Weren't we promised more character name resets?

[SteveTheCynic]

One final point that I think people have missed. Repeatedly.

 

No *purges* except perhaps on inactive low-level F2P characters. Do not *purge* inactive names.

 

*Unlocks*. Unlock the names to make them available for others but do not take them away unless someone else actually tries to use them while they are unlocked.

 

And on paying subscriber accounts, do not do even that.

 

And give plenty of notice so that people can do something about keeping the name if they want to. Some of them will, and some of them won't bother, and a few will procrastinate and lost the name as a result.(1)

 

(1) It is entirely possible that one member of that last category (at the 2013 unlocks) is a certain cynical individual currently sitting at my keyboard. Lest anyone think I'm complaining, no, I'm not. It was my fault, and when I assigned a new name, it was (given the inspirations for the two names) a better name for the character anyway, and she in fact now uses both names linked by a space.

[QuinlanSaathis]

Active sub here. Lost 2 names during the merge because my characters were of a lower level than someone else's.

 

Yeah I lost a couple also but that was a specific scenario and not a purge.

[Jesseriah]

Supporting the idea of a new name purge. Last one is 3 years old now anyway.

[Ylliarus]

Supporting the idea of a new name purge. Last one is 3 years old now anyway.

 

Indeed, the last one was during the server merges (it's been 3 years already? Damn...). A name purge would help a lot of players who have been wanting to reclaim a name they lost, especially if the names sit on inactive accounts atm.

[Sinhammer]

Supporting the idea of a new name purge. Last one is 3 years old now anyway.

 

Indeed, the last one was during the server merges (it's been 3 years already? Damn...). A name purge would help a lot of players who have been wanting to reclaim a name they lost, especially if the names sit on inactive accounts atm.

 

It's been 2 years and 5 months. I know that's still a long while but rounding it up seven months just to fit an argument is a little much. Just saying.

Edited April 13, 2020 by Sinhammer

[Ylliarus]

It's been 2 years and 5 months. I know that's still a long while but rounding it up seven months just to fit an argument is a little much. Just saying.

 

Hence my own surprise at the mention of 3 years, as in my head it was closer to 2 years as well. However, I reacted to the time as presented in the post I quoted, I did not intentionally round it up myself.

[LD_Little_Dragon]

I wouldn't bet too much on that name you really, really want being freed up by a purge.

 

How can you tell if a taken name is on an inactive account or just an inactive character?

 

Or a character that isn't played much, but still used for crafting or some other non-gameplay type activity?

 

I have a handful of endgame mains that are frequently played, crafters that I log into once or twice a week, chars for classes I don't like playing that are just there for getting new class-based achievements (and can sit idle for months), and a few that are hardly ever used, but kept around 'just in case'.

 

A purge would free up none of my chars, since my account is active even if all my alts are not.

Edited April 13, 2020 by LD_Little_Dragon

[JediMasterAlex]

I wouldn't bet too much on that name you really, really want being freed up by a purge.

 

How can you tell if a taken name is on an inactive account or just an inactive character?

 

Or a character that isn't played much, but still used for crafting or some other non-gameplay type activity?

 

I have a handful of endgame mains that are frequently played, crafters that I log into once or twice a week, chars for classes I don't like playing that are just there for getting new class-based achievements (and can sit idle for months), and a few that are hardly ever used, but kept around 'just in case'.

 

A purge would free up none of my chars, since my account is active even if all my alts are not.

 

But some names would be freed up from inactive accounts...so your point here is meaningless. No one wants to purge names from active subscribers, and it's not like people are expecting every possible name to be available after a purge. Something is better than nothing, and there is basically no downside to purging names from inactive accounts.

 

My main's original name is currently on a level 50 jedi sage that has been in the Black Hole daily area (and stayed level 50) since shortly after the merge. Could that just be a subscriber's alt that they never play? Sure, it's possible, but it seems a lot more likely that the account has been inactive for years.

Edited April 18, 2020 by JediMasterAlex

[SteveTheCynic]

But some names would be freed up from inactive accounts...so your point here is meaningless.

