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def988c7ad6a5927's avatar
def988c7ad6a5927
Rising Rookie
3 days ago

EA keeps discriminating against some Italians in F1 25

Completely ignoring my post, EA continues to discriminate against Italians with the last name "Caputo", an Italian surname so common that even living in the US, I have hundreds of people with it in just my state, and I don't live in New Jersey or New York, so imagine how many must live there.

While it's a good idea to not allow names that are offensive on purpose, this is clearly not the case. Just because a string of letters that are part of said last name are offensive in one language doesn't mean the full name is. 

So it's outrageous that Electronic Arts continues to discriminate against a large part of the Italian population and descendants of Italians around the world, just because part of that name is an offensive term in Spanish.

I was outraged to see this in F1 24, and even more outraged to see it in F1 25, because it's been a few weeks since I reported this, and someone at EA should've edited the list of forbidden names by now.

8 Replies

  • SmokyAtom07's avatar
    SmokyAtom07
    Rising Traveler
    3 days ago

    I'm not sure i'd class it as discrimination as that seems a little strong and seems to have an implication that the Italians are targeted or that the issue is intentional.  There are other highly-common names in different languages with words that are less taboo than the one you mention that are also classed as forbidden so it's definitely not a targeted issue.

    I would have assumed it was possible for a wildcard where if the 'offensive' word is present in a name then it's still permitted on the proviso it doesn't extend to a different profanity word.  However, I expect that there was a concern that people would exploit the loophole and use more offensive names so it was a blanket stop.   Hopefully they'll be able to whitelist certain popular names, such as the one you requested, rather than a wildcard that allows all through. 

  • WestworldArnold's avatar
    WestworldArnold
    New Traveler
    3 days ago

    The real-world F1 organization wants this game to be a marketing tool to grow the fanbase...especially children. So, they are going extra-cautious about language even when it's frustrating to some people.

  • EA_Barry's avatar
    EA_Barry
    Icon for Community Manager rankCommunity Manager
    3 days ago

    def988c7ad6a5927​ 

    Thanks for posting. There is no discrimination involved here. It is unfortunate that your name is blocked. We do not whitelist individual names, so in this case, you will need to choose something else. Thank you for your cooperation.

  • def988c7ad6a5927's avatar
    def988c7ad6a5927
    Rising Rookie
    19 hours ago

    How is this not discrimination when a common Italian last name is banned, when the name itself is not even the derogatory term, but just part of it?

    And by the way, this:

    EA_Barry wrote:

    We do not whitelist individual names, so in this case, you will need to choose something else. Thank you for your cooperation.

    is definitely not a solution. A solution would be "Thanks for letting us know, we'll whitelist that name ASAP and push an update".

  • WestworldArnold's avatar
    WestworldArnold
    New Traveler
    18 hours ago

    Look, I find EA to be frustrating at times, but whitelisting of your last name would get abused by a significant percentage of gamers who are edgelords trying to be vile as possible.

  • def988c7ad6a5927's avatar
    def988c7ad6a5927
    Rising Rookie
    17 hours ago

    No. The offensive term within Caputo is the last four words, in only one language, Spanish. I can tell you with 100% certainty, having lived in a Spanish speaking country for 32 years, that nobody with the last name Caputo is made fun of because of it. And in said country there are hundreds of thousands of families with that name, some of which were and are public figures. And nobody made fun of them because of it. Not even by ten year olds. I know because it's not my last name, it's my best friend's last name, and I went to elementary school with him, for seven years, and in all that time, I spent most of the day with him and other kids, and I never witnessed a single kid make fun of him because of his last name. It's just a common last name.

    This is just a simple case of EA trying to be more religious than the pope. Meaning, it's a perfectly safe and common last name, and I just don't understand your thought that it "would get abused by a significant percentage of gamers who are edgelords trying to be vile as possible". How exactly would it get abused? How do you think that me entering the last name Caputo at the beginning of a single player career constitutes abuse in any way? Please explain to me because I don't get it.

  • WestworldArnold's avatar
    WestworldArnold
    New Traveler
    17 hours ago

    I'm not that creative, so I can't think of any examples. However, I do know to never underestimate the ability of humans to be racist. Even though it's single player, people could still post screen shots and YouTube videos. 

  • WestworldArnold's avatar
    WestworldArnold
    New Traveler
    17 hours ago

    p.s. EA probably has to be extra-cautious with the F1 license. The real-world F1 is hyper-focused on image (ex. the strict swearing rules). The people who run F1 don't want screenshots and YouTube videos of career mode races with racist and abusive gamertags.

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