Racism in gaming is no laughing matter

Over the past few months gamers have been noticing an ever-increasing amount of racism and ethic slurs in games such as COD4 and Halo 3. It's getting to the point where you can't even say hi to people in a lobby without being berated by so called "gamers" for your accent. And it doesn't stop there. People are reporting that they are being given bad feedback or having complaints filed against them by gamers in lobbies based on the simple fact that they are from a particular country...

[FirstknighT]

It's a cruel cruel world.

[Coffin87]

one thing: do you americans even NOTICE that racism isn't really a problem anywhere else in the world?? (i'm not saying general hatred isn't one.)
okay, here in europe we have the problem of violence-prone eastern-europeans and africans who want to join the EU, but..

DAMN YOU AMERICANS, COULD YOU PLEASE RESOLVE YOUR RACISM PROBLEM???
it's starting to piss the world off. nobody here in europe has ANYTHING against black people.

go play san andreas ...

[P4KY B]

..that in the UK we are ashamed to fly our own flag because the left wing social engineers call it racist.

I like the pride that Americans show in their flag.

[PirateThom]

Without getting too much into it, the flag is just a piece of cloth. People get to caught up in the "flag" than the ideals the flag is supposed to represent.

[SEMINOLE]

That comment right there is racist, and I can't count how many times I have heard that quote followed by a LOT of slander and trash talk. Its NOT just the Americans fellas. Or I hear, "Hey you F'n Yanks........blah blah blah......."

Look, say what you want, but the majority of the OVER 25 American crowd is a good group of guys/gals. Sure we have the exceptions, but all these teens and post teens that have yet to grow up ruin it for all of us.

I have been flamed for being American without even saying a word other than talking to my team mates about what is going on in the map. Do I say anything back.....not usually, but sometimes I can only take so much of the English bashing the Americans and the country I love. Am I proud of what we have done? NO! But don't F'ing bash me for mistakes I have no control of!!!

[roybatty]

No racism in Europe my @ss. Tell that to the black English players that got constantly booed and had monkey chants directed at them in a game against Spain, in Spain. That's just one case for you to chew on.
Before you go on your predictable anti American BS high horse, get some real facts d1ckhead.
And I'm English so suck my balls.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/...

[WilliamRLBaker]

No coffin its just in other countries STATUS is a source of hatred...if your rich or smart you hate on those not rich or smart.

India has many social casts and the upper classes hate and look down upon the lower class its the same for the UK...ect

so yes racism is only a problem in america *Rolls eyes*

[JsonHenry]

bwuahahahahahahahaha!! Coffin you made me laugh so hard my sides hurt man! : )

Racism in games is called TRASH TALKING. I don't think very much of it is actually racism even though the comments may be racist in nature. I personally am not overly racist/sexist towards anyone or anything. But I do love to trash talk and get under other peoples skin when competing against them online... : )

[predator]

sooner they kick out this rubbish the better. i hate racists with a passion. and if i ever hear anything like that on LIVE i always report and lay it in them to. dirty scumbags

[BLUR111]

i agree deeply dude, its retarded we are all human we have flaws. I feel though it happens cuz ppl overseas get to have comnication with ppl they dont know from differnt culture's. anyway cod is the worst game for racist cuz its civil war

[ravinash]

My flatmate went into a game on COD4 on PSN the other week and there were a bunch of teenagers mouthing off as they always do.
He was fine with it, as it made it feel all the more sweeter when he swept the floor with their brains.

[THC CELL]

whats with the Uk flag man its the Americans that are resist
if there is a kick off now
i will bet u 90% are American

Its funny i was dissed Play halo
and call of duty 4

And to people who say that on ps3
man i find it hard to get a English games

[Jo0j]

...your statement is racist. I'm surprised you didn't throw a "yank" or two in there. cheers.

