Stereotypes and GW - How does it affect you?

Also, I have been not able to join many PvP guilds. I have all the title reqs, but not mic sadly.

I don't think non Christians should be kicked from a Christian guild. As long as the are not bringing negative factors into the guild, such as breaking rules a Christian guild might have (ex. no cussing in alliance or guild chat). Once they start breaking those rules, then yes, they would and should be kicked. I am not in a Christian guild, I don't bring religion into GW, or try to force it on anyone. I am what I am and I know I'm right, everyone else can be whatever they want.

No, no one should ever be a target of abuse for any reason and no one should ever have to hide the things that make a person who they are. But face it, its an online community(and I would use that word loosely) where the attacker never has to meet up with their victims and almost never has to face any consequences. No amount of reasoning/shouting back will change their attitudes or behaviors short of convincing them to let you talk to their mothers/grandmothers so that they can get a good spanking/cane in the head. Just report them, put them on ignore and move on. They really are just not worth getting angry over and all the energy thats wasted on them.

And I would do the same as you and tell them to shut up. They should be ashamed of themselves for talking in such a way, regardless of the audience. And yet I don't suffer the same backlash you seem to, because it either ends there or I walk away. I don't need that grief and I don't want it and no amount of time just spent/reward is worth any of it. You know their next question would be "What are you, gay?" And if I say yes, I'll get vilified; if I say no, I get called a conservative prude. Idiots like that are just looking for a fight regardless of what the differences are and I don't have to become their victim.

And again I agree, but there is a time and place for this. Vetting it out with some unknown guy behind a computer in some unknown part of the world isn't it.

I find the reverse also to be true. Idiots and bigots don't become idiots and bigots at the flick of a switch. Their actions and behaviors are there at the very start. They're gonna be a problem people so why spend that much time with them.

You. Are. QTF. So true!

I HATE it when people throw the word "gay" and "fag" around in Guild Wars and beyond, it is plain ignorant. I didn't think I would actually post this on a Guild Wars forum... but... lol... here goes:

The people that know the most about me, actually, are the people I don't see in rl. My alliance knows about my sexuality, and are fine with it. More than fine, really. It's as though I'm not, if you get what I mean. It might be because they're relatively young, and have yet to be exposed to homophobia, I really don't know. The alliance leader... god... lol... I think he was the first person I told about it. Years ago. He lives across the Atlantic in America, so I suppose I felt most comfortable telling a close friend, who couldn't exactly waltz into school and blurt it out everywhere.

We do get a lot of... special... members of our alliance. We (literally) had a Neo-Nazi who used to call me the "Gay Englishman" (two annoying statements in one!) which was slightly flattering at first, but later developed into "did you know, a fag is...". My alliance leader kicked him, so it's cool ^^. To answer your question, no, I'm not really discriminated against on a day to day basis because no-one knows who I don't trust, virtually.

I am pretty shy about it. In RL atm of course I can't just come out; I go to the kind of school where this sort of behavior has you hanging on a tree by breaktime (this is England). Sure, there are loads of girls that have come out, but it's not the same... I can't quite explain it. I have one RL friend who knows about it, and I have absolutely NO IDEA why I open up to her.

My very close friend, since we were 6 or so (plays GW) doesn't know about it. After mum threw me out the house when she found out it's not like I go around waving a banner about it.

Anyway, enough about my personal life. In GW, I'm not really open about it. Because I play as a female char virtually 24/7 no one really asks about your sexuality. From my personal experience, people are more shocked and disgusted at a gay man, rather than a woman. As you said, that guy either inherited or developed very homophobic views, that clouded his judgement.

As for being open in a PUG, I'd scream my sexuality in all chat LA anyday rather than tell my friend-for-life, you know? To answer your question, no, I'm not really discriminated against on a day to day basis because no-one knows who I don't trust, virtually.

This thread is FTW. Thanks for posting it .

First of congratulations not only on finding someone but on finding a gamer (I know, I am similarly lucky). Unfortunately I have to somewhat disagree with the quoted part of your statement. Freedom of speech exists to allow for the expression of thoughts, emotions, etc regardless of whether or not we agree with them.

