microsoft has hard-on for getting dick off

this may not be news to everyone who keeps in the gaming news loop, as several blogs have already posted about it. i just wanted to go on the record and get my humble opinion out about the issue.

recently, it has come to the attention of the gaming world that microsoft is really cracking down on their user in very obscure ways. the most interesting of which is their irresponsible treatment of the word "gay". apparently, it o.k. for people to call each other gay and even less flattering names via xbox live communication network. i have been on at time where i have heard everything from n!gg3r, to the ever popular f@g. honestly, it is just a game of Uno people. regardless despite the fact i have reported these people for their inflamatory language, i can almost guarantee that they still have an active live account.

now in the past few weeks their is a gamer from the UK who has had his name banned from xbox live for containing the word "gay". that is right Richard Gaywood has been forced to remove his name from xbox live because of its apparently sexual nature. this is not the first time a name has been banned for conatainib the word in question, but it is the first time that the gamertag is the actual, factual name of the user. now far be it from me to point the finger of shame at microsoft and their live policies, but the whole "let's ban names that have the word gay in them" seems like a bit of antigay propaganda. a virtual "don't ask, don't tell" if you will. it is like they saying gay pride has no place on their servers. now do not misunderstand my rant, i do not personally know Richard, nor am i claiming to know his sexual preference. i am speaking about the restraining of the use of the word as it applies to this situation.

i do recall a previous instance in which a gamer has their name banned, but the reason given was completely different. this reason was that they were protecting the gamer from a verbal deluge of hateful slander. pretty much what they claimed was this; if yo put "gay" in your screenname then that implies that you are in fact gay. on top of that, not only are you enticing other gamers to accost you vocally, but you are essentially entitling to them them to do so. this incident came shortly after the posting of a video involving just such behavior on Halo 3. i am guessing they thought about this initial reasoning and revamped it to a more, "for the love of god, think of the children" excuse.

here is what i do not understand about the whole controversy. if they have language filters that will keep me from having the screenname Fucky McFuckerstien (and they do), then why is it impossible to filter out this word? when we have an answer to that, i think safely determine if this is actually an instance of discrimination or not.