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

[GM Impervium]

Hey folks

So, I just wanted to get ahead of something, kind of an addendum to my previous post here. We've been getting tells/DMs/tickets asking about whether or not a name they want will be freed up once this all goes Live.

At this time, the GM Staff will NOT be confirming or denying whether specific names will be available upon the implementation of the Name Release Policy (note that, per the patch notes, it will start in WARNING ONLY mode when it hits Live; names will not be available for some time after the initial patch goes up). Furthermore, we will not be subverting the policy if the name you want happens to be on a level 50 who's been gone for 3 years.

In short, the GMs are going to be hands-off when it comes to this system. We're not going to lock accounts, or unlock names, or confirm when a name you want is going to be freed up.

If this changes, we will of course let you know. But for now, please assume that we're not going to be able to assist you in these matters, and that you'll be on your own when it comes to protecting your names/trying to claim names you want. Thank you!

[UltraAlt]

51 minutes ago, GM Impervium said:

n short, the GMs are going to be hands-off when it comes to this system. We're not going to lock accounts, or unlock names, or confirm when a name you want is going to be freed up.

If this changes, we will of course let you know. But for now, please assume that we're not going to be able to assist you in these matters, and that you'll be on your own when it comes to protecting your names/trying to claim names you want. Thank you!

 

I strongly suggest adding this to the patch notes and in whatever kind of global message is posted when the the page is released.

[Unknown_User]

Question, not sure if this was already asked or touched upon.  Just a lot of pages to read through in regards to this topic.  So to get a name that is freed up by this new policy.  Do you have to create a new character from scratch or can you use the rename tool to get the name freed up by the naming policy? 

 

I ask because there is one specific name I really, really, really want on Everlasting.  I've been trying to contact the user for about a year now and no response.  So I did create a character with the name and slapped a II at the end of it.  So if the name is freed up by chance during the new naming policy.  Can I just delete the II in the name of the character or do I have to create the character in order to get the name.

 

Thanks in advance.

[Number Six]

14 minutes ago, Unknown_User said:

Question, not sure if this was already asked or touched upon.  Just a lot of pages to read through in regards to this topic.  So to get a name that is freed up by this new policy.  Do you have to create a new character from scratch or can you use the rename tool to get the name freed up by the naming policy?

 

That's a good question and one that is not covered by the current notes since we're testing the system in warn-only mode.

 

If I were to flip the switch tomorrow and turn on enforcement, the current implementation renames inactive characters only when a new character is created with the same name.

 

It does not kick in for renames. That's intentional as this is a feature that's designed both to make things more inviting for new players, as well as opening up options during the creative process.

 

It's not intended as a way to snipe that one name you really want, and while it can be used that way by determined players, it takes a little more effort than just hitting the rename button.

[Unknown_User]

2 minutes ago, Number Six said:

 

That's a good question and one that is not covered by the current notes since we're testing the system in warn-only mode.

 

If I were to flip the switch tomorrow and turn on enforcement, the current implementation renames inactive characters only when a new character is created with the same name.

 

It does not kick in for renames. That's intentional as this is a feature that's designed both to make things more inviting for new players, as well as opening up options during the creative process.

 

It's not intended as a way to snipe that one name you really want, and while it can be used that way by determined players, it takes a little more effort than just hitting the rename button.

 

Thanks,  guess I'll have to go the long way around, create the character, delete the character with name I want, and then rename the character that has a II at the end of it.

 

[Zepp]

4 hours ago, Bionic_Flea said:

I hear you.  But that market toon has to check his sales and restock!

As per my prior post. I generally check the toon on a daily basis, however if I go abroad for research and then some emergency occurs and I am away for more than a month, that is the issue. Thirty days is somewhat reasonable in most situations, however there are certain circumstances that may make it unreasonable.

