After some members of the Xbox LIVE community discovered that it was impossible to use words pertaining to sexual orientation in Gamertags and profiles, and that usage of these words could lead to a LIVE banning, there was a little bit of a justified outcry.

Thankfully, the Xbox LIVE team has revised the Code of Conduct to allow users to express their race, religion, sexual orientation, and nationality in their Gamertags and profiles. Under the previous policy, this wasn’t allowed, primarily to avoid the usage of these things as slurs, but it ended up excluding part of the Xbox LIVE community. This change in the Code is accompanied by increased enforcement of rules pertaining to the misuse of these terms. Xbox LIVE General Manager Marc Whitten expressed support for the policy change by stating on the Gamerscore blog, “I truly believe that our diversity is what makes us strong: diversity in gaming and entertainment options, and diversity in the people that make up this amazing community.”

Hopefully this works out as planned, and no one uses the revised policy for evil. (Really, if you do, you deserve the banning.)