It's not meaningless. The point there is "Don't count on the name being freed up simply because the character really, really, really never logs in." If the player logs in daily on other characters of the same account, and the account's subscription is still running, the name will not be freed even though the character hasn't logged in even once in the last three years. (Slightly extreme example, I know, but the point stands: don't count on the name being available, not least because someone else might manage to get it two seconds before you click CONFIRM to rename / create your character.)

[JediMasterAlex]

It's not meaningless. The point there is "Don't count on the name being freed up simply because the character really, really, really never logs in." If the player logs in daily on other characters of the same account, and the account's subscription is still running, the name will not be freed even though the character hasn't logged in even once in the last three years. (Slightly extreme example, I know, but the point stands: don't count on the name being available, not least because someone else might manage to get it two seconds before you click CONFIRM to rename / create your character.)

 

I understand the point completely. It doesn't in any way alter the merits of the suggestion of another name purge, so I don't understand why people are even bringing it up.

[Ylliarus]

I understand the point completely. It doesn't in any way alter the merits of the suggestion of another name purge, so I don't understand why people are even bringing it up.

 

I don't quite understand the few voices of opposition to this idea either, especially the way some of them have gotten worked up over this. If they have active accounts and active subs, the suggestion would absolutely not affect them...

 

Then again, the issue of not understanding some of the posters on this forum is a recurring one for me

[Lhancelot]

I understand the point completely. It doesn't in any way alter the merits of the suggestion of another name purge, so I don't understand why people are even bringing it up.

 

I agree. It's creating debate for no reason. Even if the purge freed up 3% of all names not available right now, well, that's 3% more names. It's an improvement.

 

I guess if the point is, "well it's not worth doing because only so few of names get freed up!" Then that changes the discussion into what people think, which only matters if Keith, Charles, etc. think it's a waste of resources and time. Well, then obviously it won't happen.

 

But, nothing bad would come out of a name purge... Only good. Even if it's a minimal number of names freed up.

[JediQuaker]

I guess if the point is, "well it's not worth doing because only so few of names get freed up!" Then that changes the discussion into what people think, which only matters if Keith, Charles, etc. think it's a waste of resources and time. Well, then obviously it won't happen.

I'm pretty sure that they would think it's a less important use of their time and resources when it seems to involve people who simply refuse to play a character unless the character's name is spelled "correctly". 😂

[Stellalunacat]

My advice is, if you are really attached to a specific character name then don't delete the character or if you do immediatly create a new character with the name.

 

And just because that player hasn't logged into that character, that you noticed at least doesn't mean that they are not playing anymore. I have characters that I created and then abandoned for months/years. That doesn't mean I'm not gonna play them eventually. So should I just give up their names to someone else?

 

Seems that everyone thinks their character names are so original and unique, but ppl get inspired by the same things and if someone else thought of it as well, it can't really be that original.

 

Every couple of weeks there is someone on the forum complaining about not getting the name they want. Often they think they have some prior claim on it for some weird reason, like they use it in every game they play or they just really really want it. And of cause the person using it right now istn't as deserving on account they don't really play that often or not at all and the character using it has been at level 55 for like a half a year or so now. Heard it all before.

 

Just move on ppl there are still great names around that haven't been taken yet, you just have to think of it and be a little creative. Maybe you'll even think of a better one.

If you are really are stuck on a specific name you can always use special characters or add a surname.

 

Can't see a name purge happen anytime soon, no matter what they might have promised or not, they would just open a can of worms with that one.

People do return to the game, sometimes after years and they kinda expect their characters still to be there like they left them. With their names and all.

Just imagine you return after a year or two, maybe you were unable to play cause of some real life stuff and you finally log in, maybe even subbed again and then you notice you have to rename maybe several of your characters even your main.

Yeah I can already see you hitting the unsub button and maybe never to return to the game at all.

 

So yeah why would they do a name purge when it could potentionally upset returning customers and turn them away from the game for good?

