Unused Character Name Purge - Can we get one before 3.0?

[Oyranos]

they dont have the right if they want a healthy business with their customers, to take names from active players, no matter what, if they have inactive characters.

 

They have to take all the names from those f2p who played the game 1-2 years ago and left...

 

all mmos reserve the names for a year or 2, if you are an inactive player and the servers have name problems... they take the names.

 

And I find it strange... since you have the ability to create a name like "jones bocks" , a name and a surname... then whats the problem with the naming system.

Edited October 30, 2014 by Oyranos

[Tychus]

any new player has that problem when they start up a new game that has been around for a year or more! its not that big of a deal and it helps you be more creative. i have never had that problem with choosing a name for a toon. this is coming from a guy that had a goblin sorcerer named Yoduh, a goblin deathknight named Darthyoda and a panda named genmasaotome B^P you just have to be creative ... some times you get lucky with not so creative names like the examples of my wow characters. there really isnt a need for a name purge and free to play people dont need any more restrictions, they have enough as it is, they shouldn't be punished just because they didn't log onto a toon in over a week or even a month. if a name isnt available to you then try and be more creative! give your toon a last name or try putting a Mr., Mrs., Miss., or Master, or Darth at the beginning.

 

and this ^

 

Just to highlight the last thing you said, by using an in game title as part of name creation it is reportable and breaks the naming policy of the game Which also dose not matter what server type you are on.

 

this -

Naming Policy

 

When creating a character or guild name for Star Wars: The Old Republic, it is encouraged that you select a name that reflects the theme of the game. The guidelines listed below outline the types of names that you can NOT use, and apply to both player or character names, as well as guild names.

 

You may not use any names that violate the General Rules. This includes the use of names that are hateful, defamatory, racist, ethnically offensive, obscene, vulgar, sexually explicit, or any other language that is offensive in nature.

 

You may not use names that are harassing or defamatory to other players or employees of EA, BioWare or LucasArts, e.g. EASUX, Timsretarded, and Biowaresux.

 

You may not use names of any EA, BioWare, or LucasArts employee or service related to Star Wars: The Old Republic.

 

You may not use names of copyrighted or trademarked characters, materials or products, e.g. Coca-Cola or Dr. Pepper.

 

You may not use names from popular culture or media, e.g. Lady Gaga or George Lucas.

 

You may not use names that are religiously or historically significant, e.g. Jesus, Winston Churchill.

 

You may not use proper names of areas within Star Wars for character names. Guild names, however, MAY use the proper names of specific areas to help promote role-playing and realm pride, e.g. Defenders of Tython or Protectors of Hutta.

 

You may not use proper names of non-player characters within Star Wars: The Old Republic, e.g. Darth Malgus, Satele Shan, Yoda, Darth Vader or Luke Skywalker.

 

You may not use names containing titles or ranks within them, e.g. General Supertrooper, Captain Tim, Darth Timmy, Knight Wakey.

 

You may not use names that refer to drugs or that are drug related.

 

You may not use names that contain an inappropriate phrase, sentence or any fragment of a sentence or Leet speak, e.g. uberhaxer, xxspeederxx, lolface, rofl, Noobwhacker, TimmyF**k, kock, fuk.

 

You may not use misspellings or alternative spellings of names that violate any of the above rules, e.g. Hamsolo, Yooda, DorthVader.

 

You may not use gibberish names when creating character, e.g. ajsdu, rifndsw, qweszs.

 

If you violate any part of the above Naming Policy you will either be assigned a new name, or given the option of changing the name. In addition to this, your account could incur a penalty up to and including account closure.

Edited October 30, 2014 by Tychus

[SithKoriandr]

Just to highlight the last thing you said, by using an in game title as part of name creation is reportable and breaks the naming policy of the game Which also dose not matter what server type you are on.

 

this -

 

To bad the naming policy really isn't enforced at all.

[Tychus]

To bad the naming policy really isn't enforced at all.

 

If Swtor had the same GM support as WOW then it would be enforced, but because we don't, the system we have is to let the players police that sort of thing by reporting those people who break the naming rules.

 

Also it would have been better if we could choose a first name and last name from the get go, then more players would have names they want.

