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

[Gleneagle]

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?

Except I don't see anyone pushing for a specific name: you have an argument against something nobody is talking about (that I have seen). The position you are arguing against is a strawman fallacy.

 

There isn't a good reason why abandoned names should be kept reserved for players who have clearly moved on.

[Calsetes]

Except I don't see anyone pushing for a specific name: you have an argument against something nobody is talking about (that I have seen). The position you are arguing against is a strawman fallacy.

 

There isn't a good reason why abandoned names should be kept reserved for players who have clearly moved on.

 

There's not really a good reason to free up the names currently in use and subsequently abandoned, either.

[Gleneagle]

There's not really a good reason to free up the names currently in use and subsequently abandoned, either.

Availability appears to be a very good reason. Edited October 31, 2014 by Gleneagle

[tmblake]

Yes pleeaaaaaase do a name purge. Same thing with me, I have been monitoring the characters with names I want and they haven't changed level/location for many many many months!

[Gleneagle]

Yes pleeaaaaaase do a name purge. Same thing with me, I have been monitoring the characters with names I want and they haven't changed level/location for many many many months!

Single-handedly you just blew away my argument that nobody is arguing for specific names. How much did the Bard pay you to post that sabotage?

 

Just because a character hasn't been played doesn't mean it is on an inactive account.

 

FINE, Robert: You win. There really are such people around. /disgust

Edited October 31, 2014 by Gleneagle

[DarthTHC]

I doubt that, given the rules behind the name purge, it will free up any desirable names. If previous purges did not free up the name you want, it was probably because they fell into the "too high level" bracket, which they would still be in.

 

I'm not against doing it, but I don't think it will do much of anything for anyone.

 

Personally, I've simply had to get more creative. I have 22 characters, with some of those newly created, and I've never put punctuation or special characters into any name.

[Calsetes]

Availability appears to be a very good reason.

 

Not really. See previous examples made by me and other people about trying to get a certain name and having to come up with something else - either a variation of that name, or a completely new name altogether.

 

If you can't get the name "Jack," then use Jackie, Jake, Jackey, John, Johnson, Mack, Dack, or some other variation of it. "Jack isn't available and isn't played anymore" is not a good reason to rip it away from someone else.

[DarthTHC]

Not really. See previous examples made by me and other people about trying to get a certain name and having to come up with something else - either a variation of that name, or a completely new name altogether.

 

If you can't get the name "Jack," then use Jackie, Jake, Jackey, John, Johnson, Mack, Dack, or some other variation of it. "Jack isn't available and isn't played anymore" is not a good reason to rip it away from someone else.

 

Yeah, actually, it is. I have left characters in numerous previous MMO's that I will never again play. If another player wanted those names, I would hope the game could find a way to give them out.

 

The criteria for "isn't played anymore" is the sticky wicket. One could argue that if an account has had no characters logged in for a very long period of time, say a year or more, then regardless character level, the names maybe should be freed up.

 

Again, looking at my own names on my own (at the time) treasured characters in previous games, given that criteria, every single one of them would have their names stripped. And that would be perfectly fine with me... because I'm not selfish with those names to the point of deterring someone else's fun in a game they enjoy.

[Calsetes]

Yeah, actually, it is. I have left characters in numerous previous MMO's that I will never again play. If another player wanted those names, I would hope the game could find a way to give them out.

 

The criteria for "isn't played anymore" is the sticky wicket. One could argue that if an account has had no characters logged in for a very long period of time, say a year or more, then regardless character level, the names maybe should be freed up.

 

Again, looking at my own names on my own (at the time) treasured characters in previous games, given that criteria, every single one of them would have their names stripped. And that would be perfectly fine with me... because I'm not selfish with those names to the point of deterring someone else's fun in a game they enjoy.

 

Well, if they do a name purge, would we get free chances to rename our guys? After all, I don't want to pay for a rename after a purge if the name I was hoping to get wasn't freed up, and thus wasting my money on something I ended up not using. And if someone hated naming their guy "Frankie," and they come back after losing their name and having to change it, should they have to pay because "Frankie" was taken by someone else, which is what they wanted to happen anyway?

 

 

I just say.... keep things as they are. The issues that crop up are minimal and easily fixed by applying a teensy bit of brainwork. We're not at the point yet where every permutation of letters, symbols, and length are a concern. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

[robertthebard]

Availability appears to be a very good reason.