 

For those that lost a character name during last server merge, I get it it sucks. Was really lucky only had to rename 2 of my characters and one I wasn't really that attached to and the other one I had to rename cause I had a character with the same name on another server.

But it's been years and I doubt they gonna do anything about it at this point.

[JediMasterAlex]

So yeah why would they do a name purge when it could potentionally upset returning customers and turn them away from the game for good?

 

Because it would directly benefit current paying customers...honestly, your entire post is ridiculous. If someone doesn't play the game for years, they have absolutely no claim to being upset that they lost a name.

 

There is no downside whatsoever to purging names from inactive accounts.

[Ylliarus]

My advice is, if you are really attached to a specific character name then don't delete the character or if you do immediatly create a new character with the name.

 

And just because that player hasn't logged into that character, that you noticed at least doesn't mean that they are not playing anymore. I have characters that I created and then abandoned for months/years. That doesn't mean I'm not gonna play them eventually. So should I just give up their names to someone else?

 

Seems that everyone thinks their character names are so original and unique, but ppl get inspired by the same things and if someone else thought of it as well, it can't really be that original.

 

Every couple of weeks there is someone on the forum complaining about not getting the name they want. Often they think they have some prior claim on it for some weird reason, like they use it in every game they play or they just really really want it. And of cause the person using it right now istn't as deserving on account they don't really play that often or not at all and the character using it has been at level 55 for like a half a year or so now. Heard it all before.

 

Just move on ppl there are still great names around that haven't been taken yet, you just have to think of it and be a little creative. Maybe you'll even think of a better one.

If you are really are stuck on a specific name you can always use special characters or add a surname.

 

Can't see a name purge happen anytime soon, no matter what they might have promised or not, they would just open a can of worms with that one.

People do return to the game, sometimes after years and they kinda expect their characters still to be there like they left them. With their names and all.

Just imagine you return after a year or two, maybe you were unable to play cause of some real life stuff and you finally log in, maybe even subbed again and then you notice you have to rename maybe several of your characters even your main.

Yeah I can already see you hitting the unsub button and maybe never to return to the game at all.

 

So yeah why would they do a name purge when it could potentionally upset returning customers and turn them away from the game for good?

 

For those that lost a character name during last server merge, I get it it sucks. Was really lucky only had to rename 2 of my characters and one I wasn't really that attached to and the other one I had to rename cause I had a character with the same name on another server.

But it's been years and I doubt they gonna do anything about it at this point.

 

First of all, your entire post is ridiculous and misses the fundamental theory behind names that they convey part of our identity. If you wrote what you wrote I assume you're fine to discard your real life name just as easily and without any second thoughts? How would you feel if someone took away your real life name and prevented you from using it? Wouldn't you try to get it back somehow?

 

Secondly, if you abandon a character for years, what right do you have to that name if someone else would be willing to have fun and play the game using the name? Apparently the character doesn't mean much to you and therefore someone else might attach more meaning and significance to the name.

 

Furthermore, the name I had chosen was unique. I have checked and across all 8 or 9 years that SWTOR exist, no one on any other server had thought of it to create a character with the name "Ryssius". That signifies to me the name is not common at all.

 

That last bit leads me to my strong believe that the name was taken on purpose when I moved the character to a different server briefly. And no, it isn't far fetched, because there are people with the motives and will who play this game and would want to pull a spiteful joke on me like that. You don't know my personal player situation and so you don't have the information I have which points strongly in the direction that the name was taken from me out of spite when it became very briefly available. Sadly, because I lack strong evidence other than hearsay from other players I know, I can't prove it to Customer Service despite my numerous tickets about it.

 

Lastly, you say that it could potentially upset returning customers. What about the active and current customers who are upset about this situation? Who are actively playing the game? What about them, do they suddenly now count?

 

Because it would directly benefit current paying customers...honestly, your entire post is ridiculous. If someone doesn't play the game for years, they have absolutely no claim to being upset that they lost a name.

 

There is no downside whatsoever to purging names from inactive accounts.

 

I absolutely agree with you here. The poster you quoted is only against it, I feel, because they want to deny others enjoying the game. Or they don't understand what it is that allows others to enjoy a game.

