Stereotypes and GW - How does it affect you?

Also, I have been not able to join many PvP guilds. I have all the title reqs, but not mic sadly.

I don't think non Christians should be kicked from a Christian guild. As long as the are not bringing negative factors into the guild, such as breaking rules a Christian guild might have (ex. no cussing in alliance or guild chat). Once they start breaking those rules, then yes, they would and should be kicked. I am not in a Christian guild, I don't bring religion into GW, or try to force it on anyone. I am what I am and I know I'm right, everyone else can be whatever they want.

No, no one should ever be a target of abuse for any reason and no one should ever have to hide the things that make a person who they are. But face it, its an online community(and I would use that word loosely) where the attacker never has to meet up with their victims and almost never has to face any consequences. No amount of reasoning/shouting back will change their attitudes or behaviors short of convincing them to let you talk to their mothers/grandmothers so that they can get a good spanking/cane in the head. Just report them, put them on ignore and move on. They really are just not worth getting angry over and all the energy thats wasted on them.

And I would do the same as you and tell them to shut up. They should be ashamed of themselves for talking in such a way, regardless of the audience. And yet I don't suffer the same backlash you seem to, because it either ends there or I walk away. I don't need that grief and I don't want it and no amount of time just spent/reward is worth any of it. You know their next question would be "What are you, gay?" And if I say yes, I'll get vilified; if I say no, I get called a conservative prude. Idiots like that are just looking for a fight regardless of what the differences are and I don't have to become their victim.

And again I agree, but there is a time and place for this. Vetting it out with some unknown guy behind a computer in some unknown part of the world isn't it.

I find the reverse also to be true. Idiots and bigots don't become idiots and bigots at the flick of a switch. Their actions and behaviors are there at the very start. They're gonna be a problem people so why spend that much time with them.

You. Are. QTF. So true!

I HATE it when people throw the word "gay" and "fag" around in Guild Wars and beyond, it is plain ignorant. I didn't think I would actually post this on a Guild Wars forum... but... lol... here goes:

The people that know the most about me, actually, are the people I don't see in rl. My alliance knows about my sexuality, and are fine with it. More than fine, really. It's as though I'm not, if you get what I mean. It might be because they're relatively young, and have yet to be exposed to homophobia, I really don't know. The alliance leader... god... lol... I think he was the first person I told about it. Years ago. He lives across the Atlantic in America, so I suppose I felt most comfortable telling a close friend, who couldn't exactly waltz into school and blurt it out everywhere.

We do get a lot of... special... members of our alliance. We (literally) had a Neo-Nazi who used to call me the "Gay Englishman" (two annoying statements in one!) which was slightly flattering at first, but later developed into "did you know, a fag is...". My alliance leader kicked him, so it's cool ^^. To answer your question, no, I'm not really discriminated against on a day to day basis because no-one knows who I don't trust, virtually.

I am pretty shy about it. In RL atm of course I can't just come out; I go to the kind of school where this sort of behavior has you hanging on a tree by breaktime (this is England). Sure, there are loads of girls that have come out, but it's not the same... I can't quite explain it. I have one RL friend who knows about it, and I have absolutely NO IDEA why I open up to her.

My very close friend, since we were 6 or so (plays GW) doesn't know about it. After mum threw me out the house when she found out it's not like I go around waving a banner about it.

Anyway, enough about my personal life. In GW, I'm not really open about it. Because I play as a female char virtually 24/7 no one really asks about your sexuality. From my personal experience, people are more shocked and disgusted at a gay man, rather than a woman. As you said, that guy either inherited or developed very homophobic views, that clouded his judgement.

As for being open in a PUG, I'd scream my sexuality in all chat LA anyday rather than tell my friend-for-life, you know? To answer your question, no, I'm not really discriminated against on a day to day basis because no-one knows who I don't trust, virtually.

This thread is FTW. Thanks for posting it .

First of congratulations not only on finding someone but on finding a gamer (I know, I am similarly lucky). Unfortunately I have to somewhat disagree with the quoted part of your statement. Freedom of speech exists to allow for the expression of thoughts, emotions, etc regardless of whether or not we agree with them.

I will not tolerate another attempting to silence my very socially liberal (but financially conservative) views and similarly not want for another, whose views contradict mine, to be silenced regardless of how hurtful those views or opinions might be.

I would think most things get brought up if you respond to a particular comment one way or another, or are asked a direct question

I don't think anybody goes into a PuG announcing "I'm gay", or "I'm black", or "hey...give me crap cos I'm a girl" -_-

During play though (at least amongst talkative people or a very long mission or similar) often things are said by others that make you respond in a way that will indeed give away your gender or ethnicity, or sexual preferance. If somebody is being racist and you're black...surely it's within your right to say they should stop it as they are playing with a black person. Same if it's a girl, or gay person, etc.

Offhand comments about armor, or likes and dislikes can bring about question that require you to be more open than you might normally be with a PuG. I've been on male char and the conversation has swayed towards some very anti-female stuff...so I'll ask for them not to be like that, so you get asked if you're a girl. Why should I lie and say no??

I've been playing and commented on a weapon or similar that I like. Or told somebody I've liked their pink armor...and being on a male character I was asked if I was some kind of fa***t. In that situation you're kind of forced to defend yourself by being truthfull, or at least asking them to stop using abusive words, etc.

