'Gay' should not be censored, here's why

General
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Lets start by setting up a scene that everyone can agree. Pixel Worlds is a really nice game, where people feel free to have fun, chat with others. It is a great invention and it should be that way. If someone is being rude to another player, they should, and do get punished accordingly. That’s the right thing to do. No two ways of looking at it, no angles, no opinions. In this Forums post I will tackle two main improvements I believe are necessary to the game to decrease the amount of hate happening within the community regarding specific groups of people.

Pixel Worlds has one major taboo topic - LGBT+ community. This possibly is due to the high count in religious and conservative players. However, this does not excuse any hate thrown at said community. The biggest contributor to this issue that I see, personally, is the lack of publicity it gets in the game. If someone is being prejudiced against another player regarding their sexual orientation or gender identity, they are either not punished severely enough or when they are, it is not usually clear enough for the public.

Improvement #1:
State publicly and clearly what someone gets punished for.
If someone is punished for spreading prejudice, it should be shown to the public via a global message.
eg. ‘Player was banned for use of prejudicial language’
This way people are aware that you can get banned for that, and constantly reminded of it. I truly believe this would decrease the amount of hate speech going around in the game. Use of hate speech should not be treated lightly. A single homophobic message can be really harmful and it should never get a pass, no matter who sent it or when and in what situation.

Improvement #2:
The word gay or other LGBT+ related words should not be censored.
This is by far the most crucial change that is needed in the game to reduce the amount of prejudice going around. I am not referring to slurs, those, of course, should remain censored. The word gay is the only LGBT+ related harmless term I am aware of being censored. I will also explain the main arguments against this, and why they are not valid, below. Censoring this word does not decrease prejudice. People go around the censorship in order to spread hate, in which case they should be punished. It only creates more taboo around the word. It makes it seem like a bad word, an insult, even. It is treated equally to actually harmful terms.

Q: But if it is not censored, people will just use it as an insult!
A: People that do this should simply be punished. Just the same as people going around censorships to make insults. Having this word declared inappropriate only increases taboo around it. And people who use it without prejudice is hurting from this censorship - something they shouldn’t be just because of wrongdoers.

Q: Sexuality should not be discussed in the game in the first place!
A: Sexual orientation and gender identity is part of human life. It is not a choice, it is not a decision. It is a default part of existence. Heterosexuality is treated normally in the game - worlds all about dating or ‘families’ have been treated as fun and harmless, but as soon as someone brings in homosexuality, it is branded inappropriate. This only shows that it is not exposure to sexuality the community is afraid of - it is the exposure to homosexuality. Pixel Worlds is an MMO, it revolves around player interaction, and their identity should not be silenced, especially if only homosexuality is, but heterosexuality is not.

Q: But my religion says being part of the LGBT+ is a sin, therefore I must help others see it
A: Despite this being a privately owned business, which means freedom of speech and freedom to religion technically do not apply here, I truly believe that the team behind the game have the right values - we see it in their actions in support of LGBT+ rights and equality. However, if your argument is freedom of speech or freedom to religion, remember that those do not protect free speech. Discrimination against free speech is not discrimination - thinking that is a logical fallacy. Hate speech and prejudice have no place in this game. This includes not only race and other aspects of life which are not by choice, but also sexual and gender identity. I want to reiterate - Freedom to religion or Freedom of speech do NOT protect hate speech and discrimination.

Q: Why do you even care about this? It’s a game, let people simply have fun!
A: Thinking that what happens in this game does not influence the player’s lives is purely ignorant. Some people spend hours on the game, and it is the main community they spend their time in. They grow up in it, they form their values in it. Every word you say has a chance to stick with someone for the rest of their lives, especially if it is judgmental or prejudicial against them. This has consequences on mental and physical health. It is not to be joked around with. The game developers agree to certain rules when creating an MMO, one of which is to protect the people exposed to it from hate speech. And it must be respected in every aspect of its meaning.

If you have any other arguments for or against this, I will gladly discuss them. If I don’t respond immediately, I will in time.
Thanks for reading the lengthy post and hopefully changes in the game will happen for the better. Spread love, not hate and always… And I mean ALWAYS… Fight for what’s right and do not be scared of doing it.

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I can 100% agree with your reasoning. And your values. But I do not believe the word “gay” should be uncensored. And you explained why in this very post.

As you said, sexuality has no business being discussed in-game at all. There is a time and place for everything and other platforms exist for a reason. If you meet someone in-game and kindle a relationship, that’s awesome. It’s a social game. But there’s only so much that can be discussed in-game before it’s best for the conversation to move to discord, instagram, etc.

And if you agree that sexuality should not be discussed (at least in-game), then you should be able agree that the only other reason anybody would use the word “gay” is as an insult. Personally I’ve only ever seen players use it as such. I can only think of one specific time it was not.

And as far as the community’s standing on the LGBTQ+ community, the developers have most definitely shown their support. And if a player doesn’t agree with your lifestyle, who cares? Why do they need to know in the first place. It’s no less a part of you than the color of your eyes. And I’m sure you don’t go around telling players that. Because they just don’t need to know.

Yes, I agree everyone should be treated with respect. Yes, I can see where you’re coming from. But I do not think uncensoring the word is going to do anything positive for the community.

