Character Name Requester

[Lundorff]

Hello xXxSuperStarKillerxXx how is it going today?

Oh just fine xXxXxLördStárFishxXxXX, just fine.

 

Is a character name important? Does it help you become a better player? Understand your class better? No not really, and yet many people perfer to have a specific name, and perhaps they even reuse the same name across multiple MMOs. You can grow attached to a name, an identity, and it might even create a greater tie to the game. But what if your name is taken and you don't feel like calling yourself something obscure? What if you know the name you desire is not being actively used? Currently there is nothing to be done but I suggest a Cartel Market item to change this.

 

And so, in light of the coming purge of inactive character names, I propose the Cartel Market item: Character Name Requester

 

How does it work: Phase 1:

Player A wants to create a new character with the name Goldfish, but alas the name is taken. He then promptly enters the game on another character and goes to the Cartel Market, where he buys an item called Character Name Requester. Once received Player A promptly activates it and is greeted with box much like the current Character Name Change. In this box Player A enters the name he desires - Goldfish - and hits enter.

 

How does it work: Phase 2:

The game will now send 2 types of mail: It will send an in-game mail to all the characters attached to the account with the character Goldfish. It will also send a real world mail to the person owning the account in question. The owner of the name Goldfish - Player B - now reads the mail and is presented with an offer:

 

"Dear Player B, Player A is offering you 1000 Cartel Coins if you are willing to part with the character name Goldfish. We have attached the item Character Name Requester Decider to your in-game mail and upon activating this you will be given 2 choices: to accept or decline the offer. Upon acceptance the name Goldfish will be removed from you character and you will be given the option of a free name change. You will also immediately be accredited 1000 Cartel Coins. This offer is only valid for 72 hours. Should you decline or ignore the offer the name in question will remain yours."

 

How does it work: Phase 3:

Should Player B have accepted the offer, the name Goldfish is now bound to the account of Player A. Player A is now free to either name a new character Goldfish or buy a Character Name Change item and rename one of his existing characters. Once the name is re-attached to a character it will just be normal name that once again can be traded should Player A wish so. Should Player B have declined or ignored the offer, the Character Name Requester returns to Player A and he can try again or with a different name.

 

General considerations:

• There should be 3 different versions of the Character Name Requester at the Cartel Market priced at respectively 3000, 6000 and 9000 Cartel Coins. The amount accredited to Player B will always be 1/3 of the original purchase price (e.g. Player B receives 3000 Cartel Coins if Player uses a 9000 Cartel Coins Character Name Requester).
   
  
• The Character Name Requester is only used upon acceptance from the opposite party. The item need to be expensive enough to encourage Player B to accept the offer but at the same time it must not deter Player A from trying a different name.
   
  
• Player B can place Player A on ignore and he will no longer receive any offers from Player A. This is to prevent nagging and irritating other players. But until such action, Player A is free to re-request the name, possible using a more expensive Character Name Requester this time around.
  

[JPryde]

Very well worked out idea.. Might be a reasonable addition to the CM, even though I wouldn't personally use it on either side.

[xeikonburns]

Great idea and already fitted with a practicable concept of realization !

And as bonus it is really fair for all participants of the trade, Customer A having his desired Name, Customer B receives CC's und Bioware receives a noticeable amount of money

 

Bioware, now its your turn !

[AlexDougherty]

I don't like this, a better Idea would be if the name you choose is taken, then the game should make some suggestions based on what you typed in.

 

Ie Goldfish is taken so it suggests Gildfish, Boldfosh, Goltfish.

[Lundorff]

I don't like this, a better Idea would be if the name you choose is taken, then the game should make some suggestions based on what you typed in.

 

Ie Goldfish is taken so it suggests Gildfish, Boldfosh, Goltfish.

 

Thank you for the feedback but I don't think this item is meant for you. You are clearly rather flexible if you would accept Gildfish in place of Goldfish - more power to you - but some of us would really like a name(s) spelled the correct way. I also think your suggestion could be handled during the character creation phase so perhaps it would be more appropriate if you made a separate thread with your suggestion.

[Lundorff]

Very well worked out idea.. Might be a reasonable addition to the CM, even though I wouldn't personally use it on either side.

 

Great idea and already fitted with a practicable concept of realization !

And as bonus it is really fair for all participants of the trade, Customer A having his desired Name, Customer B receives CC's und Bioware receives a noticeable amount of money

 

Bioware, now its your turn !