[Mycococo]

your frucking right! i am deffinatly one of them. i dont give bad feedback or anything like that but if i start getting pwned the slurs just fly and when i start pwning the slurs just fly. if i am doing mediocre i am pretty quite and will hold conversations. i am not racist but because you cant see my face i will say what i want. people should stop crying and mute the persone or join in. i think the people who are complaining are the people who dont know how to talk sheeit back and to them i tell you that xbox live is a good place to learn. lol. the realness!

[xiv]

the need to get people to sit in the lobbies and soon as they see racism they should.

band there asses!!!

[Skerj]

It sucks, but you guys know the equation:

Normal Person + Anonymity + Audience = Total D***wad.

You know the vast majority of the people who do that crap wouldn't dare do it face to face, cowards.

[Covenant]

Well said. Agree + bubbles.

[tapdis]

most people would try bullying somebody over the internet but when its face to face they crap their pants an run home crying lol

[PirateThom]

I don't have that much of a problem with it.

The only time I've encountered it was on PSN where some American guy and some English guy were going at it and the "N-Word" that isn't Nintendo was used a few times.

I figure if two people are going at each other, you sit back and laugh heartily, because it is funny.

If people are doing it just for attention, b&

[mighty_douche]

Racism is wrong full stop. Regardless of the medium.

i only ever use private chat (teamspeak) anyway.

[NextGEN Gamers]

I think the gist of the article is that racism is sprouted by people of all nations, and of all races. The use of the Union Jack was decided because it fits the story, and because Australia (where the article was written) features the Union Jack in it flag.

[Jo0j]

bubbles for you.

[Jones Miller]

but true! They should get a life, a hobby, a job, go out more, a brain and a girlfriend!

[Coffin87]

ot they should start playing san andreas and should generally play some games.
good against aggressions.

[CrossyX]

It happens alot on COD4 now, its since the invasion of the Halo3 community have actually realised COD4 is a brilliant game. You get it to a lobby and people just start screaming, singing and dishing out, out right racism. I play with diffrent people from around the UK some Chinese, some black etc and how they dont just give up and sell there 360 is beyond me. The normal slurs are shouted around the lobby, nigger, rice pickers etc. Anyways i run a clan website and i was looking around he internet to try and find a anti-racism logo to put up on my site and to my suprise there was nothing on the subject, so i decided to get someome to create one and a forum (will be around next month. A serious problem that is just totally ignored.....

Also the picture at the top of this page regarding this topic is a bit ironic as the majority of the racism is actually coming from the US players. (this is obviously due to the ratios of US to other players around the world)

[socomnick]

actually m8 the halo 3 community was not that bad they would trash talk but they wouldn't go too far. The cod 4 community is the worst I have ever seen in any game.

[socomnick]

actually m8 the halo 3 community was not that bad they would trash talk but they wouldn't go too far. The cod 4 community is the worst I have ever seen in any game.

[lesferdinand]

This stuff is why I don't play online games with voice chat. Internet communication ethics in general are abysmal unfortunately.

[TruthbeTold]

...that as long as Microsoft turns the other way regarding this abuse, it will continue. The very week that they crack down and start banning people and revoking memberships en masse it stops. Period. Because people will place their desire to just play games over being abusive. But for whatever reason MS won't do it.

[YorkshireGal]

Hiya all

I agree with the above comments .... racism is a nasty thing and it should be stopped.

What does suprise me is that on this thread, the majority of people are totally against racism and feel that MS and Sony should stamp it out in their online services ..... yet on the thread about a boy being bullied and MS doing nothing about it, the majority of people felt that MS should not be responsible for doing anything about it and it was up to the boy and his parents to sort it out????? (Note: I don't know if people above have commented on both, its just my general observation)

Surely all these sorts of behaviour should be stamped out by MS and Sony, to make the online world a much nicer place for us all?

Just my views, as always

YG xxx

[TruthbeTold]

The bullying thing was even worse since this is a kid who had to go to school with the bully. Not to mention that the bully impersonated a MS employee. That thing would not happen if MS didn't play the "Let's see if he gets some more complaints, then we'll give him a warning" game. They need to crack down, and ban a few thousand customers to make a point. Most of them would probably even buy new 360's if they had to to get back on there anyway.

