Name Reservation Changes

I don't think anyone could reasonably expect to keep a name after 3 years of not playing the game. Especially with the free activation weekends and the Free2Play aspect that Issue 21 brought. If the player left due to financial reasons, they don't have an excuse for not coming back by now.

Edit:
A friend of mine left this game a couple years ago, but forgot to cancel auto-billing. He finally got around to doing so last summer. He is never coming back to CoH... Ever. He's pretty much told me that I can use the account as I see fit (I've left it alone).

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

Why not? Pre-Freedom, there are people who'd kept names 6+ years.

Again, the whole argument about "time limits" is simply frosting on a turd.

The turd being "Someone else has something I want and aren't using it, so it should be taken away from them".

Forgive me if I don't take a bite.

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I'm sure you are...

And they've already stated that their current virtual structure makes server costs essentially a null issue.

Plus there's the unwarranted assumption that such a plan will actually free up an appreciable number of space. It isn't.

Please don't misunderstand. I'm not saying you, yourself are necessarily being arbitrary or selfish. I'm saying the argument itself is. It's simply being put into reasonable-sounding terms to make it seem less offensive.


Again, you are missing the point that the temporal qualifier here "3 years/5 minutes/whatever" is utterly irrelevant to the actual argument. Again, it's simply an attempt to dress up a selfish argument in trappings of "that sounds reasonable".

If you believe this, then I have nothing further to say to you.

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Are you sure you want to phrase it like that? There are currently players that have either never spent a dime on the game or have dropped to Premium and stopped spending money altogether.

Should the company flag their character names as available if a paying customer wants the name in question?

I know you didn't mean it that way from your first use of "Active", but just pointing that out cuz, well, you know how this place gets sometimes.

So what? The company isn't obligated to keep that policy. Besides which, most people that kept names 6+ years have paid for that. That snowstorm company with the 800-pound orc in the MMO room has a 3 month "use it or lose it" policy.

It can't be taken from them if they are actively playing. You are making excuses for players that couldn't be bothered to play a free game. They aren't customers. They aren't even potential customers at this point. They are dead data.

And you should know better than to confuse active content usage with data storage.

Okay, the developers have put the channel timeout command in game to automatically purge channels of accounts that don't log in during a specified time. With a 6 month inactivity purge Triumph's largest channel went from nearly 2,500 accounts to well under 1,000. So roughly 1,500 accounts went dark. That is roughly 18,000 characters at 12 characters per account. Now multiply that by 14 servers. Now we're talking about a quarter-million characters, if not more.

No, I get that you believe that your definition of the argument is valid, however you have completely failed to establish why these former players (some not even customers) deserve any consideration. You are trying to say that these people should have more rights than an active player (whether paying or not).

Where, exactly, should Paragon Studios draw the line? Should they be forced to preserve a resource drain until they close the doors? Take a look at what they are doing with the localization to French & German, and those are active AND paying subscribers. You seem to think that more rights should be applied to accounts that have been essentially dead for the past 3+ years? Give me a break.

What if the player is dead? Are they ever coming back to play the game? Do they care if someone can get "their" name? Should we bar another player the use of the name?

Yeah, I should have been clearer.

From most to least rights:

1. Active Subscriber
2. Inactive, but paying subscriber (ie. still have an active account, but not playing currently)
3. Active non-paying player
   --------------------------
4. Inactive non-paying player
5. Inactive trial account

Groups 1-3 should have precedence over 4-5. Group 4 should have a grace period before being declared inactive, hence the 3 year time frame. This means that military personnel won't be subject to a purge (a sticking point in the past).

I'm saying that there should be a cut-off. I'm willing to pin down that cut-off because I don't think that Paragon Studios should continue to waste resources on accounts that will never come back. Even if they do come back it is unlikely that they will even remember the characters that were removed.

And to be really clear as to how I feel, groups 4 & 5 should have the characters purged from the database(s). The have ceased to be potential customers after 3+ years of inactivity.

