Sorry for the possible double post, but I couldn't find an edit button:

As to Richard's claim that many germans care called wanker for their surname, well here's one:

[www.mdc-berlin.de]

Here's an actor:

[www.imdb.com]

Oh, and btw, a small or young child of 11 or 13 years of age or even 15 years of age, ought not to be playing Call of Duty 4 in the first place...

As for the whole not offending anyone, there is valid point to this, I find. However, sometimes it just -ehm- gets out of hand. People from Italy, Spain and Greece and people from Asia probably have surnames that would offend some wester people thinking that name like Wei Long or Mei Wong would be connected to something sexual.

thurauh1

A very long time I was a member of an organizationm here in Denmark. One of the female member's name was My Cock - I kid you not. Richard Gaywood is not as bad as that - as the English language goes.

Anyway, I can't belive that anyone wants the name 'gay' or
'gaywood' to be banned from XBL. I find that this is discrimating against gays&lesbians. In olde English *gay* means happy, joyus as that line in a song *the family was gay* - not to be taken or interpreted as something sexual.
And gay today only means that a person is homosexual and that is not seen as bad or something for which someone should be banned, I find, not in XBL or in IRL...

And just for an added bonus, the Danish National Oil gas company is called DONG....

thurauh1

My gamertag InsaneBastard had been active for 4 years when it was banned about two months ago. Most people didn't seem to think that "bastard" was offensive. (I don't)

So now I'm "Corrupt Orange" instead.

InsaneBastard

@RichardGaywood: Oh certainly, and I would agree that's fairly common knowledge in some parts. Then of course there are the Gates, genere of depravities. Personally, I find the thought of even a half Gates to be stomach wrenching. To consider a full Bill Gates... djskdjsfkyuckkkk! Note to children out there: amputations shoud never be performed in coitus.

Promethean

Maybe they should ban the use of the word "Gamertag" because of it's sexual overtones which violate ts Terms of Use Policy.

Hyena

Would they change the gamer "TheStriaghtGamer" or "Straightwood"? I'm not gay by the way. I just see it as a double standard.

bluesquareapple

I need to get on the phone to my relatives right away...

The Casebeers and the Titsworths.

Jordan Lund

Gamertags are visible to everyone and it would be hard for me to defend to a parent of a young child who saw it that the name did not contain content of a sexual nature.
Preventing children from sex is absurd and immature. Without sex, we would not exist.
For that matter, words are words. If you don't like them, piss off. As far as I know, the first amendment doesn't prevent hurt feelings. In fact, I'm pretty sure it protects the speaker.
That being said: Shit piss fuck cunt cock sucker mother fucker tits fart turd and twat. You're not dead.

rabiddachshund

@MasterYong:

I don't think that is neccessarily true. My gamertag, Unique LezBeOwn, got banned and I go out of my way to NOT be one of those people. I always say "good game" after every match whether I win or lose. I never say I lost because my team was "garbage." I always try to be a polite, good sport. I also happen to be pretty darned good at Shadowrun, I have the highest score in almost every game I play. I honestly feel like someone reported my tag just because I thoroughly trounced them and this was their "revenge." Either that or it was truly some bigot who thought I shouldn't be able to get away with "flaunting" my sexuality. Either way, the stance that MS is taking on this issue is shameful.

robinandtami

@Smidget: you raise a really interesting point, but i can't help but feel that what you're saying is analogous to saying african americans should've put on white face in the aftermath of the 60s riots to avoid attracting the ire of any white bigots they may have come across. it's the bigot that needs to adapt.

the "times we live in" indeed.

out of the closets and into the streets! ;)

hardly the same scope but, uh, there it is.

bialia

@TRT-X: my response to that is that there's no onus on thegayergamer to prove his gayness. it's a perfectly valid self-descriptor. there's nothing derogatory about it, nothing innately offensive.

the whole thing reeks of don't ask, don't tell. if you can enter the word "straight" in the name field, but not "gay," it is discriminatory. end of story. sure- the word "straight" has definitions other than that referring to one's sexuality- but uh, last time i checked, so does "gay."

some people (i'm not really referring to you here at all, fyi) complained that people are getting their knickers in a twist over what is essentially a very small thing. it's the principle of the matter that is so offensive. again, no TOS gives anyone the right to discriminate illegally against someone. you cannot sign your rights away like that. this feels dangerously on the cusp of that. i just think ms needs to reconsider their system. mob rule has its drawbacks.

bialia

why didn't xbl just say they banned it because you're not allowed to use your real name? that's in the t & c's too.

AgentOhm

Absolute duchebagery I say, In my opinion the gamer tag is the last thing you need to worry about if it concerns "explicit material", For instance in a single halo match I bet there is worse things stated casually.

I honestly think the dude should consider a lawsuit on the matter as it is discrimination. Also as stated gay itself has many meanings and technically it isn't anything sexual, its a lifestyle. So technically anyone Microsoft bans for having "gay" in their name is performing discrimination on that lifestyle.

Also you don't see Sony pulling this crap, and Nintendo doesn't need to really worry about it because their system is number based and doesn't allow chat.

Anyways this really isn't my problem, I'm more than happy playing online freely with my PC, and playing my wii with its difficult system XD.

reluttr

Sadly what this boils down to is that the majority of Xbox live and other online users today are pathetic children who have no diverse, cultural experience and are completely devoid of any rational thought or feeling.

For the most part I have stopped playing games online. Dealing with children who do nothing but play videogames all day and cower behind the anonymity that the internet provides them while they tear down anyone that refuses to fall in line with their "beliefs" is no longer appealing to me.

Sure I could just mute their voices and play the game in silence not being able to communicate with half the players on the server, but if that's what it comes down to I may as well just play the single player campaign.

I will point out that for some odd reason I have rarely dealt with these problems while I'm playing games on the PSN. I don't know why and I have no explanation. Just wanted to make the observation.

radiodave1102

@TurboFool: That was extremely well worded... Thanks!

robinandtami

You hear that, Harold Richard Richards. I don't care what common nickname bullshit excuse you have. I'm sick of explaining your gamertag, Harrydickdicks, to my son. I have no problem, on the other hand, explaining to him that you don't mean anything by it when you call him a faggotniggerjew. That is A OK.

frickinharlem3

Larry Bygina would be sad....

lostalaska

@UltimatePancakeSensation: Thanks for taking the time to reply to me, not many people are. Also I would say it's not a "plight" and I'm not claiming it is. I got a free new gamertag and I still have all my limbs and teeth. I'm not offended by people taking the rise out of my name -- Lord knows I've had long enough to get used to that -- although having a multinational corp do it is a new one on me, I must admit.

