Please allow recycled names from people who haven't played in years

CraigH · 04-19-2010, 10:26 PM

Perhaps copy what City of Heroes does....if someone doesn't log into the game for some extended period of time, their name can be recycled. If they happen to resubscribe, they can have a free name change. Please reward paying customers who have stuck with the game for several years. I'm sure there are hundreds of instances of lvl 2 characters (or guilds, for that matter) that haven't logged on in years and cancelled their accounts and they are preventing some neat names from being used by paying customers.

...my 2 cents.

Piccolo · 04-19-2010, 10:34 PM

/petiton and ask for said name. you might be suprised. just research the name, check eq2players.com and see when the last time the other player logged in and such. i got a characters name changed though /petition.

Barx · 04-19-2010, 11:25 PM

Yep -- basically they won't do a blanket deletion or changing of folks names, but if the person is sufficiently inactive you shouldn't have too much trouble in getting a GM to give you the name.

Laiina · 04-20-2010, 12:03 PM

This is a suggestion I agree with. It would be easy to do - just if a char has not been played for 2+ years or whatever, just add something like "XYZZ" to the name.

xeyda · 04-20-2010, 12:22 PM

I was lucky enough to have the above experience - During a server move, the name of my character that was moving could not claim her name on the new server. I petitioned successfully to have the inactive character's name changed so I could have it. The GM was very nice about it all. SMILEY

VikingGamer · 04-20-2010, 01:34 PM

Same here, I was able to petition for a name from a toon that was only played to lvl 16 over a 2 week period over 2 years ago. Opened the petition and they replied within a several hours that it was done. No fuss at all. I suspect that they don't bother to make the process automatic simply to keep the numbers down by giving it some amount of difficulty. If you really want the name you have to want it enough to open the petition. They may also take into account more factors than simply how long it has been since the toon was accessed. They may consider the level of the toon and how active the account is in general.

Kizee · 04-20-2010, 02:11 PM

This has been brought up numerous times and it is just another example of SoE catering to the people that don't play anymore more than the paying customers.

Inc. people that will say..... "There are plenty of names available....if the name is taken then it wasn't very original in the first place.".

Those people fail to realize that the game is 6 years old and there are alot of people that are not coming back.

At the very least they should purge all the canceled trial account names because I am sure that just that in itself will free up ALOT of names

Vraeth · 04-20-2010, 02:26 PM

i once tried a petition to free up a name. this is how it went:

me:

on this server there is a character named ________ that wasnt used for almost 4 years. i wonder if it is possible to rename this char like append an 'x' to his name, so i could create one.

answer:

This is GM _________ responding to your petition. I understand that you would like the name "_____" to be freed up on your server, and apologize for any inconvenience caused to you. Unfortunately, I will be unable to grant your request to change the name "______" to "______x." If you have any further concerns, please feel free to submit another petition.

my reply:

what is the reason why this cant be done?

answer:

This is GM ______ (as before) responding to your petition. As was stated, I will be unable to change the name "______" to "______x," as you have requested. We are unable to change the name of another player which is not in violation of our naming policy. If you have any further concerns, please feel free to submit another petition.

so, maybe it worked for you, it didnt work for me. this happened around last january. i even tried to talk with the guy, he was on us server and this toon was on eu, and he didnt even know how to log to eu servers no matter how i tried to tell him. to my bad luck it turned out that somehow he finally managed to log that toon, and played him for another 20 minutes and a few lvls SMILEY

Rocc · 04-20-2010, 02:40 PM

I think it depends on the GM. If your denied, try try again.

Orienne · 04-20-2010, 03:28 PM

It really does depend on which CSR you get answering your petition. Recently I transferred a character to another server and paid the $25 to do this. When I got there I had to add an x to my name as there was another character there with my old name. This other character hadn't logged in for 3 and a half years, so I petitioned and asked for the name and was told that the toons name was changed so it was now available for me to change to, but I had to buy a potion of amnesia from the marketplace. I replied to this asking if it would be possible to have a CSR change it since I had already paid $25 to move this character to the server only a week earlier, and the CSR I got in my reply was more than happy to do it free of charge.

If you are having trouble having this done simply ask again and hope to get a CSR who is willing to help you.

Artalis the Elder · 04-20-2010, 04:02 PM

You're doing it wrong. You don't ask to have another player's name changed. You ask for the name to be "made available'. Give the actual last logged in date for the character. Check their alts. Check guild memberships, anything that supports your case about the account not being in use. My main was made in Feb of 2010. You don't think the name 'Kiki' was overlooked for 5 years do you? As usual HOW you ask is just as important as WHAT you ask. A lazy, poorly worded request is easily dismissed. Build your case, back it up, inject a bit of humor or insight and you will likely be surprised at the results.

woolf2k · 04-20-2010, 05:06 PM

ok. I never agree to the blanket character deletion just to release names no matter how inactive they've been; however, if they do it ala city of heros name deactivation. then I'm all for it.

Kendricke · 04-20-2010, 05:30 PM

Kiki@Guk wrote:

You're doing it wrong. You don't ask to have another player's name changed. You ask for the name to be "made available'. Give the actual last logged in date for the character. Check their alts. Check guild memberships, anything that supports your case about the account not being in use. My main was made in Feb of 2010. You don't think the name 'Kiki' was overlooked for 5 years do you? As usual HOW you ask is just as important as WHAT you ask. A lazy, poorly worded request is easily dismissed. Build your case, back it up, inject a bit of humor or insight and you will likely be surprised at the results.

