NAME PURGE, its about time...

[Danikat.8537]

I can't seem to find the post now but someone said earlier that the people favouring the idea of adding a number (or other automated suffix) to the character name already have that option.

If you want to call them Steve but can't because it's taken you can call them Steve One, or Steve Two, Steve Three etc. Or add your account name (or part of it). Or whatever you think the automated suffix should be. The only limitation is you can only use the same characters allowed for the rest of the name, so you can have Steve One but not Steve 1 or Steve_1. On the plus side this way everyone gets to choose what the suffix is instead of being stuck with whatever Anet thinks is best.

[ManMountain.4321]

i have yet to rin into any proble naming a character, yes i use proper english with no special characters. im happy they dont purge names because i left the gane for awhile and came back recently. i doubt my nsme eill be ever used i have a first and last name. thats how i name all my characters first name and surname

[STIHL.2489]

@Egrimm Van Horstmann.7921 said:

Illconceived Was Na.9781

Right now naming isn't a problem for the most part, that acknowledged, I've also played WOW which with such a large player base this is a constant problem. People end up using special character if they know about the alt letters or they just come up with another name. The real problem many players find is that in creating the character they were aiming for a particular look to go with name and so name being last step means a lot of backtracking in character creation. For many this is a non issue, but for RP players this isn't that simple. So my suggestion is a solution open up a name if must have it with the .# addition vs making multiple attempts coming up empty. Which depending on your character can happen a lot. For some of my toons it took days to get the right name a look.

Maybe they could just append their name with _RP and see if that opens it up?

[Midnight.7526]

@Grimheart.2853 said:

@SlateSloan.3654 said:i see no problem anet allowing names of characters to exist more than once ingame. we have unique display names so every player is able to be identified anyways. if it was to avoid scamming on pvp trades, we trade through the tradingpost in gw2. the ingame mail system could be designed to work with the display names to ensure delivery to receiver. its up to the sender to decide and ensure to choose the right receiver. it ever was and is still that way today.

There used to be a lovely game once, called Neverwinter Online, which did pretty much that.

It allowed players to give their characters names that were in posession of other characters. You only had to come up with a unique account name and it was used as the primary player identificator, even shown in the chat.

That system allowed players to give their characters more or less generic names that could fit the setting and not force them to become some xT69xxx

-

'Markus'

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'Faust'_-_xxx96Tx abomination just because their name is not "unique" enough. That had the potential of allowing the world to be filled with more organically named characters.

However for each organically or even just generically named character there was at least a dozen of Legolases, Drizzt Do Urdens and Kiritos. Needless to say a system that had such good intentions, managed to make it even worse from a certain perspective.

So, in the end, having such a system would give a bit more freedom to having to come up with an organic name for a character to some people, and then also unleash the plague of unispired stupidity.

The question is can the obscure positive aspect really outweight the obvious negative?

Champions Online also has that naming feature, so you could have a hundred people with the same hero name, appended by their account name.

[bearawr.9847]

i Frankenstein a name with words i associate with my character. i look up one word in google translate in a bunch of different languages, pick another word, and do the same thing, and mash things together to become something new. i did this with my dragonhunter, Itiburu (meaning little hunter)

[Player.9621]

no waywhy should someone else suffer just because youre late to the party and have no imagination

[Majic.4801]

No.

Just... no.

[Cyninja.2954]

There is 2 approaches a players can take at this point in time with different results to this problem:

Approach A is to hope arenanet does a name purge and wait until they do, hopefully getting a name you want. Obviously your approach TC.

Approach B is to get creative and use an available name via introduction of last names to your characters etc.

We are all rooting for you TC, hopefully arenanet comes around to fixing this issue for you soon. Make sure to keep those character slots open and available until then. Better yet, buy some more to be able to secure as many names as possible once the name purge day comes.

Meanwhile, most of us will have to unfortunately go with approach B. I'm sure we will regret this decision once the name purge comes around. We should have known better.

[T G.7496]

You should have been here earlier.You should have chosen the name sooner.You should have a better imagination.

Sometimes you don't get what you want.Who knew?~TG

[T G.7496]

@Endless Soul.5178 said:I notice OP hasn't come back to this thread, maybe they were purged. ;)

I just saw this. Golden =)~TG

[Willowfalls.9814]

@Egrimm Van Horstmann.7921 said:There is a name solution, it's what should happen. If you pick a name already taken, there shouldn't be a problem for Anet to add a .number to the nameplate. So if there are two Laura Croft for instance one would have a .1 at the end of their name. Meaning Laura Croft and Laura Croft.1 would be easily separate. Now instead of the interface saying the name is already taken asking you if you're OK with .# added to name? If not then you'll have to rename the toon.

No. That's no different than adding _X or something similar to the end of your character name, which you can already do. (i.e. X Lara Croft X) It still looks crappy. Purge or don't purge, I really don't care. But if you do free up names at some point, make it more than 5 years, easy to log in and reset the timer, and give the player plenty of notice.

[Blockhead Magee.3092]

The OP didn't have the worst suggestion ever (that would be the person who said DO NOT SLICE THAT BREAD), but its a close second.

Nobody who paid their money for a game they can come and play at any time should lose a character name.

[Player.9621]

how would you determine what counts as 'not playing'i was awol for nearly two years but that doesnt mean i quit the game, not at alli had every intention of playing again and i ami would have been really angry if my names were stolen and probably quit for good out of spite

[Mina Ion.7852]

A) Did the player pay for his account?B) Did the player create a character and give it a name?C) Is that character still on his or her selection screen?

