Sweet, sweet tears.

[Murgos]

More entertainment than I've had from multiplayer xbox live in years...

[Ironwood]

Actually, despite the hilarity, I'm also going to vote 'This is a Dick Move for a professional company'.

[ghost]

If it is based off of the gamertag, shouldn't it be relatively private?  Does the gamertag give your real name or any of that kind of personal information?  If not, this is not really any less private than any of the innumerable jackass things these people have apparently done while part of the Xbox community. 

[Murgos]

I'm pretty sure there is a method for handling these things privately and these idiots decided to post on the public forum rather than use private messages.

Frankly, several of the messages state pretty clearly that the initial communication was done privately and it's the doofus thinking he's not getting a fair hearing and so now he's asking for a public explanation.

[tmp]

Not sure what's funnier -- that the whole avatar thing has such restrictions in the first place, or that they'd rather keep wasting resources on chasing after people who side-step them, than lift the restrictions. Apparently people being able to have purple avatars with green hair would hurt the bottom line more?

[NiX]

Not sure what's funnier -- that the whole avatar thing has such restrictions in the first place, or that they'd rather keep wasting resources on chasing after people who side-step them, than lift the restrictions. Apparently people being able to have purple avatars with green hair would hurt the bottom line more?

They don't chase these people down. A majority of their avatar bans come from reports or from their enforcers playing a game with someone bragging about it. Stupid people have no problem ousting themselves.

[Zaljerem]

Stupid people have no problem ousting themselves.

Indeed.

"When you're breaking the rules, don't advertise."

[Morat20]

Not sure what's funnier -- that the whole avatar thing has such restrictions in the first place, or that they'd rather keep wasting resources on chasing after people who side-step them, than lift the restrictions. Apparently people being able to have purple avatars with green hair would hurt the bottom line more?

It appears the avatar bans are pretty much morons who call attention to it.

I suspect if all you ever did was change your avatar, Microsoft would never notice and might even let you off easy.

OTOH, if you had a profile filled with racist garbage, got reported repeatedly for being a dick in Live, Microsoft probably would use your avatar as an excuse to ban you.

And as for public/private, these all seem cases of the gamers making it public.

[Mrbloodworth]

Hmmm....I can understand almost everything they've been banning for. But...avatar skin color hacks? Really? That is such a big deal you get permabanned for it? Microsoft ought to open that up and make it into a new marketplace. Let users make stuff for the avatars and sell them.

Just that change alone could crash clients and server depending on who what where and where you connect to.

[tmp]

They don't chase these people down. A majority of their avatar bans come from reports or from their enforcers playing a game with someone bragging about it. Stupid people have no problem ousting themselves.

I meant chase down in the sense they still spend time and manpower verifying such reports and acting upon them.

[Bzalthek]

You mean like, "This guy is questioning his ban, lemme open up his file and check his profile and, oh, hey..."

Millions of man hours wasted just noticing blatantly obvious things!

[NiX]

You mean like, "This guy is questioning his ban, lemme open up his file and check his profile and, oh, hey..."

Millions of man hours wasted just noticing blatantly obvious things!

This. Sounds like the avatar bans come from them having to look at the profile for other reasons. For the most part, they're pretty damn good at keeping things clean. You can't catch everyone and it could be much much worse.

[tmp]

You mean like, "This guy is questioning his ban, lemme open up his file and check his profile and, oh, hey..."

Millions of man hours wasted just noticing blatantly obvious things!

Yes.

[ghost]

I believe the theory is that if you're willing to hack an avatar then the crackrock can't be too far behind.  It's a gateway hack.

[Azazel]

I fully endorse and support not only the bannings, but those forums. I don't see any wasted time in telling these fucknuts to STFU and eat a permanent ban based on what I saw in that forum. Especially the ones with purple skin and green hair. 

[Jeff Kelly]

I don't know how you could do it differently. Such forums exist because of transparancy for other gamers. It's maybe humiliating for the individual in question but by making it public you make the process and decisions transparent to other people.

The alternative is dealing with exactly the same shit in the same way but privately and additionally handling the fallout in the forums caused by those dickheads when they appeal their ban publicly and gather support from other forum members.

Those people don't go down quietly. Just look how other online services handle such things. Not a day goes by whithout somebody loudly complaining about being account banned in WoW for example even though 'he/she did nothing wrong'. This usually ignites the same tired old debate between the people that belittle him ('you must have done something wrong or they wouldn't have banned you'), the people that support him ('the power-tripping GMs send another innocent soul to the digital gulag') and the community managers that then have to make the issue public to answer to the complaints and minimize the damage.

[WindupAtheist]

I fully endorse and support not only the bannings, but those forums. I don't see any wasted time in telling these fucknuts to STFU and eat a permanent ban based on what I saw in that forum. Especially the ones with purple skin and green hair. 

This. I just wish I could see their faces. And hear their moms yelling at them.

