Can We Talk About Name Availability For A Minute

[Mewcifer.5198]

I just want to bring up that I am in a guild where everyone makes at least one character with the same name and just a different title/occupation added in front of it.An entire guild that are able to use a single name. It's also an asura guild and the name is lore friendly. That's over 25 asura with the same name and just a different title or occupation handle.

It's not that hard.

[Ashen.2907]

@Lunia.2736 said:

@Ashen.2907 said:

@Lunia.2736 said:

@MikeG.6389 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.

Imagine that someone else paid for that office space. It belongs to them. Its theirs. They paid for it. And then someone else comes along and says, "I dont like what other people are doing with their property so take it away from them and give it to me instead."

[robertthebard.8150]

@Lunia.2736 said:

@Ashen.2907 said:

@Lunia.2736 said:

@MikeG.6389 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.

I gave it all the consideration it needed. "They have it, I want it, so ANet should make it happen".

Using your very example, I named a toon Ashlayna, and everyone called her Ash, all the time, even in TS/Discord, which was jarring, since it's obvious that I'm not female on voice chat.

However, what happens if they do this, and your much desired name is still unavailable? Is it time to move the goalposts to "well, they haven't logged it in for a long time, so they don't deserve to keep it" even if the account is actually active, just not on the name you want to steal? What if they're active on another server? There's no misunderstanding here either, steal is exactly the right word. That's the defining principle, taking something that belongs to someone else. So find some creativity, hit up the name generators that have been provided if you can't, and get a name you like, and go, or don't, as you see fit, but don't try to pretend you're not asking to steal names from someone else, that's exactly what you're doing.

[Weindrasi.3805]

I cannot comprehend how anyone has trouble finding a name. I have 18 characters. The last, I made a couple weeks ago. I have literally NEVER had a name taken that I wanted. EVER.Edit: this includes single names. I named one of my Elonian characters "Nneke", a short African name. Nneke was available. Heck, it takes literally 1 minute to look up names from other parts of the world, and most of those are un-taken (except Celtic or Latin-origin type names, those are super popular).You claim it isn't a lack of creativity, then prove it. What names are you trying for that are taken?

[Eloc Freidon.5692]

@Danikat.8537 said:

@MikeG.6389 said:

@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.

That could be problematic for things like mail and gifting however. If someone only knows you as Legolas how do they know what to type in when sending you mail? How do they ensure it goes to you and not to another Legolas?

One solution there could be to disable typing a name in and instead require players to find the right person in their friends list, guild or in chat and right-click their name, but I'm not sure how many people would find that annoying, especially for gem store gifting where you'd then have to go back through the menus to find the item you wanted to send.

I like the idea of seperate first and last name boxes, but for other reasons. In particular then you could choose which one/s the game uses when your characters name appears in text, so NPCs don't always have to use their full name. And getting to choose would be ideal so, for example Thomas Ash could just be called Thomas, but Master Akkih isn't stuck being called Master by his friends.

That is easy. Other games would show the player name@handle (@handle you could turn off). Interacting with them, messaging them, emailing them would always interact with their @handle.

Its really not as complicated as you think it is because other altoholic games do it all the time and have done it since the 2000s.

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

@Eloc Freidon.5692 said:That is easy. Other games would show the player name@handle (@handle you could turn off). Interacting with them, messaging them, emailing them would always interact with their @handle.

I know someone named, let's say Eloc. It turns out, that's a popular name.

In GW2, right now, when I /invite Eloc, there's only one possible person. How would it work if there is Eloc@Eloc Freidon.5692 & Eloc@Illconceived Was Na.9781 ? How do I know who is the eloc I met last month, but forgot to friend?

adding: Also... what happens to Eloc@Eloc Freidon.5692's reputation when @"Troll McTrollFace" (not their real account name) decides they want to damage Eloc@Eloc Freidon.5692's reputation, by creating an F2P account @"Eloc Fredon.1234" and run around on Eloc@"Eloc Fredon.1234" spouting hate?

I'm not saying that's a dealbreaker if it doesn't work as intuitively as today; I'm asking if it's really as easy as you suggest.

[Lunia.2736]

@robertthebard.8150 said:

@Lunia.2736 said:

@Ashen.2907 said:

@Lunia.2736 said:

@MikeG.6389 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.

