Name database - Will this get cleaned up?

[Lunar Ronin]

1 hour ago, macskull said:

It all comes down to one single question: are we okay with upsetting existing players who are invested in the game on the off-chance that a new player gets upset and quits because the name they want is taken?

 

I feel like that should be a no-brainer.
 

The name release policy is an answer to a nonexistent problem, and the current plan for its implementation makes it trivial for players to continue to hold large amounts of names practically indefinitely. If I want to camp hundreds of character names, it’s only going to take a couple minutes of upfront time investment and then maybe an hour total over the course of a year. The players that are already camping names are going to continue to do so, and the actual number of freed-up names is probably going to be close to zero.

 

If a person is gone for three or more years and loses a character name as a result, then yes, I'm personally perfectly fine with that person getting upset and quitting.  Sorry, there's absolutely nothing short of being in a coma for three years (let alone four), that would justify as being gone that long other than personal choice.  No military deployments last that long.  IMO, if a character hasn't been on for more than three years, that name should be up for grabs because the player either doesn't care or isn't around anymore.

[The Chairman]

1 minute ago, Lunar Ronin said:

 

If a person is gone for three or more years and loses a character name as a result, then yes, I'm personally perfectly fine with that person getting upset and quitting.  Sorry, there's absolutely nothing short of being in a coma for three years (let alone four), that would justify as being gone that long other than personal choice.  No military deployments last that long.  IMO, if a character hasn't been on for more than three years, that name should be up for grabs because the player either doesn't care or isn't around anymore.

 

What about one year? That's the actual policy for characters levels 6-49.

[Lunar Ronin]

1 minute ago, The Chairman said:

 

What about one year? That's the actual policy for characters levels 6-49.

 

Fine with that too, considering you can get to level 50 in a few hours.  I'm more for the current policy, and opening up level 50 character names at three years.

[Captain Fabulous]

1 hour ago, macskull said:

It all comes down to one single question: are we okay with upsetting existing players who are invested in the game on the off-chance that a new player gets upset and quits because the name they want is taken?

 

I feel like that should be a no-brainer.
 

The name release policy is an answer to a nonexistent problem, and the current plan for its implementation makes it trivial for players to continue to hold large amounts of names practically indefinitely. If I want to camp hundreds of character names, it’s only going to take a couple minutes of upfront time investment and then maybe an hour total over the course of a year. The players that are already camping names are going to continue to do so, and the actual number of freed-up names is probably going to be close to zero.

It's a very real problem, as evidenced by all the people who have been begging HC to push the release policy.

And this scenario you just described is exactly why the policy must also include level 50s. No developer intends for people to camp on hundreds of names and then engage in compulsive psychopathic behavior to hold onto them and openly brag about it. If people didn't do this then there wouldn't be an issue. If people freely gave up names they weren't using there wouldn't be an issue. It's weird you place importance on an existing player sitting on hundreds of names, who can't possibly play them all, who may not have even logged in in years, over a new player coming to the game for the first time who is frustrated that every conceivable permutation of the name they want is already taken. Not to mention existing players who are getting increasingly frustrated at trying to make new characters because they don't want to spend an hour or more trying to find a viable name. Why is it OK to piss off everyone BUT the name-hoarders? Hint: it's not.

Something needs to be done because the current situation is not tenable. Until such a time when names can be used by more than one person they should go to the person that's going to actually use them. And that very well could mean a name frequently gets bounced around from one person to another. And that's OK. 

The level of entitlement and hubris and the unwillingness of HC to do anything about it is really grinding my nerves.

[ZemX]

Deleted: You know what? Forget it. Apparently it's getting kind of unreasonable on both sides of this argument.

 

I don't think it's a huge deal if they do activate this policy, but the world will spin on they don't as well.

Edited January 31 by ZemX

[Ulysses Dare]

2 hours ago, Captain Fabulous said:

It's a very real problem, as evidenced by all the people who have been begging HC to push the release policy.

