Time to unlock names again.

[DigitalWar]

Devs, let's release names again. It is becoming more difficult to get a good name, or even create one that I / we are happy with. So many names are tied up on accounts that people have quit or abandoned. This should be a no brainer to do every 6 months.

I am also starting to see more and more bad names that should probably be banned on my server. You might think that making more available might keep at least a few people from doing this. There will always be the trolls who know no other way, but after 50 trys at names people start to say f*** it and get a bit too creative.

[Kirameki]

Devs, let's release names again. It is becoming more difficult to get a good name, or even create one that I / we are happy with. So many names are tied up on accounts that people have quit or abandoned. This should be a no brainer to do every 6 months.

I am also starting to see more and more bad names that should probably be banned on my server. You might think that making more available might keep at least a few people from doing this. There will always be the trolls who know no other way, but after 50 trys at names people start to say f*** it and get a bit too creative.

 

6 months is too short of a period to whipe names. Some people (2 examples but there are many more) enlisted in the military or go backpacking for few months and won't like it to come home to see their character names whiped because someone else wanted the name.

 

Also I noticed the naming system has some bugs. I've got a name I wanted and it took me many hits on a button to get it because it gave me like "invalid name" 500+ times before I finally got the name. Some names are simply "unavailable" due to this.

Edited May 23, 2014 by Kirameki

[DigitalWar]

6 months is perfect for them to release names. Im not talking about inactive for 6 months. they can go by the guidelines they did last time. i think inactive accounts for at least a year and names that didnt get to lvl 50 or 55. or something like that. but instead of waiting forever to get them, every 6 months release those over a year old. if the names are 1.5 years old and lvl 50 or 55 and in a account not subbed for that 1.5 years then make those names avail too.

[Omecrion]

I think the Devs should change the name system to where u can have any name(as long as its not any named person throught the star wars universe exp: Revan,Vader,Sidious,etc.) just once. That way people can name at least 1 of their toons whatever they want and not having to worry if its taken.

[TakexeNex]

Why not just use special character names like many are doing now? Séé how that works? Looks the same as see but only a slight difference. Just look up the characters code for the letter you want to change and good to go.

[eartharioch]

Why not just use special character names like many are doing now? Séé how that works? Looks the same as see but only a slight difference. Just look up the characters code for the letter you want to change and good to go.

 

Because people will hate you?

[TakexeNex]

Because people will hate you?

I keep in mind this is a game, really few people hate another just because both possess the same first name. Thats why we have differing surnames. But in the game we possess a legacy name, so why is a unique first name so all important?

[Marstrike]

I keep in mind this is a game, really few people hate another just because both possess the same first name. Thats why we have differing surnames. But in the game we possess a legacy name, so why is a unique first name so all important?

 

What he means is no one likes seeing those names with funny characters. Trying to whisper those people is hard enough without trying to read some of them. Plus they usually have names like "annakun skywaalker" n crap like that.

[Maqeurious]

Because people will hate you?

 

Ouch. I didn't realise having an ì made people hate me

[Marstrike]

Ouch. I didn't realise having an ì made people hate me

 

If that special i is part of "Obi-Wan Kenobi" then yes...people hate you. If it's a unique/creative name then people will see it and likely think something else out of:

 

1. "Possible F2P / late to the party player or someone trying to troll the original persons name"

2. "God how do i whisper / ticket that guy, i swear he was online?!"

3. "what alien text is this? i cba to even read that mumbo jumbo"

 

But, if you only have one "i" its not so bad. 9 times out of 10 tho people with these would of used a normal "i" if they could as those special characters haven't been cool since MSN in the early 00's. The only thing worse is your regular xXn0Sc0p3Xx, oOLegolazOo, DarthhMaul and the classic M4STER CH1EF...

[eartharioch]

Ouch. I didn't realise having an ì made people hate me

 

Not you personally, just your character.

[eartharioch]

I keep in mind this is a game, really few people hate another just because both possess the same first name. Thats why we have differing surnames. But in the game we possess a legacy name, so why is a unique first name so all important?

 

Keep in mind that in impersonal situations, people say "I hate people who X" usually mean "I hate it when people do X". Or that I may have been referring to the character, not the player.

 

I think most people hate the way BW designed the naming system, but that's beyond the scope of this discussion -- what matters is how things *do* work, not how they should work. If you have to look up a special key combination to get a letter that "looks like" the letter you wanted to use, there are two problems:

 

1) If you successfully pick a letter that looks close enough to what you want, other people may mistake it for the letter you wanted, not the letter you got, and that will make it harder for them to identify you.

 

2) Even if another person correctly identifies the letter you are using, it's very likely that that person will then have to look up that special key combination. Since you name your character before actually starting to play it, you can take as much time as you like. If somebody else sees your name, that person is already playing, and in general doesn't have the time to stop doing just to look up a special key combination, so that person may be unable to interact with your character (either to talk with you or report you).

 

So basically, two types of people use special characters in their [swtor character] names: tools and trolls.

[Storm-Cutter]

This is such a non-issue. I've never been denied a name I wanted. Or if it was taken, I added a 'surname'

I couldn't get Henry - now I have Henry-Nye

I couldn't get Jane now I have Jaynne-Grey

I couldn't get Tuesday now I have Tuesday-Jones. - though 'Monday' wasn't taken!

