Xbox Live can be a pretty nasty place sometimes, but at least Microsoft keeps the offensive usernames out of the public view. That could be a problem, however, as some names are those offensive terms.
Kotaku is reporting that a young man named Christopher Gooche used his last name in his gamertag on Xbox Live. He’s been using it since 2004 when he was playing on the original Xbox.
You wouldn’t think it to be a problem since it it his last name. Unfortunately, he was recently contacted by Xbox Live enforcement to change his gamertag. The reason? His last name was offensive.
If you’re not aware, there’s only an “E” separating Christopher’s last name from a particular slang word that one does not want to repeat in polite company. I’m sure they’re pronounced differently, but somebody might not know and take offense to said name.
While it’s not a huge deal, Christopher did tell Kotaku that it’s hard to change what you’ve used as an online persona for so long in a matter of minutes. I can sympathize as I’ve used the same online handle for everything for the past 10 years and recently I had to change mine as well. It’s annoying to say the least.
Good on Christopher then that he’s appealing the decision. Surely Microsoft will listen to reason and not ban his gamertag just because some immature person might get a snicker out of it. Immature gamers are surely in the minority on Xbox Live, right?