Thursday, July 26, 2012

Gamers Against Bigotry Fights for Online Gaming Without Bigoted ...

Today, I?m doing something different with the Daily Fix. It?s still Wednesday but the post will not be ?Off the Wall? like many of my usual write-ups.

Many gamers today play online and many gamers are used to hearing all types of foul language when playing online. Several gamers do not have a problem with foul language, however there are few gamers that can tolerate being insulted with racial slurs and sexist comments. Unfortunately, this has become the norm with online gaming and speaking for myself, I rarely play online with random people and if I do, most of the time, random people are muted. To be clear, I?ve never experienced any type of direct hate speech online but due to all of the horror stories I?ve read and heard from my friends, I just didn?t want any part of it.

Like most of mainstream society, I have internalized the stereotype of the online gaming community but now it?s time for things to change and this is why I am glad that Gamers Against Bigotry (GAB) exists.

Just for clarification, GAB founder, Sam Killerman has no problem with trash talking or curse words since that is what makes ?pwning? opponents so fun. The problem lies with the insults that are targeted at specific groups of people as it promotes a bad image of gamers and the gaming community. Many times, bigoted insults get thrown around with little thought to it?s impact .

As the GAB initiative gained steamed, the website was photo-bombed with vile images and 1,500 signatures supporting the petition below were removed by hackers:

As a gamer, I realize I contribute to an incredibly diverse social network of gamers around the world, and that my actions have the ability to impact others. In effort to make a positive impact, and to create a community that is welcoming to all, I pledge to not use bigoted language while gaming, online and otherwise.

Bigoted language includes, but is not limited to, slurs based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and disability

The fact that someone or some group would go through such lengths to deface a positive movement is appalling however the hackers have also shined more light and invited more publicity to GAB. Be sure to check out the GAB Official Site, Twitter, Facebook and contribute to their campaign.

More VGLounge:

Tags: Against Bigotry editorial GAB Gamers gaming Heaadset Insults PSN video games XBL

Source: http://vglounge.com/gamers-against-bigotry-fights-for-online-gaming-without-bigoted-insults/

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