[Stoked]

7 hours ago, Unknown_User said:

Question, not sure if this was already asked or touched upon.  Just a lot of pages to read through in regards to this topic.  So to get a name that is freed up by this new policy.  Do you have to create a new character from scratch or can you use the rename tool to get the name freed up by the naming policy? 

 

I ask because there is one specific name I really, really, really want on Everlasting.  I've been trying to contact the user for about a year now and no response.  So I did create a character with the name and slapped a II at the end of it.  So if the name is freed up by chance during the new naming policy.  Can I just delete the II in the name of the character or do I have to create the character in order to get the name.

 

Thanks in advance.

Please, let me know what the name is and I'll make sure to keep it safe for you. 

[Bartacus]

14 hours ago, Excraft said:

 

Read the thread.  There's quite a lot of feedback here from players who keep lower level characters for all sorts of RP reasons. 

keeping them for RP reasons but not playing them enough for them not to get flagged?? 

 

 

14 hours ago, Excraft said:

Again, how do you know they're sitting on a character for a year and not playing it?  You're making quite a lot of assumptions.  And if you aren't interested in grabbing a name that might get freed up, what does it matter to you?

Because if they're playing it then they'd have had nothing to worry about with the previous time limit. Re-read what I said. The principle that someone can level a character to 6 to keep a name for an entire year (that's what this change means) is ridiculous. There may not be a single name that I'm praying will open up, but I am still generally interested in more names being available for myself and others. if it were me, i'd prefer this extend to inactive level 50s as well (for a much larger time frame than 1 year). 

regardless, something is better than nothing i suppose. It's just irritating that in the name of RP someone can squat on a name for a year on a lvl 6 character with no worries. 

[ShardWarrior]

2 minutes ago, Bartacus said:

keeping them for RP reasons but not playing them enough for them not to get flagged?? 

 

Define "playing them enough".  I think you need to read the whole thread.  Some people do actively log in to their RP characters, but keep them at specific sub-50 levels for a variety of reasons.  There is nothing wrong with that and it is not squatting a name.

 

6 minutes ago, Bartacus said:

There may not be a single name that I'm praying will open up, but I am still generally interested in more names being available for myself and others.

 

This would be a concern if there were a limited amount of names available.  There are over 170,000 words in the English language alone that can be made into literally countless numbers of word combinations to generate a name.  There are many, many other languages that provide even more words that can used in even more combinations to make a name.  All kinds of words have more than one synonym.  There is simply no danger of the game running out of names ever. 

 

Google can direct you to all sorts of name generating tools to help anyone pick a name.  If a specific name a player wanted is already taken, there are threads here and here and here and here on these forums for anyone to post a request for that reserved name they are interested in or they can browse for one that is listed there as released.  Players are also able to use the /get_global_name to contact the owner of a taken name they are interested in and negotiate with the other player to release it.

 

[UltraAlt]

13 hours ago, Unknown_User said:

I ask because there is one specific name I really, really, really want on Everlasting.  I've been trying to contact the user for about a year now and no response.

 

This seems to be stalking to me.

I guess the user being repeatedly contacted about their character name should have reporting it.

But perhaps, they haven't been playing ... or simply put you on ignore.

[lemming]

14 hours ago, Number Six said:

 

That's a good question and one that is not covered by the current notes since we're testing the system in warn-only mode.

 

If I were to flip the switch tomorrow and turn on enforcement, the current implementation renames inactive characters only when a new character is created with the same name.

 

It does not kick in for renames. That's intentional as this is a feature that's designed both to make things more inviting for new players, as well as opening up options during the creative process.

 

It's not intended as a way to snipe that one name you really want, and while it can be used that way by determined players, it takes a little more effort than just hitting the rename button.

