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SONY banned someone based on his real name

People might not have had the same reaction to the word "jihad" 30 years ago when he was born, but when he created his PSN account, he must have been aware of how society feels towards it. The PS3 launched in 2006... that's just five years after 9/11. it was even fresher in everyone's mind than it is today.

It's a shitty situation, but he should have thought a little bit more before using that word in his username.

Its his fucking name.
 
He edited his Reddit OP a short while ago with a response from the UK support department:



It's utterly indefensible that he has no options. Forget the name; all of his purchased content is gone because an account he created 10 years ago is now inappropriate. If Sony is going to retroactively ban people, it needs to have a system in place that's more reasonable than "Sorry, better luck next time."

Pretty much. If they allowed him to change the name that would be very reasonable in my opinion. The fact that it's not an easy option leads me to believe we will never see name changes on PSN.
 
In all fairness to Sony, he made the account in the world where Jihad had it's current meaning burned into the public's psyche with 9/11, and other subsequent terrorist attacks. (The soonest he could have made the account was in 2006)
 
I remember the early days of PSN so this rookie oversight in designing the system isn't surprising to me. Unfortunately.

Yeah, I assume the reason Sony has been dragging its feet with allowing name changes on the Vita and PS4 is that it's waiting until it sunsets PSN for the PS3 so people can change their name across all supported systems, especially given this comment by Yoshida late last year:


People have been asking for the option since the PS3 launched. Sony knows it can't be done, but I'd like to think that the Vita and PS4 "versions" of PSN were designed with more foresight. I ended up just making a new PSN account last year as I knew the option wasn't coming any time soon (it helped that I didn't care about "losing" my trophies/purchases as I hadn't really used the account in about four years).
 
Either give him an account name change, or refund in cash every digital purchase that is tied to that account. These are the only 2 acceptable choices here.
 
I'm sorry, but if he's from the Middle East, where Jihad is a common name, HOW THE FUCK would he know that the western world is so sensitive to it, 10 years after the fact?

its crazy that we would expect a middle easterner to be well versed in our culture, when the very heart of this issue stems from the fact that we don't know shit about theirs.

Sorry for getting riled up, but I just find this sort of victim blaming to be really ignorant, even if that isn't your intention. Sony has stolen his Digital goods after allowing him to use the tag for 10 years... All while never implimenting an adequate method of changing user IDs. The fault lies solely with Sony.

I wonder if names like "holywarrior" or "crusader" or "templar knight" would result in The loss of account? Of course not, because double standards.

Well written.

I would sue the crap out of them.
Make an example that these thing is not OK.
 
In all fairness to Sony, he made the account in the WESTERN world where Jihad had it's current meaning burned into the WESTERN public's psyche with 9/11, and other subsequent terrorist attacks. (The soonest he could have made the account was in 2006)

Fixed.

It was and still is a perfectly normal, neutral name in the Arab world.

This is infuriating.
 
I see both sides here, but don't think the user should be banned... I think he should just have to change his display name. It's a difficult issue and this is his legitimate name and Jihad can be a legitimate religious name, but it also has a strong, visceral negative connotation for the overwhelming number of people who will see it on the network.

I don't think he should be banned, but I don't fault sony for having this word be a banned word for a username. I think even a majority of Muslim people who see a username "iJihad" in an online videogane would assume that it is somebody using the word provocatively.
 
The idea that all of my library could one day be gone like this....

Fuck Sony, this story needs to be on every gaming website so they know they fucked up good.
 
Right. I don't get how people are saying "HE should of known especially after 9/11."

Its his name his parents gave him. Are they going to suddenly ban all the PSN names with Omar in them after what happened in Orlando?


That comparison doesn't work...Does Omar have an alternate meaning? Good or bad?




The Orlando shootings have nothing to do with this...and you are stretching just to make a comparison that makes no sense.
 
This is exactly why I don't buy digital unless it's dirt cheap or it's not too expensive and the only way to get it. Or it's from GoG.