The more people do this, the more it will push toward the top of the radar over at Customer Service. Those types of issues cost CS time...which costs SOE money...

In short, by continuing to show people how to take care of this through petitions, you actually encourage SOE to do something real about the issue.

Malacha · 04-20-2010, 06:21 PM

Kendricke wrote:

The more people do this, the more it will push toward the top of the radar over at Customer Service. Those types of issues cost CS time...which costs SOE money...
In short, by continuing to show people how to take care of this through petitions, you actually encourage SOE to do something real about the issue.

This isn't an issue, except for people that think they "own" a name and should be able to get it even if they weren't the first to make a character with that name. Yes I have an issue with people being able to arbitrarily change inactive characters names because they want it.

Reapicheap · 04-20-2010, 06:31 PM

Malachani wrote:

Kendricke wrote:
The more people do this, the more it will push toward the top of the radar over at Customer Service. Those types of issues cost CS time...which costs SOE money...
In short, by continuing to show people how to take care of this through petitions, you actually encourage SOE to do something real about the issue.
This isn't an issue, except for people that think they "own" a name and should be able to get it even if they weren't the first to make a character with that name. Yes I have an issue with people being able to arbitrarily change inactive characters names because they want it.

You don't own anything, including the characters you're playing. You're paying for a license to play the game, nothing more. You can't sell what you don't own, which is why you don't have permission to sell your account when you quit playing. You certainly don't own something as transient as a character name. If someone wants your character name and you're not actively playing the game, much less the character, expect that you're going to lose the name. That's just how things are.

ke'la · 04-20-2010, 07:18 PM

Vraeth@Runnyeye wrote:

i once tried a petition to free up a name. this is how it went:
me:
on this server there is a character named ________ that wasnt used for almost 4 years. i wonder if it is possible to rename this char like append an 'x' to his name, so i could create one.
answer:
This is GM _________ responding to your petition. I understand that you would like the name "_____" to be freed up on your server, and apologize for any inconvenience caused to you. Unfortunately, I will be unable to grant your request to change the name "______" to "______x." If you have any further concerns, please feel free to submit another petition.
my reply:
what is the reason why this cant be done?
answer:
This is GM ______ (as before) responding to your petition. As was stated, I will be unable to change the name "______" to "______x," as you have requested. We are unable to change the name of another player which is not in violation of our naming policy. If you have any further concerns, please feel free to submit another petition.
so, maybe it worked for you, it didnt work for me. this happened around last january. i even tried to talk with the guy, he was on us server and this toon was on eu, and he didnt even know how to log to eu servers no matter how i tried to tell him. to my bad luck it turned out that somehow he finally managed to log that toon, and played him for another 20 minutes and a few lvls

The reason they couldn't change the name of the charactor you wanted was because it was on an active account, as you where able to talk to them in-game, so even IF they had a system CoH's it wouldn't matter in this case.

There is also the fact that people could just log in regularly to preserve thier charactor's name too. I used to do this in CoH all the time, befor Champions became my Super Hero MMO.

ke'la · 04-20-2010, 07:23 PM

Kendricke wrote:

Kiki@Guk wrote:
You're doing it wrong. You don't ask to have another player's name changed. You ask for the name to be "made available'. Give the actual last logged in date for the character. Check their alts. Check guild memberships, anything that supports your case about the account not being in use. My main was made in Feb of 2010. You don't think the name 'Kiki' was overlooked for 5 years do you? As usual HOW you ask is just as important as WHAT you ask. A lazy, poorly worded request is easily dismissed. Build your case, back it up, inject a bit of humor or insight and you will likely be surprised at the results.
The more people do this, the more it will push toward the top of the radar over at Customer Service. Those types of issues cost CS time...which costs SOE money...
In short, by continuing to show people how to take care of this through petitions, you actually encourage SOE to do something real about the issue.

Isn't that a far more effective way to get them to put in an automated system though, instead of asking for it on the boards, cause then not only do they know there is player desire for it, they also know the cost of keeping the status quo.

Artalis the Elder · 04-20-2010, 07:48 PM

Malachani wrote:

Kendricke wrote:
The more people do this, the more it will push toward the top of the radar over at Customer Service. Those types of issues cost CS time...which costs SOE money...
In short, by continuing to show people how to take care of this through petitions, you actually encourage SOE to do something real about the issue.

This isn't an issue, except for people that think they "own" a name and should be able to get it even if they weren't the first to make a character with that name. Yes I have an issue with people being able to arbitrarily change inactive characters names because they want it.

By the same token a character that has not been logged in for 3 years with alts that are just as inactive, in a guild with a leader that has not logged in for even longer should be able to keep their name despite not actually having a valid subscription? I don't think so. I've kept my sub up since launch and I'll be more than happy to request having a name freed up from someone who has a level 20 something with no earring or cloak on. Kiki, wherever you are, If you ever reactivate your account and log in to find that you are now Kikix, I offer my heartfelt thanks SMILEY

Malacha · 04-20-2010, 08:49 PM

Kiki@Guk wrote:

Malachani wrote:
Kendricke wrote:
The more people do this, the more it will push toward the top of the radar over at Customer Service. Those types of issues cost CS time...which costs SOE money...
In short, by continuing to show people how to take care of this through petitions, you actually encourage SOE to do something real about the issue.
This isn't an issue, except for people that think they "own" a name and should be able to get it even if they weren't the first to make a character with that name. Yes I have an issue with people being able to arbitrarily change inactive characters names because they want it.
By the same token a character that has not been logged in for 3 years with alts that are just as inactive, in a guild with a leader that has not logged in for even longer should be able to keep their name despite not actually having a valid subscription? I don't think so. I've kept my sub up since launch and I'll be more than happy to request having a name freed up from someone who has a level 20 something with no earring or cloak on. Kiki, wherever you are, If you ever reactivate your account and log in to find that you are now Kikix, I offer my heartfelt thanks

