Ban the Usage of Special Extended Subset Character Sets in Character Names

hamgatan · July 2016

ZOS,

I think the time has come for you to consider this seriously.

You tell us we need to report players for exploiting using the in game feature. But how can we do this if character names are extended subscript characters which cannot be normally typed on a keyboard without alt-tabbing out to character map or having knowledge of the cross referenced ASCII codes?

Example here - Dragon Leap mechanic exploiter in Chal, but can't report in game due to the ridiculous amount of subset characters in the name.

[Snip]

People are deliberately using these char subsets so they CAN exploit and not get reported. It makes a mockery of the whole system. Surely you can lock down a portion of the ASCII/UTF-8 sets through 'allowed codes' in the character creation screen?

[Edit to remove naming and shaming]

[Deleted User] · July 2016

Hello there,

We appreciate your vigilance on the matter, though we have to ask that you refrain from publicly posting the names of the offenders on the Forums, as it is against the Forum Rules. Though we'd like to suggest that you submit the screenshot and your suggestion as well to Customer Support for proper investigation. Though please feel free to discuss your suggestion on restricting special character in names here.

Thank you for understanding!

Preyfar · July 2016

The only benefit is that, now, we can see @names. Report the @name, and take a screenshot of the person if you can. Though I think that ZOS needs to update the "Report a Player" text to reflect "Report Character or Account Name" instead of just character name.

Brutusmax1mus · July 2016

One person with difficult characters to type exploited, ruin it for all! Yaaaay.

[Snip]

[Edit to remove flaming.]

Whatzituyah · July 2016

@Brutusmax1mus Ile like to see you copy special characters down to report someone! Of course no name and shame.

starkerealm · July 2016

@ZOS_AntonioP, with respect, could you at least get someone to look at this issue?

Draxys · July 2016

People don't use this naming method exclusively to get away with exploiting. There are also tons of players who want a specific name and get it through using special characters. Quit the tunnel vision and think of the big picture.

malchior · July 2016

And that would be ZOS' doing and not using a charactername@handle format like STO. Forcing people to use ascii code to get the 'same name'. Since this game is heavily dependant on @handle, they should have implemented character naming using that as the discriminant.

Draxys wrote: »

People don't use this naming method exclusively to get away with exploiting. There are also tons of players who want a specific name and get it through using special characters. Quit the tunnel vision and think of the big picture.

Eiagra · July 2016

If character names were bound to @handle (for example "Bob@crazygamer2992" could exist along side "Bob@ilovecornchips2016") instead of required to be unique, some people might not need special characters, except perhaps roleplayers.

That's not the case. So some of us have to use special characters to get the character name we desire because some guy took the name a year ago and stopped playing the game, forever locking the name up. (And no, releasing the name isn't the answer, since they could come back specifically to play that character.)

Since names aren't bound to @handles, I'd rather the name system stay as it is with allowable characters.

starkerealm · July 2016

malchior wrote: »

And that would be ZOS' doing and not using a charactername@handle format like STO. Forcing people to use ascii code to get the 'same name'. Since this game is heavily dependant on @handle, they should have implemented character naming using that as the discriminant.

Draxys wrote: »

People don't use this naming method exclusively to get away with exploiting. There are also tons of players who want a specific name and get it through using special characters. Quit the tunnel vision and think of the big picture.

It always baffles me when I find a new MMO that hasn't taken that lesson from Cryptic. For all the stuff they've legitimately screwed up, their character name structure was smart. Even if it does mean I've been in more than one pug with another U.S.S. Lexington or U.S.S. Durandal.

hamgatan · July 2016

Draxys wrote: »

People don't use this naming method exclusively to get away with exploiting. There are also tons of players who want a specific name and get it through using special characters.

You're completely right. It's not only exploiters..

It's also how they get inappropriate names past the censor and avoid being reported. Just today I saw one name containing 'póóf' in extended Chars. I've seen far worse in the past two days including a C-bomb using ų as the next letter.

North American server is an English based server. There are no extended character sets used in the English language. So there shouldn't be any need to have them. The Japanese can't even create their character names in Japanese but they have no trouble creating romanized versions of it.. so why should people who speak english as their first language require characters that don't exist in their language?

You think people get to choose extended character sets when they're choosing a licence plate for a vehicle or choosing a domain name? God no if that sh**s taken then tough titties choose another.. and besides how *** would ęlđəřšçŕöllśønlīñë.com look in a browser?

Draxys · August 2016

hamgatan wrote: »

Draxys wrote: »

People don't use this naming method exclusively to get away with exploiting. There are also tons of players who want a specific name and get it through using special characters.

You're completely right. It's not only exploiters..

It's also how they get inappropriate names past the censor and avoid being reported. Just today I saw one name containing 'póóf' in extended Chars. I've seen far worse in the past two days including a C-bomb using ų as the next letter.

North American server is an English based server. There are no extended character sets used in the English language. So there shouldn't be any need to have them. The Japanese can't even create their character names in Japanese but they have no trouble creating romanized versions of it.. so why should people who speak english as their first language require characters that don't exist in their language?

You think people get to choose extended character sets when they're choosing a licence plate for a vehicle or choosing a domain name? God no if that sh**s taken then tough titties choose another.. and besides how *** would ęlđəřšçŕöllśønlīñë.com look in a browser?

