Zekiran_Immortal

Lady Grey is THAT OLD?!

And I'm guessing that the dates for some are real dev birthdays, right? So we know when to send presents?

I'm seriously impressed and pleased with all this new info and the tightness of the dev crew.

THANK YOU FOR FOUR YEARS, Posi and everyone. Here's to four more!

((oddly enough, I was working up a system for a pitch to a licence holder for such a thing for a game... wow. great minds har har!))

Alexander scares me. o.o Very nicely done in any case

I will definitely be there, all 4 days of course. My birthday's the 27th. So there better be (wheat and dairy free) cake.

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If you're planning on coming to the next one, are you going to bring more glowsticks?

Edit: And I totally agree, D&B was far too small for the numbers we had.

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Lol!! Absolutely, they're dirt cheap and so much fun

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Duh!

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o.0 lol.



CONGRATULATIONS Fusion Force!! Wow, what an accomplishment, 4 years and still going strong!

And, congrats Steampunk Charlie, because you rawk.

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Not to be a jerk, but some folks (like me) need some more info about your October M&G. Traveling from Ohio to Cali can be pricey, and I need to start making plans now. Is there anything you can tell us?

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Understandable, but we're still investigating venues. So, not much to say other than the target dates in mid to late October.

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If you didn't attend last year's, you'll need to understand: the Dave n Busters there was nice, but it was WOEFULLY underprepared for us. When they have an arrangement for what we know can be supported by a meet n greet population, trust me, it'll be better than "must have nao" - it was awesome, but it could have been better just because of the cramped arrangements in the D&B. I'm sure they'll find a good hotel for it, there are plenty right there.

Hurray!!

I'll definitely be at San Diego, seeing as how it'll be what, my ... like, 29th con? or something... o.o lordy. I should try getting up to the other one but I'm not a big Penny Arcade fan. I think that one will hinge on whether any of my other interests and people I know are going.

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ARE there some halfway decent suggestions that would probably clear up some database clutter, too? Sure. Emails, allowing people to log in just to delete characters, deleting trial accounts (and all associated characters) that never went live past, oh, six months or whatnot... yeah, fine. But when SOME people, as happens pretty much any time this comes up, go after (a) high level characters or (b) *live* characters "just because you haven't played them in X days" (which has come up in other discussions,) it *severely* sours me on any support whatsoever.

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High level characters, as I've frequently pointed out, on abandoned accounts are just as much free game as any lower level ones - the POINT is that the account's been abandoned, and frankly coming back after 3 years is *too late*. And again: live accounts *are not affected, and have nothing to do with the actual argument about inactive accounts*. The qualifier I've always posted with that issue is: if someone asked me nicely if I was using x or y name, I may voluntarily give it up to be nice. that's all. One person outside of that has said something about it, and ... /ignore is your friend?

But in the case of the "I've been gone since I3 and got bored with WoW after this long, what's the deal with my fire/fire tanker having no name! And why can't I herd Brickstown any more?"

There's going to be way more of a problem for that player when they come back after so long, than just their old 50's name. They won't be able to play that 50, either. Not the way they expect. They'll almost certainly either a) give up again because they "can't" herd Brickstown any more, or b) have to re-roll and understand how all the changes since they left worked.

If their name was freed up, once more stating this clearly, it ONLY means that their name was *removed*. Not that their name was *PUT BACK INTO USE* by someone else in the meantime. There's always a chance that their name is still actually available, because who KNOWS what name it was.

All those lowbie names, and even those up to the 30s - they could be innumerable, and yet we will *never know* whether a specific name was freed up and put back into use by anyone. Which to me means there's at least still a chance that the name in question may be available for a *free* rename.

Yes, it's a bit of work. But ... after 3 years, that's how it goes, right? Hell in 3 years I'd hope that the player has grown up a little enough to realize that a business like this doesn't even have to keep ANY thing "belonging" to them for that long. Most, I would hope, would recall that a lot of games have *come and gone* since then...

