Here are my thoughts. First of all, this is not limited to the gaming world by any means. It's just part of foul language, it's how many people talk. Whenever someone talks about homosexual slurs as being like homophobic or whatever, I always think back to other certain profane words... whenever we say the B-word, are we talking about a female dog? It's just a word that has different meanings. Often it is derogatory towards women, other times it's just said jokingly, or it can be a verb. The F word... it is perhaps the most versatile word in the English language, and I have no problem with it. And it rarely refers to copulation. When people use "######" and "######," they really aren't thinking about sexual orientation. The words have come to mean "idiot, loser, a-hole" and "crap, this sucks, damnit" respectively. They have whole new meanings. Not to say it's a good thing, but that's just how it's going. Words evolve.
Now, the other side of the coin is racial slurs. Since it is not acceptable to use racial slurs, no matter how you use them (some use the N-word to call people a-holes, and I'm sure some don't even think about the racist connotation, or when people say "jewed" in place of owned, once again, it's a terrible thing to say but they don't think of it as an ethnic thing), it really shouldn't be acceptable to use slurs towards sexual orientation to mean something else. It's a tough call. I rarely use the words, but I'm a rather profane person when I speak with friends, and I use homosexual slurs to mean other things occasionally, and I don't think twice.
For the most part, I honestly don't mind any form of profanity, unless it is intentionally used to be obnoxious, which is why I support the filter because most people just overuse their cussing. If you cuss over and over, you lose creativity. I'm creative when I cuss, so I don't think of it as bad unless there are people around whom it could offend. Once again, it could offend people in a public server, so it isn't necessary. If a server is without a filter, I'll use common cuss words, such as the F word, shit, and so forth... only because if you're so easily offended by very very common words, you shouldn't be playing a game that involves killing and is rated Mature as it is. It's like going to a rated R movie and getting angry that there is profanity. I'll save it for another debate or topic, but I hate the fact that kids under 12 are playing HL and its mods... any age 12 and after, usually the games won't be damaging, the concrete is pretty well set, but before that, it's really bad. What is with parents?
So, in conclusion, to answer your questions:
1. No, not at all, because for one I don't think it has anything to do with homophobia, and two, those slurs are used A LOT elsewhere. If it is used more in gaming, it's only because people are anonymous and don't care if others get angry. The apathy of youth.
2. It's only a problem because I'd rather if people cuss, use other words, combine them, make suffixes, make some damn good stuff, don't go around calling people variations of the same thing over and over. It's annoying, not offensive to me.
3. No, it cannot be fixed. That is up to the individual servers. If it really bothers you, mute the person, or talk intelligently to make them feel stupid. Sometimes it ticks them off and they leave. I'll say again, those words don't bother me, so if they're used occasionally and used creatively, sobeit.
So for those who have called me the police or whatever on Holdout's for marking filter bypassing, I'm not uptight or anything about cussing, I just respect GRITS and her rules. I also think if you really have to spend the time to think and type differently JUST to cuss and bypass, you're intentionally being obnoxious.
Now, the other side of the coin is racial slurs. Since it is not acceptable to use racial slurs, no matter how you use them (some use the N-word to call people a-holes, and I'm sure some don't even think about the racist connotation, or when people say "jewed" in place of owned, once again, it's a terrible thing to say but they don't think of it as an ethnic thing), it really shouldn't be acceptable to use slurs towards sexual orientation to mean something else. It's a tough call. I rarely use the words, but I'm a rather profane person when I speak with friends, and I use homosexual slurs to mean other things occasionally, and I don't think twice.
For the most part, I honestly don't mind any form of profanity, unless it is intentionally used to be obnoxious, which is why I support the filter because most people just overuse their cussing. If you cuss over and over, you lose creativity. I'm creative when I cuss, so I don't think of it as bad unless there are people around whom it could offend. Once again, it could offend people in a public server, so it isn't necessary. If a server is without a filter, I'll use common cuss words, such as the F word, shit, and so forth... only because if you're so easily offended by very very common words, you shouldn't be playing a game that involves killing and is rated Mature as it is. It's like going to a rated R movie and getting angry that there is profanity. I'll save it for another debate or topic, but I hate the fact that kids under 12 are playing HL and its mods... any age 12 and after, usually the games won't be damaging, the concrete is pretty well set, but before that, it's really bad. What is with parents?
So, in conclusion, to answer your questions:
1. No, not at all, because for one I don't think it has anything to do with homophobia, and two, those slurs are used A LOT elsewhere. If it is used more in gaming, it's only because people are anonymous and don't care if others get angry. The apathy of youth.
2. It's only a problem because I'd rather if people cuss, use other words, combine them, make suffixes, make some damn good stuff, don't go around calling people variations of the same thing over and over. It's annoying, not offensive to me.
3. No, it cannot be fixed. That is up to the individual servers. If it really bothers you, mute the person, or talk intelligently to make them feel stupid. Sometimes it ticks them off and they leave. I'll say again, those words don't bother me, so if they're used occasionally and used creatively, sobeit.
So for those who have called me the police or whatever on Holdout's for marking filter bypassing, I'm not uptight or anything about cussing, I just respect GRITS and her rules. I also think if you really have to spend the time to think and type differently JUST to cuss and bypass, you're intentionally being obnoxious.