New Banner and Discord Logo

[Gentoo]

24 minutes ago, dafty said:

You'd think someone like you who's played video games for years would understand that people are edgy just for the sake of being edgy and not attempting to actually put their "homophobic/transphobic" views on a pedestal.

 

I can't name a single person I'm familiar with here that I'd actually consider racist/homophobic/bigoted/transphobic etc. Reality is that people make jokes of poor taste and do ludicrous shit online to get attention and reactions and because it's easier to do this to a screen than to a crowd of people or to someone's face. There's definitely a line that's crossed weekly by a staff member or regular, but letting that shit get to you (Online of all places) is giving those people power that you so desperately want them to not have. 

 

To pretend like homophobia/bigotry is not taken as harassment here is absolute horseshit. All harassment here is taken seriously and I believe even goes overboard sometimes, but it's much better safe than sorry.

 

I know it's poetic coming from someone who consistently uses edge to get a laugh out of people, but to suggest that the logo be changed because you feel that people aren't offended enough by the constant edge of a shooting game community is beyond me.

 

 

 

18 minutes ago, kabLe said:

I can tell you for sure that anyone who was genuinely offended by homophobic terms within the 15 years I’ve been here have been granted a level of respect and when those terms are slung their way ignorantly, upon being reported the offender was dealt with by the same people who told me they’d bang my mom if my prepubescent ass didn’t shut his filthy mouth.
 

SG has never been a place to allow blatant disrespect and targeted harassment whether it be sexual, racial, pedophiliac, etc 

 

 

For years I shared a similar sympathy - that people on the internet should just toughen up a bit, brush things off. It's clear to me that this just isn't the case. It's not immediately obvious when you've hurt someone. It's not their responsibility to tell you they've been hurt. Certain words are far more likely to be hurtful than to have any meaningful utility or comedic value in conversation. I don't see why the stance taken on racism shouldn't be extended here as well.

[kabLe]

12 minutes ago, Gentoo said:

 

For years I shared a similar sympathy - that people on the internet should just toughen up a bit, brush things off. It's clear to me that this just isn't the case. It's not immediately obvious when you've hurt someone. It's not their responsibility to tell you they've been hurt. Certain words are far more likely to be hurtful than to have any meaningful utility or comedic value in conversation. I don't see why the stance taken on racism shouldn't be extended here as well.

Id have to disagree. It is entirely up to the person to point it out. I'm not a mind reader. If you smile and laugh and go along with it your telling me it doesn't bother you. If you can't communicate with another human being that what they said offends you than it must not offend you that much. 

[Phoenix_]

Honestly speaking, there are some valid points in this thread, but there are also things being said that are a bit of a stretch. 

 

The logos/banners being changed to the rainbow flag for this month is an unspoken way of being an ally to the LGBTQ+ community. Of course there are plenty of instances of homophobic and transphobic actions done in this community. As bad as it sounds... it's the internet. There will be people who gain balls of steel and think they're funny or express their deep implicit biases against those in minority groups/people who identify outside of the majority. 

 

This is not to say what has/is happening is excusable or should happen. There is no room for hatred in this world. I am someone who identifies within the LGBTQ+ community, and just from growing up on the internet, I will still use the f-slur or use "out of date" terms without thinking. It's not something I'm proud of, and it is something I want to change, but that's not a line of thinking everyone holds. 

 

To be honest, I feel like things like transphobia and homophobia should be treated how we treat racism here. Ban it in public spaces such as open discord chats, forums, etc. If someone says it once or twice in game, just do your best to stomach the fact that someone is not that great of a person. If it continues to a point of repetitive use or if it's being used to target someone, report it. I don't think I've ever seen a report on someone for the use of these slurs before, so feel free to be the first. If you want to see the change, lead by example. I have no room to virtue signal because of the things I have said in the past (and even in the recent-ish present), but the only way to see these changes is to show the younger crowd that it's not funny or cool to use these terms anymore. 

[sWz]

1 hour ago, Gentoo said:

It's not their responsibility to tell you they've been hurt.

This notion is fucking absurd. I'm not a mind reader and I cannot tell if something offends you if you don't make it obvious.

 

I've made it explicitly clear with my methods of poking fun that if something genuinely offends or bothers someone they need to be an adult and say it outright and I'll cut the shit no questions ask. This method has blown up in my face when people look at things I say or do and make assumptions instead of coming to me and actually talking about it. Those people are quite like you who actually think someone is racist/bigoted/transphobic/homophobic because of a few one-liners or jokes in poor taste.

 

This is not an uncommon set of personal guidelines for most people here, so to pretend like people wouldn't stop when you ask or to pretend like higher-ups don't give a shit when harassment is brought to their attention is straight up wrong.

