How would a forced name change due to Crossplay affect you?

SilverBride

BretonMage wrote: »

However I honestly don't see the issue of duplicate character names. IRL there are thousands to millions of people who share our names, why do we have to have a unique name in-game?

I would not be comfortable with having the same exact name as another player for reporting reasons. What if someone was to report This Guy for an infraction, but there are multiple players named This Guy on the server? I wouldn't want to be banned for something someone else did.

tomofhyrule

SilverBride wrote: »

BretonMage wrote: »

However I honestly don't see the issue of duplicate character names. IRL there are thousands to millions of people who share our names, why do we have to have a unique name in-game?

I would not be comfortable with having the same exact name as another player for reporting reasons. What if someone was to report This Guy for an infraction, but there are multiple players named This Guy on the server? I wouldn't want to be banned for something someone else did.

If all player communication and reports went through account names, that would fix that problem.

That would also fix the issue of players naming their characters something like "II||Ill|I" or using random jumbles or diacritics specifically to make reporting them difficult.

I am all for changing it to divorce character name from anything relevant, so that players can have the same names on the same server.

whitecrow

I would be upset to have to change a name, but I'd feel worse for anyone who might be memorialising someone with their character, as was implied in an earlier response.

I did not know about the platform icons before reading the responses; I think that would be good and would solve the issue.

Shawn_PT

It's complicated. I've had an issue before where I was trying to send mails to someone whose account name was @FriendName, and even though I made absolutely sure I was using the @ at the start, indicating it was an account name and not the character name, the mails consistently ended up in the inbox of someone else whose account was something like @xxxRandomStrangerxxx but they had a character named "FriendName". I reported this years ago. Nothing was done, afaik.

Luckily it was nothing terribly important, and the items dropped back on my inbox a month later due to the Random account not being active, but still.

I imagine having people with similar users/character names all bundled together will only make this worse.

DoofusMax

Character names themselves wouldn't be much of an issue, although I'm rather attached to the ones I have and have no desire to expend a name-change token, but I have a toon an an alt account that I'm not particularly happy with, but they're low-level and "delete" is easier, cheaper, and no big loss.

What concerns me much more are account names (also platform-specific and I'm very attached to mine), guild names, guild traders, and other player(s)-unique identifiers, and that concern also extends to everyone in my guilds and on my friends list. Some of them I only know by their character names and some of them I only know by their usernames.

It's not so much the idea of crossplay itself that concerns me. I am a PC player and will not be playing on either console platform in the foreseeable future, but if console players want to come play on PC, I'm mostly in "the more, the merrier" camp (except when someone ninjas a resource node or chest I had my eye on). It's the implementation of the concept where I have concerns.

AzuraFan

No option fits my answer.

I wouldn't mind it if I had to change my account name (the @ name).

I would mind if I had to change my character names.

Having said that, other players are more familiar with my account name (that's what guildies call me and such), and it's also what I use on discord, so even though I wouldn't mind if I had to change that, it would probably cause confusion for others.

I also know other players by their account names, so it would be confusing for me too.

Onomog

It's an absolute deal breaker for me, and would the final straw that would get me to quit.

scrappy1342

I wouldn't like it but it would be a minor issue for me.

i probably should have put other, but i went with how i would feel if i were still actively playing. i have already dropped my sub and only log on for a few mins a day to collect daily bonuses and do easy endeavors. the final straw for me was charging more for expacs with less content. almost all of my characters are named after my pet steer. brogan the seeker, brogan the wanderer, brogan the lost, etc. so it would not be a huge deal to have to rename them. the fact that we get spaces makes that a lot easier to come up with something similar enough. this happened to me on wow before and it was a major annoyance because i had to go from a character name that was just a name, to a character name with numbers in it. you couldn't just keep the first name and change the last name or add an adjective.

also, i thought the poll was very well put together. if they force you to do a name change, that is not your choice of wording to try to put a negative spin on things. that is what is happening in this scenario. there's only so many options you can make for "i'm ok with it" while "i'm not ok with it has many different degrees. i guess you could have thrown in a "i would LOVE a forced name change!!!!" <shrug>

SilverBride

scrappy1342 wrote: »

also, i thought the poll was very well put together. if they force you to do a name change, that is not your choice of wording to try to put a negative spin on things. that is what is happening in this scenario. there's only so many options you can make for "i'm ok with it" while "i'm not ok with it has many different degrees. i guess you could have thrown in a "i would LOVE a forced name change!!!!" <shrug>

That was my thinking, too. But if we were able to edit a poll's choices I would definitely go back and add that!

