issue 27 Focused Feedback: Name Release Policy - Phase 1: Warning Mode

[lemming]

3 hours ago, UltraAlt said:

 

I first thought this was an interesting concept, but, then the whole "If most normal people had superpowers, they would be supervillains" thing started creeping in, It just opens the door for people to name camp with alternate accounts and then put them into this state until they decide that they actually want to play that name.

I think this is something that's *cough* probably done now with alt accounts until the person wants to use them....   Not a real example or anything...

 

*Ok, I have like six names that are waiting for the right inspiration to actually make the char...   I park them on the other account just to not have them clutter the main.  And a few have been purged

 

On the main thing about people going off on deployment, etc...   I used to moderate a game and this did come up occasionally.  We had a few people deployed or other reason to be unavailable that could ask us directly.  We had a "safe zone" for those accounts, and froze their stuff for that time.

 

The tricky ones were the people who couldn't contact us directly.  The player from Syria who had to suddenly move because her appt building got shelled for example, but another was a hospital emergency where the played couldn't contact us for some time.   Definite edge cases and in the game I was doing, much smaller community and if you didn't login, bad things could happen easily.

Here, the worst is a name grab and the worst case I could see someone having a plan to rotate thru chars near the grace period, and have the emergency come up just before.  Larger community here, and less consequence.

 

For me to rotate thru my characters (around 110 currently) doesn't take that long.  I do it at each anniversary or other thing comes up.  Even on my slow ass connection, it's not that much work.   Tedious, but less so than a respec IMO.   It's just a login, you don't have to sit down and bring them up to speed on current events.

Edited July 15, 2022 by lemming
ramble ramble ramble

[lemming]

1 hour ago, Starhammer said:

So, sort of related... With new data related to characters being shown on the character selection screen, there's some other character data I'd love to see here too, specifically what SG a character is in (if any) and whether they've completed a Patron arc. I have too many alts, and some hints would be helpful from time to time. I bet there's some other character specific data others might find useful during selection too.

A dev can correct me, but it seems the data collection is a bit of an issue.  I'd love to be able to query the system with the ability to pull a bunch of different data points.   I wonder if a system similar to the char copy tool could be done where you ask the system (probably via a tool on the forum) that has the system collate the data and email you a spreadsheet/json/blob with data wanted.   I'd want a full data loadout, but an account would probably be limited to once a week at most.

 

(Completely OT and should go into the suggestion forum)

Edited July 15, 2022 by lemming
OT

[Ironblade]

5 hours ago, AlwaysAPrice said:

It is way easier than you'd think to lose the ability to log in for a year or more at a time.

Surely they would have a friend who could do it for them.  I did this for someone in my SG back on live.  They were going to be out of contact during the anniversary month and wanted the anniversary badge on their characters.  (They were in the Navy and were going to be on a submarine.)

 

So I logged in for them.  Did that violate the terms of service?  I think so, but who cares.  It was the right thing to do.

[Trike]

5 hours ago, AlwaysAPrice said:

 

It is way easier than you'd think to lose the ability to log in for a year or more at a time.

Like I'm not saying it's going to happen that often, but things will happen to some people with or without warning that will prevent them from having the ability to log in. When things are going bad enough, one might also be amazed how low a priority logging in to a game to do fiddly maintenance tasks becomes, even when that game is something you've previously invested thousands of hours and oodles of creativity and effort and time in.

Again, it's not going to happen to a lot of people, but the general use-it-or-lose-it crowd could stand to keep in mind that it's going to happen to some.

Yeah, it’s pretty easy to not be able to log into the game for a month or more. When I had Covid in 2020, I could barely do anything for more than 3 months, nevermind play video games. This past winter my dad died from complications caused by Covid and the going back and forth and dealing with all of that meant that I didn’t play (or want to) for several weeks.

 

I’m not opposed to this going into effect; I’m well aware of the value of a cool name. (I just scored “Birthstone” last week on Excelsior, which surprised me.) I just think the low-level policy should be extended from 30 days to 60.

