A few weeks ago, whilst browsing my feeds I came across a story on Kotaku which really made me think. A gamer had his Xbox Live gamertag reset because it implied his sexuality; he did not have his account reset, but he was asked to change his “theGAYERGamer” tag. It seems that someone in the Xbox Live community had found it offensive and made a complaint.

Grant, the person with the offending gamertag wrote to consumerist:

Consumerist,

I have had a bad morning. Last night when i tried to sign into my xbox live account “thegayergamer” I was told that it had to be changed. I figured that it was just from people reporting it as an offensive name being that the greater Xbox live community isn’t exactly welcome to gay people, i spend a lot of time muting people on Halo3. I assumed that once i called Microsoft they would straighten things out.

I talked to a supervisor there, Roxy, who told me that she didn’t personally find the fact that my gamer tag had gay in the name offensive, but that the greater Xbox community did, so i would have to change it. I hope I’m not the only person who finds this don’t ask, don’t tell policy disgusting… eek

From Grant, thegayergamer

The response from Stephen Toulouse of Xbox Live crew was predictable:

We recieved a complaint on the Gamertag and determined that it did indeed contain sexual innuendo. Now granted, there could be an argument that the text is not pejorative to homosexuality and should therefore be allowed. But there is no context to explain that. Gamertags are visible to everyone and it would be hard for me to defend to a parent of a young child who saw it that the name did not contain content of a sexual nature.

We view these situations objectively during our review under the terms of use. To answer the question another way, yes “TheStraighterGamer” or “TheHeterosexualgamer” would have gotten the same treatment and would have been found to be in violation and forced to be changed. We’ve actually done that to tags like that before.

Apparently, the gamertag violated the Xbox Live Terms of Service. Stephen Toulouse was kind enough to post the section that the gamertag was alleged to have violated (emphasis his):

[a member may not] Create a Gamertag or use text in other profile fields that may offend other members. This includes comments that look, sound like, stand for, hint at, abbreviate, or insinuate any of the following: profane words/phrases, sexually explicit language, sexual innuendo, hate speech (including but not limited to racial, ethnic, or religious slurs), illegal drugs/controlled substances, or illegal activities.

While I have not used Xbox Live, I have played an enormous amount of online games on my PC and I can tell you that bigotry in all of its disgusting forms, is alive and well in gaming. In some cases it is just punk kids trying to get a reaction by insulting people on the basis of race or religion and quite often sexuality. The thing is that while most people would take offense at seeing anti-Semitic comments or racial epithets posted, to many people, terms like, “faggot” seem more acceptable.

Does a person stating that he or she is gay really fit the definition of “sexual innuendo”? According to the Xbox Live crew it does, as does stating ones heterosexuality. I am inclined to disagree. It requires some logical gymnastics to reach that conclusion; the term “gay” merely implies a preference for partners of the same sex and I believe that is the way most reasonable people would see the issue.

It was Concerned Parent, who reported the GamerTag:

I was one of the people that reported this gamertag after my 8 year-old son saw it in matchmaking in Halo 3. He enjoys reading all of the names and asking me what they mean. I usually have an appropriate answer, but this time was different. He asked me, “What does TheGayerGamer mean?”

I have not even explained to him what sex is or what a relationship is, but he wanted to know what “gay” means. I could have told him “happy”, but then he might have started using it in his normal speech.
I just ignored him, which created an awkward situation because I typically don’t do this. I reported the gamertag afterwards and went on with playing.

When I purchased “Halo 3″ and decided to let me child play, I did not expect him to be exposed to sexual ideas and content. As it was not listed on the box. I also turn off voice(sic) output to avoid other possible exposure. This text-based message should not be tolerated on Xbox Live.

When I believe my son is old enough, I will teach him the “birds and the bees” and then later, I will teach him about homosexuality. He shouldn’t learn about these things on Xbox Live.

Thank you for making sure that sexual gamertags aren’t allowed on Xbox Live!

I find it somewhat amusing that Concerned Parent finds it acceptable for his or her son to play a violent video game and yet cannot simply explain to the child that there are some men who prefer men and women who prefer women. If you ask me that is what it would mean rather than any implication of sexual activity and it seems that the American Heritage Dictionary agrees:

The word gay is now standard in its use to refer to people whose orientation is to the same sex, in large part because it is the term that most gay people prefer in referring to themselves. Gay is distinguished from homosexual primarily by the emphasis it places on the cultural and social aspects of homosexuality as opposed to sexual practice.

It is my opinion that the gamertag, theGAYERGamer does not constitute sexual innuendo and it is my contention that the decision made by moderators at Xbox Live was discriminatory. It seems to make an abstract interpretation of their Terms Of Service in order to be able to apply it to this situation. I find it troubling that Xbox Live chose to support the moral sensitivities of a few narrow minded individuals.

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