P.S. I of course realize that this isn't only a MS problem. But these articles are about MS, which is why I'm only mentioning them.

[Pothead21]

Most people are, and will be against racism. Everyone here has been saying that we should put a stop to this, and I agree, but it's not that simple. I believe that they shouldn't ban people for this. What's the next step? Banning people for saying something vaguely offensive? For calling someone a loser? You have to draw the line somewhere.

People, imo, are generally bad. When you give a few million people a microphone, There are going to be somethings said that you don't like. Deal with it. I'm not condoning what these people say, but I don't want MS to become some raging tyrant, dictating everything I do and say online.

[Jo0j]

lol. Another one.

Didn't know trash talk was supposed to taken seriously. Now I know, so next time someone calls me a "rice burnin-redneck nigger-gay sheep shaggin-yank-wanker" for the 378th time, I'm gonna go pout, turn off the game, and cry myself to sleep right after I post about it in a blog.

You've got to be kidding me. How long can you possibly beat a dead horse? I guess I'll find out when another "Racism in..." post goes up next week, then the week after that, then the...

[Robearboy]

That occurs on line is not pure evil racism but just a release mechanism from everyday life, everyday we are told what we can say, what to think, how to act, how to be polically correct etc. The one thing that you cant take away from a person is their freedom and the powers that be do take our freedom away from us, so when poeple go online, all of our freedom is given to us, we can say what we want, think what we want and do what we want and unfortuanltey this can be manifested into racist comments, even though half the people who say these comments are more than likely not racist people. They are generally racist people online who are idiots but the perception i get is that a mojority of things you hear is just people sounding off.
E.G I play on cod 4 with my mate who is Black, and he is always shouting "die you black tw*ts" to the iraqis, does this make him racist? i dont know, but i dont imagine that he is, its just what people say, like eff off you fat git, or p1ss off you ginger batwanger.
I dont think that it can be policed either, if someone pisses off someone else just by killing them all the time then that annoyed person can report the other and say that they are been racist just to get them kicked off, the best way to deal with this issue is by gaming, kick their asses so bad that they wont want to play in the same game

[TruthbeTold]

I hear you, but the truth is, there is no excuse.
Monkeys throw sh!t when they are frustrated or bored. Not people.

[YorkshireGal]

Hiya Robearboy

I feel I must disagree with you on this. You say, and I quote ....

The one thing that you cant take away from a person is their freedom and the powers that be do take our freedom away from us, so when poeple go online, all of our freedom is given to us, we can say what we want, think what we want and do what we want and unfortuanltey this can be manifested into racist comments, even though half the people who say these comments are more than likely not racist people.

What on earth makes you feel that you have the right to say what you want and do what you want on a open online facility?

Racism is racism, whether its online or in the 'real world' (as so many people refer to it}. And just because you go online, doesn't mean that its then ok for people to be racist. There are laws against racism (here in the UK) and those laws apply whether you are in the 'real world' or online!

You also say, and I quote ...

E.G I play on cod 4 with my mate who is Black, and he is always shouting "die you black tw*ts" to the iraqis, does this make him racist? i dont know, but i dont imagine that he is, its just what people say, like eff off you fat git, or p1ss off you ginger batwanger.

No, its not 'just what people say' ... I would never dream of calling someone a 'fat git' just cos they have beat me at an online game or because I want to beat them. Nor would I ever think of saying 'die you welsh tw*at, or black t*wat or any other sort of comment just because someone has beat me at an online game or because I want to beat them.

People have used the excuse of 'its just what I say' to try and justify nasty or racist comment for years, and the excuse has worn a bit thin.

If people can't be adult enough to act appropriately in the online world, they really have no place being there .... what you think to yourself is your choice, what you say in the privacy of your own home is your own choice, but what you say in front of an audience is open to people being hurt or offended by the comment and taking action to stop it happening to them again.