With digital stores (other than GoG) where your games are tied to an account, you are at the whim of the company if you keep the games you buy (sony seems worse than the others though about this as you hear most stories like this from them). I think it's ridiculous they can wipe his access to all the games he bought simply over his name (I can see banning him from using online services with that account and really since it's his real name, I think they should allow him to either rename it or if that is not possible, move all his stuff to a new account with a new name). But buying digital that has DRM tied to an account means you are at the whim of how nice the company wants to be to you or how competant they are. Or just random accidents where something happens and your account goes away (happened to me at steam. I only lost a game I got free as I hardly ever used the account and that's partly why I couldn't get it back cause i had no CC tied to it so when they couldn't find my account by my username or email they had nothing else to go by).

Personally I think if Sony can't bring his account back/rename it, they either owe him a refund of everything he bought or at least put all the access to those games on his new account (doesn't help for all the save games he lost though). Of course, he's totally at their whim to do that (or a lawyer and how well he can argue it in court). But really if Sony wants to make it right they will do something like that (and I think it's BS the people jumping to blame him or think that Sony shouldn't do anything because of his name).

If this was a physical game they could block his access to online but he wouldn't lose all the games he bought physically. Or if it was something like GoG.
 
I see both sides here, but don't think the user should be banned... I think he should just have to change his display name. It's a difficult issue and this is his legitimate name and Jihad can be a legitimate religious name, but it also has a strong, visceral negative connotation for the overwhelming number of people who will see it on the network.

I don't think he should be banned, but I don't fault sony for having this word be a banned word for a username. I think even a majority of Muslim people who see a username "iJihad" in an online videogane would assume that it is somebody using the word provocatively.

It's not even necessarily a religious name. It's an Arabic word meaning "personal struggle" that predates Islam, let alone the Islamic terrorists who use it as a call to arms.

I can understand why Sony would take issue with his user ID. These are tough times. But I can't understand why they would feel like stealing his belongings is an appropriate solution.
 
Today a parent called on his kid who was playing. Her name was Isis. Now there turns out to be a lot of people named Isis, should they be able to use this name as a username?

Im really not sure. One thing I am sure of is that it is really shitty to name your kid Isis or Jihad. This is true in both cases as the meaning and use of the word Jihad has been the same for a very long time. (Depending on who you ask it refers to a defensive struggle or an aggressive one) For example a great Jihad was called on during WW1 (it did not work), firmly establishing its meaning and use in modern times. Isis I think everyone is up to date on, if you are older this one is actually easier to understand.
 
49-OgreBattle64-53.jpg


How many Crusade/Crusader, etc. names are on PSN?
 
Today a parent called on his kid who was playing. Her name was Isis. Now there turns out to be a lot of people named Isis, should they be able to use this name as a username?

Im really not sure. One thing I am sure of is that it is really shitty to name your kid Isis or Jihad. This is true in both cases as the meaning and use of the word Jihad has been the same for a very long time. (Depending on who you ask it refers to a defensive struggle or an aggressive one) For example a great Jihad was called on during WW1 (it did not work), firmly establishing its meaning and use in modern times. Isis I think everyone is up to date on, if you are older this one is actually easier to understand.

You are speaking from a strictly western (and ignorant) point of view. You seriously can't understand why someone who comes from a place where Jihad is commonly used in a way that has no connection with Islam or extremism AT ALL might use it to name their children? How should that person know that YOU would find it offensive? I mean, the vast majority of Islamic terror victims are Arabic and/or Muslim, yet they still use the name Jihad for their children.

Again, I ask how can you expect them to know its offensive to your culture, when it isn't even offensive to theirs?

It's just so frustrating that we expect people to see things from our perspective by default.

Couple this with the various other double standards on display (holy war is ok, so long as it's from a western/Christian perspective) and it's just sickening really
 
Today a parent called on his kid who was playing. Her name was Isis. Now there turns out to be a lot of people named Isis, should they be able to use this name as a username?

Im really not sure. One thing I am sure of is that it is really shitty to name your kid Isis or Jihad. This is true in both cases as the meaning and use of the word Jihad has been the same for a very long time. (Depending on who you ask it refers to a defensive struggle or an aggressive one) For example a great Jihad was called on during WW1 (it did not work), firmly establishing its meaning and use in modern times. Isis I think everyone is up to date on, if you are older this one is actually easier to understand.

