Players have the same character names as me

redmonkeyjoshpreeb18_ESO · May 2017

I am on the NA server and about a month ago I deleted some characters so I could re create it as I didn't like the look, I went to enter their names and each one gave me the message that it was already in use. I was surprised that in the time I took creating the characters someone 'I presumed' had taken the names, so sadly I had to use an alternative names. However as I recently went to do the same with another character of mine called Legíon (which I have had since the game first came out during early access) I logged into the game with Legíon and went to the ignore list and typed in the exact same name 'Legíon' and was surprised to see it add another players User ID, even though I was on the character at the time. So it appears some other players have been able to use the exact same character names as myself while having a character called that in my character selection and if I delete my characters I am unable to use the names again as it would class the other player as having the name. I created most of my character during the early access of the base game and I am sad that I have lost some character names that I have had since then because other players have been able to create characters with the same name as me. So I am afraid to delete Legíon as I know I will not be able to use the name again to use on the new Warden class.

redmonkeyjoshpreeb18_ESO · May 2017

Also I checked on the EU server and the same is happening on there, logging into one of my characters I created at the very beginning and searching their names through the ignore list only to be adding other players User ID's.

I have contacted customer support and they said they haven't heard of such an issue and told me to report it here.

JasonSilverSpring · May 2017

I think there may be a "cool down" period after you delete a character before that name can be reused (by you or anyone else). Someone else might be able to confirm or deny that.

I have never seen reports of a name being used by more than one character/account at the same time. Perhaps there is some bug in the code if you try to add one of your own characters to the ignore list. Or perhaps when you are typing the name it is erroneously searching for characters on other servers (thus finding someone else that used the same name on EU for example).

Otherwise, you might want to submit a support ticket just to be sure nothing is awry.

JasonSilverSpring · May 2017

I just went online and tested. I typed my own character name in under ignore and in the drop-down it was giving me suggestions of some accounts (none mine). I think it is just finding accounts with "similar" character names. If I typed my full character name out and then chose ignore I got an error saying I cannot ignore myself.

So, I think it is just a quirk with the suggestions in the drop-down and also that once you delete a character there is probably a lock on that name for a period of time. I believe I have seen others complain about that lock before.

redmonkeyjoshpreeb18_ESO · May 2017

I have tested the "cool down" period with another character and was able to use the name again straight away. And I logged on to both NA and EU servers and typed in Legíon for example into the ignore list and it added two different players User ID's so it cant be that its searching for characters on another server.

redmonkeyjoshpreeb18_ESO · May 2017

I also tried adding my main character to the ignore list and I got the message "Account not found", so it only appears to be with certain characters of mine.

redmonkeyjoshpreeb18_ESO · May 2017

Here are some pictures:

JasonSilverSpring · May 2017

Maybe it has to do with "special characters". Are you seeing this behavior on any characters without special characters?

redmonkeyjoshpreeb18_ESO · May 2017

My main has a special character and it is not happening with him. Also a character I can delete and remake instantly has special characters. It just seems to me that the characters I created near the beginning of the game or before a certain time other players have been able to name them the same

BenevolentBowd · May 2017

I recently created a new character and deleted it after an hour when I realized it was the wrong faction. I was able to reuse the same name immediately.

JasonSilverSpring · May 2017

redmonkeyjoshpreeb18_ESO wrote: »

Here are some pictures:

Is this on PC NA? If so, very strange. On PC NA I tried to add Legíon to my ignore list and it brought up the user account you show which is not yours. I do remember there being issues early in the game with special characters. Perhaps at some point it erroneously allowed some character names to be reused.

I would open a support ticket because that seems to be a problem as if someone tried to mail you it might go to the wrong user unless they emailed you via your @ tag.

redmonkeyjoshpreeb18_ESO · May 2017

Yeah it's on the NA server, and that could be why then. I have contacted support and they suggested me to create a discussion on it but I just want to be able to use my names again on new characters

Thank you for having a look on your end though

SirAndy · May 2017

It appears ZOS has no solid concept of UTF-8.
Your í in Legíon seems to be interpreted as a normal i and thus results in a match with another name.

This does not surprise me a bit, i remember during early beta ZOS had to scramble and hotfix basic support for UTF-8 into the game as it originally only supported a subset of the western character set.
They probably never fixed the name search portion of the code.

And to this day they still do not support utf8mb4 ...

redmonkeyjoshpreeb18_ESO · May 2017

SirAndy wrote: »

It appears ZOS has no solid concept of UTF-8.
Your í in Legíon seems to be interpreted as a normal i and thus results in a match with another name.

This does not surprise me a bit, i remember during early beta ZOS had to scramble and hotfix basic support for UTF-8 into the game as it originally only supported a subset of the western character set.
They probably never fixed the name search portion of the code.

And to this day they still do not support utf8mb4 ...

Thank you for this!

So I'm guessing that if I delete characters I made early on in the game to remake I've lost the name?

Hara_Surya · May 2017

I find not being able to choose the same name as someone else for your character to be a bug. On the handful of MMOs that don't block doing that (mostly games from Cryptic) the chance of meeting your doppelganger is slim to none, the chance of confusing another player is slim to none because your login name is what's important and you get to use the character name you actually wanted to use which makes the character more relatable. Plus, it's more realistic because two people having the same name is a common occurrence.