 

When I moved my character to another server very briefly, I did not expect to lose my name and with it, a huge portion of my enjoyment of the game. The name had a tremendous meaning to me and now it has become unavailable on the server I play on, quite likely because of a spiteful joke. The player who currently has the name doesn't log in to the character no matter how much other people try to tell me they might. I have been observing the name for months, the name does not appear online at any time. So, because the player does not log in to the character, why should they have the ability to hold my name that I have been using for years and would gladly like to use again?

 

I am certain that is how many people who posted here in favour of a name purge feel. That shows that there are active customers displeased with the inability to use a name that they hold dear. That's more than enough reason to initiate a name purge and seriously, there is no logical or reasonable argument against initiating a name purge. Those who seemingly are against simply want to deny others enjoyment, because for some apparent reason they enjoy denying others things they'd want.

[EnzoForMe]

Fully support The Purge. Annually is probably too frequent but every 2 or 3 years? Why not.

[Stellalunacat]

I personally don't really care if they do name purge or not, just don't think they will do it at this point. Just to clear that up.

I don't need them to provide me with previously used names, I can still think of new ones when creating a character.

 

And it's one thing for me if someone lost a name because of server merge or if they willingly gave it up by deleting the character using it or if they never had it to begin with and just really want it. I can see why some ppl want a name back, if they used it before the merge and they were just unlucky and it went to someone else. Just don't think they gonna do anything about it at this point cause lets face it, they didn't in the last couple of years.

 

Any name that someone else thinks of is by the definition not unique, it might be a rare name but not unique.

 

For those that think a name it someone tied to identity, I'm sure I'd be the same person no matter the name my parents gave me. And the real life comparison is plainly ridiculous cause my real name doesn't have to be unique and it probably isn't, unlike names in game that can only exist once per server.

 

I really can't understand why ppl are to stuck on getting one particular name for a new character, to me that sounds like a lack of creativity and a lack of flexibility in your thinking progress.

When I create an new character and the name I wanted is already taken, either I use a different variation of that name like switching out a vowel or using y for i or I sometimes separate syllables with an ' or I add a surname, or I just think of an entirely different name.

That name then belongs to that character, no matter what name I first thought of.

 

My personal enjoyment of the game is not tied up to getting one specific name, that's just not how my brain works. And I don't personally identify with one specific character name like some ppl seem to do. That doesn't mean I would like to change any of my characters names specially not of my mains. Once a specific character has gotten their name I'd like for them to keep it.

 

Seems you guys are all still subs, so you still seem to be enjoying the game to some extent even after not getting the name you wanted.

 

And to further clear it up I never would want to take away or spoil someones enjoyment of the game. No idea how I even could, cause I'm not making the decisions about a purge or not, Bioware does.

[Ylliarus]

I really can't understand why ppl are to stuck on getting one particular name for a new character, to me that sounds like a lack of creativity and a lack of flexibility in your thinking progress.

When I create an new character and the name I wanted is already taken, either I use a different variation of that name like switching out a vowel or using y for i or I sometimes separate syllables with an ' or I add a surname, or I just think of an entirely different name.

That name then belongs to that character, no matter what name I first thought of.

 

If you don't understand something then perhaps don't speak out about it and especially don't judge others for being different than you. Just because you believe a specific thing or because you do something a certain way, doesn't mean the rest of the world is obligated to follow your example.

 

To explain my situation: the name Ryssius has a tremendous amount of meaning for me. I used the name for years both in playing the game and roleplaying the character separately from SWTOR's story in various RP guilds. Ryssius didn't just become a character name but it became my nickname for friends who played the game. I had art created of my character Ryssius, had him involved in various RP plots and guild arcs. I spent hours upon hours thinking up stories for him, puzzling out his background and involving him in the Darth Malgus RP community. And even when I quit RP (but not the game), I still was known to friends and other players as Ryssius. Not as my real life name, but people referred to me by that nickname. Is it really that hard to understand that I might have a very strong sentiment towards this particular name? A name that I had used for years? Five or six years at least.

