Character Name Policy -- Thirty Day Notice!
By
0zymandous,
Posted on: 2007-07-31 15:59 in News, Events and Announcement Discussion
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I would agree with this. At some point, people are just not going to come back. Their names should be freed up eventually. While a poster above said 15 months should be the cutoff for your name going back to the pool regardless of level, I think that is a bit too soon. I would support sometime over 2 years inactive losing you the right to squat on your level 50's name, and possibly even their space in the database. It may sound harsh, but how many really come back after a 2 year hiatus?
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You'd be surprised. I know I've gone back on "nostalgia trips" to my other MMO's on occasion. A great many people aren't long-term community members, but they like to come back when enough changes have made the game fresh again.
Any game that puts barriers to the returning player cuts off a revenue source. You decide how much you're willing to alienate and weigh it againt the benefits of such a system.
In this case, 6 levels is the balance they came up with... and it appears to have been researched and discussed with considerably more forethought, planning, and access to information, than any of the suggestions offered here.
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That's fine. I'll qualify the position above a little further. If you haven't logged in in 2 years, the chances are very low that you will ever come back. This game gives at least a couple of free pass periods per year to inactive former players to come back and check it out. If you didn't come back during several chances for free just to have a look around at the old stomping grounds, what is the likelihood that you will come back at all? At some point, shouldn't the developers stop acting like the jilted lover and stop carrying the torch?
My defense of the idea of adjusting this policy is not for personal use, at least not right now, since I am approaching half full on my account and have sworn off making alts for the time being to concentrate on the characters that I have. I just tend to see those unused character names as wasteful. I know that not everyone feels that way, but I'd like to clarify my position on this matter. I've only had problems getting names that were fairly obvious, but I would think that a fairly obvious name on an account that hasn't even been touched for free in 2 years should be returned to the pool for others to use, regardless of the level of that character.
I know that there are people like this. Pretty much the entirety of my original SG was like this. They left early in 2005 and have not been back at all for the past 2 years. I still play the character that was in that SG regularly, and haven't heard a peep from any of them. If they were still at all interested in this game and their characters, one would think they would have taken the opportunity to log them on at no cost to themselves at least once.
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Very well said. I proposed the same 2 year cutoff in another post (not having read yours) so needless to say I agree with you. The real thing that motivates me in the case of long dormant accounts is that you just KNOW a lot of the coolest names were snapped up early on. It aggravates me to think they're reserved by folks never coming back.
Freedom: Blazing Larb, Fiery Fulcrum, Sardan Reborn, Arctic-Frenzy, Wasabi Sam, Mr Smashtastic.
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That's fine. I'll qualify the position above a little further. If you haven't logged in in 2 years, the chances are very low that you will ever come back.
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Low doesn't mean you won't. I went back to try out The Sims Online over 3 years after quitting it. They sent me a 14 day free restart to see all the changes. I figured since it was only $9.95 a month it might be a nice break from time to time. My account was still there but my 3 alts were all gone along with all their property.
My thought was, "Meh" as I logged back in to recancel my account before I could be billed.
The tiny smidge of hard drive space to keep the data would have cost them pennies. At $9.95 I probably would have stayed for a long time for occassional visits. Not saving what I previously had instantly trumped any new content that may have had.
I realize with CoH it's only a name, not the whole character, but the point is, people do come back to MMOs and taking something away from them might be the difference between regaining them as a customer and losing them for good.
No matter how many "trials" The Sims Online gives me in the future, I will never play it again because I don't want to start from scratch.
Note: I know some of you will think, OMG! The Sims Online! How lame. 
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And if you want to talk about inactive people giving up their name, what about the recently deceased Captain America? Assumed dead in 1945, he returned in 1964 after he was revealed to be frozen in suspended animation. Let's see... 120 days vs. 19 years? It's always possible someone will come back, and a true hero would willingly give up their title to the former. Will you have the same strength of character if a level 50 whose name you stole for your level 15 blaster came back?
