Can We Talk About Name Availability For A Minute

[Klowdy.3126]

@kharmin.7683 said:

@"Teratus.2859" said:

I honestly doubt many people who have not logged into the game in 2 years even think about coming back.. and if they did I doubt they would care about their old characters or their names all that much.I'm not so sure about that. There have been plenty of returning player posts here and on reddit from players who have been gone for years. Also, with ANet's push to bring back those "lost" players, the number of returning players may increase.

Case and point, as of posting this, the fourth thread on the front page is from a player that played at launch, until level 30 (one can surmise from that the player has been gone for many years, since literally everything you do gives you experience to level), and is wondering if it is worth coming back. At very least, this person has been gone since before HoT, because they have no knowledge of gliding, or mounts. This person may have been repelled by losing their name (pure conjecture, but based on past experiences, and others' comments), which is worse for the game than names sitting idle.

[ROMANG.1903]

Honnestly, I'd only like to be able to check the avalaibility of a name without having to end the character creation. I like noting several names before picking one and being unable to check which ones are avalaible makes this impossible...

Also, what if we had to pick a second name? Something that everyone had to pick, but you could then hide it if you wanted to. That way, people can get the same name without creating confusion?

[Teratus.2859]

@kettering.6823 said:

@Teratus.2859 said:

@Genesis.8572 said:

@Teratus.2859 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.

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.

Absolutely untrue. I have three Sylvari characters with 'surnames' - Saoirse Foxglove, Fionnlagh Celandine, and Caoimhe Larkspur. Each and every one of those are flowers, flowers that have meanings to their character. None of them are 'race traitors' nor evil; Saoirse loves foxgloves, so tacked one onto the end of her name for fun. Fionnlagh is a revenant who, according to his story, saw a man in his dream and in the mists who he knew he had to find. Celandine was a plant he saw in both his dream and the mists; it has a great meaning to him. Caoimhe really likes humans and wanted to mimic them, so she picked her favourite flower and made it her 'last name'. If you're a stickler for lore, there are plenty of reasons you could come up with for your Sylvari to have a last name, or even just a second name.

This again all comes down to not being creative enough. 'But lore!' is not really a valid reason when there are many ways you can work around the lore.

No it comes from difference of opinion and how far you want to go with fitting your character names.There's nothing wrong with you wanting to give your Sylvari last names or if you want to add meaning to them.But in the game world, born from the tree Sylvari have only the one name.Every Sylvari NPC in the game including Scarlet was born with only a singular name.Every player is free to do what their like with their characters, if you want to RP that way more power to you.But some of us like to tie our characters as closely as possible into the game world and it's lore, and that does mean we restrict our names to the same or as close to similar rules to what Anet used when creating NPC names for each race.I only used the terms race traitors and evil because the only Sylvari to break from traditional naming convention was Scarlet who was both evil and a race traiter, or at least she's seen that why by her people due to her actions that caused Mordremoth to wake and enslave many of them.It wasn't an attack on yours or anyone elses characters.. in the game lore there is only one commander, in my game that is my PC.. and every other player doesn't exist in my story or is some nameless random adventurer who's not important or relevant to it.

[Teratus.2859]

@tinymurder.5791 said:

@Teratus.2859 said:

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.

@Lunia.2736 has been presuming exactly that throughout this thread. In fact, given how consistent they've been with the specific details of their argument, I'm inclined to believe that they personally know somebody who:

1. Made a character at launch.
2. Leveled up once.
3. Stopped playing immediately afterward.And worst of all,
4. Locked up a name that @Lunia.2736 wanted for one of their characters.

I may be way off base, but it really does sound like sour grapes, instead of a reasoned argument.

I can't speak for Lunia only myself but I can understand their frustration if that is indeed their reason for their opinion on this subject.

[Mewcifer.5198]

@ROMANG.1903 said:Honnestly, I'd only like to be able to check the avalaibility of a name without having to end the character creation. I like noting several names before picking one and being unable to check which ones are avalaible makes this impossible...

