Summary Box: No really, that’s where I live _ Xbox sorry for blocking gamer from Fort Gay

Summary Box: Gamer from Fort Gay blocked by Xbox

OOPS: Microsoft Corp. had to apologize to a small West Virginia town and a 26-year-old gamer after suspending him from its Xbox Live service for listing his location as Fort Gay — a name the company considered offensive.

NO KIDDING: The town’s name is real. But when Josh Moore tried to tell Microsoft and the enforcement team at Xbox Live, which provides multiplayer gaming over the Web, they wouldn’t take his word for it.

CITY HALL STEPS IN: The town’s mayor, David Thompson, also tried to intervene, but with little success. He told television station WSAZ, which first reported the dispute, that he was informed the city’s name didn’t matter. The word “gay,” he was told, was inappropriate in any context.