Ah.   I don't like that I have to check with a new char to see if I can rename a current character to the name they always wanted, but livable.  (Scanning my 100+ names, looks like there are only two I'd be checking this on, so no big deal)

[jkwak]

just a thought but could there be some way to excempt characters from the renaming?
idk maybe give player like a way to protect a small handfull of characters without leveling them up

i have a couple of low level character i only play once every couple of weeks, they are recognized in RP though and someone snatching there names because i didnt use that character for 2 weeks, or used and Alt version of the character, would be a really bad thing to happen. (also some bad eggs will definetly try to snatch names of characters which are recognized in RP)

[UltraAlt]

1 hour ago, jkwak said:

just a thought but could there be some way to excempt characters from the renaming?
idk maybe give player like a way to protect a small handfull of characters without leveling them up

i have a couple of low level character i only play once every couple of weeks, they are recognized in RP though and someone snatching there names because i didnt use that character for 2 weeks, or used and Alt version of the character, would be a really bad thing to happen. (also some bad eggs will definetly try to snatch names of characters which are recognized in RP)

 

There is a way. Level the character up to 50.

Though it is not making the exempt, it resets the timer if you log the character in.

 

Currently, the plan is 

Level 1-5 characters will be flagged as inactive if they have not been played in the last 30 days.

Level 6-49 characters will be flagged as inactive if they have not been played in the last 365 days.

 

Your name will never become available for replacement if you haven't played them in 2 weeks.

30 days is the shortest amount of time and that is only to level 5.

 

Level them up to 6 and you will have a whole year to log them in.

 

 

Edited July 21, 2022 by UltraAlt

[aethereal]

17 minutes ago, Zepp said:

With RP or marketing, you could play for hours on a toon without gaining a single experience point. I've spent hours playing my market toon, but zero xp. There are many ways to engage with the virtual world without leveling that is not "Just logging a toon in for 3 seconds and then right back out again" and my concern is that active sub-six toons may lose their names if there is a 31 day emergency.

The issue with sub-six toons, again, is not under regular situations, but under emergency conditions.

Exactly how urgent is it for your marketing toon to have a highly desirable name?

[Andreah]

Well, the way it is going to work, unless they decide to change it, is he deserves it more than you right up until the moment he hasn't logged it in in 30 days. At that point, anyone else can deserve it more than him if it is claimed. Until that new holder hasn't logged it in for however long for the level bracket they get it to.

[Zepp]

48 minutes ago, aethereal said:

Exactly how urgent is it for your marketing toon to have a highly desirable name?

Exactly how urgent is it for your non-RP toon to have a highly desirable name?

[aethereal]

Just now, Zepp said:

Exactly how urgent is it for your non-RP toon to have a highly desirable name?

I dunno!  Maybe not that much.  I grow bored of non-RP toons, so.  But if I had a character who was literally just a mule for item storage or an interface to the AH, I don't think I'd care if his name got changed.

[SeraphimKensai]

On 7/13/2022 at 12:47 PM, Andreah said:

If the name of a character matches the Global Handle of the account, the name is never flagged regardless of its level. This would let everyone have one name without worry, forever; and won't have to deal with someone else playing the character that matches their own global handle on their preferred server.

 

I like this idea actually.

 

But otherwise I'm all for the name release policy as long as lvl 50 names are always protected and never gets released. Maybe even have an option for military members to submit an exception to the name retention policy as people that are military that can be deployed for 12-18 months with shit all access to the internet let alone time to play. I'd hate to have Staff Sergeant Hero come back with a Bronze Star with Valor, and a Purple Heart only to find out their toon's name had been snatched up after personally escorting Vladimir Putin back to Russia.

[ShardWarrior]

33 minutes ago, Krimson said:

It's been suggested before, but I have no idea how possible it is, to have a naming system sort of how Champions does it. Like would it be possible to at the @global at the end of a toon name, but have everything from the @ on be invisible in game? Like if I am playing Acerola, I am really playing a toon named Acerola@Kommando, but you don't see the @Kommando part? That would pretty much solve the issue for everyone, though yeah... game engine limitations and all.

 

As I understood it this would only be possible by a complete engine rewrite.  Champions was the next generation engine after CoH.