 

As someone who loves creative writing, I don't have a hard time thinking up different character names, so don't try to play they "you're not creative enough" card because you have no idea what you're talking about. But this particular name has tremendous meaning to me and I tried to do what I could to get it back. I can't believe you're that detached from everything and that you wouldn't try to get back something you cared about a lot if you lost it or if it was taken away from you.

 

Because as I said, I hopped servers for 1 day and in the span of that one day, suddenly the name Ryssius was taken when on no other server the name had been taken for years, as I have checked for that. The name was available on every other server. On top of that, I later heard from others I played with that there might be malicious intent behind the name being taken, as they had heard that someone wanted to pull an spiteful joke and have the name become unavailable to me, but they could not prove it as it was hearsay. That's why I think someone took advantage of the moment I hopped servers, because in my naivety I didn't think someone could be that spiteful. I was wrong. Under those circumstances, the loss of the name is especially annoying and bothersome, surely you can bring up enough empathy to understand this? Surely you can try to put yourself into my shoes and try to understand this from my perspective?

Edited April 17, 2020 by Ylliarus

[merovejec]

Yeah an advanced name purge would be nice now.

[merovejec]

I later heard from others I played with that there might be malicious intent behind the name being taken, as they had heard that someone wanted to pull an spiteful joke and have the name become unavailable to me,

 

THIS!

 

I have heard many cases of this. There have been many people doing this stuff to others. Some may not even be playing atm but the names are stuck on their toons. There are 2 names I would like to have (i have variations of the name, yet i would like to have the original), one is on a level 1 inquisitor (so thats on purpose) and the other is on a Level 62 Sage. Clearly none of these toons are being played as they have been on the same level for years now, but the names are gone......

[Ylliarus]

THIS!

 

I have heard many cases of this. There have been many people doing this stuff to others. Some may not even be playing atm but the names are stuck on their toons. There are 2 names I would like to have (i have variations of the name, yet i would like to have the original), one is on a level 1 inquisitor (so thats on purpose) and the other is on a Level 62 Sage. Clearly none of these toons are being played as they have been on the same level for years now, but the names are gone......

 

The worst thing is posters have the tendency to dismiss this as unlikely even when I literally have the Discord messages of players telling me they heard something like that having happened. It's something that bothers me in this thread, that so often things are dismissed as "coincidental happenstance". But people here seem to forget that people often are spiteful towards one another and that they would go as far as withholding names from other players just to pull a spiteful joke on them. In addition, I actually know of a few people who have a grudge against me from back when I was a moderator of a sizeable Discord server. I had to either warn or ban them for bad behaviour and some of the people I had to act against actually kept bothering me afterwards and even harassing. I wouldn't put it past them to wait for an opportunity to grieve me, and when I hopped servers for ONE day, one of them took that opportunity.

 

And it is not far-fetched, I have seen people in the Darth Malgus RP community do far worse to one another over something small as lore disputes, because one player had a different lore interpretation than the other.

Edited April 17, 2020 by Ylliarus

[Khaleijo]

Because as I said, I hopped servers for 1 day and in the span of that one day, suddenly the name Ryssius was taken when on no other server the name had been taken for years, as I have checked for that. The name was available on every other server. On top of that, I later heard from others I played with that there might be malicious intent behind the name being taken, as they had heard that someone wanted to pull an spiteful joke and have the name become unavailable to me, but they could not prove it as it was hearsay. That's why I think someone took advantage of the moment I hopped servers, because in my naivety I didn't think someone could be that spiteful. I was wrong. Under those circumstances, the loss of the name is especially annoying and bothersome, surely you can bring up enough empathy to understand this? Surely you can try to put yourself into my shoes and try to understand this from my perspective?

 

While I can get behind the attachment to a character's name and of course people being upset about losing one in the merges, as you write yourself, you lost that name by your own making, by freeing it up on the initial server when transferring away. In your opening post you wrote you deleted that apparently so precious character by the way, so what is it now? Or are you talking about more than one character?