Also, what if we had to pick a second name? Something that everyone had to pick, but you could then hide it if you wanted to. That way, people can get the same name without creating confusion?

Some sort of name checker would be nice.

[Teratus.2859]

@kharmin.7683 said:

@"Teratus.2859" said:

I honestly doubt many people who have not logged into the game in 2 years even think about coming back.. and if they did I doubt they would care about their old characters or their names all that much.I'm not so sure about that. There have been plenty of returning player posts here and on reddit from players who have been gone for years. Also, with ANet's push to bring back those "lost" players, the number of returning players may increase.

I'm not saying there havent been, I too have friends who played years ago and came back to the game, one I even bought both expansions for to help him out with his streaming channel.There's definitely people who come back for sure.. but there are also a lot who don't.I know more people who played for a few months and stopped than I do who came back years later, many of them moved on to different games and now have no interest in playing Gw2 again no matter how much they're told has changed or improved.Many free accounts too come in, play a while then leave again as well it's entirely based on the individual and their circumstances and interests.I'd say this is pretty much normal for all MMO's though, even the biggest of them.

[Teratus.2859]

@Bloodstealer.5978 said:

@Teratus.2859 said:

@Danikat.8537 said:

@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.

As Mew said.. extended the character limit is far more reasonable than stripping away dead names from dead accounts.. and probably easier too.I'd have no problem with increasing the cap to 25-30 characters in all honesty.

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.)

As I said i'm not arguing for taking names but for changing things so players can use dupicates of the same name.But in regards to taking names from dead accounts a lot of what i'm seeing as against that decision seems to stem from the assumption that names are going to be taken away from regular players who go on short breaks.. even though the OP stated that the duration required to loose a name would be years of never logging in.I honestly doubt many people who have not logged into the game in 2 years even think about coming back.. and if they did I doubt they would care about their old characters or their names all that much.Many who do come back tend to just start new characters anyway as they don't remember how to play their old ones nor are they familiar with any of the changes.

You would be surprised how many players take extended breaks in games then come back.. sometimes those break are unplanned but necessary, it's not just about players not liking GW2 enough to play it anymore.Whilst extending the number of character is as others say, a reasonable request, it would still not satisfy the "you got what I want, it's not fair, give it to me" attitude.Bottom line there is simply NO justification for trying to take other players character names other than " I want BoB and only BoB, GIVE ME BoB cos it's not fair someone else's character is called BoB!!"

I take them myself from time to time.

See you're arguing from a place that suggests people are angry about names used by regular players and that they feel entitled to those names when it's not like that.It's specifically been said by the person who started this thread that what we need is a some kind of new system to handle names better and that this is a discussion worth having.Which is something I definitely agree with.

Taking old unused names from inactive accounts is only one of the options people have suggested and that seems to be the only one people are even talking about here.And some like yourself are even stripping that down to "give me your character name" which is a really unfair way to look at it not to mention it doesn't add anything constructive or positive to the discussion.Not everyone is arguing for what you say they are.. I've already put forward my alternative solution to the problem, yet I keep getting replies like yours when i've made it clear i'm not for that solution myself either.

[Tommo Chocolate.5870]

@Lunia.2736 said:

@Tommo Chocolate.5870 said:

@mauried.5608 said: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?

I can't resist this type of combinatorics calculation, so I decided to work it out. Assuming that the first and last characters can't be spaces, and that you can't have consecutive spaces (since I think that's true), I make it 1,480,178,613,935,196,025,156,733,570. Since any good mathematician will show their working (we're like the opposite of stage magicians), I've put it in a spoiler below.

That number shrinks by quite a lot when you start factoring in common naming conventions and what constitutes a reasonable name.

