Recently I criticized Microsoft for implementing polices that don’t give gay gamers a lot of faith that anyone at Microsoft has their best interests in mind. Microsoft has taken the firm stance that any Xbox Live member who states their…

In case you don’t know the story, Microsoft suspended Teresa, an Xbox Live user for identifying herself as a lesbian in her profile. She was harassed by other users who claimed that her profile was offensive, and her account was later suspended. Microsoft’s policy has always been to ban any expression of sexual orientation in a gamertag or profile. Even still, Teresa, feels as though Microsoft sided with the very same users harassing her. Microsoft isn’t really addressing the issue head on and their stance on this policy is that it’s fair because it extends to anyone of any orientation. They also claim that their censorship policies are intended to protect users from derogatory uses of words like “gay”.

“So you can’t say that you’re straight either, that’s fair right?”

The problem with Microsoft’s policy is that it alienates gay users. Claiming that the policy is fair because it restricts any user from stating their sexual orientation “be that hetero or other” still singles out anyone who falls into “other.”

I’ve always done most of my gaming solo. Yes, there has been the occasional game that has inspired me to buy more controllers for a system, the last one being Smash Bros Melee. The current generation of consoles, however, has made me less likely to game with a group.

With the recent downtime of Xbox Live on Monday in preparation of the long awaited Fall Dashboard Update many thoughts started going through my head leading to the ultimate question: Is the direction that Microsoft is taking one that will…

“My vagina is angry.” Ok, so maybe angry isn’t the right word, but I am astounded by the treatment of females in the xbox gamer community. Within two weeks of being an Xbox Live member, I’ve been treated like a…