The way name resets are handled is frustrating to users.

Bunnies

This is a bit of constructive criticism towards how name resets are handled improperly in this game.

TOS and protocol Background:
When a name found to be against terms of service via either a report or other means the name will be changed. Users names as such are defined in the terms of service as

"You may not select the name of another person, any third party's trademark, copyright, or other intellectual property infringement, any name that could mislead other players to believe You to be an employee of ZeniMax or affiliated companies, or any name that ZeniMax deems in its sole discretion to be vulgar, offensive, or otherwise violates these Terms of Service. "

When you have a name against Terms of Service they change your name and you are given a forced name change. You CANNOT play your character until the name change happens.

My background

Joined the game at release, more like a second after release. Logged on grabbed the username "Jyggalag", which was one of the daedric princes and started playing the game. I played with this character until about 2 months ago when the name was reset. At the time I was going to be training new healers, dps, tanks in veteran trails and now I cannot log into my account until I make a change on my username. We called off an event we planned over a week ahead.

Opened up a support ticket getting a response back that the name is against terms of service. I agree with them that this was not intentional to break TOS and I am happy follow the rules. At this point I have had this name for over six years!. I ask if there is anything we can do, so I can play the game on this character while I try and come up with a username I would be stuck with for a long time. I ask if we could swap a character name or give me a name change token, so I can play the game. The answer is,

"We are unable to swap character names or provide a character name for you. You will have to attempt to log into the character, at which you will be prompted to rename the character before logging in. If you wish to rename an existing character you can purchase a Name Change token from the Crown Store."

It turns out I have some other username that are almost definitely against terms of service, could you please help me change them after I come up with names?

"The current character names on your account does not need to be change at this time. However please note that names are reviewed once they are reported. If reported, we have to view the name in the broad spectrum of the entire player base which may lead to a rename."

In other words my names that I know are probably not in line with TOS are going to be taken away at a random time and we cannot change this now to avoid the issue.

Why this should be changed:

Just changing a name on someone is frustrating and devastating to the individual. This is especially true for some communities like the role-playing community, a name is partially your identity in game. Something like this to be handled differently, so community members are not displaced in a similar situation.


What happened,

• Locked out of main character, until you make a username change.
• You are the violator of TOS no matter the situation, so we are unwilling to help you fix your problem.
• Supports solution to this type of problem is to ask you to pay money to fix it instead.
• We will take away your character name at any moment in the future, and we will pick the time.

Some proper ways of handling this,

• Allow a name swap between characters
• Make a way for the user to play with a temporary name until they can come up with one
• Have something like a targeted name change token, so they can change that username once.
• If you have a request for a review on something that is against TOS please review it instead of pushing it down the line

TL;DR: Reset username I have had for 6 years, locked out of character resulting in inconvenience for other people, support cannot help, and we are probably going to take away your other usernames when/if they get reported without telling you.

mairwen85

Could you not just use Jyggalag with a different spelling? Or Jyggalag Jr.

Or, Daedric Prince of Order... 3 minutes of my time.

For your other characters, ask a friend to report them.

Sorry, I don't see the problem.

www.fantasynamegenerators.com

mairwen85

Jiggy Lag

ArchangelIsraphel

What gets me is that anyone would ever report someone for having a name that isn't offensive, just because they have the name of a daedric prince. It seems like such a spiteful, nasty thing to do to someone who has had the name forever.

Then there is the line "You may not select the name of another person" I mean...thats an awfully broad term. Do they mean you cant take the name of another character... or a celebrity? The average joe walking down the street?

It's concerning, to say the least, and I agree with you- something needs to be done to circumvent the inconvenience it causes. But I also think the naming terms in and of themselves are pretty lousy, given that you could have made up a name like that out of your own creativity, not even knowing it had anything to do with a daedric prince.

mairwen85

It is churlish. I agree, but ToS is ToS... Some jobsworth will always make a point of it.

Jig-al Ag

jbjondeaueb17_ESO

How did you manage to use a name for over 6 years when the game was officially released less than 5 years ago ?

mairwen85

jbjondeaueb17_ESO wrote: »

How did you manage to use a name for over 6 years when the game was officially released less than 5 years ago ?

From beta onwards maybe...

Mack Jygga

Prof_Bawbag

ArchangelIsraphel wrote: »

What gets me is that anyone would ever report someone for having a name that isn't offensive, just because they have the name of a daedric prince. It seems like such a spiteful, nasty thing to do to someone who has had the name forever.

Then there is the line "You may not select the name of another person" I mean...thats an awfully broad term. Do they mean you cant take the name of another character... or a celebrity? The average joe walking down the street?

It's concerning, to say the least, and I agree with you- something needs to be done to circumvent the inconvenience it causes. But I also think the naming terms in and of themselves are pretty lousy, given that you could have made up a name like that out of your own creativity, not even knowing it had anything to do with a daedric prince.

I always took the other person thing as not naming your characters: Donald Trump, Michael Jackson etc etc. Or a salty af PvPer making a toon named after another gamer he has beef with in game.

Skwor

Seems to me when you violate the TOS and finally get cuaght the diffulculties you experience from it do not warrent compassion from those who follow the rules.

Time has nothing to do with the issue, wrong is wrong now or 5 years ago

I'd rather see Dev resources on game content or bugs, no need to do QoL fix for those who violate the TOS. Waste of resources.

Edaphon

Sure, losing your name sucks but what exactly is preventing you from just giving your character a new name?

We even got 3 free name change tokens recently if you want to swap names with one of your other characters.

