Name Reservation Changes

I've also seen a few where the time offline wasn't longer than the game has been around, but supposedly offline before the power sets the character uses were added to the game.

Actually, the olives in question would have had been put aside from a customer that was in the shop about three years ago and you put them aside in case he comes back sometime, anytime.

When it starts affecting paying customers.

They don't "have" it. The names are data, an alphanumerical string in possession of Paragon Studios, stored on Paragon Studios servers and they have been given the option of using that string as an identifier for another set of data. To compare it with ownership of a material or intellectual object is preposteriorus [sic].


And I reject your slippery slope argument. If gripes persist, then they should be treated on their own merit, not based on precedent.

{just to make it clear, I couldn't care less about previous name uprootings. I refuse to call it a "purge" because the term is wholly misleading.}

Hyperbole much? There's a difference between a handful of months and a handful of years. To call for that short a time of inactivity is idiotic, to actually implement it even moreso. Not on principle, but because it would piss off the customers who might have only taken a hiatus with intention to return - not the ones who have been absent for an order of magnitude longer.

Any number applied to a sociological situation is arbitrary, especially if it involves the word "should". What can be quantified are probabilities, and while I'm anything but a sociologist, I'm pret-ty sure that on average, uprooting inactive names would make paying customers more happy and willing to keep playing than the reverse.

In that case they shouldn't be olives. It should be Twinkies cuz you know they last forever.

I thought the point of Freedom was to make more money. The fact that people can come and go, or pay or not pay, was merely a by product of that.

This varies per person. For myself, the amount of time is relevant. Because there will be players that sure will come back but there will be others that won't.

This is a different case but i can compare it with this one. When i have character names that at the end they didn't fit my concept, i prefer to give them to someone that i know, then leave them taking dust. Someone can make a good use of the name, instead of doing nothing on my account. Other players prefer to have the name even they won't be using it at all. I respect that.

First i thought that this case won't go so far. Now i see that it needs to be worked out by the devs, since from post freedom, a lot of people are talking about a new name script and new methods with the name reservation policies.

Just like Brand X has mentioned, Freedom is a method to make more money at the end. Even players can choose to pay or not pay, like most F2P MMO's, they are designed for that.

Then make a real business case for why and exactly how this will make money for them. Not how you EXPECT it will make money. Not:

1. Listen to me
2. Do what I say
3. ???
4. Profit!!!

Post confidence levels that what you're proposing will ACTUALLY have the effect you're expecting, not just blind faith assertions.


Until that time, this is just the iceberg shipping scheme from Brewster's Millions.

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

I am glad profit is not the only reason the devs choose to do things for the game.....otherwise I doubt we will ever see AE changes, anything with bases, etc etc.

I would love to see your proof that if a name purge; with a 3 year cut off were to happen, it would adversely affect the game financially... oh wait..there is no way to prove either side when it comes to financial gain/loss.... So in essence the arguments all boil down to he said/she said...since NEITHER side can definitively prove anything regarding this suggestion and monetary gain/loss for Paragon. As a matter of fact EVERY argument has been conjecture and supposition...for both sides...but you still have a select few who will swear by their claims...irregardless that they cannot PROVE any of it.... just saying

That said... I still stand behind the idea...even though it would have absolutely zero gain for me. The idea of rewarding someone who hasn't played/paid for years...seems a bit silly to me.

I actually discussed this with a friend of mine who runs his own store ...asked him if he had a customer who came in every day for 3-4-5 years and got the same kind of coffee...that he special ordered for them... what he would do if they stopped coming in. His reply was quite simple: Stop ordering the coffee since after awhile it is easy to come to the conclusion that they:
1. Moved
2. Died
3. No longer like his store/products
4. Found a new store/product they like better

When I asked him "but..what if they come back after 3-4 years and said "hey where is that coffee you always ordered for me??" He said he would just stare at them and wonder why the heck they thought they were that important for him to keep ordering something for years when they never bothered to come to his store. LOL
(He runs his own lil coffee/convenience store - his Canela coffee is YUM btw...and he orders it for me LOL... so then he asked me if I was moving or something LOL!)

Originally Posted by Paladiamors I love you, I Burnt the Toast!

And that's what it really comes down to. No matter what those against think of the suggestion. It's something that could make a current subcribers day and keep them coming back.

Now Im not saying, go the route of "once your inactive the names are made available" but if they've been gone after a certain point of time, free them up.

