Another discussion about names

Considering your argument consists of throwing insults around, I dare say one isn't needed. You don't get to make a statement and demand counter-arguments to it. You need to make a convincing argument for your own idea, and I remain unconvinced.

*edit*
I've nothing against a non-unique naming system, provided it satisfies two conditions: 1. Unique identifiers to specifically differentiate between identically-named characters exist and 2. The system is not fugly and in my face, such as the Local Name@Global Name approach.

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

You're right, those are crappy names. I'm sorry that your creativity is so lacking that that's the best you can come up with. In the meantime, I have no problem getting normal, english, superhero sounding names whenever I want.

You'd think it was that easy.

I think there's a BranX (notice the lack of a D in the name) out there, that people have mistaken me for, and not ina good way.

Not everyone uses the star system, or comment system, or the report to the GMs. They ignore, and go on their way. thusly, making your system not work as well as you'd think.

Okay...list me what you've gotten so far?

I was only giving some quick examples of "Oh hey, look at my not hard to come up with, real name for a super hero...Bob Smith." or "Hey look at me, I'm so creative, I have my english, american born toon, with a Japanese/Russian/Polish/pick a language that isn't english, name!"

Joybuzzer
BrandX
Noisemaker
Spoilsport
Justice-Girl
RaveSpider
Dark God
Fiction
Void-Girl
Butterfly-Girl (or is it Butterfly Girl...I forget which)
American-Girl

There a list of names of characters I have (there are others), that I enjoy! I even go about buying rename tokens to use them over, because to me, those names sound like superhero names.

Only my magic based, demon/ghost hunter type hero, went by her real name. And that's my point. Nick Fury, Jean Grey, they're the exceptions in superhero comics...they way you and others make it sound "Oh...just use their real name" make it sound like it's normal.

Mind you, I bought the game to play superheroes. I didn't buy it because it was the newest game lets see what I can do with it. I bought it because I like the superhero genre (ie...superhero comicbook reader)...and wanted to play exactly that.

And really, if you're okay with using the names like "Jimmy Bob Smith" then I don't see why you would have a problem with names written in elite speak. At least with CoH, they have enemies who do that (mind you, Im annoyed by both >_> ).

My names would probably not apply (I used an X-Com ripoff of T'lerth and a Warrior #1 sound effect of Shaffakoom), but as of Going Rogue, I've actually snagged at least a couple of names that should apply. One was Brutticus, which I brought in from another game, and the other was honest-to-god Leningrad.

Oh, and I also managed to snag Duriel, which surprised the hell out of me.

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

Well it was more aimed at Judas, saying that using superhero sounding names, makes one uncreative.

His post, like many others, sounds like "Oh, there's lots of free names, go use Sakura Rosebleed"

For the superhero setting, Sakura Rosebleed just doesn't sound superhero. And that's exactly what people are wanting, when they say free up names.

Just on Virtue, I freed up the name Time-Shift. To me that was a superhero sounding name.

I'm not even saying all my concept for CoH is strictly the normal superhero, I'm working on a concept for the name "Lil Red Riding Hood" ...so it's not like I don't go outside the superhero genre a bit with my toons. But it's the exception to my list of heroes/rogues (Ill say rogues since I dont really make villains)...not the majority of 36 open slots on my main server.

You seem to have misunderstood my examples. Those names are just examples of the standard names that it takes two seconds to think of...which means they're already gone, not necessarily bad names. If people put a little more energy into it, there are plenty of good superhero names left.

For example, a couple of months after GR was announced and after people had been discussing Praetoria for a while (Never mind the fact that Praetoria's been part of the game lore since issue 1) I was able to get Captain Praetoria, Kid Praetoria, Miss Praetoria and Doctor Praetoria on almost every server, including Freedom and Virtue. I've released a number of them on different servers but that's just an example of Superheroic names that "should" have been long taken but were just out there waiting to be picked up by someone.

I think this is where a lot of the schism is. For you, these are the exception. For me, they're the norm and "descriptive" names are the exception. The only real super hero name I have is Captain Indivisible, and I designed him as a bit of super hero parody, a kid who gained super powers from playing a lot of video games who picked the name because it was the first thing that came to his mind, and basically grew up with it.

