Character Name Purge with Folks not Playing Anymore

I disagree with your idea. There are several hundred thousand people who aren't coming back to this game. Their names shouldn't be unavailable just because they decided to quit.

(Anarchy Online was doing name sweeps in the past with several warnings ahead.. automated mails would do just fine.)

People who have the names should get to keep them, regardless of playtime/inactivity. You playing mor/more recently doesn give you a right to what they made before you. Its pointless to ask for this. I'd bet anything bioware will not do this.

Seriously guys, think up some new original names.

I can't be troubled to go back and delete those characters. I simply don't care enough to download the games, install them, figure out what my old authentication information was for them, and then delete the toons.

But it sure would be nice if Turbine freed up those names in case anyone wants them.

Interesting.

In a multiplayer game with a unique commodity (e.g. a name) I think that the player that throws the name in the garbage should allow it to be recycled. And remember, I'm not complaining about a personal name change -- I still have all my toon's original names through two server merges.

If a name can only ever be used once, and I'm not going to use it anymore, it would seem fair for that name to be available to another.

When the first Guild Wars came out ages ago, I bought it and tried it for about half a day before I got bored and never played it again. If I logged back into GW and found that name taken, it wouldn't bother me. It's been EIGHT YEARS since I made that toon and abandoned it. I think it's silly to expect that name to stay reserved after all that time.

I think it's great that we're finally seeing free character name changes in the upcoming patch, however, many names are sitting in limbo or "squatted" by people no longer playing for months now.

Bioware, i would really hope you'd begin some sort of process to whittle out names from people not playing the game anymore. I know you want them back, and might be afraid they'll say, "forget this, i'm done since they took my name", but you guys could easily deal with satisfying both concerns like other games in the past have done.

Simply send out an email reminding people who haven't been playing for like 60 days or more how awesome the game is, and that if they don't log into their account to confirm they want it still, they'll lose their current character names and have to reset them if they ever return. DONE, SIMPLE.

Not only does it clear out names for those who actually DO want to keep playing the game, but it's a firm nudge to people sitting out playing that maybe they should come back.

If you agree with this approach, your post would be appreciated to give attention to this concern.