 

Since they're not available, I'd say it's not. In fact, I'd say that that means they're pretty much off the table.

 

To your comment about "strawman", simply put, if it's not a certain name that somebody is watching to see if they're leveling up, or online, how do they know they're not leveling up, or online? Since that scenario has been posited in this thread, I guess it's less a strawman thing, and more of a "I don't know how to respond to this, so I'm just going to pretend it's irrelevant to the conversation, so I can keep pushing my agenda".

 

Out of curiosity though, how does availability not relate directly to specific names? Why push for a purge at all, if it's not about a certain name? You really need to learn the meaning of fallacy before you start accusing people of it.

[Gleneagle]

Not really. See previous examples made by me and other people about trying to get a certain name and having to come up with something else - either a variation of that name, or a completely new name altogether.

 

If you can't get the name "Jack," then use Jackie, Jake, Jackey, John, Johnson, Mack, Dack, or some other variation of it. "Jack isn't available and isn't played anymore" is not a good reason to rip it away from someone else.

I'm not concerned about a specific name. I'm concerned about a new player amped on finally getting into the game, taking an hour to get their first character just right, then having to spend hours trying to get a name accepted.

 

I think that experience is a let-down, and would like as many names available for that new player as possible.

 

Now you and I might be creative types. As a native westerner (now in the East) I do rather well using the names of American Indian tribes. But not everyone has a natural gift as we have, and they are just as well financed as the rest of us. Valuable customers. They should have as many available names to come up with as possible to label their toon and get into the game while they still have an excited, good feeling about it.

[DarthTHC]

Well, if they do a name purge, would we get free chances to rename our guys? After all, I don't want to pay for a rename after a purge if the name I was hoping to get wasn't freed up, and thus wasting my money on something I ended up not using. And if someone hated naming their guy "Frankie," and they come back after losing their name and having to change it, should they have to pay because "Frankie" was taken by someone else, which is what they wanted to happen anyway?

 

I just say.... keep things as they are. The issues that crop up are minimal and easily fixed by applying a teensy bit of brainwork. We're not at the point yet where every permutation of letters, symbols, and length are a concern. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

If your name gets purged and you come back, you get a free change which you are forced to use before you can log the character in.

[robertthebard]

I'm not concerned about a specific name. I'm concerned about a new player amped on finally getting into the game, taking an hour to get their first character just right, then having to spend hours trying to get a name accepted.

 

I think that experience is a let-down, and would like as many names available for that new player as possible.

 

Now you and I might be creative types. As a native westerner (now in the East) I do rather well using the names of American Indian tribes. But not everyone has a natural gift as we have, and they are just as well financed as the rest of us. Valuable customers. They should have as many available names to come up with as possible to label their toon and get into the game while they still have an excited, good feeling about it.

 

They do, they have the exact same pool to pull from that any of us do if we decided to roll a new toon today.

[Calsetes]

If your name gets purged and you come back, you get a free change which you are forced to use before you can log the character in.

 

Right, I know that - and I'm asking if they're giving everyone free name changes after said purge. If my super-creative name of "Sheboiganism" isn't taken after a purge, I can keep it or change it to "Jackie-gleason" if I so choose. Conversely, if my name was not purged because I'm a subscriber, but I want to try changing my name to "Jackie-gleason," which may have been taken before and may or may not be purged now, I have to pay for a token - and that token may be wasted because "Jackie-gleason" wasn't purged.

 

I'd think you'd be putting more customers off from paying for a name change and not getting it after a purge than you would someone who wants a name for a new character but can't get it because someone else already has it.

[drug_cartel]

How many MMOs have you played? In those, how many times have you actually gone through 30 attempts to name a character?

 

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?

 

I've played plenty of MMOs, but SWTOR is the first one that I can use the Random Name Generator supplied by the character creator, with the attitude that I will accept any name that they give me, and get 30 rejections in a row for names already being taken. I'm not trying to be Han Solo or Luke Starkiller or something in violation of the naming policy. Nobody is asking for them to remove the ban on forbidden names. We're talking about acceptable names that we're not allowed use because they are occupied by people who have not played in over a year.

