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Can We Talk About Name Availability For A Minute


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@kettering.6823 said:

@KelyNeli.4516 said:The solution to it is simpler than you would ever think.Just give your character a real life name and surname divided with a space. Simple

@"Neworder.7981" said:
will get u all the names you will ever need. Male/Female/Neutral

May I remind you that there are five playable races? I don't think there is that much of a problem with human names. There is a huge amount of combinations of first and last names. But the other four races have their own way to name their people. While you can, technically, give them human-like names, they don't fit.

Since charr use last names, though following a different pattern than humans, they should be fine, too. In fact with my recent charr I could get the name I wanted easily. It may help that I give them German names.

Norn do not use family surnames, either. But using ...son / ...dottir or an "earned" title (e.g. ...slayer) probably expands their name pool enough.

Sylvari and Asura typically have single word names.
They
are the ones most affected by this problem. Especially when you don't want your character to be named Xvcxptzrvw or similar. I have been stuck in character creation trying to find a free name for long enough and have claimed that all (proper) asura names are taken.

Using random accents or things like Xx The Name Xx somewhat allows you to take the name you wanted. But personally I hate seeing these. There is no way I would use these methods myself.

You aren't being creative enough with your names. The majority of my characters are Sylvari. Most of the Sylvari in game do not have surnames, no, but what about Scarlet Briar? She gave herself one. There are lore reasons to give your Sylvari a surname. Many of my Sylvari have 'surnames' that are flowers or plants that suit them as a character. Asura can be a bit trickier, but there's nothing stopping you from adding a title to them, or coming up with your own reasons for them to have some kind of surname. Also, as someone else pointed out, that site has name generators for every GW2 race, not just humans. It's extremely easy to google 'gw2 sylvari name generator' and get several results.

All in all this comes down to 'someone has something that I want but can't have' and that's just a silly argument. There is not a shortage of usable names in the game that aren't gibberish or puns. And even if you do want a single word name, if you do enough finagling, you can come up with one. I came up with a nice one just last week.

My asura is Tarzan Blackheart -- Tarzan because he is awesomest hunter ever and Blackheart because that is the "family" name of my toon group.

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@Ashen.2907 said:

Firstly, who are you to judge why a certain name is not available to you?

What...? Why would it be me judging? It'd be an automated system determining completely dormant accounts based on not having logged in for over 7 years etc.

I wouldn't be touching anyone's account. It would merely be Anet recycling completely dead names from 2012/2013 that are on inactive accounts.

@Ashen.2907 said:"someone else has something that I want. Please take it away from them and give it to me."

This comment is way underrated.

It's underrated because it's missing the point entirely.

Not missing the point at all. Person A has something that person B wants and so person B is asking that the something be taken away so that he can have it. Period.

Imagine you got a new office job.

You work there for 6 years in your mediocre office space (metaphor: "bad" name in gw2) and wonder why you could never get the amazing office space (metaphor: "good" name in gw2) next to you which has been empty for 7 years.

So you go to your boss and ask your boss if you could move into that office, since you've been actively with the company for 6 years now. The boss tells you that office belongs to Bob. You ask: "Huh, who's Bob?" Oh, he was a new employee (metaphor: low level, low value account) who quit his job on his first day 7 years ago, we keep his office space reserved for him on the off-chance he gets back.

Would it be too much to ask for Bob's office space to be reassigned to you after 7 years and Bob having to be the one who gets the mediocre office space if he does somehow happen to come back on year 8? I personally don't think so.

Bad and good name has been put in quotations since that's very subjective.But think of wanting to name your character "Ash" or "Ashen" instead of "Ashén The Burnt" as an example.

People posting here need to realize they won't lose their name if this is implemented properly! If so it would only affect the dormant accounts from around launch that carry little to no actual worth. It's not like their character will get deleted either, they will simply have to choose a new name.

Now I hear the argument that if they came back to the game they'd be put off the game because they'd have to choose a new name, but you also need to think about the amount of people who are put off the game because they can't get any of the names they are interested in to begin with.

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@Lunia.2736 said:

Firstly, who are you to judge why a certain name is not available to you?

What...? Why would it be me judging? It'd be an automated system determining completely dormant accounts based on not having logged in for over 7 years etc.

