Free the names!

I totally agree. And yet this same point made no difference when the needs of inactive users was placed over those of active, paying EU subscribers. This whole thread is very familiar to me...

If they are considering character@global, they should purge the inactive globals first, period.

This is a decision that potentially affects the bottom line, so no, it doesn't take place in the office equivalent of a frictionless void.
You haven't established the rules.
And if they want to be known as arbitrary jerks, they can just go ahead and implement a complicated new policy and write off potential return business. That's a superb method of simultaneously losing good will and returning customers. Is that from the Jack Emmert playbook?

I believe the standard response here should be "Well, he should have been more creative! Man, why would he want a stupid name like that anyway that someone else took so obviously it wasn't original enough to be worth having?"

Universal rule: There's always one.

Oh you mean like when they implemented their AE exploit policy.

Or what they did with PvP.

Or the recent global name policy when they merged the server lists.

Welcome to the world of MMO's there is always someone claiming the devs are arbitrary jerks about something and that vast hordes will ragequit or not return if they don't cater to their unreasonable demands.

Unknown. Spider-Man and Spider-Woman use a hyphen. As do many others.

It's not coming up with new, original names that's my problem. When I'm creating a character from scratch, the unique name policy can sometimes be a hindrance, but usually not a deal-breaker. But the problem is that I (and many others, I'd imagine) don't just play new characters we created after this game launched. I also have several toons based on old Marvel PnP RPG characters I used to play back in the day, decades-old characters with established identities and names.

It's an incredibly amazing experience to see one of your own personal characters, developed back in your high school days, become a playable character in a video game! But when that name is unavailable, is it really the same character? Honestly, sometimes not, because of the ways that names shape identity. These types of characters are much trickier to rename due to their established histories. The reason my home server is Triumph isn't really because I like the solitude there, although that's nice, but it's first and foremost because it was the best place for my characters to have their proper names. (That, and I don't like to wear pants.)

I very much want the ability to chose whatever name I want on the server I want. It's not that I'm malicious and want to steal your names, nor because I'm less creative and can't use a thesaurus. It's because I want to play with my own character concepts from years gone by, characters I already have a vested interest in, characters who are already defined to the point that a new name often makes them a different character.

d

And some people cannot admit that their "original" names are little more than a random assortment of letters that fails to communicate anything meaningful about the character or simply screams out "I used to be dark elf #6".

There are games out there that will allow you to do what you want and they won't cost you a penny to play. Here's it's first come first served.

Now if the devs are developing cross server teaming that's a valid reason to reconsider the issue.

Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison See, it's gems like these that make me check Claws' post history every once in a while to make sure I haven't missed anything good lately.

Wanting to give players more flexibility to create the characters they want with the names they want is also a valid reason. It just happens to be one you don't like.

d

"umm" <--- Really annoying. Almost obnoxiously so. Are you trying to meditate online, or just trying to be condescending?

2) Why is this problem being treated as serious? Add a 2 to the end of the name you want; problem closed. It's done in comicbooks all the time. The third Robin isn't suddenly considered "The first Robin" because the other two guys haven't used the name in a while.

You talk about "classic" super hero names, but that's exactly the naming scheme actual comicbooks tend to use when they do databases of heroes. If they're the second hero to use the name, a 2 or II is tacked onto their name in the listing. I've yet to see why that would work here; if people refer to you as Dave 34, just explain to them "It's just Dave." Or I guess if you want to be rude, tell 'em, "Ummmmm it's Dave, you twit!"

It seems much simpler to tack on an optional number than to add global names to the end of your name.

That's the solution I'd rather see; when you register a name that's already "taken," offer an "official" number marker. If the name's been taken twice, it'd offer a (III) behind the name (Or your global name, so you can choose.) Show the thing in parenthesis and make it slightly off color to make it obvious it isn't a part of the official name.

Yes, you'd still have to deal with the fact that people will realize that you weren't the first person on the game to think of the name. But let's be honest - you actually weren't.

I have quite a few characters in CoH that are based on prior PnP RPG characters. I have never gotten fixated on, or even extensively delayed by, the fact that their "special" name was taken, either because I don't have a problem finding a new name that fits my desired concept, or because I didn't give them an extremely obvious, boring name in the first place.

