Character Name Purge with Folks not Playing Anymore

I'm all for names being freed up from inactive accounts/toons. I also think that there should be some level of name enforcement on RP servers as I'm sick of seeing game handle style names all over the place.

I'd even go a step farther and say that in the event a name is currently "in use" (I use that term loosely here) by an inactive account and another account is sitting on a character in re-name purgatory due to that name being lost during the forced server merges last year that that name should be returned to the next account in line. The people that have stuck with this game and continued to invest both time and money should be rewarded.

A person that doesn't invest time and/or money in this game should not be afforded, rights, benefits, or protections over a person that does support this game, and to expect such just demonstrates an unfounded sense of entitlement and selfishness. Bioware and EA should reward those that have been loyal to this game, not casually toss them aside in an ill guided attempt to appease players that have long sense left on the hope that they might return. There should be no guarantee that your characters will still have their names if you are gone and inactive that long.

If a player doesn't log in for six months to a year, they should be given one courtesy notification e-mail that their names are forfeit if they don't show activity in one month. Simple as that. At that point, is an active player has an identical named character stuck in rename purgatory due to the server merges, that name should be returned to them. Otherwise the name is returned to the pool of available names. If the player that lost their name ever returns, they can attempt to reclaim that name as long as it isn't in use by an active account. If it is in use, well, they had an extended period of time in which they could've shown interest in their account/character but chose not to.

Like I said, reward the people that are active.
Mathematically the game will eventually reach a point where the only viable names for new characters will be things like "Fblthp", and so a purge of inactive names will likely be needed at some point.

Sadly though, it seems the powers that be are contend to continually ignore this issue by burying their heads in the sand, and those that disagree will continue to antagonize those of us that are passionate about this issue with impertinent remarks and arguments.

If I stopped paying for the vacation home for 4 years, I would be shocked if it WASN'T given to someone else.

Maybe I should have used the term "owned", as in no mortgage payment and all applicable taxes paid in full. The concept is still the same. Person A has an item that person B wants and person B tries to justify taking it from person A by claiming that person A wasn't using it for x amount of time.

Some people seem to accept that if a person is paying the sub fee, then the name should remain in the hands of the subber. What would happen if EA decided to offer lifetime subscriptions. Person A buys a lifetime subscription and then in 6 months finds a new game and stops playing this one. He is no longer paying a sub fee, but he has a lifetime subscriber and therefore has an active subscription. How long do you think it would it be before someone demanded that the name be given to them because the holder was no longer playing even though he has a lifetime subscription?

Actually, if the character is lower than level 50(/55), you can see if it's played at all or not. When you add a character to your friend list, for a little moment you can see their level, planet and class. If the character is level1-49 and haven't gotten a level for 6 months, you can pretty positively say that no one is playing that character.
Of course, there's still no way to know if the person is playing some other character of theirs.

Now you are just being contrary. This is a specious argument (like the apparent millions of service women and men who would lose their accounts) at best. First, EA will never offer a lifetime subscription for this game. If they do, I will come back to this thread and apologize to you personally. Second, if they did, then that is fine. If someone shelled out 300$-500$ then they can keep whatever names they want on their level 1 place holders for the next 60 years.

Maybe I should have used the term "owned", as in no mortgage payment and all applicable taxes paid in full. The concept is still the same. Person A has an item that person B wants and person B tries to justify taking it from person A by claiming that person A wasn't using it for x amount of time.

Some people seem to accept that if a person is paying the sub fee, then the name should remain in the hands of the subber. What would happen if EA decided to offer lifetime subscriptions. Person A buys a lifetime subscription and then in 6 months finds a new game and stops playing this one. He is no longer paying a sub fee, but he has a lifetime subscriber and therefore has an active subscription. How long do you think it would it be before someone demanded that the name be given to them because the holder was no longer playing even though he has a lifetime subscription?

Really? I have banker characters on both factions on several servers that have been level 10 or 11 for over a year. I may go for weeks or months without logging into one or more of them depending on which server and faction I happen to choose to play on. Does that mean that if someone else wants any of those characters names, that I should be forced to rename my characters even though I have been an active sub since early access?

A lifetime subscription is effectively the same as someone still paying a monthly sub. Ergo, that player's names should be inviolate.

At the top of the scale we have
Active Sub

At the bottom of the scale we have
F2P account, created toon, played for an hour, then left never to return again

I'm saying that this non-subbed player, who hardly ever played the toon, should eventually forfeit the right to keep their toon's name (after a significant amount of time has passed).

Do you feel that the free to play person who got to level 1 and abandoned the game should keep that name forever and ever and ever and ever?

I'm saying that this non-subbed player, who hardly ever played the toon, should eventually forfeit the right to keep their toon's name (after a significant amount of time has passed).

Sorry, but yes, I do. Person A has something that person B covets. As I stated in an earlier post, these arguments all boil down to person B trying to find some excuse to take what person A has and person B wants. It's that simple, nothing more, nothing less.