My names beyond that? Grimwall. Morten. Iprit. Ezikiel Bane. Crash McGuier. Kyle Young. Slime Girl. Pandala. And, of course, Samuel Tow. You can see the pattern here.

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

Yet another good reason to play on smaller servers.
And no one HAS to use periods or numberals in their names, they just have to grow some creativity.

And I hate seeing that. In fact, I will pass over people with such names in favor of those that are creative and spelled correctly. I can't say for sure, but it seems to have an impact on the quality of PUGs I run.

The cost, is as you said, lost opportunities with recovering players.

I think the last line pretty much sums up the issue at hand with unique display names. Fun for Some while it lasts.

Right now, I'm in the grumpy situation of trying to find a name and then fit a costume to it, instead of being able to fit a costume to a character then make a name.

I disliked spending an hour coming up with a name I'm ultimately not that happy with for my scrapper in Praetoria :/.

One thing about the name stalking issues, that, in itself a big reason why it's something difficult to add mid-step. If it existed initially, far more folks behavior would be aware that display names weren't unique and global id was what mattered for "Player is a tool". However, I'd like to think most folks just /ignore tools instead of visually ignore them.

[ doh didn't realize that was an edited word ]

There's someone who posts in these threads (sorry, forgot who) who mentions that his low-level trial character ("A Guy With Bots"?) is still alive and kicking after nearly a thousand days. So it's pushing three years at least since even low level names were purged.

I'm not deluded into thinking every name under the sun will be opened up but likewise I don't see any good reason to have trial account names from three years ago still be locked up.

Assuming that the people who don't have problems choosing names have "craptastic" names is the lamest justification for dismissing their statements.

And Sakura Rosebleed sounds like a great villainous name. Not all characters are heroes in this game.

That has an equal chance of happening now. I can roll "Mandu." with a period and spam broadcast. Most people won't even notice the period...at first. If I saw someone doing that with a name similar to someone I know, I'd pull up Add Note to find their global name and easily confirm who they aren't. Then I'd one-star them pretty quick and note they are an idiot.

If we went to a system where two people could have the same character name, people would know that and would learn to check the global name when someone was obviously trying to troll a name.

And for the record, I don't even have 'Johnny Butane' on either of the major servers. Someone grabbed it years ago in the 30 seconds it took me to re-roll.



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It'll help treat the symptom at least. Most succint one word names were snagged during the preorder reservation period anyway. The feedback from the prior purges tends to show that it doesn't free up that much. Perhaps because the second effect of a purge is a small subscription hike for a month.

Venture, Starfall, Eric Moonraker, Eva Knight, Jessica Ballantine, Nola Pinepixie, ALX-7, The Dakota Dragon, Iphigenia, Mr. Pagliacci, The Philosoraptor, Ranger Umbra, Sam Beowulf, Ursus Minor, Fleetblade, Vector Alpha, Ghostblaze, Merribelle, Thermophage, Agent Cerulean, Alison Silverheart, Caldera, Ebon StarKnight, Force XI, Graveblossom, Horatius Aquila, The Laughing Gnome, Master Kasai, The Red Iguana, Simon Joule, Dr. Solaria, Master Shadowscale, Phonon Flux, Adriella Cassidy, Bow Jest, Coloratura, Exergia, Ion Lash, Knight Zero, Scylia, Shadow Violet, Sparkdancer, Victor Praetorius, Gothzilla, Penelope Panda, The Undead Comic, Ahuilizti, Glass Ashes, Amarantia, Amelia Escobar, Amy Sunflower, Arcanum, Cat Stevie, David Moonbow, GI Jane, Jack Stonecrack, Jaidal Singh Bennet, Konoros, Lady Avernus, Mother Night, Ms. Gale, Phil Noir, Sieglinde, Stormtouch, Tisiphone Delta-7.

I left a few out that were obvious variations (e.g. Lady Caldera).

Oh please back before they changed the 60 day rule at the consignment house we constantly got complaints from people that had items deleted because they refused to read the rules. There were even people that claimed they had lost items on more than one occasion.

If people can't be bothered to learn the rules so they don't lose millions in game currency they sure as hell won't take any time to make sure they don't ignore/petition the wrong person.

I think that's Memphis Bill's character.