I understand people wanting, but unable to get, the special names they associate with their special characters. They all need to get over the fact that, in an environment with potentially tens of thousands of (at least) equally creative fellow players, the "first come, first served" law is the only one that's fair... and they lost out. They claim "all the good names are gone", to which I respond "apply more imagination and education". When they say "this is the best and only name for a character I've played elsewhere for years", my answer is the same.

There's more light outside the box. Folks should try it.

I don't see any reason why it couldn't be done retroactively. If someone subscribed for eighteen months, and now it's fifteen months past their subscription running out, none of their names will be purged for another three months. After that, the two oldest characters on each server (one for having an account, and one for the subscription anniversary) will keep their names and all others will be purged.

I will say that after thinking about it a bit more, perhaps it would be better to go by how many hours each character has been played instead of age of the characters. It's not unusual for some people to have "mains" that they created a year or two into the game. Also, hours played per character is already tracked, as it's one of the stats you can get from talking to civilian NPCs.

Frankly, I think this is a false dichotomy, that if they do anything, they're jerks who hate former customers.

The simple fact of the matter is that if someone has left the game for a year or two, there's a really good chance that they're so gone that they'll never come back. Yes, there are exceptions, but not enough to justify holding up policies or procedures designed to keep existing customers happy and/or entice people who have unsubscribed for a short while to not let it stay lapsed long-term.

I also think that you're overstating things a bit. If I left the game for a year or two and found that all but one or two of my characters has had his or her name wiped, it really wouldn't bother me so much. Obviously, I didn't have much commitment to the game when I played. Why should the game have some weird unbalanced commitment to me? I'd probably be really happy that my main didn't get wiped (thus the "permanence tokens"), I'd think, "Well, that's no biggie" for the others that got wiped, and probably wouldn't even remember the names of most of my characters that got wiped.

I think it's really naive and unfair to sacrifice existing players with their thoughts and wants for the sake of hypothetical former customers who may return some day but be pissed off because their favorite name on a character that they didn't even play as much as others got wiped and will go away. Don't get me wrong, I also think it's naive and unfair to have the attitude that if someone leaves the game, to hell with 'em. I just happen to think that there's room for a reasonable balance between the two, and I think my suggested plan is a pretty good attempt to nail it down quantitatively.

No, it's obviously not the only fair rule. The "get whatever name you want" rule is equally fair - additionally, it is equally fair to both new and old players.

But it's not the trivial matter you're claiming, either. Or, at least, IT MAY NOT BE. You don't actually know. You're basing your entire argument on the ABSENCE of evidence/information. This is faulty reasoning. You make various assumptions about what people would do and how they would react. Since the scenario you describe to support your point did not occur, you proceed to draw conclusions.

Everyone is reading WAY too much into this part.
"This name issue generates almost as much nonsense as server merge threads. The topic is off limits!"
"Okay, I'll just say we're not at liberty to discuss the matter."

Well, yeah. You can't prove that something won't ever happen -- if someone wants to predict doom should an event come to pass, it's up to them to make a solid argument for it. I think that pointing to past events and noting the lack of doom is a fair rebuttal to people saying "But... THIS could happen!"

I think that the Devs not being able to or not wanting to run a script that they've already run TWICE is a sign of "DOOM." They really must not expect much more life out of this game if they won't bother running this script again.

And yes, I am being completely serious.

I like Ironik's interpretation.

I could definitely go with that. If the account hasn't been logged on since global chat went active, even through free reactivation periods, it seems a fair bet that they're not coming back.

...Okay, you lost me.

It's a shame that someone took the forum name "Strawman" years ago but isn't using it. I'd love adopt it myself and formally post "name-purge = DOOOOM" in this thread.

For my part, I've outlined a scenario likely to result in paperwork, headaches, and unwelcome distractions for Paragon Studios and defy anyone to enterain why they would choose this in their 9-to-5 jobs without sufficient reason for the bottom line.

"We're working round the clock to launch new Incarnate trials, prepare a space station expansion for announcement, and update graphics on the steampunk booster pack! Do they want to take time away from these in order to put 'Kltpzyxm123' up for grabs?"

"Don't worry. Once I post in the latest name-purge thread, it'll dwindle away before the weekend starts. Besides, it's not like anyone's going read 'imminent cross-server teaming' into a standard-issue 'no comment'."

Wonder if the devs are planning something

I think he's sayin that if we don't switch to IPv6 we will run out of names and the Devs know this and don't care bcuz they know the game won't be around when the IPv4 names run out.
I think.

Who knows?

Developing something even