That number would include every form of: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa A, Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Aa, Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Aaa, Aaaaaaaaaaaaaa Aaaa, Aaaaaaaaaaaaa Aaaaa, Aaaaaaaaaaaa Aaaaaa, Aaaaaaaaaaaa Aaaaaa, A Aa Aa Aaa Aa Aa A etc. with every single letter.

Like I said, most of those are unpronouncable nonsense (and your examples are just about pronouncable but still nonsense). I should clarify that I did the calculation solely because I enjoy doing that sort of thing, and not because I think it backs up anyone's argument in any reasonable way!

@Danikat.8537 said:Thanks for working that out! I had wondered but didn't trust myself to work it out properly. :)

Also I wouldn't assume any name is totally out of the question. Earlier in this topic I discovered that Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa (19 As in a row) and Abcdefghijklmnopqrs were both taken. Shortly after that I decided to name my key runner Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh and had to modify it to Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhha to find a version which wasn't taken. (In retrospect that was a bad move, especially for me, as it made it really hard to type in again to delete them.)

In a similar vein, I've seen characters whose names just looked like random strings of letters - usually in the tutorial instance, immediately after having put way too much effort into naming one of my own characters. I always assume they just don't really care what their character is called (perhaps, like in your case, it's just a key runner); but maybe they just have different aesthetic tastes to me.

[kharmin.7683]

@Teratus.2859 said:

There's definitely people who come back for sure.. but there are also a lot who don't.So who are we (or Anet) to make the decision on which accounts that appear inactive won't be coming back ever and then take the character name(s) from them? This is why I am against the OPs desires.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

If there's even the slightest chance someone might return, the names, and anything else connected to the account, should be untouchable.Thus, time away from the game can't be used to determine if a name should be released.

If Display Name changes break the game, then I doubt that any other system of naming will be forthcoming soon. There seems to be issue with changing deeply-imbedded mechanics.

It seems most players don't have the OP's issue, though. So, again, ArenaNet would probably find the resource-expense too high for the small number of players it would serve.

[Tanner Blackfeather.6509]

@Teratus.2859 said:

@kettering.6823 said:

@Teratus.2859 said:

@Genesis.8572 said:

@Teratus.2859 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.

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.

Absolutely untrue. I have three Sylvari characters with 'surnames' - Saoirse Foxglove, Fionnlagh Celandine, and Caoimhe Larkspur. Each and every one of those are flowers, flowers that have meanings to their character. None of them are 'race traitors' nor evil; Saoirse loves foxgloves, so tacked one onto the end of her name for fun. Fionnlagh is a revenant who, according to his story, saw a man in his dream and in the mists who he knew he had to find. Celandine was a plant he saw in both his dream and the mists; it has a great meaning to him. Caoimhe really likes humans and wanted to mimic them, so she picked her favourite flower and made it her 'last name'. If you're a stickler for lore, there are plenty of reasons you could come up with for your Sylvari to have a last name, or even just a second name.

This again all comes down to not being creative enough. 'But lore!' is not really a valid reason when there are many ways you can work around the lore.

No it comes from difference of opinion and how far you want to go with fitting your character names.There's nothing wrong with you wanting to give your Sylvari last names or if you want to add meaning to them.But in the game world, born from the tree Sylvari have only the one name.Every Sylvari NPC in the game including Scarlet was born with only a singular name.Every player is free to do what their like with their characters, if you want to RP that way more power to you.But some of us like to tie our characters as closely as possible into the game world and it's lore, and that does mean we restrict our names to the same or as close to similar rules to what Anet used when creating NPC names for each race.I only used the terms race traitors and evil because the only Sylvari to break from traditional naming convention was Scarlet who was both evil and a race traiter, or at least she's seen that why by her people due to her actions that caused Mordremoth to wake and enslave many of them.It wasn't an attack on yours or anyone elses characters.. in the game lore there is only one commander, in my game that is my PC.. and every other player doesn't exist in my story or is some nameless random adventurer who's not important or relevant to it.

For a better example of Sylvari with effectively more than one name, or rather with a title (perfectly fine to use in the name) there is Laranthir. His nameplate always (from what I can remember) reads as "Laranthir of the Wild".

