An X-Box Live user in a small West Virginia town found his access blocked earlier this week over the name of his place of residence.
26-year-old Josh Moore lives in Fort Gay, West Virginia, a town of about 800 people. He listed his location in his Xbox Live profile, and for doing so was accused of violating the Xbox Live Code of Conduct. His account was suspended and the word ‘Gay’ was removed from his profile. When Moore contacted Xbox Live customer support to sort out what was clearly a misunderstanding, he was rebuffed, then threatened with a permanent ban to his (paid for) account if he dared put the name of his town back into his profile. Moore suggested the Microsoft employee he was speaking to could google his zip code for proof that Fort Gay was the name of a town, but he was told nothing could be done.
“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.
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.”
Political Correctness at its finest.
Funny that people a Microsoft couldn’t even say “that word”.
I guess they can’t even say they are gay when they mean they’re happy?
So much for freedom of speech!
I hope that Tyson Gay and his extended family and anyone with the misfortune to have been named Gaylord use pseudonyms when signing up for Xbox Live.
It was ridiculous that they suspended him in the first place…but to have to contact them several different times (including by the Mayor) before they could get anything done was even worse. He deserves more than an apology.
The fact that they specifically mentioned that agents had no contextual information and needing to stay ahead of slang is telling… perhaps corporate code for “we have to make sure our cheap offshore outsourced labor keeps up with US geography and words that have been part of the popular vernacular for 30-40 years, which is likely longer than most of our userbase has been alive”?
Riiiiight. Methinks someone’s instructions sheets for ESL speakers was lacking in contextual information instead, and thus the ass-covering begins. They should provide the entire town with 5 years free access as a start.
I agree Summer!!!!
Then take into account- We are careful not to offend others????? Who decides what is offensive? With all the wussy’s out there that are offended at every little thing this will never end. We are getting more uptight every day in the the US and it is making me sick. Grow a set and deal with it if it offends you. ,
What sickens me is the fact that this is trampling our freedom of speech. I don’t care if it was used in a derogatory manner or not. We have or are supposed to have the right to say what we want weather people agree or not. If I don’t agree, I wont look. Simple. I have the right to say what I want, you don’t have right to stop me because your offended. Another thing is, as an xbox live user also suspended for the use of the word GAY, you have to go to a users profile and select to look at it, otherwise you cant see it. That’s like searching out porn on the internet and then being offended when you find it. This is just an example of our freedoms being taken away. And to all you who get offended, F**K YOU! Go lock your self in the little padded room, shut off from the world and stay the hell out of society. We have no use for you in the real world. We have real issues to deal with, not your p*ssy a** complaints. Issues like this are what make me sad to say I’m an American. Oh yeah, I HATE HIPPIES! Be offended.