Sony recently introduced the ability to change your PlayStation Network ID for your PlayStation platform gaming needs. This means that once the change is underway the next time you log into your PS Vita, PS3, or PS4, you’ll have a new PSN ID. However, if your old ID or your new ID is found to be “inappropriate” or “offensive” in any way, Sony may automatically change your PSN ID to “Tempxxxxxx”.

According to Gamasutra, the new temporary ID change for inappropriate usernames was outlined over on the PlayStation FAQ page, which was updated with the new info on April 8th, 2019.

On the FAQ page, it plainly states…

“If you find that your online ID is now ‘Tempxxx’, this change was caused by a report from another player and an investigation by moderation staff, with a finding that your online ID has breached the PSN Terms of Service. […]

It also addresses if you changed to a new online ID for the PlayStation Network and it was then changed to the “Temp” ID, it was because it was found to be in breach of the terms of service for the PlayStation Network. The FAQ page explains…

“Your new online ID has been found to be in breach of the PSN Terms of Service. If you find that you are having issues, such as lost progress or hidden trophies, you can revert to your previous online ID, as long as it does not breach PSN Terms of Service.”

So what causes your ID to breach the PSN terms of service? Well, GamesIndustry.biz scoured through the Code of Conduct and found the passage that relates to what’s mentioned on the FAQ page. The article explains…

“The PlayStation Community Code of Conduct advises all users to, “not post anything that is defamatory (making an untrue statement that may be damaging to the person concerned) or racially, ethnically, religiously or sexually offensive.” “These standards apply to PSN IDs, as well as, ‘messages, forum posts, user generated content or any other form of communication.’”

We saw Sony enacted this policy not too long ago against one of their own loyal users who ended up losing all of his digital games and access to his content because he had a Mexican username, and since the California support staff working at Sony are racist against Latinos and don’t understand Spanish, they banned him. Eventually he managed to get the situation sorted after a lengthy back and forth with Sony’s support staff and after the entire thing went viral on social media.

Eventually Sony apologized for being racist against their Mexican customer.

Before that, another user was also banned for having a name he made back in 2012 that Sony later decided was against their terms of service, and retroactively banned him for the name.

This new measure to address the issue is basically to auto-rename a user after their name has been reported.

Hopefully the process isn’t automated, otherwise this could cause some serious issues for paying customers due to trolls. Why would it be an issue? Because as pointed out on the FAQ page, the temp change and change back to your old name could cause you data loss, from games, to saved slots, to trophies, and everything else in between. The FAQ states…

“Changing back to your previous online ID is free and should resolve most issues. However, changing back to your previous online ID may not fix all issues (for example, you may not recover all, or any, loss of content, progress, and functionality). We recommend that if you want to change back to a previous online ID, do so as soon as possible, because it may affect content, game progress, and functionality associated with your new online ID.”

So yeah, try not to have your PSN ID reported because getting it put in the “Temp” zone could legitimately screw up your game library and progress.

Sony instituted the new PSN ID name change feature, but it comes with a lot of problems, including the ones mentioned above. If you have a name that some people deem to be “inappropriate” or “offensive”, you’re now put in the cross hairs of the politically correct police, and don’t be surprised if you get hit with the “Temp” change.

(Thanks for the news tip Rob)