 

For example, there is a name I used to have back in 2012 but at some point in time I had deleted the character and moved on to other toons. In the meanwhile, someone else took that character name and for a couple of years now

 

Still whether deleted or transferred you made the name available on that server and gave up on it so to speak so it was free for anyone to take.

 

Now if the 1 day transfer story is what happened, there could have been someone with malicious intent against you that took it, yet they had to know the character was gone for that one day and just waiting for this chance to get at you by pretty much stalking what you did, you'd have to judge for yourself if you met that kind of players.

As you only write about this in your latest posts, I can't help but to doubt the truth of it, especially as I think to remember names of freshly gone characters are blocked for some time for anyone but the account it was on. (A friend of mine with two accounts wasn't able to immediately use a name he just deleted on account A to recreate the character on account B on the same server, trying again some time later worked, couldn't find any official on that though)

And just the same, instead of someone malicious, it could have been someone who maybe saw your character on the new or old server and liked the name and was inspired to copy it. As it was free on the server for a short(?) time it was open to be taken and the person has as much right to the name as anyone else has to their one when creating a character (within the rules of the naming policy of course). While there are rules in place to stop people from impersonating other players in the game, we don't have a copyright to our names here.

 

In general I'm indifferent to further name purges, but as others in this thread, I wouldn't expect that many names people are hoping for are going to be freed up and even if, there might be others quicker to get it before you. So instead of waiting for a purge that may never come, work with different spellings or alt codes, or just get attached to a new name or use the coming XP event to create a new character to become attached to that had its name from the start.

Edited April 17, 2020 by Khaleijo

[Ylliarus]

While I can get behind the attachment to a character's name and of course people being upset about losing one in the merges, as you write yourself, you lost that name by your own making, by freeing it up on the initial server when transferring away. In your opening post you wrote you deleted that apparently so precious character by the way, so what is it now? Or are you talking about more than one character?

 

That is indeed another character, not the one I spoke of later. The character I spoke of in the quoted part is from way back when I first joined in 2012. What I wrote there was meant as an example to the idea that there are a lot of names sitting on unused or inactive accounts (most likely). The situation regarding the character named Ryssius is from november 2019 and a completely different situation, but also given as an example to the larger subject of this thread: initiating another name purge.

 

Still whether deleted or transferred you made the name available on that server and gave up on it so to speak so it was free for anyone to take.

 

Tell me, if you transfer a character for a day to another server in order to try to obtain some items from the GTN there because these days its difficult to get some of the items that used to be widely available, would you expect that in the meanwhile the name you have had for years would suddenly be taken? In such a short timespan? (Yes, I know, I could have used a low level toon but at the time I had no reason to suspect all of this would happen and chose to do the transfer on that character) Besides, the argument "you made the choice to free the name up" is a fairly weak one. What, will you tell someone who gets an accident while travelling somewhere that the accident was their fault? Because they chose to leave their home? Because in essence that is the sentiment that you're conveying to me here, right now.

 

Now if the 1 day transfer story is what happened, there could have been someone with malicious intent against you that took it, yet they had to know the character was gone for that one day and just waiting for this chance to get at you by pretty much stalking what you did, you'd have to judge for yourself if you met that kind of players.

 

Sadly, I do know that kind of players and the sad part about it that it is indeed correctly written in plural. As I said in the post you quoted, if you have not been part of the RP community on the Darth Malgus server then you don't know what some of the people part of it are capable of.

 

As you only write about this in your latest posts, I can't help but to doubt the truth of it, especially as I think to remember names of freshly gone characters are blocked for some time for anyone but the account it was on. (A friend of mine with two accounts wasn't able to immediately use a name he just deleted on account A to recreate the character on account B on the same server, trying again some time later worked, couldn't find any official on that though)

 

Do you make a habit to talk about personal situations? Because I don't, however, as the posts went on in this thread I felt compelled to reveal more about the situation I was in regarding the name Ryssius specifically. If you don't believe me, that is your business, but that doesn't change the facts out there. I have been in contact with Customer Service since November 2019 about this and I am happy to link you to the screenshots where I have been talking about this - especially the likely malicious intent - from the start.