Back when MMO's first came out, names were first come, first served. You didn't cry to CS and beg them to give you someone elses name because you missed the boat. You thought of something else. I don't know who started this phenomenon of petitioning to get inactive names, but I don't like it. I went back to EQ1 after years away and was happy to see that every single one of my characters still had their names, even my level 1 auction character. I then made the choice to delete some of the characters. I got the character names first, I should be allowed to keep them until *I* decide I want to let them go. I don't give a whit if the account hasn't been played in years, people come back, all the time. Heck my guild just had two players resub after 3 years away. How much would it suck for them to have lost their names because someone came along and decided they deserved it more?

Maisland · 04-20-2010, 08:56 PM

I heard that City of Heroes changed their policy because people coming back to find that their names had been lost made a big stink about it. Personally, I would never subscribe to a game where my characters might lose the names I had given them for no reason than that someone wanted a name I had and my account had been inactive for any amount of time.

Accounts that have been banned are another matter.

I would like to add that I just recently came back after a 4 year absence. If any of my characters had lost their names, you can bet my return would have been very short lived.

Kendricke · 04-20-2010, 09:24 PM

Malachani wrote:

Back when MMO's first came out, names were first come, first served. You didn't cry to CS and beg them to give you someone elses name because you missed the boat. You thought of something else.

Let me ask an obvious question then: Back when MMOs first came out, how many MMOs had characters which had been inactive for 3-5 years?

I assume when you say "back when MMOs first came out", you're referring to the mid to late 90s, right? How many MMOs did you know of in the 90s that had been around for 3-5 years already? How many of those games had millions of character names in their databases back then?

As an old MMO vet, I can appreciate the "walked uphill through snow both ways" tone in your post, but just because something was done years ago doesn't mean it was good, right, or impossible to improve upon. Seriously, I remember wearing a pager on my belt when I first starting firing up MMOs...I'm pretty sure we found a way to improve upon that, too.

Sphiriah · 04-20-2010, 09:33 PM

It's a bit lame that we have to resort to social engineering in order to accomplish such a thing.

Nightshade · 04-21-2010, 12:30 AM

They are good about getting to these petitions, but you have to watch it like a hawk or you could lose out on getting the name anyway.

I wanted the name 'Nightshade' on LDL, but the person who had it was a level 7 who hadn't logged in since like 2007 or somesuch, and was played for 5 hours. They deleted it or removed the name or something so I could use it, but didn't give it to my character. I caught the petition within an hour, luckily, but had I been gone for the weekend someone else would likely have snagged it up.

Just a friendly warning.

Tenchisama · 04-21-2010, 12:46 AM

also keep in mind some folks have altitis syndrome and even if THAT toon is not in use they may have other toons that are - as long as the ACCOUNT is active I see no reason to take away a name.

ke'la · 04-21-2010, 07:16 AM

Tenchisama@Mistmoore wrote:

also keep in mind some folks have altitis syndrome and even if THAT toon is not in use they may have other toons that are - as long as the ACCOUNT is active I see no reason to take away a name.

The one person that posted that they couldn't get a name they wanted via pation, didn't get it for this very reason. The Account was active and the charactor was an alt that wasn't even in the same regon, but they kept thier name.

To Malachani:Um first you complain about people who think they "own" a name, then you say that if you just happen to get thier first, yet never play the game again, you should still get to "keep" the name. So wich is it, do you own a name or not?

I also remember "Back in the day" of MMOs, where there was, and still is(if you read the EULA) a chance that if you didn't maintain your subscription not only could you lose your Toon Name but your whole toon.

erin · 04-21-2010, 09:40 AM

Malachani wrote:

went back to EQ1 after years away and was happy to see that every single one of my characters still had their names, even my level 1 auction character.

I find this attitude baffling. If you went back and your high end toons still had their names and were intact, even after years of not paying the company any money, and your level 1 auction character had been name changed, this would actually bother you? Really?

xeyda · 04-21-2010, 01:33 PM

I have been playing MMOs since before they were called MMOs - back when you logged into a BBS through a whole chain of connections, each more shaky than the last.

In the good old days, before I lost my teeth and started yelling at punks and whippersnappers to get of my [Removed for Content] lawn already, names were important. You carried that name with you from spot to spot (usually). Your online (and sometimes offline) persona WAS that name, even as you moved through other systems and connections and boards. Ever seen that godawful movie, "Hackers"? Total crap, but they got the reverence for and social recognition by names right...

In today's madcap world of graphics (not to mention ones with more than 8-bits of color definition) and character models that not only have facial features but can blink, breathe, scratch their nose AND complain about the outrageous prices of powdered witches' wart, where characters are made and remade, miens changed on a whim and a whole stable of toons never more than a /camp away, names are less defining, important even, for the majority of the community enjoying, or simply enslaved by, these games.

To many, the name of the character is just as important as the story behind it, and I don't mean just the stories of roleplayers. Everyone has something that makes the character, and its name, special and "theirs", be it a twenty year history stretching back to when pencil and paper was the only way to roleplay, or some especially choice bit of loot snagged from a particularly difficult battle in which your character landed the highest known crit ever, or even just a particularly clever-or-giggle-worthy way of spelling some mundane word.