I wouldn't be touching anyone's account. It would merely be Anet recycling completely dead names from 2012/2013 that are on inactive accounts.

@Ashen.2907 said:"someone else has something that I want. Please take it away from them and give it to me."

This comment is way underrated.

It's underrated because it's missing the point entirely.

Not missing the point at all. Person A has something that person B wants and so person B is asking that the something be taken away so that he can have it. Period.

Imagine you got a new office job.

You work there for 6 years in your
mediocre office space
(metaphor: "bad" name in gw2)
and wonder why you could never get the
amazing office space
(metaphor: "good" name in gw2)
next to you which has been empty for 7 years.

So you go to your boss and ask your boss if you could move into that office, since you've been actively with the company for 6 years now. The boss tells you that office belongs to Bob. You ask: "Huh, who's Bob?" Oh, he was a
new employee
(metaphor: low level, low value account)
who quit his job on his first day 7 years ago, we keep his office space reserved for him on the off-chance he gets back.

Would it be too much to ask for Bob's office space to be reassigned to you after 7 years and Bob having to be the one who gets the
mediocre office space
if he does somehow happen to come back on year 8? I personally don't think so.

Bad
and
good
name has been put in quotations since that's very subjective.But think of wanting to name your character "Ash" or "Ashen" instead of "Ashén The Burnt" as an example.

People posting here need to realize they won't lose their name if this is implemented properly! If so it would only affect the dormant accounts from around launch that carry little to no actual worth. It's not like their character will get deleted either, they will simply have to choose a new name.

Now I hear the argument that if they came back to the game they'd be put off the game because they'd have to choose a new name, but you also need to think about the amount of people who are put off the game because they can't get any of the names they are interested in to begin with.

Then, using OP’s name buying suggestion, after “buying” the name you wanted from an absent player and using it for X amount of time, getting known by it, perhaps even getting well known by that name, the original owner logs in one day and your name is gone and you’re back where you started from. Except it’s worse than where you started from because you had gotten used to using that name and people knew you by that name and now someone else has it.

All that could have been avoided by making an unique name for your char that is yours and yours alone.

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@Just a flesh wound.3589 said:

Firstly, who are you to judge why a certain name is not available to you?

What...? Why would it be me judging? It'd be an automated system determining completely dormant accounts based on not having logged in for over 7 years etc.

I wouldn't be touching anyone's account. It would merely be Anet recycling completely dead names from 2012/2013 that are on inactive accounts.

@Ashen.2907 said:"someone else has something that I want. Please take it away from them and give it to me."

This comment is way underrated.

It's underrated because it's missing the point entirely.

Not missing the point at all. Person A has something that person B wants and so person B is asking that the something be taken away so that he can have it. Period.

Imagine you got a new office job.

You work there for 6 years in your
mediocre office space
(metaphor: "bad" name in gw2)
and wonder why you could never get the
amazing office space
(metaphor: "good" name in gw2)
next to you which has been empty for 7 years.

So you go to your boss and ask your boss if you could move into that office, since you've been actively with the company for 6 years now. The boss tells you that office belongs to Bob. You ask: "Huh, who's Bob?" Oh, he was a
new employee
(metaphor: low level, low value account)
who quit his job on his first day 7 years ago, we keep his office space reserved for him on the off-chance he gets back.

Would it be too much to ask for Bob's office space to be reassigned to you after 7 years and Bob having to be the one who gets the
mediocre office space
if he does somehow happen to come back on year 8? I personally don't think so.

Bad
and
good
name has been put in quotations since that's very subjective.But think of wanting to name your character "Ash" or "Ashen" instead of "Ashén The Burnt" as an example.

People posting here need to realize they won't lose their name if this is implemented properly! If so it would only affect the dormant accounts from around launch that carry little to no actual worth. It's not like their character will get deleted either, they will simply have to choose a new name.

Now I hear the argument that if they came back to the game they'd be put off the game because they'd have to choose a new name, but you also need to think about the amount of people who are put off the game because they can't get any of the names they are interested in to begin with.

Then, using OP’s name buying suggestion, after “buying” the name you wanted from an absent player and using it for X amount of time, getting known by it, perhaps even getting well known by that name, the original owner logs in one day and your name is gone and you’re back where you started from. Except it’s worse than where you started from because you had gotten used to using that name and people knew you by that name and now someone else has it.