No actually it doesn't. Why you may ask? Simple.

1. Names are not a unique blend of coffee, or rare olives that spoil and have to be continually replaced so they are always available when and if the long absent customer returns. And that's something that could cost a lot of money over time.

2. This is an ever changing and expanding game and the space they use to store the names is inconsequential and has been paid for long ago so it now costs nothing for the company to store them.

3. There is no danger of running out of names. The company doesn't go to Big Lots and buy packages of names for players to choose from and then has to buy more when those get used. The only limits to naming are our imaginations.

Now this ^ is a simple hard to refute argument, because so many of us are attached to our character names we can appreciate the argument.


Now I'm not going to scream an hollar if the devs run the script again. Neither I nor anyone else will notice a difference unless the devs publish a list of the names that get freed up and we watch the conflagration of ensuing nerdrage complaints on the forums. (Just look at the complaints people are making about the name "Freebie Fridays" being inaccurate because it starts 12am Friday British time and not 12am Friday in the time zone they live in as an example of how silly the people can get.)

The point of the friend was simple: He has no loyalty as a business to someone who no longer frequents his business. Customers take breaks...but at some point a smart business will realize "Hey I do not think they are coming back"...otherwise they are simply the "dumped Ex holding out hope that one day their Ex will come back to them...." Which btw is a running joke with me and a female friend. She broke up with her BF of 5 years and the first few weeks they broke up she would say "Do you think people who break up have a chance of getting back together?" So now when we talk on the phone I always try to slip in "Hey Crystal I have a question.... do you think people who break up will get back together?" (It's been 2 years...she has given up and moved on LOL!)

My point? There comes a time when you have to realize someone is not coming back...and appreciate those people that you do have...either in a personal or business relationship.

Originally Posted by Paladiamors I love you, I Burnt the Toast!

Before Freedom, and this suggestion has been asked for way before Freedom, people where paying to play. Therefore, once they stop paying to play and lost access, they were no longer paying to keep the names.

And you know, plenty of people want to use names like "Testament" "Ruin Girl" "Forsaken" "Nuclear Girl" over names like "Komomichi Yuri" "Dark Shadow Black Jackal" "INeedHealer" "Killer Elite Robot Guy" "Helen Fitzgerald"

You know, names that fit more inline with comic book superheroes and having names that fit the GENRE.

Are there exception in the genre for real names? Yes (but in Jean Grey's case, she also had a name, that felt like it go taken out more due to "She's a full adult woman, and being PC means never calling an adult woman a girl" and even now she goes by Phoenix) but they're small in numbers.

If you want to continue to name you characters "Dead Man with Smile" no one is stopping you and others, and you can continue to think how it's truely unique, or using forgein languages that leave people wondering what the hell does that name even mean, and continue to think that's special and unique.

Truth is, it's not unique, people were doing that before typical superhero names were taken and now left unused by many

Good thing I never actually said that isn't it. Good thing I never even implied that. Because you're still arguing binary-style. Either-or. False choice.

There's a few things that could happen.

• Could do what you claim (bring in LOTS more money)
• Could fall short of your claims (bring in more money but barely enough to offset the labor costs and the people who drop).
• Could do NOTHING (doesn't bring in any extra money or any new money is COMPLETELY offset by those who're disgusted and leave, etc)
• Could lose them money (They invest the time and effort and nobody new gloms on, same, and more people could leave in disgust, etc, etc)

Yep. But unlike you, I'm not treating "my" POV as the only one and playing "pie in the sky".

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

I have NEVER said a name purge would bring money to Paragon. I have said I thought it was a good thing. I have said it makes sense to pay attention to the desires of your paying customers. None of which needs PROOF. I do not need to PROVE any such financial conjecture that others have stated both ways. I think a name purge would neither provide any financial gains or losses....which is why I said what I said:

Everything takes time and effort for the devs...and some of that stuff bears no financial fruit and some of it cost them money in subs etc. This discussion should not be about customer gains/losses, money gain/losses, etc... it should be about paying attention to the desires of your current customers...which is a sound financial decision.

Originally Posted by Paladiamors I love you, I Burnt the Toast!

Do you really want to go there Brand?

Super Hero Comics have a long tradition of creating heroes with odd, satirical, or down right silly names. Some of them have their own comics and others are destined to be supporting characters.


