Adam Sessler on Xbox Live Bigots

by Xav de Matos { Jun 12th 2008 at 4:00PM }

In his regular video feature, Sessler's Soapbox, G4TV personality Adam Sessler tackles one of the fastest growing and despicable trends in Xbox Live history; bigotry. In short, Sessler challenges Xbox Live users who feel the need to spew racist and homophobic remarks in order to convey their emotions during gaming to actually think about what they're saying. We encountered a similar experience while playing Uno during our last X3F LIVE event, where a kid--who couldn't have been older than 10, thought it was important to express all of the new slurs he had learned (from the schoolyard and probably also from his Xbox Live sessions).

The issue is huge and disgusting. Sessler couldn't be more accurate when he says that we fight so hard to remove the negative stigma's attributed to gamers while ignoring the fact that we're becoming one of the biggest, and organized, bigotry groups in the world. Listen up because we're only saying this once. Yelling racial and homophobic remarks doesn't make you cool and it isn't funny to anyone else in the room, so ditch those comments and get more creative.

Quit being the reason why we hate the service we pay for, it only makes us all look bad and removes all arguments that gaming is the revolution in connected entertainment. As now former Microsoft marketing exec Jeff Bell once said, "Your contribution to society is ... what?"

The video can be found after the jump.

Tags: adam-sessler, bigotry, xbox-live

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

dylan @ Jun 12th 2008 4:07PM

Be more creative is right! There are so many fantastic ways to insult people on a much more personal and individual level, shouting racial slurs and homophobic rants just proves how simple minded and lazy you are.

Andrew @ Jun 12th 2008 5:23PM

Why do you need to insult people? Can't we all just get along?

Alex C. @ Jun 12th 2008 9:43PM

I go with the classic "go pick my cotton".

Juice @ Jun 13th 2008 9:01AM

There will always be stupid people. Especially stupid young people. Always. Make XBOX Live 1yr subscription $1500 and you weed them out. Because their most likely poor as well. Stupid and poor. Always.

shawn @ Jun 12th 2008 4:10PM

i totally agree its gotten horrible since 360, back on xbox 1 it was so fun to just randomly go on quick match. sessler is right by every single thing he says here and that's very hard for me to say seeing as how i lost all respect for xplay about 3 set changes ago. guys please if you do this F***ing think about it first!

ericdrum @ Jun 12th 2008 4:14PM

As soon as I hear that crap, I file complaints. Everyone should do the same.

offday @ Jun 12th 2008 4:20PM

I agree. I file a complaint, and then I give them negative feedback, so at the very least I don't have to hear the idiot.

I've met a lot of cool people on Live, but I've also met a lot of complete losers.

On a sidenote, MS needs to work a lot harder on this issue. I know a lot of people who have gotten banned from Live for the stupidest reasons, while racist morons never get in trouble for anything.

Mike @ Jun 12th 2008 4:22PM

Agreed, complaints and reviews aren't used nearly enough. I hate that every jerk on Live has a 5 star rating.

DiscoGhost @ Jun 12th 2008 4:23PM

agreed, i'm the same way.

SavageGrampa @ Jun 12th 2008 4:17PM

I agree. Hopefully someone listens.

Bravo6 @ Jun 12th 2008 4:18PM

Yeah, so many idiots on there, I wish something could be done.

Gemini Ace @ Jun 12th 2008 4:23PM

Problem is that the people that do it aren't at all influenced by Sessler's or anyone's logic. They don't care. All you can do it leave feedback and tell them you effed their mom. After that, what is there?

Nocturnefoxx @ Jun 12th 2008 4:27PM

Well, you could actually go F their mom. That would be a pretty bad burn.

J @ Jun 12th 2008 6:10PM

I actually had to go do that once and the lady was absolutely horrendous. Think Ron Pearlman meets Barbara Bush meets Oscar the Grouch. So, ultimately, the burn ended up being on me. It was nasty.

Tom @ Jun 12th 2008 8:41PM

J, you jsut made my day!!

But I wish all those racist/homophobes out there would learn how to shut up. Seriously, if only Microsoft would make punishments more severe for this kind of behavior.