Trying to ban the name Isis would be ludicrous, considering the actual name has nothing to do with Jihad/Islam or anything. It's just an abbreviation.
 
It is possible for them to transfer purchases from one account to another. My friend was flagged cause his name was "ballsdeepinyoazz". Was flagged 2 years after he created it. They allowed him to create a new account and they transferred his purchases over. This was before cloud saving so I don't know if they could do that but he did lose his friends list and his trophies.

Also it makes complete sense it's Sony UK. Have not heard a single good thing with dealing with them.
 
I'm sorry, but if he's from the Middle East, where Jihad is a common name, HOW THE FUCK would he know that the western world is so sensitive to it, 10 years after the fact?

its crazy that we would expect a middle easterner to be well versed in our culture, when the very heart of this issue stems from the fact that we don't know shit about theirs.

Sorry for getting riled up, but I just find this sort of victim blaming to be really ignorant, even if that isn't your intention. Sony has stolen his Digital goods after allowing him to use the tag for 10 years... All while never implimenting an adequate method of changing user IDs. The fault lies solely with Sony.

I wonder if names like "holywarrior" or "crusader" or "templar knight" would result in The loss of account? Of course not, because double standards.

Eh. Jihad isn't a very common name in the Middle East, and even in the Middle East where people are more understanding of the intention of the name, it's a word that is still popularly evocative of something sinister when seeing it out of context like in this case. I'm not from the Middle East, but I have many close friends who are and who still live there, and if they saw someone sign into Call of Duty, Madden, or Fifa with the name "iJihad" then they'd assume it was someone making a really crass, obnoxious joke, not that it would be a person's legitimate name used in an unoffensive way. For people who live in the middle east, the radicalized concept of Jihad is an immediately evocative concept especially when used in the context of online gaming.

As for "crusader" or "template knight," there's about 1000 years of difference between the Crusades and the modern era and it's not relevant. An equivalent analogy could be somebody named "iHitler" where their actual name very well could be Hitler (although, as we know, Hitler has become a very uncommon name as it was already a fairly uncommon spelling in Europe at the time, and many people with the name Hitler changed their names), but for the majority of people who see it world wide, they're going to immediately assume someone is making a crass statement... Not that it is their legitimate name. I'd imagine that Sony would probably ban the name "Hitler" from appearing, and probably other names like it.

Of course, though, I think it's ridiculous that Sony bans his account or takes away any content. Frankly, I think it's crazy that anybody loses purchases for any conduct issues. I Don't think it's unreasonable that the word is on a banned list. I think it's completely crazy, though, that any user can have their content taken away for anything remotely like this... It'd be like if you used your cell phone to make illegal calls, yes, your phone provider can cut off service, but they can't come to your house and take your physical possessions. Or if you're pulled over for speeding, you can have your license revoked, but the police can't take possession of all of your cars, bicycle, skateboards, other modes of transportation... (temporary repossession of a vehicle being different).

That decision was probably made by a rich white executive that never interacted with anyone with a non-western name.

Lol, no. The "decision is made by an underpaid 23 year old call center employee who probably works in a country that Sony outsources its work to. Rich, white executives aren't sitting around board tables at Sony of Japan's headquarters reviewing if user names are appropriate.
 
It's shite that's why. We only got the ability to appear offline recently. Name changing should of been available years ago. Best thing about it is some of the Plus offerings.

The problem is that if you fuck up the core domain model of your service network in the way that they apparently did (by conflating immutable unique account id and mutable unique display name), it's very hard or even impossible to change it afterwards. Tons of legacy code and data, including third-party software and games without any active developer behind them, would have to migrated.

The only way that I can see from the comfort and ignorance of my armchair would be to introduce a new display name (just like they did with the real name). But in that case, old games and services would still use and display the current, unchangeable PSN username. Only new games would show the new changeable alias. That sounds confusing to endusers, at the very least.
 