[Azazel]

Thanks2MyFriend
    
Well as you can see by the topic i need help bad.My friend changed my achievments and didnt want him to he then continued to explain "dude you wont get banned dont worry i did it. . . . . " wow was that a lie i cant earn my achievments back and cant play with my friends i actually just think that might be the problem because thats what it said in the email My gametag is TThAcks you can email me you know it.  Just need help i dont even want all my achievment and Thank You xBoxLive TEAM while i played legit im not a cheater


Sorry I have a Stupid friend XBOX,
                                                     TThAcks  not         TT    hAcks

Your gamertag has the word 'hacks' in it.

Your previous history includes referencing system tampering as well.

You just admitted that your gamerscore has been altered (whether your friend did it or not, you are responsible for who you let have access to your account)...

And what we permanently suspended this account for was system tampering due to your modded avatar. This suspension will stand as issued.

Yeah. MS is soo heavy-handed and wasting soo much time tracking down and banning these dipshits. 

Now, you see. When I play some CoD or Borderlands or a random racing game on XBL, I won't ever have to run into that fuckwit.

[WayAbvPar]

I wish I could track all the little cockholsters I have reported for racist bullshit or cheating. God it would be glorious to bathe in a river of their tears.

[Khaldun]

This is pretty much true for any system of manners, etiquette, code of conduct, whatever. These things do not come into being because everyone reads their Emily Post and behaves. They take hold because when you are unmannerly, you get grabbed by the scruff of the neck and thrown out of a room you very badly wanted to be in, and everyone sees that happen. Consequences are far more powerful when they're transparently revealed.

[ghost]

Consequences are far more powerful when they're transparently revealed.

I would suspect that the overall number of people modding their avatar has gone down substantially with this current system. 

[Bzalthek]

I wish I could track all the little cockholsters I have reported for racist bullshit or cheating. God it would be glorious to bathe in a river of their tears.

If someone were to make a website that actually cataloged such interactions for the public to witness, it would probably be a hit.  Advertise it to parents:  Do YOU know what a racist, homophobic cockholster your child is online?  Search his ID here!

[Azazel]

Two things really come to mind - one a question, the other an observation.

Has anyone else noticed how most of the "parents" that have posted on that site tend to type in the same illiterate drivel style that the idiot teens do? 4 out of 5 of them have something equally stupid as their gamertags/forum profiles. I have known a guy, pretty intelligent, same age as me, reads books from time to time and such even who you'd think was functionally illiterate from the way they type. Both on forums and in MMOGs. So while some of them may be real.. well...

The other thing - and I know it's obviously inflated online where it's somewhat anonymous and you can't punch these little shitbags in the throat, but is racism or racist language really that prevalent with 16-25 years olds in the US? During the short periods that I bothered to play online and wear a headset at the same time, I got called "A British" once, and a faggot probably 7000 times, but also "nigger" a really surprising number of times as well. Usually from a voice that hasn't had it's balls drop yet, but sometimes from a brodude who may or not also be a stoner.

[Ingmar]

It is common, probably less out of outright racism in most cases than it is out of the extremely transgressive value those words have. Shock value basically, coupled with a lack of understanding of the subconscious racism that it ends up perpetuating. I'll stop there lest I take us to Politics.

[ghost]

Two things really come to mind - one a question, the other an observation.

Has anyone else noticed how most of the "parents" that have posted on that site tend to type in the same illiterate drivel style that the idiot teens do? 4 out of 5 of them have something equally stupid as their gamertags/forum profiles. I have known a guy, pretty intelligent, same age as me, reads books from time to time and such even who you'd think was functionally illiterate from the way they type. Both on forums and in MMOGs. So while some of them may be real.. well...

The other thing - and I know it's obviously inflated online where it's somewhat anonymous and you can't punch these little shitbags in the throat, but is racism or racist language really that prevalent with 16-25 years olds in the US? During the short periods that I bothered to play online and wear a headset at the same time, I got called "A British" once, and a faggot probably 7000 times, but also "nigger" a really surprising number of times as well. Usually from a voice that hasn't had it's balls drop yet, but sometimes from a brodude who may or not also be a stoner.

By topic:

Parents-  how many of these posts do you think were really the parent?  Or how many were actually a "friend" checking to see how their buddy's account got banned?  People lie about shit like that all the time.

Racism-  yes.  It's there.

[Azazel]

Parents - not bloody many. That was my point. The amusement factor of their tiny minds thinking "I'll pretend to be my mom(my) and outaged that I got banned and they will give me my account back."

racism - Yeah, "shocking" words and all that. I guess it's unusual to me since our racists tend to use different terms, and people with African ethnicity are relatively rare here.

[ghost]

There are a few requests in there that are probably from the actual parents, as the language is reasonable.  I felt a little sorry for those folks, because their kid was out hacking and shitting up the xbox world and they generally had no clue.  Of course if they ever paid attention to their kids that might not happen, but whatever. 