What I'm saying is: give players who really want a name that doesn't appear available, the *chance* to ask for it. They would still have to pay for it (on an existing toon) to change TO it, and the old account would still get tagged with a freebie name change token.

3 years is a long, long time. In that time I've paid over 400 bucks to keep my accounts live. What about the ones who haven't? *shrug* not my problem.

I just wanted to add, since I didn't directly reply the first time you posted it: it's a *great* idea.

With the new wedding pack modifications to some of the existing parts (like Starthunder's) it's a little easier .... for the girls...

The guys are a little harder because they don't have the leather-bits. :/

I haven't ever forgotten our military players. That's why i advocate using an NC "I'm leaving" poll. Those who care about their accounts can state clearly: I am in the military, I'll be back."

If someone powerleveled 6 level 50s in a few months, and then *never came back to the account* or, *sold it* and then the buyer stopped playing... I can't see why a 50 is exempt when the account hasn't been paid for or used in that long. Most games don't even last that long.

And again: they make 15 day time cards, which are very reasonably priced. Stick one of those on the account every 75 days, and this issue is completly gone for those folks.

But those accounts *would never be affected either way* so the point there, Bill, is moot.

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All snarkiness aside, thats exactly what you are doing. Many of these toon are their creators babies, they have leveled them up and played them over many years. You come along and want to gut them.
You will not see many of the older players online. Many stay in hide on purpose. Many have so many tells and emails from friends that they delete anything from an idiot that wants their name. I would really like to see your list of awesome names. And wonder how many you cant get because they are copyrighted. or banned due to other issues.

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Again. No one is talking about characters on active accounts...except you for some reason.

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Bolded for emphasis. If you have an active account, this is not and can not be an issue. We're only addressing the people's accounts which *are not being paid for* and *are not currently active*. not ones which are on hide, that would imply they *are paid*.

Paid = exempt from any and all wipes.
Paid = if you're on and someone asks nicely, you have the opportunity to make someone else very happy by 'giving' them a name.
Unpaid = you take your chances.
Unpaid for a long long time = you don't get to whine, where have you been.

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These characters are their babies and yet they have had their accounts closed for months?

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Yeah, my point.

I wouldn't expect any "baby" of mine to languish without food, air, water, attention for months long enough to have any hope they'd be alive after that long normally.

Every one of my characters on the game is my "baby" But then I'm an artist, rpg creator and writer. I think I know from "baby".

If they wanted to keep their "baby" alive, they *need to be paying to have their account open*. At least every couple weeks - they do have 15 day time cards at NC you know. Every 75 days, you can put up one of those, bing, saves those characters from having their names removed.

And plus: the CHARACTER is still there. If they get it wiped of their name, what else is there? Oh yeah - a free name token, which they can use to create (dun dun dunnnn) a new name. And I would suspect it's likely that most of those wiped names *are still available*. As others have been pointing out: there are plenty of names which appear to be available that you'd 'think' aren't. because they're "good" names. Single-word, highly descriptive names.

Most of mine are two to three word names, person names, not 'hero' names.

Steal my babies, I dare you. NAME SOME.

The point is that no one is 'stealing' anything when it's *been abandoned*.

Actually people have said "IF I logged on and found my toons had been gone". To my knowledge so far only one person has come forward on the forums recently after a 2 year absence, and not even on this thread. A lot of IF's out there, but very very few actual ones who stated for the record: I lost my toons, therefore I stopped playing.

Still no tangible evidence that there's an issue. Seriously - if you're gone for that long, expect your character to be present, but if they're lower level, *expect that they were hit by the purge you were warned about*.

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Side note: A "finger"-type command (show user last on data) for name searches wouldn't be terribly hard to add (since we know the functionality exists due to SG-last on display) and might allow a nice way to free up names.

If I finger "Lord Soth" and find out that it hasn't been logged in for 30 months, I can petition to have the name released.