[EmperorSteele]

8 hours ago, Oubliette_Red said:

Character Copy tool is currently unavailable so I can't check at the moment but could a be placed on the page button (for those with multiple pages of characters) to indicate that there are characters on other pages that also have a warning on them?

 

 

I just had this same idea; bumping for visibility!

[Andreah]

I don't want this to be done by account.

 

If a person is sitting on many low-level characters and wants to be assured of keeping their names, they should have to put some effort into doing so. 

 

If a name isn't important enough for a player to log in once a month on that specific character, and then just immediately log back off, I'm not feeling much sympathy. 

[ShardWarrior]

On 7/13/2022 at 9:16 AM, GM Impervium said:

Let's put it this way.

There are over TWO MILLION characters in our database. Only a fraction of those have been played in the last week. I don't want to get much more specific (such as going into numbers of accounts and such), because Cipher will stab me. But yes, under-leveled, unplayed characters are a huge deal, and I can guarantee a LOT of names are going to get freed up!

 

Given the magnitude of the amount of word combinations that can be used in the English language alone, two million character names is insignificant.  Sure, only a fraction of those characters may be actively played, but I will also bet real money only a fraction of a fraction of them have names someone else may want.

 

1 hour ago, Andreah said:

If a name isn't important enough for a player to log in once a month on that specific character, and then just immediately log back off, I'm not feeling much sympathy. 

 

This is unsympathetic and ignores quite a lot of the feedback provided here from role players who may be keeping lower level characters for any variety of reasons.  Not to mention there are those who have no sympathy for others who cannot use a thesaurus or apply a little creativity to come up with another name. 

 

At least if the person who has a name you might want is still active, you can contact the player and work out some sort of deal for them to release the name for you.  That seems fair too.

[gameboy1234]

15 hours ago, EmperorSteele said:

even level 50's shouldn't be 100% safe. I mean, if you haven't played a character in over a year, you're not really playing it at all.

 

If you've got a character to 50 and parked because you're working on other toons, I think it's fair to say you shouldn't have to re-log your 50 just to keep it.

 

OTOH I'm not totally against a level 50 name being lost if a player truly isn't coming back.  I think the entire account would have to be idle for 18 months though before it should happen.  How to do this?  Maybe run a script against the main login server every 3 months.  If an account hasn't been used at all in 18 months, then update the individual game servers for that account with "name OK to take".  Once a player logs in you'd have to figure out a way to revoke that immediately.

 

EDIT: Or on a game server, if a name is 50 and over 18 months, when the request for that name is made, query the log-in server if that account has been used in the last 18 months.  Then you at least do the check locally first before asking the name server for its information.  Should reduce the load.

 

 

Edited July 16, 2022 by gameboy1234

[Doc_Scorpion]

1 hour ago, ShardWarrior said:

Given the magnitude of the amount of word combinations that can be used in the English language alone, two million character names is insignificant.

In a world when every possible combination of English words yielded a desirable superhero name, that would be a rational point.  We don't live in such a world.  We live in a world where only an impossibly tiny fraction of all possible combinations yields a desirable superhero name.  We also live in a world where words have meaning and meanings are significant - and thus some desirable combinations are seen as more valuable than others.

[ShardWarrior]

Just want to point out that what is or is not desirable is entirely subjective to the individual. 

[Coyotedancer]

Honestly, I'd really rather not have to bounce around between three different servers, worrying about when I last logged in on each and every one of my 70+  well-equipped, fully-Incarnated and, yes, very much valued level 50 characters, just because some of you guys think I need to "prove" that I'm devoted enough to deserve to keep those characters' names. 

 

That they made it to 50 and were liked enough to keep ought to be proof enough that they're wanted. If I didn't value them they wouldn't be sitting there taking up a name in the first place. 😝

 

I have no problem with lower level characters needing some attention to stay in proverbial good grace.... but leave the 50s out of it. They've earned their place.

 

 

Edited July 16, 2022 by Coyotedancer

[Parabola]

1 hour ago, Doc_Scorpion said:

In a world when every possible combination of English words yielded a desirable superhero name, that would be a rational point.  We don't live in such a world.  We live in a world where only an impossibly tiny fraction of all possible combinations yields a desirable superhero name.  We also live in a world where words have meaning and meanings are significant - and thus some desirable combinations are seen as more valuable than others.