YG xxx

[Robearboy]

double post

[Robearboy]

There should be no excuse, but unfortunatley man is driven by their basic instincts like all other species, we have the ability to ignore these instincts but we dont, that why we have greed, poverty, fighting, war, racism. We are generally piss poor people who cant help ourselves

[JeepGamer]

As Penny 'Sold Out' Arcade once noted, audience + anonymity = jerk. The sellouts didn't put it quite so PG but you get the idea. In so far as the racism being an "American" problem? You are apparently either unaware or willfully ignorant of just how racist certain Asian countries are.

[aco]

I hope they make an COD4 update where we can press Mute on the people who we don't wanne listen to the crap they are saying... Like in counter strike... Wouldn't that solve the problem....

[zZ Lazy Zz]

This is just someone's opinion backed up by no empirical evidence. In my own experience racism has declined since the release of the 360 due to the enhanced feedback system. How long has this person been playing Live?

[Anilom]

i really hate racism. i do play call of duty 4 a lot and i do hear the n word. i really hate that. i am an american and i know that there is really a lot of racism here. it pisses me off and i wish that people would grow up. people should just have a good time playing the game without having to use racial slurs when things upset them.
i wish they could find a way to filter certain words out so that we wouldnt have to hear the racial slurs. i think that cursing is ok - this is an adult game. its just when the yelling and anger moves from generic cursing to racial slurs - thats what bothers me the most. i have also found that there are some clans in this game, example KKK, who seem to find it necessary to yell out lots of offensive racist words as they are playing the game. and in some instances, the voices that i hear actually sound like young kids which is really sad.
im not black or white, i am just a proud american. my clan is mos (misfits of society) and go barack obama!

[Downtown boogey]

I wouldn't say "grow up" to anyone because it's proven quite uneffective...
I don't get the point of racism but I guess has something to do with fear/prejudgement of unknown/unpredictable factors. I'm definately NOT a racist and I don't belong to any group that's beeing dispised.
I just think that we all ought to be equal as people!

[Mr Scooch]

I'm a grown up gamer (I'm 33) and I'm from England. My point is that there is racism on XBL and always will be. As an example the other day I was playing Halo3 and when some American heard my accent started saying "hey do you look like Happy Potter?" whilst trying to affect a "posh" English accent and other incredibly intelligent comments like that. Is that being racist? It doesn't bother me (mainly as I'm white and have grown up in a country where I'm in the majority by far), but that doesn't stop it from being racist!

[Robearboy]

I too am from Yorkshire "quite a coincidence", i was not trying to justify racism in anyway, merely trying to explain more of a reason why there is so much racist language online, people have that freedom to say the things they do without the fear of been censored.

People will always dislike other people, its who we are and until our minds mature enough to look past what we know and what we think we know then things like racism will always exist, its our individuality that causes these conflicts, and people will never think the same

[Downtown boogey]

We don't have such problems in PSN.
Haahaa!!

[Mr Scooch]

That's coz no one plays on PSN compared to XBL haha

[myabsolution]

Call of Duty 4 turned into some kind of monster... as soon as any aussies or brits speak into the mic, their accent or something triggers some americans to suddenly tell them to stfu for no reason whatsoever. Also anyone who speaks european language is a target for verbal beatdown.

its sickening, disgusts me.

homophobia, racism, bigotry, all very alive on xbox live.

[imageicb]

People just talk reckless online because they know they are not going to see the person face to face. Then they have the nerve to say they are not racist or even worse they embrace it even more because the act out their racist fantasy's with no repercussions. As stated before its sickening and takes away from everyones fun.

[Coke-a-Cola]

Forget the lobby ...........Call of Duty Slams Gay People in Boot camp .

During the knife exercise You are instructed to Slash a watermellon ......upon correct implementation
the watermellon explodes . Your captain says something like :

" You are good a killing Fruits " ( very funny ? ) ........He might Just as well have said

" You are good at killing GAYS "

Shame on You Infinity Ward. .................. how many games have sold so far and no one has objected .