All that could have been avoided by making an unique name for your char that is yours and yours alone.

Yeah, I don't agree with that part. They shouldn't be able to reclaim their name.

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@Lunia.2736 said:

Firstly, who are you to judge why a certain name is not available to you?

What...? Why would it be me judging? It'd be an automated system determining completely dormant accounts based on not having logged in for over 7 years etc.

I wouldn't be touching anyone's account. It would merely be Anet recycling completely dead names from 2012/2013 that are on inactive accounts.

@Ashen.2907 said:"someone else has something that I want. Please take it away from them and give it to me."

This comment is way underrated.

It's underrated because it's missing the point entirely.

Not missing the point at all. Person A has something that person B wants and so person B is asking that the something be taken away so that he can have it. Period.

Imagine you got a new office job.

You work there for 6 years in your
mediocre office space
(metaphor: "bad" name in gw2)
and wonder why you could never get the
amazing office space
(metaphor: "good" name in gw2)
next to you which has been empty for 7 years.

So you go to your boss and ask your boss if you could move into that office, since you've been actively with the company for 6 years now. The boss tells you that office belongs to Bob. You ask: "Huh, who's Bob?" Oh, he was a
new employee
(metaphor: low level, low value account)
who quit his job on his first day 7 years ago, we keep his office space reserved for him on the off-chance he gets back.

Would it be too much to ask for Bob's office space to be reassigned to you after 7 years and Bob having to be the one who gets the
mediocre office space
if he does somehow happen to come back on year 8? I personally don't think so.

Bad
and
good
name has been put in quotations since that's very subjective.But think of wanting to name your character "Ash" or "Ashen" instead of "Ashén The Burnt" as an example.

People posting here need to realize they won't lose their name if this is implemented properly! If so it would only affect the dormant accounts from around launch that carry little to no actual worth. It's not like their character will get deleted either, they will simply have to choose a new name.

Now I hear the argument that if they came back to the game they'd be put off the game because they'd have to choose a new name, but you also need to think about the amount of people who are put off the game because they can't get any of the names they are interested in to begin with.

And you just set up a class system based on account value... What is the minimum value above which Anet shouldn't touch my account? You know, just tobe on the safe side. I'm clapping VERY, VERY slowly at the moment.

I think it bears repeating:

YOU DON'T TOUCH ANOTHER PLAYER'S ACCOUNT!

And before you take it personally, yes, it's a generic 'you'.

@Lunia.2736 said:

Firstly, who are you to judge why a certain name is not available to you?

What...? Why would it be me judging? It'd be an automated system determining completely dormant accounts based on not having logged in for over 7 years etc.

I wouldn't be touching anyone's account. It would merely be Anet recycling completely dead names from 2012/2013 that are on inactive accounts.

@Ashen.2907 said:"someone else has something that I want. Please take it away from them and give it to me."

This comment is way underrated.

It's underrated because it's missing the point entirely.

Not missing the point at all. Person A has something that person B wants and so person B is asking that the something be taken away so that he can have it. Period.

Imagine you got a new office job.

You work there for 6 years in your
mediocre office space
(metaphor: "bad" name in gw2)
and wonder why you could never get the
amazing office space
(metaphor: "good" name in gw2)
next to you which has been empty for 7 years.

So you go to your boss and ask your boss if you could move into that office, since you've been actively with the company for 6 years now. The boss tells you that office belongs to Bob. You ask: "Huh, who's Bob?" Oh, he was a
new employee
(metaphor: low level, low value account)
who quit his job on his first day 7 years ago, we keep his office space reserved for him on the off-chance he gets back.

Would it be too much to ask for Bob's office space to be reassigned to you after 7 years and Bob having to be the one who gets the
mediocre office space
if he does somehow happen to come back on year 8? I personally don't think so.

Bad
and
good
name has been put in quotations since that's very subjective.But think of wanting to name your character "Ash" or "Ashen" instead of "Ashén The Burnt" as an example.

People posting here need to realize they won't lose their name if this is implemented properly! If so it would only affect the dormant accounts from around launch that carry little to no actual worth. It's not like their character will get deleted either, they will simply have to choose a new name.

