Re: EA ID Names

@Sp1r1tMusicorumHello!
I was actually the one asking the question that got Pythia’s response (above), so I think I can help in this situation. The user you mentioned with “spirit” in their name likely had a word in front that may end with an “s” some thing like “catspiritentertainment” which can mean “cats pirit entertainment” or “cat spirit entertainment” logic tells you it should be the latter, but the automated system likely saw it as the former. Also a EA is very strict when it comes to anything that could possibly offend anyone, so they likely banned spirit as it can be considered an “alcohol or drug reference”. Sometimes drinks are referred to as spirits. Hope this helps, happy gaming!

Yeah, unfortunately without proper context and zero way for them to manually approve certain names, its basically implied that my name in and of itself is offensive, while I understand that might not be the intent, its exactly how it leaves me..  Rather far stretch regardless, like you really have to try to use Spirit offensively, in comparison, and again the fact they have zero way to manually approve legitimate names is just a bit disappointing, guess I'll just be (offensive)Musicorum, wonder if I would have to pay full price for a name change on that..  Still, I'd love to have some of the staff review names on a case by case basis, especially if its not a nickname but a legal name, let the person send in their id and manually approve it.

@Sp1r1tMusicorum

I don't know if there is manual oversight or not. But I think that a manual appeal would not change anything. As @EA_Pythia put it, it's about protection from subversion into negative connotation. 

@Str8UpD0gwater Again I get it, i do, they gotta police people from certain words because some people are honestly irresponsible, and I get awe boo hoo i cant use my favorite nickname, the part that gets me, is that according to EA, my legal name is offensive to someone, #SorryNotSorry but if it comes to it, I'll just xfer my account to steam use only, because i've played ALOT of games from ALOT of companies, and this is the only one not even willing to respond, let alone work with me...  Pretty crazy that a persons basic name is "offensive", but again what do I know...  Again the irksome part is, whos feelings am I gunna bloody well hurt with the word Spirit?  Like what? PoofYourASpiritNow?  DrinkYourSpirits? like legit at worst, its so softcore, that you would have to be TRYING to be offended to actually get offended.... Get my drift?  And again, I posted this because the EA "Support" told me to in order to get a community manager to look at it and respond.... so i dunno m8.

@Sp1r1tMusicorum no idea why support would tell you to come here about this issue, as the EA staff who work here on AHQ cannot help you directly with account-related issues, only the support team can help you.

I wish I knew, it honestly seems like they didn't wanna do the job so they sent me off here in a futile effort to get the attention of someone who probably wont even respond to this post only to tell me to go back to support....  Man if I had done that in my old job as a tech support, it woulda been my old job on day one not 8 years later...  Oh well I appreciate the community responses and effort, including yours.

@EA_Darko Thank you for explaining why they sent me here, makes a little bit more sense.  And I would appreciate the feedback being sent.

A person's legal name should they be able to provide proof of it, should almost never be blacklisted from their use, it basically sends the message that they as a person are offensive, when that's not the case.

Additionally it should be better suited to blacklist phrases and not just blanket words in many cases, as I am sure you can imagine, using the word Spirit (which in my case is my first name, is incredibly much more difficult to use with malice to hurt or offend someone, and to be perfectly honest, if someone is offended by the fact that is my first name, that's a situation where they will need to get over it or maybe just add me to their blocked list.  As mentioned I understand the word gay is blacklisted, and I can easily see how that might be abused, but again, a system where legitimate uses of the word should be put into place, especially if its not being upheld by way of Steam Usernames..

I again appreciate your response, and I really hope this feedback does actually impact something instead of just being put in the (non action) column.

Spirit

@Sp1r1tMusicorum 

I would follow the suggestion of Darko and just change the user name. 

Her is an example of a real persons name that would just never fly as a gamer name:

Just because it is their actual name does not mean that it should be used as a game tag on the forum or in the games. 

Hey @Sp1r1tMusicorum as I said, there are numerous reasons why a name may not be accepted and not all involved it being offensive. 

We can't get into the reasons why some innocuous names may not be accepted but if you run into the issues you are seeing then a variation on that name or another is the best course of action. 

It's also a good idea never to use your real name as a username. Using your real name makes it easier for people to find you and not everyone may have the best intentions. If people post their full name here on AHQ at the end of a post and we see it we'll remove it to protect the user. 

Darko

@EA_Darko No I understand there are reasons, even if they make no sense to those of us not in the know.  I am certain that EA is not trying to make anyone feel like crap, or anything of that nature, just a real disappointment is all, and still confuses me but i get it.

As for the latter part of your post, I respect the stance, but its been used as my brand name as well, its all over my social media platforms and in use for that purpose.  Again I appreciate the heads up, and will be mindful in EA posts.

Feel free to lock the thread.

@Asmodeus566 

Again the points I made are being lost here.

If that's your name, and you supply proof, yeah I think a manual override should exist if you so desire to put your account name as that..  But honestly, I sorta tire of these examples such as having a last name Gaylord, or * Van * as your username (which by the way I see some of those words used in games all over the internet) those are quite clear reasons why some censorship might be used, but again, I'm referring to a specific name or word, Spirit, not obvious ones..

My main point in case is, these rules should be reviewed, and manual overrides should be a thing where applicable.  It would be a simple submit an ID with a photo of you holding it with your face clear, scan the photo for matching words, if unclear trigger manual approval which feeds it into a quick ticket request for a human to approve, once approved either automated or by a human, the name could be greenlit. The same process could be done for brand names ect.

These types of features exist all around the globe, so implementation is not really that difficult.

Also I have modified the name already, I was simply following the steps that were told to me by Support, Darko has stated he will submit the feedback and I have already pinged accept as an answer.

@Sp1r1tMusicorum 

It might not be a total fix, but you can just download and play Apex Legends from Steam. That way you can just use any username you really want. Valve is much easier on user's for names. You just click the profile and change your name, you can do it as much as you like as well.

@KYSOMT 

Please do understand even if steam lets you type what you want for a user name it still shows up when you play on EA and if it is against the rules it could still be actioned on.

With that in mind I would not want to be the one that gives people false information and or information that could get people into trouble. 

I'm going to go ahead and lock this now as there's a lot of speculation and incorrect info being shared. 

We will pas the feedback on.

Darko