Character Name Policy -- Thirty Day Notice!
By
0zymandous,
Posted on: 2007-07-31 15:59 in News, Events and Announcement Discussion
At this point I'll be surprised if the City Vault launches at all. :/ It was meant to go live a long time ago, and remember: it only covers active characters anyway. Unless a GM is *allowed* to give a name out, which they aren't that I know of, the point would be moot.
Please read my FEAR/Portal/HalfLife Fan Fiction!
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Of course they could tell you to think of your own names and stop trying o pinch someone elses.
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Someone else that hasn't logged in for 3 years and got into the first day of the open game and took the name "Merlin" for a magic blaster isn't all that creative, but is eliminating someone else using it.
Your account is active, no one will steal your names. I promise.
Side note: How would any of you know if they suddenly started purging names not logged in for over a year?
I'd suggest that likely less than 2% of accounts have taken a break longer than a year and ever returned, and I'm 100% sure that could be datamined easily enough.
Which as I said before, was why the policy was changed before. Because no one was really 'getting' those "good names".
It's not necessarily Merlin - but it might be a clever use of words which two people happen to have both decided they want. If one's not active and hasn't paid, the other *should* be allowed to claim that name. *shrug* I'm not sure why that's such a huge issue. People still seem to be clinging to the mistaken idea that these things affect *paid accounts* where they *do not and should never*.
Please read my FEAR/Portal/HalfLife Fan Fiction!
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Side note: How would any of you know if they suddenly started purging names not logged in for over a year?
I'd suggest that likely less than 2% of accounts have taken a break longer than a year and ever returned, and I'm 100% sure that could be datamined easily enough.
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If a member of my sg suddenly had a toon change to genericxxxx it would show up in my sg window. You are pulling numbers from a dark stinky place trying to justify your point. the current system works fine. stop trying to steal someone elses names.Thats what you are doing, whether you want to admit it or not.
Lots of 50's yada yada. still finding fun things to do.
Cthulhu loves you, better start running
I�! I�! Gg�gorsch�a�bha egurtsa�ar�ug d� Dalhor! Cthluhu fthagn! Cthluhu fthagn!
You are in a maze of twisty little passages
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.
Please read my FEAR/Portal/HalfLife Fan Fiction!
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At this point I'll be surprised if the City Vault launches at all. :/ It was meant to go live a long time ago, and remember: it only covers active characters anyway. Unless a GM is *allowed* to give a name out, which they aren't that I know of, the point would be moot.
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I have little hope that City Vault is going to go live, too. Which sucks, because I hate all of the badge tracking sites and software.
@Arwen Darkblade
Proud Member of Hammer of the Gods and Sanguine Syndicate
Arc ID #86194 "Cry Havoc"
Arc ID #103934 "Dr. Thomas' First Day"
[URL="http://tobyfife.blogspot.com/"]Hero Girl[/URL] - my geek culture blog
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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.
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they have the names, you want to take them without their permission. that is stealing. Nice of you to decide they wont care. You repeat that YOU have no problem coming up with names, this is for the children!!! Those poor little tykes with underdeveloped brains that cant think up a dcent name for themselves. we need a program to help them! Do it for the children.
no, the system in place was dvelopd by the dvs as he least intrusive method of dealing with this "problem" You send an email to the holder and he doesnt respond, maybe he is just ignoring you and laughing with his friends at your expense.
No name should be taken from a toon above lvl 10. i dont want to see the devs waste development time on an inane crusade such as this.
Last word, Ive got "superspud" and you cant have it. My 3 accounts havent missed a day paid since I started. I can see some nameweasel getting this and then trying to convince the devs to apply it to toons that havent been logged in in x number of days.
Lots of 50's yada yada. still finding fun things to do.
Cthulhu loves you, better start running
I�! I�! Gg�gorsch�a�bha egurtsa�ar�ug d� Dalhor! Cthluhu fthagn! Cthluhu fthagn!
You are in a maze of twisty little passages
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No, seriously. No one is trying to "steal" anything here.
If a person *is not playing the game*, they *won't care*.
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Look at this from a cost-benefit perspective, from the business's point of view.
If you're a current paying customer who has never had that name, and who has never missed a month paying, there is a 100% chance you will be paying $15.00/month without that name.
If you're a non-paying former customer who has had that name, there is a non-zero change (call it X%) that you will return if sufficiently enticed.
As far as a business move goes, the higher you can make X%, the more likely you are to make additional revenue. Therefore, the prudent business move is not to find reasons to irritate former customers in the hope that they come back.
