Character Names NOT Account Name in Chat PLEASE

wolf81inIL

Ok, this is a gripe but I don't know where else to put this. In game chat shows our account names as opposed to our character names. This is extremely annoying. I cannot really identify with my guildmates this way. This could also be a pretty major security issue for some people.

Any chance of this getting changed in the future? Maybe an option in chat.

Anyone else annoyed by this?

Aylasa

I haven't run into this problem at all - are you in the EU megaserver? It's all been character names in game chat for me, in the NA server.

KefkaGestahl

Aylasa wrote: »

I haven't run into this problem at all - are you in the EU megaserver? It's all been character names in game chat for me, in the NA server.

Guild chat does account names.

Aylasa

Ooooh, guild chat, yeah that makes more sense.

HandofBane

http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/discussion/64440/accounthandle-displaying-in-guild-rosters-chat-this-needs-to-go-asap#latest

Pretty much the main reason I am not bothering joining any guilds.

shinkicker444rwb17_ESO

It wouldn't be as bad if you could use a player created name-tag or whatever like in battle.net or other systems (origin/steam) that ISNT your account name, and even that should just be an extra identifier in the guild or friend window, any actual typing should be in character, IMO.

wolf81inIL

Sorry, zone chat is character name, I don't remember what group chat does, but guild uses account names. I would prefer character name across everything. At least give us the option to change this.

Hellbane

I don't really mind it to be honest. Though maybe that's because I chose something sensible

wolf81inIL

Oh mine isn't horrible, but it really hurts immersion even if it isn't bad for security. Adding the option to change this shouldn't be insanely difficult.

Aylasa

Hellbane wrote: »

I don't really mind it to be honest. Though maybe that's because I chose something sensible

The big issue is account security, I think. With your account handle, hackers are 1 step closer to hacking into your account.

shinkicker444rwb17_ESO

Yup, it's just asking for those brute force PW crackers to go at it.

Tavish

If you /ignore a character you place the player's account name on ignore. While that is helpful in blocking all their characters from annoying you, it does show their account name in the /ignore list (and in chat when you /ignore).

No matter the form or forum, my account name should never be given up so easily. The only protection we have, then, is a strong password. And who these days could be bothered to use one of those?

"12345? That's the same combination I have on my luggage!"

invizo

use your head guys, if /ignore isn't ACCOUNT-WIDE then gold spammers are really going to become a PROBLEM

shinkicker444rwb17_ESO

Honestly I almost feel naked these days if an MMO doesn't have a security token or app I can have on my phone. They offer nice piece of mind.

HandofBane

invizo wrote: »

use your head guys, if /ignore isn't ACCOUNT-WIDE then gold spammers are really going to become a PROBLEM

So keep it account wide, without showing the account name? Shouldn't be that much of a difference on the user end to have it display "account of Goldforcash" rather than the actual account name, while still maintaining the same functionality.

wolf81inIL

It shouldn't be difficult to ignore an account based on a character name from that account. I don't care for handle being used in any form at all.

Also, in a game I prefer that people recognize me by my character name. I've had the same character name in several games, in one form or another. I identify with it. My guildmates now don't even know what my character name is

gryphon3333preub18_ESO

HandofBane wrote: »

invizo wrote: »

use your head guys, if /ignore isn't ACCOUNT-WIDE then gold spammers are really going to become a PROBLEM

So keep it account wide, without showing the account name? Shouldn't be that much of a difference on the user end to have it display "account of Goldforcash" rather than the actual account name, while still maintaining the same functionality.

I agree with this solution. I really don't want my account name out there for everyone to see. Remove it from guild chat and put something else in its place (while remaining account wide) when you ignore someone.

ghost151

invizo wrote: »

use your head guys, if /ignore isn't ACCOUNT-WIDE then gold spammers are really going to become a PROBLEM

Ignore being account wide is a good thing.

Using the ignore feature however allows the person to see the account name of the person. Someone looking to hack accounts just has to keep placing people on ignore and record the account name. Run that account name through a list of known hacked accounts and unless a previously hacked person has learned their lesson there is a good chance you can figure out their password based on past ones.

Intrapolly

First off,

"Your UserID is NOT PRIVATE. It will be displayed to other players in-game. It does not affect a character name choice."