BretonMage

SilverBride wrote: »

BretonMage wrote: »

However I honestly don't see the issue of duplicate character names. IRL there are thousands to millions of people who share our names, why do we have to have a unique name in-game?

I would not be comfortable with having the same exact name as another player for reporting reasons. What if someone was to report This Guy for an infraction, but there are multiple players named This Guy on the server? I wouldn't want to be banned for something someone else did.

There should of course be safeguards against that sort of thing. Aside from what tomofhyrule suggested, it would always, even now (because what if you make a small typo?), be prudent when reporting, for the UI to offer [character name] @[username name] for you to confirm.

Erickson9610

Nobody will need to change their names. Just append a symbol next to their character name denoting which platform they're from and call it a day.

"John Elderscrolls (PC-NA)" is different from "John Elderscrolls (XB-EU)". Problem solved!

Maitsukas

SilverBride wrote: »

BretonMage wrote: »

However I honestly don't see the issue of duplicate character names. IRL there are thousands to millions of people who share our names, why do we have to have a unique name in-game?

I would not be comfortable with having the same exact name as another player for reporting reasons. What if someone was to report This Guy for an infraction, but there are multiple players named This Guy on the server? I wouldn't want to be banned for something someone else did.

I wouldn't like if there's a This Guy, This Guy and This Guy in the list and I select the wrong one to send items to through mail.

And yes, I set my chatbox to show character names, just to match it with NPCs speaking.

fizzybeef

Maitsukas wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

BretonMage wrote: »

However I honestly don't see the issue of duplicate character names. IRL there are thousands to millions of people who share our names, why do we have to have a unique name in-game?

I would not be comfortable with having the same exact name as another player for reporting reasons. What if someone was to report This Guy for an infraction, but there are multiple players named This Guy on the server? I wouldn't want to be banned for something someone else did.

I wouldn't like if there's a This Guy, This Guy and This Guy in the list and I select the wrong one to send items to through mail.

And yes, I set my chatbox to show character names, just to match it with NPCs speaking.

Okay

amig186

Not a biggie, I've played enough MMOs to be used to getting around this. An extra letter here, an accent there.

SilverBride

amig186 wrote: »

Not a biggie, I've played enough MMOs to be used to getting around this. An extra letter here, an accent there.

I can't do that. It just doesn't feel like the same name in my mind if I can't spell it the "right" way.

amig186

SilverBride wrote: »

amig186 wrote: »

Not a biggie, I've played enough MMOs to be used to getting around this. An extra letter here, an accent there.

I can't do that. It just doesn't feel like the same name in my mind if I can't spell it the "right" way.

Understandable, I suppose, unfortunately it's just one of those concessions that we sometimes have to make in order to play with other people.

MISTFORMBZZZ

IF - (and im saying that maximum hypothecial because i think thats one of the first thing ZOS will consider, after there are a lot games with good examples how to make it work) you would need to change your name a MINIMUM,

amig186 wrote: »

Not a biggie, I've played enough MMOs to be used to getting around this. An extra letter here, an accent there.

youre saying you CANT do that AT ALL and your whole good game experience would be gone yes? Because thats what youre implying with your poll options, as if it would be the end of the world.

SilverBride wrote: »

amig186 wrote: »

Not a biggie, I've played enough MMOs to be used to getting around this. An extra letter here, an accent there.

I can't do that. It just doesn't feel like the same name in my mind if I can't spell it the "right" way.

Not being rude but so whats the solution for you?
Just not bring a feature a lot of people want because of there might be a icon next to the name or a ‘ next to your name would bother you?

Izanagi.Xiiib16_ESO

Provided they change the name based on account creation date (oldest account keeps their names) it would be fine.

tomofhyrule

Izanagi.Xiiib16_ESO wrote: »

Provided they change the name based on account creation date (oldest account keeps their names) it would be fine.