Get real...you think people are walking around in game just asking for abuse? No...but why should we hide? Why do all the 'normal', straight, white, male people get to trip through the game without fear of being 'found out' to be anything other than what people expect. It's 2008, not 1950. Nobody should have to feel they can't just be themselves and talk freely...just like everybody else does.

This would be fine if Freedom of Speech was guaranteed by the EULA, which it is not. In any event, to express views that are racist, sexist, etc., shows complete lack of respect for other humans. From my experience, such attitudes usually reflect a lack of education, experience, and/or common sense.

I've had a guy coming up to me and saying "lol look, a gay necro", my necro having pink armor... which is, BTW, totally unrelated to my homosexuality (just think it looks cool on him). My reply: "Well I'm really gay, haha". I didn't even feel offended. I had a most likely friendly "lol" from the guy, but another started to argue about it... and it took epic proportions as one guy started preaching to an audience made partially outta very religious folks, and completely atheist people (and then the middle options). It was rather weird, and I kept quiet for a while, not sure what I was gonna reply.

It's that simple to trigger a response from them. But I wonder why, and there's most likely another answer than the anonymimity factor.

"Freedom of Speech" applies to the United States of America. Anyone who whines about "Freedom of Speech" ANYWHERE on the internet is a douchebag and an idiot.

There is no "internet freedom of speech" The internet is NOT the United States of America, nor is Tyria, Elona and Cantha the 51st, 52nd and 53rd states.

i generally despise those that blurt out their sexual orientation, hatred for other races etc and are extremely defensive/take everything in the wrong way. Solution? don't tell me. Trust me, i do NOT want to know about your life as it can be as easily fabricated as superman's haircut. i prefer to play the game, and relax

it may sound pompous, but my judgements and assumptions about a person from the first few words he or she types are infallible.

Gotta be careful what you say in this thread...we don't want to start anything serious.

I was kicked from my previous guild because of...well I am not sure, they said I was "not a team player", but I think the reason lied more in tune with the fact the 2 "head-honchoes" of the guild started to not like me because I was being more of a leader than the actual leader, and he didn't like that I guess :/ (I was questioning the leaders methods in GvGs etc...and trying to incorporate my own strategies)

If I ever pug, or decide to play with other players. I'm usually cautious of overly "pro" players (ie: Chaos Gloves, FoW armor, Etc Etc) and overly "nub" players (ie: Level 17 at a level 20 Mission)

You might be free to do something, but that doesn't mean that it's a smart thing to do. Like you have the freedom to douse yourself in gasoline and play with matches, but that's not the brightest thing to try.

Same with posting sexist, racist, homophobic, or outright rude stuff online... you can do it, but you're going to get repercussions. And you probably won't like them.

lol, me too. I just don't shut up when I have no choice but to associate

People love to speak their mind, and in an environment which allows people to remain as anonymous as they want, it gives them the courage to really say want they want to say without having the backlash [if it gets bad, just log-off right?].

It's like one day, I zoned into Lions Arch with my male Paragon, there was a group of lively male Warriors' chatting and such, and one of them made a homophobic jeer at my Paragon which I laughed off and replied with "Uhh duh? So?". This time, the "wamos" turned out to be a happy go lucky bunch an laughed it off.

It used to bother me whenever I saw someone use "gay" as a negative response to things, but honestly it really doesn't bother me as much, if I feel like it, I'll reply, but honestly I've learnt that in online environments such as these, it's much better off to stick to your own devices and if you are reading Local Chat, take what's said with a grain of salt or leave. The arguments usually escalate because several people have points which they think are important and desperately need to get them across.

I've not really experiences large amounts of discrimination in game, I guess I'm lucky or maybe my tolerance level is higher than most?

If someone does happen to make gay comments, I'll usually play up to it an it quietens them down pretty quickly, lol...

O_o. Well ill take that as a compliment then....lol

And i like to think im an okay warrior lol...my main is a warrior.

Actually I think the UN also has, under the Human Rights Act, a section on Freedom of Speech, obviously though it doesn't apply to the Internet. Many people seem to forget that the Internet isn't solely Americans (look at Kentucky, that was awesome XD) and start spouting about the First Amendment out of ignorance (curse the importation of American culture that I know what that is without studying it).

That being said, it's generally excepted that on forum boards and in games you have an amount of free speech within the guidelines imposed by the Admins. This does of course mean that you can get racist forum boards, but generally the guidelines are about normal human decency.

P.S. Long live Mill's ideas, even if I don't agree with some. The man was a visionary really, with really bad grammar.

AMAGAD!
But he R right! Womens can't think! They R lack a brain!1!
What!??! You R saying teh brain isn't located in teh penis?!?
Who R telling jokes now!??!?

So you have enough time for your social life but not a few bucks to get a mic? Something's very wrong.

Idle conversation happens when you're having spending time with people, and it's pretty natural to drop information that could let someone know you're female/gay/overly fond of chinese food. The idea is that they shouldn't have to work to hide a major portion of their identity, just like you don't work to hide your gender/orientation.

Take a look through Kusaanda's posts. Unless I've missed something, he's never posted something like "HALLELUJAH IT'S RAINING MEN!". Rather, he refers to his husband and such. It's sort of a major detail about a person, and it's a little screwed up to stick a don't ask/don't tell policy into online interactions.

As for myself - I don't get why people get so worked up about other people's business. Other people's baggage is enveloped by a somebody else's problem field, I have no reason to want to change it until it affects me. Homosexuality just isn't a problem unless another guy starts doing the naked macarena in my apartment, and then only if he's blocking the TV.