character naming

[yfwong]

What about having the sysyem automatically delete the names on accounts that have been inactive for X amount of time?? I bet there are thousands of names sitting out there collecting dust. Once the system felted those accounts, any name associated with that account would be feed up to be used by a new player.

hi zheotare, good suggestion there. like u, I suspect not all the accounts are active. some would probably install and try it once, and abandon it. some housekeeping would free up server space for the developers and free up more names for other new players, thumbs up

[yfwong]

Arterra is a name I practically made up in 20 seconds of thinking "what sounds... fantasy related?"

it is now my favorite username. (i have several xD)

as for the number system... why do you think multiplayer nintendo games have yet to really catch on?

lol. not everybody is as creative as you are with names. you have to give the general masses the benefit of doubt sometimes. if you were the first 1000 accounts, you do not even need creativity to get almost any name you want created successfully, but if you create your account now with millions of accounts already active, you need a lot of creativity and patience. if you create a new account one year down the road, even more creativity and patience. I think you get the gist. creativity helps a lot, but it doesn't eliminate the problem here. it only gets harder as number of players increase. I believe something can be done about it.

an earlier suggestion of housekeeping the server and removing unused accounts sounds like a feasible suggestion for starters.

[CrimsonTider]

Coming up with a name is not that difficult. I created a bird a couple weeks ago and a new bear last week and got both on the first try. Imagination is a beautiful thing.

[yfwong]

Coming up with a name is not that difficult. I created a bird a couple weeks ago and a new bear last week and got both on the first try. Imagination is a beautiful thing.

I totally agree with you that imagination is a beautiful thing, except on occasions when they fail me as I stare dismally at my handphone after being rejected for the umpteenth time for a name not imaginative to be accepted into its roll of honour

[Plaguemaw]

I would like it if my account had a "universal" name.

Example- my main is divinemayhem, i wish all my alts appeared as divinemayhem.
That way theres no name mix ups and it frees up thousands of names.

Just my opinion, no flames please

[ZHEOTARE]

I would like it if my account had a "universal" name.

Example- my main is divinemayhem, i wish all my alts appeared as divinemayhem.
That way theres no name mix ups and it frees up thousands of names.

Just my opinion, no flames please

I like that too. Along with my idea, we'd free up thousands of names.

[JaytB]

I like both Zheo's an Divine's ideas.

As for Zheo's idea, the timeout when names should become available should be large enough though (2-3 months or so). Sometimes people take a break from the game, I can imagine they would get upset when they decide to come back and their names would be gone.

As for Divine's idea, 1 name for all characters sounds like a great idea. This way names would still stay unique for each individual, while potentially freeing up a lot of names. It might cause some problems for tournaments though, since most tournaments will have you register with a specific IGN. But, there could be work-arounds for this (registering name AND class for example could solve part of that).

[Arterra]

I totally agree with you that imagination is a beautiful thing, except on occasions when they fail me as I stare dismally at my handphone after being rejected for the umpteenth time for a name not imaginative to be accepted into its roll of honour

well yea, everyone has those moments when all the names they could want are taken... (since I was not one of the first 1k players xD) All subsequent characters after Arterra got harder and harder to name... (well, until I just decided to make them all xxxxterra... a theme REALLY helps)

anyway, the username inactivity deletion idea was suggested ages ago, and the devs actually responded. Something about that maybe happening, not sure. Frankly, anything inactive for more than 6 months needs this... email notification of the incomming deletion the week before, of course, so that the system doubles as a get-potential-players-back thing.

when the game fallensword (text based rpg) told me I was going to lose my character after a year of inactivity, It got me active for another couple of months!

[Fyrce]

I don't think naming is difficult at all. Usually I'll try a few hundred names, many of them unique and available, before I settle on one. I like to see the name above my character's head before I decide.

And yes, sometimes, after I play a bit, I'll delete again, to see if I can get a name I have greater affinity for.

Also, I like short names. I did a bunch of 3-letter A names in PL, all involving a vowel or sometime vowel. I think those are finally exhausted.

I'm still on common names in SL. I just did 'Clio' there like a week or less ago. I actually got a few other names before that, but I wanted to see if I could get a shorter and cuter name, so I deleted those. I have those noted in case I want to try those again some day. I'm pretty sure I do not yet have to do letter combinations in SL.

I've been in bigger games and have never had naming issues and have never gone to multiple letters (3+ letter) or numbers. There is no need.

[yfwong]

I like both Zheo's an Divine's ideas.

Same here, I second their ideas

On the "time out" grace period, I'm sure we can work out a figure that will not compromise existing players, allowing them to take a long break if necessary. it beats having server space and account names wasted, which will raise developer team's overheads, and such overheads will ultimately be placed back onto the gaming community via higher platinum costs for new material.

[dugantale]

I like the numbers and stuff idea, but having the same name? No thanks. That means someone van impersonate you, it wouldn't be hard for them to do it if hey really wanted to. Also a lot of people have unique names, that idea would mean someone can just take that name and use it like they made it. Thats why i don't like the same name idea, could just lead to drama which is probably you can't have the same username in just about anything that tells you to pick a username.

I strongly agree, ive played other mmos where ppl did this and got in fights bc of it.

[yfwong]

well yea, everyone has those moments when all the names they could want are taken... (since I was not one of the first 1k players xD) All subsequent characters after Arterra got harder and harder to name... (well, until I just decided to make them all xxxxterra... a theme REALLY helps)

from arterra to xxxxterra to xxxxxxterra. the number of xxx will grow while the character name is still fixed to 20+ characters. there will come a time when you cannot pad it with enough xxxs because everyone else is doing the same. moreover, the longer your padding is, the shorter your intended name will be.

anyway, the username inactivity deletion idea was suggested ages ago, and the devs actually responded. Something about that maybe happening, not sure. Frankly, anything inactive for more than 6 months needs this... email notification of the incomming deletion the week before, of course, so that the system doubles as a get-potential-players-back thing.

this is a good suggestion to prevent accidental deletion of active accounts by informing the player via emails prior to disabling their accounts. 6 months seems reasonable. if you don't play for a year, you only need to face the email notifications twice

[yfwong]

I strongly agree, ive played other mmos where ppl did this and got in fights bc of it.

I concede my initial suggestion wasn't an ideal one. let's move on and come up together with suggestions that can benefit us, thanks !