Sessler constructively rants about Xbox Live bigots

by Alexander Sliwinski { Jun 12th 2008 at 7:25PM }

In the latest Sessler's Soapbox, a regular video diatribe by G4TV personality Adam Sessler, he expresses his severe distaste for the bigotry and homophobia found on Xbox Live. Having actually spent time at GDC discussing this very issue with Sessler and his wife -- she's a lovely and charming woman by the way -- let's just say that Sessler is actually quite restrained regarding his feelings on the issue in the video we've placed after the break.

Although we joke about it in the picture above, Catan is one of the rare Xbox Live games where civility can be found. However, we understand that trash-talking is part of the competitive Xbox Live experience, so might we suggest the Shakespearean Insult Generator for those compelled to disparage others. And parents, please control your children online.

Tags: adam-sessler, bigotry, homophobia, racism, sessler, xbl, xbox-live

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

aldo @ Jun 12th 2008 8:22PM

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/homophobia ??

And there's a difference between "making fun" of someone and actual hatred towards them. (Look up Matthew Shephard amongst others.)

electronicat @ Jun 12th 2008 8:31PM

ALL words are "completely made up." Even though "homophobia" translates literally as "fear of the same," it's become the de facto term for an aversion of homosexuality. And, dude, if you don't think "gay" is being used as a slur against homosexuals in these situations, what the hell do you think it means?

zkey14 @ Jun 12th 2008 7:33PM

Heh, console gamers.

GRT @ Jun 12th 2008 9:21PM

Console gamers, huh? I play Age of Conan. As part of the harvesting in the game, you can pick cotton. Needless to say, plenty of wannabe KKK members have a field day with racist jokes about cotton picking.

Pretty sure this attitude isn't confined to console gamers.

kagai @ Jun 12th 2008 11:38PM

Thou vain fly-bitten canker-blossom!

giantenemycrab @ Jun 12th 2008 7:35PM

I don't even use a mic on xbox live for this reason. I used to for the first 2 months or so, but I got so sick of constant swearing, racist remarks, insults etc etc. It really gets annoying really fast. You really have to find friends on XBL and stick with them or you run into some real tools.

giantenemycrab @ Jun 12th 2008 7:41PM

Holy moly, I should have watched the video before I posted anything. Sessler is SPOT ON with this, he is 100% right about every one of his points. Every XBL player, online player, or really any gamer, should see this and hopefully take this to heart. Good job, Sessler, you just made me a huge fan.

John @ Jun 12th 2008 7:39PM

Hell Yeah!! I don't even bother playing games that I enjoy online anymore because these jerk little kids seem to have all lost their minds.

tmacairjordan87 @ Jun 12th 2008 7:38PM

Sessler I can tell you why they do it, to piss people like us off and do stuff like this video. Online play just plain and simple attracts the worst kind of people. I couldn't even escape Live's fantastic crowd in a game of uno. UNO!!

I'm almost at the point where I'm ready to just give up online gaming altogether. I can't believe that for 1 second last generation I actually sat back and was jealous of the xbox 1 crowd for having online. I know now I wasn't missing anything

kataztrophy @ Jun 12th 2008 8:48PM

LAN parties > Xbox Live.

DarkNessBear @ Jun 13th 2008 6:01AM

Seriously.

I get Multiplayer games solely on the PS3. And people say, "Why!? No one has a mic..." And that's exactly why I play.

I played a UNO ... UNO... match with me, my GF and my best friend and some random guy joined. And it basically ended with my GF in tears and me trying to contact Microsoft to get this guy banned.

I hate xbox live for this reason.

CB @ Jun 25th 2008 7:11PM

I understand the Uno complaint, but why use the no mic argument to get multiplat games on a PS3?

Naota @ Jun 12th 2008 7:39PM

that's one of the reasons i always feel regret when i renew my live acount.

Dr Forrester @ Jun 12th 2008 7:41PM

Hmm. Maybe Adam Sessler isn't as much of an annoying tool as I originally thought.

Naota @ Jun 12th 2008 7:42PM

he just plays one on TV

AoE @ Jun 12th 2008 8:09PM

lololol +1 for Naota

Matty @ Jun 12th 2008 8:11PM

Well said Adam

Chris @ Jun 12th 2008 7:42PM

Good job buddy. I've pretty much stopped playing online because I don't have a ton of friends who play and I'm tired of all the kids.

ComradeTrotskii @ Jun 12th 2008 7:55PM

Sorry bud I posted a retraction just after. It was supposed to be a reply to someone else, when I posted the messeage the others guys post was gone and the reply went to you.

It's all deleted now though, but apologies again.

Chris @ Jun 12th 2008 8:08PM

It's all good buddy. :-)

Markez (MKWii 4339-2878-5120) @ Jun 12th 2008 7:44PM

I bought Halo 3 but grew quickly bored with it, haven't even finished the campaign. However my roommate got really sucked into the online, bigtime.