That statement was clearly posted on Zenimax's account creation page. So, I hope none of you are actually surprised by this. You should have already been aware before even loging into the game that your UserID would be displayed to other players in-game in one way or another. Therefore, anyone concerned over their account security should have already used this information to responsibly consider what steps they can take to ensure their personal account's security.

The de facto way to secure your account would be to NOT use the same username and password on all of your respective accounts across the internet. In fact, if possible, use unique log in credentials (chiefly unique passwords) for every account you create. Your accounts are almost guaranteed to not be "hacked" if you exercise reasonable responsible caution.

The userID should not be completely hidden. It helps players recognize you as a whole person across multiple characters and not via a character oriented basis.

Making UserID and account login name separate would be a possible, but in my opinion, an unnecessary, solution for some of you who take issue with security, but hiding it completely won't really help anyway at this point since theoretically, you've already been 'exposed.'

Secondly,

I can agree if you are troubled by how prominent and hard to avoid these UserID's are, when you're talking about something like guild chat or your friend's list. Currently the way these UserID's are displayed can cause undue disconnect between the character names and UserID's. Options for how these display might be nice, but realistically, it should default to displaying the current name of the character which the player is logged in as on their account and show the UserID when the individual is not logged into the servers. As well as allowing the UserID to be displayed on mouse over tooltip or similar functions, so it's not so intrusive, but there and easily usable when you need it. I think subtle changes like this would be great.

That's just my opinion anyway.

Darzil

I can see benefits for having a nickname displayed for all, as indeed it is for forums, and for an account handle displayed to others, but see no necessity for it to be the account ID.

HandofBane

Intrapolly wrote: »

Therefore, anyone concerned over their account security should have already used this information to responsibly consider what steps they can take to ensure their personal account's security.

Therein lies the problem. We can be certain our own accounts may be secure, but can anyone here say with absolute confidence that every member of their guild has done the same? Especially with so many random new folks being added to guilds just to bulk up numbers for access to guild stores/banks? I can't even imagine anyone here would be willing to take the responsibility for making sure 50+ people have secure accounts/passwords (not to mention attempting to do so is a security risk to those accounts in the case of unethical guild leaders/officers).

redcrowley

For those worried that your account name being visible is a security issue, Star Trek and Neverwinter both use this method. I never had my account compromised nor did any guild member in either game. Be mindful of your security. Use different passwords for different games. Don't use websites that are likely to package keyloggers in to any downloads. Gold sellers, etc.

A visible account name is very useful for seeing friends alt characters, etc. And in my experience has caused no issues in other games. I do hope ESO adds a mobile authenticator for security though.

Jeremy

I agree with this. If nothing else, at least give us the option to display our character name instead if we wish.

Malloway

A simple solution to all of this would be to just have us login with our email address instead of our username. That way people in game still know who we are despite what character we are playing, and hackers wont be able to use our UserID to brute force passwords.

MilkMan

wolf81inIL wrote: »

Ok, this is a gripe but I don't know where else to put this. In game chat shows our account names as opposed to our character names. This is extremely annoying. I cannot really identify with my guildmates this way. This could also be a pretty major security issue for some people.

Any chance of this getting changed in the future? Maybe an option in chat.

Anyone else annoyed by this?

hush little newbie its perfect as is . go to guild and scroll over a name and leave it there it will tell you the character name it is secure this way. a account is linked to a guild thus making you able to keep track of them. if it was character only i could make 100 different guys and join who ever all day every day

deheartb14_ESO

Keep this account names in guild chat as is please.

One problem I've had in many mmo games is that players create an alternate char just to be able to troll without their main char being known as a troll. This way if you are an *** on one char, all people in your guilds know who is doing what. There are also the players who use an alternate char to join guilds and try to steal from them or the members.

As for security, the whole 'One step closer to being hacked"? Sorry, that's why you have passwords and are recommended to change passwords regularly. Its why they don't bother encrypting account names like they do passwords. There is no point in trying to hide something that is relatively easy for people to find out through many other different ways.

Tavish

Intrapolly wrote: »

First off,

"Your UserID is NOT PRIVATE. It will be displayed to other players in-game. It does not affect a character name choice."

