I want to relate a story to all of you. It's something that happened tonight on one of the MMORPGs I play, City of Heroes. I was shocked, upset, angry and deeply hurt. I know this is a long post, but I ask you all to read this carefully and really *think* about it.
This weekend was my sister's highschool graduation, so I was out of town all weekend. While I was at my mom's house, I borrowed her laptop to check my guild forums, and I saw that one of my favorite players from my City of Heroes guild was back after a long break due to serious medical concerns. So naturally I had to jump on CoH and welcome her back just as soon as I got home tonight!
While I was standing in Atlas Park (one of the two "newbie zones" in CoH and a major player hotspot where everyone tends to hang about and talk), I noticed that a few players had put together a costume contest (a regular thing in CoH). Nearly 50 players were lined up in a long line while two players ran up and down evaluating costumes. They chose 10 finalists and the rest of the players stepped back. I wasn't doing anything at the time other than talking on guild chat, so I watched the contest and tried to pick out the winners.
After a bit, they chose 3 winners and announced their names. I expected the person hosting the contest, a hero called Triumphh, to announce how much influence (in-game currency) the three players had won. Instead, he shouted "These three players have won the contest for having the GAYEST COSTUMES EVER! The real winners are all the people who weren't chosen as finalists, since you're not as gay. But you're all ****!"
Then Triumphh and his cohort, a character named Solar Pyre, began using an emote called "batsmash" on the "winner" of the contest, a low-level healer. Batsmash is an emote where your character repeatedly swings a baton in a striking motion, as if attacking a target. In other words, they began gay-bashing the "winner's" character. Now, I don't know if the winner was gay or straight, male or female, though the CHARACTER was wearing a rainbow colored uniform and went by the name Pride Warrior. The player quickly and silently logged out and did not return.
But the MOST offensive detail was the fact that nobody in Atlas Park seemed to react. Nobody said anything negative about what these two players were doing, and in fact everyone seemed to just ignore it or pretend it wasn't happening. If this had been an issue of race instead of sexual preference, everyone in Atlas Park would've been screaming. But everyone just stood around as if nothing had happened, while a fellow player's night and play experience was cruelly ruined. Who knows if that player will ever want to try CoH again after what happened. Needless to say, I was extremely offended and angry, and I contacted a GM who assured me that the two offending players would have "corrective actions" taken against them. I can only assume that means account bans.
The point of this story is to hopefully open your eyes to the kinds of intolerance that occur in MMORPGs. This was a very extreme example, but every time someone says "Dude, that was so gay" or "This high-level player totally gayed me and stole my kill", that is an example of hate-speech. Everyone would be completely shocked if someone said "This Jew NPC is charging too much for this sword" or "that ****** ganked me in PvP last night". So why is it perfectly ok for someone to use the word "gay" or the word "******"? Those aren't just casual, harmless slang terms. They're cruel, and they hurt people. Even in guild chat, you don't know if one of your guildmates may be gay or lesbian, and something you may think is a casual comment may seriously hurt someone.
So I ask everyone to please be more conscious of how words might be taken. And if someone else uses homophobic words, don't just ignore it or laugh it off. And it's not just the issue of homosexuality either, if someone is making a sexist joke or a crude comment, it's still wrong and still hurtful. Sometimes we forget that there are real people behind the digital characters on our screens, and that those real people have real feelings. And we may be hurting those people without ever meaning to.
So please, just be aware of how your words and the words of those around you might be hurting someone. And if someone makes a comment, do something about it. Tell them in private message that they should think about what they're saying. Or call a GM. Or just simply try to change the subject of conversation. But if you don't speak out, it will just continue. And things like tonight's events on City of Heroes will keep happening.