Now I hear the argument that if they came back to the game they'd be put off the game because they'd have to choose a new name, but you also need to think about the amount of people who are put off the game because they can't get any of the names they are interested in to begin with.

Then, using OP’s name buying suggestion, after “buying” the name you wanted from an absent player and using it for X amount of time, getting known by it, perhaps even getting well known by that name, the original owner logs in one day and your name is gone and you’re back where you started from. Except it’s worse than where you started from because you had gotten used to using that name and people knew you by that name and now someone else has it.

All that could have been avoided by making an unique name for your char that is yours and yours alone.

Yeah, I don't agree with that part. They shouldn't be able to reclaim their name.

So you would take a name from someone who you deem not worthy of having it, but if they would ever try to reclaim it, you would just go: "Yeah, F**k'em!"To hell with clapping, this is worthy of a standing ovation!

There are 26 letters in the English alphabet alone. You have 19 spaces to come up with a name with those letters- If you can't find a name that's not taken it's just for lack of trying. In which case your place in the "mediocre office space" is very well deserved.

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@"PseudoOAlias.4279" said:Look I get that this is an older mmo. I also get that arenanet probably doesn't want to introduce things like forced-name changes after x amount of time. I also concede that people want to retain the rights to names they got when they first started playing the game. That's all fine.

But frankly this situation is getting ridiculous. Every time I go to remake a character the name that I want is of course taken so I go to use a combination of accent letters (which you're not supposed' to use anyway) and it usually takes about 6 of those as well before I find one that's actually available.

I don't have a problem with people who still play the game, or who have even logged in in the last 2 years or so retaining their names. That's fine. I'm also totally fine with the practice of buying names & if a person with a name doesn't want to sell it that's fine too. They have the characters & should be able to retain the rights to said names. But this game is in dire need of a system that retires old names, or puts them back in the pool for re-selection after a few years or so.

Arenanet please. The existing system makes it a nightmare to try to have people join on you when you're leading trains or hosting events. Not to mention it looks terrible because most of your existing player base was forced to compromise on names they wanted.

Granted that name-change contracts are already over-priced, but one system that I think might work is some kind of "super-name change contract." One that's more expensive but that lets you buy names from people who have been inactive for more than 2 years. Then when & if that person logged back into the game they could either a) reclaim the name & you'd get a refund for your contract or b) change the name & they'd get a small reward like 800 gems or whatever the difference of price between the normal name-change contract and the upgraded version was decided to be.

Love it or hate it I think this is a discussion that really needs to happen. Post your ideas / opinions below.

Cheers all!

I have absolutely no problem making names. Maybe you are just choosing the most unoriginal names around, ones everyone e else thinks of, too. A big no to removing names from people's characters. They got the name, they deserve to keep it. Try coming up with some more original names.

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Just to add my 6 pennies worth, some of the names i wanted as far back as past beta weren't even available and those characters are prefixed with the super amazing X name X . My main character had to be renamed as a past name i had in guildwars one because i couldn't have the shortened version, and i actually hate the two X's. But at least those characters have their name in part.

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@"MikeG.6389" said:And you just set up a class system based on account value... What is the minimum value above which Anet shouldn't touch my account? You know, just tobe on the safe side.

You're posting on the forums, so your account contains activity. Therefore you wouldn't be affected at all.I'm strictly speaking about completely fresh accounts from around launch that are left for dead since over 7 years with nothing on it. That's about as low as the minimum value goes.

So you would take a name from someone who you deem not worthy of having it, but if they would ever try to reclaim it, you would just go: "Yeah, F**k'em!"

Bit of an overreaction for a name on a 5 minute playtime level 2 character on a dormant launch account, don't you think?

There are 26 letters in the English alphabet alone. You have 19 spaces to come up with a name with those letters- If you can't find a name that's not taken it's just for lack of trying. In which case your place in the "mediocre office space" is very well deserved.

It has nothing to do finding a name that's not been taken. You already have an office space (name) in my metaphor.

I'm clapping VERY, VERY slowly at the moment.To hell with clapping, this is worthy of a standing ovation!

Being condescending when someone has a different opinion than you do on a very neutral matter. A classic.Let me return the favor by reminding you that this is a forum for discussion. You could just state your view on a matter in a peaceful fashion so that they can actually be discussed.