 

Guidelines for the purge are listed, and they have been listed in this thread. I supported the purge the last time around. We're not asking to change the standards of the purge; we're just asking that it be done again. Same criteria. I do not care about getting a specific name; I'm not chasing down some longtime online handle or something. But it's simple customer service.

 

I don't want a name that has to be 15 characters long, or a nonsense string of letters. I want something simple and short. I want something easy to remember, and easy to spell, that way sending mail from one character to another, or explaining to my mates who they need to invite, will be as painless as possible. I want it to be a name, and not some stupid looking handle like "DarkCookie" or whatever other nonsense is acceptable through the filter.

 

Basically, all I wanted to do was pick up my copy of The Big Book of Baby Names and grab a name that sounds like a real person, and uses 6 characters or less. I'm not trying to be Drizzt or Chewie or some garbage, but it would be nice to be Michael, Matthew, James, Robert, Jim, Joseph, Allen, etc. something that sounds like a real name instead of "MMM'Potatoes" like is standing on fleet near me. Sure, these names are not exciting or original. But going page by page through the book, I'm 115 pages in with every single name being rejected.

 

We're not asking for the conditions of the purge to be changed. We're not whining to free up a specific name we want. We are asking, from the very original post, that the Name Purge which was previously determined by Bioware to be in the best interest of the game, that met criteria that Bioware believed would increase customer satisfaction while minimizing the amount of damage to non-customers who might return, the system that the game designers already implemented successfully in the past... be used again. Same as last time. Hey. Round two. Some more people may be gone now, and if they meet the purge criteria, then Bioware has determined they are not likely enough to return for it to be worth the lost revenue of name-changes that could be obtained through the purge.

 

We're not reinventing the wheel. We're saying take the exact same thing that worked in 2013, and bring us up to date in 2014. And if somebody's character names are really, really important to them, then they can log in for five seconds so that the character is active again, and be safe for another year.

[tmblake]

I wish games would use last names. As if IRL there aren't two people with the same first name? Just add last names in so that way people can have the same first name. I'm still waiting for a game to ever actually implement this. Lots of games have last names but they don't do anything except cosmetic appearance (like Legacy last names in this game).

[DarthTHC]

I've played plenty of MMOs, but SWTOR is the first one that I can use the Random Name Generator supplied by the character creator, with the attitude that I will accept any name that they give me, and get 30 rejections in a row for names already being taken. I'm not trying to be Han Solo or Luke Starkiller or something in violation of the naming policy. Nobody is asking for them to remove the ban on forbidden names. We're talking about acceptable names that we're not allowed use because they are occupied by people who have not played in over a year.

 

Happens in other games, too. SWTOR is not unique in this regard. The "random" names are just lists, big or small, that get exhausted.

 

Guidelines for the purge are listed, and they have been listed in this thread. I supported the purge the last time around. We're not asking to change the standards of the purge; we're just asking that it be done again. Same criteria. I do not care about getting a specific name; I'm not chasing down some longtime online handle or something. But it's simple customer service.

 

It probably won't change much. How many characters below level 30 that haven't been logged in for whatever period of time do you think have desirable names? The first purge did something because it had a ton of characters to work on - characters whose players reserved names upon release then decided they didn't like the game. But those were already purged and re-taken.

 

You sort of have to change the criteria if you want it to do anything useful.

 

I don't want a name that has to be 15 characters long, or a nonsense string of letters. I want something simple and short. I want something easy to remember, and easy to spell, that way sending mail from one character to another, or explaining to my mates who they need to invite, will be as painless as possible. I want it to be a name, and not some stupid looking handle like "DarkCookie" or whatever other nonsense is acceptable through the filter.

 

Or, worse, having to tell your friends how to do the alt-keystroke garbage to type the special characters in your name because that's what you were relegated to using.

 

Basically, all I wanted to do was pick up my copy of The Big Book of Baby Names and grab a name that sounds like a real person, and uses 6 characters or less. I'm not trying to be Drizzt or Chewie or some garbage, but it would be nice to be Michael, Matthew, James, Robert, Jim, Joseph, Allen, etc. something that sounds like a real name instead of "MMM'Potatoes" like is standing on fleet near me. Sure, these names are not exciting or original. But going page by page through the book, I'm 115 pages in with every single name being rejected.

 

We're not asking for the conditions of the purge to be changed.