That statement was clearly posted on Zenimax's account creation page. So, I hope none of you are actually surprised by this. You should have already been aware before even loging into the game that your UserID would be displayed to other players in-game in one way or another. Therefore, anyone concerned over their account security should have already used this information to responsibly consider what steps they can take to ensure their personal account's security.

Announcing the fact that account names are essentially published does not remove the fact that basic account security includes preventing an outsider from knowing your account name and password. By openly displaying account names Zenimax removes one step from a two step hack effort. It's a small ray of sunshine, however, that they do perform some level of risk based authentication by recognizing access from a previously unregistered IP address. I'm a strong proponent of two-factor authentications and would greatly prefer use of a software token on my cellphone, but that's a different conversation.

The de facto way to secure your account would be to NOT use the same username and password on all of your respective accounts across the internet. In fact, if possible, use unique log in credentials (chiefly unique passwords) for every account you create. Your accounts are almost guaranteed to not be "hacked" if you exercise reasonable responsible caution.

The de facto standard is keeping your account information confidential while also not using the same account name and passwords on multiple accounts around the net. This includes keeping all personally identifying and account infrormation in strict confidence. There is no reason to publish accounts names. An extreme example is if one's bank openly exposed login names. I'd assume one would be highly upset if this happened. "Reasonable caution" is fine and good, but that is only a deterrent if half the keys to the kingdom aren't already handed away.

The userID should not be completely hidden. It helps players recognize you as a whole person across multiple characters and not via a character oriented basis.

Making UserID and account login name separate would be a possible, but in my opinion, an unnecessary, solution for some of you who take issue with security, but hiding it completely won't really help anyway at this point since theoretically, you've already been 'exposed.'

Some players do not want other to know their online actions. For example, I'm quite happy knowing that my fellow guild mates can see me online. I don't necessarily want them to follow my every character. For a roleplayer, knowing that "Tavish" is online is more in-character than knowing that "JoeSmith" is and he also plays as "Marcurio", "Esmerelda", "Dandypants", and "Doubleagent".

Secondly,

I can agree if you are troubled by how prominent and hard to avoid these UserID's are, when you're talking about something like guild chat or your friend's list. Currently the way these UserID's are displayed can cause undue disconnect between the character names and UserID's. Options for how these display might be nice, but realistically, it should default to displaying the current name of the character which the player is logged in as on their account and show the UserID when the individual is not logged into the servers. As well as allowing the UserID to be displayed on mouse over tooltip or similar functions, so it's not so intrusive, but there and easily usable when you need it. I think subtle changes like this would be great.

That's just my opinion anyway.

The simplest solution is to have a confidential login account name and an in-game "social media" name. That social name would "unify" our various characters to us, their player, while keeping our account details private.

wolf81inIL

Then do it the opposite way. I would prefer to know the character name not their account name. Perfect? Not at all. Perfect would give us options.

MilkMan

deheartb14_ESO wrote: »

Keep this account names in guild chat as is please.

One problem I've had in many mmo games is that players create an alternate char just to be able to troll without their main char being known as a troll. This way if you are an *** on one char, all people in your guilds know who is doing what. There are also the players who use an alternate char to join guilds and try to steal from them or the members.

As for security, the whole 'One step closer to being hacked"? Sorry, that's why you have passwords and are recommended to change passwords regularly. Its why they don't bother encrypting account names like they do passwords. There is no point in trying to hide something that is relatively easy for people to find out through many other different ways.

you can find any characters account name your are an idiot and im not explaining why just shut up please and stop trying to make your "issue" a real one. as of RIGHT NOW you can figure out any players account name thus your argument is F#@KING POINTLESS.

deheartb14_ESO

MilkMan wrote: »

you can find any characters account name your are an idiot and im not explaining why just shut up please and stop trying to make your "issue" a real one. as of RIGHT NOW you can figure out any players account name thus your argument is F#@KING POINTLESS.

? lol

Laerrus

shinkicker444rwb17_ESO wrote: »

Yup, it's just asking for those brute force PW crackers to go at it.

Looks like this is beginning to be a problem.

http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/discussion/65410/message-attempted-login-to-my-account-while-playing-last-night-popped-up#latest

Figures as much, the last launch of a MMO that I played, folks started getting their accounts hacked during head start and things got really bad during the first week after official launch.

I don't think I am going to be joining a guild until we are able to hide sensitive account info.