Recently there have been several stories printed about people getting banned from Xbox Live for uploading videos to Microsoft's Upload Studio where they swear. This is an issue that is getting talked about a lot within the video game nerd community. Well, this issue is about to go to another level.
According to an article on Deadspin, people playing NBA 2K14 can receive a technical foul if they swear as they are playing the game. Now you may be asking yourself, "Why the fuck are you reading an article on Deadspin?" That question is offensive and you should be reprimanded for it!
Frankly, I think this is something that has been needed for a long time. For far too long people have gotten away with swearing just because they were alone in their house where no one could hear them. However, I think this recent development in censorship technology doesn't go far enough. What about words that are not swear words but are nonetheless offensive? For example, words like Ginger or Nickleback. Why shouldn't they be reprimanded? What about people who blast dubstep through their microphones as they play Call Of Duty: Ghosts? While it is in no way offensive for someone to kill an endless supply of people online, it has been well established that dubstep is a crime against humanity. Shouldn't people who engage in the illicit listening of dubstep be reprimanded?
An argument can be made that actions taken by video game companies to regulate the speech that is used while their product is being played is an infringement on our First Amendment rights. That argument is wrong because the First Amendment governs how the government can regulate speech, and corporations are not the government..... yet.
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