@ Names in Nameplates and Why It's Rage Inducing to RP'ers

Opeline · May 2016

So, this is mainly a really big peeve for me and a lot of RP'ers out there. Already know it's going to get crapped on because many people that play the game are not into that and become immediate trolls.

But I figured this needed to be brought up for those that do enjoy the actual ROLE-PLAY part of an RPg. (Yes, just like that)

When you are roleplaying, more often than not you will go into offline mode to try and hide from everyone on your character,. You don't want people walking in and immediately knowing who you are. Or you simply don't want to go into whisper hell. The new change to the nameplates is all fine and dandy until you get to that cringe-worthy section: The @ name viewer.

I can't be the only one that wants to bring in a new toon that wouldn't be outright recognized by the RP community because of an option that really doesn't need to be there to begin with. They have friends lists so you can have someones @ names on.

Already from not playing but 40 mins on the game with that change I have about 75 people try to add me. It's annoying to say the least and I had spam mail out the wazoo. Now, so many people could make the argument that it was because they just came up to me and added me, but if that's really the case, why wait until everyone can see your @ name?

And for a company that seems pretty big on immersion, this one change kills the entire thing.

A simple solution I am proposing would be this:

Have an option where you can set your @ name to be unviewableby everyone. When you toggle it, you won't be able to see anyone elses, and they will be unable to see yours. If people need to get into contact with you, they are probably already on your friends list anyway.

It can't be that hard in the coding with all the other wonderful additions ZOS can come up with.

Grao · May 2016

We had a topic in the PTS section begging ZOS to give us this option... But nope...

Tobius · May 2016

Um, well to be honest anyone that roleplays a lot should know that they don't know a new character. I mean metagaming is a no-no.

Lucifer_Malice · May 2016

UserID's and character names have been visable since gamepad support came to pc. Hiding has been gone for a long time, my friend.

Opeline · May 2016

There is no meta-gaming when you are offline and come onto a new character though. What will be meta-gaming now though are those that are getting into the roleplaying scene, don't understand not to blurt something out and see the new nameplate feature and say something. That really kills the entire experience.

Abeille · May 2016

I'll repeat what I've been saying about this issue for a while. Anyone could find our @Names by blocking us. Since ever.

HOWEVER, displaying it like that is ugly. It looks absolutely awful. It doesn't belong in the former minimalist and immersive UI. With Character Names, Champion Points, Title and all the icons, it is too cluttered. It is awful. I want it out. Even if I wasn't a Role Player, I would still be annoyed to no end by this horrible change. Way to ruin the UI aesthetic. Wasn't there a single intern to look at and say "Hey guys, MAYBE we should, you know, not ruin the UI?", really? And even if no one in the office thought that maybe you should stay true to your initial proposal of a minimalist UI and make everything toggleable, a big number of players on PTS forums pointed that out, so I can't understand how this absolutely abysmal-looking change made it to live.

By the way, OP, this community is generally friendly to Role Players. Don't worry about saying you are one.

Aelthwyn · May 2016

Exactly.

For those of us who like the Role Play aspect, we only want to see the CHARACTER we are interacting with or standing next to in the bank. We are in Tamriel, we do not want to be thinking about the fact that (as a hypothetical example) this Bosmer bowman named Feraan Oakdale that we teamed up with to defeat a giant lurcher is really a human cofeelover94, or whatever. And we don’t really need to be thinking about the fact that this Argonian Swims-Against-the-Current who is drunk-dancing in the Davon’s Watch fountain is also coffeelover94. It just ruins it, it disrupts getting into character.

While there are players who are more interested in the player behind the character and aren’t as concerned about the character itself, that is only one of several ways to approach the game, and as an mmoRPG those who do care more about ‘immersion’ and the Characters Within the Fictional World should have the option to be able to enjoy the game without the intrusion of the clearly outside-world related usernames. Yes people use ‘non-lore’ character names, but many people who do care about ‘lore’ and ‘immersion’ did not make a tamriel-friendly username because at the time that wasn’t what they were going to be immediately known by in game. And even if the username is ‘lore-friendly’ it’s still just awkward to be constantly reminded of the person behind the different characters.

