Fallout 76 Players Given Lifetime Ban for Homophobic Attacks

Slapshot1188

tawess said:

Now here is my take on it. 

Had the asshats just hurled their insults, taken some potshots and then when asked to leave left... I might be agreeing with the "boys be boys" club... But as far as the story goes, they continued after having been asked to stop and when no other indication was shown that the people on the receiving end was enjoying the experience. 

At that point we move in to an actual legal situation and the actions of the arsehats can be seen as actual harassment. 

And that is when they fall of what ever moral highground they had. There is never a reason to verbally abuse someone who have asked for said treatment to stop, if you do... You are harassing. Add to that the fact that using homophobic slurs is also illegal (where i live) you have two strikes right there. 

No... Banning these asshats was the right call. If they want to come back and try to act like decent human beings. Gamestop is over there. --->

If that is to much.... 

How about i spraypaint the word for people who touch children on your house and car... After all you just need to toughen up, car and house still works fine. They are just words right. 

Hyperbolic and not helpful as you compare apples to oranges.  In the real world if I could press a button and no longer hear idiots that would be great.  At least we have the option in the virtual world. (Not even going to touch the silliness about spray painting (ruining property). 

WBadger

There's a significant difference between simply hurling the words in passing versus actively following them around, killing them while citing them.   I do believe that some people do need a tougher skin; but there would be no difference if the group were to change their homophobic slurs into racial slurs.  This isn't even a case of "they need a safe space," because the other group wasn't just saying light jokes but were actively saying the most extreme things they can to offend the other group.  If they were espousing the same rhetoric in real life following some guy around, they would be in court the next day for hate crimes.  So why should Bethesda give them a pass in their own game? 

Finvega

Grunty said:

You can either stay in a bubble and let asshats take over society or you can toughen up, call them out for their behavior and ostracize and ban them in order to help make the best of the life you and other non-asshats have to live.

That ban hammer isn't heavy enough.

You and yours have taken over society. I don't let people have power over me with words.

tawess

parrotpholk said:

tawess said:

How about i spraypaint the word for people who touch children on your house and car... After all you just need to toughen up, car and house still works fine. They are just words right. 

Yes yes it is just words.  Would not affect me in the slightest as I am not a pedophile.  I would however press charges for vandalism which is a crime.  I can repaint my car and house with your money for your trouble that the court will award me.

 True. I am sure it would not hurt you the least that everyone in your neighborhood saw, heck maybe it ended up on the web... spread around town and maybe even your state/district/county and what ever. Still just words right. Does not impact you at all what other whisper about behind your back, the cross locks you get.. Some people subtly moving their kids away from you at family dinners. Next of kin stop calling, invites to parties and stuff stop coming. But they are just words. 

But here is the deal, we have hard actual facts that not everyone is as strong as you (think you are) and maybe we should try to work towards a community that has the aim of keeping people safe. 

Why even give this sort of behavior any legitimacy. At work, any kid doing this would get the sternest of talking and i would bring it up with the parents. So should we not try to ask for a tiny bit more from people who are more or less adults... then we do from kids in elementary school. 

Slapshot1188

Wankyudo said:

There's a significant difference between simply hurling the words in passing versus actively following them around, killing them while citing them.   I do believe that some people do need a tougher skin; but there would be no difference if the group were to change their homophobic slurs into racial slurs.  This isn't even a case of "they need a safe space," because the other group wasn't just saying light jokes but were actively saying the most extreme things they can to offend the other group.  If they were espousing the same rhetoric in real life following some guy around, they would be in court the next day for hate crimes.  So why should Bethesda give them a pass in their own game? 

If I were to shoot someone in real life I'd be in court as well.

Arskaaa

gamers are homophobic. tis is nothing new.

Interitus

This is part of the reason I don't use voice comms.

Between over the top vulgar comments, those kids who simply scream all the time, people who have whole conversations in a public channel. I feel like there is less actual communication about playing the game than just random crap being thrown around.

Bethesda has every right to ban them, when you sign up for anything, even here. You are saying I am giving up my free speech to follow your rules. If I break those rules you can ban me. Such a public banning may be Bethesda's way of scaring people who might do this later. Make an example out of someone early on, it's not unheard of.

And voice should always be opt-in.

Iselin

Solar_Prophet said:

As for the guy who reported them, well, he needs to grow a much thicker skin. If this kind of thing sends him crying to Mommy Bethesda, he's going to have a very hard time in this world when he runs across actual hate based on superficial characteristics. There are no safe spaces to run to in the world at large. 

Reporting can be and is often used in PvP games as another type of trolling.

TheScavenger

This is why forced voice chat on EVERYONE is a failure.

This will only be more and more common as more developers force voice chat on everyone

tawess

TheScavenger said:

This is why forced voice chat on EVERYONE is a failure.