If the answer is Yes to all of them, you don't get to tell ANet to rob a paying player for his name. That being said, I'm a bit more on the fence when it comes to players who DID NOT purchase an account.

[Bloodstealer.5978]

@Kheldorn.5123 said:I wonder what name you are trying to get.

Bob... however maybe creatively he could try BOB,bOb, BOb, bOB, BÓB, Bób... my god this could go on and on and on and on and on and .....

[chronometria.3708]

Bit puzzled as to why people are defending those who have been absent for the game for literal years. Most games do a clearout of old names from time to time and if someone actually cared enough about their characters then maybe they should actually be playing them and supporting the game.

Send them an email, say their names may be lost if they don't log in and if they still don't log in, then they are effectively consenting. That at least is fair and gives them a chance to save those names and they can then go inactive again if they really want to.

[Ayumi Spender.1082]

@chronometria.3708 said:Bit puzzled as to why people are defending those who have been absent for the game for literal years. Most games do a clearout of old names from time to time and if someone actually cared enough about their characters then maybe they should actually be playing them and supporting the game.

Send them an email, say their names may be lost if they don't log in and if they still don't log in, then they are effectively consenting. That at least is fair and gives them a chance to save those names and they can then go inactive again if they really want to.

So glad none of the games I've played done this.

[MedievalThings.5417]

The only version of this that I can see as acceptable, is if the toon is under level 5, and hasn't been logged in for over 5 years. Otherwise, there is no reason to do this.

[Shirlias.8104]

I wouldn't mind... But even if so, how would you procede in order to purge names?

Since it seems that we are going to have a new expansion every 2 years, it should be at least 2 years and some months with no login.

And also, Since you have to login to unlock ls episodes, there will be plenty of not playing players which will login just for the unlocking

[Taygus.4571]

@chronometria.3708 said:Bit puzzled as to why people are defending those who have been absent for the game for literal years. Most games do a clearout of old names from time to time and if someone actually cared enough about their characters then maybe they should actually be playing them and supporting the game.

Send them an email, say their names may be lost if they don't log in and if they still don't log in, then they are effectively consenting. That at least is fair and gives them a chance to save those names and they can then go inactive again if they really want to.

I've been away 2 years. I had infrequent internet access during that time.

If my toons names were purged...I would not be back and I would not have bought the xpacs.

So there's a real life example. .of someone who couldn't log in.But I still care about my characters!

It's not like Anet would benefit from a name purge, punishing players for taking a break, in a game that actually encourages people to come back and jump in whenever.They don't benefit and it isn't necessary. And there no reason to assume that the names people want would even be purged.

[Shena Fu.5792]

There's a very easy Solution if the name you want has been taken: choose a different name.

Why should Anet waste time and effort for no gain? They would waste time deciding the criteria of names to purge, when to purge, notify the account holder, execute script perfectly. What if mass accounts got wrongly purged? There would be a whole mess to clean up.

What if you still cant get the name after a purge? After all, you're not the only person who wants to use a popular name. Many would be racing to take a freed up name. So would you come back here to whine when you lose again to never ending naming contest?

For that matter, how do know a name belongs to inactive account? Why do you feel entitled to name in game? Why would Anet care if that name is inactive?

[IndigoSundown.5419]

@chronometria.3708 said:Bit puzzled as to why people are defending those who have been absent for the game for literal years. Most games do a clearout of old names from time to time and if someone actually cared enough about their characters then maybe they should actually be playing them and supporting the game.

Send them an email, say their names may be lost if they don't log in and if they still don't log in, then they are effectively consenting. That at least is fair and gives them a chance to save those names and they can then go inactive again if they really want to.

Customer trust is an issue that game developers need to pay attention to. ANet has stated that their intent for the game was that people can leave for extended periods and can return when they want to find a gaming experience conducive to fun. They've also explicitly promised that purging character names will never happen. Were they to go back on the name purge promise, they'd be abrogating the latter and compromising the former. Heck, people accuse ANet of breaking their promises all the time, even when they read something into what an ANet rep said that wasn't really there. I can guarantee negative reactions would be forthcoming. That alone is not worth the minor benefits of a purge to a few players.

To emphasize the last point, for each desirable name purged, one player would benefit. Those asking for a purge seem to think that would mean they get the name they want. The odds, though, are very much against that happening.

[STIHL.2489]

@chronometria.3708 said:Bit puzzled as to why people are defending those who have been absent for the game for literal years. Most games do a clearout of old names from time to time

No.. almost NO game does a name purge, ever, I still have my characters with their names intact on my UO and EQ accounts, and I have not played that game in well over a decade.

Honestly Stop trying to use someone else's name, and build your own Identity in game.

[Elefym.2643]

@IndigoSundown.5419 said:

Those asking for a purge seem to think that would mean they get the name they want. The odds, though, are very much against that happening.So True... If a name is popular enough that it is already taken and one person is vocal about wanting it, then there are surely a few non vocal people who also want said name. Once it is freed to be used again, it's not going to stay free for long.

[Bloodstealer.5978]

@chronometria.3708 said:Bit puzzled as to why people are defending those who have been absent for the game for literal years. Most games do a clearout of old names from time to time and if someone actually cared enough about their characters then maybe they should actually be playing them and supporting the game.

Send them an email, say their names may be lost if they don't log in and if they still don't log in, then they are effectively consenting. That at least is fair and gives them a chance to save those names and they can then go inactive again if they really want to.

Cant think of any MMP's I've played over the last 15years that have enforced a name purge, but hey ho... some just gotta spend more time whinning about not getting their name rather than getting creative around the name