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@"Lunia.2736" said:Being condescending when someone has a different opinion than you do on a very neutral matter. A classic.Let me return the favor by reminding you that this is a forum for discussion. You could just state your view on a matter in a peaceful fashion so that they can actually be discussed.

Let me return the favour and remind you again:

YOU DO NOT TOUCH ANOTHER PLAYER'S ACCOUNT!!!

This is the "Alpha and the Omega" on the subject. I can't be condescending enough if you can't comprehend something so utterly simple.

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@MikeG.6389 said:

@"Lunia.2736" said:Being condescending when someone has a different opinion than you do on a very neutral matter. A classic.Let me return the favor by reminding you that this is a forum for discussion. You could just state your view on a matter in a peaceful fashion so that they can actually be discussed.

Let me return the favour and remind you again:

YOU DO NOT TOUCH ANOTHER PLAYER'S ACCOUNT!!!

This is the "Alpha and the Omega" on the subject. I can't be condescending enough if you can't comprehend something so utterly simple.

But that's your view on the matter. Not a fact. So treat it as such. :p

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@MikeG.6389 said:Secondly, YOU DON'T TOUCH ANOTHER PLAYER'S ACCOUNT!!! I can't fathom why this is so effing difficult to comprehend...

@Ashen.2907 said:"someone else has something that I want. Please take it away from them and give it to me."

This comment is way underrated.

But ideally it needs to be done in the style of Rocket Racoon. "Well that doesn't follow, no I want it more sir, you understand?"

@"mrauls.6519" said:Years later, and I still can't believe I got this name. I feel you OP. I think they should make it so you can "sell" names for gold.

There is nothing stopping that now. It's not something Anet offers directly but there's also no rules against it. If someone else has the name you want you could offer to buy it from them - provide the name change contract and some gold on top of that, then the two of you would just need to agree a time and date to do it (bearing in mind it takes 24 hours for an unused name to be released).

 

 

Firstly, who are you to judge why a certain name is not available to you?

What...? Why would it be me judging? It'd be an automated system determining completely dormant accounts based on not having logged in for over 7 years etc.

I wouldn't be touching anyone's account. It would merely be Anet recycling completely dead names from 2012/2013 that are on inactive accounts.

@Ashen.2907 said:"someone else has something that I want. Please take it away from them and give it to me."

This comment is way underrated.

It's underrated because it's missing the point entirely.

Not missing the point at all. Person A has something that person B wants and so person B is asking that the something be taken away so that he can have it. Period.

 

 

Imagine you got a new office job.

You work there for 6 years in your mediocre office space (metaphor: "bad" name in gw2) and wonder why you could never get the amazing office space (metaphor: "good" name in gw2) next to you which has been empty for 7 years.

So you go to your boss and ask your boss if you could move into that office, since you've been actively with the company for 6 years now. The boss tells you that office belongs to Bob. You ask: "Huh, who's Bob?" Oh, he was a new employee (metaphor: low level, low value account) who quit his job on his first day 7 years ago, we keep his office space reserved for him on the off-chance he gets back.

Would it be too much to ask for Bob's office space to be reassigned to you after 7 years and Bob having to be the one who gets the mediocre office space if he does somehow happen to come back on year 8? I personally don't think so.

Bad and good name has been put in quotations since that's very subjective.But think of wanting to name your character "Ash" or "Ashen" instead of "Ashén The Burnt" as an example.

People posting here need to realize they won't lose their name if this is implemented properly! If so it would only affect the dormant accounts from around launch that carry little to no actual worth. It's not like their character will get deleted either, they will simply have to choose a new name.

Now I hear the argument that if they came back to the game they'd be put off the game because they'd have to choose a new name, but you also need to think about the amount of people who are put off the game because they can't get any of the names they are interested in to begin with.

The difference there is Bob and the company have a contract stating what is expected of each of them, and by not showing up to work Bob has broken that contract and therefore lost any claim to the things the company agreed to provide. Anet also has a contract with GW2 players (it's the User Agreement which we all accepted when we started playing) which makes absolutely no mention of how often we are required to sign in to keep our accounts - only that we obtain an account through legal means and don't break the other terms of the user agreement.