You have said you have never seen anybody complain that they returned after several months to find their names were purged. Well, I've never seen anybody say "I can't get the name Super Burger on my favorite server, so I'm quitting."
So while it's all fine and good to say current paying customers should get all the good names, it isn't as if there's a huge risk that they'll walk away from the game if they don't get 'em so the smart money is on attracting back former customers in addition to retaining current ones.
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they have the names, you want to take them without their permission. that is stealing.
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Sorry if this has already been pointed out, but it can't be stealing. NCSoft owns everything we do in this game, including character names. If the person doesn't own the name, it can't be stolen from them. All that is being done in this case is NCSoft taking back what is theirs from someone who isn't using it, and letting someone else borrow it.
Get over the idea that you "own" your character names. You don't. From the user agreement, section 4b, which you click "I agree" to every time you log in:
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By agreeing to the User Agreement, you agree that you do not own either the master account or game account (collectively, the "Account") you use to access the service, the characters created on the Account and that NC Interactive stores on NC Interactive servers, the items stored on these servers, or any other data from which the servers and accounts are comprised.
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Emphasis mine.
My postings to this forum are not to be used as data in any research study without my express written consent.
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they have the names, you want to take them without their permission. that is stealing.
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Sorry if this has already been pointed out, but it can't be stealing. NCSoft owns everything we do in this game, including character names. If the person doesn't own the name, it can't be stolen from them. All that is being done in this case is NCSoft taking back what is theirs from someone who isn't using it, and letting someone else borrow it.
Get over the idea that you "own" your character names. You don't. From the user agreement, section 4b, which you click "I agree" to every time you log in:
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By agreeing to the User Agreement, you agree that you do not own either the master account or game account (collectively, the "Account") you use to access the service, the characters created on the Account and that NC Interactive stores on NC Interactive servers, the items stored on these servers, or any other data from which the servers and accounts are comprised.
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Emphasis mine.
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In that case you wont have a problem when ncsoft ignores your demand and you dont get that spcial name you want.
Lots of 50's yada yada. still finding fun things to do.
Cthulhu loves you, better start running
I�! I�! Gg�gorsch�a�bha egurtsa�ar�ug d� Dalhor! Cthluhu fthagn! Cthluhu fthagn!
You are in a maze of twisty little passages
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*?
Please read my FEAR/Portal/HalfLife Fan Fiction!
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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*?
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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"
Lots of 50's yada yada. still finding fun things to do.
Cthulhu loves you, better start running
I�! I�! Gg�gorsch�a�bha egurtsa�ar�ug d� Dalhor! Cthluhu fthagn! Cthluhu fthagn!
You are in a maze of twisty little passages
What would you all think of a scaling name release system?
For instance:
[*]1 Year Inactive: Level 12[*]2 Years Inactive: Level 24[*]3 Years Inactive: Level 36[*]4 Years Inactive: Level 48 (or 50)
50s could remain untouchable, or they could be included. Nobody's coming back after four years inactive.
So, what say the masses?
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Hedgehog.... You're just being ignorant of how real businesses work (as is the other who I am not replying to directly).
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Ah, accusations of ignorance, the last refuge of the self-deluded.
It is difficult to get that last two percent, as you describe and indeed, it is not worth pursuit of those few dollars if it comes at the expense of pleasing your existing customers.
In this case, there is virtually zero risk that existing customers will walk away from the game because they didn't get the name they wanted. I can say that because, by definition, somebody who has "been here since the beginning" has never left for any reason, much less because a single name was unavailable.
NCsoft could bend over backwards and make names available for that never-quitting customer. But it wouldn't make any more money by doing so, would it? You can't make more money off of a person who has never left, can you?
Seen from that perspective, the cost-benefit of reverting names is "piss off customers who might someday pay us money, in exchange for $0.00 in payments from customers who wouldn't leave even if we did nothing." They can therefore pursue that mythical 2%, as you describe it, without sacrificing existing revenue.
But that 2% figure is a chimera of your own invention. You pulled that number out of your butt. Any intelligent and thorough business analysis of the MMO industry as a whole would surely make more fine distinction than lumping people into two categories: Haven't Been Here For Years, and Have Been Here All Along. You can't simply break down customers into "paying" and "non-paying." That's too simple-minded.
What's far more likely and a business-savvy person such as you claim to be would understand this is that there is a small core of loyalists and a wide range of come-and-go behavior. Person A has never left; but Person B pays for 4 months, quits for 2, over and over. Person C pays every other month. Person D pays 1 month and disappears for 5. Person E pays 1 month and quits for 11.