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Which is very similar to what I've been saying. Petition on a name-by-name basis. Sheesh. It's like people want to think I'm stealing babies, when what I said was, "let's give people a chance to get a name that by all appearances will never be used by its original owner again."

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You keep confusing inactive subscriptions with inactive characters. No one is arguing for the sniping of names from active subscriptions, period.

edit- Active subscription = account still being paid for, regardless of actual log-ins.

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Exactly. These are paying customers. If they want to sit on X amount of unused characters just to keep those names for when they do want to use them, they are paying for the spots and I have no problem with that at all.

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*nods* Nor do I. Never once have I said, "let em have the currently paid up account names!" EVER.

I've suggested: if someone were to email me - one of those times that I have a character sitting around and there's a newcomer who wants to use a name, tries those perfectly valid methods of "email, PM, asking around" and actually FINDS me, I'd probably give them the name. i've got plenty of characters. I have plenty of very original names. I have one or two that MIGHT overlap into "classic superhero" names. Silverfish. Dreamweaver. (looks down the list of my names and cant' actually find any others lol) (those are actually ones I own real world versions of, and wouldn't actually want to part with). But still, if you're not paying, you don't get the benefits of the database. *shrug* Why is that hard?

It's very sad, but I have one guy in my SG that's been gone for over 1000 days...

Thing is, I know him in real life (well, knew) but he moved on from the game almost as soon as I joined way back when. I think I keep him there for nostalgia.

And prestige bonuses. I couldn't care less if his name changed at this point, I know who it is.

Again: I'm not looking for any names. Period. I am looking for other people to be ALLOWED to look for names. That is ALL.

That is not destructive to anyone. The people who've left the game *are already the destructive force*. They are worthless in this equasion. Entirely. They who have no intention of coming back - those who freeload, are equally of zero value in this equation.

I seek no names. I have plenty of names. One or two people here and there might have a desire to find a better spelling of their character's name. One or two of them may be on active accounts - they might even meet up with the person who 'got' the name.

But a LOT of times, those names ARE NOT taken by active accounts, and all I am endorsing here is "Being Able To Look".

It's entirely based on the circumstance of how long they've been unpaid, unplayed, and what the likelyhood is of their return. Anyone who understands trends in things can see patterns. If you cannot learn how to see that "freeloaders like it free" then... it's your loss. I don't cater to those people because *they are not my customer already*. They are *already* someone else's problem.

People who are paying, who are good for coming back on-again-off-again (every 2 or 3 months they cancel, or lapse, but return again due to finances, etc) they're not in question here. They're not the ones who simply *never come back*.

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ive owned 2 businesses that I sold at a profit, I know more about it than you think. Why would any new player assime anything other than that a name is in use by another current player? you have an agenda that wants somones name. you have thought out a concept to get it. Dont try to cloak i as being "in the best interests of the game"

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I have over 150 names that you'd never, in your freaking life, be able to name. I'm not "after" anyone's names. I am 'after' allowing people who REALLY WANT a name, which they do not know is 'abandoned' or not, to be able to FIND OUT whether they can use it or not, based on simply "thinking about their customer base".

It's apparently something which you don't understand. Never mind.

You didn't answer my question to you, either. What names of customers characters do you know?

You very likely don't even know the names of alts on people who you have a supergroup with. Name six. Name some on another server.

I'm saying: the people who aren't coming back, will simply put *not care*. That they have not come back and paid for *the game* to play, is obvious. No one who IS PAYING and IS playing the game will be in the slightest affected by any of this. I'm positive you're still thinking that they will be.

* If you are not paying to play the game*, you are *not a customer*.

If you've only come back to play the game during freebie weekends and never reactivated and paid for the game again, *you are not a customer*.

I'm stating once more: the lowest priority accounts should be allowed to be *requested* from - if there is a name that someone specifically wants to dig for, LET THEM DIG for it. If it doesn't turn out that the name is on a completely abandoned account, then *they should be allowed to buy access to a name change, and take the name*.