I am rather offended by the stupidity of it though. I don't really think anyone would genuinely be offended by my name, or I wouldn't have used it. As evidence of this, I submit the fact that I played on Live regularly from Jan 2007 to this week with this name without problems. I suspect that some kid I hit with a lucky grenade in CoD4 had read about the GayerGamer thing and decided to try his luck. And boom, here we are, I'm semi-famous for five minutes and (in amongst all the people taking the piss) I've had a lot of people on a lot of forums congratulate me for being such a good sport about it. Overall I'd call that a win for me, wouldn't you?

(And my aunt, who traced a lot of our geneology, thinks the two Gaywood streets in London are named after a member of my family. Geneology gets a lot easier with an unusual surname.)

RichardGaywood

@RichardGaywood: There is a huge difference between choosing a name for your "avatar" in an online social network and renaming streets and cities. On one hand, you have street names and city names, which are surely decided on by a mass of people and approved in some sort of democratic way. If there is a Gaywood street, you can rest assured that it is named after an influential person and not just a cock joke. The same applies to your name and all the people you went to school with.

However, enter the world of the internet, where you and you alone chose your alias. There is no assumption that can be safely made, no guarantee that your alias is not just made up to get a rise out of someone, whether it's being interpreted as a sophomoric joke or as a genuine jab at homosexuals or heterosexuals.

Now, myself and everyone in this thread understand that yes, this is your real name. But any given person on Xbox Live could see your name and have a different reaction. They don't know the background. They don't have any details. And honestly, if I saw your name on Xbox Live, I would think it was just some stupid kid making a joke. Never would I have guessed it was a person's real name.

The bottom line is, when you chose your alias, you inserted a ToS violation within it. I am sympathetic towards your plight, but if you take a step back, I think you'll see that Xbox Live is doing its best to keep the peace by - not supporting issue X, or going against issue X - keeping any mention of controversial topics out of their service.

UltimatePancakeSensation

@nypad5: RTFA. He didn't get banned- he just has to change his name... which is hilarious because I don't have even ONE friend on Xbox Live that doesn't have a name that should be banned. Most of them are either sexual or drug-related. So here's a tip, guys: Don't be a dick to people online, and they wont report your gamertag. If you act like a jackass, THEN someone will report you. There is no way this guy got tattled on because someone was genuinely offended by his gamertag- he was just a prick. Pardon the pun.

MasterYong

Sorry but they should never have made him change his gamertag. They should have stud up for the guy if people really had reported it as offensive.

steve86uk

@JadoJodo: why should I have to? I'm thirty years old and frankly I think I've outgrown messing about, making up stupid names, and then swapping letters for numbers that look vaguley similar because the alias is already taken. Consider how Facebook feels more grown up than Bebo or Myspace: I think it's the lack of aliases that make the difference.

Also, I like using my real name for everything. Off the back of this publicity five old school friends and colleagues I haven't spoken to in years have gotten back in touch.

I mean, come on. Do you actually believe anyone has really been offended because my name has Gay in it? Seriously?

RichardGaywood

How about you just NOT use your ***real*** name online?

JadoJodo

@JustThisGuy: this is where I'm coming from, really. It's just... rather stupid. I'm not spitting with rage or anything, just bemused by this purebred example of politcal correctness gone mad. I was amused by the people in the other thread telling me my name is fake though :oD

@UltimatePancakeSensation: if parents have a right to their children not reading the name "Gaywood", where does it stop? London has a Gaywood Road and a Gaywood street, better change them. There's even a town called Gaywood in King's Lynn in the UK, better change that too. There were at least 1500 kids in my school, so a good chunk of those would have been traumatised by reading my name too; blimey, we'd better parachute in some top notch psychtherapists to clear up this trail of destruction I've been leaving behind me my whole life.

RichardGaywood

Someone really needs to bring this up to the ACLU, they would have a field day with this. I wonder if Microsoft's lawers are stronger than ACLU lawers...

Shade Malek

People need thicker skins and to realize that it's not everyone else's responsibility to prevent them from being offended. Also, "gay" does not necessarily denote anything sexual. No, I'm not speaking of "happy," I'm speaking of the fact that a gay person does more than have SEX with members of the same gender. They date, love, and live with members of the same gender. Sex is only a small, but too-heavily-focused-upon aspect of their lives. It's disrespectful to consider "gay" only in a sexual way.

TurboFool

My name is Rick HardRod. Is Xbox live gonna ban me too?

Orionsaint

@Terance!:

Well maybe MS should ban kids from Live anyway. A lot of games aren't right for kids to be playing anyway. So why in the hell should an adult using his own name be stopped from using it on a supposed adult system?

What happens if the US goes ahead and tries to force people to be identifiable rather than being annoymous online? Logically that may mean he'd have to use his real name so does that mean he can't play online?

I would fight them on that because he's done nothing wrong and his name isn't sexual. So I certainly wouldn't sit down and be quiet if they did it to me.

toadwarrior

Well gay people actually exist...parents are stupid if they get mad at some guy online having gay in their name.

BrotherNick

@I_fit_in:
Your parents are indeed crazy and probably stupid as well. AID's is certainly not exclusive to homosexuals, nor has it ever been. It started in the heterosexual community in Africa, and today the two groups with the fastest growing rates of infection are teen heterosexuals and elderly heterosexuals. The only thing that your parents were right about is promiscuity being part of the problem. "Patient Zero" (the man thought to have introduced HIV to the US and Europe,) was a particularly promiscuous homosexual flight attendant. Had "Patient Zero" been a particularly promiscuous heterosexual flight attendant, the history of HIV would probably be very different than it is today and we would probably be much further down the road towards a cure.

robinandtami

Man this is so wrong. What now i'ma have to change my name... and i'll be damned if i'm going to spend 800 MS points just cause they wanna PROFILE me. I mean just cause it has Gay in it don't mean nothing... My name is Gagon Deesnutz.... the lady gamers i play with are never offended by it ;)

Dizzle

at least he gets to save $50 a year now.

curtisawa

Wonder what they'd do with PennySanders.