I will not tolerate another attempting to silence my very socially liberal (but financially conservative) views and similarly not want for another, whose views contradict mine, to be silenced regardless of how hurtful those views or opinions might be.

I would think most things get brought up if you respond to a particular comment one way or another, or are asked a direct question

I don't think anybody goes into a PuG announcing "I'm gay", or "I'm black", or "hey...give me crap cos I'm a girl" -_-

During play though (at least amongst talkative people or a very long mission or similar) often things are said by others that make you respond in a way that will indeed give away your gender or ethnicity, or sexual preferance. If somebody is being racist and you're black...surely it's within your right to say they should stop it as they are playing with a black person. Same if it's a girl, or gay person, etc.

Offhand comments about armor, or likes and dislikes can bring about question that require you to be more open than you might normally be with a PuG. I've been on male char and the conversation has swayed towards some very anti-female stuff...so I'll ask for them not to be like that, so you get asked if you're a girl. Why should I lie and say no??

I've been playing and commented on a weapon or similar that I like. Or told somebody I've liked their pink armor...and being on a male character I was asked if I was some kind of fa***t. In that situation you're kind of forced to defend yourself by being truthfull, or at least asking them to stop using abusive words, etc.

Get real...you think people are walking around in game just asking for abuse? No...but why should we hide? Why do all the 'normal', straight, white, male people get to trip through the game without fear of being 'found out' to be anything other than what people expect. It's 2008, not 1950. Nobody should have to feel they can't just be themselves and talk freely...just like everybody else does.

This would be fine if Freedom of Speech was guaranteed by the EULA, which it is not. In any event, to express views that are racist, sexist, etc., shows complete lack of respect for other humans. From my experience, such attitudes usually reflect a lack of education, experience, and/or common sense.

I've had a guy coming up to me and saying "lol look, a gay necro", my necro having pink armor... which is, BTW, totally unrelated to my homosexuality (just think it looks cool on him). My reply: "Well I'm really gay, haha". I didn't even feel offended. I had a most likely friendly "lol" from the guy, but another started to argue about it... and it took epic proportions as one guy started preaching to an audience made partially outta very religious folks, and completely atheist people (and then the middle options). It was rather weird, and I kept quiet for a while, not sure what I was gonna reply.

It's that simple to trigger a response from them. But I wonder why, and there's most likely another answer than the anonymimity factor.

"Freedom of Speech" applies to the United States of America. Anyone who whines about "Freedom of Speech" ANYWHERE on the internet is a douchebag and an idiot.

There is no "internet freedom of speech" The internet is NOT the United States of America, nor is Tyria, Elona and Cantha the 51st, 52nd and 53rd states.

i generally despise those that blurt out their sexual orientation, hatred for other races etc and are extremely defensive/take everything in the wrong way. Solution? don't tell me. Trust me, i do NOT want to know about your life as it can be as easily fabricated as superman's haircut. i prefer to play the game, and relax

it may sound pompous, but my judgements and assumptions about a person from the first few words he or she types are infallible.

Gotta be careful what you say in this thread...we don't want to start anything serious.

I was kicked from my previous guild because of...well I am not sure, they said I was "not a team player", but I think the reason lied more in tune with the fact the 2 "head-honchoes" of the guild started to not like me because I was being more of a leader than the actual leader, and he didn't like that I guess :/ (I was questioning the leaders methods in GvGs etc...and trying to incorporate my own strategies)

If I ever pug, or decide to play with other players. I'm usually cautious of overly "pro" players (ie: Chaos Gloves, FoW armor, Etc Etc) and overly "nub" players (ie: Level 17 at a level 20 Mission)

You might be free to do something, but that doesn't mean that it's a smart thing to do. Like you have the freedom to douse yourself in gasoline and play with matches, but that's not the brightest thing to try.