"of the X" is a perfect title structure with a lot of options. Personally, I'm fond of using the character's Cycle (Night/Dawn/Noon/Dusk) but a lot of other things work just as well.

[Teratus.2859]

@kharmin.7683 said:

@Teratus.2859 said:

There's definitely people who come back for sure.. but there are also a lot who don't.So who are we (or Anet) to make the decision on which accounts that appear inactive won't be coming back ever and then take the character name(s) from them? This is why I am against the OPs desires.

The Op suggested several different methods to counter the same problem, I threw my own in too as i've said multiple times already.

The main goal as stated by the OP however was to recognize this as a problem and start a discussion about it.Many of you however are all arguing that taking peoples names away is the only thing this thread is about when it's not.There are other solutions to the problem.. mine was one of them.

[Teratus.2859]

@Tanner Blackfeather.6509 said:

@Teratus.2859 said:

@kettering.6823 said:

@Teratus.2859 said:

@Genesis.8572 said:

@Teratus.2859 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.

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.

Absolutely untrue. I have three Sylvari characters with 'surnames' - Saoirse Foxglove, Fionnlagh Celandine, and Caoimhe Larkspur. Each and every one of those are flowers, flowers that have meanings to their character. None of them are 'race traitors' nor evil; Saoirse loves foxgloves, so tacked one onto the end of her name for fun. Fionnlagh is a revenant who, according to his story, saw a man in his dream and in the mists who he knew he had to find. Celandine was a plant he saw in both his dream and the mists; it has a great meaning to him. Caoimhe really likes humans and wanted to mimic them, so she picked her favourite flower and made it her 'last name'. If you're a stickler for lore, there are plenty of reasons you could come up with for your Sylvari to have a last name, or even just a second name.

This again all comes down to not being creative enough. 'But lore!' is not really a valid reason when there are many ways you can work around the lore.

No it comes from difference of opinion and how far you want to go with fitting your character names.There's nothing wrong with you wanting to give your Sylvari last names or if you want to add meaning to them.But in the game world, born from the tree Sylvari have only the one name.Every Sylvari NPC in the game including Scarlet was born with only a singular name.Every player is free to do what their like with their characters, if you want to RP that way more power to you.But some of us like to tie our characters as closely as possible into the game world and it's lore, and that does mean we restrict our names to the same or as close to similar rules to what Anet used when creating NPC names for each race.I only used the terms race traitors and evil because the only Sylvari to break from traditional naming convention was Scarlet who was both evil and a race traiter, or at least she's seen that why by her people due to her actions that caused Mordremoth to wake and enslave many of them.It wasn't an attack on yours or anyone elses characters.. in the game lore there is only one commander, in my game that is my PC.. and every other player doesn't exist in my story or is some nameless random adventurer who's not important or relevant to it.

For a better example of Sylvari with

effectively

more than one name, or rather with a title (perfectly fine to use in the name) there is Laranthir. His nameplate

always

(from what I can remember) reads as "Laranthir of the Wild".

"of the X" is a perfect title structure with a lot of options. Personally, I'm fond of using the character's Cycle (Night/Dawn/Noon/Dusk) but a lot of other things work just as well.

Yes I agree.You could probably use seasons too and tie them into your characters colours.A light Blue Sylvari for example with their name containing "of the Winter"Or a Red one with the name containing "of the Autumn"This would however be an issue for longer names though with the character limit and all.Though that's again more reason to ask Anet to increase it.

If anyone is struggling with Sylvari names they should definitely take your advice there and try something like that.

[Ototo.3214]

I'm not entirely opposed to names being freed up from inactive accounts, but if they did it I'd prefer they do it like LoL, where accounts that have been inactive for a few years have the name added back into the pool without anyone knowing. Then if that person comes back and their name was taken they are prompted to pick a new name. If it wasn't taken they just get to keep it.