MadMinstrel

Let's make XBOX slang for homophobic hetereo sexual community.

Their excuse was weak, weak like clock radio speakers.

Jet Set

"Honestly, it's starting to get really annoying on how people will defend things that were obviously stupid."

Here is MY version of this.

Its amazing how silly this "offended" crap is getting. Its stupid that mirosoft would make such a ban all inclusive when clearly there is NO sexual connotation to his name at all. John Hancock was a FOUNDING FATHER of this nation! He signed the god damned constitution for god sake!

Honestly, it's starting to get really annoying on how people will defend things that were obviously stupid.

I agree.

Nerys

eek...my Gamertag is TearsandScreams...which is the usual sex noises.

TearsandScreams

So microsoft blames society for the ban? "It's not our fault, its YOUR FAULT!"

TONX

What I find more interesting than Microsoft's actions with enforcing their TOS, that by paying every XBL user agrees to follow. Is the amount of people that comment about how bad it is that this guy got banned, which he didn't and you all would know that if you RTFA.

darknessgp

@colineff:

Exactly. Straight, hetero, those should be banned to by this same justification.

As Richard said, what about offensive things across other languages?

Or other slang, like head, pork, etc.?

This is nothing more than Toulouse's excuse to discriminate, no matter what he espouses on his website. Shame on you Microsoft.

doubtful

Somehow, MS KNOWS that most of their userbase are a bunch of grown-up, yet childish drones of orcish rabble.

Sigma-D

This story would seem fucked up to me regardless, but as someone who just came back from a trip to Northern Europe... we really are a bunch of little fascists. Our bullshit stone age stigmas put us closer in spirit to our dreaded evil extremist brown people than to, say, the Swedes or the Danes or any of those people whose average quality of life blows ours away. There's a line between murdering gays in the streets, and being publically offended by an invocation of the very idea of gayness, but it's a pretty thin line. A good portion of the developed world thinks we are deeply sick.

destro713

This is complete crap! A few bad parents don't want to explain what GAY means to their kid, and other people have to pay the price.
What's next? Is Microsoft going to ban other names they simply don't like? Steve Jobs? Sony CEO names? Even worse; Names that sound to Muslim?

This is complete crap!

Squard

Microsoft is so stupid. Everytime I play on XBL (which is very infrequent), I ALWAYS run into some asshole with a name like "420WeeDKiNg."

When are they going to start banning that? Should children be exposed to rampant endorsements of drug use? Or is open homosexuality more damaging according to Microsoft?

And what the fuck is with their comment about not being able to defend themselves against a parent who has to explain what "Gay" means to a child. A child old enough to play XBL mind you.

Sundermania

Completely dumb. The fact that any words can be spoken via voice chat makes this tactic of banning names pointless.

Concerned_Citizen

Xbox Live is a private service provided and maintained by Microsoft. When you sign up, you agree to abide by the terms MS has set. If they say your GamerTag needs to be changed, you have two choices: change it, or stop paying the membership fee. For all the hub bub about discrimation and courts, this boils down to the agreement you accepted when you joined Xbox Live.

steveliv

so "Gongowandalapoopoo" is acceptable but "Gaywood" isn't?

mariospants

Not suprising to me. One time I started a WoW character by the name of Fukien. If any of you have played Suikoden you would know that it is a legit character name but players didn't think so, I got reported and even after I spoke with a GM about the name's origins and all that, and how its Asian the GM said while that may be true, it doesn't look like that to other people because they will misconstrue it anyways.

coffeerox

@BabyInABlender:

I think if I get a 360 and a Live account, I'll make my gamertag "Fetus Yo-Yo".

mjn328

@frostcircus: "I for one am glad the named got banned, I'm tired of Live users gratuitously flaunting their own names. What you do in the privacy of your own birth certificate is your own business, don't rub it in our faces."

A+ comment

BradOFarrell

I'm sorry if this has been brought up already (418 comments, yowza!)... but by their rationale, wouldn't any gamer name with the word 'straight' be banned? I mean, one of the definitions is 'heterosexual'. I can definitely see a gamer with a tag like 'straightshooter' or something like that.

I wish we Americans could just shed the last of our Puritanical views an get on with life already.

joshthephenom

XBL is awful. I'm so glad i'll never pay for this kind of godawful service.

Think of the children! The children!

Puck

@radiodave1102: I am intrigued by your views and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

It's even worse for us Euro people. If I play during the evening, the timezones mean it's the middle of the day US, which means almost all the people playing are kids. Last night my CoD4 clan played a clan of Americans who were very good, polite, well spoken, not singing, and said "good game" between each round, and shared a good natured laugh when the damn map rotation served up Chinatown three times running. I was totally speechless at this behaviour.

RichardGaywood

Talk about double standards from Microsoft. Everytime I go on practically any game on Xbox Live, be it Halo 3 or GTA IV or whatever I hear an onslaught of a specific racial slur that I've only heard from U.S. gamers. It's 'N*****' this, and 'N*****' that. Or (nowhere near as frequent)as soon as a person joins the lobby they start shouting how they HATE Iraqis or some other nation.

MICROSOFT DOES NOTHING ABOUT RACISM.

All they need to do is listen in on a few games and they will have loads of people to ban. But Microsoft don't think racism by their biggest client base is a big deal. Does anyone actually know of somebody who Microsoft has banned for racism?

MICROSOFT WILL TAKE ACTION IF YOU HAVE TOO MANY ACHIEVEMENT POINTS!

seriously! If you have a suspiciously high amount of achievement points, then they will take action. Look, I understand dont want offensive names, especially if younger kids are using Xbox live. But if Richard Gaywood is indeed that player's real name, then he should be allowed to keep it. The fact is there are quite a few people with Gay in their name. I agree with banning 'the GayerGamer' but banning all instances of the word gay means that Microsoft are categorising homosexual men and women as something wrong that should be swepted under the carpet.

MICROSOFT WILL TAKE ACTION IF YOU OFFEND WHITE AMERICA

Actions speak louder than words. The name Gaywood is offensive to middle America so Microsoft bann it immediately so people aren't offended.

