City of Heroes: Live Forum Archive

Free the names!

2short2care

By 2short2care,
Posted on: 2011-06-15 01:26 in CoH and CoV General Discussions

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bubbawheat View Post
or they're on /ghide
And the /hide feature can be customized to specifically hide from different types of searches.
  1. Hide and block all Invite Options
  2. Hide from Tells (Private Messages)
  3. Hide from Global Chat Channels
  4. Hide from Global Friends
  5. Hide from Server Friends
  6. Hide from Supergroup
  7. Hide from Searches

 

Posted

I'll point out that Zwillinger said on ustream this morning that they have no plans to run the name purge script in the near future.



Triumph: White Succubus: 50 Ill/Emp/PF Snow Globe: 50 Ice/FF/Ice Strobe: 50 PB Shi Otomi: 50 Ninja/Ninjistu/GW Stalker My other characters

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Snow Globe View Post
I'll point out that on Zwillinger said on ustream this morning that they have no plans to run the name purge script in the near future.
Anyone bother pointing back to him that it hasn't been run in over- what did I say, 1292 - days?

1292/365 = 3.5 years (and a bunch more after the decimal.)

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Snow Globe View Post
I'll point out that on Zwillinger said on ustream this morning that they have no plans to run the name purge script in the near future.
The Optimist Lemur in me says this will end the thread. The Forum Cartel Lemur in me knows it won't.

"Null is as much an argument "for removing the cottage rule" as the moon being round is for buying tennis shoes." -Memphis Bill

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Lemur Lad View Post
The Optimist Lemur in me says this will end the thread. The Forum Cartel Lemur in me knows it won't.
If we complain about it enough, they might y'know. Actually do something.

Brawling Cactus from a distant planet.

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Forbin_Project View Post
And the /hide feature can be customized to specifically hide from different types of searches.
  1. Hide and block all Invite Options
  2. Hide from Tells (Private Messages)
  3. Hide from Global Chat Channels
  4. Hide from Global Friends
  5. Hide from Server Friends
  6. Hide from Supergroup
  7. Hide from Searches
I just want to point out that hiding from /search does not equate to hiding from /getglobalname. I hide from /search all the time and that doesn't disallow people from getting my global name.

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Originally Posted by Dispari View Post
I don't know why Dink thinks she's not as sexy as Jay was. In 5 posts she's already upstaged his entire career.

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by CactusBrawler View Post
If we complain about it enough, they might y'know. Actually do something.
Hey it worked with the Merit prices on the Ascension Armor and related rewards, and that was only in Beta for two days before something was done about it. People have bringing up this topic for the past three years, every few months, and no redname ever comments on the topic.

And yes I am aware of what Zwillinger said in the Ustream today, because I asked the question. Hopefully by not in the near future he means not tomorrow, but in a few months, I am going to remain hopeful.

 

Posted

Every day I make a new trial account and fill every character slot on all the servers with the best names I can think of and cackle madly.

Therefor I am against any name purges, because it negatively affects my ability to have fun in the game.

 

Posted

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Originally Posted by Yogurt View Post
So, it hasn't been discussed and or addressed in a while, and I really think it needs to...
You're mistaken.


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All of the good names are taken. All of them. And by "good names" I mean iconic heroic names that you could see on the cover of a comic.
Nope. I get "good names" all the time.


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Almost four years ago, the names were freed from accounts that have been inactive for a very long time under certain character level restrictions, and I feel like it is long overdue for this glorious event to take place again. Four years is a long time ago. Can we please see this happen again? It would make so many people happy!
Actually, it would probably make very few, if any, people happy. It won't free up as many "good names" as you think. This has been observed from previous times the script was run.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Chase_Arcanum View Post
Every time this is done, it is prefaced by an announcement to all current and prior CoH customers explaining what is being done and when.
Negative. We were told, very plainly, the parameters that the script applies and that it could be run AT ANY TIME with NO FURTHER NOTICE OR WARNING. For all we know, they have run it 42 times since then.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Memphis_Bill View Post
I do, with modifications, primarily because it hasn't been run in years
See my above comment. For all we know, it was run yesterday.

