying[/QUOTE] It's because it's the way people use it today, before people used the word gay in their songs because back then it was ok because it was just generally accepted as another way of saying happy.
[QUOTE=Mazakrov;24720886]Yes, because usually when people put the word gay in, it's not for the proper usage.[/QUOTE] Yeah, this is 2010 bro. Most people (unfortunately) use the word gay to describe a homosexual or be derogatory. I don't think anyone use the word gay as a proper adjective anymore.
[QUOTE=SPESSMEHREN;24721240]Because it's irrelevant. You're using the service to play games, not find a fuck buddy. Especially given the fact that Xbox Live is populated with dumbass teenagers and fratboys.[/QUOTE] So putting irrelevant information on your profile that is neither harmful nor offensive to others is justification for being banned from the service? Alright yeah, great logic.
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