In fact it specifically states that the only reason Anet would modify or delete your account or character name is if you're in violation of the user agreement. And they've said in that case they won't release the original name/s because they don't want the person punished to be able to get them back, and don't want innocent newbies being mistaken for a banned player.

(And incidentally plenty of companies do keep desks, or entire offices, reserved for employees who are rarely there. There's various reasons to do this - for example they might mainly work in the field, but when they are in the office they're dealing with confidential information and need a private space to work. Or it might simply be considered a perk for certain positions. And the company - as the ones who own and manage their office space - are entirely within their rights to do that. If another employee isn't happy and thinks they deserve a better office then their options are to find another job with an office they do like.)

@"ProtoGunner.4953" said:Problem is, many have still the mindset that they can use only one word as a name and hence it it's gone. Just use a first and a last name. I do that and I never had any problems. Be creative.

One of my all-time favourite 'newbie' moments (which actually happened in Elder Scrolls Online but is just as applicable to GW2) was a guy who had obviously just created his first character excitedly asking everyone how they got "invisible letters" in their name - what did you have to type in to make an invisible letter? No one knew what he was talking about until someone said "Do you mean a space?"

I don't know what game/s he'd been playing previously, but apparently it had never occurred to him that a game would let you do that, he thought we'd all figured out some clever trick to insert a character that wouldn't show and he was so happy to find out it was that simple. (He immediately went to delete his character and re-make them with the name he wanted.)

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@"MikeG.6389" said:

YOU DO NOT TOUCH ANOTHER PLAYER'S ACCOUNT!!!

This is the "Alpha and the Omega" on the subject. I can't be condescending enough if you can't comprehend something so utterly simple.

Comprehension problems appear to indeed be running rampant here, albeit not quite in the manner that you appear to be thinking about. Nobody's talking about "touching accounts". This would be purely on Arenanet, not players - no player would go and mingle with any accounts. The way this usually works in other MMOs is that an algorithm checks for two things - character level and account activity. Let's make a bunch of examples, shall we? Billy, Bobby and Hank bought Guild Wars 2 at launch. Billy played the game for a few hours, created a bunch of characters and never went higher than level ten on any of them before quitting, because the game simply wasn't for him. Bobby played a little longer on a single character, who reached max level, then he stopped playing as well. Hank kept playing and has multiple max level characters, as well as a bunch below level 10.

Now let's imagine an algorithm is implemented that frees up names of old characters, if two of the following are fulfilled: The account has not been in use for a prolonged period of time - let's say five years. And the character is below level ten. Looking at our examples above the only affected player would be billy - he hasn't played the game in a while and none of his characters made it over level 10, ergo the names will be freed up. Bobby hasn't played for a long time either, but his character is higher than level 10, so it won't be affected. Hank, on the other hand, has a bunch of characters under level 10, but due to him remaining active he'll be able to keep those names.

I fail to see the issue there.

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@"Donari.5237" said:WoW didn't start out doing it, it was only as of the WoD expansion they did it. And they did get me to come back to save my names, as I note in the middle of this thread on the old forums https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Taken-names/page/1 But they won't get me a second time, nor did it turn out to be any fun to go back. So using this as a cudgel to urge lapsed players to return isn't really going to work, in my opinion, not on people that really are not interested in the game any more.

Speaking of that old thread, if you read it then this current thread will give you serious deja vu. Because every now and then we get a new thread asking the old question about how come there are no names available and the exact same comments are made, pro and con.

So, I find this interesting. A lot of people have said that asuran names specifically are hard to get these days, and the OP of that thread used Xowen and Xowin as examples of names where every variant is taken. I decided to experiment. I took them at their word (and assumed nothing had changed since 2016) and therefore Xowen and Xowin were still taken. I considered Xoowen but didn't like how it looked so didn't try it, and then I tried Xowiin and it worked.

Literally the first name I actually tried, based on one I'd been told had no available variants 3 years ago, and it was available.

I guess it's possible whoever had that name has deleted the character or changed it since then, but it still seems like a bit of a coincidence that the first asuran name I tried was available.

(Incidentally if anyone wants it Xowiin will be available again in 24 hours, I've just deleted him, although I might use it for a key runner next week.)

