Community Culture and Acceptance of Minorities

[WyleCavu 0]

I play on the Jail Break server. I would like to preface this by saying xG is a great server and probably the best Hail Break community. I appreciate the community rules like keeping language PG- 13 and not bringing up touchy subjects (6 and 7). It is nice to have a mature place to enjoy a good game of jail break.

 

However, i understand that a product of being one of the largest communities for Jail Break is that you get a lot of people who are not mature and like to joke around with "nerd culture". I suppose i can understand that. Many of us geeks have been picked on in real life for not being the most popular of people. The internet is a very accepting community, but only if you fit in to the popular internet group.

 

I have seen a lot of racism and ableism in the Jail Break server; sometimes from non xG members and sometimes from xG members. I have tried contacting the xG members personally just to let them know that i personally don't appreciate that type of language, but so far only xG TurdWig has been receptive (i mean really apologetic, he is really cool, great member too). I can accept the occasional burst of racism, but what disturbs me is that no one calls it out; no one says "Guys, please don't say X here". In my experience, X has been variations of the N word.

 

I know why people use the N word, because this is a jail break came and i suppose we are suppose to be African Americans or something like that. Still, while it might be funny to most of us white male gamers, it is offensive to people who have been put down by that word. Generally, we (typically white) gamers cannot understand the social and personal impact of a word like that. So i think we should perhaps and try to come to a consensus about limiting the usage of that work.

 

I also see a bit of sexism like "bitch" and "kitchen" jokes but that isn't as bad and not something i am going to complain about as much. I think it should be a goal to be welcoming of women, but given CSS demographics, i think you could skip out on this.

 

Personally, words like faggot hit a cord with me. The LGBT community has harassed much more than geek/gamer community and we as gamers typically use that as a put down on other gamers. It is a really ugly word that has been associated with murders of GLBT people. While the word isn't as historically powerful as the N word, it is a little more recent for the general gamer demographic.

 

One of the biggest changes i want to see is a large reduction of ableist language. Ableism is kind of like racism, but for disabled people of any flavor. I have noticed that many people on the server may have varying degrees of lighter mental disorders. While i do not want to get into specific psychological disorders or specific users, why would a community want to put down its own members? I know a lot of people who are on the upper spectrum of the autism scale who love video games because other people can't notice their disorder as easily. Calling people retarded would be the most obvious example, but even smaller things like calling people "dumb" or "stupid" can be hurtful.

 

I don't want anyone to get banned because i come off as a big politically correct outsider. I perhaps just want to see more of a vocal effort of xG members to say "hey, that isn't cool... you could be muted for that".

 

Again, for the most part, xG is a great community. Great moderation is hard because you often get a lot of people who think this is an appropriate medium to misbehave, and i understand that. I do think there can be better agreement among xG members about topics like these and i think regulars should become more vocal about this.

 

xG TurdWig is a cool guy, can't get that across enough

[WyleCavu 0]

I have noticed other common replies to stuff like this such as "Yes, disrespect is not gonna be tolerated, but you can't ban someone for saying "Dumbass" or "Loser" or "faggot" just in general. It's the internet."

 

Why is the internet some holy grail of bigotry; do people think it seriously can't be fixed? If we are expected to act a certain way at school, work, or generally in public, why can't we ask the same of people on Steam? The internet is becoming less and less anonymoys: steam is integrated with facebook, people play with real friends. Why can we not take a proactive step for some of these kids and tell them, "hey, these things are bad, and sometimes they can get you in trouble".

 

I personally don't want video games to be the medium of choice for people to exercise racist and sexist behavior that they otherwise couldn't. I want video games to be something that i can sit down with my significant other and have a good time. I want to be able to trust a kid to join a PG 13 community and be safe (with proper supervision from the parent).

[McNeo 3]

If anything offends you ask the person to stop and type @ in teamchat followed by a brief message to report it to admins.

 

There are plenty of adults who come here to have a good time, and frankly I feel like we should be able to say whatever we want amongst each other. But, again, if anything is said that offends someone while they are present all you have to do is ask for it to stop and it will.

[WyleCavu 0]

"But, again, if anything is said that offends someone while they are present all you have to do is ask for it to stop and it will."

I may have been here for a short time, maybe 3-4 weeks, but that has only happened once (TurdWig). Often i am met with people mocking me by changing up the language (nikka, lol get it? it isn't racist anymore :uncomfortableness:).

 

 

"There are plenty of adults who come here to have a good time, and frankly I feel like we should be able to say whatever we want amongst each other."

Why do you feel that way? Why do some people think it is appropriate to use disrespectful language on the internet or video games?

 

I am lead to believe on the forums that everyone is beginning to get proactive about this stuff, but i get in game and there are users with names like FurFag and Nikka calling new players retarded and telling kids to shut the fuck up just because they're children. Sometimes i notice admins are online, but most the time my complaints are ignored by xG community members.

 

>11. [i]Racism and sexism is frowned upon in our servers[/i], using it excessively or in an insulting manner is not allowed at all. IF a mod or higher warn you to stop (by gagging, muting or simply messaging you) , you must stop. This is the first and only warning you get and it must be in this manner. [i]If you do say something racist or sexist, it must be very minimal and not in an offensive way and if not stopped after a warning, you will be punished severally.[/i] The person [i]these comments are directed too[/i] and any staff member can at any time state that these are offensive and you must stop immediately.

 

This rule doesn't entirely make sense to me: How can something be racist or sexist but be not offensive? Racism and sexism are offensive and are wrong. Even if someone does not find it personally offensive, they can realize that this is obviously offensive.

[McNeo 3]

"There are plenty of adults who come here to have a good time, and frankly I feel like we should be able to say whatever we want amongst each other."

Why do you feel that way? Why do some people think it is appropriate to use disrespectful language on the internet or video games?

 

Such language isn't intended to be disrespectful to the person. If I'm rebelling and a friend kills me I'm gonna give him a piece of my mind. It's all part of the fun.

[Mayeski 0]

I really hope you're fucking kidding.

[Mad_Scientist 8]

Uncivilized Adolescents; there is no such thing as mutual negotiations of social personal matters; it is a matter of biased interpretation really.

[Mayeski 0]

Nigga, you said niggas are always in jail already, yet you're against saying nigga, nigga. Great logic nigga.

[BillyMays 0]

Why do you feel all this white guilt, I can't take you seriously because of that. People online use it as a way to vent their emotions they hold back in real life so yes there are mass amounts of disrespect and rowdiness. Granted we are online and you shouldn't take everything so seriously dude.

 

I know why people use the N word, because this is a jail break came and i suppose we are suppose to be African Americans or something like that

 

Nigga that's just as racist as saying the "N word" nigga.

[Aegean 849]

I know why people use the N word, because this is a jail break came and i suppose we are suppose to be African Americans or something like that.

What just cuz it's jailbreak we are assumed to be all black? Racist.

[Mayeski 0]

Why do us white people say nigga so much.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HP8YQRDSARk

[Fair_Sirs 0]

Nigga this country was built on the back of niggas quit disrespectin'

 

#asapmob

[WyleCavu 0]

What just cuz it's jailbreak we are assumed to be all black? Racist.

 

Why would people be using that language otherwise?

[Fair_Sirs 0]

bless my nigga, yes my nigga, when you think about it could be worse my nigga

[DuckiiJr. 9]

In my opinion "nigga" is not really that racist. But if people actually say the full racist N word I always take action. I do not appreciate people saying at ALL.