Electric-Knight

I just wonder what amount of former subscribers come back to a paid subscription (for longer than one month) after taking an extended leave.

I've always thought that 2 years of unpaid accounts was a great mark for name purges.
Just my opinion.

I used to play another game who's official policy was that your characters and all of their information were not guaranteed beyond a month of subscription inactivity.
From all accounts, they never acted upon that and no one ever reported their data being deleted/lost, but it was the official errata in the subscription agreement.

I found it to be agreeable then. I still do.
Of course, I do not think it would be a wise business decision to actually purge all character data after any short span of time, if ever.

Opening names after 1-2 or more years, however, I do think that is a reasonable business decision.

I don't know how long it would take (it could be 25 years... could be far less, far more), but eventually, a game with a unique naming system will run into problems with player satisfaction on the naming availability front.

I don't believe it has reached any such critical mass yet. However, when it comes to customer satisfaction, there will always be varying opinions and levels of impact for each and every topic.

Mainly, my point to add about the business decision is that, eventually, you do need to make some moves for the current customers as well as for new future customers.

So far, the arguments against name purges have been almost entirely focused on the few hypothetical cases of the small number of former-subscribers who might come back and might lose the name of one or more of their characters (on that single server that the character was on).

The balance may still be on the side of caution, but it won't stay that way without eventual actions taken. And, by no means is that supposed to sound like it is an impending timebomb of doom!

For all of the hypothetical returning customers who lose a character name, how many more never-returning customers' accounts have names locked away from the existing and future player base?

No problem! Thanks for reminding me about them!

I saw this and figured I'd toss in a link to this thread, discussing this subject (sort of).

I suggest that they remove the name colors with these tags as well, not due to the reasons you provided, but just because people are using the tags just for the colors... which pretty much defeats the purpose of the tags.


And, Forbin, that's interesting. I had suggested they just implement custom colors for people's names, since they seem to want it... Kind of disappointing that they'd lock it behind seven years... if that's what they're doing.

I like the Tin Man...

Most likely, it was always tied to a Trial Account and, when they merged the EU and NA server lists and made the change to all Trilal Accounts to be appended by @TRIAL, this bit of happy information was revealed to the OP.

Sucks don't it?

Well, best of luck!
One day, some way or another, I think the name will open up. Not sure when though... nor how... And I don't know if you'll be the one to get it, hehe!

There are a couple I haven't seen....
And lists are dumb...
But I suppose I am as well, because here we go!!

I know that I am forgetting something that I'll be mad at myself for leaving off...

1. Spider-Man (I can't think of a better one. Great great cast, emotional resonance, everyman hero, exciting fun, tragic consequences! And all super well done in a format fans and non-fans could enjoy!)
2. The Dark Knight (I love this... They ratcheted the psychological tension up and Up and UP... and the overall gritty and harsh consequences of trying to do what you feel is right)
3. Superman The Movie (I watched all four [yes ALL FOUR] somewhat recently. This is a tremendous comicbook in action delivered to the majority of moviegoers. The cast is fantastic and it all seems treated with just the right amount of seriousness and fun)
4. Spider-Man 2 (One of the few sequels that felt just like the first movie in all the right ways! I love how they didn't just gloss over things... the loss of one family member's life is enormous and was well portrayed through the first and second movie)
5. Iron Man (I've got nothing bad to say about this movie. Love it. Made me feel great afterward... the closing line was perfect, hehe... just like the actor for the role!)
6. Hellboy (Was completely unfamiliar with the comicbook. Enjoyed the hell out of this movie. It's fun, it's different, it's exciting and really well done!)
7. X-Men 2 (While the introductory sequences of the first X-Men film almost make me want to include that one over the second... The rest of that film falls so far for me that I just cannot include it on a list with other far better movies. X-Men 2, however, took the momentum built with the first movie and made a far more solid action superteam adventure movie than the first)
8. Hancock (As with Hellboy, I had no previous knowledge of the character or the story. I enjoyed the simple story and the performances and then was delighted with the story I didn't imagine was coming. For me, it was a nice change, as I enjoy movies that break the standard mode of delivery and take me on differing journeys before it is done. This move delivered big time for me)
9. KickA** (I was really surprised how good I thought that was, although, I might not have included it had I not been reminded by other people's lists)
10. Superman 2 (I was struggling on which movie to include... And, as I looked at each one... Zod stood out and demanded that I come back to reason and make the clear choice. Thank Zod!)