I gave it all the consideration it needed. "They have it, I want it, so ANet should make it happen".

Using your very example, I named a toon Ashlayna, and everyone called her Ash, all the time, even in TS/Discord, which was jarring, since it's obvious that I'm not female on voice chat.

However, what happens if they do this, and your much desired name is still unavailable? Is it time to move the goalposts to "well, they haven't logged it in for a long time, so they don't deserve to keep it" even if the account is actually active, just not on the name you want to steal? What if they're active on another server? There's no misunderstanding here either, steal is exactly the right word. That's the defining principle, taking something that belongs to someone else. So find some creativity, hit up the name generators that have been provided if you can't, and get a name you like, and go, or don't, as you see fit, but don't try to pretend you're not asking to steal names from someone else, that's exactly what you're doing.

You're overthinking it a lot with the whole "stealing" thing.

Name recycling is common practice in other MMORPGs for good reasons. World of Warcraft, Trove, ArcheAge, RIFT, Lineage II, Aion, DC Universe Online and probably a lot of others that I can't recall off the top of my head. Nothing out of the ordinary. It has nothing to do with "not being creative enough to find a name" either.

The purpose is not for one person to be able to claim (or as you call it, steal) the name they want.The purpose is to refresh the pool of usable names in general.

It's actually quite intriguing how opposed this community is to this common practice compared to any other game community. It's generally seen very favorably there. While some even become really toxic about the mere notion of it here.

[Aigleborgne.2981]

IMO, 19 characters is too short. I have tried many firstname lastname combinations that reached about 23-25 characters.

GW1 was 19, but less players I guess.GW2 could extend this limit to 25? Won't happen, but I never understood this short limitation...

[Handsel.2891]

@Lunia.2736 said:

@robertthebard.8150 said:

@Lunia.2736 said:

@Ashen.2907 said:

@Lunia.2736 said:

@MikeG.6389 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.

I gave it all the consideration it needed. "They have it, I want it, so ANet should make it happen".

Using your very example, I named a toon Ashlayna, and everyone called her Ash, all the time, even in TS/Discord, which was jarring, since it's obvious that I'm not female on voice chat.

However, what happens if they do this, and your much desired name is still unavailable? Is it time to move the goalposts to "well, they haven't logged it in for a long time, so they don't deserve to keep it" even if the account is actually active, just not on the name you want to steal? What if they're active on another server? There's no misunderstanding here either, steal is exactly the right word. That's the defining principle, taking something that belongs to someone else. So find some creativity, hit up the name generators that have been provided if you can't, and get a name you like, and go, or don't, as you see fit, but don't try to pretend you're not asking to steal names from someone else, that's exactly what you're doing.

You're overthinking it a lot with the whole "stealing" thing.

Name recycling is common practice in other MMORPGs for good reasons. World of Warcraft, Trove, ArcheAge, RIFT, Lineage II, Aion, DC Universe Online and probably a lot of others that I can't recall off the top of my head. Nothing out of the ordinary. It has nothing to do with "not being creative enough to find a name" either.

The purpose is not for one person to be able to claim (or as you call it, steal) the name they want.The purpose is to refresh the pool of usable names in general.

It's actually quite intriguing how opposed this community is to this common practice compared to any other game community. It's generally seen very favorably there. While some even become really toxic about the mere notion of it here.

I'm running the risk of looking cynical but I can live with that. The games you mentioned are either subscription based or free to play. In other words, their livelihood directly depends on having as many active players as possible to keep the income from subscription fees and micro transactions as high as possible. Anet doesn't REALLY have that incentive to do something they have never done and would go directly against their philosophy.

And to have an example of the contrary: ESO has a similar attitude towards this subject, even though it used to need a subscription. And there are posts on their forums similar to this, as well.

[mauried.5608]

19 chars is plenty.How many possible names do you think can be made from 19 characters where any character can be any letter from a - z with spaces included?

[Danikat.8537]

@MikeG.6389 said:>And to have an example of the contrary: ESO has a similar attitude towards this subject, even though it used to need a subscription. And there are posts on their forums similar to this, as well.

You beat me to it. Exactly what I was about to say. Admittedly that's the only other MMO I play so maybe my experience in this is limited compared to some people, but when the idea of taking away someone's character names just because you don't think they log in enough comes up on that forum the reaction is exactly the same as here.