Any system you devise that reverts names that are idle will zing Person B, C, D, and E. Are you saying they're not worth pursuing? Or are you trying to narrowly target Person F, who paid 1 time and disappeared for 35 months?
You don't have the detailed business analysis of return customer behavior. And yet here you are, claiming a wide experience of business and assuming we have none, and you are spouting off destructive business practices because you, personally, have an outcome in mind that benefits you.
Don't you think that NCsoft is capable of making sound business decisions based on actual data that are more reliable than your armchair hand-waving? I do.
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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.
Please read my FEAR/Portal/HalfLife Fan Fiction!
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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*.
Please read my FEAR/Portal/HalfLife Fan Fiction!
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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".
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then why is is so important to you? I dont have to know their names, I dont want to steal them. You are claiming this is for new players. most of which have no idea whether th name is on a toon the plays 3 times a week or 3 times a year. or decade.
Lots of 50's yada yada. still finding fun things to do.
Cthulhu loves you, better start running
I�! I�! Gg�gorsch�a�bha egurtsa�ar�ug d� Dalhor! Cthluhu fthagn! Cthluhu fthagn!
You are in a maze of twisty little passages
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If a member of my sg suddenly had a toon change to genericxxxx it would show up in my sg window.
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You have members of your SG that haven't logged in for over a year and you haven't kicked them?
That sounds... just flat out stupid.
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.
Please read my FEAR/Portal/HalfLife Fan Fiction!
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What would you all think of a scaling name release system?
For instance:
[*]1 Year Inactive: Level 12[*]2 Years Inactive: Level 24[*]3 Years Inactive: Level 36[*]4 Years Inactive: Level 48 (or 50)
50s could remain untouchable, or they could be included. Nobody's coming back after four years inactive.
So, what say the masses?
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I'm in favor of anything that puts a defined limitation on how long an abandoned account can hold onto a name. That's all I've been saying the whole time, define the limitation, let NCsoft decide what the limits should be, they have the data base it on.
But my opinion on your idea is that it's a very sound idea, and something that I would not object to being implemented at all.
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If a member of my sg suddenly had a toon change to genericxxxx it would show up in my sg window.
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You have members of your SG that haven't logged in for over a year and you haven't kicked them?
That sounds... just flat out stupid.
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You dont have many friends, do you? I haven't sen some of my RL friends in years, yet they are still friends. One is on his 3rd trip to Iraq. Just because I haven't talked to him in a while, doesn't make him not my friend.
Lots of 50's yada yada. still finding fun things to do.
Cthulhu loves you, better start running
I�! I�! Gg�gorsch�a�bha egurtsa�ar�ug d� Dalhor! Cthluhu fthagn! Cthluhu fthagn!
You are in a maze of twisty little passages
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What would you all think of a scaling name release system?
For instance:
[*]1 Year Inactive: Level 12[*]2 Years Inactive: Level 24[*]3 Years Inactive: Level 36[*]4 Years Inactive: Level 48 (or 50)
50s could remain untouchable, or they could be included. Nobody's coming back after four years inactive.
So, what say the masses?
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Amidst all this useless, non-productive bickering which seems to have degenerated into name calling and character bashing.... here lies a GREAT idea.... too bad no one will notice it among all the slander and midslinging.
Personally, this is something that the devs and devs alone can and will decide.... arguing here further is pointless. lets add suggestions... perhaps **civil* counterpoints... and let things work themselves out.
<sighs>
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What would you all think of a scaling name release system?
For instance:
[*]1 Year Inactive: Level 12[*]2 Years Inactive: Level 24[*]3 Years Inactive: Level 36[*]4 Years Inactive: Level 48 (or 50)
50s could remain untouchable, or they could be included. Nobody's coming back after four years inactive.
So, what say the masses?
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I like this idea. Although I think after 3 years it should not have a level component. I seriously doubt someone is coming back after 3 years either.
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Personally, I think automated emails being sent saying, "Your account has been inactive for 12 months and the names will be released in 30 days if you do not respond." would be fine.
Even servicemembers in Iraq have email access at least once per year, and allowing them to click one link to have their account maintained (possibly with the link asking, "why the absence?" and making it noted in the account) isn't asking too much.
Non-response gets purged.
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Of course they could tell you to think of your own names and stop trying o pinch someone elses.
Lots of 50's yada yada. still finding fun things to do.
Cthulhu loves you, better start running
I�! I�! Gg�gorsch�a�bha egurtsa�ar�ug d� Dalhor! Cthluhu fthagn! Cthluhu fthagn!
You are in a maze of twisty little passages