But that was just for a display name and in gw2 people have numerous characters, which it would suck to come back to and suddenly have to rename like 5 characters cause your puns were taken. So I also have no issue with names never being recycled. Just use special characters if you're hellbent on a specific name, I've managed to make to work every time without having to change a ton.

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

But in the game world, born from the tree Sylvari have only the one name.Every Sylvari NPC in the game including Scarlet was born with only a singular name.But some of us like to tie our characters as closely as possible into the game world and it's lore,we restrict our names to the same or as close to similar rules to what Anet used when creating NPC names for each race.

• Laranthir of the Wild
• Lania the Feathered Death
• Agent Giedre
• Alchemist Syrine
• Camp Coordinator Philia
• Botanist Nadir
• Historian Fia
• Valiant Enyr

Beyond that, there are a ton of single-word Sylvari names, too. ANet doesn't seem to have any trouble finding new ones.

Personally, I have named all my lore-friendly Sylvari using single-word Welsh, Irish, or Scots. Obvious choices have been taken, so I've gone for the unobvious. I've yet to have any serious difficulty.

[Danikat.8537]

@Mewcifer.5198 said:

@ROMANG.1903 said:Honnestly, I'd only like to be able to check the avalaibility of a name without having to end the character creation. I like noting several names before picking one and being unable to check which ones are avalaible makes this impossible...

One option is to make a random character (click create, click skip to end) and try the name you want. If it works you can delete the character and then the name is reserved for your account for 24 hours, so you can take your time making the character and then use the name.

Even if it takes more than 24 hours the chances someone will take that name in the time you're designing the character are low, but if you want to make sure you can just make and delete another random character. But I've got several names I keep reusing, months apart, and they're always available when I decide to use them again. (Some of them I have whole character concepts worked out, but they'd be redundant as permanent characters, so I just keep making them temporarily for various purposes and then delete them again.)

@Tommo Chocolate.5870 said:

@"Danikat.8537" said:Thanks for working that out! I had wondered but didn't trust myself to work it out properly. :)

Also I wouldn't assume any name is totally out of the question. Earlier in this topic I discovered that Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa (19 As in a row) and Abcdefghijklmnopqrs were both taken. Shortly after that I decided to name my key runner Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh and had to modify it to Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhha to find a version which wasn't taken. (In retrospect that was a bad move, especially for me, as it made it really hard to type in again to delete them.)

In a similar vein, I've seen characters whose names just looked like random strings of letters - usually in the tutorial instance, immediately after having put way too much effort into naming one of my own characters. I always assume they just don't really care what their character is called (perhaps, like in your case, it's just a key runner); but maybe they just have different aesthetic tastes to me.

Could go either way. It wouldn't surprise me if some people who don't care what the character is called literally just mash the keyboard until something goes through, but I've also had characters in various games where I spend a lot of time carefully coming up with a really nice, lore appropriate name and then got accused of using a "random jumble of letters". In my case it's usually because it's Welsh and even some people from Wales will admit it can look messy written down if you're not familiar with the language.

[Bloodstealer.5978]

@Teratus.2859 said:

@Bloodstealer.5978 said:

@Teratus.2859 said:

@Danikat.8537 said:

@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.

As Mew said.. extended the character limit is far more reasonable than stripping away dead names from dead accounts.. and probably easier too.I'd have no problem with increasing the cap to 25-30 characters in all honesty.

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.)

As I said i'm not arguing for taking names but for changing things so players can use dupicates of the same name.But in regards to taking names from dead accounts a lot of what i'm seeing as against that decision seems to stem from the assumption that names are going to be taken away from regular players who go on short breaks.. even though the OP stated that the duration required to loose a name would be years of never logging in.I honestly doubt many people who have not logged into the game in 2 years even think about coming back.. and if they did I doubt they would care about their old characters or their names all that much.Many who do come back tend to just start new characters anyway as they don't remember how to play their old ones nor are they familiar with any of the changes.

