A recent Reddit post details the night a gamer was approached by police over his “offensive” social media handle and gamertag.

In the post, the gamer said he’s had the same gamertag and username across his socials for the past 15 years, including on his Xbox 360. However, someone recently found it offensive and reported him to the police.

“My roommate was in and answered the door, then put me on speakerphone with them. They told me a complaint had been made and they needed to speak with me about an offensive term in my username,” he recounted.

When he met with the police, he was told that they wouldn’t be taking the issue any further.

Can a gamertag get you in legal trouble?

In a Reddit comment, he later admitted his username was “chingchongchinaman.” He noted that he’s “literally Chinese” and it was a joke between him and his friends since he was 13 years old.

Of course, someone online would not know the backstory or that he’s Chinese, so it could sound pretty offensive. However, can a username being offensive really get you in trouble?

At first glance, not really. If your username is considered defamatory or libelous, there may be legal trouble. Impersonation could be another complicated issue. If it’s just offensive and cringeworthy, you could risk being banned from a platform if you’re reported. But I couldn’t find any evidence that the law will get involved.

Even though this guy (whose username I will not repeat) was not arrested, many gamers were still annoyed the cops even responded in the first place. Many noted that taxpayers funded the investigation into this man’s username. However, it should be noted that this occurred in the UK.