[5150]

It's unfortunate that the 'gems' in the reply seem to be few and far between. What never stops surprising me is how people seem to think that telling M$ that they will defect to the PS3 and/or much must money they have sunk into their XBox/how much money M$ are going to lose will make the slightest bit of difference to their appeal.

Bad spelling etc aside I was also surprised how many people claim to not be modders when they blatantly are (bit of self denial going on perhaps?)

My one criticism of it is that (as was illustrated with someone who did not have English as their first language) it could be confusing for some people why they refer to a ban as a permanent suspension (strictly speaking it's neither if XBox live and the account owner survive until the year 10000!)

Why not just call it a ban, remove the 9999 date and avoid any misunderstanding?

Has anyone found one that wasn't an open and shut case? (I think I saw one that suggested the user open an abuse ticket if they genuinely thought the account had been hacked but thats about it)

/edit
http://forums.xbox.com/35676742/ShowPost.aspx

That one had me wondering if they bothered to translate or just went with their gut

[NiX]

racism - Yeah, "shocking" words and all that. I guess it's unusual to me since our racists tend to use different terms, and people with African ethnicity are relatively rare here.

The problem now is that nigger has become a lyric rather than "the N word", so most kids don't really perceive what it actually means to call someone that. They think it's what cool black people and rappers say to each other, where as the older generations know exactly how it came about and why it's never a good idea to say it.

Just like fag and retard. People would like to think they're insulting gays and people with disabilities, but to them it's just the same as calling someone an asshole. Or in Haem's case, a festering crotch pheasant.

[KallDrexx]

racism - Yeah, "shocking" words and all that. I guess it's unusual to me since our racists tend to use different terms, and people with African ethnicity are relatively rare here.

The problem now is that nigger has become a lyric rather than "the N word", so most kids don't really perceive what it actually means to call someone that. They think it's what cool black people and rappers say to each other, where as the older generations know exactly how it came about and why it's never a good idea to say it.

Just like fag and retard. People would like to think they're insulting gays and people with disabilities, but to them it's just the same as calling someone an asshole. Or in Haem's case, a festering crotch pheasant.

I actually have a gay friend who also uses the word Fag freely a lot in a derogatory form.  Kinda makes me go wtf

[Sky]

Quit being a faggot and suck that dick

[ezrast]

The problem now is that nigger has become a lyric rather than "the N word", so most kids don't really perceive what it actually means to call someone that. They think it's what cool black people and rappers say to each other, where as the older generations know exactly how it came about and why it's never a good idea to say it.

I don't interact with kids much, but I really doubt this. Like Ingmar says, they may be saying it for shock value more than to actually be racist, but I think most people, even kids, know damn well what it means. They just don't care.

[NiX]

I don't interact with kids much, but I really doubt this. Like Ingmar says, they may be saying it for shock value more than to actually be racist, but I think most people, even kids, know damn well what it means. They just don't care.

I don't agree considering there isn't any shock value left to that word these days. Kids know it boils down to "Black person" in some definitions, but couldn't begin to tell you why that makes it offensive. They have the definition, just no context to it, which makes it hard to feel bad when someone says it's racist.

Obviously they don't care though. That's a quality of the new generation.

[Rendakor]

It's also become a part of internet culture to be a racist, homophobic asshole; it perpetuates itself basically because what kids hear other kids say, they repeat.

[Morat20]

It also depends on the age of the kids.

My son's finishing up 8th grade, he turns 15 late this year. My wife could tell you all the brain development shit behind this, but what I've learned through painful experience:

Kids, once they hit about 12, turn into crazy people. They're like bipolar. You never know if it's the 30 year old adult or the 3-year old tantrum that's going to show up, but you can rest assured they'll either be treating anyone older as they're too dumb to live, or at least need someone older or wise (the kid in question) to explain things OR....you'll get someone who throws tantrums like one of those damn pageant toddlers.

My wife says once they hit 15 or so, they sort of level out into just sorta dumb-asses.

But what's important to grasp here is that as late as 19 or 20 -- parts of kids brains just aren't hooked up right.

So any given mouthbreathing asshole on Xbox live is almost certainly some idiot 13 to 17 year old who had the equivilant of massive brain damage to the judgement centers of their brain and, if male, so much testosterone boiling through their system that they try to get into dominance fights with furniture.

Which is why I play with the voice chat muted, and have stopped allowing my son to, in any way, argue about ANYTHING. Because he went from a rational kid with a high IQ to a argumentative moron who tries to bring the fucking US Constitution into a discussion on doing his damn homework.

In fairness to other Xbox live users, I don't let him play unsupervised. Although even HE isn't dumb enough to drop f-bombs or act racist, he does have absolutely no idea of 'appropriote humor' and is thus fond of quoting comics or movies lines at a very bad time. It might be funny when the guy on stage or on the TV says it, but writing it in your freaking english essay for school is just plain lunacy.