So people who live in Spanish speaking countries aren't allowed to type in Spanish on the server that they live closest to?

Big picture.

Asata · August 2016

To be honest it's really annoying inviting people to a guild that have tons of special characters in their name because you can't type it in the box and I at least have no idea how to get their UserID just from a PM message.

Ayantir · August 2016

Asata wrote: »

To be honest it's really annoying inviting people to a guild that have tons of special characters in their name because you can't type it in the box and I at least have no idea how to get their UserID just from a PM message.

Right clic? ask it ?

JaJaLuka · August 2016

You can of course take a screenshot of anyone you suspect of cheating and send it in as part of a report with an additional simple statement that you cannot type his/her name. Food for thought.

Asata · August 2016

Ayantir wrote: »

Asata wrote: »

To be honest it's really annoying inviting people to a guild that have tons of special characters in their name because you can't type it in the box and I at least have no idea how to get their UserID just from a PM message.

Right clic? ask it ?

I do ask them. That's the only real option other than googling special characters until it auto fills the rest. It's just an annoyance to have to do that.

joshisanonymous · August 2016

What kind of exploiting are you talking about? If they're in chat, just right click on their name. If they're in front of you, just interact with them and choose report. You never have to type in the name of someone you're reporting unless they flew by you in a split second, just long enough to get a glimpse of the name before they disappeared into the sunset.

hamgatan · August 2016

Draxys wrote: »

hamgatan wrote: »

Draxys wrote: »

People don't use this naming method exclusively to get away with exploiting. There are also tons of players who want a specific name and get it through using special characters.

You're completely right. It's not only exploiters..

It's also how they get inappropriate names past the censor and avoid being reported. Just today I saw one name containing 'póóf' in extended Chars. I've seen far worse in the past two days including a C-bomb using ų as the next letter.

North American server is an English based server. There are no extended character sets used in the English language. So there shouldn't be any need to have them. The Japanese can't even create their character names in Japanese but they have no trouble creating romanized versions of it.. so why should people who speak english as their first language require characters that don't exist in their language?

You think people get to choose extended character sets when they're choosing a licence plate for a vehicle or choosing a domain name? God no if that sh**s taken then tough titties choose another.. and besides how *** would ęlđəřšçŕöllśønlīñë.com look in a browser?

So people who live in Spanish speaking countries aren't allowed to type in Spanish on the server that they live closest to?

Big picture.

I agree. Spanish and Portuguese has heaps of extended character sets in their languages.. but they aren't the only languages our population has. Should I kick and scream because I can't write Chinese to the players I talk to? (I romanize everything to hanyu pinyin). What about the Koreans? They don't get the functionality to type in their language either.. because we all agree there should be a universal standard.

Incidentally you're not hearing what I'm saying. I'm not talking about zone chat - I'm talking about the character creation screen. I see no drama for extended sets in chat windows but not at the character creation screen.. Its already a restriction on the Japanese players that they have to use a romanized character name.. but they're free to type their own language in chat.

Whether they want to type In their language in zone is irrelevant. Thats their call - but a universal standard needs to be adopted regarding naming contexts.

Thats the big picture.

hamgatan · August 2016

joshisanonymous wrote: »

What kind of exploiting are you talking about? If they're in chat, just right click on their name. If they're in front of you, just interact with them and choose report. You never have to type in the name of someone you're reporting unless they flew by you in a split second, just long enough to get a glimpse of the name before they disappeared into the sunset.

Not for enemy alliances in PvP..

AlnilamE · August 2016

hamgatan wrote: »

North American server is an English based server. There are no extended character sets used in the English language. So there shouldn't be any need to have them. The Japanese can't even create their character names in Japanese but they have no trouble creating romanized versions of it.. so why should people who speak english as their first language require characters that don't exist in their language?

L'Amerique du Nord contienne aussi le Mexique et le Canada. Au Mexique on parle Espagnol et au Canada, environ 30% de la population parle français.

Also, have you tried setting your keyboard to US-International. That makes it really easy to type in extra characters.

leeux · August 2016

That's why the addon Fast Report was really useful back in the day of the bot infestation... and it was really useful in Cyrodiil too.

Maybe this could be of help in this cases? -> http://www.esoui.com/downloads/info1370-FastReportContinued.html

(This only works for PC, though)

As an idea, maybe the addons that have combat Logs and kill logs, like Codex, and such, should have an option to report player from among those that you recent had combat with (and maybe they have, and I haven't checked them recently!)

nordsavage · August 2016

Player's @ names are displayed. There is no reason for this and there is no reason to punish the vast majority of players who use these and do not cheat. Besides you act like reporting does anything in this game beyond a slap on the wrist if anything at all.

DeadDealer · August 2016

^right

/closed pls

MornaBaine · August 2016

ZOS_AntonioP wrote: »

Hello there,

We appreciate your vigilance on the matter, though we have to ask that you refrain from publicly posting the names of the offenders on the Forums, as it is against the Forum Rules. Though we'd like to suggest that you submit the screenshot and your suggestion as well to Customer Support for proper investigation. Though please feel free to discuss your suggestion on restricting special character in names here.

Thank you for understanding!

Or...here's a thought... you guys could finally FIX the problem with special characters so this is no longer an issue. I think well over 2 years is long enough for us to have waited for that, don't you?

Anhedonie · August 2016

At least you can't use kanji in names.