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Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ironblade View Post
Negative. We were told, very plainly, the parameters that the script applies and that it could be run AT ANY TIME with NO FURTHER NOTICE OR WARNING. For all we know, they have run it 42 times since then.
According to Memphis Bill he has a character with an unusual name on an inactive account and he checks periodically to see if it's name has been freed up and it's still unavailable after 3 and a half years. So they haven't run the script since the last one they announced.

Bill's not known for lying. Being grouchy yes but not lying.

 

Posted

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Originally Posted by Ironblade View Post

See my above comment. For all we know, it was run yesterday.
Read what I said. I (and anyone else, thus the reason for me putting server and character name information out) can check this at will, assuming the servers are up.
Pinnacle:


It certainly wasn't run yesterday. They may have *said* they can run it "at any time without notice," but (a) they show no inclination to run it "in the near future," (b) I've asked via PM in the past before and have gotten the same answer, and (c) historically when they HAVE run it they've given us a heads up, and I don't see the dev or community team attitude changing on that.

 

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Originally Posted by Aggelakis View Post
I just want to point out that hiding from /search does not equate to hiding from /getglobalname. I hide from /search all the time and that doesn't disallow people from getting my global name.
Yes, but the OP was inferring that they were using /getglobalname to see if the person was online at the time. You get their global name no matter what, but you get the same message if they're offline, or if they're online but hidden.

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ironblade View Post
Actually, it would probably make very few, if any, people happy. It won't free up as many "good names" as you think. This has been observed from previous times the script was run.
I'd have to disagree with you here. The previous script was to limited.

I've seen a few names that would make me happy to use and they have no global name attached to them. That means they have been inactive since late i3 or beginning of i4 (I don't recall when globalnames became active, just that they were after I joined in i3).

And for those without an active account, I'd say 3-5 years of inactivity is a good bet they're not on vacation.

So throw that net wider...see how many names get freed up on just saying 3+ years inactive, level 1-49. So this doesn't even take out the level 50's (which I'm all for if they've been inactive for that long).

Oh and also all trial accounts, no matter the level.

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Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Yogurt View Post
So, it hasn't been discussed and or addressed in a while, and I really think it needs to...

All of the good names are taken. All of them. And by "good names" I mean iconic heroic names that you could see on the cover of a comic.

I am not saying that all of the names that are obscure words that required an hour in the thesaurus to find, words or names from another language, or horribly misspelled names are all taken as well, but a lot of those are taken too.

Almost four years ago, the names were freed from accounts that have been inactive for a very long time under certain character level restrictions, and I feel like it is long overdue for this glorious event to take place again. Four years is a long time ago. Can we please see this happen again? It would make so many people happy!
You know that you have my full support in this my friend. I think it's gonna happen again, because there has been a lot of feedback about this in the last two years. I know how ugly is to find good names on trial accounts and without a global name.

So i will sign for this in every post here.

 

Posted

/signed

I was really hoping they were going to free up the names on trial accounts when all trials had their globals changed to reflect their trial status.

Love me or hate me, it's still an obsession.

 

Posted

I'll never agree with the notion that all "good" names are taken. What's taken is "obvious" names. I consider running into a reserved name the same way as running into someone with the same costume as me (by pure chance) - I need to do better and think of something new.

That said, I've never been against running the name purge script, even often, provided we don't mess with its settings. I just know that people won't get the few specific names they're after.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Arcanaville View Post
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.

 

Posted

I'm still of the mind that genericizing the names of players who haven't been playing in a while is not the right solution to this problem; and I'm saying this as a guy who's run into the issue of how many names have been taken already.

Shifting importance from unique character names to unique global names would fix the major problems here. It doesn't have to read like an e-mail address either; the global name of the player could instead be displayed in the character info window, or made as an optional "sub-title" that appears under the selected badge of the character, sort of like how henchmen have their Mastermind's name as a subtitle.

I know the rules, so all I'll say is I've seen this kind of system work very well. I would vastly prefer it to coming back to CoH after a hiatus, only to find my characters have been genericized due to a name sweep.

 

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Originally Posted by LittleDavid View Post
I'm still of the mind that genericizing the names of players who haven't been playing in a while is not the right solution to this problem; and I'm saying this as a guy who's run into the issue of how many names have been taken already.
People who aren't paying to keep their accounts active have no right to complain. They aren't customers.