Just a quick question though to everybody else. If you give someone else negative feedback/ file a complaint, will they know your gamertag? Because I have been seriously tempted to give people negative feedback, but I know that if I do and they know it's me, they'll spite me by doing it back. Thanks!

Tim @ Jun 13th 2008 12:27AM

No you can not see who left you negative feed back.

Geoff Gibson @ Jun 12th 2008 4:26PM

This is the main reason why I am back to a silver level membership. I love online play, but I just don't want to be involved with any of those people at any time. Any game that I absolutely must play online I'll get for my PC. It may cost more to upgrade and play all the latest games, but you'd be surprised at how much more mature the average PC gamer is...

MikeG @ Jun 13th 2008 8:04AM

You're absolutely right, Geoff. When I get online with a PC game, I rarely if ever hear that kind of talking. Plus, you can tell by the voices that the age of the average PC gamer is older.

Zach S @ Jun 13th 2008 9:30AM

Older, but not always wiser :(

refinedsugar @ Jun 12th 2008 4:29PM

He answered his own open ended question: it's the internet, anonymity, fin.

braincake @ Jun 12th 2008 4:31PM

just last night i had a very young kid ask me if i had any daughters he could rape after finding out that i was married with children. i guess someone else had asked me about it.

the worst thing you can do is get into a verbal battle with these idiots. i just ignore them, file a complaint, make them avoided players, and mute them in the game itself.

this will never end. it is best that you keep a level head and get acquainted with the nearest mute function.

Jeff Tronti @ Jun 12th 2008 4:32PM

Can we also stop using the word rape? It kinda may be a sensitive issue for some people.

Intangible 360 @ Jun 12th 2008 4:48PM

Yeah, also nobody mention either world wars, Nazis, death, killing, or anything that could offend anybody.

I think I've made my point.

goboColossus (LIVE, PSN - gobopop) @ Jun 12th 2008 6:58PM

Instead of "You got RAPED!";

How about "Good game."?

Try it every once and a while, you may get a friendly response back :)

Ethan @ Jun 12th 2008 7:31PM

I don't think the words on their own are harmful, but then being pointed at people a lá 'u got raped' is a pretty nasty inference. But even then, it depends on the tone.

Maybe it's just because kids can't handle the concept and thus be mature enough to joke about it, while maintaining boundaries?

Rob A @ Jun 12th 2008 8:02PM

I understand what you mean, but it's always a matter of tone. Of course, the "U GOT RAPED!" guys should shut up, but I use it on occasion myself, but not as an insult.

When I start a game, and see people with much more experience than me, after getting a feel for them, I might drop a "rape me gently". I say it without ill intent and it always gets a chuckle.

Now if somebody was to say something, I'd apologize in a heartbeat. I don't play to insult people, I play to have fun and I don't want to ruin the game for anybody else.

Octantis @ Jun 12th 2008 4:37PM

Remember the good ole days of Quake2? Where at the end of each match people would write "GG". Or if it wasn't a good game they would say something like "Blah".

Ah the memories.

It could have been because GG is a lot easier then some racist tyrade

Dirty @ Jun 12th 2008 4:43PM

I wish they had a game zone that is like an "adult swim". The other problem is that it changes people, a friend of mine became crazy at talking shit to people on halo 3. He used to be such a nice guy.

This is a big problem, hopefully someone at M$soft reads these comments.

Andrew @ Jun 12th 2008 5:26PM

"M$soft"

It's not spelled Microssoft, which is what you are implying with this abbreviation.

Dirty @ Jun 12th 2008 5:29PM

whatever, You F@**

Dirty @ Jun 12th 2008 5:31PM

Sorry, been playing too much H3

FatalisticDread @ Jun 12th 2008 4:43PM

The main reason why I mute about 5 players every match I play when not playing with my friends. Xbox 1 got that way after about a year of Halo 2...stopped playing it. COD4, H3, GTA4...sitting on the shelf. Sure, they got my money, but where's the lasting value? (DLC $$$?) What's the point of bragging about being number one on XBL when that number is half of what it could be if people weren't such cocks?

Anyway, I'll drop the "your mom" comment every once in awhile just to get to someone, but the racist and homophobic slurs are off-limits under all circumstances. You get muted for life and compliant filed. I don't trust that MS investigates all complaints, but it's my only recourse other than the obligatory mute.