(I made up these names on the spot and if there is anyone with these character names or username I am unaware of them and not intending to mention them)

Opeline · May 2016

Abeille wrote: »

By the way, OP, this community is generally friendly to Role Players. Don't worry about saying you are one.

I appreciate that there are some, but when I had made posts in the past suggesting things, a whole horde of Pve/Pvp'ers descended with "just got to content like normal people who buy the game."

As for the rest, I agree. It's supposed to be a game that always has minimal UI at BASE. If you want more, make a toggle for it so you can pick and choose what you want. Don't force everyone to be insanely cluttered. It really ruins it.

Alpheu5 · May 2016

I'm sure the people that went with names like Süiläøí Wøåñøá to make it an absolute pain in the arse to whisper will greatly appreciate everyone now being able to easily send them hate-tells in Cyrodiil.

Archamus · May 2016

Tobius wrote: »

Um, well to be honest anyone that roleplays a lot should know that they don't know a new character. I mean metagaming is a no-no.

Exactly if seeing an @name is ruining the roleplay experience, then people aren't very good at roleplaying.

Even before gamepad support you could find out what someone's @name was without friending them, being in their guild, or them being online. You've never had the level of anonymity you think you had.

I think your post is somewhat hyperbolic, but on the other hand I don't think it would have hurt to have the option to disable it, or at least make it disappear if you go offline or something. I'm sure someone will make an addon to give RPers and option to hide it from their view.

Opeline · May 2016

And for a double post so quickly: You come to a fantasy/mmo/mmorpg to get away from the real world. Why make it to where we can see the real world in our escape game? It might help for those people that want to play the content aspect, but it's not exciting for those of us that go above and beyond and play the game for what it is. A role-playing game. We love to think that we are living in Tamriel, that this world is real and vibrant and the only place. We don't want to be rudely kicked out because of people with @names showing.

Lenikus · May 2016

...can't you toggle the nameplate to show only the character name, while you only see the @ name (together with alliance rank and level) if you target them?

Ridistrin · May 2016

Lucifer_Malice wrote: »

UserID's and character names have been visable since gamepad support came to pc. Hiding has been gone for a long time, my friend.

*Since launch. Ignoring somebody has always shown the @name in the menu. Which makes perfect sense.

Opeline · May 2016

Archamus wrote: »

Tobius wrote: »

Um, well to be honest anyone that roleplays a lot should know that they don't know a new character. I mean metagaming is a no-no.

Exactly if seeing an @name is ruining the roleplay experience, then people aren't very good at roleplaying.

Even before gamepad support you could find out what someone's @name was without friending them, being in their guild, or them being online. You've never had the level of anonymity you think you had.

I think your post is somewhat hyperbolic, but on the other hand I don't think it would have hurt to have the option to disable it, or at least make it disappear if you go offline or something. I'm sure someone will make an addon to give RPers and option to hide it from their view.

While I agree to an extent, people do have to start somewhere, and this isn't a bad game to start in. But showing off @names to new people that don't necessarily know the code and conduct right away really is a bummer. It wouldn't be so bad if you could turn it off though as the suggestion I listed mentioned.

Opeline · May 2016

Lenikus wrote: »

...can't you toggle the nameplate to show only the character name, while you only see the @ name (together with alliance rank and level) if you target them?

If you can figure that out and let me know, that would be great. I spent about 45 minutes trying to turn it on fiddling with all the new name plate options and everything. It's not very streamlined or user-friendly. (All in all)

NovaMarx · May 2016

I couldn't agree more!!! As part of a huge RP community, I KNOW that this is making people rage! We want to at least have the option to turn off seeing other people's @ names, because who really gives a flying squirrel about seeing it! And also to be able to choose whether other people see yours - to avoid spam and harassment. You just know that this is going to backfire at some point...

All in all, I simply do not understand why they even added this in the first place....

idk · May 2016

RPers have no basis to be upset about @ names being visible other than looking for a reason to rage. The RP community has an in character and out of character discussion. If a player brings in a new character that is to be unknown they would RP they do not know who it is when IC. When OOC, anything goes in conversation.