[jctoyou]

you sound like a fruit with that observation,man people will look for anything these days to be offended about,ever heard about a Hetrophobe,all racists are white but not black,the reason you hear ni**er all the time is cause black rappers brought it back in the mainstream,white people had almost forgot the word,well at least in the uk,heres another all muslims are good a peaceful religon,yeh right,the goverment says its right to be gay,not me,but i aint allowed to say that,but in the uk muslims say kill gays stone em and guess what,yep they are muslims,its ok,Bernard Hopkins the boxer says he aint losing to no white boy(joe calzaghe)nothin gets said about it,but imagine the outcry if calzaghe said i aint losing to no black boy,double standards all round against white hetrosexual christians all done by white goverments lol,anway nuff of the rant just my opinion,peace to all!

[Rooted_Dust]

I'm not sure how XBL works, because I've never used it, but if you have the option to create and administer your own lobby. Then do it. When your playing MP on a PC server admins usually take racism and offensive attitudes very seriously and ban offenders. If you don't have control of the lobby then serious protest needs to made to MS to either moderate their lobbies or to create a separate well moderated lobby.

[WilliamRLBaker]

Because in gaming you can IGNORE the racists in real life you cannot....so yes racism is a laughing matter in gaming.
if you dont like what people have to say ignore them and report them and live your happy life your not forced to listen to them.

[YorkshireGal]

Hiya WilliamRLBaker

You can ignore racism in real life too .... if someone is being racist and you don't like it you can ignore their comments, you can move away from them, you can start going to a different pub, you can look for a different job ...

Is all that a laughing matter? Nope, its not ... bad choice of words I think

However, I do agree with your comments about ignore them, report them and get on with living a happy life ... a good sentiment to have.

YG xxx

Edit .. just as an extra general comment (not aimed at #28) .... this is a very bad thing for the gaming community. When people read reports like this how many of them are going to say 'Well, if thats what its like, my children are not having one' or 'well, if that's what its like I am not going to bother' .... how many people are going to stop playing because of being insulted once too often? How many people are going to stop playing because they are sickened by what they hear? How many people are going to stop using headsets so that they don't have to listen to this sort of stuff?

It can only end up having a detrimental effect on gaming, never a positive one ..... yet another case of a few bad apples spoiling the barrel if you ask me!

YG xxx

[WilliamRLBaker]

umm yeah... it was a perfect choice of words and you Obviosly dont have any idea what your talking about.

On xbox live you can ignore that person and report them and BOOM! your fine, you dont have to do any thing else.
In real life they can follow you kill you rape you...ect....so no you cant ignore them in real life, and you cant move away in real life with out many many problems...

And it IS a laughing matter these people are calling you names on an game....a game....a game.....yeah...repeat that...someone is calling me names online....or in a game.....sounds stupid dont it?

you obviously have no basis in real life experience to sit and say well if someone is a racist to you in real life you can ignore them and move away....yeah i can spend all that money and time and uproot my life cause someone is being racist....right....no you cant do that.

Thats about in line with saying, we'll this guy is raping me or beating me that means i can ignore him and move away...yep thats exactly what you can do *rolls eyes*

The 2 scenarios are totally independent of each other and thats...A FACT on xbox live or online you can ignore the racists and you can report them, they will have to GO out of their way to make a new account...ect to bother you any more and you'll be damned sure many other people will report them thus getting them banned....in real life you cant push a magic button that ignores them...and if they get physical? well there is no ignore button for that.

Come back when you have even the remote experience with this, or even the remote idea of what your talking about.

[Neurotoxin]

It`s Rampant on COD 4 PS3, If you do manage to actually get in a server its filled with Ignorant Elitist Racist Bastar*s. Much like the world is. actually.

Unfortunately this happens in real life as it does online, nothing new and it will keep happening until these moron's are educated about how to treat other human beings.

[Dandiego]

I'm from Quebec city and Americans and English Canadians always tell us to choke and die... It's crazy but 90% of english players really hate us to the highest point. We just want to play and it's gets really iritating having to defend ourselves all the time.

