This guy had his Playstation account banned thanks to his first name

THOUGHT your name was bad? This guy ended up in a viral war with Sony, after they banned his Playstation account due to his first name.

Thought your first name was bad? Read what happened to this guy.

IF YOU thought your name was unfortunate, spare a kind thought today for the man who says he was booted off a Playstation Network account through no fault of his own.

Jihad Al Mofadda, a 26-year-old Saudi Arabian gamer, said that last month Sony came across his online profile, which used the handle ‘iJihad’.

He said they decided this handle was a violation of its terms of service and locked him out of his account.

For what it’s worth, this is kind of a big deal for a gamer. Being locked out of your account can not only erase your progress, but also invalidate spending purchases you’ve made online.

Al Mofadda took to Reddit to explain his story, opening by saying: “Please remember 26 years ago, this s**t was not like this. I’ve been named based on the true, non-religious meaning of the word, which is: struggling & putting an effort in (sic) doing something Noble, good and highly valued. Long story short, we’re in 2016 :).”

He explained how he’d pleaded with Sony after he was unexpectedly locked out of his account. Fortunately, at first, they agreed to give him his account back, provided he changed his name from ‘iJihad’ to something a little less... controversial.

This was the email he says they sent:

Al Mofadda was happy with this, saying he was “not picky or sensitive”. But regardless of that, someone else from Sony then reviewed his claim and revoked the previous decision, banning his account permanently.

He emailed the company, accusing them of unfair treatment and re-stating his willingness to change his name. He also claimed there are hundreds of active Playstation IDs with the word ‘Jihad’ in their handle.

As Game Informer notes, searching the term ‘jihad’ in the database of active users brings up a total of 9800 accounts.

He then shared the email he purportedly received from Playstation Support in response. The respondent said he “sympathises with the situation” but that the name “has one meaning that a lot of users find offensive”, thus the decision to ban his account was made.

To the Reddit community, he wrote: “Why offer me a solution then revoke it because another support guy doesn’t feel he liked my name or background? This is far beyond any good support or professionalism.”

Despite Playstation’s insistence that they were acting in the best interests of the customers, most of the respondents — on social media at least — took a sympathetic approach to the issue.

Fortunately, Al Mofadda ended up getting his account restored. He tweeted about the issue repeatedly, which, combined with his Reddit thread making the front page, helped his story go viral.

When his story caught the attention of the media, he said Sony contacted him via Twitter and offered him to change his ID.

However, he did express resentment that all of his gaming progress had been deleted.

news.com.au has contacted Sony for comment.

This isn’t the first time a name has caused controversy due to connotations with terrorists.

Late last year, Nutella had a “Make Me Yours” campaign, through which people could customise their jars with their own times.

The brand rejected making a personalised jar for a five-year-old NSW girl named Isis, saying making the label “could have been misinterpreted by the broader community or viewed as inappropriate”.