Naming Policy

Hmm, I'm not sure if I'm in violation of the naming policy. After seeing how cool the Valkyrie costume from the Mac SE is, I picked it up. I just made a BS/SD scrapper with the costume. Sadly, I only now remembered that there is a CoH character named Valkyrie, and I named my character Walkure (the German name from Wagner's opera). Would that put me in violation of the naming policy? I thought about sending an ingame petition to ask, but I thought I would try here, first (to waste your time instead of a GM's, hehe).

Huh. I would have thought that, being a Signature Character, Valkyrie wouldn't be a name you could use. I guess that one slipped through.

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Biggest Troll on the forums? I'll give you a hint:

Should not be a name policy issue (Valkyries being in the public domain). However, a squad of Wagnerite Ninja may be dispatched from Bayreuth.

In my experience, it's better to ask for forgiveness than permission. I don't recall ever getting in trouble yet w/a name choice. As I understand it the worst that happens is your character's name gets genericized and you're given an option to choose an alternate name, but that's only if someone reports your name as a violation, and the people running the game actually agree w/that assessment. If no one notices or cares, no harm no foul.

I've seen toons that are obvious visual ripoffs of copyrighted material, but the name is a spoof of the original. Like say a big green guy called The Inedible Stalk. That's probably a violation, but it's also stupid funny.

The whole point of the naming policy is to protect the company from being sued. Using the company's own created characters/names/etc within the game is perfectly acceptable. As long as, as Aett said, you're not trying to convince other players that you are a developer.

I've seen an entire SG of Lil' Manticore, Lil' Sister Psyche, etc.

Unless CoH decides to sue itself, you're probably safe.

I find fun in creating characters that are somehow connected to the mythos of City of Heroes itself. As others have pointed out in the thread, you can't be in violation of copyright infringement if you're using Cryptic/NCSoft's own properties.

For example, one of my scrappers is a grandson of BreakNeck. I have a blaster who's trapped inside a suit made by defective Crey technology. One of my tanks is my take on what would happen if a woman took Superadine. I've since learned that's not canon. Oh well. She's still fun to play. I got a toon that's as close as I could get to the statue of Talos. He's like a mini Talos statue.

I'd like to see who are the other 89 of the Nuclear 90. Fusionette is one of the people born in 1990 with a magnetic nuclear fusion reactor for a heart. She can be found in Faultline and the Rikti War Zone. The game doesn't say who the other Nuclear 90 are, so one of your toons could be one. Maybe there's actually more than 90, but only 90 known publically to exist. My point is, the game is a treasure trove of creative possibilities. Why would anyone playing City of Heroes want to waste their time rehashing Wolverine or Bwana Beast? I'd like to see more Statesmens, Valkyries, Miss Libertys, Positrons in the game, and no Superman or Spider-Man clones.

Or Tann could get even more creative. Howzbout a Germanic Battlemaiden with a religious bent? Valkyrie Eleison (or Alison has the same ring to it). No. Scratch that. I'm hitting the CC right now.

I guess I'll just play it safe and petition myself. I wonder how often the GMs see that?
I had no intention of copying the CoH character Valkyrie, I had completely forgotten about her existence. I just went with Walkure because I am a Wagner fan and thought it was unique. I'll update this thread with the results.

The general consensus on appropriate behaviour when you're concerned about your characters possible name and likeness violation is to send a petition under Harrassment/Conduct (I like to title them "Possible Name and Likeness violation"), explaining the situation and asking for a GM ruling.

One player on the EU servers that I know of did this for his main character, and it was allowed by the GMs - Crimson Archer, a Green Arrow homage. There were enough differences between the appearance and character name that the player was allowed to keep it.

Better to be safe than sorry, is the idea. Petition yourself, explain why you've done so, and let NC make the ultimate decision - once it's been done, you know you're safe, and if anyone else reports you, you will have grounds for appeal in terms of the original petition you made.

Having said that, though, Walkure is a perfectly acceptable name. I've seen one, thought "Oh, Germanic for Valkyrie. Good shout, that man," and not even thought about petitioning them.

And the word is good:
Thanks for bringing this to our attention. Your character "Walkure" in its current form does not appear to violate any rules, copyright or otherwise.

I wasn't expecting any problem either, but I didn't want to start investing a lot of time and care into this character only to have it taken away. I'm still glad I played it safe and asked, and now I'm ready to smack some evil-doers!

Well, even if they did generic you, they do let you submit alternate names (three, I think). So it wouldn't have been all for vain if the worse did happen. You might end up falling off a few friends lists, but not what I would call the end of the world.