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SONY banned someone based on his real name

L

L.O.R.D

Member
saw this on reddit and decide to share it
this guy is called "jihad",he created his account when he bought the PS3 many years ago
till couple of days it was normal,until recently SONY decide to ban his account because his user name "iJihad" seems "inappropriate" and "offensive"
they also denied his request to change his user name,now he lost all his account with thousand of dollars worth of games in is account.

he does provide his real name from his passport but still they deice to perm-ban him.

full story here

https://www.reddit.com/r/PS4/comments/4pz3vx/so_sony_permanently_banned_my_oldhighlyinvestedin/

at first,they were going to offer him a chance to change his ID name

Z1VNq8m.jpg
Click to expand...

but then they decide not to do it

8afbxo0.jpg
Click to expand...

Hi all,

I Am 26 years old and my name is Jihad. Before you hate on me, please remember 26 years ago, this s**t was not like this. I've been named based on the true, non-religious meaning of the word, which is: Struggling & Putting an effort in doing something Noble, good and highly valued. Long story short, we're in 2016 :).
.
.

I'm really saddened to reach this stage of hopelessness in fair treatment without dealing with personal racism opinions. I hope if you guys would support me, I also accept if you disagree with me; just hearing me out is much appreciated.
.

I have been long PlayStation gamer, since the first one came out. Two months ago I pre-ordered Overwatch: Collectors edition, once I got my hands on it I played it right away. Three days in, I suddenly received: Permanent-ban email, stating reason is [BAN REASON]. (Yes, literally like this) I was furious, I had this account since PS3 came-out, I have purchased MANY games. Never cheated nor talked to anyone.
.

After couple emails and mentioning SONY in social media, they replied with this: on Imgur
-- on Dropbox


And they offered me to change the name. (Which was -iJihad- BTW, same as here)

Couple days no reply, or anything, suddenly another guy review the ticket and decide he doesn't like my name and feel i'm truly offensive and revoke the solution to make the ban permanent!! Then avoiding my email! Email: On Imgur
-- On Dropbox


.

.
Dear SONY

Why offer me a solution then revoke it because another Support guy doesn't feel he liked my name or background? This is far beyond any good support or professionalism.
.

Also Why, legally, using my actual name, which has multiple good meanings, is breaking of ToS, because (ONLY in the past few years) it catch-up a bad meaning in the media? I'm I really breaking ToS by using a good meaning word -which is my actual name- because after couple years it was abused in a horrific way (which i'm extremely sickened to hear about)?

I accept changing it and understand how people may find it offensive -only now-, but its not because it is an actual offensive word, its because only due to the media talks and how it is being used & framed in the past few years.
Click to expand...

now i am scared,because my account id name is close to some one they can find "inappropriate"
and there is no way to change it thanks to SONY.

Update 1: Sony SA heard about what happened and trying to call main branch (i guess they are trying to call Sony EU)


NEW UPDATE:
Edit 11: Changed Name! So after media posts, from Kotaku, Gameinformer and a reporter from WSJ, Playstation UK (where my account was under) Contacted me via Twitter then they called me. I was offered to change the PSN ID, but that has it costs! My Trophies will have Syncing problems and could disappear, Friends are gone and social communication is deleted! There's no other way to it. The other interesting thing, he made the change from iJihad to Jiii--- in just 2 seconds over the phone call! It's not rocket science but it needs much technical improvements. (Noting my trophies are ZERO now after syncing)
They have told me that it was auto system checking (Which I find difficult to believe considering it's around 7 years accounts) and no one has an opinion in it!
He have also mentioned that they are discussing developing a system to allow name changes to all, still in the discussions though!
.
I'm really thankful to all of you guys who supported me and support Gaming community in general. These voices are the ones who will shape the future of gaming. If we let Corporate Managers decide, bad things always happen. Keep up the high voice! We are always heard no matter where we are!!
Click to expand...
 
J

JayEH

Junior Member
So weird they ban him after having the name for years. But even then why go straight to banning? Is it because they have no way of changing a name even for something like this? Is their database that badly set up?
 
K

KellyNole

Member
Permanently A said:
maybe they banned him because you shouldn't use your real name in your username
Click to expand...

Yea I learned that lesson. I'm a guy named Kelly and my tag for everything is KellyNole. I can't tell you how many times I've been hit on or talked at just because they think I'm a girl.
 
R

Rizific

Member
Seems like he knows it's 2016 and the meaning of his name can be interpreted in a different way. Probably should have used that knowledge when picking his user name. Sony should at the very least allow a name change so that he doesn't lose all the stuff tied to his account.
 
T

Two Words

Member
I don't think it being his real name makes it okay. There are other names that unfortunately have widespread connotations with other offensive meanings. To take it even further, any name can be legal. It would open a precedent that real names somehow void the requirement to follow the name policies. Sucks for that guy. His name, which seems to have its own entirely innocent meaning , has been ruined. For it affects his life as much as I'd expect, I would consider changing it if I had to deal with that.


