Just curious about people's opinions

I just recently learned about how on Champions Online there wont be a name limit, per say. You'll have your "global name" that's unique and then any name for your character you can pick. So there could be 500 Captain X's and 12 Animorphs, ect, ect.


Personally I'm a little torned, but leaning one sidded. I really do like the idea because there's been hundreds of times where I'm sitting at the character screen trying to find a name to fit a concept because of course the one I would of liked was taken.

But at the sametime, I kinda like knowing that I'm the only "Animorph" in 'my universe' (Virtue). Also, with Virtue for the most part being a close knit server, if I were to be in Atlas and see someone meantion someone like DragonBerry or Hardi Har Har, I would automatically know who they're talking about.

Of course I'm sure this will never come to CoX, but was just curious to see if you guys would want this option in our game?

On the bright side it will prevent people grabbing and holding names forever, just in case they think of a toon for the name.

I find that odd to say the least. I mean how are invites supposed to work? /i Animorph wouldn't work too well when there's 12 Animorphs logged in at once. This, the single server and only 8 creation slots just seem odd to me.

If I decide to ever try this game, the first thing I'm going to do is create a hero and name him "Spartacus"

I'm torn just like you are, Animorph. I've been looking for a few names ever since I came upon this thread, over a year ago, and have only managed to snag one. But at the same time, it seems like an easy way for griefers to use your name to ruin it. I won't be playing CO, so it's not really an issue for me, but I'd be kind of wary of it if I were.

I can't remember exactly how the invite systems work, but I know your fullname would be /invite Animorph@"globalname". The one server deal will be seperated into 'shards' kinda like how sometimes we have "Atlas Park 1" and "Atlas Park 2" on the same server. Again not sure how that'll work.

And just to let you know Balance, I actually have the name Spartacus. He's a higher level so I'm kinda iffy about letting him go, but I MIGHT work out a trade or something.

Nobody cares about copying my characters.

I used to be very against the CO naming policy, but I've kind of come around to it for the following reasons:

1.) Sure, there will be multiple copies of really common or desirable names, but that actually makes it less likely that an uncommon name will be taken. All of the dunderheads will just go with the most common option, so even mildly creative or off-the-beaten-path names will be unique.

2.) If someone did pick your mildly creative name, but never plays that character, or quits the game, you can still get it. That's kind of cool. I have several characters that I've wanted to play for ages, but couldn't get the name for.

3.) Time overlap. At the end of the day, the chances of you and your doppleganger being logged in at the same time and running into each other are probably pretty slim. Again, assuming you made some effort to grab a creative name.

Sure, it still burns that someone could see my character, think it was cool, and then clone him or her and out-level me, but I'll live with it. I think the good outweighs the bad -- and, honestly, anyone who would do that and could actually be happy playing a copy of someone else's good idea deserves pity more than anger.

My main concern at this point is that I hope the game is good -- CoH set a pretty high bar. And I am a little sad that it's one big server -- having an RP server to call home always felt very comfortable in CoH.

My two cents.

You know, "Spartuchis" is available...

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An open letter to NCsoft

When I first heard about CO, I thought, "Cool, maybe I'll subscribe when it first comes out and snag some of the cool names I was never able to get here!"

Then I heard about this feature and thought, "Oh, so anyone can snag some of the cool names I was never able to get here. No real sense in subscribing early I guess."

So, no, this feature is exactly the opposite of a draw to CO for me. And I don't think I'd like it if it was instituted in CoX either. As much as I want to get rid of the period at the end of "Waitress." I don't want to do so at the cost of seeing 12 other "Waitress"es running around the Rogue Isles.

Who wants to see two Supermans in the same universe? And yes, I know, the name Superman would be generic'd in this game. I'm referring to a lofty make-believe realm, one in which the headlines read, "Superman saves the Day! Again!" A city populated with, say, five.. give or take two. Was it the dark brooding Superman with sultry Twilight-esque eyes, the bubbly blonde aspiring broadway dancer, or the slightly deranged furry version who speaks in 133t and always asks you for a PL? Oh, I shouldn't cross my analogy back to game.. sorry. It's just easier for my brain to digest Superman and Bizarro rather than Superman@Superman and Superman@Bizzaro.