Back on live I had a character who I really struggled to name and who wasn't all that important to me so I generated two random words and stuck them together; Kidney Bench was born. I grew kind of fond of Kidney over the time I played him, he certainly acted as a conversation starter. In many respects that name gave him far more personality than a 'Captain Heroic' derivative would have.

[bustacap]

What happens if the character if your Global name?

 

Is it just completely separate from the heroes names and copied from your 1st hero?

 

I use my global from live. I do not have the patience for warshade with name anymore though. Outside of me being on a laptop with no num pad the bind shenanigans needed to get the archetype to even work right. I just can't be bothered past level 24...

 

I still want the name so I guess I need to sit it in a fire farm?

[Andreah]

1 hour ago, bustacap said:

What happens if the character if your Global name?

 

I suggested back on Page 2 of this thread that if a character name matched the player's global name, it be exempt from being flagged for release.

 

However, as I read things the devs have said, that may not be possible to do.

[Jacktar]

Hi, apologies if this has been addressed already in thread, given that the new system directly affects the character select pages system, could we not now put in place a basic “sort by ……” system on the screen so we could sort by  level and then anything else that might be deemed useful…

Maybe in place of the search option we have now.

At least sorted by level would go a long way to speed up the need to log in requirement when live.

Ideally a sort by level and days since last logged in would be fab.

Is it just me that when logging out an alt to character selection system I always get sent back to page one every time?

I would like to be send back to where the logging out alt was in the listings. This is now but that might not be the better way when the new changes go live, not sure.

Cheers

 

[Excraft]

3 hours ago, Jacktar said:

Hi, apologies if this has been addressed already in thread, given that the new system directly affects the character select pages system, could we not now put in place a basic “sort by ……” system on the screen so we could sort by  level and then anything else that might be deemed useful…

Maybe in place of the search option we have now.

 

Yes to this please.  No objection to there being a name release policy for inactive accounts, just the implementation needs a lot of work. 

[Excraft]

On 7/15/2022 at 9:07 AM, Bionic_Flea said:

Or perhaps a limit on how many "old names" a single account can claim?

 

It would seem odd to me that one account should suddenly claim several names from another specific account.  For that matter, it would seem odd to me that one account should suddenly claim multiple names from multiple accounts.  That, to me, implies a new name camper.

 

Name camping is only bad if someone else does it. 🤣

[Excraft]

On 7/14/2022 at 11:25 AM, Stoked said:

Imagine if Google or Twitter started instituting a similar policy if you didn't send enough emails or tweets? Who cares if there is more than one toon with the same name in game anyway? Are there people triggered if they see another "Captain Spout" or "Fire Hawk" or "Raven" in game? I mean seriously ... this is such an inane thing to be concerned about. If the devs are using it as a primary key or other unique identifier in the database, that's an architectural/design problem that can be fixed quite easily with an additional ID column. If it's not used as an identifier, drop all this insanity about names and do something productive.

 

Yeah unfortunately the game does use the character name as a unique identifier.  The code is super old and wasn't really optimized well.  Not something that can be fixed outside of an entire engine revamp as I understood it.  Cryptic fixed this in the newer version of their game engine.  You see the same ship names and even some character names over in STO and no one makes a stink about other players being named James T. Kirk piloting the U.S.S. Enterprize.  It's just not that big of a deal. 

 

To your point, here is something truly hilarious - there are people in this thread who are saying that they MUST have names released because they can't just come up with a different variation on a name who are also posting in threads totally berating others for "not being creative enough" with other people's costumes and such.  Oh the irony!  🤣

[Coyotedancer]

6 hours ago, Andreah said:

I suggested back on Page 2 of this thread that if a character name matched the player's global name, it be exempt from being flagged for release.

 

However, as I read things the devs have said, that may not be possible to do.

 

It might also get weird in cases like mine... I don't have (and never have had-) a character named Coyotedancer.

Other players on both Everlasting and Excelsior *do*.