 

For others I used more Star-Wars-y names. Never a problem.

 

People can't be original, that's all.

- I used to add as friend anyone with 'Fett' in their character name. After about 40 I gave up.

There are many trillions of 14-letter combinations.

[TakexeNex]

 

So basically, two types of people use special characters in their [swtor character] names: tools and trolls.

I get your reasoning but IMO its way overthought and trying too hard.

I have invited more than a dozen of these special character persons into the guild I run and so far none has proved to be either tool or troll. Im sorry your experience is different.

[CloudCastle]

It's disheartening to hear that there are so many people out there who would judge my names poorly because I had to put special characters in them. I did it because I lost their original names in the server merge, and this was the only way I could retain their sense of identity. (One was a woman's name, not often used IRL, but recognizable, while the other was a generic, made-up name. One character was even max level, created very close to game launch, played regularly, and I still lost her name. ) I'm sure I'm not the only person who had to do this! They each now have one accent mark over a vowel. I tried to get their names back during the last name purge, but no luck. So special characters it is for them still. Such is life.

[eartharioch]

I get your reasoning but IMO its way overthought and trying too hard.

I have invited more than a dozen of these special character persons into the guild I run and so far none has proved to be either tool or troll. Im sorry your experience is different.

 

How is saying that I hate people using names that are hard to read and hard to write *over* thought? There is no thought necessary -- it's an observation. If anything, the people going out of their way to get something that looks like the name they really want are guilty of *under* thinking.

 

To be honest, I don't really have any voluntary experience with these special needs characters, so I don't know how many of them are only tool/trolls in name only, and I doubt I ever will, because their poor name choice dictates that I won't voluntarily interact with them.

Edited May 26, 2014 by eartharioch

[TakexeNex]

How is saying that I hate people using names that are hard to read and hard to write *over* thought? There is no thought necessary -- it's an observation. If anything, the people going out of their way to get something that looks like the name they really want are guilty of *under* thinking.

 

To be honest, I don't really have any voluntary experience with these special needs characters, so I don't know how many of them are only tool/trolls in name only, and I doubt I ever will, because their poor name choice dictates that I won't voluntarily interact with them.

Im only getting two things out of this last exchange, you want to fight, I dont, and...you hate names with special characters in them. Point taken.

As there are alternatives to unlocking names people dont need to refrain from using them just so others can choose not to hate. Hate or dont hate its your choice.

[eartharioch]

Im only getting two things out of this last exchange, you want to fight, I dont, and...you hate names with special characters in them. Point taken.

As there are alternatives to unlocking names people dont need to refrain from using them just so others can choose not to hate. Hate or dont hate its your choice.

 

I'm not looking to fight, just say that telling people to use special characters is bad advice. I blame BW for allowing them to be used without an easy way to copy the name to a buffer (to paste in replies and reports) or otherwise making sufficient reply/report features (even an in-game key map would be nice). I blame BW for making such a horrible naming system (unique character names, non-unique legacy names). I blame BW for even allowing the special characters to be used when the problems should have been obvious before release.

 

But players have to take some responsibility for using an obviously broken part of the system. My hope is that BW will eventually fix the system and then force renames on all characters with special names.

[Maqeurious]

Not you personally, just your character.

 

Why would they hate my character?

[Adaliaya]

I am cool with special letters. One one toon of mine has one special e and that name is from chinese mytology and in myth there is special e

 

Only issue is that names may be hard to type :/

[Storm-Cutter]

in b4 "name the name you want so badly that it breaks the game for you."

 

and also in b4 ....... Nothing.....Nada.....zero.....zilch..... as a reply....

 

What are these names that are SO precious that there's a queue a mile long to have?

 

If I have it and you want it, I'll gladly change. someone, anyone?

[Supervillainess]

Back to the original question, I think it would make sense to free up the names of characters below level 10 that haven't been played in over a year or so--not delete the characters, but just free up the names. You'd be surprised at how much that would actually clear up.

[TUXs]

Back to the original question, I think it would make sense to free up the names of characters below level 10 that haven't been played in over a year or so--not delete the characters, but just free up the names. You'd be surprised at how much that would actually clear up.

Just below 10? Heck no. If you haven't logged on in a year, no matter your level, they should be up for grabs.

[DigitalWar]

I think the Devs should change the name system to where u can have any name(as long as its not any named person throught the star wars universe exp: Revan,Vader,Sidious,etc.) just once. That way people can name at least 1 of their toons whatever they want and not having to worry if its taken.

 

They cant do this because everything is linked to your first name on your server. if u send mil to ted and there are 5 ted's then who does the mail go to. This is a very bad idea, and i dont want to see 50 people or even 1 other person on a server with my name. It's meant to be unique. Just release the names of those who have not logged in in a very long time.

I would like to see those people's names released who were 50 at around launch and never logged back in. Even if its a 2 year wait for lvl 50-55 names. they need to be released. not just those under 30.

[DigitalWar]

Why not just use special character names like many are doing now? Séé how that works? Looks the same as see but only a slight difference. Just look up the characters code for the letter you want to change and good to go.

 

i tend to ignore people with special character as do many people ive met. One of my guilds refuses people if they have them.

There are no special char in the star wars universe. There are not even small letters only caps. but we wont go that far.