WHY THE F*** DOESNT MICROSOFT DO SOMETHING ABOUT THE RACISM?

Andronix

My God, do I ever wish there was some way to legitimately verify age in an online community. Could you imagine servers being reserved for people in their twenties and servers reserved for the preteens?

The silence, and lack of high, shrill voices would be bliss. Alas, my dream will never be realized.

radiodave1102

@ajm1240: That's unfair dude. I used my real name on Live for two reasons. Firstly, because at thirty freaking years old I'm starting to feel that made up names are, well, a bit childish. Since this news broke I've had a half dozen people I haven't spoken to in years mail me about it -- because they could recognise me. I don't do or say anything on Live that I am ashamed of, so I have no need for a fake name.

And @Smidget: this was my second reason -- to see if I had any more abuse playing under my real name. At various points I've played under other names (friend's accounts) and guess what? I get called a "ghey f4g n00b" about as often regardless of what name I use. The voice chat on Xbox Live is vile full stop, regardless of your gamertag. Using my real name didn't make it worse.

@radiodave1102: Well said.

@TRT-X: you're right, I did at least get to select a new gamertag for free.

@TRT-X: the Real Name bit of my Xbox profile will let me enter Straightwood but not Gaywood as my name.

@Wei: this is my point -- there are a hell of a lot of very common foreign names that sound offensive to English speakers. Gay is a common French surname, a lot of Germans are called Wanker, a lot of Chinese are called Wang. I have it on good authority that a "major nelson" is cockney slang for a sloppy blowjob, so can we make him change his tag too? Everything is offensive to someone.

RichardGaywood

I understand Microsoft's difficulty in policing such a large user community, but really. If they are actually manually reviewing these complaints as they imply in the statement above, they should let the guy use his name. This is obviously not overtly sexual or offensive.

I would imagine they just don't want to admit that they do not review these things and instead have software automatically pulling out keypoints.

M.A.S.

Xbox Live: Your unfortunate name is not welcome here. But hate spewing, sacks of meat that pretend to be human beings are.

PSN: Safe haven for all the Gaywoods in the world...

I think Sony could have something here.

radiodave1102

I second the notion of banning gays from society, because, imagine if my child saw one, I really wouldn't want to have to explain it as a parent.

Wait... my brother is gay... OH SHI-

Blue_Six

I guarantee you more often than not when this guy was in a matchmaking lobby, slanderous/joking/derrogatory comments were made by the other players in response to his name. I don't see this as something MS is doing against gay people, the gay community, or anything of the sort. It is essentially to "keep the peace" while gaming on LIVE. I know I don't want to go into a match and listen to everyone in the lobby joke and make fun of this guys name because its always mean things that are said when something gay comes up. Does it suck that people respond that way to the word gay? Of course it does but thats simply the times we live in. Some young kid shouldn't be subjected to hearing the comments that I have no doubt this guy heard all the time. And even it didn't bother him ("eh, i've heard it all my life" "im used to it", whatever) it bothers a lot of other people - the comments, not the gay aspect of the situation. MS is making him change his name not so much because of the word gay, its because of what the word causes - derrogatory language, comments, and flaming by others on LIVE. If LIVE gamers (and really society) didn't handle the word gay this way, then it wouldn't be an issue but unfortunately there's a lot of jackasses on there so MS has to do something. Get over yourselves people. This isn't prejudice anything, its just the facts.

RPGJunky, online interactions are judged so harshly because people are able to say things without repercussion by hiding behind their TV, computer screen, online persona, etc.. Of course in any public situation it wouldn't be handled this way but online, people have the complete freedom to say things they wouldn't normally say and get away with it.

I have gay friends and I think it sucks that this has to be done but in surroundings where people can be anonymous and say whatever they want with no fear of repercussion, the word gay, in any sense, causes comments that are 99% of the time derogatory and offensive. THAT'S the reason these things happen. Sure it sucks but thats just a fact in our society right now and rather than MS trying to find all the thousands of people on LIVE who have probably said those things in response to this guys gamertag, it can be stopped at the source by a simple name change.

Smidget

good stuff its just a name, its not discrimination or any f that bull. he just has a wank name and MS recieved complaints abut it. its good to know that the complaint button does something.

SwindleUK

@Iceman B.: "Second, why doensn't Microsoft actually DO SOME INVESTIGATION and either unban THAT SPECIFIC gamertag and/or offer him a free change."

They are offering him a free name change.

TRT-X

@colineff: Do you think "Richard Straightwood" would go over any better?

TRT-X

@bialia: Here's the problem with theGAYERgamer....how does Microsoft prove he's gay? What would you think would happen if any company went to a customer and asked "Excuse me sir, are you gay?"

Why should it matter if he's gay or not? If he uses a term that violates the ToS then it needs to be handled regardless of gener/race/sexuality/species.

Because the next step is going to be confirming that people with N***aJim as a user name are actually African-American. Because then it'll be okay.

@Funnydale: There is a way to stop these people. It's called the "Rep" system and "File Complaint". You know, those options that appear along with ANY Gamertag display? How about instead of running to Kotaku and whining about the deluge of vocal garbage being spewed on Live, you actually do your part as a member of the community and report these people so they're brought to Microsoft's attention.

Because I'm pretty sure MS doesn't monitor online communications. And I'm pretty sure you want it to stay that way. So they're not going to know if somebody's saying things they shouldn't unless you tell them.

TRT-X

so by the same token you cant have straight in your name?

colineff

Man, this is so stupid it's not even funny.
First of all, what is the objection against using your real name online? I see no problem.

Second, why doensn't Microsoft actually DO SOME INVESTIGATION and either unban THAT SPECIFIC gamertag and/or offer him a free change.

Besides that all, it's SO retarded to ban tags with "gay" in it. It's not even a derogatory term. There are so many ways to solve this instead of an AUTOMATIC ban.

MS could argue they are doing it to "keep their network clean". Well wakeup and smell the coffee Microsoft, it seems your network is infested with all sorts of users who happily will pour on more blatant and obnoxious swearing than any one gamertag could carry.

Go Microsoft -_-

Iceman B.

Shit! My name is gamertag is "wei long", my actual name (Chinese) and because it sounds like a funny name in English, I could be forced to change it too?

