Originally spotted in the official PSN FAQs by the folks over at Gamasutra, it seems that Sony’s policy on offensive or inappropriate PSN IDs is changing. This is apparently in line with the now-available PSN ID Change feature.
Last week, the PlayStation Network and its community celebrated a momentous occasion. For the first time since the service went live, PSN gave its players the option to change their PSN IDs. While the new features was positively received by almost everyone in the gaming community - prices were fair, and everyone’s first PSN ID Change was free-of-charge - Sony now has even better news for the community. Instead of outright banning accounts for inappropriate or offensive names, the company will now just automatically change them to numbered placeholders.
By implementing this sort of change, Sony is making full-use of its new PSN ID Change feature. In the past, people with offensive PSN IDs were banned outright. Now, just like with games like League of Legends, offensive IDs will be automatically replaced with a placeholder following the format “TempXXX” where the Xs represent a string of numbers.
Players who have been reported to have offensive or inappropriate PSN IDs, will receive due investigation from the PlayStation Moderation staff. If PSN IDs are indeed found to be in breach of the PlayStation Network’s Terms of Service, the name will be changed to a placeholder. If an account’s original ID is found to be offensive, the user will have no choice but to replace their name using the PSN ID Change feature. However, if a user has already used the PSN ID change and his new ID is found to be offensive, he will be given the option to revert back to his previous PSN ID. Of course, only the first PSN ID Change is free per account, so any subsequent violations might mean that players will have to shell out as much as $10 ($5 for PS Plus subscribers) every time they breach the ToS. While this is definitely going to make users more careful with what they choose for their unique identifier across PS4 games, it also sounds like a monetary fine for violating PSN rules.
There are more details regarding the change and the PSN Terms of Service on the official PSN website. You can read more about the new policy here. What do you think about Sony’s policy change regarding inappropriate or offensive PSN IDs? Do you think they’re just trying to milk more money out of the new PSN ID Change feature? Or do you think this change will benefit the community overall? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