Edited October 30, 2014 by Tychus

[LyraineAlei]

Also it would have been better if we could choose a first name and last name from the get go, then more players would have names they want.

 

^ That would have been nice when I started playing. First character I made, I named her Lyrainealei, because I couldn't put in spaces, and didn't now I could use hyphens or apostrophes. Then found out about naming my own legacy. Legacy name Alei. When I subcribed for the first time what I saw her name as was "Lyrainealei Alei", so I used my one rename to change her name to Lyraine so it looks right.

 

If we could name our legacies from the start, that would be great.

 

And if we do another name purge, it should follow the same guidelines as the last one. If your name is still taken, tough luck. Go to Google translate and pick a characteristic of your new character and hit " translate" to generate ideas.

[J_Fred]

This will never happen for obvious reasons. Just because I don't see someone log in to the game for a while doesn't mean they have quit or unsubbed. They could be playing on other characters or another server for that matter. Regardless, that doesn't give me the right to take their name because I feel it isn't being used properly. If a name I wanted to use is taken I move on and find another, not creepily stalk them for months to see if they log in or not. Character names are not that big of a deal.

[Zoom_VI]

If they haven't played in a year, they have pretty much forfeited any hold on "first come, first serve." Names priority is for paying customers only. Give them 2 weeks to come back, and if they aren't willing to play, then they missed out, tough luck.

 

2 weeks? Seriously? So if I take a standard length vacation, then I lose all of a my toon names?

 

Wow just wow.

[robertthebard]

If Swtor had the same GM support as WOW then it would be enforced, but because we don't, the system we have is to let the players police that sort of thing by reporting those people who break the naming rules.

 

Also it would have been better if we could choose a first name and last name from the get go, then more players would have names they want.

 

The better place to enforce it would be the naming screen, just like it does currently for duplicate names.

[CloudCastle]

Eeesh. I would much rather struggle to find a name for a new character, than come back after an absence and find a beloved character name taken away.

 

It just seems like the pain of seeing a name you like already taken is not the same as the pain of losing something you already considered yours. I would rather upset the new player for the few seconds/minutes it would take them to think of another name, than upset the player who may have invested weeks, months or even years on a character whose name is part of their identity.

[Foambreaker]

That and allow spaces in names.

 

Of course you need semi skilled engineers who can write a chat parser, apparently many are intimidated by the task.

[Borderlad]

I don't think a name purge is likely right now.

 

I get it. I have lost names to server merges, and it sucked. Some of those were names I really loved having. I had to think up new ones. It didn't destroy my enjoyment of the game... but there is one I still wish I could get back.

I get it. I just don't think it's likely right now.

 

My sense is that a name purge right before an expansion would be a bad business decision for BioWare.

 

An expansion has 2 main functions:

(1) Retain current business. (Keep current players from getting bored.)

(2) Attract new business. (Bring in new and returning players.)

 

Regarding a name purge just before an expansion, BioWare has to consider:

(a) If you are currently playing, you will most likely keep playing with or without a name purge.

(b) If you have never played before, a name purge will be unnoticeable to you.

© If you are a returning player, losing the name(s) you had to a name purge could easily be enough of a disappointment to counteract whatever curiosity you had in seeing what's new in the game. A percentage of the returners will be put off by the disappointing & frustrating results of a name purge, and will decide not to resubscribe when they otherwise would have. (This is a much more probable outcome than a current subscriber unsubscribing because of having a name purge not happen.)

 

It's easy to see why current players would want a name purge before an expansion hits: Pounce on any choice names that might free up before the influx of new/returning accounts with yet more people gobbling up names.

 

But I think it's much more likely that, for BioWare as a business, the downside to a name purge right now outweighs any potential goodwill gains with the already-loyal customer base.

 

If BioWare does announce a name purge, though, you can bet I'll be trying to get back that one name I still really miss.

Edited October 30, 2014 by Borderlad

[kirorx]

no need for a name purge! you never know if someone will come back and if they know they no longer have their name then there is a good chance they will never come back. first come first serve, if you missed out tough luck!

 

Fair enough but some of us lost our names when they consolidated servers, so we did not miss out.....we had it snatched up.