Does anybody, ANYBODY, play Halo 3 online that DOESNT sound like their ten yr olds? Seriously, all I ever hear is these high pitched whiny bastards all the time.

Magetto @ Jun 12th 2008 7:50PM

I don't, well I hope I don't. :(

Sessler hit it spot on. I wont play online games anymore unless it's with some friends. I also love the option to mute anyone that's not on your friends list on the 360.

Mike-453 @ Jun 12th 2008 7:53PM

I don't get mathced up with many young sounding kids, but am in the UK so probably play whilst american teens are in school.

daniel @ Jun 12th 2008 8:06PM

the rest of us dont talk, i did talk once in halo 3 and i picked up on my mistake pretty quickly, i dont really enjoy having some high pitched pre teen tell me i have bad teeth and drink tea and eat crumpets and of course just throw in some general hateful remarks and thats why i just cant be bothered using my headset, the amount of time ive heard racial slurs on xbl is sickening

Markez (MKWii 4339-2878-5120) @ Jun 12th 2008 8:07PM

Yeah and I know it's not everyone on Halo 3, just seemingly an irritating majority.

Only reason I use the headset is to game with my cousin who lives down in TX now, nice way to keep in touch.

DoctaDJones @ Jun 12th 2008 9:02PM

I remember back when the original Halo was being developed (before MS bought up Bungie and ruined it for Mac users), they were getting flack for not including voice chat when games like Tribes were starting to.

One of the Bungie developers made a comment along the lines of "Once you combine anonymity with voice chat you're asking for trouble" and "Nobody wants to know they're being beaten by a 12 year old."

And that was like 10 years ago.

Obvious @ Jun 12th 2008 7:46PM

The swearing doesn't bother me... The bigotry does. Unfortunately, your call for parent supervision likely falls flat in this case, as the parents are usually the root cause of that kind of behavior. Amazing how backwards and racist America is in a number of places...

RudyHuxtable @ Jun 12th 2008 7:49PM

I've actually made it a habit of muting everyone in the room regardless of whether they may actually be cool or not. It's unfortunate, but I'd rather sit in peace and quiet than listen to children hurl profanities. Unfortunately I don't see it stopping any time soon because there is nothing really to stop them. Perhaps if the reputation system actually had repercussions attached to it then perhaps it would start to subside. Oh well. Mute.

ALH @ Jun 12th 2008 7:49PM

Stories like this is why even now, with a handful of free xboz live trial cards, i still have never really played online on xbox live.

Not that i dont enjoy the occasional trolling myself of course, but having 10 year olds do it..meh.

Mike-453 @ Jun 12th 2008 7:51PM

I never got the whole 'i cant play because of the vulgar language' thing. I'm shameful that so many people, people that I share the same interest with can be such fucktards. But it doesn't stop me from wanting to play in the least, that would just be silly, they're just words, words that can be muted.

You get plenty of people in forums posting how they can't stand the preteen kids, so why don't they jus organize games to play with eachother?

Sircolby45 @ Jun 12th 2008 11:34PM

Exactly...I don't give a shit what anyone says honestly. Half the time it is going in the ear, but I am not hearing it anyway lol. You are giving them exactly what they want by giving them attention. With this news post right here they won. That is why they do it! Attention, and we are giving it to them!

Adam @ Jun 16th 2008 4:26PM

I feel saying "they're just words" is being overly dismissive. Words can affect people, sometimes more than a punch in the face ever could.

Dingobloo @ Jun 12th 2008 7:52PM

I used to trash talk quite often when playing the board-game catan, so I'm surprised thats most civil.

Dr. @ Jun 12th 2008 7:52PM

Followed by an ad for G4's idiotic and degrading Code Monkeys. Hey Adam, the rant was spot on, but if you don't want to be associated with f-ing neanderthals, you're going to have to find a job for a network that isn't full of them.

GRT @ Jun 12th 2008 9:18PM

Yup, totally agreed. The commercials must rotate because for me it was for some show called "Hurl" which featured someone puking. Now that's entertainment.

G4 is the first place to go to perpetuate the 'Neanderthal gamer' stereotype.

That said, I still agree with Sessler himself.

Konchu @ Jun 12th 2008 7:56PM

I agree this is definitely an issue. I really think that the only solution though is for more options in reporting or a more robust filtering system. Having a paid for account should make for enough motivation not to want to loose the account to make people somewhat behave if they impose at least a little monitoring.

I should be able to report someone and have it take the last 2 minutes of audio and send that to a worker somewhere that reviews it and take appropriate action. Or at least have it were 2 or 3 people report you within a time frame then you get put on a watch list. Automation that the game now has just isn't robust enough I'm not sure this is something that can be automated though.

Nineset @ Jun 13th 2008 2:47PM

More reporting options would be nice. I've clicked avoid quite a bit lately in COD4.

I'd also like to see a group private chat. I'll sit with a friend in private chat while playing and it is so much better.

