server transfer/forced name change is not fair to long-term players....

"First come first served" rule. The Forums were full of "I`ll reserve as many names on as many servers as I can". And from Day 1, it was VERY obvious which of the servers will last and which will become ghost towns.

So, you had your chances. If that trial beat you by a second.. then it`s his name.

And it`s not THAT hard to come up with 8 nice names...

So what is this cahracter name you are "losing"?
Just interested to see what all the fuss is about.

These are probably the level 1s I see people complaining about losing their names to lol.

Lol yup.

But even then, there is STILL a workaround... like, if his name is "YouChooseThen"... he can create variations...

1. You'Choose'Then
2. YouChooseNow
3. YouHaveChosenThen
4. YouHaveChosen

Not the best solution, but as close as the original name, nontheless.

OP why does Styxx have to provide you with something constructive? He is not the one that has a problem with names being changed or is QQ that it would be an easy fix.

From reading his posts he seems to be pointing out that making fundamental changes to the way SW:ToR (and to be frank most new MMOs) handle naming and that a solution is not an "easy" fix.

I would assume on a live server making any fundamental changes to the way the database operations would take considerably time and effort and problably risk.

I also cannot believe all these people who are so precious about their names were unable to come up with some creative solutions.

As others have done using special characters and or seperating names with - or ' are very good, and largely unobtrusive, methods of getting the same name again. I mean I lost the name Eleena (not terribly original) so now I'm El'eena. Seriously is that kind of change so abhorrant that instead people want to waste time demanding refunds and throwing their hands in the air as if the sky is falling?

Look I will be honest, this issue probably means less to me than most. I actually have most of the same, great names on the new server that I had from the old server, so in one form or another I will get to keep my names. I am/was trying to open this discussion to be seem by developers and creative contributors to see if there are more possibilities for individual customization, like the developers say they wanted. Suggestions = change = a game suited for its players.

What I am seeing is people all too ready to hate an idea like having to change their name, but still complying with it and in some cases even hating it while advocating for it. lol
What I am not seeing much of is people willing to devote time to brainstorming and making suggestions.
If you guys are cool with being screwed and then being told deal with it (because not enough people complained) then I will save my energy. I was only trying to help.

I agree. That's why I am not ignoring him. The things he has pointed out have helped me see new perspectives which is in itself a contribution of sorts.

Don't matter what the name is, some people get attached to the name of their character. So for them it is a big deal.

I said even before launch that I think it is a stupid decision how BioWare handle names in SWTOR, but with the server transfers they just proved how terrible it was.

Reality .. and I mean the Real World, at least in my Country.. and I know in USA is this:

First name = Individual name = John
Last name = Family name = Doe
Personal identification number, or Social Security Number, which is UNIQUE to each individual = xxxxxxxxxxxx (where x is a figure)

Why there was a need for a 3rd identifier? Because you can have more than one John Doe.

So, we have 3 main identifiers for a person : John Doe (xxxxxxxxx)
__________________________

What do we see in this game? The precise same applied, only that they actually have it simpler : they excluded the unique number associated to a name, but they make one of the 2 remaining identifiers unique, instead.

By how the game is setup, which is 8 First Names to One Last name, they had 2 options:

1. Make each combination unique, by assigning an identification number to each of them (which, btw, is the only way to make your idea work.. but they would need to show the identifier, so we can address commands properly)
2. Make the "moving variable" unique

If might cause some issues, but "2" is simpler that "1", because it requires less "steps", or less "variables".
Addendum 2: So we get for 8 unique Doe chars 8 "John" variations = John Doe, John1 Doe, John2 Doe = which is precisely what they are using already. If one John is already in use, you need to use any of the Johnx`s ...

And no, it is not that easy to change the naming conventions in the Real World ...

between the two other server getting merged into the one Scarlet, Gypsy, Kate, and Serendipity. all lv 50 so I have had a chance to become accustom to them. I am, like I said, able to keep many of the good names, like Wolf, Eva, Ted, etc. though. It is more the principal of the issue than it is a personal loss. I was trying to advocate for all players not just myself. I understand that others are losing way more than I am, but their saying nothing to the developers, they're just complaining to other players, like me. So, I was hoping to help by opening this up for discussion.