But these names are not eternal, and should not be held sacrosanct. If you want to be Acidburn in a world, you need to -BE- Acidburn in that world, even if it simply means logging in the account regularly. Care enough to keep your account active, or be willing to walk away from the handle, if not that character as well. Once, having the creativity to "come up with" a name, does not mean you can control or lay claim to that name in perpetuity. How many people with the same name do you know in real life? Only the previous era's holdover mechanics truly keep game-worlds from having two "Peter Longwoods" on the same server.

If I am and have been paying "the MMO", and someone else is not and has not for a sizable time (months is not enough, in my opinion, but the online world moves so FAST that naming what is a 'sufficient lapse' is arbitrary at best) any identity (character name) once claimed by this defunct, inactive account, should absolutely be up for grabs. If you leave your throne for long enough, someone else should have every right to invade your domain and take up the mantle, especially in an industry where money is king and resources (DB space, account maintenance, etc) is a premium.

People will go on and on endlessly about how "the MMO" owes them something because they pay. What do they owe you when you stop paying? Not a dang thing, including the eternal storage of a name, a character or a policy you like.

Wumpusrat · 04-23-2010, 02:23 AM

erin wrote:

Malachani wrote:
went back to EQ1 after years away and was happy to see that every single one of my characters still had their names, even my level 1 auction character.
I find this attitude baffling. If you went back and your high end toons still had their names and were intact, even after years of not paying the company any money, and your level 1 auction character had been name changed, this would actually bother you? Really?

By the same token, I find YOUR attitude somewhat baffling. If I unsub to a game for a couple years, and then come back later (which I've done with several mmo's), and all my characters' names were gone just because someone else wanted them while I was away, I'd be pretty [Removed for Content] upset. To the point that I'd probably just unsub from the game again, and the company wouldn't get my money anymore.

Just because someone hasn't played in a couple years doesn't mean that a current player is somehow "more entitled" to a name than they are. What happens if, say, I decide that I want the name you're currently using, and I'm willing to pay the company money to let me have it? Would it become a bidding war, to see who gets the name?

It's not like there are a finite number of names out there. I just started playing EQ2 about three weeks ago, and I have had almost NO problems naming my characters. If someone else is using a name you want, tough, find another one. This "but I want it, so the company should give it to me!" attitude people seem to have just astounds me, honestly.

City of Heroes did something similar, and it got them a lot of angry customers. Maybe SOE doesn't care as much. Who knows. All I know is that it's a pretty selfish and greedy thing to demand (however nicely you try and phrase it, because it's still basically a demand) that someone else lose their name just because you want it, even if they haven't played for a couple years.

But oh well. It's not like any amount of argument will penetrate the "but I deserve it more" attitude some people have.

NightGod473 · 04-23-2010, 09:23 AM

Lexander@Antonia Bayle wrote:

In the good old days, before I lost my teeth and started yelling at punks and whippersnappers to get of my [Removed for Content] lawn already, names were important. You carried that name with you from spot to spot (usually). Your online (and sometimes offline) persona WAS that name, even as you moved through other systems and connections and boards. Ever seen that godawful movie, "Hackers"? Total crap, but they got the reverence for and social recognition by names right...

LOL-funny you mention it, watching that movie was the inspiration for me coming up with the user name you can see to the left there (minus the 473, that's my fall-back if someone else has taken it). To be fair, I waited about 10 years to be able to register the nightgod.com domain away from some now-defunct band that paid far in advance of how long they actually lasted. If someone wants it bad enough, they *will* wait and snag it-I had reminders set in my Blackberry over a year in advance for the day it was due to become available.

Bragon · 04-23-2010, 09:27 AM

Well, I am glad they didn't do that to me.

CoH used to send me e-mails that they were going to free up my names, so I would re-up and log them all in, for when I returned. But then they just started doing it without warning, and the first time I came back to a name taken, was the last time I will ever play that game. I will play CO instead.

Hell I still go back to EQ, AO, and DAoC about once every 18 months or so just to see how things are. People like me who own basically every MMO, and float around from one to another every so often, may seem like bad customers, and that justifies your selfishness. But you know what? If they didn't save my characters, I would never come back, and the 3 years of subscriptions they get from me every 5 years, would become 0 years.

I am not trying to argue that continuous subscriptions shouldn't have potential benefits over those who are sporadic, but I think names are important to the people who already have them. In MMOs, names are first come first served. If you are so enamored with a name, perhaps you should have started earlier, or move to a server where it isn't taken. I have characters on Lucan Dlere that have litterally been there since the day the server fist saw production. I should lose those because I take a break from the game?

04-20-2010, 12:03 PM	#4
Laiina Loremaster Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 622	This is a suggestion I agree with. It would be easy to do - just if a char has not been played for 2+ years or whatever, just add something like "XYZZ" to the name. __________________

04-20-2010, 01:34 PM	#6
VikingGamer Lord Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 245	Same here, I was able to petition for a name from a toon that was only played to lvl 16 over a 2 week period over 2 years ago. Opened the petition and they replied within a several hours that it was done. No fuss at all. I suspect that they don't bother to make the process automatic simply to keep the numbers down by giving it some amount of difficulty. If you really want the name you have to want it enough to open the petition. They may also take into account more factors than simply how long it has been since the toon was accessed. They may consider the level of the toon and how active the account is in general. __________________ It is not enough to defeat our enemies, we must crush their will to even fight. Then our children may know peace.