 

No, you can't immediately recreate the character if they are deleted. Wait a few minutes or an hour however and you can take the name that had previously been taken. As I said, the character remained on the other server for roughly a day, so that would have been enough time for someone with malicious intent to check their Friend's list (if they had my character added there), notice the name of that character was no longer in the list and quickly went to rename one of their own toons or made a new toon with that name, leveled them a bit and then never bothered to log in onto that character afterwards.

 

And just the same, instead of someone malicious, it could have been someone who maybe saw your character on the new or old server and liked the name and was inspired to copy it. As it was free on the server for a short(?) time it was open to be taken and the person has as much right to the name as anyone else has to their one when creating a character (within the rules of the naming policy of course). While there are rules in place to stop people from impersonating other players in the game, we don't have a copyright to our names here.

 

No, of course there is no copyright to the names we use and have here, but surely you're not that cold in your thinking that you cannot understand what someone can feel when they lose a name they have used for years. And it's quite easy to keep quoting the rules and remain pragmatic about something until the situation or a similar situation is put in front of you. I am glad you never had to experience a similar situation to mine and I honestly hope you never will, but let me tell you that you wouldn't be saying what you say now if you had experienced the same thing. Or at least, I assume you wouldn't, perhaps I am too sentimental and nostalgic.

 

So instead of waiting for a purge that may never come, work with different spellings or alt codes, or just get attached to a new name or use the coming XP event to create a new character to become attached to that had its name from the start.

 

It's not that I won't enjoy another character with a different name or that I can't think of any other names. I just wanted to try to get back the name that I cared about a lot, nothing more or less. Surely there is nothing horrible in being a little persistent in trying to get back something you lost?

 

Besides, Customer Service adviced me to write about this issue on the forums, so that's what I did and why I posted about it. At this point people have managed to make me question whether putting in this much effort is worth it, which is sad that people can weather someone else down so much just because they don't like it when people achieve what they tried to achieve (correct me if I am wrong here, it just feels that way at this point).

Edited April 17, 2020 by Ylliarus

[Khaleijo]

That is indeed another character, not the one I spoke of later. The character I spoke of in the quoted part is from way back when I first joined in 2012. What I wrote there was meant as an example to the idea that there are a lot of names sitting on unused or inactive accounts (most likely). The situation regarding the character named Ryssius is from november 2019 and a completely different situation, but also given as an example to the larger subject of this thread: initiating another name purge.

Then I'd advise you to express something like that a bit clearer the next time, to me it came over as if you were writing two different stories about the very same character/name thus the doubt from my side.

 

Tell me, if you transfer a character for a day to another server in order to try to obtain some items from the GTN there because these days its difficult to get some of the items that used to be widely available, would you expect that in the meanwhile the name you have had for years would suddenly be taken? In such a short timespan? (Yes, I know, I could have used a low level toon but at the time I had no reason to suspect all of this would happen and chose to do the transfer on that character) Besides, the argument "you made the choice to free the name up" is a fairly weak one. What, will you tell someone who gets an accident while travelling somewhere that the accident was their fault? Because they chose to leave their home? Because in essence that is the sentiment that you're conveying to me here, right now.

 

Comparing an accident in RL with losing a name in a video game is a bit of a stretch in my opinion. Though if you want to go with that metaphor, is someone at fault for crossing a street where he knows the traffic is dangerous instead of using safer option like a zebra crossing some way further? Of course I don't want an accident to happen, but the person still is taking that risk (knowingly) so at least in part it is their fault when something does happen.

You knew that the name would be open for taking for that time period, you didn't expect someone taking it, but still took the risk although you knew a safer way than using a character that important to you.

I never would use an important character for something like that, not only because of the risk of losing that character if something goes wrong with the transfer, but also the whole hassle of being scrubbed from all friend lists and having to add all my friends again too. Too much effort for a one day transfer.

But well, one always is wiser after something went wrong.

