Name change contract

[Buran.3796]

   Bought that one to change and use a different name, which happens to be taken. The name follows the rules and limitations, so I tried iterations using letter spacing for capitals and combinations of umlauts ¨ and chevrons ^ but the game answerd "the name is not available". Did so many permutations that is just impossible for the name to be repeated, so I assumed that those umlauts and chevrons were not allowed (which is weird, since I have plenty of chacters using those). So I tried to just use space and capitals and replacing some letters, but again the game said "name not available". That make me think that the game doesn't allow so many capitals, but is not true since I have fresh characters with names composed by only capitals...

  What the heck is happening? Are the restrictions for renaming a character different from the ones of creating a new one? Why aren't names in capitals allowed in the Name Change Contract which cost me gems (and real money) but available in character slot creation?

[Linken.6345]

If you type out the name people might be able to spot the violation to the naming rules.

Without it there is no way to know.

[kharmin.7683]

Yeah.  There are that many permutations of "Legolas"

[Ashantara.8731]

4 hours ago, Buran.3796 said:

Are the restrictions for renaming a character different from the ones of creating a new one? Why aren't names in capitals allowed in the Name Change Contract which cost me gems (and real money) but available in character slot creation?

The restrictions are the same, whether you create a new character or change an existing one's name.

My advice for next time would be to try out the availability of a name by either of the following methods before wasting Gems on a Name Change Contract:

• Method 1: Try adding the name to your Friends List. It will tell you whether it's taken (which will add the player) or not (resulting in an unknown character name).
   
• Method 2: Create a new character on an empty character slot. At the end, you can clearly see which letters are allowed and which aren't, plus you will be notified immediately if the name is taken.

[Danikat.8537]

If I remember correctly the game will say "Name is already in use" if someone has taken it and "Name is not available" if it's against the rules for some reason. So that could give you some clue about what's going on.

There are some weird naming rules which aren't obvious, for example you can't have the letters G or M next to a space, even as part of a word, which is part of preventing people from putting GM or G M into their name and pretending they work for Anet. (Yes there's a special Anet guild tag which can't be faked, but new players may not know that.)

I'm not sure anyone knows all the rules exactly, but they're exactly the same for new characters and name changes. If you tell us what name you were trying to get we might be able to figure out what's going on.

Also if you're using a name taken from an existing character in other media it's entirely possible that a huge number of variations are taken, maybe not all of them, but it's likely two people trying for the same name will also try the same variations.

Edited February 24, 2023 by Danikat.8537

[mercury ranique.2170]

I also suspect that the name is not allowed. If thats the case, even changing characters to bypass this is not allowed either. Even if you find a loophole, they will likely force you to change it.

A few examples are obscene names (also ones in other languages), name of game characters, names of arenanet employees and a few more.

You can always ask support why it is blocked, but the answer will most likely be cause they have their reasons and you wont change their mind

[Ashantara.8731]

1 hour ago, mercury ranique.2170 said:

A few examples are obscene names (also ones in other languages)

I wish! I've always had to send in a support ticket (with screenshot and translations) each time I wanted to report an obscene or racist German character name, because in-game reports did nothing.

[Buran.3796]

   The name is from the greek mythology, I don't see any potential infraction since the regular version exists in the character from other player (and I have my own interation of it). 

   To prevent trolling I will just provide a similar example (is not the real name, just a comparable example): let's say that the name is "Hephaestus" God of the Forge, a 10 letter name. I currently have a character with Hepâestüs, and the "normal" version "Hephaestus" is taken; when I try to use H E P H A E S T U S (which fills exactly the max 19 letter cap between 10 letters and 9 spaces) the game saids "name not available". When I try with H Ë P H A E S T U S, H E P Â E S T U S and other more complex iterations as H Ê P Ä É S Ú S, etc. is still not allowed. Doing the same with less letters, still not allowed.

   That contrast with me not having any problem naming a character I created recently as A L Â S T O R . So that's why I'm asking if the rules of names for new characters and for name changing are different...

[Danikat.8537]

31 minutes ago, Buran.3796 said:

   The name is from the greek mythology, I don't see any potential infraction since the regular version exists in the character from other player (and I have my own interation of it). 