04-20-2010, 04:02 PM	#11
Artalis the Elder Loremaster Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 288	You're doing it wrong. You don't ask to have another player's name changed. You ask for the name to be "made available'. Give the actual last logged in date for the character. Check their alts. Check guild memberships, anything that supports your case about the account not being in use. My main was made in Feb of 2010. You don't think the name 'Kiki' was overlooked for 5 years do you? As usual HOW you ask is just as important as WHAT you ask. A lazy, poorly worded request is easily dismissed. Build your case, back it up, inject a bit of humor or insight and you will likely be surprised at the results. __________________

04-20-2010, 05:30 PM	#13
Kendricke Loremaster Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 4,032	Kiki@Guk wrote: You're doing it wrong. You don't ask to have another player's name changed. You ask for the name to be "made available'. Give the actual last logged in date for the character. Check their alts. Check guild memberships, anything that supports your case about the account not being in use. My main was made in Feb of 2010. You don't think the name 'Kiki' was overlooked for 5 years do you? As usual HOW you ask is just as important as WHAT you ask. A lazy, poorly worded request is easily dismissed. Build your case, back it up, inject a bit of humor or insight and you will likely be surprised at the results. The more people do this, the more it will push toward the top of the radar over at Customer Service. Those types of issues cost CS time...which costs SOE money... In short, by continuing to show people how to take care of this through petitions, you actually encourage SOE to do something real about the issue. __________________ * -Opinions expressed in this post do not represent any current or past employers.

04-20-2010, 06:21 PM	#14
Malacha General Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 887	Kendricke wrote: The more people do this, the more it will push toward the top of the radar over at Customer Service. Those types of issues cost CS time...which costs SOE money... In short, by continuing to show people how to take care of this through petitions, you actually encourage SOE to do something real about the issue. This isn't an issue, except for people that think they "own" a name and should be able to get it even if they weren't the first to make a character with that name. Yes I have an issue with people being able to arbitrarily change inactive characters names because they want it. __________________ Maewyn \| Maelya \| Alania \| ~~Maehymn~~ \| ~~Maelani~~ (Account Canceled)

04-19-2010, 10:26 PM	#1
CraigH Loremaster Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 163	Perhaps copy what City of Heroes does....if someone doesn't log into the game for some extended period of time, their name can be recycled. If they happen to resubscribe, they can have a free name change. Please reward paying customers who have stuck with the game for several years. I'm sure there are hundreds of instances of lvl 2 characters (or guilds, for that matter) that haven't logged on in years and cancelled their accounts and they are preventing some neat names from being used by paying customers. ...my 2 cents.

04-19-2010, 10:34 PM	#2
Piccolo Server: Everfrost Guild: Campaign of Light Rank: Senior Member Loremaster Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 287	/petiton and ask for said name. you might be suprised. just research the name, check eq2players.com and see when the last time the other player logged in and such. i got a characters name changed though /petition.

04-19-2010, 11:25 PM	#3
Barx Server: Antonia Bayle Guild: Mayhem Rank: Officers Loremaster Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Manors of Mithaniel, New Halas Posts: 3,480	Yep -- basically they won't do a blanket deletion or changing of folks names, but if the person is sufficiently inactive you shouldn't have too much trouble in getting a GM to give you the name.

04-20-2010, 12:22 PM	#5
xeyda Loremaster Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Baton Rouge, Louisiana Posts: 272	I was lucky enough to have the above experience - During a server move, the name of my character that was moving could not claim her name on the new server. I petitioned successfully to have the inactive character's name changed so I could have it. The GM was very nice about it all.

04-20-2010, 02:11 PM	#7
Kizee Loremaster Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 3,093	This has been brought up numerous times and it is just another example of SoE catering to the people that don't play anymore more than the paying customers. Inc. people that will say..... "There are plenty of names available....if the name is taken then it wasn't very original in the first place.". Those people fail to realize that the game is 6 years old and there are alot of people that are not coming back. At the very least they should purge all the canceled trial account names because I am sure that just that in itself will free up ALOT of names

04-20-2010, 02:26 PM	#8
Vraeth Server: Runnyeye Guild: Runnyeye Raiding Club Rank: Boss Loremaster Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 394	i once tried a petition to free up a name. this is how it went: me: on this server there is a character named ________ that wasnt used for almost 4 years. i wonder if it is possible to rename this char like append an 'x' to his name, so i could create one. answer: This is GM _________ responding to your petition. I understand that you would like the name "_____" to be freed up on your server, and apologize for any inconvenience caused to you. Unfortunately, I will be unable to grant your request to change the name "______" to "______x." If you have any further concerns, please feel free to submit another petition. my reply: what is the reason why this cant be done? answer: This is GM ______ (as before) responding to your petition. As was stated, I will be unable to change the name "______" to "______x," as you have requested. We are unable to change the name of another player which is not in violation of our naming policy. If you have any further concerns, please feel free to submit another petition. so, maybe it worked for you, it didnt work for me. this happened around last january. i even tried to talk with the guy, he was on us server and this toon was on eu, and he didnt even know how to log to eu servers no matter how i tried to tell him. to my bad luck it turned out that somehow he finally managed to log that toon, and played him for another 20 minutes and a few lvls

04-20-2010, 02:40 PM	#9
Rocc Loremaster Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 705	I think it depends on the GM. If your denied, try try again.