That people think something is a problem doesn't actually prove it is one. It also doesn't mean that the solution those people have dreamed up is a good one.

[nzer]

3 hours ago, Captain Fabulous said:

over a new player coming to the game for the first time who is frustrated that every conceivable permutation of the name they want is already taken. Not to mention existing players who are getting increasingly frustrated at trying to make new characters because they don't want to spend an hour or more trying to find a viable name.

 

This is so absurdly hyperbolic. I've personally never spent more than five minutes coming up with a name, and I've made several characters in the last week alone.

 

Regardless, the correct solution to this problem isn't to take away people's names, it's to allow people to have duplicate names. An easy way to do this is to append a random numeric sequence to the name that gets hidden when the name is displayed in the UI, which is a system tons of other games have used for years.

[Force Redux]

Been here since 2019 when homecoming opened its doors, I can still make characters I can still come up with great names, I may not get the exact name I want, but that's not any different than any other MMO. The amount of entitlement that someone should get whatever they want because someone else isn't around is amazing. No endorsements for laziness.

 

Coming up with a name isn't that terrible. I've literally created four characters this month and I'm satisfied with their names. There's literally a thread with people advertising names that have been released for use. Why support laziness and entitlement?

[Force Redux]

So everyone's commentary has made me think about testing out what it's like to create names. So give me a bit, I'm going to do an experiment and see what names I can come up with and I'll post them and you guys can see what's available at least on Everlasting.

Edited February 1 by Force Redux

[Force Redux]

Let's see, I think we all know that some names are just not feasible, such as Fire Man and stuff, but here's some reasonable names I came up with that are free on Everlasting:

 

Desacratrix

Liminal Woman

Grimm Riding Hood

Captain Vancouver

Water Weaver

Good Earth

Phantastico

Speed Chaser

Angel Choir

Bad Beats

Mister Strong

Brother Barometer

Indivisible Girl

Magical Trix

Tidal Mistress

 

These were free as of 7:40 PM Mountain Time on 1/31/24. 

 

That's literally a 5 minute attempt. No hyphens. No use of capital I for L tricks, no dots, no Xs. I didn't use a thesaurus or even try to use foreign words. 

 

Yes, I did not get Water Man or Tide Girl, but I got Water Weaver. 

 

I could not get Tide Mistress, but with a microsecond of thought and a few ergs of energy I came up with Tidal Mistress, instead. Was that actually hard???

 

I also want to point out that Player2 routinely comes up with great names and posts them with his costumes in the Post Your Best Costume threat in Art, so somehow they manage to work that out. Likewise, the threat that posts names released to the  public server also exists. 

 

What exactly is the issue? Is this or is this not a game that cultivates the imagination, such as in our costume creator? Are we really running low on names, or are we simply appealing to the lowest common denominator?

 

People can always ask for help with names, too, if they are stumped. 

 

I'm not seeing a problem folks. 

 

Go use your brain. It's freaking easy to get a name. It just may not be the one attached to someone else's character or your initial attempt. But one can manage around it with satisfaction. 

 

 

Edited February 1 by Force Redux

[Force Redux]

Here's some more as of 07:50 PM:

 

Venusian Manhunter

Carbon Steele

Sacred Scarab

Krimson Krush (could not get Crimson Crush)

Vegetation

Ignobled

Battle Shrike (could not get War Shrike)

Decrepify

Captain Gemini

 

Again, took a few minutes, no fancy word tricks, no thesaurus, no foreign words. 

 

But hey, I'm told good names are all gone so we need to pillage them.

Edited February 1 by Force Redux

[Force Redux]

By the way, I took Liminal Woman, was too good to avoid for a teleporter. These other names are free to good home. Enjoy.

Edited February 1 by Force Redux

[Bionic_Flea]

22 hours ago, macskull said:

On 1/30/2024 at 9:04 AM, Bionic_Flea said:

OK, but how many people want to be named F*&GHvH or Bqk8*zzzz Man?

