How Microsoft Pwned My Gamertag
By Daniel on Friday, July 4th, 2008 at 3:15 PM PST In Computer, Game Companies, Game Consoles, Game Platforms, Microsoft, Microsoft
For those of you who may know me on Xbox Live or have played with me in the past, you’ll know that I pretty much had the greatest gamertag ever. I was damn proud of my gamertag as it had just the right amount of dirty humor to it. When I’d tell anyone my gamertag, a smile would immediately come to their face, and often a laugh and/or chuckle.
BenDoverx was more than a gamertag to me. It was a way to let people know that I don’t take myself serious at all, and I can even take the occasional joke. You wouldn’t believe how many times I heard people jokingly say, “Heh heh… BenDover…I just bent you over!” whenever they would kill me in Halo. I pretty much heard it so much that it really didn’t phase me anymore. I would simply reply with a “Really? I swear, I’ve never heard that before. You’re completely original.”
Last night, the name BenDoverx finally made it into Microsoft’s crosshairs….
As you see from the picture above, I finally had to give up my gamertag after having it for 2 years. I don’t know if my name was reported by someone I played online or, since I deal with the folks at Microsoft through this site, maybe they caught on to my name and I was forced to change it. Or, quite possibly, it was all a mere coincidence. The thing that’s probably the most annoying about having to change my name is I was going to meet a friend to play online. Instead of getting into a game, I had to sit there for 15-20 minutes to come up with a name I could use without getting in trouble again. I decided to go with a variation of my PSN ID. My new Xbox Live gamertag became ‘TheBeebsta’. Yea…very anticlimactic indeed. Going from BenDoverx to ‘TheBeebsta’ is pretty much like riding the craziest rollercoaster at the amusement park, and then having a seat on a bench.
Nevertheless, I’m paying homage today to my lost gamertag. BenDoverx was a name I was damn proud of, even though there have been times that I had to inform a pretty important contact of mine what my gamertag was so we could get a game going. A lot of them were cool with it and gave me the reaction I expected. But there were a couple who have yet to add me since my gamertag was “risque”.
Here’s to you BenDoverx… you will be missed.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I gotta take a seat on this here bench with my stupid ‘TheBeebsta’ gamertag.
Curse your censorship, Microsoft! Down with The Man!
Thats why I like my name, It represents my play style in most games, AND it is socially acceptable. Yup, I spend most of my time dead, and my ragdolls always seem to dance around when shot. Legally I am a Retired Scottish Zombie.
Also, I blame Jack Thompson, bad parents, and the media.
Bendoverx you will be missed! R.I.P.
BenDover is only dirty if they think of it that way. Guess Microsoft is very very dirty.
Change it to BenDoverx1 or something like that
Unbelieveable
Still at least they are hounding down all the serious offenders like you instead of wasting their time on all the homophobic racists.
damn, your prudish microsoft!
i’ve been hearing ben dover jokes since i was 9(im now 22) and i’ve done nothing but laugh and chuckle at them.
so can someone please explain the logic of this…..?
anyone……?
no……?
oh well, it was worth a try.
R.I.P bendoverx.
Sorry you had to change your name. Your new gamertag is not bad at all!
I find it completely funny how they make you change such a non-offensive gamertag yet I can jump into just about any Halo or CoD4 lobby and within 5 minutes hear racist/offensive/hate filled language. We are talking language that would make a sailor blush and most of it is coming from kids who aren’t even old enough to buy an M rated game.
I understand the need to police offensive gamertags but this is over-the-top.
Are hou really bitching about loosing ur faggot ass name? Who fucking cares? I lost mine about 5 times now, and they were all better than that gay ass shit you had.
WOOO! Do I see an IP ban in the future.
@Who cares: I didn’t realize this was a competition on how many times someone can lose their gamertag. I guess you’ve just got a dirtier mind than I do.
I used to have the gamertag HairyArse too until MS banned it.
Bastards.
Yeah that might almost work
try “Mike Hawk” or something. maybe “Estee Dees”
How bout BenD0ver with a zero
Would they say DenBover was inappropriate?
Political Correctness FTL!
That’s pretty petty if you ask me, it’s hardly offensive in anyway and to be fair, not all that rude either.
haha, how about “Mike Hunt”?? I think that would be the greatest….
