Name Purge

[Ruin Mage]

If it takes anyone 20 days to get to level 10 I'd be surprised unless they purposefully try to do like a mission a day and that's it.

In which case: More power to you.

Edited November 7, 2020 by Shadeknight

[UltraAlt]

if they did a mission a day, then that would mean they are logging in everyday, so none of renaming standards listed would open up the name for someone else.

 

You're logic is flawed.

[ShardWarrior]

2 minutes ago, Shadeknight said:

That's SUPER generous.

Except for the people who through no fault of their own are unable to login for a period may lose a name they already had.  By all means, release the names on accounts - not characters but accounts - that have not been logged into for more than a year, and after someone from Homecoming has reached out to provide an opportunity for them to come back.  If after that, by all means release the names.

 

Just because a policy existed on live does not mean it was a good policy nor should it mean it cannot be improved upon.

[Ruin Mage]

I'm just saying I'd be surprised. But yes, that would be considered active.

I still stand by we need some sort of name policy/purge outside of this supposed level 1-20 one.

[Ruin Mage]

1 minute ago, ShardWarrior said:

Except for the people who through no fault of their own are unable to login for a period may lose a name they already had.  By all means, release the names on accounts - not characters but accounts - that have not been logged into for more than a year, and after someone from Homecoming has reached out to provide an opportunity for them to come back.  If after that, by all means release the names.

 

Just because a policy existed on live does not mean it was a good policy nor should it mean it cannot be improved upon.

If someone is unable to log on for 90+ days, then I don't know what to tell you. 21 to 49 has a YEAR to log on. If someone is gone for that long, then I'm sorry chief but protecting their names is not okay. If I was gone for a year for RL reasons, I'd suck it up. RL comes first over a private server for a video game shut down in 2012.  The policy could use some updates, but one is needed if a game is to have unique names per person. If it had a Champions Online style of naming, this wouldn't be an issue.

Homecoming does not owe people to contact them if their name is up for grabs. That's not how this works, we are owed nothing from them just for playing on their private server.

[ShardWarrior]

7 minutes ago, Shadeknight said:

If someone is unable to log on for 90+ days, then I don't know what to tell you.

If someone has a name you wanted and you cannot come up with an alternative, I do not know what to tell you.  This door swings both ways. 

 

People may have very serious, very legitimate reasons for being away for an extended period of time.  Someone mentioned in a prior thread on this subject that their computer died and at present, they are unable to afford a new one due to being unemployed because of the virus situation.  I think think people like this deserve some consideration as well as others who may have to be away from the game.  Stealing the names like this is not okay.

Edited November 7, 2020 by ShardWarrior

[Davy]

Well Shade you can proudly add Military Personnel to the list of enemies you made next to GMs and Nightclub RPers.

[Ruin Mage]

Consideration, yes, but 90 days is 3 months. 365 days is an entire year.

Now, mind you, I'd be okay with the policy waiting until everything isn't batshit crazy but on the other hand? That's going to be a while.
I am not, to make it clear, asking for a policy right here and right now. I am asking that one gets implemented when possible.

A policy that is similar to the one proposed by HC last year. However changed it needs to be. 30 days to a year is very generous.
There does not need, in my humble opinion, to be any further exemptions. I would argue even for modifying the day amount or level brackets considered.

I am against exemptions based on real life paths that people choose - job or no job. This includes the military. Which, to my knowledge, not every military has active deployment in areas where just logging on is nigh impossible for 30+ days. This goes for other jobs. Hell, if anyone would need an exemption in this day and age? It is doctors and nurses.

Edited November 7, 2020 by Shadeknight

[CitizenThirteen]

Hey, all you military service members griping about the naming conventions...  I don’t get it.  Where the heck are y’all deploying to these days that’s so hard you can’t get internet?  We had internet in our FOB Iraq in 2006 for crying out loud, and we were a mix battalion of infantry and MPs who actually left the wire and weren’t a bunch of fobbits.  On top of that, just ask your parents/spouses/best friend to log in for ya once every thirty days or whatever.  Holy crap.  Never in my life would I ever have thought military service members would be freaking asking to be exempt from a video game naming policy...  like, if you’re SF or one of those poor infantry units that gets stuck in a BFE Afghanistan posting that doesn’t even get electricity, I get it, but I HIGHLY doubt that y’all are.

[AerialAssault]

If there was exemptions that ran off an honour system, that would be far too open to abuse. At that point, what measures do you take? Documents? Witnesses? It's a video game, I get it means a lot to a lot of people but please, it is just a game.

 

 

[ShardWarrior]

1 minute ago, AerialAssault said:

I get it means a lot to a lot of people but please, it is just a game.

Agrred, but why should this go only one way?

[Ruin Mage]

...what?

Please elaborate what you mean.