Everyone who is saying "he's asking for it by using that name on LIVE" are the problem. That's the exact point of the argument: When prepubescent kids make fun of your name, you pretty much have to take it. When a company whose product you purchased point's at you and says "haha, your name is gaywood!" it's time to complain.

Wei

I think there ae two things wrong here.

The lesser wrong is that someone felt the need to flaunt their homosexuality around.

The bigger wrong is that people found it said homosexuality offensive.

Ryumeka

You know, I'm not a lawyer, but I'm pretty sure this sort of censorship in the UK could be deemed illegal. Not the fact that Richard's name has been banned, but the fact MS will not allow you to identify yourself as gay.

Hey - I know! Gay people could be given a symbol on their gamercard instead. This way they can declare they're gay without using the G word. A yellow star or something...

deKay01

So, would a gamertag like "NoSex" be banned also?

Superuser

They didn't ban Harry Boobs.

I can't think of a good name...

There is no indication this guy is stupid. He's had this name his whole life. Fair or unfair, he knows what the connotation is.

The ONLY reason you would actually try to use this name on live is to cause problems or make some kind of political statement. Live is not the place for that. It is a CLOSED community for playing video games. If you can't enjoy playing games unless you are using your actual name, then you have other motivations for being on the service. You agree to terms when you sign up. If you don't agree, don't sign up.

ajm1240

@kitkatu: Two reasons I don't have a 360 yet: (1) I don't want to have to send it back to Microsoft if it breaks (this isn't a shot at their customer service or anything, I'm just lazy and if it broke it would be game over for me and my 360 because I'd never get to the post office) and (2) I don't want to deal with the 7th graders on Live. Especially if I'm paying to use it.

mjn328

@MrThunderfield: I'll give you a lol for that one :o)

RichardGaywood

I'm on Richards side on this one. Although I understand that companies have policies they need to follow, I think that one should be allowed to have their real name in their gamertag, WHATEVER it may be.

That said, how funny wouldn't it be to change the "i" in Richard to "o" and put a "k" between the c and the h? RockhardGaywood lol... Anyone...?

MrThunderfield

@Kensei: The Real Name bit of the Xbox profile wouldn't allow Gaywood but does allow Straightwood. Go figure.

RichardGaywood

I wonder if they would ban somebody with Straight in their name...

It's fucking ridiculous, clearly shows the lack of acceptance towards homosexuality really, I mean GAY is a lot different from JIZZONMENSFACES...the world is fun.

Kensei

This coming from a company that tried to give me a zone.com ID of HereCracker. Sounds like a bunch of 3rd grader garbage over at the Microsoft camp. I guess Nintendo doesn't have to worry about that with their nuclear missile launch "friend codes", so they might have actually done the right thing designing the system that way...

SpeedNut

@Yatterman: I've heard reports from people who wanted a new tag for free so just ask a few friends to file complaints. This works almost all the time, it seems. I think MS are just rubber-stamping the complaints.

RichardGaywood

@超外人: so they don't even have their list of offensive words? this is ridiculous: what if someone reports as offensive a perfectly legitimate word? they seem to be keen to censor instead of investigate.

Yatterman

@kiigan: Yes, abso-fucking-lutely. I hope they have some badass language speakers on their vetting team. Finnish, Navajo, Welsh, Korean, Russian, that African one with the clicking... And don't forget all the slang. "Major nelson" is cockney slang for a sloppy blowjob, spread the word!

RichardGaywood

I want to see whether the gamertag Gaylord Nelson would be banned or not. Would Microsoft want to argue with all the academics in the world on just how big of a historic figure that man was... (He founded Earth Day)

TurinTurambar

I work with a chick that has the last name Cockburn. No joke. To bad she prob doesn't even know what XBL is...lol.

mikecoscia

The other issue is, XBL is a global service and words or names that may sound rude in one language may be perfectly acceptable in another language.

Microsoft need to get a fucking grip.

kiigan

Maybe Microsoft should do more to tackle the little cockwads ruining games of... well, anything; from Halo 3 to Uno, instead of taking action against people's surnames.

If they had a real dedication to the community, I wouldn't have to go into a Halo 3 game, speak down the mic and be called a "Yellow toothed British faggot".

MS's Xbox Live policy is a crock of shit, because they enforce it against users who are legitimate, good gamers and add to the community (such as Richard Gaywood), then just let the fuckwads who hurl abuse at any/everyone get away with far worse violations, including genuine homophobia, racism, absolutely atrocious language and other forms of verbal abuse.

And if anyone comes up with the excuse that MS can't moderate voice chat, then they shouldn't moderate anything at all. It's pretty evident that the moderation they ARE doing is totally inadequate, biased and completely unfair. I can't see how moderating someone's gamertag is going to make a difference when there are legions of assholes ruining the experience in-game for everyone else.

akwinters

Better start banning people with names including: kuso, kakka, paska, baka, hintti, pano, runkku, fag, bög, knulla, etc. They are all bad depending on the language.

Furu

@Terance!: The problem Terance, is that not everything that can be construed as sexual is banned as many names with heterosexual connotations are left alone because the vast majority of XBL users [prepubescent imbecilic males or adult males with the cognitive development of a blueberry muffin] don't complain.

This isn't keeping our children safe it's making sure our target demographic doesn't get offended by "teh gayz".

Hedgeworth

@Terance: True true. Microsoft is doing a good job of protecting you from the threats of modern society. Imagine your gamertag is "Weiner Gay" and you joined a server in Call of Duty 4. Do you honestly think you're going to have a good experience? Now stop being a two-faced liberated hypocrite and use a more sensible nickname. Hell, forget about the nickname and just enjoy the damn games!

garytek

Fair enough for me.

Bokusatsu_Tenshi

@超外人: Thanks for that man, I'm guessing you've been reading my posts in the other Kotaku thread. I'm on UK time so I wasn't around while these 379 posts were made so I haven't been able to respond to them, so cheeers mate.

@otimus: I agree. I've been exchanging emails with this Stephen Toulouse. He's confirmed I was banned for content (i.e. the gay word) and not because it was my real name.

@gozirah: I wasn't asked politely, no, and I would have preferred for that to happen. When I booted the Xbox I got the "your gamertag is no longer valid" screen and had to change it before I could log in to Live. It made me late for a CoD4 match actually.