 

They'll need to be - see above.

 

We're not whining to free up a specific name we want. We are asking, from the very original post, that the Name Purge which was previously determined by Bioware to be in the best interest of the game, that met criteria that Bioware believed would increase customer satisfaction while minimizing the amount of damage to non-customers who might return, the system that the game designers already implemented successfully in the past... be used again. Same as last time. Hey. Round two. Some more people may be gone now, and if they meet the purge criteria, then Bioware has determined they are not likely enough to return for it to be worth the lost revenue of name-changes that could be obtained through the purge.

 

We're not reinventing the wheel. We're saying take the exact same thing that worked in 2013, and bring us up to date in 2014. And if somebody's character names are really, really important to them, then they can log in for five seconds so that the character is active again, and be safe for another year.

Edited October 31, 2014 by DarthTHC

[Calsetes]

Suggestions for new names requiring minimal work:

 

1. Find an object that fits the character. Animal, verb, noun, whatever.

 

2. Try said word(s).

 

3. If rejected, plug it into a translator. Pick a different language that can be done with current in-game alphabet.

 

4. Try the new name.

 

5. If rejected, repeat steps 2 and / or 3 and step 4.

 

 

 

"Araña" is Spanish for "spider." Sounds neat, works for the character. Sold. Don't want Spanish? Go for "araignée," "Spinne," or "pry cop" (that last one would need a hyphen in there, since spaces aren't allowed.) Don't want spider? Try "rock." It translates to "roca" in Spanish and "graig" in Welsh (turns out, the "off-the-top-of-my-head" example this time didn't work out so well as it is "rock" in French and German.)

 

 

Those languages don't exist in Star Wars lore? Fine - I'm sure someone somewhere made up an "official" Twi'lek language or something you could use.

[robertthebard]

I've played plenty of MMOs, but SWTOR is the first one that I can use the Random Name Generator supplied by the character creator, with the attitude that I will accept any name that they give me, and get 30 rejections in a row for names already being taken. I'm not trying to be Han Solo or Luke Starkiller or something in violation of the naming policy. Nobody is asking for them to remove the ban on forbidden names. We're talking about acceptable names that we're not allowed use because they are occupied by people who have not played in over a year.

 

While I'm reading, I switched over to my Guardian. I had 3 misfires with the naming tool provided, changed a couple of letters around, and presto, a name, took 4 tries. That's on character number 16.

 

Guidelines for the purge are listed, and they have been listed in this thread. I supported the purge the last time around. We're not asking to change the standards of the purge; we're just asking that it be done again. Same criteria. I do not care about getting a specific name; I'm not chasing down some longtime online handle or something. But it's simple customer service.

 

Then how is it going to affect anything? If desirable names, that nobody wants, apparently, weren't available then, what makes anyone think they'll be available now? Again, the example of my Operative, who was 25 for 6 months. If nobody's monitoring it to make sure it'll be purged, how will they know it's available after a purge? Since it won't be, he's now 55, and my sub is active, then the purge did absolutely nothing for them, except add to their level of anxiety about a name that they don't want, but can't have.

 

I don't want a name that has to be 15 characters long, or a nonsense string of letters. I want something simple and short. I want something easy to remember, and easy to spell, that way sending mail from one character to another, or explaining to my mates who they need to invite, will be as painless as possible. I want it to be a name, and not some stupid looking handle like "DarkCookie" or whatever other nonsense is acceptable through the filter.

 

Then you may be out of luck? Even after a purge, you may be out of luck, since you may not be able to take a name like that.

 

Basically, all I wanted to do was pick up my copy of The Big Book of Baby Names and grab a name that sounds like a real person, and uses 6 characters or less. I'm not trying to be Drizzt or Chewie or some garbage, but it would be nice to be Michael, Matthew, James, Robert, Jim, Joseph, Allen, etc. something that sounds like a real name instead of "MMM'Potatoes" like is standing on fleet near me. Sure, these names are not exciting or original. But going page by page through the book, I'm 115 pages in with every single name being rejected.

 

...and 500 other people did the same thing, and did it before you, so now, they should give it up so you can have it?