Each of us can choose if we see @names or character names if any nameplates at all. What I choose does not affect the immersion for someone else.

At that, name plates of some sort if fairly common in MMOs. I understand some may prefer their name not be visible at all, but nameplates are a fairly common part of most MMOs. While I have often chosen to have nameplates turned off in other games, I think it is a great idea to have them as a choice.

Aleraon · May 2016

I'm not a great fan of the @names showing either. There's no need for it to be displayed. The only reason I can think for the change is that it saves ZOS five minutes of work when someone reports a player and sends a screenshot with the offending players @name on display. Either that or they're trying to make the PC UI the same as the console UI so they don't have to work on two versions of the same interface.

I'm well aware that people have been able to find your @name if they've really wanted to but cluttering the screen with it now on permanent display is just a waste of development time that could have been spent on something that actually needed fixing or testing. As already said above, with everything else its just making the once clean and minimalistic UI ugly and cluttered.

Opeline · May 2016

Giles.floydub17_ESO wrote: »

RPers have no basis to be upset about @ names being visible other than looking for a reason to rage. The RP community has an in character and out of character discussion. If a player brings in a new character that is to be unknown they would RP they do not know who it is when IC. When OOC, anything goes in conversation.

Each of us can choose if we see @names or character names if any nameplates at all. What I choose does not affect the immersion for someone else.

At that, name plates of some sort if fairly common in MMOs. I understand some may prefer their name not be visible at all, but nameplates are a fairly common part of most MMOs. While I have often chosen to have nameplates turned off in other games, I think it is a great idea to have them as a choice.

Then let's move to another very valid point. In a game series that is known for a BASE minimalist UI, why add all this unnecessary crap? Let's use this in a PvE standpoint for a moment. Someone just started the game, thinks they are good and wants to go into WGT. The people meet up around the Undaunted Enclave and see they only have about 30 champ points. They are uninvited and told go "Git gud scrubl0rd". Tell me, from a PvE standpoint, how that is good? DPS counters that are viewed by everyone were basically banned because they used it as a basis to kick people from a group because.. Tryhards. This is basically like adding those DPS counters back in.

The whole point of this is that it is not needed. Add the option where you can see others nameplates and they can see yours, or it can be toggled off and no one can see you own personal one.

Rylana · May 2016

It doesnt change a thing. Wanna know why?

Say you type something to me.

I right click your name, and put you on ignore

I then open up my ignore list HEY THERES YOUR @ HANDLE.

I then unignore you, knowing exactly who you are.

This has been in game since beta.

Opeline · May 2016

Rylana wrote: »

It doesnt change a thing. Wanna know why?

Say you type something to me.

I right click your name, and put you on ignore

I then open up my ignore list HEY THERES YOUR @ HANDLE.

I then unignore you, knowing exactly who you are.

This has been in game since beta.

*Coughs* The whole point of that bit is, it takes effort whereas this new crap -- Effortless.

wayfarerx · May 2016

Rylana wrote: »

It doesnt change a thing. Wanna know why?

Say you type something to me.

I right click your name, and put you on ignore

I then open up my ignore list HEY THERES YOUR @ HANDLE.

I then unignore you, knowing exactly who you are.

This has been in game since beta.

I don't think the complaint is that it's possible to find someone's @name, as you note that's been possible since beta. It's more about the fact that it is now advertised constantly.

If you really wanted to you could take my IRL name, get on the internet and probably figure out where I live. This change is like requiring everyone to tattoo their address on their forehead.

Teridaxus · May 2016

People asked for this and many others things during the pts.
All the feedback was ignored mostly ( green fire and black werewolves are so nice... )

Rune_Relic · May 2016

@names are not required to be visible.
They work perfectly well through the right click option if required, so account name is perfectly functional regradless.

From a gaming view I gave my character a name, as that is the name of the character I want to portray....not my account name!
Account names has nothing to do with my character on screen.
Whats next ? email address for personal contact info ?

Morimizo · May 2016

+1, and kudos to @Aelthwyn for pointing out what is not appealing about the @name;

I don't care if Buttmuncher4000 is the username of Roving Eye Reginald, and if I did, there are many ways to find out.