That is a little more convoluted than knowing two people can have the same character name.

You do realize that if someone petitions "Major Mars" the GM that handles it has to look at the server logs to see which "Major Mars" was in the zone that day and what they were saying. The GM is going to have to check global name to know which account to send the email to.

The ignore function would likely be merged with Global Ignore (if it hasn't been already). Either way, if you're clicking on the person spouting garbage in chat or on their character, the ignore function will know who to ignore.


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No it isn't. It's a factual example of how lazy people can be, even when it's in their best interest. Yes some people will make an effort to check global names, but most won't bother. It's much easier to just /gignore.


You do realize that most players use the /gignore and notes features more often than they use the /petition. Furthermore it really doesn't matter what a GM decides. Even if a player chose to use the "ignore as a spammer" feature which generates a petition as well as puts the offender on the ignore list, a GM isn't going to go into the players ignore list and remove the petitioned person from the list.

To ignore someone globally you have to enter their Global Name or click on the person's text or click on the character themselves. Which means you won't be ignoring the wrong person.


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Here's what I never get about this discussion and the knee jerk revulsion to a revised open local@global naming system:

IT DOESN'T NEED TO BE VISUALLY EXECUTED THE SAME WAY THAT OTHER HERO MMO DID IT!!!

Sorry for shouting, but people never seem to consider that obvious option.

First off, CO had a toggle that many folks never used that allowed you to turn off the @globalname extension in the chat windows. Many critics of their system never acknowledge this reality. I don't think many used it or knew it was there because the @globalname extension was on by default making it an "opt out" feature.

So first suggestion: any similar system in CoX should be "opt in" with the @globalname suffix being invisible unless you opt for it to be visible at all times. Have at least TWO different toggles, one for chat windows and one for over characters heads. Again, both defaulting to toggled OFF when introducing the system.

The $60k question of course with such a system if one could easily impersonate characters: what about griefing? Guessing here, but I'd be willing to put money on this that it would be relatively easy to have a system where any chat files that are saved for disciplinary purposes make all those invisible naming extensions visible. Additionally, add another name menu option, similar to the one we have now for "ignore as spammer" along the lines of "report for misconduct" Click on the name at the head of the offending chat line(s) and the report includes the full name extension as needed.

The OTHER $60k extension would be... IF we ever went to a serverless game world, what about players that currently like to make multiple copies of a single character with the same name again and again? A slightly more sophisticated system could permit having multiple characters OVER and OVER even on the same server! For example what if your name was structured something like this: <local_alias>.<character_name>@globalname

So if you want to make five incarnations as "Firedude" on Freedom, as a Tank, Blaster, Controller, etc. you conceivably could with such a system. Locally folks would only see you as Firedude over your character and in chat. But if they click on your name and "get full name" they'd see that you were Firedude.Firedude4@ObsessedWithFire

Even better, such a naming structure could even be used to help facilitate CROSS SERVER TEAMING and any naming and chat problems that may arise there. Simply include a server address in the name. Perhaps: <local_alias>.<character_name>.<server>@globalname ?

AND TO TOP THAT ALL OFF, introducing a feature like a local alias in our naming scheme would allow room for special missions or turning points where we get to rename our character IN GAME as part of our story should we choose. Yes, this means that NC and Paragon would no longer make much money (if ANY) from renaming tokens. BUT imagine how cool it would be if your character "Golden Angel" was able to be easily and fluidly renamed upon turning villain to "Dark Angel"? And then become "Angel Redeemed" upon turning hero? All by doing a special mission that ends with an optional text field that can be used to rename your character. I suggested this very feature in the GR CB in a similar thread to this one.

So in summary, just because CO's execution of the idea of an open naming scheme had the aesthetic grace of a drunken cow it doesn't mean that at its heart it isn't a good idea. Or that Paragon couldn't polish it and take it that much further as a game feature, yet again elevating the standard for what is expected from current and future generation MMOs.

I'm all for them putting some resources towards developing a more open naming system.

No offense, I don't want to have to deal with a 2-5 year learning curve, meanwhile people are /petitioning me because some mental defective (well, more defective than me) decided to roll up Hyperstrike, clone my appearance, and start ****.

Will people learn? Eventually. In the meantime, it'll be a ******* mess.

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