 

Thank you both

[McCay_Jones]

I like the idea.

 

It gives all parties (as stated before) a chance to gain something. I would add that if the player does not accept the offer, the person who sent it gets the item back. Otherwise they could be on the hook to lose it if there is no deal.

 

Have a mail sent back to the sender that the deal is not good. Then they know and don't have to just wait the 72 hours.

Edited November 1, 2013 by McCay_Jones

[Lanuria]

There is no way to transfer CC to other accounts currently. They would have to implement that and that could be something Bioware doesn't wish to do at the current moment.

 

What if you buy the request and the person doesn't agree? Does the thing just sit in your bank or do you get Cartel Coins back? Because there is also no way to be refunded your Cartel Coins. If they start refunding one thing, people will want them for other items that aren't used.

 

If the person has to check their mail to get this notification, then why not just send an in game letter to the character with the name explaining you want the name in question? It would be a lot more personable and heck, maybe even the person would say 'Yeah, I really don't like this character anymore' or you could just buy a name change thing off the GTN and send it to them after you've made a deal. of course, there is some degree of trust involved and buyer be warned, etc.

 

If the person never logs in and it's a lowbie character, then no worries! You should have that name freed up in time.

 

Just seems very complicated for something that can be dealt with an in game letter or the name purge coming up.

[branmakmuffin]

Yet another solution in search of a problem.

[CrazyMcGee]

Yet another solution in search of a problem.

 

/disagree

 

You might not worry about names, but a huge number of players think it's important.

 

Frankly, your attitude is why OP's suggestion would work well - you don't care about the name and someone offers you 5 mill credits for it, you'll take it, they'll get their name, we'll all go home happy.

[-Slaughterhouse-]

i like this idea, very much, but price should be attainable, and there should be only one cost, not levels

of importance.

[branmakmuffin]

/disagree

 

You might not worry about names, but a huge number of players think it's important.

I have no problem naming my characters original, non-gibberish names because my creativity does not start with "Star Wars-inspired names" and end with "the names I name my characters in all MMOs."

[Lundorff]

I would add that if the player does not accept the offer, the person who sent it gets the item back. Otherwise they could be on the hook to lose it if there is no deal.

 

What if you buy the request and the person doesn't agree? Does the thing just sit in your bank or do you get Cartel Coins back? Because there is also no way to be refunded your Cartel Coins. If they start refunding one thing, people will want them for other items that aren't used.

 

As I wrote originally:

"The Character Name Requester is only used upon acceptance from the opposite party." Meaning that it will automatically return to Player A should Player B either ignore or decline the offer. At the most Player A will have to wait 72 hours before having the item returned.

 

There is no way to transfer CC to other accounts currently. They would have to implement that and that could be something Bioware doesn't wish to do at the current moment.

 

I think you are missing a bit of how I intend this to work. Player A would not need to transfer anything as the payment would be deducted from the original purchasing price and automatically accredited the account of Player B upon a successful transaction. Assuming Player A buys the items for 9000 Cartel Coin, then BioWare has to accredit Player B 3000 Cartel Coins upon a successful transaction. It would all be completely automatic. Sorry for not explaining it better.

 

If the person has to check their mail to get this notification, then why not just send an in game letter to the character with the name explaining you want the name in question? It would be a lot more personable and heck, maybe even the person would say 'Yeah, I really don't like this character anymore' or you could just buy a name change thing off the GTN and send it to them after you've made a deal. of course, there is some degree of trust involved and buyer be warned, etc. If the person never logs in and it's a lowbie character, then no worries! You should have that name freed up in time. Just seems very complicated for something that can be dealt with an in game letter or the name purge coming up.

 

Player A will have no way of establishing contact should the name reside on a character that Player B never logs on to. It could still be a high level character or perhaps Player B has a subscription meaning nothing will be released during the coming purge.

 

Furthermore; In case Player B is currently on vacation or is simply taking a break (and thus not logging into the game and reading in-game mail) a real world mail is also needed. The real world mail should be worded differently than the in-game, but with enough information for Player B to understand the gist of it.

 

About specifics:

The prices I mention (3000, 6000, 9000), the time-frame (72 hours) and the ratio (1/3) are solely to have something specific to refer to. The final numbers would of course be entirely up to BioWare.

Edited November 4, 2013 by Lundorff

[Lundorff]

Bump.

 

Does anyone ever get any type of response from the developers in this sub-forum? Any type of feedback would be appreciated

[gorstram]

Bump.