04-20-2010, 03:28 PM	#10
Orienne Loremaster Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 70	It really does depend on which CSR you get answering your petition. Recently I transferred a character to another server and paid the $25 to do this. When I got there I had to add an x to my name as there was another character there with my old name. This other character hadn't logged in for 3 and a half years, so I petitioned and asked for the name and was told that the toons name was changed so it was now available for me to change to, but I had to buy a potion of amnesia from the marketplace. I replied to this asking if it would be possible to have a CSR change it since I had already paid $25 to move this character to the server only a week earlier, and the CSR I got in my reply was more than happy to do it free of charge. If you are having trouble having this done simply ask again and hope to get a CSR who is willing to help you.

04-20-2010, 05:06 PM	#12
woolf2k Loremaster Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 845	ok. I never agree to the blanket character deletion just to release names no matter how inactive they've been; however, if they do it ala city of heros name deactivation. then I'm all for it.

04-20-2010, 06:31 PM	#15
Reapicheap Server: Antonia Bayle Guild: Acolytes of Valor Rank: Squire Lord Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 271	Malachani wrote: Kendricke wrote: The more people do this, the more it will push toward the top of the radar over at Customer Service. Those types of issues cost CS time...which costs SOE money... In short, by continuing to show people how to take care of this through petitions, you actually encourage SOE to do something real about the issue. This isn't an issue, except for people that think they "own" a name and should be able to get it even if they weren't the first to make a character with that name. Yes I have an issue with people being able to arbitrarily change inactive characters names because they want it. You don't own anything, including the characters you're playing. You're paying for a license to play the game, nothing more. You can't sell what you don't own, which is why you don't have permission to sell your account when you quit playing. You certainly don't own something as transient as a character name. If someone wants your character name and you're not actively playing the game, much less the character, expect that you're going to lose the name. That's just how things are. __________________

04-20-2010, 07:18 PM	#16
ke'la Loremaster Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 5,445	Vraeth@Runnyeye wrote: i once tried a petition to free up a name. this is how it went: me: on this server there is a character named ________ that wasnt used for almost 4 years. i wonder if it is possible to rename this char like append an 'x' to his name, so i could create one. answer: This is GM _________ responding to your petition. I understand that you would like the name "_____" to be freed up on your server, and apologize for any inconvenience caused to you. Unfortunately, I will be unable to grant your request to change the name "______" to "______x." If you have any further concerns, please feel free to submit another petition. my reply: what is the reason why this cant be done? answer: This is GM ______ (as before) responding to your petition. As was stated, I will be unable to change the name "______" to "______x," as you have requested. We are unable to change the name of another player which is not in violation of our naming policy. If you have any further concerns, please feel free to submit another petition. so, maybe it worked for you, it didnt work for me. this happened around last january. i even tried to talk with the guy, he was on us server and this toon was on eu, and he didnt even know how to log to eu servers no matter how i tried to tell him. to my bad luck it turned out that somehow he finally managed to log that toon, and played him for another 20 minutes and a few lvls The reason they couldn't change the name of the charactor you wanted was because it was on an active account, as you where able to talk to them in-game, so even IF they had a system CoH's it wouldn't matter in this case. There is also the fact that people could just log in regularly to preserve thier charactor's name too. I used to do this in CoH all the time, befor Champions became my Super Hero MMO. __________________

04-20-2010, 07:23 PM	#17
ke'la Loremaster Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 5,445	Kendricke wrote: Kiki@Guk wrote: You're doing it wrong. You don't ask to have another player's name changed. You ask for the name to be "made available'. Give the actual last logged in date for the character. Check their alts. Check guild memberships, anything that supports your case about the account not being in use. My main was made in Feb of 2010. You don't think the name 'Kiki' was overlooked for 5 years do you? As usual HOW you ask is just as important as WHAT you ask. A lazy, poorly worded request is easily dismissed. Build your case, back it up, inject a bit of humor or insight and you will likely be surprised at the results. The more people do this, the more it will push toward the top of the radar over at Customer Service. Those types of issues cost CS time...which costs SOE money... In short, by continuing to show people how to take care of this through petitions, you actually encourage SOE to do something real about the issue. Isn't that a far more effective way to get them to put in an automated system though, instead of asking for it on the boards, cause then not only do they know there is player desire for it, they also know the cost of keeping the status quo. __________________

04-20-2010, 07:48 PM	#18
Artalis the Elder Loremaster Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 288	Malachani wrote: Kendricke wrote: The more people do this, the more it will push toward the top of the radar over at Customer Service. Those types of issues cost CS time...which costs SOE money... In short, by continuing to show people how to take care of this through petitions, you actually encourage SOE to do something real about the issue. This isn't an issue, except for people that think they "own" a name and should be able to get it even if they weren't the first to make a character with that name. Yes I have an issue with people being able to arbitrarily change inactive characters names because they want it. By the same token a character that has not been logged in for 3 years with alts that are just as inactive, in a guild with a leader that has not logged in for even longer should be able to keep their name despite not actually having a valid subscription? I don't think so. I've kept my sub up since launch and I'll be more than happy to request having a name freed up from someone who has a level 20 something with no earring or cloak on. Kiki, wherever you are, If you ever reactivate your account and log in to find that you are now Kikix, I offer my heartfelt thanks __________________