Seriously, fucking fuck you Sony. This would be bad if it was a mistake but then corrected, but they obviously looked into this case and made this descision. It's fucking outrageous.

Lets compare it to something. A lot of people in here, including me, have some weird ass nicks. Imagine that in 5 years a terrorist organisation is formed that for some reason carry the akronym HORP. Should I get fucking banned then?

This is totally unaccetable and a clear example of racism. The fact that some people in here try to defend them is just mind boggling. What's wrong with you people?!
 
The problem is that if you fuck up the core domain model of your service network in the way that they apparently did (by conflating immutable unique account id and mutable unique display name), it's very hard or even impossible to change it afterwards. Tons of legacy code and data, including third-party software and games without any active developer behind them, would have to migrated.

Except Ubisoft apparently did the same thing with uPlay and then decided to fix the new games and client first instead of leaving the status quo as is. I'm honestly not sure about it, but there's a page in settings which suggests something like that (legacy name).

Random idea: what if Sony fixed the APIs on PS4 and decided to release the feature after PS3 PSN gets knocked out partially?
 
Eh. Jihad isn't a very common name in the Middle East, and even in the Middle East where people are more understanding of the intention of the name, it's a word that is still popularly evocative of something sinister when seeing it out of context like in this case. I'm not from the Middle East, but I have many close friends who are and who still live there, and if they saw someone sign into Call of Duty, Madden, or Fifa with the name "iJihad" then they'd assume it was someone making a really crass, obnoxious joke, not that it would be a person's legitimate name used in an unoffensive way. For people who live in the middle east, the radicalized concept of Jihad is an immediately evocative concept especially when used in the context of online gaming.

As for "crusader" or "template knight," there's about 1000 years of difference between the Crusades and the modern era and it's not relevant. An equivalent analogy could be somebody named "iHitler" where their actual name very well could be Hitler (although, as we know, Hitler has become a very uncommon name as it was already a fairly uncommon spelling in Europe at the time, and many people with the name Hitler changed their names), but for the majority of people who see it world wide, they're going to immediately assume someone is making a crass statement... Not that it is their legitimate name. I'd imagine that Sony would probably ban the name "Hitler" from appearing, and probably other names like it.

Of course, though, I think it's ridiculous that Sony bans his account or takes away any content. Frankly, I think it's crazy that anybody loses purchases for any conduct issues. I Don't think it's unreasonable that the word is on a banned list. I think it's completely crazy, though, that any user can have their content taken away for anything remotely like this... It'd be like if you used your cell phone to make illegal calls, yes, your phone provider can cut off service, but they can't come to your house and take your physical possessions. Or if you're pulled over for speeding, you can have your license revoked, but the police can't take possession of all of your cars, bicycle, skateboards, other modes of transportation... (temporary repossession of a vehicle being different).

I'm sorry, we aren't talking about your friends who live here in the west. And no I don't think it unreasonable for anyone to assume that he was trolling. But the people at Sony knew he wasn't, and decided to steal his shit anyway.

You are displaying the same sort of western centric ignorance that others have displayed in this . So because you a westerner, you feel like enough time has passed that the idea of a Crusader is no longer offensive-it should get a pass. Yet there are people in the Middle East who still feel like the Crusades are ongoing.

Also, the name appears to be common enough, especially for someone born when this guy was
 
How the hell is it support for terrorism? Jesus do you guys even try to know anything about the word in a wider context?

Man I'm out of here before anymore people write ignorant shit. It's infuriating how people think it's ok to keep spouting ignorant garbage like that.

I'm well aware. I didn't say it was support for terrorism. I said it would be perceived as such. And that's not wrong or ignorant. Extremists and the media have made sure that the word has a singular meaning in the present day. It sucks, but it's not Sony's fault.

I do agree they should refund his purchases.
 
Today a parent called on his kid who was playing. Her name was Isis. Now there turns out to be a lot of people named Isis, should they be able to use this name as a username?
Yes, they should, why wouldn't they?