 

The burden to bear when the offender is not aware is for the offended.

[Kieran]

29 minutes ago, dafty said:

This notion is fucking absurd. I'm not a mind reader and I cannot tell if something offends you if you don't make it obvious.

Lol. You shouldn't be going around calling people f*ggot and expecting them to generously inform you that they aren't comfortable with the word. The world doesn't revolve around you so don't expect other people to serve as your own filter. You gotta put your big boy pants on and learn to be mindful of what you're saying around other people, not expect others to spoon feed you information on how they feel about what you're saying.

 

I also agree with some stuff you said @BoM but I don't think you need to pull old chat logs and throw them into your argument. You don't need a perfect track record to point out an issue. Gentoo never tried to glorify himself as this perfect person or anything. I have said insensitive things numerous times throughout my time on the internet, but I now advocate against those things as I've grown up and learned, and I'm sure most people here have done the same thing. Let's focus on the message here, not the messenger. We'll all be more productive that way.

 

Back to the thread.

 

I felt it was a bit weird @Gentoo you waited till pride month started to start this conversation, and you asked for the banners to be switched back instead of tackling the greater problem, but whatever. Keep regurgitating the whole "just report them" stuff; reality is the community as a whole has really turned a blind eye to some of homophobic/transphobic stuff being said. I recall people of all ranks (myself included, even when I was staff) saying/hearing some insensitive stuff and letting it slide. I think most people would agree SG never has really cracked down on transphobia/homophobia to the extent of something like racism. This is in no way a dig at the community - every gaming community probably has had to have this same conversation in recent years - but the social climate is changing and I think it's totally fair to ask if more should be done. Should we have specific rules cracking down on homophobic/transphobic slurs, just like we do with racist ones? 

 

 

[SilentGuns]

If anything, turn the gay up 1000% just to dab on the bigots.

[sWz]

18 hours ago, Kieran said:

Lol. You shouldn't be going around calling people f*ggot and expecting them to generously inform you that they aren't comfortable with the word.

This isn't about going around in public or to a church and cussing people out. We're talking about a casual game environment with friends; it's apples to oranges.

[RemixedPixel]

Yeah I’m angry and upset about pwning the libs and all but why is the discord logo different from the website banner

 

please remove the white from the website banner thank you

[Hawks]

Its crazy to think that this logo changing was the first real step to talking about something that has been blowing up worldwide the last couple of years. While I'm only aware of isolated instances of homophobic and other offending/insulting scenarios within our community this is a great thing to bring in to motion. Maybe it's time SG started cracking down on things like this and more actively and harshly start defending these instances of hate and bigotry.

We are a gaming community after all, being welcoming and a supporting ally of LGBTQ+ individuals should be something of second nature to us. 

 

[kabLe]

37 minutes ago, Hawks said:

Its crazy to think that this logo changing was the first real step to talking about something that has been blowing up worldwide the last couple of years. While I'm only aware of isolated instances of homophobic and other offending/insulting scenarios within our community this is a great thing to bring in to motion. Maybe it's time SG started cracking down on things like this and more actively and harshly start defending these instances of hate and bigotry.

We are a gaming community after all, being welcoming and a supporting ally of LGBTQ+ individuals should be something of second nature to us. 

 

I agree with the sentiment but I think with each newer generation of staff the focus on what is important is getting more and more obscure. In my head its simple, you don't need to "crackdown" on gay jokes. Use common sense. If someone is bullying someone because they're gay or whatever their sexuality is and that person is genuinely bothered by it then it should be dealt with accordingly. When you make a rule that says "no homophobic slurs" it turns into one kid saying "gay" and every single person within ear shot screaming "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HE SAID IT OH MY GOD REPORT REPORT".

 

Taking a step in the right direction doesn't come with adding superficial rules to look good, it comes to the people who are administrating the servers to make a conscious effort to see normal online banter from genuine hate speech. If i hear someone on a server saying "you dumb faggot, go suck dick you gay piece of shit" than I should have the ability to discern if the people are joking and if I can't then I should send a message to that player asking if he is feeling harassed or offended. Maybe the best way to  tackle this is to empower the current staff who administrate the servers to mediate issues as they pop up. You don't need to be combative with people you can easily just be like "Hey man that wasn't cool I don't mind some banter but your starting to cross the line. I'm gonna have to ask you to chill out a bit or I'll have to start doling out some punishment" 

 

This is the internet not your public community center. It's for gamers to come together and have a good time and play games. While there should be a general level of respect between everybody I don't think you need to have a crackdown on homophobia. Just recognize a genuine asshole when he or she appears.