(The sylvari name Ariabethe is available too, or will be in 24 hours. It's a combination of the Welsh arian - silver and old Irish bethe - birch, so silver birch. I've considered changing my sylvari mesmer's name to that to make it more lore friendly - it's currently Bethe Arian - but I like it as it is.)

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@Healix.5819 said:

@kharmin.7683 said:And kittened off players who lose their name?

If they couldn't be bothered to login after being notified that they would lose their name due to inactivity, they didn't care in the first place. The primary reason to release inactive names isn't to free them, it's to encourage those who still cared to come back, who would have otherwise likely never returned.

No, that's incorrect because the game is designed so players can leave for extended periods of time and come back. Being 'active' in this game doesn't mean much. I fact, I would define anyone that doesn't purchase gems as 'inactive' from a business POV.

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I don't see why names have to free up. They have the best system for naming characters. They allow spaces, quite a few characters, and some special characters. I get more frustrated systems where they don't allow a space, so you have to use an underscore.

Legolas Ignatowski

Granted, that's 18, but you get the idea.

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@Wylf.2586 said:

@"MikeG.6389" said:

YOU DO NOT TOUCH ANOTHER PLAYER'S ACCOUNT!!!

This is the "Alpha and the Omega" on the subject. I can't be condescending enough if you can't comprehend something so utterly simple.

Comprehension problems appear to indeed be running rampant here, albeit not quite in the manner that you appear to be thinking about. Nobody's talking about "touching accounts". This would be purely on Arenanet, not players - no player would go and mingle with any accounts. The way this usually works in other MMOs is that an algorithm checks for two things - character level and account activity. Let's make a bunch of examples, shall we? Billy, Bobby and Hank bought Guild Wars 2 at launch. Billy played the game for a few hours, created a bunch of characters and never went higher than level ten on any of them before quitting, because the game simply wasn't for him. Bobby played a little longer on a single character, who reached max level, then he stopped playing as well. Hank kept playing and has multiple max level characters, as well as a bunch below level 10.

Now let's imagine an algorithm is implemented that frees up names of old characters, if two of the following are fulfilled: The account has not been in use for a prolonged period of time - let's say five years. And the character is below level ten. Looking at our examples above the only affected player would be billy - he hasn't played the game in a while and none of his characters made it over level 10, ergo the names will be freed up. Bobby hasn't played for a long time either, but his character is higher than level 10, so it won't be affected. Hank, on the other hand, has a bunch of characters under level 10, but due to him remaining active he'll be able to keep those names.

I fail to see the issue there.

The issue is that Anet has never shown being capable of something that would come even a teeny bit close to how you seem to be so ready to disregard account privacy. Not in the previous game, not in this one.

The issue is that if they suddenly changed their stance on this matter, it would be on the behest of people like you, should you make enough noise. This takes care of who would be responsible why account privacy is disregarded, if you ask me, even though it would be their hands doing the business.

The issue is that even if they did what YOU want them to, the result would most likely be quite underwhelming to YOU. You simply don't know where your desired name is being locked away from you. It may very well be on an account that doesn't fall within your arbitrary constraints, of which there are a few, I think...

You have more than enough tools to come up with a name that is original (i.e. not a reference to anything) and isn't in use.

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@notebene.3190 said:I don't see why names have to free up. They have the best system for naming characters. They allow spaces, quite a few characters, and some special characters. I get more frustrated systems where they don't allow a space, so you have to use an underscore.

Legolas Ignatowski

Granted, that's 18, but you get the idea.

People need to come up with last names, and titles like the Vikings used. Ivar the boneless, Eric the red, Eric the great, Leif Erikson. This game is so easy in which to make names. Sorry, Sephiroth, and all of its deviations are taken. Nope, Groot is unavailable, be more clever.

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@Obtena.7952 said:

@kharmin.7683 said:And kittened off players who lose their name?

If they couldn't be bothered to login after being notified that they would lose their name due to inactivity, they didn't care in the first place. The primary reason to release inactive names isn't to free them, it's to encourage those who still cared to come back, who would have otherwise likely never returned.

No, that's incorrect because the game is designed so players can leave for extended periods of time and come back. Being 'active' in this game doesn't mean much. I fact, I would define anyone that doesn't purchase gems as 'inactive' from a business POV.