   To prevent trolling I will just provide a similar example (is not the real name, just a comparable example): let's say that the name is "Hephaestus" God of the Forge, a 10 letter name. I currently have a character with Hepâestüs, and the "normal" version "Hephaestus" is taken; when I try to use H E P H A E S T U S (which fills exactly the max 19 letter cap between 10 letters and 9 spaces) the game saids "name not available". When I try with H Ë P H A E S T U S, H E P Â E S T U S and other more complex iterations as H Ê P Ä É S Ú S, etc. is still not allowed. Doing the same with less letters, still not allowed.

   That contrast with me not having any problem naming a character I created recently as A L Â S T O R . So that's why I'm asking if the rules of names for new characters and for name changing are different...

I know it's not the name you wanted but I just tried H E P H A E S T U S and it was available and worked. Annoyingly that means it's now not available for 24 hours (but will be after that because I deleted the character). But it means it's definitely not the format which is the problem.

I also just got Testg M An which means it's not as strict as I thought on the letters G and M on their own. Although it wouldn't let me have Test G Man, it seems to be specifically the letter G on it's own it doesn't allow.

All the names which wouldn't go through either got "[Name] is already in use" or "[Name] contains words or letter combinations which are not permitted." I couldn't get an error simply saying the name is not available, but if it's from Greek mythology my guess is a lot of variations are taken, because Greek myths are well known and popular so a lot of people will want to use those names.

[Jianyu.7065]

I had a name in GW1 - Kubei Sho Tashito.

 

I was later forced to change it because it violated the naming rules. Originally, it was okay(?). 

 

I thought it was stupid considering the issue with the name was simply a coincidence, but either way they forced me to change it.

[Linken.6345]

13 minutes ago, Jianyu.7065 said:

I had a name in GW1 - Kubei Sho Tashito.

 

I was later forced to change it because it violated the naming rules. Originally, it was okay(?). 

 

I thought it was stupid considering the issue with the name was simply a coincidence, but either way they forced me to change it.

it was the poop right?

Edit

Interesting that me typing it turned to kitten but your last name did not turn into Takitteno

Edited February 25, 2023 by Linken.6345

[Jianyu.7065]

14 minutes ago, Linken.6345 said:

it was the poop right?

Edit

Interesting that me typing it turned to kitten but your last name did not turn into Takitteno

 

Yes. 

[synk.6907]

On 2/24/2023 at 5:40 PM, Buran.3796 said:

   The name is from the greek mythology, I don't see any potential infraction since the regular version exists in the character from other player (and I have my own interation of it). 

 [...]

   That contrast with me not having any problem naming a character I created recently as A L Â S T O R . So that's why I'm asking if the rules of names for new characters and for name changing are different...

10+ years into the game being out, I wouldn't be surprised if all sorts of permutations and twists for a name from Greek mythology were indeed already taken. Try adding a last name or title or something like that.

Edited February 26, 2023 by synk.6907

[mercury ranique.2170]

On 2/24/2023 at 12:22 PM, Ashantara.8731 said:

I wish! I've always had to send in a support ticket (with screenshot and translations) each time I wanted to report an obscene or racist German character name, because in-game reports did nothing.

a bit off topic. I do believe that in game reporting does not work in this case. They have to know certain information that can not be included in the in game reporting tool. Further it is important to provide enough details in the mail. Screenshots and timestamps are important to track down the person. A link to a website in english explaining the meaning in german helps as well. Keep in mind that e.g. google translate just translates. There is not much wrong afaik in english with the term pigdog (for example). 

[Buran.3796]

   Finally worked as I wanted as

H Y P E R Î O N

   Thank you all for your help!

[Danikat.8537]

10 hours ago, Buran.3796 said:

   Finally worked as I wanted as

H Y P E R Î O N

   Thank you all for your help!

If that's the name you were going for it's not surprising most variations were taken. The titan is well known, there's a Marvel superhero with the same name and the name is used for all kinds of other things so there's a good chance people will have come across it even if they don't know Greek mythology.