Maybe when people have accepted they have no choice and it's going to happen regardless of what they think about it they give up objecting. Maybe, as at least one person has told us they did, the people who object to it leave the game in response to that practice. But while it's still a suggestion for a new process which this game has not done before I think there's ever reason to let Anet know we're not ok with it.

[Etria.3642]

Before I committed either way I'd be curious to know exactly how many accounts this would affect. The parameters I've seen mentioned were inactive for five years and ALSO no characters over level ten.

Are we talking a lousy twenty accounts(which would mean are those names really worth doing it for) or are we talking 100,000(which might be more worrisome since some of those are bound to return) or are we talking 5000(which would be reasonable for this, in my opinion. Enough to be worth doing, not so many that it would be problematic.)

I suspect, actually, that most names we want don't fall into that category anyway. Either the person played longer or leveled higher. But only Anet has the numbers--and they said they weren't recycling.

[robertthebard.8150]

@Lunia.2736 said:

@robertthebard.8150 said:

@Lunia.2736 said:

@Ashen.2907 said:

@Lunia.2736 said:

@MikeG.6389 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.

I gave it all the consideration it needed. "They have it, I want it, so ANet should make it happen".

Using your very example, I named a toon Ashlayna, and everyone called her Ash, all the time, even in TS/Discord, which was jarring, since it's obvious that I'm not female on voice chat.

However, what happens if they do this, and your much desired name is still unavailable? Is it time to move the goalposts to "well, they haven't logged it in for a long time, so they don't deserve to keep it" even if the account is actually active, just not on the name you want to steal? What if they're active on another server? There's no misunderstanding here either, steal is exactly the right word. That's the defining principle, taking something that belongs to someone else. So find some creativity, hit up the name generators that have been provided if you can't, and get a name you like, and go, or don't, as you see fit, but don't try to pretend you're not asking to steal names from someone else, that's exactly what you're doing.

You're overthinking it a lot with the whole "stealing" thing.

Name recycling is common practice in other MMORPGs for good reasons. World of Warcraft, Trove, ArcheAge, RIFT, Lineage II, Aion, DC Universe Online and probably a lot of others that I can't recall off the top of my head. Nothing out of the ordinary. It has nothing to do with "not being creative enough to find a name" either.

The purpose is not for one person to be able to claim (or as you call it, steal) the name they want.The purpose is to refresh the pool of usable names in general.

It's actually quite intriguing how opposed this community is to this common practice compared to any other game community. It's generally seen very favorably there. While some even become really toxic about the mere notion of it here.

Interesting, considering I had been away from Aion for a couple of years, returned for about a week, and found that I'd lost my Legion name to a server merge, because we had set up the Legion on the two servers that got merged... All of my character names were intact. So either they're not doing it, or, I was creative enough with my names that nobody wanted them. I was away from Rappelz for 8 years, and I might never have gone back, but for a guildy that is on my FB feed, throwing an offer out to return. I had one character that needed a name change, after they merged down to two servers, and it's likely that it's because I had the name on the merged servers. I had also lost 8 characters to that merge as well, since that's the limit, and I had it on both.

You really need to read more gaming forums, because I can tell you that any time this comes up on an MMO forum, it meets the same kind of resistance. But, let's look at why this topic was started. Was it started because the name pool needs refreshed, or was it started because someone had a name that someone else wants to use?

[ShiningSquirrel.3751]

I run several game servers of my own, some of them have been up for more then a decade. Since users could create their user names on their own and there was no central server to manage them, the system was very simple. First player to log on to a server got the name. Next player got the "name Imposter".So player 1 would be ShiningSquirrelPlayer 2 would be ShiningSquirrel ImposterPlayers did complain and say they had the name first, blah, blah, blah, but since it was not something we would or even could change that was just the way it was. First come, first served. It's the same here and rightly so. A name belongs to the first player to use it. This was the promise. This is what we paid for. This is GW2, it's not WoW or any other MMO so saying "the other game do it" holds no water. This is NOT those other games so you can't expect it to be the same. It boggles the mind sometimes, if you want every game to be the same with the same features, content and structure then WHY should there even be different games?

[Teratus.2859]

@Genesis.8572 said:

@"Teratus.2859" said:Creativity only goes so far.. and some people like myself for example are significantly invested into giving our character natural sounding lore fitting names and honestly despise having to throw a name out entirely because it's taken or change a few letters around or spell them akwardly to the point they look and sound stupid.Which other people are capable of easily achieving even now, as I and others have experienced as well.