Although in an MMO people who don't purchase gems still have a value for the company in that they're (some of) the people the gem purchasers are playing with. If you go to do WvW or PvP or a meta event or whatever it doesn't matter at all if the people around you have bought gems recently, or ever*, it just matters if they're there to play with or against. So keeping those people in the game is important too, because it ensures an active population which helps keep the people who are spending money happy and more inclined to keep spending money.

*This is in itself good game design - because it very easily could matter and then you get a lot of elitism, pay to win mechanics and overall less fun for everyone.

Also they could at any time start/resume buying gems. At various points I've gone for about 6-8 months without buying gems at all, then bought a lot in a short space of time just because that's how things worked out with my finances and things I wanted to buy in GW2.

This is also why Anet probably wants to be very wary of scaring off returning players with things like finding out all their characters have been stripped of their names. The game has changed a lot over the years and that person who quit in 2012 or 2013 or whenever could be one of the ones who is much more interested in the game as it is now than how it used to be before 6+ years of fixes and additions. Imagine logging in to check out what you've already got before buying HoT and PoF (or worse, just after buying them), only to find all your characters have been stripped of their names because someone else decided they deserve it more than you do and now you have to rename them all before you can play.

I'm sure some people would say that wouldn't bother them, but if you're not that bothered about what you character is called presumably you can choose another name for them when you're making them. If it was me then, as I said earlier in the thread that would be the last time I'd ever log into that game and I'd be warning my friends away too - it's not worth committing to a game which will ruin your characters if you don't keep up with their arbitrary standards for activity.

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I will admit that I have been playing this game since Beta. I acquired my main character's name within the opening minutes of the early release. However, the vast majority of my alts that I have been playing were acquired within the past two years or so. (12 characters created within the past two years.) Though I have occasionally had to modify (slightly) the names that I found appropriate for my character, I have never had difficulties getting names for my characters. Never. Compared to a few other popular MMORPGs, GW2 empowers players with a lot of liberty in naming their characters. In WoW or SWTOR? Good luck. I will be staring at the character creation screen for an hour or so. GW2? It's lickety split. Several of these characters are even Tyrian analogues of other fictional characters from cartoons and comics.

As a RP carebear on Tarnished Coast, I like naming my characters per lore conventions. Yes, naming an asura with typical naming conventions is undeniably more difficult, but them's the ropes. I introduced someone new to GW2 for the first time last week. They got the first character name they wanted for their first character on their first try. Since I decided to level-up a new character alongside them, I made a new character as well. Same deal as before: I got the character name I wanted on my first try. So what's your excuse again?

So I will join the Greek chorus of people suggesting that you become more creative with your names. You are not entitled to other people's names just because you want them and you believe that they are inactive. Even if they were inactive, you will not be guaranteed to get the names that you want just because these names are freed up. If they were, someone else would likely quickly take the name you want, and we would be back to square one with your entitlement issues. Your remaining available, reasonable combinations are fairly extreme.

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They lose 100% of the customers they delete. You are wrong to demand they delete other players' characters for your convenience. That is not "subjective".

A main selling point of Guild Wars 2 is it's security, that the game will always be available to you when you come back, and that your progress will never be lost or invalidated. That means everyone, even people who haven't played since launch day. No matter if they've moved out or moved on, Guild Wars 2 will always be their home, and yours.

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@Eloc Freidon.5692 said:Its a shame when games that encourage multiple characters don't incorporate an @handle system. Your handle is what identifies you, so you can name your characters anything you want.

I think the Display Name ("NAME.XXXX") does that to your account. It may just be too complicated to alter the game to recognize that instead of the character's name when going about your business in the game.

Here's an idea:How about adding another field for names during character creation so that you can have a surname (or title, or whatever) and a first name separate from each other. Then you would also have the ability to freely change which one - if not both - is shown to other players in the Hero panel. So for example you'd put 'Legolas' in the first field, 'Smith' in the second, and then you tick a box next to Legolas and only that would appear to other players. The combined name would be unique and still, you wouldn't have to suffer the ridicule of others when running around as 'Legolas Smith'...I've seen another game going about it using similar methods, but three fields for names instead of two. You could tick a box next to each of them and only those were shown to other players.This might be hard - or even impossible - to implement, but at least this wouldn't violate account privacy and would allow anyone to have their desired name displayed.

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