You would be surprised how many players take extended breaks in games then come back.. sometimes those break are unplanned but necessary, it's not just about players not liking GW2 enough to play it anymore.Whilst extending the number of character is as others say, a reasonable request, it would still not satisfy the "you got what I want, it's not fair, give it to me" attitude.Bottom line there is simply NO justification for trying to take other players character names other than " I want BoB and only BoB, GIVE ME BoB cos it's not fair someone else's character is called BoB!!"

I take them myself from time to time.

See you're arguing from a place that suggests people are angry about names used by regular players and that they feel entitled to those names when it's not like that.It's specifically been said by the person who started this thread that what we need is a some kind of new system to handle names better and that this is a discussion worth having.Which is something I definitely agree with.

Taking old unused names from inactive accounts is only one of the options people have suggested and that seems to be the only one people are even talking about here.And some like yourself are even stripping that down to "give me your character name" which is a really unfair way to look at it not to mention it doesn't add anything constructive or positive to the discussion.Not everyone is arguing for what you say they are.. I've already put forward my alternative solution to the problem, yet I keep getting replies like yours when i've made it clear i'm not for that solution myself either.

No, sorry, but your the one doing arguing .. extended long term breaks are not just about needing a break there are many other reasons it happens.The person who started this thread wanted a specific name that he/she is frustrated about not being able to have then it progressed into some fantasy friends list notion that said name has not been around for a few years.. or has that person being monitoring that name since launch.. no of course not and cannot.Every account whether they are absent in game for any length of time or not are still accounts that have the potential to generate revenue for ANET, heck the welcome back event is right there in our faces.On the flip side even if character names were to become relisted what happens when the one you still want isn't.. gunna ask for more ways and reasons to steal them of others.. nah - the system is fine, get creative or put up I say.Some players' self perceived entitlement has no bounds sometimes I think.

[Witch of Doom.5739]

@"ROMANG.1903" said:Honnestly, I'd only like to be able to check the avalaibility of a name without having to end the character creation. I like noting several names before picking one and being unable to check which ones are avalaible makes this impossible...

Before I start creating a character, I use the "search for friend" option in-game. That way I find out if a name is in use or not -- easy and quick!

[Agrotera.1254]

@mauried.5608 said:No MMos do this and the reason is the same .They hope that players who have left the game will eventually come back, and think of the outrage when you do and your name is gone.Also, such a policy would have to be declared when the game was released so people would be assured that they wont be penalised for taking a break.

Actually you aren't quite right. I know of one that if you do not sign in for one year they delete you and you have to make new characters and start over.

[XatraZaytrax.2601]

@Teratus.2859 said:

@Danikat.8537 said:

@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.

As Mew said.. extended the character limit is far more reasonable than stripping away dead names from dead accounts.. and probably easier too.I'd have no problem with increasing the cap to 25-30 characters in all honesty.

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.)

As I said i'm not arguing for taking names but for changing things so players can use dupicates of the same name.But in regards to taking names from dead accounts a lot of what i'm seeing as against that decision seems to stem from the assumption that names are going to be taken away from regular players who go on short breaks.. even though the OP stated that the duration required to loose a name would be years of never logging in.I honestly doubt many people who have not logged into the game in 2 years even think about coming back.. and if they did I doubt they would care about their old characters or their names all that much.Many who do come back tend to just start new characters anyway as they don't remember how to play their old ones nor are they familiar with any of the changes.

Your assumption that people gone for two years do not think about coming back is wrong as is the idea that they just will want to make a new character when they come back. In my first few years of playing this game I racked up a lot of hours. Over a year on play time. It is a good outlet for a stressful job. Then life hit hard. My boss gave my job to her good friend and put me in a position that required more hours, then my mother got sick and died, then we got bought out and I lost my job from a company Idedicated 27 years of my life to, then I had to go back to school while I worked full time. That all left me with little time, energy, or ability or desire to do things I enjoy for a really long time. When the dust finally started clearing, it was awesome to be able to return to my old friends and adventure with them. They -- being just pixels. -- helped me climb out of some pretty dark times, better than any human had. If I logged on and suddenly they had to be someone else I would probably have logged out and not return. To my that would seem like a death. Maybe I am too sentimental, but that is who and what I am.

