Gamer complains of online homophobia
The point is to move your player around a make believe world killing bad guys, but as the online gaming community continues to become big business, it may also be a new anonymous place to breed homophobia.
This week, a self proclaimed gay gamer was verbally attacked for his sexuality while a participant in the Xbox online game Halo3.
Halo 3 is a first-person shooter video game, which was developed by Bungie Studio for the Xbox 360.
This third installment of the popular game saw over one million participants log on during the first 24 hours of live game play.
GayGamer.net, a website dedicated to bringing news and product information to the gay gaming community received a video email from one of their readers who had received a verbal beating while participating in the live version of the popular game.
The player, who chose to go by the online name xxxgayboyxxx, entered game rooms and was called homophobic slurs and was even told by another user that gay people should be hung.
The player tells Gaygamer.net: “Other than maybe a quick “hello” to the chat room or a request to “veto”, I didn’t ever say anything first or taunt anyone.
“What was said by these players was initiated by them with no provocation on my part. The vast majority of the times I wouldn’t even respond back so the audio would be clear.”
Gayboy also explained, “One thing you don’t see are the betrayals, I was shot by my own teammates. Most don’t want to party up with me, they even say “gayboy don’t party up”, some even leave mid-game so they don’t have to play with me.”
Blog readers have had mixed reactions to the offensive behaviour, and some have said that choosing that tag name ‘gayboy’ turned the player into an easy target.
While some insist that the insults are all part of the violent nature of the online live version of the game, others feel that it is a definite cause for alarm and the exact reason behind the need for a gay-friendly gaming site in the first place.
Dylan Vox © 2007 GayWired.com; All Rights Reserved.