Not on an active account. Not on an account that's got a history of on-again off-again payments over 3 years, but one which *hasn't been paid for in 3 years*. It's NOT coming back. What part of "oh that game, I used to play it but it sucks so I'm playing something else now." Don't folks seem to grasp?

IF there is a name someone actually wants to hazard a 10$ payment for locating (just an off the cuff amount for the service)
IF the account that name might be on is completely inactive
IF the person pays for a name change

... Minute amount of names right there. MINUTE. Compared to the gigantic hissy fit you guys are throwing? Still - I've never yet found evidence that anyone was actually turned off from playing their *under level 6 toons* because they reactivated after over 3 months to find their nub toon was renamed. No evidence whatsoever. Inactive = not a customer.

I just wish my friend had that design on his DA site. It's quite nice.

A friend of ours, former Marine and current Sherrif's Officer, got it on his calf. It's a military rifle, with a trio of helmets - military, firefighter, soemthign else, and boots - and "For those who fall" written over it. It's *gorgeous*.

Hedgehog.... You're just being ignorant of how real businesses work (as is the other who I am not replying to directly).

I've already pointed out, from a business standpoint, my *actual experience* with customers who are *not worth trying to keep*.

The ones who don't come back, the ones who are tempted *only* by the freebies? They are *not worth trying to keep*. Period.

They are worth dangling every once in a while, but they are not worth the *effort* of allowing their long-dusty characters to remain named. Remember: they're not deleting the *characters*. They are removing the names. And plenty - PLENTY of them - already have been. Haven't yet heard an actual reply by someone who came in, found that and because of it *didn't pay*. The intimation from someone else that their friend had that happen - their friend wasn't going to pay for the game *anyway*, I would put money on that.

Seriously, from a business standpoint, *giving the people here who do pay* what they want *IS* more important than the extremely elusive "well they MIGHT want to come back for a month or two" audience. It's FAR outweighed by the demands that an actually-paying audience has. Having managed a store for 13 years? I can tell when people have never experieneced "ordering for the masses".

You HAVE to go with what the bulk of the buyership will want. And when you know you've got one or two people who only come in for the sales? They can be skipped. They are *not* who's important. Getting that last 2% audience? Is not anywhere near as important as *keeping the 98% happy*.

The people who have already stopped paying *are no longer customers at all* - they made that choice already. They should not have a say in what happens to their characters, unless they choose to *pay* for it.

And once more: if they are not paying, they are not a customer. Period. They do not have the right or privelege to complain if, 25 months down the way suddenly their lowbie characters are missing their names.

And also again: it's why it would be important to have a feedback generator for *why you are not paying*.

Hedgehog: how many names can you think of that anyone you know has *quit the game* are ones which other people who are *paying to play the game and actively doing so* want?

How many names on inactive accounts *do you even know*?

No, seriously. No one is trying to "steal" anything here.

If a person *is not playing the game*, they *won't care*.

Some of those who had their character names revoked with the first purge: IF they came back, did they not also get a namechange token? HOW MANY of those names which HAVE been revoked, are ACTUALLY in use?

I'd put money on none of them, really... Or very very few. People ARE coming up with unique names, by and large. It's the one-in-a-hundred-thousand ones where like I said before, two people have the same good idea.

And yet again: are you going to rush out and purchase time cards for all those people who don't care to rejoin the community? If they're leeching off the freebie weekends they don't need it, they don't care enough about playing the game to want to actually reward the team for creating it. If they haven't been back since their first 5 months or however long - they won't be coming back.

Those names should be freed up, because there might in fact be a real honest paying customer who has a better use for it than sitting collecting mold in a database somewhere.

Actually... none of the artists I know *must* ink their own. My inker would certainly have been a bit miffed after 45 hours worth of MY art being done... >_>

My friend Ashigaru has done a design for one of our friends, with a faintly similar feel (though not a person in it). You might want to drop him a line - however he'll be in Japan for a week, so he won't be back until the end of the month.