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Character Name Purge with Folks not Playing Anymore


goldhtown

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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.

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

 

I do not agree. People can be gone from the game for a lot of reasons (like military duty as one relevant example). People can be out of touch with the email address their account is tied to. Wiping character names so you can perhaps maybe possibly get your favorite name is inappropriate and selfish.

 

There is plenty of flexibility in naming in this game, so there are still plenty of names. It would be nice if it was as flexible as GW2, but it's not.. so we have what we have. Work with it IMO.

Edited by Andryah
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I do not agree. People can be gone from the game for a lot of reasons (like military duty as one relevant example). People can be out of touch with the email address their account is tied to. Wiping character names so you can perhaps maybe possibly get your favorite name is inappropriate and selfish.

 

There is plenty of flexibility in naming in this game, so there are still plenty of names. It would be nice if it was as flexible as GW2, but it's not.. so we have what we have. Work with it IMO.

 

Word.

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When it was an all sub game, I would have assumed that characters on cancelled accounts would get deleted within a couple months of cancellation, thus freeing up any character and legacy names they occupied. F2P complicates that since you can't really decide when people have "canceled" a game they're not paying for in the first instance.

 

So I am curious, is there an event horizon for F2P accounts, where the characters all get deleted if there have been no logins on that account for X amount of time? And if so, how many days or months is X?

Edited by Heezdedjim
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It's funny, the only time I've had to change a name was when loading a toon onto the pts. Maybe you guys should pick more original names? Or learn to use special characters in the last few letter of the name.
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I don't see a problem with it -- depending on what extent they were to implement it.

 

Forced re-names when your account has been inactive for over a year? Obviously, with a week warning or such, prior to doing it.

 

There are obviously edge-cases, hence the warning given to you via e-mail. If you're gone for more than a year, the chances of you coming back are slim-to-none. There isn't really a good solution -- but after THAT long of a time-frame?

 

Hell. I left for 6 months, came back and had to rename 99% of my toons. No warning to me. I have names I enjoy, but I understand the frustration others have.

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"The rights of your fist end on the surface of my nose."

 

Naming policies need to be changed. Character names should not be unique. Legacy names should. Communication should be on-Legacy basis, with "stealth/hidden" options for characters you want to hide on.

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I don't think a complete wipe would be good, but I can say that in WoW, there is a certain period of time in which if someone has a completely inactive account, someone can take a name if they contact customer service. It's a long time, though.

I don't see EA putting the manpower in to work with people that individually, though.

 

And yes, this does occasionally piss people off when they come back after long periods of time.

 

But I feel like if there were bunch of names created on Day 1 of this game, and the characters are level 1 and haven't logged in since the first couple of weeks than the likely hood of them coming back and even remembering their names are slim.

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Hmm.... Given the current naming convention I don't see how a purge is possible. Names are a touchy business, and if peeps lost their names based on some predetermined criteria all sorts of issues may arise including misidentification and harassment. It seems to me BW would prefer to take one for the team as opposed to creating an atmosphere that could spark all sorts of name controversy between players.
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Hmm.... Given the current naming convention I don't see how a purge is possible. Names are a touchy business, and if peeps lost their names based on some predetermined criteria all sorts of issues may arise including misidentification and harassment. It seems to me BW would prefer to take one for the team as opposed to creating an atmosphere that could spark all sorts of name controversy between players.

 

So, when I lost my names based on some predetermined criteria, the issues that arose for me were somehow less relevant?

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"The rights of your fist end on the surface of my nose."

 

Naming policies need to be changed. Character names should not be unique. Legacy names should. Communication should be on-Legacy basis, with "stealth/hidden" options for characters you want to hide on.

 

I agree. Of course then you'll have all those people complain about having to change their Legacy names to something other than "Masterpower" or somesuch :p

 

Seriously, though, I'd love a system like the one you described. I haven't had any issues coming up with names I liked, but I know some people are very unhappy because they've had to change their characters' names to something they didn't like as much.

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If your F2P and your haven't logged ANY character in for 6 months I think its fair to loose your names, if youre a sub then they are getting $15/mo to hold those names as long as you want to keep paying. I understand if you go on duty etc, but you have friends/family that could log in their F2P account if they don't want to pony up $15/mo.

 

on that point if you are deployed and cant log in for 6 months how much connection do you still have for the game?

