Free-Up Character Names

Lady_Sleepless · April 2020

StormeReigns wrote: »

Normally, when one asks for names to be released, often they are seeking very common, cliche and specific name theme. Don't even have to follow traditional spelling to achieve the articulation, annunciation and pronunciation one wishes, simple word play can go a very long way

Examples of common fantasy / cliche names I've seen come and go in ESO with unique word play since 2015:
Ash Falls = Ashe Fawls
Dark Rain = Darque Rayen (Reign)
Damien Dark = Dameon Darque
Violence = Viola Lance
Decay = D. Kaye / Dee Kay
Torrent = Tor Ennt
Graverobber/digger = Phyllis (Phillip) Graves / Douglas Graves / Robin Graves

It is all luck of the draw really. Just cause there is a name you want doesn't mean that it isn't being actively used. You might be active during one time set, and the one who has the name you really want might be active during another and rarely if ever cross each other's path, cause, one player's bed time is another player's prime time.

"Robin Graves" might be my favourite necromancer name now.

Varana · April 2020

Jakx wrote: »

So I will bucket the different responses and respond to them that way.

You crucially missed the fourth bucket:
"You haven't provided adequate reasons for why this would be advantageous."

StormeReigns · April 2020

Jakx wrote: »

Almost every post ignores what the original post says and just comments. [snip]
So I will bucket the different responses and respond to them that way.

-First Bucket, "I quit the game for a year and just came back, NO THANKS!"

Response: Yea so thats exactly the customer-base I said wouldn't be affected by this name release. Right at the top, a conversation starter of 3+ years of inactivity. I've taken breaks of 1 year too, alot of people have. This game honestly drains you with how many issues it has. I'm clearly talking about accounts that are long inactive, not your typical hiatus lengths.

-Second Bucket, "I played beta and just came back!!!!!!"

response: You prove the exception but in a thread that has at best 20 different posters? Yea not the norm. Those people who are the norm have quit. they arent coming back. Also, how come all the people who say they beta'd the game and just came back have forum accounts that are mere months old? At worst you're lieing and at best you did not provide feedback during the beta. ps. Check my account age (im gonna love the hate I get for that comment)

-Third Bucket, "NO way because its unfair I never even got an email from ESO when it went f2p or SWTOR/WOW when they changed naming policies"

Response: At a certain point the customer has a responsibility. If you make fake emails and don't have anyway to be contacted. That just to me proves more why customers who do have interest in playing the game should have your inactive names of 3,4,5, years freed up.

Summary: I didn't flesh out the entire idea for ZOS because they dont pay me to do these things. There's a certain expectation that they would properly inform customers of these intentions. Make it so that its an appropriate amount of inactivity with certain caveats (time spent in game, money spent etc) and generally attempt to weed out those who actually play ESO and those who dumped it.

To those that feel like they're proving the exception. "I really did play beta and JUST came back." I'm sorry, get over it. Guess what, you're back! Your names arent going anywhere.

Despite the fact, while you keep hammering that this unique special name should be yours cause you dont see it in game... Just cause you dont see the name that you so desperately are wanting in game while you are playing doesn't mean it isn't being actively used.

You could be a morning or prime time player while the one who has the name you are trying to take could be a night owl (3rd shift / graveyard - which inst a NA. Aussie/Kiwi thing either. Night time players are a global thing too and very common in EU) player. And thus, while you are asleep they are up and active.

And you have yet to provide evidence that this unique special name of yours is truly abandoned.

[edited quoted content]

Malmai · April 2020

What so let say he bought the game for 60€ that time or 90€ and subbed, he beta tested and now you come after 6 years demanding you want his name because he is offline for couple of years? Well he supported the game so you can still play it today, just pick other name.

VaranisArano · April 2020

Jakx wrote: »

Almost every post ignores what the original post says and just comments. [snip]

So I will bucket the different responses and respond to them that way.

-First Bucket, "I quit the game for a year and just came back, NO THANKS!"

