Living out your Bitcoin dreams through video games is incredibly popular, but fans of the Forza Horizon 4 video game have just had their Bitcoin dreams smashed. One fan tried to make a custom number plate on the game as “Bitcoin”, but the game threw an error, stating that the plate is “inappropriate content”. Given that you can buy the game in Bitcoin and there are songs about Bitcoin on the soundtrack, this is a pretty strange decision from Microsoft.
Not the First Time
It’s not the first time we’ve seen the name Bitcoin banned from a video game. In Rockstar’s latest smash hit, Red Dead Redemption 2, players were allowed to name their horses. Obviously, Bitcoiners wanted to call their horse Bitcoin, but Rockstar banned them from doing so. When entering the name “Bitcoin” in the horse naming section, players were told that the word was not allowed due to being profanity. There are a number of workarounds, but for hardcore Bitcoin fans, only the original Bitcoin wording will do.
There is a Good Reason for It
While it might seem irrational to certain people, the move is actually done to protect gamers from the consequences. By making your number plate – or naming your horse – Bitcoin, then you’re telling other gamers that you like Bitcoin and probably have some. This then opens up the world of scammers, and it’s likely that your inbox will become full of new friend requests and messages from strangers. In a bid to protect their players from this type of scamming, game developers are just banning the name Bitcoin completely. It’s a bit harsh, but it saves the developers a lot of headaches. Fortnite gamers started it off, with hundreds of gamers being scammed out of their BTC.
Bitcoin is Hiding in Games
Bitcoin and the gaming community are very closely knit, with gamers often opting to use Bitcoin as a payment method. Two brothers have hidden a small amount of Bitcoin in the ever-popular No Man’s Sky. A procedurally generated universe with more than 14 quintillion planets, finding this Bitcoin is going to be a tall order. Spread out over two planets, the seed phrase for the Bitcoin is still lurking in this digital realm.
So, while not being able to have your license plate as Bitcoin or being able to name your horse Bitcoin might suck, it’s only that way to keep less savvy gamers safe from scammers. Developers could have at least coded up a special notification for crypto fans to let them know, but we guess that might have been too much to ask.
