Character Name Purge with Folks not Playing Anymore

taking away my name, active or not, is an identity theft. I have a legacy that will leave for ever long after I am gone.

That's right my friend. I am completely capable of acknowledging idealism, while maintaining a practical and pragmatic outlook that some requests by MMO players are simply more trouble then they are worth to address. This topic is one of those cases, as far as I am concerned.

I know.. that's complicated for some to grasp. But that is not my problem, that is their problem.

There is not a fair and appropriate method to deal with the OPs desire. There are plenty of unfair, and inappropriate ways to do so. So from a pragmatic standpoint.. this is not a can of worms that should be opened and spread all over the table as far as I am concerned.

MMO life is like real life... it's a cupcake. So suck it up, and move on IMO. Names are first come first serve (except where forced consolidations required a controlled over-ride). Personally, while I would benefit personally to access to a few very common names.... I am not willing to see names stripped from US service personnel who are overseas whose only fault is that they are serving over seas and cannot access their account while serving their country. Yes my friend.... I am not selfish enough to want that sort of silliness just for a name.

Besides..your premise is flawed. There is absolutely no way to tell if a player has left the game for good, or why. So there is no way to administer name seizures fairly. The only way to address the "gone forever" player held names is if the player voluntarily gives up their name as part of leaving the game for good. Guess what.. players CAN do that today.. just delete the character.

AND.. on a strictly practical view.... freeing up a name by force, just to let it reenter the naming pool, does not guarantee the OP, or you, or me, or anyone that they will gain the name they want. So the entire concept is doomed from the get-go.

As to your snarky statement about QoL... I am on the record many times about seeing continued QoL improvements in the game. But this is not a QoL topic... it's a special interest topic... for a minority of players. It in no way improves quality of life in game play. Your snark is completely misplaced here, which I find to be an unusual thing for you in my experience.

So your first 3 paragraphs pretty much say the developers shouldn't ever take on anything that emotionally challenged players might find to be emotionally challenging. Like maybe SGRA?

Then you go on to mention US Service members serving overseas. I would guess they are a tiny fraction of the players who might see their names removed.

I sure as hell am too lazy to go back and delete my characters to free up names for others, even though I'd like them to be freed up.

Legacy isn't unique anymore, that's not even what we are talking about. But thanks for being reasonable.

So your first 3 paragraphs pretty much say the developers shouldn't ever take on anything that emotionally challenged players might find to be emotionally challenging. Like maybe SGRA?

2) The level 1 character rolled in December 2011 hyperbole is just that.. hyperbole to make your point by extremes. No one in this forum has any direct knowledge as to the status of any account or any character on any account. So this is just rhetoric disguised as reason. Besides.. it has nothing to do with quality of life in any way in terms of game play.

In other words.. you admit that you are part of the problem, for no other reason then you are too lazy or thoughtless to do a solid for other players in another MMO you have left for good, but deleting your characters on the way out the door.