[Neurotoxin]

Sorry to hear your bad experiences with English People playing online mate, its not a true reflection on the nation i live in but to be honest with you its getting that way now, Most of the time when i play its nearly always the British players (mainly English and Scottish) laying into everyone, although i don`t understand the other languages people speak online as they maybe doing exactly the same lol.

Its actually i nightmare playing with Americans and British in the same server, it does get quite hairy.

[vman10809]

Well, BY FAR, the worst racism is directed toward people of color...Especially on Halo3 and COD4.... The "N" word is is the most common slur heard on live, and I've heard it used by Europeans, Hispanics, Asians and Americans......... Now its true that there are blacks that use it as well, but its not being used as an insult between other blacks, just as part of the slang....But in most cases its being used directly as an insult by folks who haven't got the balls to say it in person to someone so they hide behind the anonymity that Xbox live provides.... I for one do report any gamertag that I hear use it in an insulting way....................

[Neurotoxin]

Whilst you are right, the `N` Word should not be used, it shouldn't`t matter the colour of your skin, if its banned for one it should be outlawed for ALL, but thats a separate argument.

I actually haven`t heard the `N` one being thrown around that much, usually its just mindless `Your Mum` Jokes and various Religious/Racial Slur..... Most people who actually do the insulting probably cannot string a sentence together anyway and resort to showing off their verbal diarrhea instead.

I hope in a patch you can Vote to kick someone off the server, or ban his voice chat,Would make a better community by far.

[Kareshi_X]

Well I Think Its Normal for The Human Beings To have Prejudice against Someone from another Nation. But Being Racist is Something Totally Different. Racist People Dont Tend to Try to Understand other People,There Mind If Fix on What The Believe In.

Most of The People have Prejudice but they can change when they actually interact with someone of an other nation

[Balance]

although i agree with you but there are a small percentage of people who have interacted with other nationalities and that is where their predujice comes from, their mistake in my opinion is that they make generalizations of their whole population based on the interaction with a few of that nations citizens.

[YorkshireGal]

Hiya

I think we will have to just agree to disagree about this one ..... I am certainly not going to join you in a petty argument of 'i know everything and you know nothing' lol

And there was me thinking that this was a forum where you could have a reasonable debate and exchange of views without getting silly and argumentative!

YG xxx

[Neurotoxin]

The Picture looks to be implying `Hate British`.

[vman10809]

I agree that the "N" word should be outlawed for all, but in the real world some blacks use it toward each other simply as slang or part of the vocabulary and thats just the way it is.......But I will ask them to tone it down in a game as well if it becomes excessive. But being that the "N" personally offends me directly, and has a long history (in America) attached to it, perhaps its more noticeable to me in frequency of use........

[Gantrfaxx]

This happened to me many times. American and English players often think that if you don't speak their language with the proper accent you are a freak or something. Also when i'm not speaking in english with my friends in party i often hear "speak English you...".
Why should i? I'm talking to my friends, not to you.
However i don't get to upset with it. I understand that there are a lot of retards i come across when playing online.

[STIKUP ARTIST]

I had to change my gamer tag so everyone would stop calling me a spick.

[Balance]

What i have never understood is why it is such an issue. i mean really it is very easy to mute someone in any XBL game. what people should focus on if they want to is why people are doing it, answer: they have an anonymous outlet to say what they think, wether they mean the comments they make or do it for attention the fact is you strip away accountablility and you really see the way people are. focusing on the fact they say these things is looking at a symptom not the problem.