[Number Six]

1 hour ago, ShardWarrior said:

As I understood it this would only be possible by a complete engine rewrite.  Champions was the next generation engine after CoH.

 

I wouldn't say complete rewrite, but a very large amount of work to retrofit something like that in. I did some exploratory work early on to see how feasible it would be and there are an annoyingly large number of commands (including internal ones you don't see) that take a character name and use it as a unique identifier.

 

Also would require a bit of redesign to integrate globals more thoroughly; currently they are second class citizens and the game doesn't even know what your global is until a few ticks after you log into a map (each map, separately), once the chatserver connection is up and running. And if chatserver happens to be down, it doesn't even know or have a way to find out.

[ShardWarrior]

6 minutes ago, Number Six said:

I wouldn't say complete rewrite, but a very large amount of work to retrofit something like that in. I did some exploratory work early on to see how feasible it would be and there are an annoyingly large number of commands (including internal ones you don't see) that take a character name and use it as a unique identifier.

 

Also would require a bit of redesign to integrate globals more thoroughly; currently they are second class citizens and the game doesn't even know what your global is until a few ticks after you log into a map (each map, separately), once the chatserver connection is up and running. And if chatserver happens to be down, it doesn't even know or have a way to find out.

 

So it is possible and we can expect this next update then?  😁  Yes, of course I am joking. 

[lemming]

I was just over on Beta and noted that if I delete a character, I couldn't reuse the name right away.   I did a variation, then after I logged it off, was able to rename to the old one.   I'm guessing a five minute cool off?   On the other hand, you can rename a character to something and create a new char with the old name immediately.

[Zepp]

8 hours ago, aethereal said:

I dunno!  Maybe not that much.  I grow bored of non-RP toons, so.  But if I had a character who was literally just a mule for item storage or an interface to the AH, I don't think I'd care if his name got changed.

Not all marketing toons are the same. I interact with other players, sometimes chatting, sometimes just dropping a few mil on toons with cool bios. Suggesting that a toon that isn't played the way you like to play is insignificant is kinda the issue I was trying to point out. Of course non-RP toons are going to want to have a name that reflects their character's personality. However, a good number of people in this thread have been downplaying non-"standard" gameplay such as RP and marketeering. RP, Market, and Joke toons may have legitimate reasons to stay at level 1, but that puts them at risk in the case of emergency situations. On the other hand, an AFK-grinder toon that hasn't actually been "play"ed will be able to hold a name in perpetuity.

My suggestion would be to adjust the ranges:
1-5 - 60 days
6-49 - 180 days
50 - 1000 days

That would provide sufficient safety for all levels while addressing emergency situations and preventing eternal namesitting.

[Logansan]

The adjusted ranges are quite reasonable to me and should suit the majority of players. There will always be some players who won't be happy whatever the final decision on the various ranges are.

 

One thing that has surprised me in this thread is the constant talk about the impact on RP characters. I will admit that I rarely roleplay in games anymore (only have the one RP toon now), but I use to quite a lot so I know the desire to get a good name that suits each character. But I would expect that most role-players will only have a few characters that they do actually roleplay on, and would play them quite often so I can't seem many role-players actually losing their favourite names.

 

Is this more about the desire to get names you want that other people have already chosen? If the ranges are too short then some people will just "snipe" what they think are good names, likely a lot more then happens now. I would also think that the vast majority of names been released when this system goes live would be from inactive accounts, so for most names the actual limit of the ranges won't be a big factor.

 

For those that want level 50 characters to have an end period, keep in mind that any reasonable time that the majority of players will accept will likely takes us into the time when the game is either no longer viable or has been greatly updated (which may include other factors that will have a huge impact on the naming policy} anyway.

Edited July 22, 2022 by Logansan

[kelika2]

On 7/12/2022 at 3:27 PM, Greycat said:

Should be by account, not character.

I will never forget a mod/dev/bluename making a post week 1 that someone made over 100 alts in less than 7 days.