 

I had a level 50 knight with the name that I had used in KOTOR, and pre ordered in hopes to not miss the name I wanted.

 

I ran a flashpoint with the guy with my name, he was level 20 at the time. I added him to my friends list and he has not been on in years and never got to 50

 

I know it stinks to lose your name but a lot of us were affected by server mergers, we are the ones that purchased the actual game and we have stuck it out for years and have poured a lot of our money into this game.

 

Where does the loyalty lie, we are the actual consumers.

These other guys that jumped shipped years ago just after the merger and have not returned may lose their names in another purge but they can just make new names, just like we had to do.

 

Its F2P now and these people still have not logged in

Edited October 30, 2014 by kirorx

[Ratajack]

Fair enough but some of us lost our names when they consolidated servers, so we did not miss out.....we had it snatched up.

 

I had a level 50 knight with the name that I had used in KOTOR, and pre ordered in hopes to not miss the name I wanted.

 

I ran a flashpoint with the guy with my name, he was level 20 at the time. I added him to my friends list and he has not been on in years and never got to 50

 

I know it stinks to lose your name but a lot of us were affected by server mergers, we are the ones that purchased the actual game and we have stuck it out for years and have poured a lot of our money into this game.

 

Where does the loyalty lie, we are the actual consumers.

These other guys that jumped shipped years ago just after the merger and have not returned may lose their names in another purge but they can just make new names, just like we had to do.

 

Its F2P now and these people still have not logged in

 

How do you know they have never logged in?

 

Are you making an assumption that they have not because you haven't seen them online?

 

Maybe they play at different times than you do. Maybe they are active players, but on different servers. Maybe they are even still subscribers

 

We have no way of knowing.

 

What happens if they do another name purge withe the same criteria as the last name purge and your name is not made available? Will you be here advocating yet another name purge with different criteria until your name is made available?

[drug_cartel]

Once upon a time, I lived in a small town in Canada. Every morning I went over to Tim Horton's and got an apple Danish for breakfast. I did this at exactly 5:50 AM, and sat for 20 minutes eating my breakfast and reading the newspaper. I always sat at the same table, in the same chair, and flirted with the same waitress (if she was working).

 

This went on for about two years. You know what? They always had my table wiped down. They always had an apple Danish ready for me. And I always came back.

 

I moved away for work. I came back for a wedding about two years later. You know what I found? It was shocking. Somebody was sitting in my seat. They were sold out of apple Danish. And somebody had already done the Sudoku in the newspaper. That stuff all belonged to me! I had it first!

 

Except it doesn't.

 

Our characters belong to Bioware. The accounts belong to Bioware. The names belong to Bioware. They can do with them whatever they want. So the question is, do they want to service the customers they have right now and try to make more money, or do they want to have some of their current customers be mildly annoyed, based on the idea that maybe someday an old customer might come back.

 

I had my name Purged in Everquest. Logged back in after the game had gone free to play and I was shocked to discover the character I had played for 5 years was now renamed. I know exactly how it feels. I was a bit bummed in the beginning that I had lost my name. Then I thought about it, and I realized that I had abandoned my poor Enchanter for five years. And during that time, some other kid out there had decided to use that name. It's like passing on an old toy to a younger sibling; it's nice to know that somebody else was still getting use from it.

 

Take care of customers that we know DO exist, not ones that we hope to MAYBE attract.

[JumperPenn]

No to a purge before 3.0, expansions are supposed to in part lure old players back.

 

Having my character(s) lose their name would be a disincentive to me coming back to a game, because I made up the lion's share of my character's names.

 

Now to a regular purge of say once a year, I'm okay with if it is like the last one characters under a certain level (say 30)and inactive for a year or so plus if you haven't been a sub in a year.

 

But really people need to be more creative, use different spellings not just special characters. Explore other languages, use a longer name than you might have intended with the name you want in front making that a shorter obvious nickname.

 

I've had a handful of the 30+ characters I've made on 3+ servers been names someone else got first. Most of those were pretty 'common' in other media/history/languages.