[Teratus.2859]

@XatraZaytrax.2601 said:

@Teratus.2859 said:

@Danikat.8537 said:

@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.

As Mew said.. extended the character limit is far more reasonable than stripping away dead names from dead accounts.. and probably easier too.I'd have no problem with increasing the cap to 25-30 characters in all honesty.

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.)

As I said i'm not arguing for taking names but for changing things so players can use dupicates of the same name.But in regards to taking names from dead accounts a lot of what i'm seeing as against that decision seems to stem from the assumption that names are going to be taken away from regular players who go on short breaks.. even though the OP stated that the duration required to loose a name would be years of never logging in.I honestly doubt many people who have not logged into the game in 2 years even think about coming back.. and if they did I doubt they would care about their old characters or their names all that much.Many who do come back tend to just start new characters anyway as they don't remember how to play their old ones nor are they familiar with any of the changes.

Your assumption that people gone for two years do not think about coming back is wrong as is the idea that they just will want to make a new character when they come back. In my first few years of playing this game I racked up a lot of hours. Over a year on play time. It is a good outlet for a stressful job. Then life hit hard. My boss gave my job to her good friend and put me in a position that required more hours, then my mother got sick and died, then we got bought out and I lost my job from a company Idedicated 27 years of my life to, then I had to go back to school while I worked full time. That all left me with little time, energy, or ability or desire to do things I enjoy for a really long time. When the dust finally started clearing, it was awesome to be able to return to my old friends and adventure with them. They -- being just pixels. -- helped me climb out of some pretty dark times, better than any human had. If I logged on and suddenly they had to be someone else I would probably have logged out and not return. To my that would seem like a death. Maybe I am too sentimental, but that is who and what I am.

Me " I honestly doubt many people who have not logged into the game in 2 years even think about coming back"You "Your assumption that people gone for two years do not think about coming back"

Those two sentences are not the same nor do they imply the same.. I never said that all people don't think about coming back I said I doubt many think about coming back.Every MMO has members who join up and play for a set period of time then never touch the game again.. that's not an assumption it's a fact and I know a lot of people into MMOs that moved on from Gw2 pre HoT and have no intention of coming back, and trust me when I say i've been trying to get them to come back for years.

As for new characters I am often seeing returning players asking for help when they come back because the game is different to what they remember and they don't understand how it works now, and do you know what the most common response to that is?Something along the lines of "The game has changed a lot since you left your best bet is to make a new character and play through the game again so you can learn everything you need to"And that usually results with a reply saying something along the lines of "ok thanks I'll do that" and occasionally questions about what they should play, what's the best class these days etc.So no i'm not wrong when I say retuning players often make new characters because i've seen that advice being given to countless different players over the years not to mention the same advice given out by streamers and their communities, guild chats as well as discord groups.It's good advice which is why it's so common.

And again I have to clarify.. i'm not arguing for peoples names to be taken away either.

[kharmin.7683]

Does taking a character name delete that character? If so, then what about those players who have been away and then return to find their character missing? And the loss of birthday presents or whatever else might have been on that character or in inventory?

[tinymurder.5791]

@Teratus.2859 said:

@tinymurder.5791 said:

@Teratus.2859 said:

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.

@Lunia.2736 has been presuming exactly that throughout this thread. In fact, given how consistent they've been with the specific details of their argument, I'm inclined to believe that they personally know somebody who:

1. Made a character at launch.
2. Leveled up once.
3. Stopped playing immediately afterward.And worst of all,
4. Locked up a name that @Lunia.2736 wanted for one of their characters.