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Flawed arguement. 1.) multiple Heroes can have the same names at time. There has been multiple captian america's.
COX doesn't allow for the same name to be used. Period. regardless if the hero is active or inactive.
Nemsis lv50 Inv/SS
Arch-Nemsis lv 50 SS/Inv
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And if you want to talk about inactive people giving up their name, what about the recently deceased Captain America? Assumed dead in 1945, he returned in 1964 after he was revealed to be frozen in suspended animation. Let's see... 120 days vs. 19 years? It's always possible someone will come back, and a true hero would willingly give up their title to the former. Will you have the same strength of character if a level 50 whose name you stole for your level 15 blaster came back?
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Flawed arguement. 1.) multiple Heroes can have the same names at time. There has been multiple captian america's.
COX doesn't allow for the same name to be used. Period. regardless if the hero is active or inactive.
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Not the point I was making in that particular paragraph, you apparently mixed things up. Here's a better example:
Let's say BillZBubba took a hiatus from the game. While he was gone, for some reason, cryptic decided to make his name unreserved. You see that it's available and make a new character with that name. Now if Bill, whom we all know and love for sharing his vast technical knowledge with us all, decided to come back, would you change your name to something else in order to give the name back to someone who made it known in the first place?
Global- @SailorET, Justice Server
Sheryl Fiero, 50 AR/Devices Blaster
Louise Fiero, 50 Merc/Traps MM
Various assorted alts
Proudly serving in our military so you don't have to.
Ok here's the beauty thing:
Inactive accounts that have been inactive for 90 days will have lvl 5 and under character names freed up...
A couple days later they reactivate everyone's account that was inactive...(hopefully this reactivation doesn't count toward their "inactive" status for names otherwise they'll have to keep this policy in affect for 60 days after the 29th for it to even matter...
So they announce that a very low level cap is going to be made for names to be freed up (lvl 6) ...
And then they open up ALL inactive accounts essentially giving everyone who had a 5 and under an never bothered to raise them, and who probably would NEVER have paid to open their accounts back up to raise them beyond 5, a free chance to sign in for an hour and raise their toons that additional easy few levels.
That pretty much totally screws up the environment from which they determined this low level cap and seals up more names...
Like I said before a level 20 or even level 14 cap would have been a hundred times better.
Also not only should you think about the name but the quality of the name...who gives a damn if thousands of names like "Teh R0ckstar" "<*Mid-night*>" and "J00 Cant Kil Meh" are freed up?
Chances are people that at the time gave a darn when they named their characters a decent, desirable name, probably got that character up to AT LEAST level 10...
If im reading right lvl 6 and under? soo from what it is sounding like is just get a character past 6 and you shouldn't have to worry about that name being freed up. Cap should have been set to 15 or 20
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After 21 pages of this thread, has anyone gone back to reread the part that says that this will only be applied to 'inactive' accounts (where 'inactive' means 'not paid for for 90 days')?
If someone has a level 1 character with a name that they're camping, they have to keep -paying- for the right to use that name.
What's the problem?
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Thank you for reminding all. You will only loose your name if your account is "inactive" "If you want to keep your name,play the game" 
I believe our children are our future and I reflect on the lessons and values we taught them.
I believe the world has many real Villains,what we need are more Heroes.
*May you all be a hero in someone's life.*
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Not the point I was making in that particular paragraph, you apparently mixed things up. Here's a better example:
Let's say BillZBubba took a hiatus from the game. While he was gone, for some reason, cryptic decided to make his name unreserved. You see that it's available and make a new character with that name. Now if Bill, whom we all know and love for sharing his vast technical knowledge with us all, decided to come back, would you change your name to something else in order to give the name back to someone who made it known in the first place?
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No and here are the reasons.
"BillZBubba" is an inactive account and obviously has been for awhile to be affected by the policy. Strike One.