 

The only names I really care about now are the ones I've made up and then 'cloned' on other servers. I'll makeup new ones for the characters I don't want to clone or if BW actually gets us more server slots. And guess what if someone picked one of my less creative and more likely shorter names I'll think up a new one or alter mine without using special characters because I hate special characters and that's just a way of cheating thinking up a unique name of your own. Also I hate having to use ascii code to communicate with someone that poster I have is for ascii art ONLY.

 

I've also kept many of my 20+ characters (from my first server) at or near a specific level for a long time. For many reasons from I'm playing my 55's to leveling another alt to I got bored with that class story and use them to sell crap on the GTN or for cargo space, etc. I'm sure some people use a few of those static level characters to farm things like the eggs or recruiting on certain worlds etc.

 

Just because a character hasn't leveled in a year plus doesn't mean they are inactive.

 

And I'll say that a regular purge of character names on non active accounts that haven't logged in in a year or more and aren't currently subscribed is fine but really a lot of the people that want these purges to get 'their' name need to move on and stop hoping to snag it from someone else.

Edited October 31, 2014 by JumperPenn

[robertthebard]

Once upon a time, I lived in a small town in Canada. Every morning I went over to Tim Horton's and got an apple Danish for breakfast. I did this at exactly 5:50 AM, and sat for 20 minutes eating my breakfast and reading the newspaper. I always sat at the same table, in the same chair, and flirted with the same waitress (if she was working).

 

This went on for about two years. You know what? They always had my table wiped down. They always had an apple Danish ready for me. And I always came back.

 

I moved away for work. I came back for a wedding about two years later. You know what I found? It was shocking. Somebody was sitting in my seat. They were sold out of apple Danish. And somebody had already done the Sudoku in the newspaper. That stuff all belonged to me! I had it first!

 

Except it doesn't.

 

Our characters belong to Bioware. The accounts belong to Bioware. The names belong to Bioware. They can do with them whatever they want. So the question is, do they want to service the customers they have right now and try to make more money, or do they want to have some of their current customers be mildly annoyed, based on the idea that maybe someday an old customer might come back.

 

I had my name Purged in Everquest. Logged back in after the game had gone free to play and I was shocked to discover the character I had played for 5 years was now renamed. I know exactly how it feels. I was a bit bummed in the beginning that I had lost my name. Then I thought about it, and I realized that I had abandoned my poor Enchanter for five years. And during that time, some other kid out there had decided to use that name. It's like passing on an old toy to a younger sibling; it's nice to know that somebody else was still getting use from it.

 

Take care of customers that we know DO exist, not ones that we hope to MAYBE attract.

 

That's a lot of assumption there. You're assuming that a character not being played means that the player is now inactive, to start with. Guess what, according to the criteria linked earlier in this thread, my characters on the other two servers I'm not active on are safe. Why? Because I have an active sub, and if one of them has a name that somebody wants, they're SoL. Isn't guaranteeing that my names are safe on those servers part of taking care of an existing customer? Are we going to twist the criteria until someone comes up with a way to legitimately take a name from an inactive character no matter what the status on the account is, so that said someone feels like they are taking care of an active customer?

 

My Operative was 25 for about 6 months or so. It was logged in when I needed something armstech made, but not played. So if someone wanted his name, and if they only logged in and checked while I was busy on 1 of 15 other alts, they'd be like you, and assume that I didn't play any more, right?

[kirorx]

How do you know they have never logged in?

 

Are you making an assumption that they have not because you haven't seen them online?

 

Maybe they play at different times than you do. Maybe they are active players, but on different servers. Maybe they are even still subscribers

 

We have no way of knowing.

 

What happens if they do another name purge withe the same criteria as the last name purge and your name is not made available? Will you be here advocating yet another name purge with different criteria until your name is made available?

 

It's just an example of that particular situation, don't take things so literal.

 

Bottom line if your account has been inactive for 2 years and the character is less than level 30, that's seems like a reasonable timeline to expect a name purge. I know if I hadn't even bothered to log in to a free game in that long I would not be bothered by losing characters names that I no longer cared for.

 

A lot of people just snatched up the names to hold them and then they eventually quit playing.

[Ratajack]

It's just an example of that particular situation, don't take things so literal.

 

Bottom line if your account has been inactive for 2 years and the character is less than level 30, that's seems like a reasonable timeline to expect a name purge. I know if I hadn't even bothered to log in to a free game in that long I would not be bothered by losing characters names that I no longer cared for.

