343 Industries Won't Tolerate Sexism in Halo 4

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  • Shawn Zipay
    Managing Communities 24/7
    • Apr 2003
    • 69064

    #1

    343 Industries Won't Tolerate Sexism in Halo 4

    To all those 13 years old and younger that seem to infest the Xbox Live multiplayer front, it would be wise to finally heed the constant pleas of "shut the hell up!". 343 Industries and Microsoft have a zero tolerance policy for Xbox Live players who make sexist or discriminatory remarks towards others and they're not about to put up with your crap.

    The penalty for continuing to be a moron? A permanent ban from the Xbox network.

    343 Industries Executive Producer Kiki Wolfkill (seriously awesome name) and studio Head Bonnie Ross speak out

    "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."

    "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."

    "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."

    Back when I used to play online with the Xbox 360, I just simply stopped wearing a headset and globally muted everyone. You wouldn't believe how much more enjoyable it makes playing on the Xbox 360 multiplayer!

    (via Gamespot)
  • azalea
    another cynical brit
    • Jun 2003
    • 612

    #2
    Best of luck to them. However, this is freakin' HALO paired with Xbox Live we're talking about.

    Comment

    • CptainCrunch
      I am the 1%
      • Oct 2007
      • 12976

      #3
      Time to become a "parent state" is it? How about making tools that work so that everyone can regulate themselves?

      I know, its crazy. Guess its better to have a bunch of police around the network and tattle-tale buttons that record conversations or something.
      Twitter: @CptainCrunch
      Battlelog/Origin: CptainCrunch

      Comment

      • Shawn Zipay
        Managing Communities 24/7
        • Apr 2003
        • 69064

        #4
        Regulate themselves? How? What exactly do you propose for this situation? Where Xbox Live is used by millions of people on a daily basis.

        Comment

        • CptainCrunch
          I am the 1%
          • Oct 2007
          • 12976

          #5
          You put tools in to allow the ability to easily mute/block people without going through a number of hoops to do so.

          You did it by global muting. So, how hard would it be to include easier tools to do instantly? I mean, youre talking about regulating the stupid, which doesnt work. I know, I used to be an AOL person long ago.

          "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."
          So, with that said, you put in tools to allow people to block that broadcast. OR, you can police it and put in this big bureaucracy that makes the deal bigger than what it is as well as add more layers to it, such as fraud prevention for those people that rig fake reports and account hack prevention for those who get their account hacked and that guy spots off how women need to be in the kitchen and then that account gets banned.

          BF2 is a good example, I think, of tools that could mute a player as well as kick them. They could be abused as well, but I think it has a good foundation to work off of. Ignore features and report buttons, of course, are good tools to have.

          Of course, I am mentioning all this without knowing what is already in place and the article doesnt mention in specifics on how they plan to accomplish this goal. I mean, maybe they just plan to add a harassment rule and enforce it really tough. Thats fine too, but I think its a bit short and people just learn where the line is and walk it the entire time.
          Twitter: @CptainCrunch
          Battlelog/Origin: CptainCrunch

          Comment

          • Shawn Zipay
            Managing Communities 24/7
            • Apr 2003
            • 69064

            #6
            People can mute individuals or everyone, easily. That's already in place. But then you do as I did and you hear nothing of what's being said, including the "good" in addition to the bad.

            The 360 already also has report functionality. All of what you mention is already in place and this is still a big problem on Live. Also, this policy is nothing new. It's been in place for some time now, it just sounds like they'll be more strictly enforcing it.

            Comment

            • SgtMattBaker
              Member
              • Aug 2007
              • 1719

              #7
              I usually mute the classic 10 year old kid saying retarded things.
              And I rarely use a mic, its better.

              Comment

              • CptainCrunch
                I am the 1%
                • Oct 2007
                • 12976

                #8
                Originally posted by Zips
                People can mute individuals or everyone, easily. That's already in place. But then you do as I did and you hear nothing of what's being said, including the "good" in addition to the bad.

                The 360 already also has report functionality. All of what you mention is already in place and this is still a big problem on Live. Also, this policy is nothing new. It's been in place for some time now, it just sounds like they'll be more strictly enforcing it.
                OK, so they are just saying "knock it off, we mean it this time!" then?
                Twitter: @CptainCrunch
                Battlelog/Origin: CptainCrunch

                Comment

                • Linux
                  wat da gah?
                  • Aug 2026
                  • 382

                  #9
                  Well it only took that how many Halo games later to maybe give a care hahaha. I hope all those stupid kids get perma-banned and then their parents waste more money to get a new subscription and the same crap happens again hahaha.

                  Comment

                  • CptainCrunch
                    I am the 1%
                    • Oct 2007
                    • 12976

                    #10
                    Originally posted by Linux
                    Well it only took that how many Halo games later to maybe give a care hahaha. I hope all those stupid kids get perma-banned and then their parents waste more money to get a new subscription and the same crap happens again hahaha.
                    Thats the other thing; How many of them will care? In the end this could just be an easy money grab.
                    Twitter: @CptainCrunch
                    Battlelog/Origin: CptainCrunch

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