Not everyone has the same rules with thier names like I said.You may be fine with adding a double letter or changing something but others place more value in their names and are not willing to butcher them like that.

The biggest problem for me I find is Sylvari and Asura characters as they specifically only have singular names unlike Humans and Norns which have both first and second naems, I do not enjoy incorporating titles into my character names that conflict with who that character is and where they came from either so it becomes increadibly difficult to find sigular fitting names for these characters.Scarlet

Briar

. Sylvari can have or make surnames for themselves, especially now as they encounter more races that use the equivalent of surnames. They too may opt to adopt them such that they can distinguish themselves from their fellow sylvari.

Scarlet Briar was not her real name, all Sylvari are born with singular names only.Scarlet reinvented herself and took a fake name when she betrayed the world to the Elder Dragons.The vast majority of Sylvari keep their birth names and since our PC's are neither race traitors or evil giving them second names neither makes sense nor works from a lore perspective.Not a big deal for most but if that matters to you then it matters to you.

Charr are not to bad since they have two names but Sylvari and Asura are a lot harder to name due to the singular restriction.This "singular restriction" is self-imposed. Nothing stops you, for example, of including a title as part of your name: E.g., Researcher Gann, Engineer Azuul, Arcanist Obapp, etc.

Partly but it's also lore imposed as well, I already addressed that the same restrictions on names applies to titles the character has not earned.Not to mention those titles change as the story progresses.. your rank in your order.. pact commander.. ex pact commander etcAgain that comes to preference and some people prefer to just not bother with ranks or titles in their names for that reason.Not to mention open world elements.. it would be both funny and annoying to see 10 players running around with the name pact commander ____

It may not matter to you and a lot of people but some of us put a great deal of effort into designing our characters and there's nothing worse than thinking up a theme, build, playstyle, appearance even what weapons we'll use and what armor and what colours we'll dye it all before we even create the character.. only to find someone else has claimed the one name you felt would fit that character.I'm sorry (not sorry), but this screams 'entitlement.' Names you feel entitled to for your character concept will be taken. I advise you to create more open-ended character concepts that do not require particular names.

Nobody's presuming the names we want are sitting on long inactive accounts but it is a fact that there are a lot of dead Gw2 accounts which will never be used again and some of them may have claimed good names that someone else who does play the game regularly would get more use out of.However, I would never suggest that we who play the game more regularly are somehow more entitled to those names. That idea is ludicrous, arrogant, and spoiled.

Well before you start throwing accusations around like arrogant and entitled you should understand what someone is arguing for first or it just makes you look bad.

I said it was a fact that some names may be locked behind dead accounts.. and that is a fact.I also said other players who play regulalry would get more use out of those names which again is a fact.I did not say players were entitled to those names or that those names should be taken away from those accounts.

My stance on this has always been for Anet to allow multiple players to use the same character names and change what needs to be changed such as the whisper system etc to work with the unique account name instead of individual character names.. exactly like this Forum does.That's what i'm arguing for.

[Teratus.2859]

@Danikat.8537 said:

@Genesis.8572 said:

The biggest problem for me I find is Sylvari and Asura characters as they specifically only have singular names unlike Humans and Norns which have both first and second naems, I do not enjoy incorporating titles into my character names that conflict with who that character is and where they came from either so it becomes increadibly difficult to find sigular fitting names for these characters.Scarlet

Briar

. Sylvari can have or make surnames for themselves, especially now as they encounter more races that use the equivalent of surnames. They too may opt to adopt them such that they can distinguish themselves from their fellow sylvari.

As I understand it the lore only says that sylvari do not have family names, because they don't have families (or they're all one family). There's nothing to say their name has to be just one word. I realise most sylvari in-game do have one word names (Scarlet being the obvious exception) but IMO it's not going against the lore for them to have a two (or three) word name, it just won't be one they inherited from their parents.

And of course many of them have titles, either related to their job or rank or a kind of nickname, like Laranthir of the Wild.

Not most.. All of them.The only Sylvari with long names are those with titles such as Warden etc.Even Scarlets real name was sigular as well, Sylvari simply don't have multiple names unless they cast off their old self and reinvent themselves which is what Scarlet did.The same applies to Asura who much like Sylvari you will never see in the game with multiple names, it's just not part of their cultures to have 2 names.

