There are very few things that get me up in arms nowadays.  Lately, I’ve been trying to not let the little things get to me, and, while I’ve been exposed to several jackasses thanks to the LFG system in WoW, I can endure the jackassery most of the time.  That isn’t to say, however, that I’m completely invulnerable; there are things that will bother me and get me up in arms.

First amongst them, however, is using the word “gay” in a derogatory manner.  Now, the situation in question went like this: a group of people were advertising an instance run and were apparently short a tank.  No amount of standard advertising seemed to work, so the person doing the advertising (let’s call her Person A for ease of reference) decided to spice it up, adding things like “We loooooooooooove yooooooooooooooooou” and such to the end of her recruitment blurbs.  After two rounds of the “We love you!” recruitment blurbs came across the channel, someone (Person B) responded with “Gay.”  I was offended, as were a couple of other people, and we spoke up.  An approximation of the conversation we had went thusly:

Person C: Dude. Not cool.
Me (not wanting to start anything, really): Now, now, Person B, there’s no need for that.
Person B: She’s my wife; I can say what I want.
Person C: Dude, that’s still not cool.
Person B: All you people complaining about it, shut up. She’s my wife. You don’t have to spend 70+ years with her.
Person A (the wife): lol
Person D: Neither do you.

There was a little more ridiculousness that I cannot exactly recall, followed by Person A repeating her recruitment post in the hopes of getting a tank and her husband saying “Gay” in channel afterwards.  I never did pay attention and see if they ever did find a tank.

Now, you guys have to understand that I consider myself a very tolerant person.  However, hate language is not okay and it is one of the things I will never tolerate.  I don’t care if you’re related to the person you’re saying it about, I don’t care if you’re married to the person.  The fact of the matter is that hate language does exactly what it says on the tin.  It spreads hate, and, what’s more, it’s the wrong way to get me or anybody to do things for you.  If I see people using hate language in party chat or in any chat channel I can see, I (and people who feel the same way about hate language I do) will either ignore you or tell you off (depending on my mood).  I will also not provide you with the help you need because you come across as an asshole.

Think about it, guys.  Think about all the times you’ve been called a “huntard” or a “failadin” or something else entirely.  These words have entered into our MMO vocabulary, and, quite frankly, I don’t like it.  Words have power, folks.  Words mean things.  You don’t like it when people insult you, do you?

I’m not saying that everything has to be fluff and bunnies, because I know it never will be.  I’m just saying that maybe, just maybe, we should start thinking before we speak/type.  Words can be hurtful; we need to remember this.