 

We're not asking for the conditions of the purge to be changed. We're not whining to free up a specific name we want. We are asking, from the very original post, that the Name Purge which was previously determined by Bioware to be in the best interest of the game, that met criteria that Bioware believed would increase customer satisfaction while minimizing the amount of damage to non-customers who might return, the system that the game designers already implemented successfully in the past... be used again. Same as last time. Hey. Round two. Some more people may be gone now, and if they meet the purge criteria, then Bioware has determined they are not likely enough to return for it to be worth the lost revenue of name-changes that could be obtained through the purge.

 

Then you're likely to be just as "not" disappointed after as you are now, since the last purge evidently didn't help you.

 

We're not reinventing the wheel. We're saying take the exact same thing that worked in 2013, and bring us up to date in 2014. And if somebody's character names are really, really important to them, then they can log in for five seconds so that the character is active again, and be safe for another year.

 

If they don't change the conditions of the purge, then it's likely to be worthless to you, or anyone else. Sure, maybe a few names, or a few hundred, might come available. What happens if somebody else beats you to that name from your list of baby names, that you don't care about, and you still can't use it?

Edited October 31, 2014 by robertthebard
tag repair

[Gleneagle]

...and 500 other people did the same thing, and did it before you, so now, they should give it up so you can have it?

If they abandoned the game? Sure they should.

[DarthTHC]

Right, I know that - and I'm asking if they're giving everyone free name changes after said purge. If my super-creative name of "Sheboiganism" isn't taken after a purge, I can keep it or change it to "Jackie-gleason" if I so choose. Conversely, if my name was not purged because I'm a subscriber, but I want to try changing my name to "Jackie-gleason," which may have been taken before and may or may not be purged now, I have to pay for a token - and that token may be wasted because "Jackie-gleason" wasn't purged.

 

I'd think you'd be putting more customers off from paying for a name change and not getting it after a purge than you would someone who wants a name for a new character but can't get it because someone else already has it.

 

Voluntary name changes are paid services, and there's nothing wrong with leaving them that way.

 

If you want to see if a name is available, roll a new character with that name. Use a new, free-to-play account if necessary. If your temporary character gets the name you wanted, leave it there, buy the name change on your main, delete the temp, and change your main's name.

 

It's not "simple", but it's not like your'e trying to reproduce anti-gravity experiments, either.

[Calsetes]

It's not "simple", but it's not like your'e trying to reproduce anti-gravity experiments, either.

 

...... Maybe I am. Maybe I am.......

[Kryand]

It probably won't change much. How many characters below level 30 that haven't been logged in for whatever period of time do you think have desirable names? The first purge did something because it had a ton of characters to work on - characters whose players reserved names upon release then decided they didn't like the game. But those were already purged and re-taken.

 

You sort of have to change the criteria if you want it to do anything useful.

 

Not necessarily. I can think of one extremely desirable name on my server that was taken after the name purge, and the character is still sub-30 and hasn't played in months. I don't know if it belongs to a sub account, but if not, it would definitely be released if there was another purge. Either way, the point is that it's just as possible that someone registered a good name and immediately quit after the purge as it was when the game came out.

[robertthebard]

Hey, gleneagle, remember that fallacy you accused me of? Imagine this gem showing up, eh?

 

Not necessarily. I can think of one extremely desirable name on my server that was taken after the name purge, and the character is still sub-30 and hasn't played in months. I don't know if it belongs to a sub account, but if not, it would definitely be released if there was another purge. Either way, the point is that it's just as possible that someone registered a good name and immediately quit after the purge as it was when the game came out.

 

It's just as likely that they got busy on another server. It's also just as likely that they have even posted in this thread coming down on the side of "hey, community, leave my names alone". We have no real way to know, unless the owner of said name declares one way or the other. So, the only way you're going to ensure that that name becomes available is to change the rules.

 

Could it open up? Sure, it's possible. What happens if it doesn't? Are we going to see posts that come off as "I've been stalking this player for a year, and they never log in, so their name should be fair game, even if they are a sub and playing on another server"?

[Turajin]

Try "rock." It translates to "roca" in Spanish and "graig" in Welsh (turns out, the "off-the-top-of-my-head" example this time didn't work out so well as it is "rock" in French and German.)

Propably you've got the wrong translator. Unless by "rock" you mean rock-music (wich is indeed "rock" both in german and french), the german word for rock would be "Fels", "Gestein" or "Stein", while in french it would be "roche" or "rocher"....