DC names


Bat-Mite
Bad Samaritan
Big Barda
Bizarro
Blok
Boodikka
Bork
Bozo the Iron Man
Captain Carrot
Ch'p
Chunk
Clock
Color Kid
Dan the Dyna-Mite
Darwin Jones
Detective Chimp
Dingbats of Danger Street
Flodo Span
G'nort
Genius Jones
Gnarrk
Jack in the Box
Lagoon Boy
Little Cheese
Major Bummer
Mister Mxyzptlk
Off-Ramp
Pinkt the Whiz Kid
Peter Porkchops
Rubberduck
Scarlet Skier
Streaky the Supercat
Stuff the Chinatown Kid





Marvel Names


Abraham Brown
Answer
Brass
Bling
Blink
Box
Box IV
Briquette
Brother Nature
Brother Tode
Bug
Burner
Butterball
Charcoal
Dirtnap
Dittomaster
Doorman
Doop
Doughboy
Dum Dum Dugan
Elsie-Dee
Fan Boy
Flubber
Hairbag
Honey Lemon
Kangaroo
Left Hand
Nanny
Needle
Poundcakes
Squirrel Girl
Stilt-Man
Sugar Man
U-Go Girl
Widget
Wink



First off I have to ask if you are aware that 80% of the English language has it's origins in foreign languages.

Oh and I'm sure you are aware that there are many people that speak more than one language who play this game. And I'm not just referring to the people that play on our French and German servers. Those people have super hero comics in their own countries and in their own languages.

And I've had quite a few tells over the years from people that recognized the names I was using and had great times teaming with them, all because I chose to be unique and use a name that wasn't trditionally English.

Like, fer instance....



a silly name two-fer!



I pointed out the large % of words of French derivation some while back, so that at least can't surprise our language purist. =P

English is like a kleptomaniac Kender of languages. Ya never know what your gonna find in it's pockets or who it originally belonged too.

(I hope I used the right to/too. I know it ain't two. )

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

• Care to back up any of the highlighted claims?
• Care to show the monetary value for your conjecture?
• How much money are they are going to lose if the non-paying players never return? Oh wait... They weren't getting money from them before.
• How many players do you think will leave if an account that is over 3 years loses names on the account?

There is a saying that you seem to not know: A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. By providing incentive to play regularly ("hey, you'll have more names available!"), they would be focused more on their most potential gain.

As another poster mentioned, the line needs to be drawn at whether the customer is valuable or not. After 3+ years, they aren't valuable and the developers should focus on keeping active subscribers as they are more valuable.

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

And what do people say about those names you listed? Lame

Though of that list, my eyes went straight to Wink, and thought not bad.

And how many of those are joke characters? Squirrel Girl was made as a joke character from the start.

And I know not all the player base speaks english. Doesn't mean the bigger population of the game, who do speak english don't prefere it.

Not to mention, maybe they don't want to find an excuse for every character to be using a name that in America would have people going "huh" and let's remember, Paragon is in America

If Paragon was in France, I'm sure I'd be using french names/words.

And for the record, I have used forgeign language names. I have used real names. But generally I do prefere to go with the traditional superhero style names.

Now whether or not people are willing to go that route will depend on the person.
However, I still see no reason for unused accounts to keep the names they have. I say that with the thought that I still wouldn't get the couple of names I do want and check to see if they're available every now and again, but by just checking, and sending tells.

This is just me agreeing that after so many years it's time to make names available. Want more than 3 years, go 4. Lets do the tour of duty route and do "six years of account showing no sign of activity". Keep it up to date on that, and there you go.

The fact that I suggest 3 is just me thinking that's long enough to say "Okay, they're gone" and with Freedom, even more so, since you can log in without paying a cent.

Also consider by many to be a terrible comic. And a worse movie.

Actually, generally considered to be a creative high point of its era.

But nice try.

You've been using French words all your life, you just didn't realize they were French. You've even used some of them trying to make your arguments in this thread.

How do you know that?
Oh right, you don't.


Which they are, by not wasting resources on jacking their customers names.

Well technically it doesn't cost the company anything to do either. The cost of the storage space for the characters in question was paid off long ago, and the cost to develop the script to free up the names was also paid off long ago.

What it boils down to is whether or not the devs think it's worth the effort to run the script again, and from their responses to us they don't, and they don't plan on running it at any time in the forseeable future.