Response: Yea so thats exactly the customer-base I said wouldn't be affected by this name release. Right at the top, a conversation starter of 3+ years of inactivity. I've taken breaks of 1 year too, alot of people have. This game honestly drains you with how many issues it has. I'm clearly talking about accounts that are long inactive, not your typical hiatus lengths.

-Second Bucket, "I played beta and just came back!!!!!!"

response: You prove the exception but in a thread that has at best 20 different posters? Yea not the norm. Those people who are the norm have quit. they arent coming back. Also, how come all the people who say they beta'd the game and just came back have forum accounts that are mere months old? At worst you're lieing and at best you did not provide feedback during the beta. ps. Check my account age (im gonna love the hate I get for that comment)

-Third Bucket, "NO way because its unfair I never even got an email from ESO when it went f2p or SWTOR/WOW when they changed naming policies"

Response: At a certain point the customer has a responsibility. If you make fake emails and don't have anyway to be contacted. That just to me proves more why customers who do have interest in playing the game should have your inactive names of 3,4,5, years freed up.

Summary: I didn't flesh out the entire idea for ZOS because they dont pay me to do these things. There's a certain expectation that they would properly inform customers of these intentions. Make it so that its an appropriate amount of inactivity with certain caveats (time spent in game, money spent etc) and generally attempt to weed out those who actually play ESO and those who dumped it.

To those that feel like they're proving the exception. "I really did play beta and JUST came back." I'm sorry, get over it. Guess what, you're back! Your names arent going anywhere.

We understand your objections.

For most of us, we just disagree with them. There's two main problems I see.

1.It doesn't matter how long players are gone for when losing character names is often a deal-breaker for players returning to an MMORPG. It doesn't matter how well ZOS advertises the name changes when losing character names is often a deal breaker for anyone who missed it. Claiming "its your responsibility" doesn't do anything to change that its a deal breaker - it just makes you feel better suggesting an idea you know will cause returning players to quit a game. We don't have to be one of the players who would be impacted by the name changes to figure out how players who would be impacted would react.

2. It's not beneficial to ZOS.
Why not?
Reason 1: Have enough people mentioned that losing character names is a deal-breaker when returning to an MMORPG after a long hiatus for you to get the picture?
Reason 2: New and current players aren't lacking for name choices with a little creativity, so its not even worth annoying old-time returning players.
Reason 3: Who's going to buy Name Change tokens for the chance that their desired name wound up released from an inactive character?

Its a bad idea that's going to create a deal-breaker for players returning after long hiatuses if implemented. And crucially, there's no guarantee that the name you want is even on the inactive list or, if it is, that you'd get it. Meanwhile the vast majority of new and current players get on with making a huge variety of creative names. That makes this an exercise in pointless cruelty.

[edited quoted commnet]

robertthebard · April 2020

Jakx wrote: »

Almost every post ignores what the original post says and just comments. [snip]

So I will bucket the different responses and respond to them that way.

-First Bucket, "I quit the game for a year and just came back, NO THANKS!"

Response: Yea so thats exactly the customer-base I said wouldn't be affected by this name release. Right at the top, a conversation starter of 3+ years of inactivity. I've taken breaks of 1 year too, alot of people have. This game honestly drains you with how many issues it has. I'm clearly talking about accounts that are long inactive, not your typical hiatus lengths.

-Second Bucket, "I played beta and just came back!!!!!!"

response: You prove the exception but in a thread that has at best 20 different posters? Yea not the norm. Those people who are the norm have quit. they arent coming back. Also, how come all the people who say they beta'd the game and just came back have forum accounts that are mere months old? At worst you're lieing and at best you did not provide feedback during the beta. ps. Check my account age (im gonna love the hate I get for that comment)

-Third Bucket, "NO way because its unfair I never even got an email from ESO when it went f2p or SWTOR/WOW when they changed naming policies"

Response: At a certain point the customer has a responsibility. If you make fake emails and don't have anyway to be contacted. That just to me proves more why customers who do have interest in playing the game should have your inactive names of 3,4,5, years freed up.

