What about when names are taken by players who don't come back?

Disclaimer: This isn't a rant thread about me being able to come up with a name. I need no help in that department, and my signature includes a link for those who are less creative.....or don't try as hard.

I tend to see this conversation come up a lot often when I am in game.....and it's usually from someone who keeps trying names, only to be told that the name is not available, or is already in use.

"Well how come I never see this person if the name is already being used?!" the person tends to ask. My thoughts on it:

1. You aren't online at the same time as the person that has the name that you want (due to different time zones, work schedules, et al)
2. The person that has the name you want is probably on hide (I know someone who did this when he had a dozen folks send him tells asking for his name)
3. The name is taken, but is an unplayed character (either because the person can't think of a concept but really wants the name, or he/she snagged the name, and keeps it unplayed on purpose so no one else can have it)
4. The person probably quit the game long ago and has no intention of returning

#4 was actually mentioned by someone else, but it did make me wonder. I know there was a name freeing a few years ago, and that it wasn't all that effective, or it didn't free up the names that many wanted......or something like that.

But what about the names that are on long dead accounts?

I am aware that the devs don't reset names in the hopes that players that cancelled their accounts return. I know for a fact that if I were to unsub and return, and all my names had been taken, I'd be a bit sore about it, but coming up with new ones wouldn't be hard. Most players aren't as forgiving though. If they see that their names are gone, they probably won't be staying with the game any longer.

You'd think that they'd have a different stance on accounts that have been inactive for years. Players who have been gone for years do return......but at the same time, there are players who unsubbed long ago, and most likely will not be coming back.

I'm just using this scenario as an example, but doing a /getglobalname search for Intense on Virtue nets me........nothing. The player who had that name seems to have quit before global handles were even introduced. And both sides can argue. He may return one day. He may stay gone forever.

I suppose at the end of the day, it's hard to tell who will return, and who has no plans of coming back.

*(I am aware that some former players are now deceased that have names that others might want, but did not want to mention it at first. I didn't want anyone to misunderstand what I meant.)

Thoughts?

To my knowledge, though someone may need to correct me on this, character names get 'released' if the character is inactive for long enough (year or so, I think) so someone else can use the name. I'm curious about chat handles, though, as I lost my handle when the server lists were merged and, so far as I can tell, I lost it to an inactive account. I've tried contacting whoever currently is '@BW' a couple times without ever getting a response, whichi s why I'm assuming the account in inactive.

Yeah, ditto for me. I'm now 'TechbotALPHA' in game, and lost my wonderful limey green name colour to some horrible construction vomit yellow colour =/ Unamused I was

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zwillinger GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Captain_Photon NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.

I still mourn my @Gideon handle. Had it in the EU since we get totalcat, and lost it to someone who appears to never be online (or at least doesn't answer politely worded global mails about ANYTHING.)

The situation stinks, but there's not a lot that can be done about it.

Oh, it's this topic's turn on the front page again.

A system to release unused names alienates returning customers (and they're really coming out of the woodwork lately with f2p), and doesn't actually free up very many names, as Mr. Morbid already said. And unfortunately, there's a very direct tradeoff between how effectively it frees up names, and how many returning customers it alienates.

Really, the core problem isn't that so many names are taken. The core problem is that names can be 'taken' at all. I've played Another Game where character names are non-unique (so I can be Doc@Hopeling and you can be Doc@Nightphall and there's no conflict), and I actually quite liked it, and would be totally in favor of such a system here. From past discussions, it appears to be an unpopular solution here, though, and I can't fault people for their opinions (although some of the objections raised against it are overblown, for example copycat griefing, because actual evidence in Another Game says those things don't happen enough to be worth mentioning).

What about when people stop crying about this issue?

And putting a disclaimer at the top doesn't make this anything but the same old dead horse thread saying "All the good names are gone WAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!"

Recovering names from inactive accounts doesn't solve the problem, especially not in the long run. The only real solution is a non-unique naming system.

WARNING: I bold names.

Then names are taken by players who don't come back.