kotaku.com — Late last night, we learned the story of Richard Gaywood, the not-so-happy Xbox Live user whose gamertag was banned. Since "RichardGaywood" was both the user's gamertag as well as his legal, honest-to-goodness given name, Kotaku contacted Microsoft to learn the reason behind the ban.
May 21, 2008 View in Crawl 4
dansmeekMay 22, 2008
<a class="user" href="http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/play.shtml?mea=252557">http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/play. ...</a>
linkthewarriorMay 22, 2008
Kotaku comment: " Caalro at 05:25 PMThat really sucks... my name is Haywood Jablowme "
Closed AccountMay 22, 2008
While the kneejerk reaction (which will surely also result in you burying this comment) is to assume Microsoft evil, against their clients, and homophobic... honestly they've just made a mistake. Their goals are to keep xbox live a clean place that's as safe for children as possible. 90% of you would laugh at some joke about 'gaywood' if it was in another Digg entry making fun of someone's name. Don't act that you don't know what is means anymore than you don't know what "biggus dickus" meant in The Life of Brian. Yea, it's his real name, but that's not really explained to other players. Microsoft is just trying (and whoever made this decision) to keep it clean and friendly. They have a long way to come, but this isn't Bill Gates trying to hold back players. Surely from elementary school this guy had to know that people could mistake his name for a joke. Get real.
lotrtrotkMay 24, 2008
Actually it was very poor analysis.He basically says that Microsoft are a bunch of "sadists, immature, pinheaded homophobes".They in no-way implied that HIS LEGAL NAME is violating the terms of use. What they are saying is that it can be reasonably INTERPRETED as sexual innuendo/hate speach/etc... Whether that is the intention or not.It is purely a judgment call which you may disagree with, but MS is fully within their rights as a private company to make that call. This certainly sucks for Richard... but I can also see how some 9 year old's mother might see this out of context & take offense by it. I'm sure MS is looking at it from that angle, and this has nothing to do with being homophobes.Here is a more interesting question....Why would anybody want to splash their Legal Name all over XBL in the first place? That's just asking for trouble.
lotrtrotkMay 24, 2008
Better yet....why not use your Social Security Number as your GamerTag?
luigisonMay 25, 2008
It's strange that Microsoft is being more restrictive while Nintendo is releasing the reins. Has anyone not noticed all the porn Miis on the Mii Channel and in online Wii games? Nintendo's unrestricted Internet Channel? Beer Pong WiiWare?
jessejaceMay 26, 2008
The filter also works on information fields other than user name, too. My city of residence is Setagaya. I couldn't type it in Roman letters because it contains G-A-Y (never mind the fact that it's "se-ta-ga-ya," not "se-ta-gay-a"). With all the stupid gamers on Xbox Live who run around accusing other gamers of being gay, this concern over user names is really inconsequential. Microsoft, you've done it again. Dumbasses.
chrisusc84Jun 5, 2008
Wow this is cool. I got a YEAR of Xbox Live for FREE and 1600 Microsoft points in under 1 Hour. Check it out. Just had to do a few surveys.<a class="user" href="http://www.prizerebel.com/index.php?r=189086">http://www.prizerebel.com/index.php?r=189086</a>