 

Even though it's my Global handle, those Coyotedancers running around the City aren't mine. (And yes, that's really confounded people a few times when they met those characters and assumed I was the one playing them! 😝 ) Would it just act like any old regular name for them, or get tagged to me somehow or what?

[DoctorDitko]

I have a Doctor Ditko on every server, including Brainstorm.

I mainly play on Torchbearer, though, so many of them are mid-teens, mainly used for base tours and such.

 

I flatter myself that I might have a microversal "brand" in the world of CoH, and I would hate it if someone grabbed the name on another server and behaved in a way that might be described by a term the profanity filter would flag.*

(I like to make my own mistakes, thanks!)

 

So, it would be great if there were a dispensation for names that are:

a) Across all servers

     or

b) Related to the global name

 

In the "I win the lottery and donate all to the Homecoming devs" department, how hard would it be to link in a public domain synonymicon?**

 

Quote

The name "Red Menace" is owned by another player. Would you like to reserve "Scarlet Threat" instead?

 

Finally, I'd like to suggest that some small reward be granted for anyone who gives up a name. Not big enough to encourage players to camp names, but some token to acknowledge the sacrifice. How about a badge that reads "I used to be Dingleberry" or some such?

 

Probably overthinking this, but... it's what I do.

 

 

* Which, by the way, I keep active because it's more fun to call someone an "ectoparasitic feather-feeding louse" than an "#$%%^&".

** Synonym for Thesaurus. Ironically, there are not many of those!

Edited July 16, 2022 by DoctorDitko
why not?

[Troo]

7 hours ago, bustacap said:

What happens if the character if your Global name?

 

Is it just completely separate from the heroes names and copied from your 1st hero?

 

I use my global from live. I do not have the patience for warshade with name anymore though. Outside of me being on a laptop with no num pad the bind shenanigans needed to get the archetype to even work right. I just can't be bothered past level 24...

 

I still want the name so I guess I need to sit it in a fire farm?

 

or rename a 50

[MrAxe]

With the altis that results from this game I second the motion to have an account wide check-in only.

 

Having now read that the above its too difficult, how about no log out timer from when its implemented?

Edited July 16, 2022 by MrAxe
Boochux

[Andreah]

26 minutes ago, Coyotedancer said:

Even though it's my Global handle, those Coyotedancers running around the City aren't mine. (And yes, that's really confounded people a few times when they met those characters and assumed I was the one playing them! 😝 ) Would it just act like any old regular name for them, or get tagged to me somehow or what?

The way I suggested it, their character names would always fail the check against matching the player's global name, and thus the name "Coyotedancer" would come up available if they allowed the character to become release flagged.  Then, if you managed to then get that local name, your new Coyotedancer character's name would match your global name, @Coyotedancer, and thus you would never again worry about it becoming flagged for release, even if you left the character at level 1 forever. 

 

There's no system to alert us that any particular name has become available, so you'd have to routinely check to see if the name became released from inactivity of whoever currently holds it.

[GM Vayek]

35 minutes ago, MrAxe said:

With the altis that results from this game I second the motion to have an account wide check-in only.

 

Having now read that the above its too difficult, how about no log out timer from when its implemented?

The trouble with this is that there are plenty of active accounts with 50+ lvl 1 name holders that are inactive for like 2 years. So, an account wide thing doesn't help curb that particular issue.

However, with it being per character, once you load into your character select screen, you'll see little notifications beside characters at risk. And a person could avoid this by simply logging into each alt just once a month for about a half second.

[Marbing]

7 minutes ago, GM Vayek said:

However, with it being per character, once you load into your character select screen, you'll see little notifications beside characters at risk. And a person could avoid this by simply logging into each alt just once a month for about a half second.

Not that I am against this change, but to be fair, depending on where the character is logged off, it can take up to 20-30 seconds per character. I have tested. It is faster if you happen to log out in a rest zone, like Pocket D. And, I realize you could have been just making a point of it being quick, I just wanted to point this out. The solution to the length of time it takes to log into each character is to either A) level those characters to 50 or B) move those characters to a rest zone (this will significantly cut down on the log in/log out time.) 

Edited July 16, 2022 by Marbing