But what if you have Account A on PC that has "Razum-dar," who started playing in April 2014 and played for a single week before never touching the game again. And then Account B on XB made their "Razum-dar" in June 2015 and has played that character every single day since doing hardcore RP?

By creation date? A wins, and the hardcore RPer is out the name they actually use. Because someone who doesn't even play has a claim on that name.

There needs to be a better solution than just 'creation date;' probably more like 'account loyalty' or something. Or, you know, just divorce character name from the identity in the first place and allow everyone to have their own "Razum-dar."

---

MISTFORMBZZZ wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

amig186 wrote: »

Not a biggie, I've played enough MMOs to be used to getting around this. An extra letter here, an accent there.

I can't do that. It just doesn't feel like the same name in my mind if I can't spell it the "right" way.

Not being rude but so whats the solution for you?
Just not bring a feature a lot of people want because of there might be a icon next to the name or a ‘ next to your name would bother you?

The solution is for ZOS to consider that there are players for whom the character name is incredibly important, and not just dismiss a portion of their playerbase as 'irrelevant.'
...like they did with Subclassing. And Account-wide Achievements.

There are solutions that would allow players to keep the names they had - unaltered - by just having the account name be the main form of communication. ZOS just needs to not take the 'easy solution' of just merging the servers all into one, which would by definition need all character names to be unique.

MISTFORMBZZZ

tomofhyrule wrote: »

Izanagi.Xiiib16_ESO wrote: »

Provided they change the name based on account creation date (oldest account keeps their names) it would be fine.

But what if you have Account A on PC that has "Razum-dar," who started playing in April 2014 and played for a single week before never touching the game again. And then Account B on XB made their "Razum-dar" in June 2015 and has played that character every single day since doing hardcore RP?

By creation date? A wins, and the hardcore RPer is out the name they actually use. Because someone who doesn't even play has a claim on that name.

There needs to be a better solution than just 'creation date;' probably more like 'account loyalty' or something. Or, you know, just divorce character name from the identity in the first place and allow everyone to have their own "Razum-dar."

---

MISTFORMBZZZ wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

amig186 wrote: »

Not a biggie, I've played enough MMOs to be used to getting around this. An extra letter here, an accent there.

I can't do that. It just doesn't feel like the same name in my mind if I can't spell it the "right" way.

Not being rude but so whats the solution for you?
Just not bring a feature a lot of people want because of there might be a icon next to the name or a ‘ next to your name would bother you?

The solution is for ZOS to consider that there are players for whom the character name is incredibly important, and not just dismiss a portion of their playerbase as 'irrelevant.'
...like they did with Subclassing. And Account-wide Achievements.

There are solutions that would allow players to keep the names they had - unaltered - by just having the account name be the main form of communication. ZOS just needs to not take the 'easy solution' of just merging the servers all into one, which would by definition need all character names to be unique.

But zos has not stated ANYTHING like that at all. Nobody knows yet how crossplay will look, if its just gonna be EU & NA being merged , only consoles or anything else. Nobody knows anything yet but still we are here discussing about what we are calling unlayed eggs.

I personally trust the company enough, to believe they have these things in their mind and belive they have much harder problems to solve, before crossplay goes live, if it goes live.

tomofhyrule

MISTFORMBZZZ wrote: »

tomofhyrule wrote: »

Izanagi.Xiiib16_ESO wrote: »

Provided they change the name based on account creation date (oldest account keeps their names) it would be fine.

But what if you have Account A on PC that has "Razum-dar," who started playing in April 2014 and played for a single week before never touching the game again. And then Account B on XB made their "Razum-dar" in June 2015 and has played that character every single day since doing hardcore RP?

By creation date? A wins, and the hardcore RPer is out the name they actually use. Because someone who doesn't even play has a claim on that name.

There needs to be a better solution than just 'creation date;' probably more like 'account loyalty' or something. Or, you know, just divorce character name from the identity in the first place and allow everyone to have their own "Razum-dar."

---

MISTFORMBZZZ wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

amig186 wrote: »

Not a biggie, I've played enough MMOs to be used to getting around this. An extra letter here, an accent there.

I can't do that. It just doesn't feel like the same name in my mind if I can't spell it the "right" way.

Not being rude but so whats the solution for you?
Just not bring a feature a lot of people want because of there might be a icon next to the name or a ‘ next to your name would bother you?