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

Absolutely nothing, which is why I said if in a suggestions forum. If it does require alot of work, I'll manage with the names I already have. Don't worry too much, it's just a suggestion, not a crusade. I'm saving all my bullets to get States, Psyche and Miss L. back among the living

You realise I was just using X as a generic example, right? Thought we were buddies, Sam, and here you are flaming me along with the goon squad. That hurts

What's unfortunate is me reading all those "don't like it, go play another game" comebacks everytime I visit this suggestions forum. *You* going away would actually make me happy, and I'm pretty sure alot of the people you've been bullying for kicks would feel a little karmic joy as well. Anyway, I've wasted enough time in this thread. A future name purge or global name identifier instead of unique local names both seem like good ideas to me, so for whatever it's worth, /signed.

Actually, in one case I do know the player is never returning to City of Heroes. I've been trying to convince him to do so for the last 2 years without success. I'm sure that a few players will be mad at losing a name they abandoned 3+ years ago. The same type of person will be annoyed that they lost a piece of paper after someone cleans up after they've hoarded piles of junk for years.

Can you give a single reason why these people should be catered to?

In your opinion. That opinion isn't universal to the game, or even a majority of the game. I'm not fooling myself in thinking that a majority share my opinion that long time inactive accounts should be purged either. Most players would likely fall between the two opinions. A minority would push beyond either opinion.

Freeing names would leave a more favorable impression on new players when they get a name they want rather than a name they've settled on.

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

Awesome.

I know some who are, so.....it's a wash?

Exactly the sort of people who tend to play video games.

Name stasis is the status quo, I'm not in the position of needing to prove anything.

The question is why should YOU be catered to at the expense of others?

Because it's all about how the 800 pound gorilla of the industry does thing and we should strive at every opportunity to emulate everything about them.

Yeah. Right.


And you're simply trying to sweeten an argument for a company-sponsored theft of virtual property, used or unused. The way to do that is always to demonize the people you're going to be taking things from.

And you should know better than to assume you actually know anything about their server setup and data retention systems.


Open channels aren't the same thing as player names though.


I didn't say these customers deserve consideration. I merely said that you've failed to detail a legitimate reason why they DON'T. "Someone else might want the name they aren't using" isn't a legitimate reason. Sorry.

Who says they have to draw a line?
Who says that it represents a real, truly appreciable resource drain?

The French and German localization IS quantifiable as a drain. They required staff time (paid staff time) to do translations, and the localization takes up actual space in the client install (and possibly on the server). That requires bandwidth (for the client downloads), as well as ongoing, dedicated Q&A and support personnel (paid support personnel).

How, precisely, does an unused PC name in the system even APPROXIMATE the same thing?

What if the player is dead? Are they ever coming back to play the game? Do they care if someone can get "their" name? Should we bar another player the use of the name?


Classism, plan and simple. "I'm paying, they're not, therefore I am right."

This is that ugly little underbelly I'm talking about here.


Take a business class before making statements like this. They're STILL "potential" customers. Even if the potential is low-to-nonexistant. This, again, is why your attempt to put a temporal qualifier on your argument is pointless.

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No it wouldn't. Because nobody has any idea what names are actually available in your "to be freed" pool.

Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.

It's cute how you try to spin things. No one told you to stop playing this game. If you bothered to actually read my post instead of jumping to conclusions I clearly said that the other MMO, not CoH, wouldn't be losing money since they already allow free accounts.

Both this game and the other MMO are hybrid F2P busines models so you can play both for free without spending a dime more than you are right now. So when you get the urge to use a name that's already taken here, you can make it there.

Also explaining how most of the players agree with the games unique naming policy and providing you with the devs own statements that they have no intention of running the name freeing script any time in the near future isn't bullying.

Yeah seeing how some (not all) of the pro-purge people usually react I have to agree that they'll still be complaining because they still won't get the names they want. They've convinced themselves the names they want are on inactive accounts and can't possibly be on an active account where the owner plays opposite their schedule or is on a less frequently played alt.

Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.

But when they try to use that name, they have no idea it's in use, so they were original in their use of it.

Just because it was taken doesn't mean they were unoriginal, which is exactly what you were saying.

