I recently logged back into Rift (after a very long time) and found that my Character's name was blank, and had to rename it. I did so, and did not think twice about it since it was my fault I had not logged in for so long.
In reading why this is, I found that Rift has a policy that if you do not log in over a year, your character's name gets erased, and put on a list for reuse.
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Here is the verbiage from their forums (Link):
"It's a new year, and it's time to clear the dusty shelves of names long unused. These names will be freed up for use by new and active players.
We will release the names of characters that have not logged in for over one year as of January 31, 2018. If you're not sure you've played a character in the last year, don't take the chance - please log into each character whose name you wish to retain at least once before midnight, Pacific Time (UTC -8) on January 31, 2018. This will automatically record your character as being active and will keep your existing names in place.
Be assured that we're not deleting CHARACTERS - they'll remain intact, in case their owners wish to play again in the future. If you take no action and come back after the reset, you’ll be prompted to choose new names for your characters when you log in. There is no charge for the automatic rename process.
The name reclaim and release will apply to ArcheAge, RIFT and Trove PC. We are sending emails to all affected accounts, and will also get the word out through this blog, our livestreams and social media. If you have friends who may be affected, please pass it on!
If you have any questions, please post them on this forum thread and we’d be happy to respond."
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I think that this is a great idea as it would partially solve the problem of old, unused accounts/characters squatting on useable names.
The only cavieat to this is I think that any new player getting an old (previously used) name should not inherit the previous owner's reputation (good, or bad). To offset this, perhaps there could be some sort of tracker as to who used what name, and when? So if a new player gets harassed (for example) because of their name being mud from a previous owner, they can show... somehow that they are not that previous owner. /inspect ?
The reason I brought this up is, as we all know, many years down the road... names are hard to come by when creating a new character. (Looking at you EQ)
Thoughts?
My character in EQ was named in the beta phase before Everquest released...now years later, that is still her name.
I don't think character names should be up for grabs unless that account has been deleted. Also I note that there is usually a panic to reserve names..because, the names being reserved are usually taken from movies, books, etc instead of inventing their own.
If people got away from that..and made their own, this shouldn't be a problem. I have a whole list of names I've invented over the years, I note one of them was stolen on another server in Rift...tried to log into the new server with my own name..and I guess someone liked it so much they stole it. I just put that scenario down to a lack of imagination on the part of the name thief. :P An imagination is a terrible thing to waste. :P
Cana
I don't know how i feel about name reclaims. On one hand it's a highly social game and people do remember names so it's important to keep names. On the other hand if you're gone for a year does it really mean much to you to keep a name? I can't see why new players can't just make up there own new name.
Doford said:
I can't see why new players can't just make up there own new name.
Because after 19 years in EQ, making up a decent name is next to impossible since they have tens if not hundreds of thousands of characters (or more) across active/inactive accounts.
Think about this. If someone created a few characters on an account in EQ on day 1 (1999), then never logged in again because they did not like the game... those names are forever locked out. Same for any other account that someone never logged back into or was a trial.
Bonechip said:Because after 19 years in EQ, making up a decent name is next to impossible since they have tens if not hundreds of thousands of characters (or more) across active/inactive accounts.
Think about this. If someone created a few characters on an account in EQ on day 1 (1999), then never logged in again because they did not like the game... those names are forever locked out. Same for any other account that someone never logged back into or was a trial.
There's hundreds of million of possible names. Even if you want to free up some names it's not worth worrying about for years after release.
Doford said:
There's hundreds of million of possible names. Even if you want to free up some names it's not worth worrying about for years after release.
Yep, awesome names after all the decent ones are spoken for:
Chucknourish
Twinkletits
Peonme
Saltypeanut
Leggomyaggro
Rolfcopter
Lookatmypet
Gnomeasaurus
Priestitute
Bowjob
Gnomosexual
(Just a few I found on a quick search)
While on one hand I agree that some are funny, others are just tasteless, and do not really "fit" the theme of the game. How many are made that way because they attempted to create a decent name ended up just getting frustrated, and resorted to just doing it the stupid way.
Maybe we could consider some level of progression that would keep a name safe? If the account has been inactive for a long time and the character is level 1, I think it's ok to reclaim that character's name. If they were max level and have hundreds of hours played, then they can keep the name forever. No idea where the line is, but what do people think about having some criteria to reclaim names from characters that were either never played or lightly played?
They purged characters/names in EQ for level 1 characters even back in classic. I think it's a good thing to keep sweeping up.
August 9, 2000
------------------------------ ***Character Purge*** Time has come to do some cleanup on character data across the servers. On August 23rd (Pacific), we will be doing a system-wide cleanup of level 1 characters. All level 1 characters that have not been played within 30 days from the date of the purge will be deleted. As GMs will not be able to restore any characters that are deleted, please be certain to log in any level 1 characters that you wish to keep prior to the purge. - The EverQuest Team
chobo said:
Maybe we could consider some level of progression that would keep a name safe? If the account has been inactive for a long time and the character is level 1, I think it's ok to reclaim that character's name. If they were max level and have hundreds of hours played, then they can keep the name forever. No idea where the line is, but what do people think about having some criteria to reclaim names from characters that were either never played or lightly played?
That would definitely be a fair compromise. And I ageee, the big question would be where to draw the line.
Not a bad idea, but VR is already leaning toward a system where your character's first name doesn't necessarily have to be unique. You give your character a last name at creation and it is the combination of your first and last name that must be unique. So I don't expect there to be as much competition over names. Yes, a purge would free up some first/last name combinations, but those would be few and far between anyway and it also seems like a work-around for players with a negative reputation to take on a new identity. Yes, they'd have to wait a whole year, so it wouldn't be a very efficient way (and who knows, maybe they'd change their ways in that amount of time), but I still tend to be very skeptical of any name change mechanics.
Bonechip said:In reading why this is, I found that Rift has a policy that if you do not log in over a year, your character's name gets erased, and put on a list for reuse.
I would add, as a requirement for this to happen, that the person's account also be inactive for as long as they don't log in. If they are still paying for it, even if they don't log in, they still have some right to it IMO.