Announcement is made in forums of Name change policy, in addition prior notice have been made previously so a precident had already been established on name purges. Its not a surprise "they never thought could happen". Strike Two.
NcSoft/Cryptic sends out an email notifying the player of "BillZBubba" that his name will be set to unreserved . Said player obviously ignores email. Strike Three.
And before you say thier email may have been put in a spam filter or they may no longer have that email account. It is the Players responsibility to adjust/correct these things. Not NcSoft/Cryptic's or mine.
The ONLY exception I may make is if the player was serving in the war. However. NcSoft/Cryptic has previously (I believe) exempted them from the policy. So that would be an moot point.
Nemsis lv50 Inv/SS
Arch-Nemsis lv 50 SS/Inv
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If someone has a level 1 character with a name that they're camping, they have to keep -paying- for the right to use that name.
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Ummm...no...they just have to log in for an hour or two and get into a sewer team during the free account reactivation weekend and level their toon to level 7...then they can leave once more and never have to pay...not to ignore the fact that I stated in my previous post, that being that any decent names will probably be taken by players with enough drive to at least play them a couple hours an get them above the level notch for name taking...
Quality not quantity Cryptic...
Like I said what's the point of a level 6 name change policy especially when you announce it and then give a free weekend to everyone that ever created an account giving name squatters a free chance to level their toon to level 6+ and save that name (apparently) indefinitly...
I didn't notice if anyone else posted on this yet but does THIS mean that we are not getting names freed up until 90 days after 8/5?
"I never said thank you." - Lt. Gordon
"And you'll never have to." - the Dark Knight
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If someone has a level 1 character with a name that they're camping, they have to keep -paying- for the right to use that name.
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Ummm...no...they just have to log in for an hour or two and get into a sewer team during the free account reactivation weekend and level their toon to level 7...then they can leave once more and never have to pay...not to ignore the fact that I stated in my previous post, that being that any decent names will probably be taken by players with enough drive to at least play them a couple hours an get them above the level notch for name taking...
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Did your parents give you a name you don't like?
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I didn't notice if anyone else posted on this yet but does THIS mean that we are not getting names freed up until 90 days after 8/5?
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See the post above yours.
They have to subscribe to be sure the names are saved. See Lighthouse's follow up ost. However, they could log in over the weekend and level to 6 to save the name - as posted above.
I doubt many people will know about the name policy reactivation yet, and take advantage of this, though.
From Lighthouse in the other thread:
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So if you reactivate all the dormant accounts, doesn't this utterly defeat the name reclaim policy just announced? Or will they actually have to log in for their account to get flagged as active?
They'll have to log in and subscribe.
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level 6? ha
had to say it too. But being it only affects inactive accounts, how many good names is this going to free up?
Very kool! I am happy they have finally added a function allowing you to check name availability. Can't say how many times I have rolled up a sweet alt only to have to revamp because the name I had planned to use was gone!! Gotta be a complete package to get any lovin from me, otherwise they linger at 8 for a very long time.
Warlord: You are looking at a man that can run you through with this sword without batting an eye.
Monk: You are looking at a man who can be run through with that sword without batting an eye.
--old Korean folk tale
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I still want to know how they are going to identify those people who have had to be inactive due to hardship beyond their control. I know that the very first thing on MY mind if I were called to active military duty would NOT be notifying NCSoft that my account will be inactive. And if I were in a disaster area - earthquake, hurricane, tornado, etc., I think that NCSoft would be very low on my list of people to contact.
Or am I in a vast minority in thinking that yanking the names of characters on accounts that are inactive due to military or disaster is kinda ... well ... yucky?
Storm
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I think NCSoft can actually use billing location for a tag to run a script on accounts - I seem to recall them doing something for those in the Katrina area.
As for people in the military - NCSoft has done a lot to accommodate them - but they can't be expected to keep such tabs on everyone to know if they are military, getting shipped out, etc.