Now on the other hand, the people complianing about it are hippocrites. so you don't like hearing words that might "offend you" (this releates to games or real life). don't listen, don't respond god forbid someone have an opinion or belief you don't like or isn't "PC". now this is different if someone is in your face threatening you but if you walk by two people talking to each other and hear an offensive joke why is that any of your business. Last time i checked most of the western world was on this high of freedom and liberty, for someone to shut down people using words or having beliefs they don't like makes them no different than the people using the offensive words to begin with.
in other words if you dislike people saying or believing something because it offends you did you ever think that maybe you offend them? to shut them down for believing X race or nationality is dumb is no different than them shutting someone else down because of their race or nationality.
When will western civilization begin to eat what they are spewing. What they are reallying saying is you can have freedom and liberty as long as it is inline with the Politically Correct line of thinking.

[vortteexx]

everyone is the same same compostition fo organs and bones its just that racists are shallow, no life...

ive had it directed it to me a few times i hate it.

[cmcate]

Since gamers pay for the service of XBOX Live, Microsoft should do a better job of policing the site and removing gamers who fail to follow the rules. If they continue to do a shoddy job of weeding out the bad crowd after they have been reported, then I see another lawsuit on their hands.

Lastly, racism will only persist if there is a crowd for it. Since misery loves company I am sure that, as there are those of you who abhor the racist taunts of juveniles and adults, there are individuals who get their kicks demeaning other gamers on-line in earshot those who condone it. My suggestion for fun on-line gaming is to find individuals on-line that you enjoy playing with, make them your friends, and invite them to private games you create. If you are unwilling to do this, turn down the volume on the TV, crank up your favorite band, and kick some delinquent butt.

[feejo]

If you have a mic to ear what people say during game, it is much worst than what game developer can imagine. Unfortunately game developer dose not respect people, hey everyone is created equal, why not respect each other?

[Rusted]

I have to agree, this is a growing problem in PSN, when i try to interact with other people and play some tactical game in COD4 with other people(US), is just a matter of time for the race "jokes", im from Mexico. Just do the math...

Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of cool americans and i have friends in the states, but also are the majority when the "racial insults" comes to the subject.

[wangdiddy82]

All they do is talk and yell out of there a$$ through out the online match.. Its a bunch of dorks who probably get beat up every day or are scared of people.. I can bet you anything that they would never say any of that stuff if they were face to face with people..

Its always a bunch of white people yelling out racial slurs against black people too.. What the F is the point? Its mainly the white boys who try and rap over the mic or who never shut up.. lol..

Anyway cant we all just get along???

[yamamoto114]

I'm a 13-year-old Japanese-American player, and I'm regularly called a "jap", a "chink", or a "raging homo". Americans hate me too. Sad part is, I live in their country.

Not to bloat, but I'm also really good at Call of Duty 4. I won't go into detail, but people seem to take that personally. Whenever I win a match, I get jeered at.

It's ridiculous.

[BenderDGreat82]

lol, of course they are!! the male ego is very fragile and some, eggshell-thin. For example, I put my clan name as "HOMO" to ruffle feathers. The trash talking comes and I stay quiet. In game, I kick major ass and at the end of the match, where's BillyJoeBob go?? Continue to kick ass, man.

[Reanimator]

Racism online is a problem. I've been a XBox-Live subscriber since it began with the X-Box. I played mostly single player games, and did not go online for awhile. When I did, the 2nd or 3rd game I played, I encountered some (sounded like) Timmies yelling obscenities and racial slurs. As a 54 year old Black American, I have heard these things many times before, but do not feel like having to deal with it while trying to have fun. This caused me to shy away from online playing, for the most part. When you couple racism, with the buttheads who do stupid stuff in the game just for fun (like driving in the opposite direction on a racetrack, just to cause havoc), I practically gave up on online gaming. Lately, I have discovered online co-op gaming against "friends" and it seems to fit my tastes exactly. I kinda prefer playing "with" people, and not "against" them, in games like Halo, GRAW, COD4. Or at least as a private team playing against other teams. I still tend to shy away from waiting in the lobby to play against whoever.
I totally agree with reporting any and all abusers, and would hope that repeated reports would ban these bums. And I do agree with others before me who stated they are primarily pre-teens, and teenagers who are just a**holes, and do not know any better. A good a**kicking would break them out of their habit real quick.