[Giovanni Valia]

57 minutes ago, Shadeknight said:

A whole year of inactivity for a level 21-49 seems extreme, considering how easy it is to PL with double xp bonuses, fire farming, etc. I'd support shortening this window to 6 months of continuous inactivity. It wouldn't surprise me at all if many names are still "locked up" on level 1-5s due at players discovering the game and making a char with only passing interest.

Edited November 7, 2020 by Giovanni Valia
Sp

[Ruin Mage]

I would want it to be halved across the board at least, but that would probably ruffle a few feathers.
I'd also remove the protection from 50s.

Edited November 7, 2020 by Shadeknight

[Alchemystic]

1 hour ago, ShardWarrior said:

If someone has a name you wanted and you cannot come up with an alternative, I do not know what to tell you.  This door swings both ways. 

 

People may have very serious, very legitimate reasons for being away for an extended period of time.  Someone mentioned in a prior thread on this subject that their computer died and at present, they are unable to afford a new one due to being unemployed because of the virus situation.  I think think people like this deserve some consideration as well as others who may have to be away from the game.  Stealing the names like this is not okay.

 

Go to a library.

 

It's free computer and internet access for anyone.

[ShardWarrior]

2 minutes ago, Tyrannical said:

 

Go to a library.

 

It's free computer and internet access for anyone.

Most libraries are not gaming machines nor do they allow you to download software onto them

[Alchemystic]

10 minutes ago, ShardWarrior said:

Most libraries are not gaming machines nor do they allow you to download software onto them

you really dont need a "gaming machine" to run CoH.

 

And you can download the game onto a USB.

 

Honestly, it's not hard.

[ShardWarrior]

1 minute ago, Tyrannical said:

Honestly, it's not hard.

And doing without a name you wanted is?

[Ruin Mage]

Again, for some people - a name matters. It may seem silly to you, but so do your arguments against a name policy come off as being silly. You are legitimately coming off as contrarian and/or facetious at this point.

Unless how names work changes, a policy towards names and inactivity is a good measure to look into. There have been several arguments as to why, and not one has had a good counter-argument.

Let me use myself as an example - under the last proposed policy that I screencapped? I have four names I no longer have at risk:

• Occult
• Shadeknight
• Prologue
• Spellgeist

If I am gone for a year, Spellgeist is the only one that can go up for grabs under that policy. That's it. One of 4 varying names that could see use in someone else if I disappear for a year+. I would not be mad if I couldn't/didn't log on for a year and lost the names. No one should be exempt from an inactivty policy because no one is above anyone else. No job or walk of life puts you above anyone else. Not military, not law enforcement, not lawyers, and so on.

You also made an argument that HC should inform a person if their name is about to be freed up due to inactivity - which you've not yet refuted the counter-argument that we are not owed such. HC does not have to do anything about letting us know. We can look on the character screen to see how long its been since it was last played. What I would like to see is a City Information Tracker website to help facilitate a naming policy - so you can see when someone last logged on.

A policy is needed. Either the one last proposed in 2019 or one modified off of that.
One without large exemptions like a year. A year is a long time. 

[Ruin Mage]

We are not owed an email just because we've been gone for a year. That's not how this works nor is it how it should work. No one is that important.

We are not owed any courtesy like that.

Edited November 7, 2020 by Shadeknight

[ShardWarrior]

1 minute ago, Shadeknight said:

Again, for some people - a name matters. It may seem silly to you, but so do your arguments against a name policy come off as being silly. You are legitimately coming off as contrarian and/or facetious at this point.

Again, please try reading.  Scroll up.  I am not against a name release policy.  I simply suggested that the one offered could use some alteration.  And if a name is important as you say it is, can it not be just as important to someone else as well?  Should they not be at least allowed the common courtesy of an opportunity to keep it?  Just pointing that out.

[ShardWarrior]

1 minute ago, Shadeknight said:

We are not owed an email just because we've been gone for a year. That's not how this works nor is it how it should work. No one is that important.

We are not owed any courtesy like that.

Why not?  I get emails from games I have not logged in to for a while all the time.  I see absolutely no harm in it.

[CitizenThirteen]

Either a character limit, or the freeing up of unused names on inactive accounts.

 

I’m sure most would prefer the second

[CitizenThirteen]

Just now, ShardWarrior said:

Why not?  I get emails from games I have not logged in to for a while all the time.  I see absolutely no harm in it.

Because they don’t have the staff to do so?  I dunno what their capabilities are to install some kind of automated email to players who’s names are about to expire.  But sounds like a stretch

[ShardWarrior]

Just now, CitizenThirteen said:

Because they don’t have the staff to do so?  I dunno what their capabilities are to install some kind of automated email to players who’s names are about to expire.  But sounds like a stretch

How hard is it to use a free mass email service?  Querying what accounts are inactive should be no problem at all if they are able to do that to release names.