04-20-2010, 08:49 PM	#19
Malacha General Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 887	Kiki@Guk wrote: Malachani wrote: Kendricke wrote: The more people do this, the more it will push toward the top of the radar over at Customer Service. Those types of issues cost CS time...which costs SOE money... In short, by continuing to show people how to take care of this through petitions, you actually encourage SOE to do something real about the issue. This isn't an issue, except for people that think they "own" a name and should be able to get it even if they weren't the first to make a character with that name. Yes I have an issue with people being able to arbitrarily change inactive characters names because they want it. By the same token a character that has not been logged in for 3 years with alts that are just as inactive, in a guild with a leader that has not logged in for even longer should be able to keep their name despite not actually having a valid subscription? I don't think so. I've kept my sub up since launch and I'll be more than happy to request having a name freed up from someone who has a level 20 something with no earring or cloak on. Kiki, wherever you are, If you ever reactivate your account and log in to find that you are now Kikix, I offer my heartfelt thanks Back when MMO's first came out, names were first come, first served. You didn't cry to CS and beg them to give you someone elses name because you missed the boat. You thought of something else. I don't know who started this phenomenon of petitioning to get inactive names, but I don't like it. I went back to EQ1 after years away and was happy to see that every single one of my characters still had their names, even my level 1 auction character. I then made the choice to delete some of the characters. I got the character names first, I should be allowed to keep them until I decide I want to let them go. I don't give a whit if the account hasn't been played in years, people come back, all the time. Heck my guild just had two players resub after 3 years away. How much would it suck for them to have lost their names because someone came along and decided they deserved it more? __________________ Maewyn \| Maelya \| Alania \| ~~Maehymn~~ \| ~~Maelani~~ (Account Canceled)

04-20-2010, 08:56 PM	#20
Maisland Loremaster Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 231	I heard that City of Heroes changed their policy because people coming back to find that their names had been lost made a big stink about it. Personally, I would never subscribe to a game where my characters might lose the names I had given them for no reason than that someone wanted a name I had and my account had been inactive for any amount of time. Accounts that have been banned are another matter. I would like to add that I just recently came back after a 4 year absence. If any of my characters had lost their names, you can bet my return would have been very short lived.

04-20-2010, 09:24 PM	#21
Kendricke Loremaster Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 4,032	Malachani wrote: Back when MMO's first came out, names were first come, first served. You didn't cry to CS and beg them to give you someone elses name because you missed the boat. You thought of something else. Let me ask an obvious question then: Back when MMOs first came out, how many MMOs had characters which had been inactive for 3-5 years? I assume when you say "back when MMOs first came out", you're referring to the mid to late 90s, right? How many MMOs did you know of in the 90s that had been around for 3-5 years already? How many of those games had millions of character names in their databases back then? As an old MMO vet, I can appreciate the "walked uphill through snow both ways" tone in your post, but just because something was done years ago doesn't mean it was good, right, or impossible to improve upon. Seriously, I remember wearing a pager on my belt when I first starting firing up MMOs...I'm pretty sure we found a way to improve upon that, too. __________________ * -Opinions expressed in this post do not represent any current or past employers.

04-20-2010, 09:33 PM	#22
Sphiriah Loremaster Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 473	It's a bit lame that we have to resort to social engineering in order to accomplish such a thing.

04-21-2010, 12:30 AM	#23
Nightshade Server: Lucan DLere Loremaster Join Date: Feb 2010 Posts: 314	They are good about getting to these petitions, but you have to watch it like a hawk or you could lose out on getting the name anyway. I wanted the name 'Nightshade' on LDL, but the person who had it was a level 7 who hadn't logged in since like 2007 or somesuch, and was played for 5 hours. They deleted it or removed the name or something so I could use it, but didn't give it to my character. I caught the petition within an hour, luckily, but had I been gone for the weekend someone else would likely have snagged it up. Just a friendly warning. __________________

04-21-2010, 12:46 AM	#24
Tenchisama Server: Mistmoore Guild: Yoricks Merry Men Rank: Leader Loremaster Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 99	also keep in mind some folks have altitis syndrome and even if THAT toon is not in use they may have other toons that are - as long as the ACCOUNT is active I see no reason to take away a name.

04-21-2010, 07:16 AM	#25
ke'la Loremaster Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 5,445	Tenchisama@Mistmoore wrote: also keep in mind some folks have altitis syndrome and even if THAT toon is not in use they may have other toons that are - as long as the ACCOUNT is active I see no reason to take away a name. The one person that posted that they couldn't get a name they wanted via pation, didn't get it for this very reason. The Account was active and the charactor was an alt that wasn't even in the same regon, but they kept thier name. To Malachani:Um first you complain about people who think they "own" a name, then you say that if you just happen to get thier first, yet never play the game again, you should still get to "keep" the name. So wich is it, do you own a name or not? I also remember "Back in the day" of MMOs, where there was, and still is(if you read the EULA) a chance that if you didn't maintain your subscription not only could you lose your Toon Name but your whole toon. __________________

04-21-2010, 09:40 AM	#26
erin Loremaster Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 1,834	Malachani wrote: went back to EQ1 after years away and was happy to see that every single one of my characters still had their names, even my level 1 auction character. I find this attitude baffling. If you went back and your high end toons still had their names and were intact, even after years of not paying the company any money, and your level 1 auction character had been name changed, this would actually bother you? Really?