Im really not sure. One thing I am sure of is that it is really shitty to name your kid Isis or Jihad. This is true in both cases as the meaning and use of the word Jihad has been the same for a very long time. (Depending on who you ask it refers to a defensive struggle or an aggressive one) For example a great Jihad was called on during WW1 (it did not work), firmly establishing its meaning and use in modern times. Isis I think everyone is up to date on, if you are older this one is actually easier to understand.
"My western sensibilities are hurt by your name, so you're banned from using it."
 
This is so fucked up. Just let the guy change the name, or at least transfer his purchases for the new account if your database is so bad a name change isn't possible.
 
Sorry for him, really.

Sony should have the ability to change names so he's not fucked, but the name is offensive.

weird how people get offended by a bunch of letters in a certain order.

it's his NAME. What if some terrorist starts using your name in the future, then everyone calls it offensive., tough shit?
 
The problem is that if you fuck up the core domain model of your service network in the way that they apparently did (by conflating immutable unique account id and mutable unique display name), it's very hard or even impossible to change it afterwards. Tons of legacy code and data, including third-party software and games without any active developer behind them, would have to migrated.

The only way that I can see from the comfort and ignorance of my armchair would be to introduce a new display name (just like they did with the real name). But in that case, old games and services would still use and display the current, unchangeable PSN username. Only new games would show the new changeable alias. That sounds confusing to endusers, at the very least.

I wish they would just start again in some aspects but that's obviously not going to happen and as you said the amount of work needed to do that, it's a farce in my opinion.
 
I'm sorry, we aren't talking about your friends who live here in the west. And no I don't think it unreasonable for anyone to assume that he was trolling. But the people at Sony knew he wasn't, and decided to steal his shit a year.

You are displaying the same sort of western centric ignorance that others have displayed in this . So because you a westerner, feel like enough time has passed that the idea of a Crusader is offensive, it should get a pass. Yet there are people in the Middle East who still feel like the Crusades are ongoing.

Well... my good friends live in Turkey and Lebanon... I suppose some people might consider those more Western countries, particularly Western Turkey (Izmir) where they're from, which is certainly more Western than the other regions.

The word "Crusade" is just not equivalent to the word "Jihad." That doesn't mean I think the word "Crusader" should get a pass or that the Crusades were a very wrong thing, but it's just not the right analogy. A quick google search reveals that having the word "Jew" in your username is also not allowed on PSN... Now, "Jew" is certainly not an offensive word, name, person, or anything. But Sony doesn't allow it, and they likely don't allow it because in the context of online videogames, the chance that somebody uses it in a crass way is higher than that this is someone's legitimate name or they're using it to not connote anything negative. These idiot racist parents named their kid Adolf Hitler a few years ago, and when little Adolf Hitler grows up and registers for a PSN or XBL account, I would not fault Microsoft or Sony for not allowing them to use the name iAdolfHitler in an online videogame. For other people legitimately named Hitler in the West (and there aren't many anymore, because most changed their names and it was a rare spelling anyway), I'd imagine Sony or Microsoft might have a similar restriction. Now, the meaning of the word Jihad can be a reasonable, important thing to many people, it's just that in the context of an online videogame it's probably not appropriate... I would think that religious people who believe strongly in the peaceful concept of jihad would probably agree.

Like I said, it's wrong that Sony should take his content. But that the word Jihad is banned from being used as a username for an international gaming network seems reasonable. It's not Western-centric ignorance. You don't have to be from the west to think that having your name be "iJihad" is not an appropriate name to be using for a videogame.
 
The problem here is not so much he getting banned because of his name (I can understand where they're coming from and this could easily be solved with a name change). The problem is that apparently PSN is a clusterfucked network that was architected in a way that you can't change your name.



This poor guy is paying the price for a major fuck up in their infrastructure.
 
That comparison doesn't work...Does Omar have an alternate meaning? Good or bad?




The Orlando shootings have nothing to do with this...and you are stretching just to make a comparison that makes no sense.

I looked up Jihad as I didn't know it had a "bad" meaning. All I found was that it meant "Personal Struggle" or something similar to that. I get that it has other meanings toward terrorists and what not. But this is the guys name ffs.