And to everyone: interestingly, I can't enter Richard Gaywood in the "Real Name" bit of my Xbox profile either (it tells me there is a banned word) but Richard Straightwood is accepted in there. However, I can enter Richard Gaywood in the Bio bit of the profile... it must be less offensive further down the screen, I guess. I did some digging and even "Linux" and "Unix" are banned in the Real Name section, which seems... bizarre.

RichardGaywood

So, "killer" is allowed. But not "gay"?

Murder is good. But oh noes, watch out for the sex0rs!

Swegamer

OMG WTF My teacher's name is ms Choksondik. will she get banned?!?!?!?!

maraxusofk

this is such fucking bullshit it makes me want to write a letter, what a wrong stance to take - microsoft is letting homophobes run they're fucking online service

horsekateer

@rup3t: Yes. Yes there is.

Aglet

THis sucks but oh well. MS should allow him to have his name really cos there's no need to turn Xbox live into an overly censored and constantly monitored medium. That'll never happen really so there just being d*cks but it's not that big a thing really.

Llost

In the future there will be no names - only a unique series of digits assigned by the overlords of microsoft prime.

Oh, and the sequence '69' will be banned.

KafkaTamura

Michael Moorcock and Neil Gaiman would throw a fit.

Pombar

Heehee you said penis! Oh wait there's innuendo there too!
Richard Harding or Richard Hardwood would be a good name to replace Richard Gaywood. Yeah suck that XBL!

excaliburps

@Promethean: I have it on good authority that if you find a lady of the night in Old Kent Town in London and ask for a "major nelson" you are requesting a sloppy blowjob.

RichardGaywood

@Terance:
wow deja vu

aiko.adonia

@kcm117: I did some experimenting last night with the Real Name field. It wouldn't let me enter Gaywood, Homowood, or Heterowood but Straightwood was accepted.

RichardGaywood

To everyone: Microsoft have confirmed in email to me that I was required to change my tag because of content and not because it is my real name. Xbox live also won't let me list it in the Real Name bit of my profile (even the words "Linux" and "Unix" are forbidden in there -- try it out) but I can put it in my Bio bit, which is, what, an inch further down the screen? I guess it's not offensive on the lower half of the screen.

RichardGaywood

@freakout:
It is a free service, yeah you might not be able to play against everyone online, but you can still see them in the rank lists, and on every gamertag on the internet. And there in is the problem with the name.

ztilleto

@Terance: It really bothers me that I am agreeing with you right now. Unforunately, however, it's true. Anything that CAN be seen as offensive is banworthy in most cases. I feel bad that his name happens to fit under the description of potentially offensive, but if misread, it could be.

Think about it this way: the problem isn't with Microsoft and the Xbox Live admins--it's with the users who PLAY on Xbox Live. First off, his name is Gaywood. Deal with it. People need to stop giggling and assuming everything is a joke.

The real problem lies in the maturity level of its users. (And this doesn't apply just to XBL, I'm sure it applies to PSN and we all KNOW it applies to the Wii's online which doesn't even truly have "usernames") A person's sexuality is neither humorous nor something to be mocked, by anyone. But given a massive number of users, there are bound to be people who are intolerant and thus would be offended, or begin to discriminate against those with that username. The Microsoft (or Sony, or Nintendo) would be held responsible (wrongly, but they likely would be) for not doing something to intervene with this discrimination.

So no, I am not happy that this man was banned. I wish it was easier to avoid, but I think that given the people who actually use the service, it was a reasonable measure to take by MS.

TuxBobble

I heard his wife Amanda Hugginkiss was banned too.

Turtlestack

I'm fairly certain that MS originally (wrongly) assumed that this was a joke name, I mean they guy's name is Dick Gay Wood for Christ's sake. Unfortunately it turned out not to be a joke, but if if MS allowed it then they'd be setting a precedent for people creating legitimate sounding names that were inappropriate.

Luziphir

@bigmil87:
You a bad little boy arent ya!

JadedBlack

They should ban the people who file complaints, geez, they wanna be dumb and pick a stupid name? don't be a dick about it and complain, just ignore it... it would save lots of frustration for those whose names are LEGITIMATELY dumb

Inzoum

@Jelster:

Thanks!

I_fit_in

So will Microsoft ban the name of someone like "Straightman", an actual last name?
"Hetro", a first name?

Or will it only be against those terms used for homosexuals?

Kenofthedead

That really is unfair and stupid. Fine, he can't have that name. But he definitely does not deserve to be banned for it (read the article, he is essentially banned). Even if he's getting a new Gamertag, it means he lost everything that was previously associated with his old gamertag which isn't right.

Samos42

I really, really, really, really, really wish Kotaku, or hell, anyone else, would try actually speaking directly with these kind of people, in interviews, instead of asking safe questions, posting safe responses, and not stirring the pot at all.

I guess it's a lot to expect journalistic integrity these days, eh?

otimus

@develin:

Yeah, it's quite easy to dig up bullshit to be offended by. I personally think it's a mark on someone's character when they have to define themselves by limiting what others can do and they refuse to.

Lets play a little game. :)

Actually I find Kamikaze offensive, many allied sailors died during WWII because of them!

Oh and Katze is a euphemism for pussy which is a euphemism for the vagina.

So you're obviously saying you fuck pussy then fuck my grandfather! OFFENSIVE! BAN YOU!

Wasn't too hard. Ooops there I go again. BAN ME!

btw - You're sporting a KKKK there. ;)

Jelster

I sure hope that they ban the guy I played last night on COD4 which was itouchlilgirlz. I reported him to Xbox Live

bigmil87

My name is Mike Oxbig, and they've been giving me hell.

scarshapedstar

More importantly, I just hope I can keep my clutch of jealously guarded indoctrinated children away from this nefarious Gaywood. I can almost hear their fragile minds shattering at the mention of his name! Oh, if only the real world would relieve us of such horrible names, just like XBLA!

Darien_Shields

I think the whole point is that MS finds the word "gay" as somehow unwholesome or offensive. Personally, I have no desire to have sex with another dude, but the word gay isn't offensive to me, nor do I think anyone should find it offensive.