 

Does anyone ever get any type of response from the developers in this sub-forum? Any type of feedback would be appreciated

 

Dev responses are super rare on these forums. As for your idea, I'm concerned about the security and fraud related issues that could come with it. This would enable people to send cartel coins to one another, and since cartel coins are purchased with real money, someone who's account is compromised could buy 10 of these things, and send character name requests to illicit accounts. Costing the original account holder a ridiculous amount of money, and cause a huge headache when they have to go to the bank to report it as fraud. I've had to do this before on a compromised Steam account, and the process was about as pleasant as a root canal without Novocaine.

 

So at this time, I'm afraid I have to disagree with your suggestion and say that it could do more harm than good.

[Lundorff]

Dev responses are super rare on these forums. As for your idea, I'm concerned about the security and fraud related issues that could come with it. This would enable people to send cartel coins to one another, and since cartel coins are purchased with real money, someone who's account is compromised could buy 10 of these things, and send character name requests to illicit accounts. Costing the original account holder a ridiculous amount of money, and cause a huge headache when they have to go to the bank to report it as fraud. I've had to do this before on a compromised Steam account, and the process was about as pleasant as a root canal without Novocaine.

 

So at this time, I'm afraid I have to disagree with your suggestion and say that it could do more harm than good.

Interesting perspective and one I had not thought about, but if this is a concern then every account is already a potential problem.

 

If someone were to breach my account they would already be able to buy stuff from the cartel market and then sell said items on the GTN and transfer the credits to their own account. I agree that while my concept would open the door for Cartel Coins, I would argue that the potential for abuse is already in place. Cartel Coins are certainly different than in-game credits, but unless you can actively exchange Cartel Coins back into real world money the function would be the same: to get in-game stuff.

 

I see your point, but I do not think it creates a greater potential for fraud than currently is possible.

[JMNeves]

If I'm allowed to say, I think this is a perfect idea.

 

When I first started playing the game, day 1, I was on Saber of Exar Kun and I had the name "Katherine". Later the servers were merged and someone already had that name on POTF so I had to rename my character to "Katheríne".

 

I while it isn't a big thing, like you said, I'm attached to the name from previous games and I'd like to keep it.

 

I do understand that it would be ridiculous for Bioware to give me means to contact the person, but if they could contact the player for me on their actual email address, that would be great.

 

The worst part? My "Katheríne" is my main shadow that I raid everyday, while the other ~original~ "Katherine" is a level 47 marauder. So that character is older than mine, and the player never got to even 50, meaning they stopped playing probably even before the servers were merged. So yeah, I'd pay much more than just 9k cartel coins just so I could talk to the person and possibly get the name back =/

 

Please, BW, come up with something that would allow us to fix problems like this.

 

--

EDIT:

Oh, and of course the character name renewal program won't affect the person because it is a preferred status player and, even if it wasn't, the character is just above level 30 so it's not affected by the program. Again, they never hit even 50 so no actual hard work was put into that character and they probably never even logged on again for the past year. :sadface:

Edited November 10, 2013 by JMNeves
Update info

[Lundorff]

@JMNeves

 

Without sounding overly corny, I wholeheartedly emphasize with your plight. It is so frustrating to be locked out of a name you want to level and knowing it resides on a "dead" account/character.

 

There is money to be made here BioWare - exploit us please

[KyaniteD]

I support the idea.

 

I had similar thoughts about trying to get CS to help with contacting the player in question and then I'd offer them a cartel coin code in exchange for the name.

 

This is much better, since it's automated and even with the option for BW to get some additional money.

 

 

A possible downside may be that players may reserve names for the sole purpose of selling them. A cool result of this could be a marketplace for creative names, a less cool result could be people reserving common (first) names (e.g. from name websites) just to sell them.

 

Pricing and certain restriction on the number of renames/sales could be the key here to find a balance between encouragement to give up the name and discouragement to make it a business.

 

Another problem could be the "trading" of names that violate the ToS. I see a lot of names that don't comply with the rules but are tolerated (until someone reports them). So people who buy such a name may lose the coins and the name. On the other hand, that's where the players themselves need to act and think mature and responsible and be aware of the fact that they may lose the name if it gets reported.

[branmakmuffin]

@JMNeves

 

Without sounding overly corny, I wholeheartedly emphasize with your plight. It is so frustrating to be locked out of a name you want to level and knowing it resides on a "dead" account/character.

 

There is money to be made here BioWare - exploit us please

They just did.