[BenderDGreat82]

I've been a victim of racism...and I'm WHITE!! Playing COD4, I play against unruly players who have very small respect for their fellow gamers (blasting your crap music through your earpiece?? A**holes!) When I said something, I hear "stupid-ass cracker! Go listen to your country" I was about 0% hurt by this statement, but it made me think, what if I said "Stupid N****r! Turn down your rap music!" It's amazing how some people think they're immune from being labeled a racist from the color of their skin. Stupidity doesn't have a color.

[REALZILLA]

Hey folks, I have been playing games for long time but online for about 2years. Alot of the things I hear are your basic slurs. Once and while I get into it with some of them, about my politicial views mostly.( Yes,I'm old) Sometimes young kids get a kick out of it, it's like making someone angry is the thing to do. The only thing that gets me is the kids that use these words that don't know how powerful these words are.

[Enigma_2099]

And it's exactly because of things like this that I DON'T play online...

[IzKyD1331]

i was playing COD4 and this southern guy said the "N" word like 7 hundred times, and was attacking Jews, Muslims and Mexicans, and the worst part of it was that everyone was laughing. The only reason why all the racism is going on is because these little losers with no social life think they can say anything they want cause their hundreds and hundreds of miles away from the person their bashing, this is probably one of the worst (if not the worst) problems with online gaming, and really needs to be fixed

[ephoenix6]

this sort of thing only happens on xbox live. I have never had these issues on the playstation network

[IzKyD1331]

i was playing COD4 and this southern guy said the "N" word like 7 hundred times, and was attacking Jews, Muslims and Mexicans, and the worst part of it was that everyone was laughing. The only reason why all the racism is going on is because these little losers with no social life think they can say anything they want cause their hundreds and hundreds of miles away from the person their bashing, this is probably one of the worst (if not the worst) problems with online gaming, and really needs to be fixed

[cputeq]

...is to calmly ignore the racist trash-talking dorks and utterly annihilate them in-game ;-)

-------------

Very rarely, I'll run into a bag of d1cks on TF2 (PC), talking lots of racist crap. Nobody appreciates it. Well, I make sure to get on the opposing team and begin mopping the floor with their scrotums.

That just makes them *MORE* angry, and they start mouthing off like crazy. I just type something totally "innocent" like

XXXXX : You love me!

over all-chat and listen to them get even *more* pissed. Continuing to totally dominate them usually causes them to leave servers.

All I can say is::: Thank God for the Mute player option in TF2. All games should have that option, standard.

[Solid_Skip]

Am not happy about all the racism. I would try to play halo 2 and 3 and every 3 or 4 matches you get those 2 or 3 people saying the n word like its cool or something.
COD 4 i haven't heard it too much yet, just the ones who wants to belittle you to throw you off ur game, i know u want to do a little trash talking but sometimes people take that too dam far. An Most only talk that sh!t cause there at home and no one can kick there asses.
And I agree with the article we should create threads and put there names out there, and we as gamers should step up an tell them too check that sh!t at the door when it starts!!!!

[bizi6498]

it's like road rage in California: bullies indulging from the comfort of their big SUVs.

it's like hooligans in Europe: rich kids acting trashy at the stadium from the comfort of an anonymous crowd...

as usual, it'll take a couple massively reported cases of real gruesome retribution carnage to remind people that there's a price to pay for acting like a pig, and that security is always an illusion.

why does it feel so good to hate?

[DarkSniper]

Racism has reached it's highest degree due to the immature children who have run rampant on XBOX Live. Thankfully, Playstation Network does not encounter these problems.

$niper
4D Graphics

[bizi6498]

it's like road rage in California: bullies indulging from the comfort of their big SUVs.

it's like hooligans in Europe: rich kids acting trashy at the stadium from the comfort of an anonymous crowd...

it seems really safe to trash online right now eh?
respect is just not kewl!

so it's gonna take some politicians to legislate again and people will whine again about regulations and freedom of expression yadi yada...

sooooooooo idiocratic...
sooooooooo predictable...