“hey Mike Hunt wanna go play some gears later?” lol
I’ve got a friend who’s Hugh G. Wrection.
looks like microsoft bent you over…
Lame. Whining over a name. Get over it.
umopapisdnpuaq is one of my friends gamertags. If you can figure out the secret here then congrats. You just have to be sneaky so that unless you really look at it you cant tell its ‘vulgar’.
@Prat: I did get over it. I created a new gamertag and I’m living with it. I just thought it’d be nice to share my experience with you all and see if anyone had any similar experiences.
Lol. XD Thats like….adhonis got banned from xbox live for having =======D as a his pm XD
@BlankVoid: That’s pretty awesome. Thankfully, I have a laptop which can make reading that easy, but that’d be a great name to have on Live/PSN. Whoever thought of that is a genius!
Not to be a hater but i can’t find the name “BenDoverx” the least funny. Anyway, it does really sucks. Playing with everyone with one name, appearing on the next session with another. This something like this happened to me on the migration from BF2 to BF2142. BF2 allowed three char nicks, but BF2142 didn’t. I couldn’t get my Vet Status, and no one on my casual servers recognized me.
giles de mierda
I don’t think it’s cool that they police gamertags, but to be honest, that was a pretty lame one.
Ben Dover? Geez, I think I first heard that when I was about 10. Honestly, I think they did you a favor…
My friend had ACanOfWupass for 4 years, and they took it away from him like 4 months ago
A Can Of Wupass sry
It troubles me how importantly you see yourself Daniel.
Is this guy really crying about BenDover ? Give me a break … ” oh look I’m ben… dover .. I’m such a homo that I ben … dover for you on a regular basis . ”
Get out of here !!!
I can’t believe N4G.com posted this B.S. about someone crying over a stupid , not original , gay at best , gamertag .
http://www.n4g.com/xbox360/News-165394.aspx
I’d like to put it out there that I actually am with Daniel on this..um..issue. It sucks that your GT was changed..but at least you had some fun with it.
To all the spamming haters: Stop stealing my thunder.
Also, Live is one of the few places in which I’m civil with my name and the way I act, because I’d really rather not get banned and have to start anew.
Remember when I posted as God? That was classic..why didn’t I screenshot that?
There has to be a PROBLEM with you Daniel which caused the BAN..
i would get so pissed if that happens to me ” full friends list and people already know you and the amount of gamerscore you kept saving for years ” if thats all gone i’ll hate MICROSOFT for life..
plus you look kinda cool not the TroubleMaker dude unlike others on XBOXLIVE everytime i play CoD4 i find one going BlaBlaBla Shiit over the players
XBOX LIVE IS FULL OF KIDZ AND HARRASEMENT WHY CAN’T MICROSOFT HANDLE THAT OTHER THAN BANNING PEOPLE WHO DID NOTHING BUT GOT REPORTED BY AN ASSHOLE
Microsoft sucks ass! Sony wouldn’t ban u for a childish name like that…
All those calling his gamertag gay and stupid and telling him to stop crying and get over it, I hope just for argument’s sake that yours gets banned as well just so you will know how it feels. He was just calling Microsoft out for the inane dumbasses they are for banning something as silly and innocent as BenDoverx.
Mine was banned as well, it was Biggustittus, and while it pissed me off I eventually got over it. He will too, so stop the hate for the love of gaming and get a laugh out of it.
Yeah, I had to change my tag. It was Smakk Dealer. Apparently you can have all the pot references you want but throw in some heroine and all goes to shit. And it wasn’t for drugs, it was…like…a smack in the face…err…yeah.
You should have made it something more inconspicuous like diksy_rect.
*shrug*
Non-issue, i don’t see how this is news.
If you paint a target on yourself don’t be surprised if somebody decides to take a shot at you.
I played with u once and it was classic you cursed me and my whole clan out ur effing amazing. ur a effing beast! R.I.P. Bendoverx
the bad thing is just think some of this bans they say from the community and i have to say most of people i hear on the Xbox community would glady report ur name just because u beat them in some game. i would hate to lose my name because it me and i came up with it. but hopefully that will never happen.
We need the Conan O’Brien Stamp “ASS” across this guy’s forehead .
Should of just put BenDover.
Wow. To those who are bitching about how this is news – you must never have visited this BLOG before, otherwise they would know that it is a BLOG with news. I rarely fell compelled to comment in forums or on blogs because of tardism, but if you want the same tried and true biased dry bullshit go somewhere else, plain and simple. The regulars like me don’t want you anyway.