Same with posting sexist, racist, homophobic, or outright rude stuff online... you can do it, but you're going to get repercussions. And you probably won't like them.

lol, me too. I just don't shut up when I have no choice but to associate

People love to speak their mind, and in an environment which allows people to remain as anonymous as they want, it gives them the courage to really say want they want to say without having the backlash [if it gets bad, just log-off right?].

It's like one day, I zoned into Lions Arch with my male Paragon, there was a group of lively male Warriors' chatting and such, and one of them made a homophobic jeer at my Paragon which I laughed off and replied with "Uhh duh? So?". This time, the "wamos" turned out to be a happy go lucky bunch an laughed it off.

It used to bother me whenever I saw someone use "gay" as a negative response to things, but honestly it really doesn't bother me as much, if I feel like it, I'll reply, but honestly I've learnt that in online environments such as these, it's much better off to stick to your own devices and if you are reading Local Chat, take what's said with a grain of salt or leave. The arguments usually escalate because several people have points which they think are important and desperately need to get them across.

I've not really experiences large amounts of discrimination in game, I guess I'm lucky or maybe my tolerance level is higher than most?

If someone does happen to make gay comments, I'll usually play up to it an it quietens them down pretty quickly, lol...

O_o. Well ill take that as a compliment then....lol

And i like to think im an okay warrior lol...my main is a warrior.

Actually I think the UN also has, under the Human Rights Act, a section on Freedom of Speech, obviously though it doesn't apply to the Internet. Many people seem to forget that the Internet isn't solely Americans (look at Kentucky, that was awesome XD) and start spouting about the First Amendment out of ignorance (curse the importation of American culture that I know what that is without studying it).

That being said, it's generally excepted that on forum boards and in games you have an amount of free speech within the guidelines imposed by the Admins. This does of course mean that you can get racist forum boards, but generally the guidelines are about normal human decency.

P.S. Long live Mill's ideas, even if I don't agree with some. The man was a visionary really, with really bad grammar.

AMAGAD!
But he R right! Womens can't think! They R lack a brain!1!
What!??! You R saying teh brain isn't located in teh penis?!?
Who R telling jokes now!??!?

So you have enough time for your social life but not a few bucks to get a mic? Something's very wrong.

Idle conversation happens when you're having spending time with people, and it's pretty natural to drop information that could let someone know you're female/gay/overly fond of chinese food. The idea is that they shouldn't have to work to hide a major portion of their identity, just like you don't work to hide your gender/orientation.

Take a look through Kusaanda's posts. Unless I've missed something, he's never posted something like "HALLELUJAH IT'S RAINING MEN!". Rather, he refers to his husband and such. It's sort of a major detail about a person, and it's a little screwed up to stick a don't ask/don't tell policy into online interactions.

As for myself - I don't get why people get so worked up about other people's business. Other people's baggage is enveloped by a somebody else's problem field, I have no reason to want to change it until it affects me. Homosexuality just isn't a problem unless another guy starts doing the naked macarena in my apartment, and then only if he's blocking the TV.

Stereotypes affect me in my GW play only when I enter AB and find I've been teamed-up with French or Italians. /resign is what ensues.

I have, however, given them all a benefit of a doubt on many occasions. Still, they haven't proven the stereotype wrong.

Every Croat I met is somehow obsessed with Steppe-Iranians (which could explain your nickname ) to link themselves with. And with that pretty weird "Aryan" ancestry they're trying to put themselves above over other Balkanids. The Balkan is known to be a likeable place for all kinds of folks after all.

Bleh, some people wanna get worked up about everything. They get upset with black folks, gay folks, Germans wearing lederhosen, muslims and whatnot. It's usually those people that have issues themselves, theyre always angry and frustrated. There's already enough in life to get angry about, I play the game as a mean of escape from rl issues, thus I don't bring rl issues into the game.

Ah well - the nickname is just because I prefer heavy cavalry in my RTS games. I mean, horses + armor + charging the poor footsoldiers = awesomeness.

As for the Aryan ancestry, it's a bit too personal for the forums. But it might have something to do with my stereotyping the French and the Italians as bad at warfare.