 

A lot of people just snatched up the names to hold them and then they eventually quit playing.

 

It's only been about a year since the last name purge, so anyone who's account has been inactive for 2 years would have lost the names of any characters below level 30 during the last name purge. I include any subscriber in the active account category, even if they are not logging in and playing, as they are continuing to subscribe.

 

I'm not against name purges, as long as they continue to use the same criteria and are at least a year apart, preferably at least two years between name purges.

[Kissakias]

no need for a name purge! you never know if someone will come back and if they know they no longer have their name then there is a good chance they will never come back. first come first serve, if you missed out tough luck!

 

correct, my thoughts exaclty

[drug_cartel]

correct, my thoughts exaclty

 

By the same measure though, you have no idea how many new players coming in decide not to stay when they are rejected in their first 30 attempts to name a character. Or when they can't figure out how to talk to half the people they meet, because so many of them use alt-key codes in order to get the names they wanted.

 

If I don't know how many returning customers quit becaue of a lost name, then you don't know how many customers are lost because of a lack of a name purge. Neither side is entitled to speculate.

 

But what we can see quite clearly here on the forums is that the game does have customers right now, and that a name purge affects them in two ways. If they are an active player of the game, paying or not, then they lose nothing. If they are a paying customer, actively playing or not, then they lose nothing. And they gain the potential to use names that were otherwise blocked off from them. Anybody on these forums has an account in good standing and would lose nothing from a name purge.

 

Customer Service

[Tyrloch]

My best friends wife died of cancer in May '13. he made a character with her name and that looked as much like her as possible on the server we were playing on at the time.

 

He then walked away from the game for over a year, although remained subscribed. (yea, free revenue for BW)

 

I continued playing but switched servers following friends. Well, he came back a week or so ago, made new characters on the server I am on.

 

So, does he deserve to lose the name of the character named after his wife, since he has not logged in to that character in over 17 months? Do you think that character, with the name it has, is kind of important to him?

[Gleneagle]

Should exceptional cases force the universal rule?

[robertthebard]

By the same measure though, you have no idea how many new players coming in decide not to stay when they are rejected in their first 30 attempts to name a character. Or when they can't figure out how to talk to half the people they meet, because so many of them use alt-key codes in order to get the names they wanted.

 

If I don't know how many returning customers quit becaue of a lost name, then you don't know how many customers are lost because of a lack of a name purge. Neither side is entitled to speculate.

 

But what we can see quite clearly here on the forums is that the game does have customers right now, and that a name purge affects them in two ways. If they are an active player of the game, paying or not, then they lose nothing. If they are a paying customer, actively playing or not, then they lose nothing. And they gain the potential to use names that were otherwise blocked off from them. Anybody on these forums has an account in good standing and would lose nothing from a name purge.

 

Customer Service

 

How many MMOs have you played? In those, how many times have you actually gone through 30 attempts to name a character? Of those, how many times were you trying to be the next Drizzt, or Heimdahl? You know, using those names that aren't supposed to be used anyway due to copyright infringement. The main reason I didn't hit the betas here, despite being invited, was the foreknowledge of 800 variations of Darth Vadar et al. The fact is, when I decided to come check it out, I named my character with a unique name on the first try. So personally, I'd take my chances, because hopefully new customers to an MMO with any MMO experience will know; sometimes that name you want is taken, especially in an established MMO. So really, all I see here is the bolded above. You know, the "yay, I get to take somebody else's name".

 

Guidelines for purges are listed, and they have been listed in this thread. Again, what happens when the name you're clamoring for isn't available after a purge? Again, are you going to push to change the rules so that you can finally find a way to get it?

[robertthebard]

Should exceptional cases force the universal rule?

 

What criteria should exist to change the current rules?

[Gleneagle]

So, does he deserve to lose the name of the character named after his wife, since he has not logged in to that character in over 17 months? Do you think that character, with the name it has, is kind of important to him?

 

Did he let the sub lapse that he endowed with his late loved one's name and the cartoon character he made of her? Such an emotional investment clearly wasn't present when he left the game. Why should it be more present when he returns?