At any rate, that.. above, I could easily see the sum of our characters' identities reduced to the global tag and playernotes becoming the fattest file on drive. And while I realize, in part, that's how the real world works... "Man, John is such a dick." "Ahh, I think he's nice. " "Nice? The guy just XYZ." "John in accounting?" "No, the guy who pushes the mail cart." "Ohhhhss. John Larson." "Yeah, that ************." .. In my world, I like knowing your characters by their unique, iconic names. I can't see that conversation happening as often if the mailroom guy was named Tharzor.

In some ways I like CO's naming policy. Especially when thinking of comic super-groups like The Green Lantern Corps. I mean, they're all, technically just Green Lantern, so they'd all have the same name. And yet, Alan Scott is also Green Lantern, but has nothing (technically) to do with that group. CO's naming policy allows for that sort of structuring.

I'm curious to actually see it in action, though. How confusing can it get and how obtrusive is the global name when viewing a character, I wonder.

/e inserts 2 influence ...

I like unique names even though in 4 years I have yet to get the ONE name I really want.

I would only be ok with non-unique naming if the originator of any given name was allowed a unique title like "The Original" and if that toon was ever deleted that title would be lost forever.

People would probably look at global names more than the indiviudual character name, now.

So there could be a million Animorphs, but they'd look for @Animorph or @The NightTracker if they knew it was you, and would ignore everyone else with that name :P

I really like the unique names we have in CoH, with the caveat I think that there should be purges periodically. If you haven't subscribed in two years, I think your characters should get generic'd so that those names can be freed for other people. I don't think that someone who hasn't been around for a couple years is going to come back and if they do, great, their characters are preserved, but a loyal active subscriber should get dibs on potentially good names.

In short, I feel there are a bunch of names out there on old accounts and trials that should be recycled for the benefit of the active, subscribing community.

As for CO, well, we'll have to see how it goes over there, I guess. My hunch is there could be a lot of confusion with this name policy, but, you never know until tires actually hit pavement and we see how things are after launch.

Not really impressed with CO much at all. One thing it did teach me is that I will NEVER, EVER sign up for a beta again. LOL

All I could think about is 'why am i going to log in to this game that is not finished when I can log in to one that is finished' lol

It will be interesting to see what kind of dynamic this naming convention creates. I am often fascinated by these kinds of things. What did Pocket D do to RP in Galaxy City? How did the AE mission change the game? Since the game is it's own little closed society it is really neat to think of the ripple effects and changes that occur.

What do you do and say when you run in to somebody with your name? I think I would play it up and go right along with it and try and out do my 'namesake' but in a fun way.
If the other Space Trooper was higher level I would be chirping about how I am going to catch them and pass them in my famousnesses.

I HATE, hate, hate, hate trying to find a name in CoX. Of course I always think that somebody is just squatting on it and not using it at all. They are probably really using the toon but I have just never seen them.

I completely agree with a purge. If a toon is not logged on for X amount of time then the name gets removed, period.

So I think I like the policy over in CoX.

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It's not the name you wear, but how you wear it. I never minded having to sit down and think of something different and unique. Time consuming? Yeah, but on the developer's side, it's causing you to be that much more committed to that character and you'll pay MORE money each month...mwahaha?

I like the idea of anyone and everyone being able to use the same name. If I see someone named "Death", "Legolas", "Elric", etc I can make a snap judgement about them that's likely correct. On the other side of the coin, I won't be unable to make a concept character like "Lucky Seven" for lack of the name - "Lucky Eight" just doesn't have the same ring.

As far as genericing characters for inactivity - it would ruin a big part of the game for me. I've been active on and off since beta, but only attained the 15 month vet badge. I think this is the best MMO on the market - but I'd be bored to tears if I only had one game to play for 5 years. Loosing a name means loosing recognition, in the sense that old friends won't immediately recognize you when you log back in after a year or two. That makes rejoining the community harder, which is a pretty big negative for a social game.