As long as you're nice to the Italians and French
They may not be that great at PvP (I wouldn't know, I can't PvP to save my life), but I've met good Italian players; nothing quite like a Sin holding Shiro's aggro to get you through to defeat a god...

I'd be lying if I said I didn't hold any stereotypes, but I don't let them affect how I treat people. I may enjoy making fun of Chavs (it's Chavtastic!) but if I met, or got into a coverstation, with one, benefit of the doubt holds true until the demonstrate what kind of a person they are. I blame my fellow philosophers, we make fun of the rugby players as well (and the crazy fundemental evangelists from up the road).

Damn. RTW + Mods used to be my favorite game. Seleucids, Parthians, Sarmatians/Scythians. They all had these powerful cataphracts with which you mowed down those pesky Romans.

In MTW2 it's those damn Milanese and French that annoy me the most.

I lol'ed IRL. I hate disco/dance music and I refuse to be associated with the TV gay men stereotype :P. Anyways, to some people it might seem as I flaunt it (I do keep coming back on the topic, but whaddayawant, issues like this get me worked up >_>), but I don't think so.

Most of the coming-out's I do on GW are related to this use of the word "gay" or "homo" instead of "dumb" or "stupid". It's not my fault that 90% of the PUGs I'm in use it but I WILL defend myself. I've never been known to be passive (ok my alliance will debate this, but lol...) and you can observe it if I'm insulted. In fact, you'll get the same reaction if you attack me for any other reason, even more if you direct it at the fact I'm Quebecer, Canadian or French-speaking.

This is totally out of topic, but I suddenly miss RTSs. Where's my AoE3 CD... =_=;;...

people often think i am new to the game, because i do not know all the little secrets nor do i have the passion to memorize wiki. I'v played for 25 months total with alot of breaks, and with everything that goes on in my life its impossible to learn all the tips and tricks of this game plus the 10+ other games i play.

i dont even know what red engine gore engine means. lol that should show how little i care. i play for fun, not to be the best, not to impress, just to kill a few hours and have some fun. and most definitely not to read websites.

although wiki is handy, i dont wanna be checking it every 5 minutes. I dont even use hotkeys. lol. im all about the mouse.

no im not new, yes i am a noob. or i wouldnt be playing an axe war for 2 years straight.

oh and my elite has always been warriors endurance. some people really hate me. LOL!

i guess you just met the fools, the rest of us is very likeable (same goes for serbians and slovenians)

And Balkan is known as a barrel of gunpowder

Me neither, and honestly, i couldn't care less, and i play this game waaaaaay to much

Guru's auto-censorship word :P. Took me a while to figure it out.

ah, i hear the theme song to gijoe now. thanks for telling me.

This thread is pretty interesting, wonder why I never cared enough to look at it before.


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I had alot of problems with people and their stereotypes when I was in an alliance with Kusandaa (Grats on the 1 year wedding anniversary btw Xan, I know I'm late ), I used to keep telling people not to use the word gay for things they didn't like, even when he wasn't around and got called a filthy gay who should die, although only once. When I explained to him I wasn't gay, he went on to tell me I should die because I'm black (the word actually used turns up as an engine here). That was pretty interesting. (I'm not black btw)

One of my friends got kicked from a guild we were in because she was Jewish. Needless to say I left immediately.

I've actually been kicked from a guild once because I was 14 at the time - They immediately assumed I was immature and talked about sex half the time. I'm 15 now btw, turning 16 in 3 months

A few people also assumed I was a drug addict because I live in the Netherlands.

I've had quite alot of situations where I got angry at people for being racists. I absolutely hate racism in any way, and is actually one of the few things I can get really angry about. I mean, no matter what you look like, you're still human, right? Anyway, because I'm such an anti-racist (is that even a word?) people assumed I was black. Or a transvestite in one case.

I actually find that the women that play GWs are much more mature and witty than most other players.

Other than that, I've never really seen any stereotyping in all of the guilds I've been in because most them just either don't care or just don't ask and don't tell.

However, we all know how lame Local chat is. :/

There are essentially no 13 year-old girls playing, which kind of gives them an advantage. Without exception, every female I've met ingame has been 18+.