Please make this a choice, so the UI is less cluttered.

DPShiro · May 2016

Console players have had this since launch, as in every MP game, big deal.
If you behave, you usually have nothing to worry about.

driosketch · May 2016

Aelthwyn wrote: »

Exactly.

For those of us who like the Role Play aspect, we only want to see the CHARACTER we are interacting with or standing next to in the bank. We are in Tamriel, we do not want to be thinking about the fact that (as a hypothetical example) this Bosmer bowman named Feraan Oakdale that we teamed up with to defeat a giant lurcher is really a human cofeelover94, or whatever. And we don’t really need to be thinking about the fact that this Argonian Swims-Against-the-Current who is drunk-dancing in the Davon’s Watch fountain is also coffeelover94. It just ruins it, it disrupts getting into character.

While there are players who are more interested in the player behind the character and aren’t as concerned about the character itself, that is only one of several ways to approach the game, and as an mmoRPG those who do care more about ‘immersion’ and the Characters Within the Fictional World should have the option to be able to enjoy the game without the intrusion of the clearly outside-world related usernames. Yes people use ‘non-lore’ character names, but many people who do care about ‘lore’ and ‘immersion’ did not make a tamriel-friendly username because at the time that wasn’t what they were going to be immediately known by in game. And even if the username is ‘lore-friendly’ it’s still just awkward to be constantly reminded of the person behind the different characters.

(I made up these names on the spot and if there is anyone with these character names or username I am unaware of them and not intending to mention them)

Well put. There are times when it's helpful to know who is behind a character, like keeping track of who's who in guild events. Or maybe you want your PvP rep to carry over in Cyrodiil when you reroll a new class.

But there are also times you want to disappear into your character. I'm not standing up there on a pillar next to the statue in Daggerfall practicing martial arts, Raja is.

Oh well, at least I know I wasn't alone in that.

NTclaymore · May 2016

We allready been over this when it was on the PTS. We just got ingored there. So except the same treatment since it made it to live.

Bonzodog01 · May 2016

And yet, on the console, all anyone gets to see right now is the @name effectively. RP??? Don't make me laugh. It was dead on arrival.

However, changing the nameplates to actually show the character names has a lot of people in a panic. See, because the character names have never been visible, lots of people just named them random strings of letters or things like "my nightblade 2" or something really silly like "my ugly orc".

So now, when it hits console, ZOS are letting us have name change scrolls to give them something a little more RP-like, or at the very least sensible and readable.

Personally, all my characters have lore friendly names (my main Dark Elf Templar is called Sarya Virian..yeah, you know why. Who's to say how big House Virian really is?)

Opeline · May 2016

Bonzodog01 wrote: »

And yet, on the console, all anyone gets to see right now is the @name effectively. RP??? Don't make me laugh. It was dead on arrival.

However, changing the nameplates to actually show the character names has a lot of people in a panic. See, because the character names have never been visible, lots of people just named them random strings of letters or things like "my nightblade 2" or something really silly like "my ugly orc".

So now, when it hits console, ZOS are letting us have name change scrolls to give them something a little more RP-like, or at the very least sensible and readable.

Personally, all my characters have lore friendly names (my main Dark Elf Templar is called Sarya Virian..yeah, you know why. Who's to say how big House Virian really is?)

I don't really see how RP on a console is even possible even with a chat-pad. It just seems to defeat the entire purpose. The only RP I can see a console player really being able to do it forum RP and stepping into a characters shoe and not really interacting with other players. I gave it a shot on the PS4 and the community was worth than the Rosy Lion trolls.. In my own opinion, the console version is really for those that want to only play content. Not always, but a good 9/10 times. That or they can't afford a PC which is understandable. But it really isn't made for RP.

Abeille · May 2016

Bonzodog01 wrote: »

And yet, on the console, all anyone gets to see right now is the @name effectively. RP??? Don't make me laugh. It was dead on arrival.

RP is actually alive and well on PC. There are tons of Role Players, you can find lots of them around the world. If you are talking about consoles, then it doesn't make sense to even comment on this issue since it is PC only (as you said, on consoles you always saw the @names all the time).