Doesn't really matter if they want to be named that, because you can't use asterisks or ampersands in character names.

Right.  Sorry.  How about F6(GHvH or Bqk8!zzzz Man?

 

I don't have a problem with HC's proposed resolution and, to be frank, it wouldn't bother me if they never instituted it. 

 

But if I had to be away for a time and came back to find someone else had taken Bionic Flea (who's been level 50 since Issue 2 or 3 live and a few weeks after HC opened), I would pop a gasket, cry, flip over my computer table, and any other over the top thing you can imagine.  Even if I was in a coma for five years.  Hell, ESPECIALLY if I had been in a coma for five years.

Edited February 1 by Bionic_Flea

[Oubliette_Red]

3 minutes ago, Bionic_Flea said:

Right.  Sorry.  How about F6(GHvH or Bqk8!zzzz Man?

 

I don't have a problem with HC's proposed resolution and, to be frank, it wouldn't bother me if they never instituted it. 

 

But if I had to be away for a time and came back to find someone else had taken Bionic Flea (who's been level 50 since Issue 2 or 3 live and a few weeks after HC opened), I would pop a gasket, cry, flip over my computer table, and any other over the top thing you can imagine.  Even if I was in a coma for five years.  Hell, ESPECIALLY if I had been in a coma for five years.

 

Won't work, I believe you can have only 1 of the allowed special characters ( . ' - ? ) in your name.

 

[Captain Fabulous]

4 hours ago, nzer said:

 

This is so absurdly hyperbolic. I've personally never spent more than five minutes coming up with a name, and I've made several characters in the last week alone.

 

Regardless, the correct solution to this problem isn't to take away people's names, it's to allow people to have duplicate names. An easy way to do this is to append a random numeric sequence to the name that gets hidden when the name is displayed in the UI, which is a system tons of other games have used for years.

I literally have spent more than an hour on more than one occasion trying to come up with a name because everything I try is taken. It's not hyperbolic at all. And I highly doubt I'm the only one. Some people actually want names that make sense. I'm sorry your standards are so low you're willing to settle for whatever random combination of letters isn't yet taken.

I'm all in favor of allowing multiple people to have the same name, no matter how they implement it. But that doesn't seem likely to happen at this point. No one is entitled to a name. If you don't actively use it you should lose it if someone else wants it. It's that simple.

One workaround that might be easily implemented would be to allow the use of extended character sets. But I'm sure someone would complain, just because.

Edited February 1 by Captain Fabulous

[Force Redux]

"No one is entitled to their [infamy, enhancements, badges, xp, base, SG, merits, prismatics, recipes...]. If you don't actively use it you should lose it if someone else wants it. It's that simple."

 

I'm game. Sign me up for your stuff when you leave for a while.

Edited February 1 by Force Redux

[Force Redux]

@Captain Fabulous

If you are having problems coming up with names, I'm more than happy to help. Just ask, and I'll do my best. 

 

As you can see from my previous posts in this thread, it's not hard or time consuming to find names that are sensical and colorful. I was surprised with what I could come up with!

 

And the are multiple threads and players who both demonstrate that good names are possible, and people are willing to help, much as people get help with costume design. Not everyone had the same talents. I'm always amazed at Player2's costumes, for example. Mine are rather meh.

 

This is a great community. Just as with quests, the market, costumes, etc  the community shows support for those who need help.

 

Here's another example thread about good  names are still possible: 

 

Edited February 1 by Force Redux

[A Cat]

3 hours ago, Force Redux said:

 

Captain Vancouver

 

You just reverse engineered the dude who Vancouver BC (and Vancouver, WA) was named after. 

