Representatives for Halo 4 – the upcoming sequel in a series known for being popular to play online and thus by default one in which some players will experience sexist comments from others – have told Gamespot that they won't stand for sexist abuse in the online sections of the game. Both executive producer of the game Kiki Wolfkill and head of 343 Bonnie Ross said that developers have a responsibility to try to prevent these kinds of issues by looking carefully at the game as it is being developed, examining and rethinking stereotypes that might come up.
When sexist comments are made, Wolfkill and Ross stated that there is a zero tolerance policy, and that offenders who are caught will be issued with a lifetime ban. “There are always going to be jerks out there,” Wolfkill said, “And if you give them a way to express that side of their personality without being seen, you're going to see this type of behaviour manifest itself.”
Whether gender-specific abuse is inevitable or not, it's good to see that some of the big names behind some of the games that use the online environment in which it is rife are making their disappointment known. “This is behaviour that is offensive and completely unacceptable,” Ross said, adding that she'd like to think most of their Xbox Live players agreed.