 

Sadly, I do know that kind of players and the sad part about it that it is indeed correctly written in plural. As I said in the post you quoted, if you have not been part of the RP community on the Darth Malgus server then you don't know what some of the people part of it are capable of.

I'm sorry you've met that sort of players, I've met my share of players I don't want to have anything to do ever again but not that level of malice.

 

Do you make a habit to talk about personal situations? Because I don't, however, as the posts went on in this thread I felt compelled to reveal more about the situation I was in regarding the name Ryssius specifically. If you don't believe me, that is your business, but that doesn't change the facts out there. I have been in contact with Customer Service since November 2019 about this and I am happy to link you to the screenshots where I have been talking about this - especially the likely malicious intent - from the start.

As I wrote, to me it wasn't clear you were talking about two different characters and as we are in the internet everything written has to be taken with a grain of salt, especially if it seems to be contradictory in itself. Since you cleared that up I apologise for the hostility that might have come across in my post.

 

No, you can't immediately recreate the character if they are deleted. Wait a few minutes or an hour however and you can take the name that had previously been taken. As I said, the character remained on the other server for roughly a day, so that would have been enough time for someone with malicious intent to check their Friend's list (if they had my character added there), notice the name of that character was no longer in the list and quickly went to rename one of their own toons or made a new toon with that name, leveled them a bit and then never bothered to log in onto that character afterwards.

Seems I have to count myself lucky not to have met a person like that in the game yet, since that really sounds like some serious stalking and it is sad to lose a character name to someone like that. Yet aside all empathy I have for your situation, the name was free to take for that period of time.

 

No, of course there is no copyright to the names we use and have here, but surely you're not that cold in your thinking that you cannot understand what someone can feel when they lose a name they have used for years. And it's quite easy to keep quoting the rules and remain pragmatic about something until the situation or a similar situation is put in front of you. I am glad you never had to experience a similar situation to mine and I honestly hope you never will, but let me tell you that you wouldn't be saying what you say now if you had experienced the same thing. Or at least, I assume you wouldn't, perhaps I am too sentimental and nostalgic.

You don't even know if I never lost a character name or not, you just assume it.

And yes I did, though not in SWTOR and it probably wasn't to someone trying to get at me, still though the name no longer was mine. Is it sad or annoying? Yes of course, especially if it's a character to RP with, but then at the time, there was no choice other than to adapt after exhausting what very few avenues of getting it back there were for me. I took it as a chance to work it into my character's story, to use the change to have fun taking not a similar or alt coded name, but a whole different one I got attached to just as much with some time. Marriage, adoption into noble houses, crimes or dangers that spell the need for a cover identity, long forgotten secrets around one's birth, there are lots of possibilities to work with a new chosen name without changing the character itself that much. Yes, the name is an important part of a character's identity, but especially since that experience for me even more important is his or her story, done right that stays with you even with a new name.

 

It's not that I won't enjoy another character with a different name or that I can't think of any other names. I just wanted to try to get back the name that I cared about a lot, nothing more or less. Surely there is nothing horrible in being a little persistent in trying to get back something you lost?

 

Besides, Customer Service adviced me to write about this issue on the forums, so that's what I did and why I posted about it.

It's not horrible at all, I really understand you, why you want that name back, and for that other deleted character this thread at least got you some ideas what to try to still reach the player that has it now.

The question is though if it is realistic to expect a purge to work like you want or hope. The whole issue with not knowing if the accounts that hold the names now are active/subscribing already was discussed at length in this thread for example. So what are the chances that you actually get it back if a name purge is done? What will you feel like if again someone else gets it before you, whether by chance or to get at you again? What will you do then?

And then what is the cost for others there?

Just look how many people got upset over their character names when the servers were merged. There were clear rules what would happen to names used more often than once, and still people got angry, sad, annoyed over losing 'their' name.

A purge now would have just as clear rules yet still would upset a lot of people too. Either because they still didn't get the name they wanted or because they lost a dear one.

Frankly i actually wonder, as you are attached to your names that much, do you have no issues at all about purging names of other people that maybe are as much attached to theirs?