LordMinogue @ Jun 12th 2008 7:58PM

It's possible to seed good behavior in an online game.

Example: Halo 3

I'm playing team slayer (4v4) with one friend. The other two folks don't have mikes. Form the get go my friend and I communicate, pointing out enemy positions & weapon spawns. We don't complain, bicker, or order each other about. Its a close game, but then one of the other guys plugs his mike in. Then the other. We rally for a 50-43 win.

Of course, this isn't always possible - but it can't hurt. The majority of players are a "silent" majority. It just takes a little coaxing to draw them out.

sergo @ Jun 12th 2008 7:58PM

Excellent, well spoken Mr. Sessler.

He really was holding back. He looked like he was ready to just pop in frustration.

UltimateQ @ Jun 12th 2008 8:00PM

I talk dirty/vulgar to my friends, in a light hearted way. We do it to each other. However, I never blatantly say it to a complete stranger through an online game.

I don't see this problem often. Although I will admit I do not play any online games through consoles; For reasons that have already been stated.

Our online games are becoming cesspools of bad servers, bad administrators, and bad behavior. I am having trouble seeing light at the end of the pipeline.

If the person is not old enough to buy the game, they should not be allowed to play it, or play it online. Parents get offended and block television shows because it had a graphic or explicit scene. Yet they let their children play games where they are killing other people with weapons.

Don't misinterpret what I am saying. I enjoy blowing peoples limbs off as much as anyone, but parents need to control their children better.

The only time I find salvation on any online game is: If the server/game is professionally maintained (like an mmo). If the server is maintained by myself or someone I know. An easy 75% of the servers I join in any online game have administrators under the age of 18. They don't know an "aimbot" from a "wallhack". And tend to kick or ban you for no reason and without proof.

I will not say all children are this bad. I have met a handful of people under 18 that I enjoy playing with. But the ratio is about 1:350.

Adults can be just as bad, but I find it far less common for a -real- adult to be as bad.

epsilon343 @ Jun 12th 2008 8:01PM

I typically mute everyone but my friends just because I hate dealing with shit from people online. You either get homophobes, racists, or just complete assholes.

I'll admit that I'll occasionally fire off a "that's so gay" but I at least try and censor myself beforehand if I can help it. Hopefully MS can make the system much harsher in the next iteration of the system but I'm afraid that the money they make might dissuade them from IP banning these people.

Ninjakamster (PS360 FTW!) @ Jun 12th 2008 8:01PM

Only multiplayer I play is of the split-screen variety.
: )

Solid Chief @ Jun 12th 2008 9:01PM

Its just a pity that less and less games support it =(

But the ones that do really kick ass

markhill66 @ Jun 12th 2008 8:05PM

Awesome. I've become so fed up with this kind of thing that I had to set mine to "exclusive" where I only hear my friends and vice-versa. I shouldn't have had to do this, and it takes away from the online multiplayer experience, but it was just getting so bad that I couldn't take it anymore.

I don't pay $50 a year to be called terrible slurs by faceless brats.

Ethan @ Jun 12th 2008 8:09PM

It's part of a wider problem where people just play angry and their aim end up trying to control others through words or actions rather than trying to have fun or even win.

mutd1999 @ Jun 12th 2008 8:11PM

It's funny how so many people seem oblivious to the "Mute all but friends" option on Xbox Live.

Still, he's right.

SpectreWolf @ Jun 12th 2008 8:12PM

I agree with Adam completely. I myself don't have a 360 of PS3, but the computer is no exception. I have to say that the computer is a lot easier to deal with because games would normally require a completely different program to chat, and most likely your chatting with friends on it. Text is easy to ignore, especially if your like me and play FPS a lot.

However, this treads on a very thin boundary that must be considered: online games are public activities that are done in the privacy of one's home. Sadly, for some, the immersion into the game, and the environment of their own home causes them to make completely inappropriate comments. I still think one should be aware that this is public and that fact should be respected, even in one's own home.

modified @ Jun 12th 2008 8:12PM

If more people took the time to leave complaints against these people, then they would get flagged and brought to Microsoft's attention. The feedback system does work, but only if you use it!

GibGirl @ Jun 12th 2008 8:27PM

Thank you. That's exactly what I was going to point out. Xbox Live provides tools to help with community policing - the feedback system and complaints. I find all too often that people will gladly complain on web forums and the like about the behavior of people they run into, but if you ask them if they filed feedback and complaints, they say they didn't bother because nothing happens.

And that's completely untrue. Complaints do have effects - it's just not always visible to the person submitting them. You're just not going to know that the person you played Halo 3 against a couple days ago just got a 2-week ban, but it'll happen. And the feedback system doesn't seem to have an effect either because nobody uses it. So use feedback, and do it generously. I would guess that after a night of playing matchmade Halo 3 games, I average one bad feedback sent per match. If everyone else did the same, you'd see those reputations going down.