The solution is for ZOS to consider that there are players for whom the character name is incredibly important, and not just dismiss a portion of their playerbase as 'irrelevant.'
...like they did with Subclassing. And Account-wide Achievements.

There are solutions that would allow players to keep the names they had - unaltered - by just having the account name be the main form of communication. ZOS just needs to not take the 'easy solution' of just merging the servers all into one, which would by definition need all character names to be unique.

But zos has not stated ANYTHING like that at all. Nobody knows yet how crossplay will look, if its just gonna be EU & NA being merged , only consoles or anything else. Nobody knows anything yet but still we are here discussing about what we are calling unlayed eggs.

I personally trust the company enough, to believe they have these things in their mind and belive they have much harder problems to solve, before crossplay goes live, if it goes live.

The problem is that this is about character IDs, which is pretty well the first thing that needs to be figured out before they start considering how else to merge everything.

And again, it's wonderful that there are people who trust that ZOS will do it well. However, as seen by some of the examples I gave (Subclassing and Account-wide Achieves) there are a lot of people who have already been burned by ZOS making a major change and disregarding any feedback about how that will be an issue to people

LadyLethalla

Since I came from console to PC, I'd be more concerned about which one keeps the name - which I think is the same. Some of my characters on PC have the same names as console too.
If the newer account that I play every day gets to keep the names then I'd be happy with that, but if I was forced to change the duplicates because my console account came first, I'd not be very happy.

Onomog

tomofhyrule wrote: »

...However, as seen by some of the examples I gave (Subclassing and Account-wide Achieves) there are a lot of people who have already been burned by ZOS making a major change and disregarding any feedback about how that will be an issue to people

This right here. I'm deeply skeptical, having been burned more than once by their decision making (looking at you AwA, in particular), that they will implement crossplay in a way that won't screw over a good portion of their player base.

XSTRONG

A name change to play Crossplay seems like a tiny problem

tomofhyrule

XSTRONG wrote: »

A name change to play Crossplay seems like a tiny problem

To some people. Just like losing individual character progress to combine achievements seems like a small thing.

And to others, it’s a gamebreaking issue.

Shouldn’t things be done to impact the fewest people possible? It may take a bit of extra work, but knowingly causing a bunch of your players to leave is probably not the optimal solution.

SilverBride

MISTFORMBZZZ wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

amig186 wrote: »

Not a biggie, I've played enough MMOs to be used to getting around this. An extra letter here, an accent there.

I can't do that. It just doesn't feel like the same name in my mind if I can't spell it the "right" way.

Not being rude but so whats the solution for you?
Just not bring a feature a lot of people want because of there might be a icon next to the name or a ‘ next to your name would bother you?

The solution for me is to not make any drastic changes until these concerns are worked out. And names aren't the only consideration. What about trade guilds that will go under because there are not enough trader locations for the increased number bidding on them?

It sometimes takes days for me to decide on a character name. It's bad enough that our characters have lost their class identity. I don't want to lose their names, too.

Onomog

XSTRONG wrote: »

A name change to play Crossplay seems like a tiny problem

For some players, other things are much more important than crossplay.

Elsonso

My feeling is that would just be one more tone deaf decision made for the game...

JustLovely

Is crossplay even going to be a thing? Seems unlikely, and I'm on PC so I don't think this issue applies to PC users does it?

MISTFORMBZZZ

SilverBride wrote: »

MISTFORMBZZZ wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

amig186 wrote: »

Not a biggie, I've played enough MMOs to be used to getting around this. An extra letter here, an accent there.

I can't do that. It just doesn't feel like the same name in my mind if I can't spell it the "right" way.

Not being rude but so whats the solution for you?
Just not bring a feature a lot of people want because of there might be a icon next to the name or a ‘ next to your name would bother you?

The solution for me is to not make any drastic changes until these concerns are worked out. And names aren't the only consideration. What about trade guilds that will go under because there are not enough trader locations for the increased number bidding on them?

It sometimes takes days for me to decide on a character name. It's bad enough that our characters have lost their class identity. I don't want to lose their names, too.

So no solutions but just worrying about something whats probably never happening, never has been announced or communicated, just being a worry of yourself and a attempt to find other people with the same worries with a poll.

Maybe just let the devs do their job