Xbox LIVE Terms of Use reverses policy on sexual orientation/identification

Xbox LIVE was previously known to censor or even ban gamers who indicate or even hint they were of an untraditional sexually orientation. This could either be from listing it in user profile or using a slang term in a tag. Of course every time this happened to an avid Internet user, it made headlines across the web, smearing Microsoft’s good name.

Microsoft previously stated that the policy was there to protect users from discrimination or harassment, while it actually did quite the opposite. Users were not allowed to be themselves. But Microsoft has finally fixed its error and the Xbox LIVE Terms of Use and Code of Conduct has been update to be a bit more friendly.

Gamers can now be any race, nationality, religion, or sexual orientation they choose. This applies to Gamertags and profiles, but there’s probably still a some moderators looking out for truly offensive violations. Surely a few clean tags will be flagged even after this update, although the announcement indicates that a stronger enforcement policy has been implemented as well to prevent misuse.

At least Microsoft is trying even if this update comes way too late in the game. Gamers have dealt with this issue for years.

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