This isn't about a username like buttbuster or cootchlikr, it's just the word "gay". Ridiculous.

Microsoft apparently has a problem with homosexuals.

kagai

Honestly the real question is:
Will he lose all his achivements and stats? I can understand that somebody with a tag like:
ISuckCockAndYouAreADickHead
Gets punished, but somebody who uses his legal name?

And how far do you want to go, in fact one can be offended by anything, even not to mention the various languages, dialects, slangs,...
in which a lot of things might be used for offensive purposes.

E.g. I named my PSN Profile KamikazeKatze (as a pun on me living in Japanese, Katze is German for cat) - now imagine somebody would have named himself KamikatzeKatzeKrystal and you get KKK - which may count as racial offense... not to mention all the other abreviations.

develin

>>>That really sucks... my name is Haywood Jablowme

Hey, I think you just demonstrated why they would need to ban the guy's name.

dreamshade

umm, don't get me wrong but those guys pay for live, MS better be giving them some games/live subsc. for this joke... o.0

Shad0X

ill use YAG M$, dont banned me!

kjcwashere

What's dumbest about these bans is that the guy complaining probably just got fragged by the dude on Halo or something.

If you're dumb/young enough to be offended by something like this, you really shouldn't be playing online games.

Providence

Hope your name isn't "DickJohnson" or you might be in trouble if you use it as your gamertag.

jmsalal

Dick Gaywood......? His parents should be banned from ever naming anything ever again.

Smorlock

'Sorry, but your name is not appropriate to be used.'

Just amazing...

SubZippo

right like there arent a shitload of potentially offensive gamertags or gamertags containing potential innuendo. wow, microsoft was alright on the first GAYerGamer one, but this is in no way legit

elislider

@thor79:

MS couldn't give a crap about a handful of people leaving because of something like this but some media coverage may make them look to their procedures and perhaps install some common sense in cases such as this.

@I_fit_in:

And look what a wonderful, well balanced person you became. :/

Jelster

@smcallah: But the problem is that his name can be largely interpreted with sexual meaning.

I mean, ok this is a bit contrived, but what if I legally changed my name to Pussy Galore? Hey its my name, it's ok right? Who cares if 99% of the people that see it will interpret it with a sexual meaning, it's my name, that makes it not offensive right?

Obviously he didn't have the intent of being offensive, but the problem is that it's largely intrepreted as being offensive - and therefore it is offensive.

Also, lets get a fucking sense of perspective here. He's not being banned or denied service, he just has to pick a new name. Jeez what an injustice! He has to think of a new GamerTag and enter it; that could consume whole MINUTES of his life. How could MS be so evil as to inflict that upon a person![/sarcasm] The "damage" to Mr. Gaywood is so trivial that it's laughably ridiculous that people are mentioning lawsuits and such.

I mean if someone found "Stevedroid" offensive, I'd think "WTF?" for precisely two seconds, followed by "well whatever" and then I'd pick a new name. I wouldn't whine about it like a bitch.

Stevedroid

So, being "gay" makes you exclusive and unsafe?!?!?

Some people hate homosexuals, some people could care less about your sexuality, and some people are passionate about being homosexual, no doubt, but the word "gay" is not offensive, suggestive, or unsafe. If I was MS, I would be less worried about such usernames and more worried about all of the a'holes that frequent MP games.

Ni**ger, fa**ot, f**k you, pu**y, etc., these words, spoken over Xbox Live, are far more damaging and unsafe than any username. The only time I pay attention to a username is when the person's mouth is so out of control I have to mute them. This is just a load of corporate BS.

kagai

1. He is only "banned" if he doesnt change his name...
2. AFAIK you are given the option, for free, to change your name when it is a result of a complaint, as this man has also already stated, its more a matter of issue at hand.

I think its all silly, and the only people who are remotely interested are sensationalists.

OrionnoirO

If my gamertag was RichardStraightwood... or Richard Heterowood....would i be banned??? if so im calling discrimination....

kcm117

And people pay $50 for this bullshit?

It's his real name. They didn't give him a warning, they just banned his account? What the shit is this? Give him a chance to change his name at least.

Should I be this outraged?! I need a paper bag. Jeebus. I'm hyper-ventilating.

symeon6

People are being waaay too sensitive about this. It's blatantly obvious that the ONLY reason he used his real name is what he real name is. If his name was John Brown or something, he probably wouldn't have used it. He realized his name was a joke, used it, and paid the price. Wah.

tavaryn

I really hope Dick Gaywood punches his parents in the face for naming him that...

RagingTowers

Dick GayWood...Holy crap man!

Sorry for em

Beyene

@Michael McWhertor:

Dammit, McWhertor, you beat me to it, you jerk. Had I known you posted this, I would have choked and rushed home instead of dicking around, tugging and pulling at beers at the bar. Also, schlongs.

dunetiger reads kotaku, seems pleased

@I_fit_in: Since there are many Christians with the last name "Gaywood" and even just "Gay," your parents and others like them are just pathetically stupid. I'm sure you probably realize that though.

And yes, I know a Christian named "John Gay."

smcallah

I have this trouble everywhere myself. My name is a proper English language term that gets used in a derogatory way from time to time. Proper words listed in respectable dictionaries should never be banned. Why do we punish those with a penchant for the vernacular and encourage everyone to talk like a simpleton?

So what if I was born out of wedlock? Is that something I'm not allowed to be proud of because we live in a world with too many overtly sensitive religious people prying their casting their opinions on my life?
What if my name was PrematureBaby11.. would that be banned as well?

Society is always aiming to accommodate the lowest common denominator.. I'm sorry but I don't want my life dumbed down because of other people's ignorance.

Bastard11

@Terance: The name is NOT against the TOS, what are you not understanding about that?

It is a real name, not a sexual reference. If it was a sexual reference, then you would have a point.

The TOS is against sexual or other offensive references.

If the TOS had said, "your XBL name cannot include your first or last name," then they might have a case.

smcallah

Tossers. Bloody tossers.

gblock

Class action lawsuit against Microsoft for discrimination.

Apreche

@thor79: @thor79: Wait, are you suggesting that we boycott xbox live in the name of Dick Gaywood?

@Spaz569: Um, I got the message saying to change my gamertag because it was in violation of their mighty rules and I had to pay the MS point regardless...I even called in and he told me that was policy, even if I had my name for a while with no problem...