I'm from Orlando. I'm only using the guy Omar in comparison to this, which in my opinion is a fair comparison. The point I'm trying to make is that they aren't going to ban PSN names with Omar in it.
 
The problem here is not so much he getting banned because of his name (I can understand where they're coming from and this could easily be solved with a name change). The problem is that apparently PSN is a clusterfucked network that was architected in a way that you can't change your name.



This poor guy is paying the price for a major fuck up in their infrastructure.

Exactly
 
Well... my good friends live in Turkey and Lebanon... I suppose some people might consider those more Western countries, particularly Western Turkey (Izmir) where they're from, which is certainly more Western than the other regions.

The word "Crusade" is just not equivalent to the word "Jihad." That doesn't mean I think the word "Crusader" should get a pass or that the Crusades were a very wrong thing, but it's just not the right analogy. A quick google search reveals that having the word "Jew" in your username is also not allowed on PSN... Now, "Jew" is certainly not an offensive word, name, person, or anything. But Sony doesn't allow it, and they likely don't allow it because in the context of online videogames, the chance that somebody uses it in a crass way is higher than that this is someone's legitimate name or they're using it to not connote anything negative.

Like I said, it's wrong that Sony should take his content. But that the word Jihad is banned from being used as a username for an international gaming network seems reasonable. It's not Western-centric ignorance. You don't have to be from the west to think that having your name be "iJihad" is not an appropriate name to be using for a videogame.

My apologies. I should have said we aren't talking about your friends... I guess I shouldn't jump to conclusions about who is playing Madden.

But wait how is the word crusade NOT comparable to the word jihad? Are they not both words adopted by religious extremists to use religion to justify armed conflict.

Crusade should really be MORE offensive, because it always meant religious military action. The word Jihad was around before Islam was a thing.

If the word is truly banned, they should have corrected the issue 10 years ago instead of allowing him to amass thousands of dollars in content.
 
Right. I don't get how people are saying "HE should of known especially after 9/11."

Its his name his parents gave him. Are they going to suddenly ban all the PSN names with Omar in them after what happened in Orlando?

I don't get this, if his name was " Kill All NON MUSLIMS " in Arabic or " KILL ALL ARABS " in whatever language, that is ok as well because that's his name ? his name has offended meaning. period.

While I don't agree with the permeant banning, the name Omar is actually used for many other religions outside islam so no they cant ban that. however. the name Jihad even in Arabic it implies to fight for the name of Allah ( as in go to war against not muslim ) that is the true meaning of the Jihad ( as far as I can tell ) which while might be acceptable for countries that does have the Islam religion as a main religion, its not for the rest of the world.

This alone will cause fear and disturbance around non muslim people when they go online and someone has a screen name of Jihad etc. who knows what these people might think.

if my parents named me Jihad and I want to move to a non muslim country. sure as hell I am going to change my name. for the sake of not offending other people from different culture and religion. and for the sake of not being treated with racism because of a stupid first name regardless what is that name.

IF you move to a country that is NOT your country, you should respect and follow their culture. not go against it in the name of freedom and human rights.

same goes for companies like Sony , Microsoft and Nintendo. I highly doubt they are muslim companies. if you want to be in their network, respect their policy and other people around the world. you don't live in your own little world.

oh and for the record I am a muslim ( well,, half ) but you get the idea

Sony should just force him to change his screen name and that's it.
 
Like I said, it's wrong that Sony should take his content. But that the word Jihad is banned from being used as a username for an international gaming network seems reasonable. It's not Western-centric ignorance. You don't have to be from the west to think that having your name be "iJihad" is not an appropriate name to be using for a videogame.
Still goes back to the same thing: why ban the account now and not last year...or 5 years ago?

This was an account that Sony had no problems accepting thousands of dollars in purchases. An account that other users had no problems playing with online on though this years.

Until I assume a bunch of users decided to report the account. Either a group got together to report it or something. Because I have reported homophobic and racist players with even hate messages on their profiles and they continued around playing. So whatever caused the flag was done by multiple users. Maybe he won in Overwatch and the other team reported the account as a result.

But it was an active account that apparently had no problems in this years.
 
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