This will only be more and more common as more developers force voice chat on everyone

That will at least force a push towards having the law catch up with the times. Making sure that actual harassment online get taken serious. Maybe with tools to help the police investigating this sort of shit. 

We do not accept people doing stuff like that to each other on the streets, nor should we on-line. 

Nilden

Xasapis

It is interesting that we can ignore random stranger's hateful comments in everyday life, but face a meltdown when the exact same thing happens in the online world. What are the barriers that keep our feeling of self worth safe in the real world, but we tend to remove them in the online world?

And more importantly why?

Albatroes

Why are these douchebags being rewarded with a lifetime ban? It would be more of a punishment to force them to play Fallout 76 everyday.

VitaminK

I thought this was freaking hilarious. Getting butt-hurt (ba-dun tss) from an ONLINE PLAYER?! Oh noes! QQ Ban them!

Slapshot1188

TheScavenger said:

This is why forced voice chat on EVERYONE is a failure.

This will only be more and more common as more developers force voice chat on everyone

See.. this again is the perpetuation of incorrect information.  Nobody is forced into voice chat.  It is literally the first option under Audio.

People keep repeating made up crap.  There are plenty of actual faults with F76 we do not need to make up fictitious ones.

Manestream

Although i dont support their behavior, I thought teh Original 3 day ban was ludicrous and totally lacklustre.
Then afterwards during that time when they got to review footage they did a permanent ban, this is going from 1 extream to the other. a 3-12mth ban would have sufficed. Then if they were apart of any other issue around that after they came back a lifetime ban.

It would have sufficed to say there is no tolence for that attitude out there in an online game, they should also have been made to make a formal public appolgy to the people that were involved after the ban was due to be lifted to then have it lifted.

Xasapis

Forced apologies don't work beyond used as a humiliation tool.

FlyByKnight

To everybody who keeps up with this "get thicker skin" argument what happens when someone escalates and the reply is "learn how to fight better" or "get some beard on that glass jaw" or "learn how to draw your firearm faster?" You can't arbitrarily do the whole wild west saloon alpha male thing, but put a ceiling on how far it's supposed to go.

That's why it's better for the public forum everyone is utilizing to set the ground rules to deescalate and keep all parties safe. "You want to go 'queer hunting' do it outside, not in here" is the stance.

Also, are we all going to make believe that a person who would go "queer hunting" at a strangers expense (no matter the circumstance) doesn't have a character/personality flaw that might need some addressing? Let's not do that.

Aeander

A lifetime ban from Fallout 76 sounds like a reward, not a punishment.

TheScavenger

parrotpholk said:

FlyByKnight said:

Also, are we all going to make believe that a person who would go "queer hunting" at a strangers expense (no matter the circumstance) doesn't have a character/personality flaw that might need some addressing? Let's not do that.

Assuming that they have a flaw or mental defect is a dangerous road to go down.

Some might argue that a person who swears they are one gender while biologically another has a flaw or defect.  That thought process is not the way to go because it can be turned around and we all wind up in the nut house.  

Why it is so hard to accept that some people just have a different idea of funny or what is normal?  This stuff has always been a part of the human condition in that some just do not like different and no amount of public service announcements or laws is going to change that.

Again once it escalates to violence we are talking a different ballgame.  The internet, social media and the 24 hour so called news cycle has brought to the forefront what has always been there.  This is every culture and not just in America so anyone who thinks their society is somehow above it all is full of shite.

hate speech isn't funny

Mendel

TheScavenger said:

This is why forced voice chat on EVERYONE is a failure.

This will only be more and more common as more developers force voice chat on everyone

Only if voice chat remains as it is.  If the development team added features to control (individual squelch and kick functions) and monitoring functions to allow the provider to monitor, record and recall voice streams in order to resolve problems, this problem *could* go away.

Forced voice chat is only a failure because the developers have chosen to implement bare-bones functionality in every game to date.

Proudsoul1

The video was really funny! They were laughing and were being asshats but really banning them was not the way to go not for life anyway. People are so sensitive. As a non binary who identifies as a BlackHack Attack Helicopter I dont get offended everytime I see a news copter!

Theocritus

and people wonder why others don't like voice chat.....

k61977

Could you imagine a game where you had to use your real world names and photos?  Would these people still do these type of things?  It really makes me wonder what will happen when that day finally comes.  Things are slowly heading that way now.  Some people are ignorant and most likely still would, but who can say.

While I don't agree with censorship, I don't believe people have a right to just spew out things with no repercussions either.  These guys knew what they where doing, now they have to live with the repercussion of their own actions.  That should be the end of the story.  Instead this will be turned into a crusade for banning or against banning.

phantomghost

Welcome to PvP games. 

I personally am for allowing people to say whatever they want if there is a ignore and bad word filter.