I'm surprised that the first Spider-Man movie isn't on anyone's lists... I guess I missed something!


Unbreakable was a very interesting choice! I don't entirely disagree, even though I may not have thought of it myself. What I enjoyed most about that movie was that I had no idea it was headed in that direction at all.
I love not knowing a thing about a movie when I sit down to watch it.
The whole time I was thinking that he wasn't super powered or anything, so I was right in the seat for that ride and enjoyed it.
Can't say I enjoy it as much with repeat viewings, but hey... so what!


Watchmen... I'm far too big of a fan of the books and can't bring myself to think the movie was good enough to be on this list... I can see some aspects being high quality enough though... It didn't make my cut though.

I have not seen The Rocketeer!!! Not sure how, after all these years!!

Happy Birthday, Mr. Miller!!

New costume slot!!
Do you know what Epic you are going for next year?

And... any gorillas in the studio today?

What in the blazes are people thinking is wrong with using a hyphen in a super hero's name?

Weirdness... I had tried to access them a week or so ago and had the same problem you mention in the OP...
However, it is working for me now.
I was trying to pick up where I left off (way, way early... still with War Witch and the gang) and they were dead links.
Now... they're working!
For me, at least.


EDIT: The links are being a bit finicky though... I've had to retry a few in order to get them to load. This may be due to the iffy wifi I am on right now though, not positive...

I went to buy the last one, but I got elbowed in the jaw by some lady in a fur coat!!

(Hehe, I actually already had/have this Booster!)

All this talk about 3 months...
Every time this subject comes up, most of the people in favor of a name purge settle on 1-2 years of subscription inactivity.
Honestly, it generally seems to settle on 2 years, just to be as fair as possible.

If circumstances dictate an absence of 2 or more years... Anyone upset that the name Super Iron Eagle has found a new home did not gain much perspective during those two years.

The game's been around for over 7 years of names being grabbed with a unique naming system in place.
It makes sense to open up some of the names.
Trial accounts, subscriptions that have been inactive for 5+ years!

Let's not get dragged into further hyperbole about people away for 3-6 months and how unfair it would be for them to lose their name.

Is anyone here, that is in favor of opening up some names, against setting the minimum account inactivity to two years?

Two years... IF your account has been inactive for two years straight... and IF your name is actually chosen/attempted by someone else when they create a character... You'd have to rename that character... IF... you ever come back.

Is this really that big of a deal?

So much claptrap...
Brain wants to explode...
Manual override, despite partial agreement with brain's eagerness to be destroyed...

...

What Silas stated is not simply an opinion (and not simply wrong... it's insanely wrong!)... Perhaps it is a personal preference/approach to role-playing that some may adhere to. Obviously!

However, people need to realize that there are a great number of different approaches!

Seriously... some of the comments in this thread just make me never want to bother role-playing with others I don't already know.
A bunch of ridiculous, pseudo-intellectual, completely misguided think-it-alls stuck in their own opinions and incapable of seeing things from anywhere but their own eyeballs...
Which is completely hilarious, considering the true nature of role-playing.

Judge me harshly from this post... what do I care.
My global name is @Zethustra. If you think you might be one of these people... please block/ignore me.

Eesh... sounds like a they're using a terrible mish/mash approach to this.

Yeah, I suspect that a lot of players are using these just to have the different colored name.
Most probably take the HELPER Tag (Just a wild guess there), but that makes the HELP ME tag a little more unique of a color (for those wanting to be that extra level of special).

And I'm sure there are some that just choose it for a lark or whatever.

It's an interesting observation though... People hindering the ease of the system to spot people who could use help.

Fortunately, I don't think the system is really needed.
Someone in need of help can be easy to recognize.

I actually haven't opted into either tag on any of my characters.
I'm not sure a new player is going to know the difference and I just help when I can.

Completely understand and agree on just about everything you said!

And yeah, I sort of read that impression (of you actually being surprised by the results of your findings and so on. And that you're just representing reasonable arguments for whichever side).

That's why I appreciated the thoughts and found it interesting. And that's a great sample, to have a single server at its height of population (as brief as it was) and hearing testimonies of the experiences of such a naming system.

I never played the game, nor with any such naming system, so I have no firsthand experience with it in games.

Oh... also...
Free willy!!!!

Yes, that is lowercase...

/reports Dechs and watches the thread continue...