Hiruda

I had "Naryu Virian" name at the beginning, took them less than a day to force change my name

be lucky you had a lore name for 6 years

validifyedneb18_ESO

Had a character called Sheogorath at launch, that *** was caught within the first week.

Bunnies

validifyedneb18_ESO wrote: »

Had a character called Sheogorath at launch, that *** was caught within the first week.

Were you on my friends list in the US server? We should still have a ring of mara together? lol

Skwor wrote: »

Seems to me when you violate the TOS and finally get cuaght the diffulculties you experience from it do not warrent compassion from those who follow the rules.

Time has nothing to do with the issue, wrong is wrong now or 5 years ago

I'd rather see Dev resources on game content or bugs, no need to do QoL fix for those who violate the TOS. Waste of resources.

As a engineer myself, I agree with this. More poking at policy change than anything else. Edit: in my time playing I did not know I was breaking TOS on these grounds either. The naming policy is vague too.

mairwen85 wrote: »

jbjondeaueb17_ESO wrote: »

How did you manage to use a name for over 6 years when the game was officially released less than 5 years ago ?

From beta onwards maybe...

Mack Jygga

Miss-spoke, Played since beta (I have the monkey). I had the character seconds after release,, I was getting whisper cursing my name lol

Skwor

Bunnies wrote: »

validifyedneb18_ESO wrote: »

Had a character called Sheogorath at launch, that *** was caught within the first week.

Were you on my friends list in the US server? We should still have a ring of mara together? lol

Skwor wrote: »

Seems to me when you violate the TOS and finally get cuaght the diffulculties you experience from it do not warrent compassion from those who follow the rules.

Time has nothing to do with the issue, wrong is wrong now or 5 years ago

I'd rather see Dev resources on game content or bugs, no need to do QoL fix for those who violate the TOS. Waste of resources.

As a engineer myself, I agree with this. More poking at policy change than anything else. Edit: in my time playing I did not know I was breaking TOS on these grounds either. The naming policy is vague too.

mairwen85 wrote: »

jbjondeaueb17_ESO wrote: »

How did you manage to use a name for over 6 years when the game was officially released less than 5 years ago ?

From beta onwards maybe...

Mack Jygga

Miss-spoke, Played since beta (I have the monkey). I had the character seconds after release,, I was getting whisper cursing my name lol

Ya, could provide some clarification on the naming policy but then again these policies are often vague on purpose to allow the company wiggle room and to avoid legal complications.

Mettaricana

Never hit with this issue i made up virtually every name of my 9 characters rather than using ingame or in series names

Acrolas

Subject to the Statutory Obligations (as defined below), ZeniMax reserves the right, in its sole discretion, (a) to delete or alter any user names tied to an Account; and (b) to restrict, suspend or terminate Your access to any Service or license granted to You, for any reason whatsoever, including, without limitation, any suspected or actual infringement of any trademark or trade name right, copyright, or other proprietary right.

By creating an Account, You agree that You do not own the Account, any user names created on the Account, any Content stored or associated with an Account (such as digital and/or virtual assets, achievements, virtual currency, and other Downloadable Content), or related data associated with the Account.

Feric51

Bunnies wrote: »

In other words my names that I know are probably not in line with TOS are going to be taken away at a random time and we cannot change this now to avoid the issue.

They said the names are reviewed following someone reporting them.

Simple fix - Report them yourself and (depending on how long their "review" process takes) you can control the timeline on when you know if your names are safe.

I guarantee they'll get back to you SOON™.

Austinseph1

It can’t take THAT long to think up a name can it >_>? Make it called The original Jygg lol

Bunnies

mairwen85 wrote: »

For your other characters, ask a friend to report them.

Feric51 wrote: »

Simple fix - Report them yourself and (depending on how long their "review" process takes) you can control the timeline on when you know if your names are safe.

Thank you both of you, I will probably try and report myself to control it instead as a work around. At-least then I know its coming.

Tasear

😏 they needed name cause dlc coming for Jyggalag.

IzzyStardust

mairwen85 wrote: »

jbjondeaueb17_ESO wrote: »

How did you manage to use a name for over 6 years when the game was officially released less than 5 years ago ?

From beta onwards maybe...

Mack Jygga

No - can tell you from personal experience we had to remake our chars at Early Access which began March 30, 2014

Bunnies

IzzyStardust wrote: »

mairwen85 wrote: »

jbjondeaueb17_ESO wrote: »

How did you manage to use a name for over 6 years when the game was officially released less than 5 years ago ?

From beta onwards maybe...

Mack Jygga

No - can tell you from personal experience we had to remake our chars at Early Access which began March 30, 2014

Date of the event in ticket was 1/23/19,, so actually had it for 4 years, 9 months, 24 days. Error on my part above.

Caligamy_ESO

What happened is someone reported you for having a ES name that infringed on their copyright material.

The same thing happened to me 3 years ago with the name King Casimir, ...even though ZOS stole the name from King Casimir the III of Poland.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casimir_III_the_Great

At the time it wasn't even written into the ToS as clearly as it is now, when I contested the name change they sent me back a response of the ToS with various words highlighted throughout several paragraphs that I guess were supposed to make up a complete sentence forming a rule?

*shrug* What can you do except accept stupid things exist?

Grymmoire

My recommendation is to either break the original name into parts, with or without hyphens or just drop the last letter off the end so as to maintain some continuity.

BeatrixLaChance

For my Lore-related names I used special characters to use it.. I dunno if thats something you could also use if you wanted a lore name?
Lucïen Lachance
Hërmäëüs Mörä
and a "titled" Sheogorath-Daedric Prince

therift

Tempest in a teapot.