[Handsel.2891]

@Teratus.2859 said:

@Danikat.8537 said:

@Genesis.8572 said:

The biggest problem for me I find is Sylvari and Asura characters as they specifically only have singular names unlike Humans and Norns which have both first and second naems, I do not enjoy incorporating titles into my character names that conflict with who that character is and where they came from either so it becomes increadibly difficult to find sigular fitting names for these characters.Scarlet

Briar

. Sylvari can have or make surnames for themselves, especially now as they encounter more races that use the equivalent of surnames. They too may opt to adopt them such that they can distinguish themselves from their fellow sylvari.

As I understand it the lore only says that sylvari do not have family names, because they don't have families (or they're all one family). There's nothing to say their name has to be just one word. I realise most sylvari in-game do have one word names (Scarlet being the obvious exception) but IMO it's not going against the lore for them to have a two (or three) word name, it just won't be one they inherited from their parents.

And of course many of them have titles, either related to their job or rank or a kind of nickname, like Laranthir of the Wild.

Not most.. All of them.The only Sylvari with long names are those with titles such as Warden etc.Even Scarlets real name was sigular as well, Sylvari simply don't have multiple names unless they cast off their old self and reinvent themselves which is what Scarlet did.The same applies to Asura who much like Sylvari you will never see in the game with multiple names, it's just not part of their cultures to have 2 names.

It's okay that you want to be lore friendly when naming your Sylvari character, but that is a different issue than what this thread is about. Anyway:

• If the name that you want is unavailable, chances are that it's a direct reference to something and therefore it's unlikely to be lore friendly.
• If you think that the name you came up with is original but still taken, then it's, in fact, not original as somebody already uses it. Nonetheless, since you came up with one, you can surely do that again.

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

The policies in MMOs about reserving names can be set along a spectrum. At the extremes, there's no preservation of names versus permanent protection.

Names are lost after ... 100 years of inactivity ↔ 6 years of inactivity ↔ two expansion of inactivity ↔ a day of inactivity.GW2 is at the far left; WoW is close to the right side; and the original arcade games from the 1980s are the far right.

There are winners and losers to any specific policy and for any change of policy.

• Sliding left benefits those who logon infrequently or return after long periods of inactivity.
• Sliding right benefits those who have recently joined and those who have more trouble thinking of new names

There's no happy medium for the situation (short of introducing a different mechanic, such as including account name, but that's a different conversation).

So it comes down to a matter of preference and implementation cost. When it comes down to it, purging names is more expensive

• It requires more code and new policies
• That code (besides being costlier to setup) can make mistakes, leading to higher maintenance costs
• Regardless of the above, it requires more customer support, as there are always people returning to this game, even sometimes after playing just once before.

Without any numbers, it's impossible to say how many more 800-gem name-change contracts (or new toon slots) they'd sell if they cancelled some people's names and made them available to the existing player base. It would have to be a heckuva lot of contracts|slots to make up for the new costs and the bad will generated.

---

You're overthinking it a lot with the whole "stealing" thing.Or maybe you're under-appreciating that there's another side to the issue.

The purpose is not for one person to be able to claim (or as you call it, steal) the name they want. The purpose is to refresh the pool of usable names in general.Yes, of course, it's not intended that person X steals from person Y. Unfortunately, there's no difference in the impact. Before a purge, person X has the name; after, person Y has it. Y is happy and X is not.

[Etria.3642]

Instead of a title you can always add an adjective.Wanted: SolaceOptions: serene, sweet, awesome, adorable, bad, beautiful, charming, cute, dreamy, decadent...

You get the idea. And if you don't like that at the front, can always add to the end.

Solace the sweet.Solace the terrific.

[Bloodstealer.5978]

@Ashen.2907 said:

@Lunia.2736 said:

@Ashen.2907 said:

@Lunia.2736 said:

@MikeG.6389 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.

Imagine that someone else paid for that office space. It belongs to them. Its theirs. They paid for it. And then someone else comes along and says, "I dont like what other people are doing with their property so take it away from them and give it to me instead."

Now that was a far better counter to that ridiculous analogy than mine was .. respect! :)

[Obtena.7952]

@Lunia.2736 said:

@robertthebard.8150 said:

@Lunia.2736 said:

@Ashen.2907 said:

@Lunia.2736 said:

@MikeG.6389 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.

