Publisher Electronic Arts is working to fix an overzealous filtering system that is preventing players of The Sims 4 from sharing characters with names that include gay references, the company told Kotaku.

As it currently stands, The Sims 4 doesn't prevent players from naming their virtual Sims however they want. But if a Sim's name includes a word like "gay," "queer," "homosexual," or even "straight," the game will pop up a warning that the character can not be posted in the online Gallery section, as shown in this video from a German player.

EA is aware of the issue and working to fix it. "The Sims has a long history of supporting stories that players want to tell, irrespective of gender preference," an EA representative told Kotaku. "The Gallery uses an automated filtering program that filters out certain words, including some of the ones you mentioned below. We are aware of [it and] have been working on a fix, which will be out soon."

The Sims games have had a progressive history of allowing for gay characters ever since the series launched in 2000. That continued support for same-sex relationships even earned The Sims 4 an uncharacteristic Adults Only rating in Russia.

It's nice to see EA responding quickly to correct what it sees as an error, as not all efforts to block access to gay content online are mistakes. Back in 2011, the ACLU launched a campaign to prevent school systems from blocking LGBT content on their networks.