BabyInABlender

@Promethean: Is Prince Albert taken?

iFlingPoo

Whoops, gotta go, my friend Otto Irotic is online, he loves the GTA. Maybe we can have a play session with Homer Otick, guy's really handy at the Simpsons.

@chris_wing: Yep. That joke's never going away. Balls Thoreau Chairhard would be a great stripper name. Wooolookitthemonkey!

@Pinhead: I disagree. They could use the same statement for "MetrosExYouAll", or "MissionaryPosition", or "DaSphincterator" or "LakeTittyCaca"...

Uhm, yeah time to stop playing Rain-Slick and call the girlfriend I think.

Brackynews

@SinCartier: ...great minds think alike...

And so do ours ;)

Promethean

Well, having to pick (and pay for) a new gamertag is unfortunate but something tells me that it's not the worst thing to happen to Richard Gaywood.

On a related note, I also had to pick (and pay for) and new xbox live gamer tag after seeing the exact same message come up on my xbox after a few months of gaming with ABabyInABlender, I had run into the wrong person in a halo game at some point and they reported that my name was offensive.

I do concede that it's a inappropriate because some impressionable kid is going to get the idea to put their baby brother in a blender and it'll all be my fault (and video games will also be to blame). So far my change to PromDumpstrBaby hasn't been flagged, but it actually has actually happened, which probably makes it less offensive, plus it doesn't have "gay" in the title which apparently shouldn't be allowed to be written anywhere for someone to read. This all makes perfect sense to me MS, excelsior!

BabyInABlender

Whats all the bitching about? I couldn't register certain user names in MMOs when i was into them because of some stupid filter. Big deal.

I was watching sport thing a couple of years ago and there was a Chinese dude called "Man-Lee Wang". I was literally LOL for an hour. Now it probably wouldn't be appropriate to have that as a gamertag either. But who cares?

Some names are blocked thats it. I personally wouldn't be offended at all if someone had their tag "Fuck you TheHun". Since I don't find language like that offensive, therefore I should bitch on forums about how a company doesn't allow the name even though I don't find it offensive.

If that last paragraph didnt make much sense:
Different people have different ideas on whats appropriate and whats not. You people think "Richard Gaywood" (LOL DICK GAYWOOD LOL) isn't offensive but would think a name like "Faggot" is, where are you going to draw the line? MS draws the line at anything sexual. Your name might be sexual? Too bad.

TheHun

My parents would have broken my 360 in half if they found out other players were named Gaywood, regardless if it were really their last name.

Most Christians believe STD's like aids to be the offspring of sexual promiscuity and people lodging their cocks up other people's assholes, so to them, I doubt they would find 'gaywood' very funny.

Perhaps the idea that poor sanitation, like not washing your hands after going to the bathroom, or not having proper waste management, caused the bubonic plague has led them to believe that sticking body parts up people's asses spreads disease.

My parents must be crazy.

I_fit_in

@Promethean:

Oh my... in my ranting I was about to propose making John Smith something offensive over time. Great minds think alike

SinCartier

If someone was seriously offended by this name, they have no business on the internet, end of story.

"It would be hard for me to explain the name is not of a sexual nature"

HARD?!? I'm willing to bet you would rather have explained the following to the lady than have to deal with this on Kotaku.

- M'am, it's his name.
- But it says Dick Gaywood
- No, it says Richard, Gaywood is a surname.
- But...
- No, just no. Thanks for your concern.

If you're going to lose a client over this, make it that lady. This getting posted on the front page of Kotaku doesn't help PR for them, no matter what stupid excuse they come up with.

SinCartier

Cater to the Hater.

God bless America.

Comatose Turtle

What about the warning that comes with every xbox game with multiplayer: Game Experience may change with Online Play.

If someone else already said this sorry, there were 317 comments when I typed this.

complexthings

My new hobby will be to find normal names of XBL users and then start using those names in a sexual context for a period of days, months or years (i'm dedicated)until it reaches the tipping point of being ban worth by MS. Watch out BobSmith-- you don't know it yet, but your name is disgusting!

Promethean

MS's explanation seems reasonable to me. Obviously they had at least one user who didn't realize it was a last name. So in that respect the policy worked. It may not be fair to people who have words in their last name that fall under the policy, but then again...those people (and anyone else who disagree with the policy) also have the right to vote on the policy with their money (ie stop subscribing to XBL). Perhaps if enough people leave due to this, maybe MS will reconsider what this means to the community.

Realistically though...MS knows this is a temporary complain-fest over the policy. People directly affected will just change their gamertags and eventually give up on their crusade to get the policy changed. People not directly affected who are against it will just simmer down after a bit. In the end they probably won't lose many customers over this trivial issue...which is why they won't change it. Having a policy which treats everyone the same is the best kind of policy there is in this kind of situation.

thor79

the microsoft system is bullshit anyway. I had a friend named ****** (not giving out his real gamertag). He got into a clan or team or something and wanted to change his name to put the letters in front of his name. BUT he didn't wanna pay the microsoft points. SO he had everyone on his friends list file a complaint about his name. not 4 hours later he got that same message and a free name change from ****** to XGC ******.

Spaz569

@kw4k: Wouldn't matter. By signing up for their service, wiether your paying or not, your still subject to their policy. S'why its called a membership.

Just because you spend a weekend at the pool doesn't mean you can urinate in it since you don't plan on ever coming back.

belo

Does he need to play $10 to change it? That's some gaywood...

Ryanraven

@H0PLITE:

I don't know, if he could show other people with gay in their gamertag are not being asked to change it there may be a case.

@KaneRobot:

Who's going to complain if they don't? Seems to be this is MS's system being exploited for someone's personal gratification. If they had any balls they wouldn't need to seek their jollies by hiding behind an anon complaint system.

Jelster

Honestly if their concern is as much as it is they should have turned off the mic option a long time ago.

they just don't want some jack thompson-esque parent trying to sue them for pedaling "sexual content" to minors.

demonknightinuyasha

They wouldn't want to offend people since the name has "Dick" "Wood" and "Gay" in it. Come on. It's the guy's name, give him a break. I'd hate to see what would happen to a guy named "Harry Balzack."

kylo4

I feel j