Halo 4 devs speak out against sexism - Lifetime Ban

[Cassandra Saturn]

Brandon's comment:

"i wanted to remind everyone of this. any sexism comments would get you lifetime ban from Xbox Live for good. here's the post regarding this. again, this is only to remind everyone on Xbox Live."

 

343 Industries head Bonnie Ross and Halo 4 executive producer Kiki Wolfkill say sexist behavior on Xbox Live is unacceptable; also say developers have a responsibility to wipe out sexism in the industry.

 

Halo 4 executive producer Kiki Wolfkill and 343 Industries head Bonnie Ross have denounced sexist behavior on Xbox Live, revealing that Microsoft does its best to monitor and ban players who abuse others over the network.

Speaking to GameSpot, Ross and Wolfkill said there is zero tolerance for Xbox Live players who are found to be making sexist or discriminatory comments against others, with a lifetime ban from the network as penalty.

 

"I've seen many of the sites that have documented some of the more gender-specific slanderous comments," Ross said.

"This is behaviour that is offensive and completely unacceptable. I'd like to think most of our Xbox Live players don't support this kind of behaviour."

"It can be dangerous to give adolescents a broadcast mechanism," Wolfkill added. "There are always going to be jerks out there, and if you give them a way to express that side of their personality without being seen, you're going to see this type of behaviour manifest itself."

 

Ross and Wolfkill said that developers have a responsibility to stamp out this behaviour by putting more thought into how their games will be perceived.

"As developers, we have a personal responsibility to think about how our games come across," Ross said. "With Halo 4, we were very deliberate in thinking about who should be female and who should be male in the game, and if we came off stereotypical, we went back to question what we were doing and why."

 

Wolfkill agreed, saying that while games can often reflect the culture of the studio that's building them, the success or failure of games can also reflect consumer responsibility. Part of this responsibility includes changing perspectives about the games industry as an exclusively male-dominated area.

"Most people look at a franchise like Halo, and automatically assume it's run by a guy," Ross said. "People are surprised to learn that it's a woman who's running the Halo 4 show. When Microsoft created 343 Industries to take over Halo, I was given first choice to run the studio because I had proven myself. My gender played no part in it."

[A71william]

I think that as long as it's not actually harming you in any REAL (Beaten, raped etc.) way or that you are losing out because of your gender then it doesn't matter.

Honestly psychological harm has no priority.

I wish Microsoft would work on removing all the hackers etc instead!

[Cassandra Saturn]

hackers are bad, but modders are good because they can prolong game's lifespan. older games are still playing long after their original use and release in 1990s and other games.

[Caboose The Ace]

yes the real thing micrsoft need to work on is them selves i mean xbox live support knows nothing about what there talking about and micrsoft hold some sorta grude agaist europines

[SatanicBagels]

yes the real thing micrsoft need to work on is them selves i mean xbox live support knows nothing about what there talking about and micrsoft hold some sorta grude agaist europines

 

I don't understand your reasoning or justification behind this comment. Microsoft doesn't hold any grudge against Europeans. They will go with whoever is going to make them money.

[Halogeek99]

OK Ill have to stop playing H4 then, because its not too rarely I use certain sexual preferences as a curse to people behaving like chickens playing. I have nothing against those people I use as reference, but in my regional and cultural context such words has double meanings almost. I'm sorry.

[Jerbuta]

yes the real thing micrsoft need to work on is them selves i mean xbox live support knows nothing about what there talking about and micrsoft hold some sorta grude agaist europines

 

I've never thought of Microsoft having a grudge about Europeans since at the end of the day; they will try to welcome all to get more money.

[OMG Treason]

This seems like a bit of an over reaction.

[RiotStarter]

why not work on getting rid of hackers instead of trolls

[Real Talk]

I dont see why they chose to pick out sexism among the other other issues. Theres a button called

mute. A lifetime ban is quite extrem.

[LiQuid BioniX]

yes the real thing micrsoft need to work on is them selves i mean xbox live support knows nothing about what there talking about and micrsoft hold some sorta grude agaist europines

 

Not sure where you're getting your information. Microsoft is a business. They do what ultimately will make them the most money.

[Eve]

Sure i had this problem a lot of times on xbox live i got kicked from my last clan for that also, now how to directly report that players?

[Twinreaper]

What? Halo 4 is a broken half assed piece of turd? Nahhh... it's fine we have better things to do.. Oh wait, someone made a sexists comment?!? ban them!!! Lets get on this and give it full studio and marketing/publication support!

 

Yeah they have nothing better to do than be interviewed and track with laser vision...the out of control sexists comments on Live? There are literally hundreds of things they could be doing instead to improve the game. And Live behavior isn't one of them.