Also, I'm genuinely surprised that Earth is so young. I had you pegged for 20+. Most 14 year-olds are, quite frankly, retards, myself included. When I was 14 I named my characters in online games bigdaddypimp . Live and learn.

I think you're right about that, actually. I've only ever met 1 female under 18 years old, and she didn't exactly act like it. Guess most girls under 18 have this sort of "games are for nerds" attitude. Atleast that's how most girls at my school think about it

Lol, you're not the first one tbh. Strange thing is, when I was 13 I'd do the same thing as you, and I actually was immature. Yet 1 week after I turned 14 I got sick of it and got serious about serious stuff that was all very seriouslike. Almost 16 now though, so yeah... See how that turns out

Thanks though I always like it when people think I'm older.

Lol you're not the only one who thought he was an adult - I thought he was in the 20's or so for a while, until we started chatting about age or something. I was pretty surprised too x]. And I've had the same reaction with other guildies who are 15 and less. Not every 13-year-old is rude and immature :P.

Kinda outta topic, but related to age: I don't remember why I was arguing somewhere, and this guy calls me a "kid", basically saying my argument was moot because I was young... turns out I was older than him x]. I've pretty much done the same, in fact. I was still older than him but he was older than 13 (think he was like 17 or 18, anyways most of the group told him to act his age after).

I wasnt allowed into MU because i said i would have studies sometimes

The community in Guild Wars has shocked me a little. Throughout my time, I've seen people be viciously cruel in their language and actions. Because I've observed all this... I'm wary about people.

Personally, I got kicked from a guild because I said a naughty word in Alliance Chat, then went to Do Not Disturb after being warned. I needed to cool down, and while I was, I found I had no guild. It was unfair, yes. We talked it over, got everything smoothed out, but I didn't return. I got burned, and I didn't like it.

Must admit it was how i thought about it at first too. Well not exactly for nerds, but not for girls anyways. Untill i tried gw....lol

Earth, you are my hero.
Everything you have said in that was completely relateable (sp?) to my experience in Guild Wars.

I was in an alliance. It was a few months of finally being out of the closet. I had to let the alliance know before something was said wrong. Well someone made a "filthy gays need to burn in hell" type of comment.
I reacted by saying "well, I'm gay. and it seems we are really good friends in this alliance." Well that friendship immediatly ended and started a war through out alliance chat. People were siding with me, and people were siding with the other guy.

The leader of our alliance said to both of us that we need to calm down and talk it out. The alliance leader said for the guy to deal with the fact that I was in the alliance and homosexual and that I needed to be calmer about someone saying stuff like that. I threated the alliance leader to leave for saying that.

I used the metaphore "If someone called a black man that he needed to go back to the plantation, you'd expect the black man to react. So why is it different for someone that is gay?" The leader still didn't get where I was coming from. I turned alliance chat off from that day on.

The alliance soon disbannded and the guild leader started a new on. I asked if I could join, but she said "you really need to keep the gay-thing on a low." I said, "I'm sorry that you feel that way, but I'm basically doing what African Americans did 30-40 years ago."

I haven't talked to that guild since...

-----another related topic-----

I also get insulted by people because I'm only 15 years old. Yes, I'm 15. That doesn't mean I act like every other 15 year old in the world.

For one, I am part of People to People - Student Ambassadors. We try to destroy the bad image of teens in America in the eyes of people of other countries. We are going to Europe this summer (France, Switzerland, Austria, and Italy) to see what life is like there, but we are also trying to follow the "destroy the bad image" at the same time.

For two, I have better morales than some 15 year olds. Some just think "sex sex sex" or "chuck norris chuck norris chuck norris" or "that's what she said... said... said" or whatever. I am not really into that. I'm into getting good grades (I have all A's currently), having a good social life - but good reputation at the same time, and have a goal of getting into college after school. I don't care about being immature. I never said I haven't ever been immature, but I really don't care about being immature. I see trying to learn spanish more interesting that trying to make people laugh by constantly using curse words and waving my middle finger into the air.