Black Ops: using a swastika is a banning offence

Like it should be

Stephen Toulouse is the Director of Policy and Enforcement for Xbox LIVE. He recently caused some controversy when he was asked by one of his Twitter followers if they could use a Swastika image on their Call of Duty Black Ops playercard.

“Hey, I’m not a genocidal hater of Jews but I really love the design of the swastika because its actually used by numerous religions, can I use it as my Call Of Duty: Black Ops logo?

Not exactly sure how you can appreciate the design of the swastika without being a genocidal hater of Jews but Toulouse took it as a legitimate question.

He provided a legitimate answer, “no, of course you can’t, we’ll ban you.”

There is tons of coverage of this on gaming website, I picked one randomly: The Escapist.

You can also read more at Stephen Toulouse's blog.

Here is an excerpt:

I hate to do this Internet, I really really do, but let me lay out some level headed reality.

The Xbox LIVE profile and in game content you create is accessible by everyone. You do not have the context inside of it to explain your long winded contrarian view that your pithy text that violates the Terms of Use or Code of Conduct is actually intended to change people’s minds about a commonly held understanding.

It’s not political correctness, it’s fundamental respect. If you think the swastika symbol should be re-evaluated by societies all over the Earth, I think that’s great. Your Xbox LIVE profile or in game logo, which doesn’t have the context to explain your goal, is probably not the right place to do that. And by the way, that doesn't just go for the Swastika, it applies to many other symbols as well that my team does indeed take action on when we see it.

Context.

Since I first read about this I have played against five separate individuals using the swastika for their playercards. I have reported all of them. Some through Live before I figured out how to do it in game.

After a match, select the user in the lobby and select view playercard. There is a submit feedback option right there.