FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Are you concerned about the legality of posting these audio clips without the consent of all participants?

Not really, and here’s why. That’s taken straight from the Xbox LIVE Terms of Use.

2. Can I add you as a friend on Xbox Live?

I’d love to have a chance to game with everyone, but unfortunately, I only have a limited number of spots left for friends on my current account… as well as a limited amount of time to play. Maybe at some point in the future, I will have enough extra money lying around (and enough free time) to start a Gold Account solely for the purpose of gaming with my readers… But at this point, it’s just not a possibility.

3. Do you hate men or something?

No- I’m married to a dude! I think he’s pretty darn neat.

4. Why do you use an Xbox 360?

In short, I use an Xbox because (and this is really the most important point) that’s what all my friends use, and I have a lot of fun playing it. Additionally, I can’t afford a dedicated machine for PC gaming- my laptop runs Minecraft fine, but wouldn’t be able to do much more. I don’t think an Xbox is better or worse than a PS3 or a PC… as long as you’re gaming, you’re doing it right.

5. You call yourself a gamer, but this website is only about Call of Duty; what else do you play?

On my Xbox, beyond Call of Duty I also love Bioshock, Deadspace, Halo, and Fable series. I fucking love the Borderlands series, and Alan Wake too.

For the PC, now it’s all about Minecraft. I built a Trojan Moose outside my friend’s base once. I grew up playing games like Crystal Caves, Duke Nukem, Commander Keen, Jill of the Jungle, and Hugo’s House of Horrors on the PC, then a little later on I would play the games from the Heroes of Might and Magic series.

For the PlayStation (the original, mine still works perfectly), I loved the Final Fantasy games (IX was actually my favorite), Tomba, Spyro the Dragon, Legends of Legaia, and Sledstorm.

For the Nintendo DS, Pokemon. Every Pokemon game, ever. The Professor Layton games are also pretty addicting, as are the Final Fantasy and Golden Sun games… and I’ve been known to waste a few hours on Animal Crossing as well.

6. People accuse you of camping a lot- what’s with that?

My friends and I play (almost exclusively) a game type called Hardcore Kill Confirmed. This game type involves first killing members of the enemy team (which counts towards your personal score), and then collecting their dog tag (which counts towards the team score). Basically, if you just sit around and kill people without collecting their tags, you’re going to lose the game. So, I have to be mobile to win the game (I will play more cautiously if I am only a few kills away from a big streak like a Pave Low or something, but that’s about it).

Camping is one of the go-to insults/accusations in Call of Duty. If you lose the game, you’re bound to blame it on one of these four things:

1. Camping
2. Tubing
3. Lag
4. Cheating/glitching

7. Are you a 12 year old boy?

Negative- I am a meat popsicle.

8. Do you report these people?

Yes. Absolutely I do. They are violating the Xbox LIVE code of conduct, and I take the time to file complaints on all of them. If someone is just doing something stupid and inane like repeatedly saying my name and asking me “to date them” or talking about how they think I’m hot, or ugly, no- I don’t report them. Because while they are being obnoxious, they aren’t breaking any rules. But if they ask to see my tits, call me a fat cunt, or talk about how much they want to rape me, I don’t hesitate to file a complaint. And if you’re being harassed for your gender, race, or perceived sexuality, you should be filing complaints too. That shit is crossing a line.

9. Does reporting them work?

I don’t know. I’d like to imagine it does, especially when I file complaints for voice or text messages that I receive, because the proof is right in my inbox. But the fact of the matter is, Xbox LIVE doesn’t send you a notification saying, “We banned user XxXredhot69erXxX for the remarks they made to you!”. The system isn’t perfect, even Microsoft will admit that- but they do indeed ban people for violating the code of conduct. They just don’t notify anyone but the person being banned.

10. Why don’t you post gamer tags?

It’s not  realistic for the site I run. I keep the names on text messages, because all I have to do is take a screenshot. And I video record the audio messages I receive, because they are only up to 30 seconds long, and all I have to do is point my camera at the TV screen. But mostly, I post audio recordings. There is no way for me to prove which gamertag is attached to which comment, short of videotaping every gaming session I have so that people can see the little microphone icons light up next to the gamertags of the people talking.

And quite frankly, I don’t have the time for that. I don’t get paid to run this website, and it already consumes a tremendous amount of my time. And I’m glad to give that time. I believe this site is important, because it’s a documentation of the kind of behavior female gamers encounter simply because of their gender. But I can’t dedicate any more time/effort to this project than I already do- I have a separate life outside of gaming, and this website.