[Harbinger]

I understand a slap on the wrist.....but a bullet to the head??? I wasn't aware pressing mute was so hard these days....

[RedStarRocket91]

What I don't get is why they singled out sexism for this. In my experience there's significantly more abuse based on sexuality and race than there is gender, and it's not any less hurtful.

[Echo]

Ok, Kiki, but that doesn't justify a lifetime ban, without any warnings. There's no excuse for that lol that's just the dumbest idea... Giving them a warning isn't giving them reason to do it again, it's GIVING them a chance to change their act, and also only allowing them to do it that one time, because after the warning it'd be over and you'd be rid of a legit sexist, and at the same time it would prevent people from getting banned who didnt actually DESERVE to be banned (Ex. A friend/jack*** playing on your xbox, and slips something sexist while you were in the other room just to mess around. and this friend having no idea what xbox live policy is. and YES, there are MORE people out there whos worlds dont revolve around video games and have no godly idea that they could get their friends in trouble for life... most people in my neighborhood dont even know the sound an xbox makes when you press the power button lol.) . Just because you want to put an easy fix on something doesn't make it right. You have to treat it like the problem that it IS, and be more realistic about it...

 

Hell, do I even have to say anything about how they say nothing about racism? I had no idea racism ended and sexism became the only issue on xbox live worthy of such critical bans (/sarcasm)

 

PS: I'm not saying I'm sexist, because I'm not. I'm the opposite of sexist. But this ban is ridiculous... people say the N word all the time on xbox live, in an offensive way, and I'm fairly sure they get warnings... and even then they remain on xbox live lol

 

GJ 343 and M$

[Cassandra Saturn]

well to be honest, it's up to 343i, not MS. Echo

[Echo]

Really?... :/ .... sigh.....

[Forlorn Penguin]

why not work on getting rid of hackers instead of trolls

 

Seriously.

 

I dont see why they chose to pick out sexism among the other other issues. Theres a button called

mute. A lifetime ban is quite extrem.

 

Agreed. I've very rarely even come across sexism on Live anyway, but if I did and it bothered me, I'd just mute the guy. It would seem as though Kiki and Bonnie have dealt with it a lot and are being way too harsh.

[Vaulting♥Frog]

I like this zero tolorance policy.

[Cortar]

Barring messages or voice messages sent over Xbox Live, there is no way they could ever ban you for this because they need proof to do so. If they ban based only on second hand accounts (aka just getting reported for sexism) then people can start reporting players they dont like for sexism and hope to get them banned. But they probably will only ban players who send sexist messages or voice messages since that is the only way to have proof of that behavior.

[Forlorn Penguin]

they probably will only ban players who send sexist messages or voice messages since that is the only way to have proof of that behavior.

 

I certainly hope so. I don't want to be banned because someone got mad that I used a DMR against their Battle Rifle.

[Cassandra Saturn]

Really?... :/ .... sigh.....

 

yeah really

 

Barring messages or voice messages sent over Xbox Live, there is no way they could ever ban you for this because they need proof to do so. If they ban based only on second hand accounts (aka just getting reported for sexism) then people can start reporting players they dont like for sexism and hope to get them banned. But they probably will only ban players who send sexist messages or voice messages since that is the only way to have proof of that behavior.

 

i don't think so, because it could very well be said during the matches.

[Echo]

 

i don't think so, because it could very well be said during the matches.

 

They can't though, there's no way to prove it. They don't have the technology to go back and check everyones voice history in-game. They're literally putting peoples accounts at stake for the sake of trying to pass an easy fix..

 

Now anyone and everyone who plays Halo 4, whether knowledgable of this new strict policy or not, has to be super careful to not even accidentally say something over xbox live that comes accross as sexist.

 

And yes, there are tons of guys who say things naturally and don't even mean harm by them.

 

Hell, when I was young, I didn't know the word bi*** was a specific insult to women. I said it on xbox live with friends for fun... lol

[Cassandra Saturn]

They can't though, there's no way to prove it. They don't have the technology to go back and check everyones voice history in-game. They're literally putting peoples accounts at stake for the sake of trying to pass an easy fix..

 

Now anyone and everyone who plays Halo 4, whether knowledgable of this new strict policy or not, has to be super careful to not even accidentally say something over xbox live that comes accross as sexist.

 

And yes, there are tons of guys who say things naturally and don't even mean harm by them.

 

Hell, when I was young, I didn't know the word bi*** was a specific insult to women. I said it on xbox live with friends for fun... lol

 

i hope you are right unless they got a way to monitor the voice comms in H4 Matches