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If the argument against removing the censorship on the word gay is that sexuality should not be discussed in the game, then I believe certain other steps should be taken. They should also censor the words ‘Husband’, ‘Wife’, ‘Boyfriend’, ‘Girlfriend’, ‘Relationship’, ‘Sexuality’ and others. All of these have just as much sexual connotation as the word gay. Being gay is not about sex, it is about attraction. Love is not shown only in the bedroom. Caring for someone, living with them. Creating a family. Those things are equal in both - heterosexual and homosexual relationships and families.

As for it being used as an insult - I very fairly reason why that’s not valid in the post. Having it be censored only creates more taboo. And if people use it as an insult, they shall simply be punished accordingly. There will always be people who want to be prejudicial and will go around censorship to show this. But there is a way to fight against it, which is by banning them or muting them. Having the word censored only harms the people who use it appropriately.

It is not fair to say that by mentioning you are part of LGBT+ is somehow ‘spreading your lifestyle that no one should know in the first place’. If someone says ‘Hey, I got married to the opposite gender’, then others go and congratulate them. If someone says ‘Hey, I’m moving in with my partner of the opposite sex’, then people say that’s great. But somehow when a person mentions they are doing these very same things with someone of their own gender or one not opposite to theirs, then it’s all about the bedroom. That is simply not the case.

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The issue with that argument is that society has not given those words a double meaning. Nobody says “that’s husband” or “you’re so boyfriend” in an insulting manner. These words can have the same connotation, but you missed my point. I’m not saying to keep it censored because it’s regarding sexuality. That was just to support my argument.

The thing I was getting at is 95% of players don’t use the word positively. And for the 5% that do, it doesn’t take a lot of pondering to understand why the word is censored. It’s not to step all over your rights as a human. It’s because it’s easier to prevent the 95% than appease the 5%. It prevents more harm than “causes taboo”.

And you misconstrued my words. Feels somewhat like you’re trying to villainize me and I’m not sure why. There are obviously cases when the word is not being used in a negative light. But majority of the time it is. There are plenty of ways to tell someone you’re gay without using the word gay. Again, the issue is not your sexual preference. It’s not a prejudice. Like it or not, the word is used more often as a slur than anything else. And if you want to be upset at someone for it then direct that at all of society.

In summary, uncensoring the word is just going to result in players going around calling everything “gay” all the time and harassing other players for being gay. There might be a slight good that comes out of it, but if anything it’s just going to further promote hate. You need to remember the average age of our playerbase.

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I’m sorry if your takeaway was that I’m trying to villainise you, that is most definitely not the case. Simply trying to break down the arguments as fundamentally as possible.

The 95% (I do think you highly exaggerate the percentages here) that use it as an insult shall be punished. The fact that they do this does not justify putting a barrier in front of the other 5%. It is just not fair. If this is an issue, the fix is simply having more moderation. Having stronger punishments. Do not give in to those using it as an insult, stand against them, and stand against them as strongly as possible. Just because a portion of the people use knives as weapons, doesn’t mean you should take them away from those that use them as tools. Instead, put better laws on knife protection.

And once again, having it censored is what gives it a stronger power of being ‘a bad word’. If it was not censored, that wouldn’t even be in question. There is a reason why movements like ‘We say gay’ have as much momentum in the Western world as they do.

Edit to answer your last edit:
The average age is not an excuse. In fact it is only more of a reason to take action. It is at this age the most when people develop a sense for values, most of which stay with them for a long time if not their entire lives. This is exactly why video games, especially once with a younger demographic like Pixel Worlds, should tackle these issues and make a change.

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In an ideal world, maybe. In reality that’s much easier said than done. Again, I agree with everything you’re saying. But I just can’t see it causing more good than bad. In the slew of issues the game is facing currently, I don’t see this being something either

A) can be consistently moderated

Or

B) majority of players (especially younger ones) will abide by, punishments or not.

I also don’t think 95% is a big stretch. I see players all the time saying things like “that’s so ***” or “wtf ***”, and basically never just someone casually explaining their preference to another player.

Edit: I’ve put in my 2 cents. I don’t want to smother the post. It’s good, regardless, to see so many players actively trying to make the community a better place. That’s what matters.

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I believe it’s the principle that matters at the end of the day. Having it be censored as an insult, brands it as one. Fight against the criminals, not the tools of the crime. More moderators is not an unachievable task. In fact it’s a necessary one. The game should get to a point where there is ALWAYS an active moderator on at all times.

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People just use Gay as an insult.

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They can do the same with “poop” or “cabinet”. Should we censor those too?

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roblox doesnt censor the word “gay” unless you use it as an insult
Poop is not a word just to be an insult, therefore it would not be censored

words like #### #### ##### ####### and ######### however are just insults, with no other meaning.

So yeah its a bit of a double edged sword if they want to censor those

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Neither is gay

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gay‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎

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Omg!!! He said the thing!!!

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Idk many peoples used that as an insult (like desti said)

wait are you stellaria admin

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I very much agree with your thread, Pleiades. I have had these exact thoughts and personally requested the admins to uncensor the words gay as well as lesbian much before this thread was made. The ball is in their court now, and I hope they do it. Oh, and…if anyone is saying hate speech on any of the game’s platforms or in-game, please do report it or let a moderator know. We’re here for a reason, and hate speech is against the rules. :grin:

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That’s right. Hate speech is obviously against the rules, and people get punished for it, as they should. But having the words gay and lesbian censored just raises more stigma towards the use of the words. That’s something the game should always try to avoid.