Orc&Pie No.53230 There is an orc, and somehow, he got a pie. And you are hungry.
www.repeat-offenders.net
Negaduck: I see you found the crumb. I knew you'd never notice the huge flag.
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I didn't notice if anyone else posted on this yet but does THIS mean that we are not getting names freed up until 90 days after 8/5?
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See the post above yours.
They have to subscribe to be sure the names are saved. See Lighthouse's follow up ost. However, they could log in over the weekend and level to 6 to save the name - as posted above.
I doubt many people will know about the name policy reactivation yet, and take advantage of this, though.
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Thank you. 
"I never said thank you." - Lt. Gordon
"And you'll never have to." - the Dark Knight
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I've been stuck with "Ultimo." since I first started playing because somewhere there's an "Ultimo". If that character is on an inactive account (which seems to be the case), it would sure be nice to have the chance to get rid of that period. Of course, if he's L7+ I won't have that chance anyway, but one never knows.
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You may find the actual problem to be that there is a Marvel Comics supervillain named Ultimo.
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That could be too, though "Ultimo" shows up when I add it to my friends list, which suggests to me there's a character out there with the name.
I'll point out, as I have before, that Marvel's Ultimo is a less well known character, and there is some uncertainty whether their version or mine came first. I used to make comics, and Ultimo was my flagship character (hence my forum name and my Blaster). From what I hear, Marvel's came into being around the same time mine did. In any case, I've had no trouble, likely in large part due to the fact that my character is completely unlike Marvel's.
[/ QUOTE ] I believe Ultimo the villain 1st appeared about 1969 or so,not sure of the exact date,but given the long history of comic books -It's hard to find names that have NEVER been published 
As a point of clarification, the actual process to enforce the name policy and free up names is a manual process, not one that runs continuously. The purpose of this advance notification is that we are now considering running that process on a regular basis. Previously, we had not been enforcing this policy or running this process.
We have not announced a schedule or when such process will be run, other than our desire to run it prior to the Character Rename feature going live. As such, customers can consider that it may be run at any time and if any names on characters under 6 on accounts inactive for over 90 days are lost, this would be the reason why.
Lighthouse
Community Relations Manager
If you have a specific in game, account, tech or billing problem please contact our Customer Support team via The Knowledge Base "Ask A Question" page.
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As a point of clarification, the actual process to enforce the name policy and free up names is a manual process, not one that runs continuously. The purpose of this advance notification is that we are now considering running that process on a regular basis. Previously, we had not been enforcing this policy or running this process.
We have not announced a schedule or when such process will be run, other than our desire to run it prior to the Character Rename feature going live. As such, customers can consider that it may be run at any time and if any names on characters under 6 on accounts inactive for over 90 days are lost, this would be the reason why.
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So this means that on August 29th the names will be freed after a server downtime?
Ultimus:
Read the following
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We have not announced a schedule or when such process will be run
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Read
Digest
Understand
@Catwhoorg "Rule of Three - Finale" Arc# 1984
@Mr Falkland Islands"A Nation Goes Rogue" Arc# 2369 "Toasters and Pop Tarts" Arc#116617
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Read
Digest
Understand
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Please. 
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Ultimus:
Read the following
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We have not announced a schedule or when such process will be run
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Read
Digest
Understand
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And it doesn't answer my question. He said it is a manual process. Does that mean the servers have to go down for it to go into effect? If it does, that means it will go into effect August 29th after the servers go down.
If it doesn't, (And they can do it with servers up) I'd expect it sometime that evening.
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1: Read
2: Digest
3: ?????
4: PROFIT!
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Fixed that for you.
6 is more agreeable. maybe 10.
the old 35 was atrocious.
50Soulsunder: DM/Regen Scrapper
50Limitshift: EM/WP Brute
Victoria Nox: Dark/Dark Dominator
And about 5 others that change constantly...