I may be way off base, but it really does sound like sour grapes, instead of a reasoned argument.

I can't speak for Lunia only myself but I can understand their frustration if that is indeed their reason for their opinion on this subject.

Do you see how this weakens their argument, however? This is the linchpin of the entire argument that @Lunia.2736 has put forth, yet they are arguing from one to infinity. They have no proof that the names they want are locked up in the manner that they claim. They can't even prove that the people they claim have they names are inactive or even still have the names in question. No argument has been put forward that justifies the removal of names on inactive accounts that don't boil down to, "I want it more." Everything else is attempts to justify that argument.

Lastly, if @Lunia.2736 is putting forth their argument as a result of an interaction with someone they know personally holding a name "hostage," then their argument isn't just weak, it's irrelevant. Essentially they are saying, "someone I know has been a dirt bag to me. Please make extensive changes to your game, so that they don't win." I can sympathize with the sentiment, but I cannot support the position. Furthermore, it cuts that foundation argument right out, leaving all of the follow-on argument flapping in the wind.

Before I go, I'm sure lots of people will disagree with my statement that revoking character names is an extensive change. I would invite you to contemplate how much of this game uses your name. All of those functions would need to be tested to make sure that they still reference the correct name and assign a placeholder to the character that has had their name revoked. This would need to be automated system-wide, and be a priority update for newly returning accounts. None of this is impossible, but neither is it trivial. What would you rather have programmer time spent on? A feature that is requested by a clear minority(if this thread may be taken as being at all representative) or popularly requested QoL updates? Perhaps even new content?

[tinymurder.5791]

@"Teratus.2859" said:

It's specifically been said by the person who started this thread that what we need is a some kind of new system to handle names better and that this is a discussion worth having.Which is something I definitely agree with.

Honestly, I feel the person who started this thread was trolling, since they literally haven't posted in here since making the original post.

Taking old unused names from inactive accounts is only one of the options people have suggested and that seems to be the only one people are even talking about here.And some like yourself are even stripping that down to "give me your character name" which is a really unfair way to look at it not to mention it doesn't add anything constructive or positive to the discussion.Not everyone is arguing for what you say they are.. I've already put forward my alternative solution to the problem, yet I keep getting replies like yours when i've made it clear i'm not for that solution myself either.

I feel like the people who keep saying, "YOU DON'T TOUCH OTHER PLAYERS ACCOUNTS!!!" could stand to add a little nuance to their position. While it does make it seem as if they are saying that you(specifically) want to take their(personal) character names away, I really don't think this is the intended meaning. I understand where they're coming from. They don't like the idea being put forth, i.e. that Anet should revoke character names from inactive accounts. After all, what's an inactive account? Where is the definition in the TOS? Will the names that are freed, actually be the names people are looking for? What if the reason you can't have that name is because it belongs to a gold scammer who was banned four years ago? Perhaps it's a bad word in Czechoslovakian?

As far as not adding anything to the discussion, this hasn't been a discussion on either side. Both sides have simply restated their positions, while deconstructing their opponent's arguments. I believe this is because this is merely the latest in a series of threads over the years about this subject. Honestly, this argument was played out years ago and no one has anything constructive to add. Those in favor trot out the same arguments, and those opposed trot out the same counterarguments. Eventually some one gets tired of not having their point ignored(no offense, usually by the name-revokers) and they keep posting in all-caps, bold font, "DON'T TOUCH OTHER PLAYER'S ACCOUNTS!"

At this point, someone may as well invoke Godwin's Law and call it a night.

[Chyanne Waters.8719]

Not sure if this was mentioned in this topic, but before the game launched Guildwars players character names were guaranteed to cross over if they wanted. Guildwars players also got a three day head start if they pre purchased the game. So right there you have names that they will not change for you or anyone else. Thing is if someone changes that name they have a limited time to give it to another character on that account or it goes back to the available list, so there is hope. Or you could do what companies did when they could not get the name they wanted. Buy out the person who had it.