04-21-2010, 01:33 PM	#27
xeyda Loremaster Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Baton Rouge, Louisiana Posts: 272	I have been playing MMOs since before they were called MMOs - back when you logged into a BBS through a whole chain of connections, each more shaky than the last. In the good old days, before I lost my teeth and started yelling at punks and whippersnappers to get of my [Removed for Content] lawn already, names were important. You carried that name with you from spot to spot (usually). Your online (and sometimes offline) persona WAS that name, even as you moved through other systems and connections and boards. Ever seen that godawful movie, "Hackers"? Total crap, but they got the reverence for and social recognition by names right... In today's madcap world of graphics (not to mention ones with more than 8-bits of color definition) and character models that not only have facial features but can blink, breathe, scratch their nose AND complain about the outrageous prices of powdered witches' wart, where characters are made and remade, miens changed on a whim and a whole stable of toons never more than a /camp away, names are less defining, important even, for the majority of the community enjoying, or simply enslaved by, these games. To many, the name of the character is just as important as the story behind it, and I don't mean just the stories of roleplayers. Everyone has something that makes the character, and its name, special and "theirs", be it a twenty year history stretching back to when pencil and paper was the only way to roleplay, or some especially choice bit of loot snagged from a particularly difficult battle in which your character landed the highest known crit ever, or even just a particularly clever-or-giggle-worthy way of spelling some mundane word. But these names are not eternal, and should not be held sacrosanct. If you want to be Acidburn in a world, you need to -BE- Acidburn in that world, even if it simply means logging in the account regularly. Care enough to keep your account active, or be willing to walk away from the handle, if not that character as well. Once, having the creativity to "come up with" a name, does not mean you can control or lay claim to that name in perpetuity. How many people with the same name do you know in real life? Only the previous era's holdover mechanics truly keep game-worlds from having two "Peter Longwoods" on the same server. If I am and have been paying "the MMO", and someone else is not and has not for a sizable time (months is not enough, in my opinion, but the online world moves so FAST that naming what is a 'sufficient lapse' is arbitrary at best) any identity (character name) once claimed by this defunct, inactive account, should absolutely be up for grabs. If you leave your throne for long enough, someone else should have every right to invade your domain and take up the mantle, especially in an industry where money is king and resources (DB space, account maintenance, etc) is a premium. People will go on and on endlessly about how "the MMO" owes them something because they pay. What do they owe you when you stop paying? Not a dang thing, including the eternal storage of a name, a character or a policy you like.

04-23-2010, 02:23 AM	#28
Wumpusrat Journeyman Join Date: Mar 2010 Posts: 2	erin wrote: Malachani wrote: went back to EQ1 after years away and was happy to see that every single one of my characters still had their names, even my level 1 auction character. I find this attitude baffling. If you went back and your high end toons still had their names and were intact, even after years of not paying the company any money, and your level 1 auction character had been name changed, this would actually bother you? Really? By the same token, I find YOUR attitude somewhat baffling. If I unsub to a game for a couple years, and then come back later (which I've done with several mmo's), and all my characters' names were gone just because someone else wanted them while I was away, I'd be pretty [Removed for Content] upset. To the point that I'd probably just unsub from the game again, and the company wouldn't get my money anymore. Just because someone hasn't played in a couple years doesn't mean that a current player is somehow "more entitled" to a name than they are. What happens if, say, I decide that I want the name you're currently using, and I'm willing to pay the company money to let me have it? Would it become a bidding war, to see who gets the name? It's not like there are a finite number of names out there. I just started playing EQ2 about three weeks ago, and I have had almost NO problems naming my characters. If someone else is using a name you want, tough, find another one. This "but I want it, so the company should give it to me!" attitude people seem to have just astounds me, honestly. City of Heroes did something similar, and it got them a lot of angry customers. Maybe SOE doesn't care as much. Who knows. All I know is that it's a pretty selfish and greedy thing to demand (however nicely you try and phrase it, because it's still basically a demand) that someone else lose their name just because you want it, even if they haven't played for a couple years. But oh well. It's not like any amount of argument will penetrate the "but I deserve it more" attitude some people have.

04-23-2010, 09:23 AM	#29
NightGod473 Loremaster Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 848	Lexander@Antonia Bayle wrote: In the good old days, before I lost my teeth and started yelling at punks and whippersnappers to get of my [Removed for Content] lawn already, names were important. You carried that name with you from spot to spot (usually). Your online (and sometimes offline) persona WAS that name, even as you moved through other systems and connections and boards. Ever seen that godawful movie, "Hackers"? Total crap, but they got the reverence for and social recognition by names right... LOL-funny you mention it, watching that movie was the inspiration for me coming up with the user name you can see to the left there (minus the 473, that's my fall-back if someone else has taken it). To be fair, I waited about 10 years to be able to register the nightgod.com domain away from some now-defunct band that paid far in advance of how long they actually lasted. If someone wants it bad enough, they will wait and snag it-I had reminders set in my Blackberry over a year in advance for the day it was due to become available. __________________ Fluffy list

04-23-2010, 09:27 AM	#30
Bragon Loremaster Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 20	Well, I am glad they didn't do that to me. CoH used to send me e-mails that they were going to free up my names, so I would re-up and log them all in, for when I returned. But then they just started doing it without warning, and the first time I came back to a name taken, was the last time I will ever play that game. I will play CO instead. Hell I still go back to EQ, AO, and DAoC about once every 18 months or so just to see how things are. People like me who own basically every MMO, and float around from one to another every so often, may seem like bad customers, and that justifies your selfishness. But you know what? If they didn't save my characters, I would never come back, and the 3 years of subscriptions they get from me every 5 years, would become 0 years. I am not trying to argue that continuous subscriptions shouldn't have potential benefits over those who are sporadic, but I think names are important to the people who already have them. In MMOs, names are first come first served. If you are so enamored with a name, perhaps you should have started earlier, or move to a server where it isn't taken. I have characters on Lucan Dlere that have litterally been there since the day the server fist saw production. I should lose those because I take a break from the game?