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Vancouver

[GM Crumpet]

So. The way it was explained to me was as follows, and I might be wrong in the technical details but not the effects. All name will be given a flag. Depending on the level of the character will determine when the flag expires. So a level 50 will have a never expire flag for instance. Logging in will reset the flag and it will be safe for however long the flag is set for.

 

Saying that, the name won't suddenly be taken off you, what will happen is it will become available. If someone makes a character with the new name THEN the old character will lose that name, but if nobody else picks it then it will be fine. You won't log in on day 31 and find you have 300 level 1 alts all named Generic-number.

 

I have no idea when it will go live, but the majority of player won't even notice.  If you have potentially popular names then you might, but for a lot of people they will mostly try to get back names they had on live but someone else now has.

[Nostromo21]

11 hours ago, ZemX said:

Deleted: You know what? Forget it. Apparently it's getting kind of unreasonable on both sides of this argument.

 

I don't think it's a huge deal if they do activate this policy, but the world will spin on they don't as well.

 

I think the devs should ban all fence-sitters and release all their character names immediately! 

[Player2]

I know this is not a solution to the existing problem, but it could help... any chance that name length could be extended another 5 characters?  I've had some ideas in the past that came up short a letter or two, and I know I'm not the only one.

[ZemX]

4 hours ago, Nostromo21 said:

I think the devs should ban all fence-sitters and release all their character names immediately! 

 

This is change we can believe in!

[Force Redux]

8 hours ago, A Cat said:

You just reverse engineered the dude who Vancouver BC (and Vancouver, WA) was named after. 

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Vancouver

 

I had no idea 😂😂

 

(I was just looking for an alternate to 'Captain Canada')

[Excraft]

9 hours ago, GM Crumpet said:

If you have potentially popular names then you might, but for a lot of people they will mostly try to get back names they had on live but someone else now has.

 

Being honest here, this is the biggest issue with the solution you all have come up with for this in that in probably isn't going to work as well as many are hoping it will.  It's not going to prevent name camping and isn't a guarantee that a name someone is after will get freed up at all.  I think it's going to lead to a lot of disappointment, not from people losing names, but from those who were hoping to get one and couldn't.  It appears to be giving a lot of people a false sense of hope that the name they want is going to get freed up.

 

I know you all have spoken about the challenges and difficulties of fixing this issue in a more permanent way that would allow non-unique names and that the existing solution was the easier route due to time and effort.  However, I do hope that in the future you all consider the better, permanent solution to this issue.  It would eliminate name camping and disappointment for all those who cannot get a name they would like and will not get one once the existing system goes live. 

[Player2]

17 minutes ago, Excraft said:

 

Being honest here, this is the biggest issue with the solution you all have come up with for this in that in probably isn't going to work as well as many are hoping it will.  It's not going to prevent name camping and isn't a guarantee that a name someone is after will get freed up at all.  I think it's going to lead to a lot of disappointment, not from people losing names, but from those who were hoping to get one and couldn't.  It appears to be giving a lot of people a false sense of hope that the name they want is going to get freed up.

 

I know you all have spoken about the challenges and difficulties of fixing this issue in a more permanent way that would allow non-unique names and that the existing solution was the easier route due to time and effort.  However, I do hope that in the future you all consider the better, permanent solution to this issue.  It would eliminate name camping and disappointment for all those who cannot get a name they would like and will not get one once the existing system goes live. 

Agreed.  I have recreated some of my characters from the old days, but I also created a lot more... 1000 slots per shard gives you room to play around.  And I've leveled up some of these new character ideas to 50, so they're not going to get released ever and what if one of these new creations is a name someone else played on Live?  And I'm just one player.  There are a lot of others with many 50s out there, probably having claimed the names of people's characters from Live... not to mention that on Live we had sixteen shards (with the European ones), and here we have five, so if a name like Captain Somebody was popular and used repeatedly on most of those 16 shards, only 5 people are going to get the chance to recreate their version with the same name now.

 

Sometimes you have to move on, or at least look for alternative spellings.