You know what's better. Not seeing names such as "Bigphatphish" or "xXxNether GoatxXx" or "Yuki Haru Kamamichi" or "31it3 Pwn3r" as considered original names because hey, they weren't taken.

Also, lots of players look down on some of those original names, like the xXxNAMEHERExXx (I believe this is available, feel free to use it) or "31it3 Pwn3r"

Hell, Ive avoided sending out tells to the "31it3 Pwn3r" style names to see if they want to team, even when they were looking for a team. I can only imagine others do the same.

No, that isn't my point.

What I'm saying is if your obvious, blindingly appropriate name is taken you should limber up your creativity and find a different but still suitable & satisfying variation.

Which has always been my first impulse, a much more constructive one than OMG someone else has MY NAME! I MUST TAKE IT FROM THEM!!

That not originality, it's someone getting around a word filter.

But it's no big deal in any case- if the person playing the characters doesn't mind why should I. Their character, their decisions.

For them to own it, they would have to purchase it. In the case of @TRIALXXXXX accounts, they have not purchased anything and they haven't spent any time in the game since their trial account expired. At any rate, no player really owns their character. Players only get a license to use a character (name and all) as long as Paragon Studios wishes. Everyone agrees with this every time the player logs into the game.

I'm not saying that Paragon Studios should take any names from active accounts. Active account = current lessee. If you don't make payments on your car, you get it repossessed. That is what players are asking for in this thread, that the company should repossess the names and make them available to active lessees. The same people are asking to give inactive lessees some consideration in case they are in financial difficulties or serving in the military.

And let's be clear here: the people with long-term inactive accounts are also taking potential away from active accounts. So who is stealing from who again?

Are these long term inactive accounts "customers", yes or no? It is a fairly simple question.

• If they aren't customers, then why are you wasting everyone's time defending them?
• If they are customers what, exactly, are they currently providing to offset delivery of service?
• If they were customers, but are not customers now, then can you offer any data that their worth would be greater than currently active subscribers?

Data storage is data storage.

Open channels give an indication of player activity.

They don't deserve the same consideration because they haven't invested anything into the game, speaking specifically of long inactive trial accounts.

The previously paid, but long dormant, inactive accounts do deserve some consideration. This is why people are suggesting 3+ years of being dormant. This gives consideration for those that might be down financially or serving in the military. It also gives more consideration to those that are currently and actively supporting the game either by paying a subscription, by buying from the Paragon Market, or even by providing player characters for the rest to interact with.

Unless their server contract provides an unlimited amount of storage space, records take space. They have approximately 1.5 million characters across all the servers, if I recall the numbers correctly. Are you trying to say that approximately 250k characters or 1/6th the total amount of characters isn't a waste of space?

I noticed you didn't actually say anything about this.

And to be blunt, I don't care. They are not customers. They aren't "owners" of anything. They do not have any rights to a name if they have abandoned the game. Heck, we don't have any rights to the names. The only group that does have rights in this is Paragon Studios.

Go to your business class and ask which is better: an existing customer or a low-to-nonexistent potential customer. I'm pretty sure the answer you'll get is to look to customer retention.

Customer acquisition is costly. Customer retention is fairly cheap, yet yields good results. This is why Paragon Studios is focused on subscribers as their main income source.

How would you know? All you are expressing is Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt. The problem with the previous name purges is that it was far too restrictive to be any good. It was designed to fail. It was designed from the ground up not to free a lot of names. They lacked the courage to do right by their actual customers at the time.

The current system is more prone to name-squatting (and I'm as guilty of this on some servers as others) than actual use.

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

Well put.

I'm not sure if the pro-name theft cadre in this thread has never worked a day of retail in their lives, or just has zero understanding of human psychology beyond MINE! GIMME! I TAKE!, but the disconnect between reality and their perception of things is river deep, mountain high.

After a 6 to 9 year absence I doubt he'd recognize any characters he had, just from a powers aspect. He'd make a new character to play with his son.

Under the suggestion, he'd also have ample opportunity to maintain his names. CoH IS free to play after all. All he'd have to do is log into the game once in a while to keep himself off the longtime inactive list.