I gave it all the consideration it needed. "They have it, I want it, so ANet should make it happen".

Using your very example, I named a toon Ashlayna, and everyone called her Ash, all the time, even in TS/Discord, which was jarring, since it's obvious that I'm not female on voice chat.

However, what happens if they do this, and your much desired name is still unavailable? Is it time to move the goalposts to "well, they haven't logged it in for a long time, so they don't deserve to keep it" even if the account is actually active, just not on the name you want to steal? What if they're active on another server? There's no misunderstanding here either, steal is exactly the right word. That's the defining principle, taking something that belongs to someone else. So find some creativity, hit up the name generators that have been provided if you can't, and get a name you like, and go, or don't, as you see fit, but don't try to pretend you're not asking to steal names from someone else, that's exactly what you're doing.

You're overthinking it a lot with the whole "stealing" thing.

Name recycling is common practice in other MMORPGs for good reasons. World of Warcraft, Trove, ArcheAge, RIFT, Lineage II, Aion, DC Universe Online and probably a lot of others that I can't recall off the top of my head. Nothing out of the ordinary. It has nothing to do with "not being creative enough to find a name" either.

The purpose is not for one person to be able to claim (or as you call it, steal) the name they want.The purpose is to refresh the pool of usable names in general.

It's actually quite intriguing how opposed this community is to this common practice compared to any other game community. It's generally seen very favorably there. While some even become really toxic about the mere notion of it here.

And those MMO's aren't GW2 ... they aren't made to leave and come back later. The bottomline is that even if MMO's recycle names, no one wants to lose there's if it can be helped. Just because it's common practice doesn't mean it's GOOD practice.

[Blude.6812]

Times up, a minute has passed.No thank you to a personal quest at the expense of others.

[Danikat.8537]

@Teratus.2859 said:

@Genesis.8572 said:

@Teratus.2859 said:Creativity only goes so far.. and some people like myself for example are significantly invested into giving our character natural sounding lore fitting names and honestly despise having to throw a name out entirely because it's taken or change a few letters around or spell them akwardly to the point they look and sound stupid.Which other people are capable of easily achieving even now, as I and others have experienced as well.

Not everyone has the same rules with thier names like I said.You may be fine with adding a double letter or changing something but others place more value in their names and are not willing to butcher them like that.

What do you do if there's another barrier to the name you want, other than someone else getting it first?

For example I really wanted to call my weaver Rinkhal Stormbringer, a name which ties heavily into the backstory I created for him and his personality. It's perfect for him. But I couldn't use it. Why? It's 20 characters long.

I suppose I could have begged Anet to change the rules, to let us use 20 characters, after all it's just 1 more letter so it shouldn't cause any problems right? (Cue someone explaining how 19 characters fits perfectly into X bits of data or some such thing.) But regardless of whether it's possible it would have left me waiting indefinitely for a change which may or may not happen before I could make my new character.

So, regardless of how attached I was to that name I went back to the drawing board (or more precisely a series of post-it notes) and went looking for another name. I stumbled across the Afrikaans word Akkedis (which means lizard) and...I don't know why but it stuck. I decided even if I didn't use it in his name that would be his real first name for RP purposes. But eventually I decided on Akkedis de Rinkhal, a name which I like at least as much as my original idea.

It's the same process when a name I want is taken. I understand being attached to a name (that's why some of us are so against this idea) but the only time I've gotten so attached to one that I wouldn't find something else instead is when I've had it for years. I've got 2 characters (not counting Akkedis) where the name I first wanted was taken (one going back to GW1) so I changed it slightly, and now I wouldn't change either of them even if I could, and I'd be extremely upset if someone else took them away from me. (Which is possible, under this proposed system since one is a lore appropriate asuran name and the other is a reference to a popular character with just 1 letter changed to make an equally meaningful name which regularly gets mistaken for the original.)

[Mewcifer.5198]

Asking anet to increase the limit to 20 characters is more reasonable than asking anet to strip other players of their character names

[Khisanth.2948]

Soooooooo ......

Lets say ArenNet agrees with the change. They make the change and release it. While you are patching your game some speedy bugger creates a new character using the name you have been drooling over for 6 years. Now what?