Quote:
Shifting importance from unique character names to unique global names would fix the major problems here.
That would only create a new problem where the devs would then have to deal with the majority of players that would be upset that their names were no longer unique. So who should the devs cater to? The sixty to one hundred thousand customers that like having unique names or the couple dozen that don't like unique names. I have a hunch the devs will go with keeping unique names.

Quote:
I know the rules, so all I'll say is I've seen this kind of system work very well. I would vastly prefer it to coming back to CoH after a hiatus, only to find my characters have been genericized due to a name sweep.
3 to 6 months is a hiatus and no one would object to limiting the script to anything over that time frame. Longer than that you take your chances the name won't be available if you ever come back.

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Forbin_Project View Post
People who aren't paying to keep their accounts active have no right to complain. They aren't customers.
People might be less likely to become paying customers again if they find that their character names are wiped just for not being all that active. This "name wipe" system doesn't sound like it distinguishes between "popular" or "wanted" names, and names which are highly unlikely to be contested. Attempting to do so would be near impossible, I imagine.

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So who should the devs cater to? The sixty to one hundred thousand customers that like having unique names or the couple dozen that don't like unique names. I have a hunch the devs will go with keeping unique names.
Where's your evidence for those numbers? To me, it looks like you're just pulling them out of thin air.

I doubt that vast majority exists, not when there are people who try to circumvent not getting the name they wanted by using periods or dashes or underscores. As someone pointed out earlier in this thread, there could very well be people who've "taken" the name you wanted which are still playing or have recently played.

So, show me where this vast majority of yours vehemently objects to this idea.

Quote:
3 to 6 months is a hiatus and no one would object to limiting the script to anything over that time frame. Longer than that you take your chances the name won't be available if you ever come back.
Is this actual NCSoft policy? The way you worded this sounds as if it is, but this thread is the first time I've heard about anything involving character name wipes.

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Forbin_Project View Post
That would only create a new problem where the devs would then have to deal with the majority of players that would be upset that their names were no longer unique. So who should the devs cater to? The sixty to one hundred thousand customers that like having unique names or the couple dozen that don't like unique names. I have a hunch the devs will go with keeping unique names.
It sure is dark, sticky, and smelly where you pulled that little piece of information from.

 

Posted

it's that time already? could of swore we had this little dance around a month ago.

1 year limit for inactive names under level 30.

 

Posted

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Originally Posted by rsclark View Post
It sure is dark, sticky, and smelly where you pulled that little piece of information from.
Heh. I guess the air would be thin there, too.

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Originally Posted by Mr. DJ View Post
it's that time already? could of swore we had this little dance around a month ago.

1 year limit for inactive names under level 30.
Like I said last page, I don't like this name wipe idea, and I think there are much better solutions to this.

Since I first started playing in 2008, I've only gotten 15 months of veterancy; as much as I love City of Heroes, I don't have the time or inclination to pay subscription fees when I have little time to play. I want to get the most out of my time.

And considering how I play, only one of my characters is above level 30.

How many other people who play City of Heroes are like me, I wonder? How many people would get burned by the various level and idle time criterion everyone's suggesting?

I can say for sure that I would find it a major turnoff to come back after a break only to find my names were wiped because I wasn't active enough for, essentially, the tastes of more dedicated players. I recognize that taken names are an annoyance--after all, I got hit by that roadblock myself--but that's why I think there are much better ways of handling this issue.

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by LittleDavid View Post
People might be less likely to become paying customers again if they find that their character names are wiped just for not being all that active. This "name wipe" system doesn't sound like it distinguishes between "popular" or "wanted" names, and names which are highly unlikely to be contested. Attempting to do so would be near impossible, I imagine.
If no one else wants your name, you'll have it when you return. All it does is flag the name as available. If someone else asks for Ice-Lad after the purge, they'll get it and you'll return to find yourself named Ice-Lad1 with a free rename token. If no one asks for Ice-Lad, you'll return to find your name untouched (and now safe since you've logged in).

So it naturally distinguishes between "wanted/popular" names and "unlikely to be contested" names by virtue of the fact that no one else will ask to be "Chandra Dillmyster" or "Purple Tablelamp Bot" in your absence.

Quote:
...because I wasn't active enough for, essentially, the tastes of more dedicated players
In this context, "more dedicated" means "actively paying month after month while you're not".