Electronic Arts (EA) has said it will issue a fix for an issue which prevents users of the Sims 4 from using gay, lesbian and bisexual name references in character names.

Players began to complain after it became clear that words such as “gay”, “queer”, “lesbian”, or “homosexual”, were not allowed in the name or description of a character.

When the words are entered into the name or description, the game does not allow the character to be uploaded or shared online.

According to the error message, the character “contains a forbidden word”.

An EA spokesperson has said the gaming giant is aware of the issue, and is preparing a fix to remove the issue.

“The Sims has a long history of supporting stories that players want to tell, irrespective of gender preference,” an EA rep said.

“The Gallery uses an automated filtering program that filters out certain words, including some of the ones you mentioned below. We are aware of have been working on a fix, which will be out soon.”

On launching promotional material for the game’s release, EA boasted LGBT-specific ads telling users to “Be Proud”.