Edit: sounds like they really handled it poorly though. Going back and forth and just banning him is ridiculous.
 
M

Moosichu

Member
Rizific said:
Seems like he knows it's 2016 and the meaning of his name can be interpreted in a different way. Probably should have used that knowledge when picking his user name. Sony should at the very least allow a name change so that he doesn't lose all the stuff tied to his account.
Click to expand...

That's racist.

Also, they've had the name for many years.
 
K

Kyzer

Banned
Okay...that kinda makes sense? Sensationalist news here.

"Sony banned a guy for his REAL NAME omg wtf?"

"His name is really is Jihad aha!."

Ok...his name was iJihad...understandable mistake... hardly like they're just banning people for no reason. I vote not news.
 
G

gamma

Member
imo it's weirder that they offered to unban and rename his account but then rescinded that offer out of nowhere.
 
L

L.O.R.D

Member
Rizific said:
Seems like he knows it's 2016 and the meaning of his name can be interpreted in a different way. Probably should have used that knowledge when picking his user name. Sony should at the very least allow a name change so that he doesn't lose all the stuff tied to his account.
Click to expand...

he created his user name when he was young,many of us created silly user names and now we stuck with it.
 
2

23qwerty

Member
Have they ONLY done this over email? Or have they tried phoning customer support and escalating it if necessary... that would likely solve it pretty quickly, seems like they haven't actually tried phoning.
 
Caayn

Caayn

Member
That pretty shitty from Sony.
Rizific said:
Seems like he knows it's 2016 and the meaning of his name can be interpreted in a different way. Probably should have used that knowledge when picking his user name. Sony should at the very least allow a name change so that he doesn't lose all the stuff tied to his account.
Click to expand...
You do realize that he had his account since 2006?
 
D

darthbob

Member
Permanently A said:
maybe they banned him because you shouldn't use your real name in your username
Click to expand...

Not sure about PSN's restrictions, but XBL won't allow any personally identifiable information (PII) in a user's gamertag, but it must be your last name or your first and last name in the gamertag in order for it to be a violation.

If Jihad was on XBL rather than PSN I don't think there would be an issue.
 
D

dakun

Member
I have similar problems with Nintendo. I can't use my first name in any of their games (Pokemon) that let me customize my name because it's deemed inappropriate. Even though my name doesn't contain anything that could be recognized as a banned word.

This sucks way more since it's tied to his account. Though i do see the problems that could come with such an account name in online games. People probably reported him.
 
B

BurgerDicks

Banned
Its understandable that they were confused. So many shitty players online trying to get those curse words in their nicks and playing as Reaper. That person had to know the meaning of his name. If he did not, bless that innocent soul.
 
Shpeshal Nick

Shpeshal Nick

aka Collingwood
Kyzer said:
Okay...that kinda makes sense? Sensationalist news here.

"Sony banned a guy for his REAL NAME omg wtf?"

"His name is really is iJihad aha!."

Ok...understandable mistake... hardly like they're just banning people for no reason. I vote not news.
Click to expand...

Kinda unsympathetic position to take given all the money the OP spent. If be fucking pissed if I lost thousands of dollars because Sony decided years after the fact that my name is suddenly an issue.
 
S

Social

Member
There was just a little Twitter incident in Belgium this week with a girl called Jihad and a politician. He was under the impression she was supporting extremism with her twitter handle, when it is in fact her name.

Logical mistake to make though.
 
S

Sorian

Banned
Kyzer said:
Okay...that kinda makes sense? Sensationalist news here.

"Sony banned a guy for his REAL NAME omg wtf?"

"His name is really is Jihad aha!."

Ok...his name was iJihad...understandable mistake... hardly like they're just banning people for no reason. I vote not news.
Click to expand...

He put an i in front of his real name. Does that make it more justifiable that they unfairly took his account from him?
 
7

7DollarHagane

Banned
It's probably a good idea not to allow the word in usernames because of all the dumb and offensive stuff that would come along with it, but the should also give the guy a way to change his name.
 
S

Sorian

Banned
BurgerDicks said:
Its understandable that they were confused. So many shitty players online trying to get those curse words in their nicks and playing as Reaper. That person had to know the meaning of his name. If he did not, bless that innocent soul.
Click to expand...

When he made his username, that meaning of his name did not exist.
 
K

Kyzer

Banned
Collingwood said:
Kinda unsympathetic position to take given all the money the OP spent. If be fucking pissed if I lost thousands of dollars because Somy decided years after the fact that my name is suddenly an issue.
Click to expand...
His name is iJihad though. Even Jihad is not that normal. Its like he even knew and exploited the obvious fact that it would be taken the way it was.


He should get his stuff back and change his username
 
A

Alienous

Member
iJihad has unfortunate connotations, and you don't have the unchallengable right to use your real name for your PSN ID.

They should have allowed him to just change his ID though, which I didn't know was possible Shu.
 
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