So, Adam, I'm doing my part. Keep up the fight!

joey @ Jun 12th 2008 4:53PM

I've set my voice communication to "friends only" long time ago. I can never use the "eavesdrop" perk.

joey @ Jun 12th 2008 4:54PM

Has any body else realized that Adam has no neck?

Intangible 360 @ Jun 12th 2008 4:54PM

My two step program to virtually eliminating this issue:

1. Use the feedback and player review system frequently and accurately. Everyone always whines about how it doesn't work and doesn't seem to realize that's because not enough good, honest people are using it and most of the ones who are, are abusing it.

2. Do not react to these idiots, EVER! That's what they are looking for, it's an affirmation that they have the power over you to get you very worked up with these words. Don't even try to reason with them; just mute them and leave reviews and feedback. Also never tell them you're doing this otherwise they will likely retaliate with feedback.

Ethan @ Jun 12th 2008 5:16PM

Nail. Head. Adam Sessler.

Online games often have people who want to turn a competition into something far more aggressive, ugly and vile. Rather than these people seeing the starting point for a new acquaintance being normal, they start with bitch and go downhill from there. There's a lot more fun to be had in online matches if your trying to do more than just dominate people.

And what makes it worse is that dominate doesn't mean win. It means to 'grief,' to control how a person experiences the game, even if only for a second, and that's what these words do too. But I'd like to think it's more than our concern for our reputation that keeps us decent elsewhere.

Ryan @ Jun 12th 2008 5:22PM

I play on Xbox Live a lot, and like, 95% of the people I play with seem pretty cool. But yeah, really, there's not much that can be done beyond giving them negative feedback. It's like telling a stupid person on the internet that they're stupid. They don't care, and they aren't going to change.

Andrew @ Jun 12th 2008 5:29PM

One thing I don't understand about the feedback system, is how do they know what the person said? Do they record everything that gets said across XBL? That's a little too big brother for me.

Ian Murray @ Jun 12th 2008 6:06PM

No, they don't record anything.

The way you can TELL them what the person said is through the feedback system. It gives you broad areas of offenses that said asshat might have used, and you select which one is applicable.

Microsoft doesn't take this kind of stuff lightly, so if everyone uses it correctly, the people who don't deserve to speak on XBL soon won't have an account to badmouth on.

Andrew @ Jun 12th 2008 6:27PM

Well how does the XBL team know whether or not the person actually said what the person is filing a complaint about?

whistlepig @ Jun 12th 2008 5:54PM

been thinking for awhile about getting a 360 my question is if someone on live is saying racial or homo crap and you report it how does microsoft know they actually said that stuff ? its not like the record in game chat do they ?

Paul @ Jun 12th 2008 6:04PM

funny how nobody has mentioned that sessler is complaining about people making racial and homophobic remarks then uses the word bastard at the end of his tirade. i guess that word doesn't offend anybody.

Ethan @ Jun 12th 2008 7:35PM

Yeah, while it might mean child out of wedlock originally, it does now refer to just a general person with a shitty attitude. I think it's okay to belittle in that case.

blank964 @ Jun 12th 2008 6:28PM

Its just the people that are overall stupid that pisses me off. Making loud noises along with the bigot and homophobic people just adds on to my annoyance. I don't have a high speed connection so I usually only play live when I'm at college.

While I might talk trash when I'm playing with my friends offline, I don't talk trash online and I usually say good game after a game or if I lose I say nothing.

It's almost like it was a bad idea to give almost everyone a mic

modelvillage @ Jun 12th 2008 6:29PM

Fascism should be banned...oh hang on a minute...isnt that a Fascist act?

FREEDOM OF SPEECH BABY...IF YOU DONT LIKE IT TURN EM OFF.

AoE @ Jun 12th 2008 6:33PM

Don't get me wrong, I'm as staunch a defender of the 1st amendment as you'll ever find; but freedom of speech, if you'll read your constitution, you'll find applies to things under the governments' control (such as public spaces) it doesn't apply to private, closed messaging networks run by corporations. It would certainly be within MS' rights to do something about it, should they so choose.