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

You know. I don't find it ugly at all. Oh no! Classism! In a game! *LE GASP* Please. No one has said, make the names available of someone who's account just recently went inactive.

In fact, with the game being F2P now, no account should ever truely be inactive that long. Come in, check up on things once every month or two.

This is people saying, oh hey look, this account hasn't been logged into for 3 years or more years!

And with CoH F2P now, all those people who quit playing because they couldnt afford it, can come back now, log in, and do it all for free.

Ah. Look at the dancing goalposts.

Since all accounts are technically "active" now. As in they can be logged into?

Also, the question is. Are they "potential" customers.

In your opinion, no. Of course, you're ignoring the broadness of the term "potential" in a case of trying to narrowly define a term to maximize your chances of winning an unwinnable argument.

• Irrelevant.
• Irrelevant.
• It isn't on me to disprove your argument. It's upon you to prove yours. That there's a justifiable monetary benefit to NCSoft/Paragon for stealing these player's names.

If the server is bought-and-paid-for, that's a pre-set sunk cost. How it ammortizes out in the long run is largely irrelevant, so long as the server pays for itself.

Keep telling yourself that.

Luckily, it's not up to you.


Again, if the disk space is bought and paid for, and they're not exceeding their diskspace IT DOES NOT MATTER TO THEM. Also, you apparently missed my point about freeing names NOT freeing disk/database space. You can't simply blank those spaces (they're a unique value field remember?) and leave them thus. On the whole you'll probably INCREASE the size of the database.

So your argument is pretty much moot here.

My response to this is "You don't know. Neither does Paragon in most cases." Instead of digging in and hand-stitching data you THINK is correct, leave it be.

In short, I don't care.


I dunno about that. You're arguing fairly vigorously for someone who's uncaring.

That you know of...

That you know of...

First, it's not up to you to determine someone's "rights" here. But keep trying! It's quite amusing.

Second, you have no clue whether or not they're "abandoned". You simply slapped an arbitrary time period on your "I want it. Gimme gimme gimme!" argument.

Now you're getting it.


Since they can't guarantee that what they're freeing up will be what people want anyhow (and will just set a bad precedent that even greedier individuals will try a combination of "Well you did it once" and "take a mile" will attempt to exploit), it's simply better business for them to do nothing than risk damage to a multi-million entry user database.


Yet you're arguing that they should supply a commodity that they have zero control over (quality names).

No. That's MY question. You are laboring under the assumption that a database purge with your parameters will free up certain "quality" names.

You have exactly ZERO reason to know (or expect) this. You're operating on a hunch, not data.

No. I'm saying you have exactly zero data to back up your assumptions about this.

You: I am the emperor!
Me: Where's your clothes?

Capisce?

I say, again, you are not the arbiter or right/wrong in this.

If Paragon isn't bothered by this, I fail to see why you are. Especially if, as you have stated, you're not really interested in stealing someone else's name.

Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.

Are you seriously trying to tell me what a former customer and MY friend would remember and do?

Last time I talked to him he remembered his main characters as well as a half dozen PnP "Call of Cthulhu" characters from 2000 to 2007. He last played in 2009 his main being a fully IOed level 50 Ill/Rad. Are you seriously trying to say that he would not recognize his character? Heck I was gone from December 2009 till Sept 2011 and had no problem recognizing my characters and the game has not appreciably changed since then or between spring and fall of 2009. The only change I saw as I had to spend a few weeks getting my incarnate stuff and my reflexes back.

As for what he will play when he returns I am sure he will play both a new character with his son, as well as his old characters with his old friends.

As for signing on he has not done so since 2009 and is unlikely too until 2015-2017, unless he heard of this sort of change. Since he was unaware of "Freedom" until December 2012 when I last talked to him, it is quite possible that such a change would miss him as well as hundreds of thousands of other players.

Business wise this would not make sense. Upsetting and alienating thousands of potential returning players does not strike me as a smart move for NC Soft when the benefits are so small. I have never heard of a player quitting because they couldn't get a name they wanted. I know in RL two other players who would never return to the game if their main character's name was taken away and from the response in other threads it is apparent there are many more in that camp.