Freeing up old unused names

Since he created those characters and got the name first, that would make it "his' name. The same would apply if Johnny went to the store, saw a limited edition item, and bought several of them. Does it make him a "hoarder" if he bought several of l the limited items the store had, including one that you later decided you wanted?

That fact that Johnny has something you want, is NOT justification for taking it from him.

You want a logical argument?

Here's a few.

"You are not a special snowflake."

"You don't deserve something someone else has just because you want it."

"It's not up to you to determine who should and should not have a character name."

I'd like them to do a name purge also, but the fact is, until they announce it, no amount of forum QQ will cause any changes. You do *not* deserve *ANY* name that is currently taken by another character. Get over it. You're not more or less special than the player who got it first. First come, first served.

Right!!! The military buys copy of SWTOR so people can log in.. You have friends that do that.. Hmm.. I am guessing these friends aren't deployed..

Perhaps you should think before you post.. I have guildies that I haven't seen for almost a year that are marked as deployed in in guild list..

Do you people think at all when you go to write a post??

You know this how exactly?? Seriously.. Statements like this are total BS.. There is no way you can know.. That is the problem..

Agreed.

It stinks to lose your name. My main lost his name in the merger and it was the name i had in KOTOR 1 and 2 and in SWG, so i was happy to find that could have that name.

I even stumbled on the guy with my name, a sith warrior that has not been online since since the merger.

That being said, stealing his name would be unfair to him as well, even if you has not been here.

I would hate to leave for a year and then come back to find all my names were gone.

The names dude.. The names.. Read the EULA.. There is nothing there about the names.. Sheeeesh..

Let's be clear here.. Nobody truly owns a name.. Not even the one that is on your Birth certificate.. But in this game, when you name a character, your character is the only one allowed to use that name with that spelling.. So in a sense you own it.. There is nothing in the EULA or TOS that says otherwise.. This is the system that Bioware setup..

Now please.. Think before you post.. Really.. It doesn't take a rocket science to know any of this.. Honestly it doesn't..

You should be lucky everyone isn't an alt-ohalic.. I know some people that have more than one account and have 30+ characters... Are they hoarders??

You also need to get off this level 1 stuff.. That is completely irrelevant.. Nor do you have any clue if someone is going to play them.. You people really need to stop making claims that it is impossible for you to know and impossible to prove..

Just an FYI here.. I am looking at one of my wife's toons on my friends list.. She is currently offline.. It doesn't tell me when she last played, so I have no idea when she last played.. Could be 2 years ago or 2 minutes ago.. It doesn't tell me what level she is.. So I have no idea what level she is.. Could be 1 or 55.. Doesn't even tell me what class she is.. Other than her characters name, it doesn't tell me anything..

So all these claims about a level 1 that hasn't played in who cares how long.. Are simply bogus and complete BS.. You don't even know if they deleted the character and recreated a character using the same name with the other faction..

So please.. You all need to just spare us when it comes to your sob stories about the mean ole level 1 that has your name and never plays.. Also keep in mind, you are not the only one that plays the game..

Again, you keep missing the mark.. An unfair rule being the same for everyone doesn't make it fair.. Taking a name from someone under the terms that have been discussed in this thread is simply not fair.. There is no way around that.. You do not know the definition of fairness.. Stealing a name from someone else to give to you is not fair no matter how you dress it up.. Your reasons are simply flawed and irrelevant..

You are the one with a problem.. Most other folks could either care less or don't see a problem.. You saying there is a problem doesn't mean their actually is...

Ok so your European.. So what?? Is there a point there other than geography?? You don't think Europe has a military?? You don't think they play SWTOR??? Seriously??

Fine.. 2 years.. That is sort of fair.. Still... Who gives you the right to demand anything??

I think the way WOW does it has potential.. But let's face it, it needs to be handled with care and respect for all.. Any way you look at it, you are forcibly taking a name from someone's account to give to someone else.. Bioware, and Blizzard are going to have to deal with any angry customers that might create.. Or they could take the name back from you and give it to the person they took it from in the first place.. That sounds fair doesn't it??

But let's face it.. This is so far down on the totem pole.. I doubt this will happen anytime soon.. Assuming they even decide to do something about this.. There are much bigger issues than someone crying about a lost name.. Seriously dude.. You really need to get over yourself..

And no, you have not given any reason why something is fair.. Just because it applies to everyone doesn't make it fair.. That is such a lame comment.. Really it is.. How about a law that when someone turns 40, they can no longer drive.. Is that fair?? It would apply to everyone?? Think about it!! An unfair rule or policy is unfair whether it applies to all or just a single person..

Wow.. Seriously.. They are overseas fighting in a war, thousands of miles away from their families, and you want them to ask a friend to log in to a video game?? Really?? I don't even want to think about where your priorities are..

They are risking their lives over seas.. We accommodate them, not the other way around.. You have no right to any name held by another account.. Get over it..

I'm getting tired of your comments. Who are you that gives you a supreme ability in deciding what is fair and what is not? What makes you the moral authority to dictate what is right and wrong, fair and unfair?

What does fair really mean? Okay, lets ask a dictionary:

adjective
in accordance with the rules or standards; legitimate.
adverb
without cheating or trying to achieve unjust advantage.

the rest are not connected to this at all. So, if we define a set of rules, which would be the same for everyone, it would be fair. At least that is what fair means. If you have a personal definition, please provide it, as I cannot comment on something I do not know.

Yes, I see what you are saying. It is wrong to steal something in the moral system we live in. I agree with that and I wouldn't like getting my things stolen. But in real life, there can be thousands of people with the same name. You can rename yourself and have the same name as your neighbor without problems. In SWTOR your name is unique, sadly. But SWTOR is a virtual world. It has a limited lifetime in terms of years, not decades. One year is probably about 10% of the game lifetime! If a person doesn't login once during one year, frankly, I think it is enough time in terms of the lifetime of the game to consider his character for rename.

As was said multiple times, everything in the game is owned by BioWare. The characters are on their servers, and the names with them. If BioWare ever decides to enable a service like this, they will be free to do as they wish, and it would not be theft.

And would you please stop accusing me of, hmm, too many things to list actually. It is not only about me, there are lots of people who would use this service. Yes, I say we make it on demand only and let BioWare scrutinize whether or not to free that particular name. You say I demand something, no, I don't - the whole time I'm trying to suggest a new game system, service, for everyone to use. Yes, the motivation behind this post was selfish - I want a certain name, on a totally unused character on level 2, but the system would work for everyone and as evident from some posts in the thread more people want a similar thing. And if you stopped arguing with a single sentence that this is wrong and instead provided suggestions and critique on what you really find so unfair, we could stop arguing like kids and create a system that would hopefully suit the majority and feel as fair as we can get. That is why I wanted you to leave this discussion, you don't discuss anything, you only throw the same sentence on everyone that agrees with me.

I want to repeat this point - I'm looking for suggestions for this suggestion. Instead of calling everyone else names, why not try to work something out. You find the rules unfair - fine, post what you feel is wrong about them. You don't like this system at all? I see, well there is no need to call us "thieves". Try to find a better alternative or just say that you oppose this idea.

Just to summarize, so far, some nice suggestions were:

Add spaces to the naming system.
Unique IDs connected with a name in a non intrusive way (Name#ID, ID only needed in cases of ambiguity).
Only affect totally inactive accounts at least for a year, with a level limit.

Two points that most agree with:

On demand service, scrutinized by BioWare.
Warn inactive users so they can save their names.