Edited by Planar
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I do not agree. People can be gone from the game for a lot of reasons (like military duty as one relevant example). People can be out of touch with the email address their account is tied to. Wiping character names so you can perhaps maybe possibly get your favorite name is inappropriate and selfish.

 

My issue with the naming policy is definitely a personal one. That being that I have used Jadrian as my name in every single MMO I have ever played going all the way back to EQ1. Not once have I ever had to worry about getting my name. In this game, I had the name through the first merge but the second one moved me to a server where someone who I have never seen on (I check every day I log in which is at least once a day everyday) had the name and forced me to change it. Now I have been a part of this game since day 1 the website was announced, through the betas and retail launch and am a subscriber to this day.

 

I honestly don't see anything wrong with someone losing access to a name if they haven't logged in since the second merge which has been almost 9 months. Clearly they don't have a sub and most likely don't even play. Sure they could be deployed or whatever but its very unlikely and being ex-military I know that they more then likely have some way to get online if they cared enough to find it. That being said, I just don't see any justification for me not to be able to get the name everyone I know, knows me by! Call it selfish if you want, but if you've had a name as long as I have had this one, I can't imagine you not being extremely upset about not being able to use it due to a stupid server merge. Just so you know I don't even play the character that had that name anymore because he no longer has the name...I just can't cause it feels wrong...so if there is one thing that Bioware has done to really upset me, this is it!

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I agree. Sure, people can be gone for legit reasons. You know what though? I wasn't gone, at all, and had a forced name change anyway. On all eight toons. Even getting one of those names back would be nice.

 

I have to agree with this. As someone who's played non-stop never ending sub since launch, who's pre-ordered launch and xpac, who bought CE and DDE, and who's spent at least $400 on the CC I feel I have proven myself loyalalty to the game. I lost a name (my most charished name) during the moves. If that person hasn't played in 6 months or more then why the heck should I not be able to get it back?? I do think there needs to be a rule like account must be inactive for x number of months and an attempt to reach out to them be made via e-mail. If they have been idle for 6 months and still don't log in after they get an e-mail alerting them they are in danger of losing the name then either:

a. They don't care

b. They aren't coming back

c. They've lost that e-mail and would have trouble ever accessing the account again anyway.

 

It's possible that they are on Military service or something like that and also can't reach their e-mail, but that's going to be the exception, not the rule.

 

Edit: Also if the name change doesn't include the ability to get old names (assuming the above idle status) then it's completely useless and no one should pay for it. I know I won't.

Edited by Arlon_Nabarlly
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Wouldn't make a difference. Even if they did do a name purge (which they won't), it wouldn't free up any of the ultra common names "borrowed" from stupid anime or comic books that you want.

 

Deal with it and either come up with something unique or at the very least "borrow" a name from more obscure source material.

 

:cool:

Edited by Blackavaar
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Wouldn't make a difference. Even if they did do a name purge (which they won't), it wouldn't free up any of the ultra common names "borrowed" from stupid anime or comic books that you want.

 

Deal with it and either come up with something unique or at the very least "borrow" a name from more obscure source material.

 

:cool:

Even unique names are taken because of f2p. Not everyone wants Sa'le-perapienshire like you, bro.

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Wouldn't make a difference. Even if they did do a name purge (which they won't), it wouldn't free up any of the ultra common names "borrowed" from stupid anime or comic books that you want.

 

Deal with it and either come up with something unique or at the very least "borrow" a name from more obscure source material.

 

:cool:

 

Like from Watership Down!

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Wouldn't make a difference. Even if they did do a name purge (which they won't)

 

They already did with the merges, so the precedent is there, no saying they wouldn't. I don't think they would do a one time purge of names, I think if they did anything this system would include the ability to only check when the name is requested if it meets the idle criteria or not.

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They already did with the merges, so the precedent is there, no saying they wouldn't. I don't think they would do a one time purge of names, I think if they did anything this system would include the ability to only check when the name is requested if it meets the idle criteria or not.

 

Mergers were not a name purge, dude. Mergers forced several characters with the same names onto servers where those who had the same names were forced to rename. That's not the same thing as creating software specifically to spider through the game files and purge names from unused characters.

 

:cool:

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As much as it stinks, those people still have a right to those names. Wouldn't be fair to take them, since those people could want to come back to play. I think the best idea would be to offer something to players in exchange for names they are no longer using. Cartel coins, maybe.

 

Now this obviously wouldn't really work with people who no longer play, but it could have some success with people who have a low level toon they just don't use but have no reason to delete.

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