Summary: I didn't flesh out the entire idea for ZOS because they dont pay me to do these things. There's a certain expectation that they would properly inform customers of these intentions. Make it so that its an appropriate amount of inactivity with certain caveats (time spent in game, money spent etc) and generally attempt to weed out those who actually play ESO and those who dumped it.

To those that feel like they're proving the exception. "I really did play beta and JUST came back." I'm sorry, get over it. Guess what, you're back! Your names arent going anywhere.

Here's my thought: Someone has a name you want, allow me to quote you: Get over it.

I have a bucket list too, a bucket full of names, anyway, that I've created over the last couple of decades that, no matter how many times I swap MMOs, they're not taken, generally speaking. I have run into 3 instances where one of them was, over about 20 years, and one of those times, it was actually me that had the name, on an account I had completely forgotten about.

While we're laying down some knowledge, another thing that I've noticed about these threads is that, even when they do get the devs to do a purge, someone isn't getting the name they wanted anyway. This can be for a multitude of reasons from "You're not allowed to use that name, because it belongs to someone else", such as Drizzt or Geralt. Those names, and others like them are copyrighted. That means that a publisher can get in legal trouble for allowing players to use them. Then there's the "but someone beat me to it" issue, and, even funnier, the player was busy on another server, so the name stayed right where it was, prompting a "but they didn't log that name in, so I should be able to get it anyway" type post.

Simply put, no. Get creative, there are probably thousands of sites out there now that can help you if you can't come up with something original on your own.

[edited quoted commnet]

StormeReigns · April 2020

Lady_Sleepless wrote: »

"Robin Graves" might be my favourite necromancer name now.

As well, to assist the OP on how easy word play is if you can't get the name you wanted. I wasn't quick enough to save the name "Robin Graves" (probably cause it was already taken long before I started) when I first started in hopes that necro would come out when I first started back in 2015.

Although, I do enjoy my Stamina Necro (2H/BoW) Robin Mooregraves which was on hold waiting for necro to eventually release.
wDs2Z4Y.png?1

With shovel's galore!

Funny enough, haven't seen the character "Robin Graves" in these 5 years of play either. One day I hope to run paths with them though and have a little /dance / lute party when that day does come.

kargen27 · April 2020

I don't really care if they release names or not other than it taking time away from an employee or two to actually do it. I would assume the reason people want names released is so they can use them. How would we know names were released though unless there was an announcement. Seems cruel for ZoS to start releasing names without announcing the names released. People wanting a specific name would have to check each day to see if the name they want is available. That is pure evil.

So for this idea to work at all the names released would need to be made public. Problem there is a good name is going to go almost immediately and we all know someone somewhere is going to throw a fit because the name was released while they were at work.

Maybe released names should be put in the crown store and put up for auction. Players have one week to place their bid. ZoS is going to have to pay someone to release names and all that fun stuff so the names should generate the funds needed to pay them.

Or just let dead names lie and we can all move on. I tried for a long time to name a character after a (any) Celtic demigod and never once succeeded. Most my characters have Hopi names. I'm happy with the names I have now, just took me a while to find them.

I would like to name my sorcerer Tim but I'm guessing that name was the fourth name taken.

max_only · April 2020

If it’s not a big deal for the people who would potentially lose their names in the future, then sit not a big deal that you have to get creative with a name you want today.
Either User1 or user234 will have to make a creative substitution. It takes less effort for user234 to be creative today than to go back and remove names from millions of accounts that came and paid money before user234 ever jumped in.

YandereGirlfriend · April 2020

Given that the character name field is unlikely to be used as the primary key in their database, I don't really see why name repeats are not allowed.

If in-game whispers or mail are the concern, simply default to using their in-game name as that's likely what routes the mail system anyway.

I'm sure that many more people would be happy if they could use whatever name that they wanted to without having to resort to strange ASCII trickery in order to kludge it together.

Sephyr · April 2020

max_only wrote: »

If it’s not a big deal for the people who would potentially lose their names in the future, then sit not a big deal that you have to get creative with a name you want today.
Either User1 or user234 will have to make a creative substitution. It takes less effort for user234 to be creative today than to go back and remove names from millions of accounts that came and paid money before user234 ever jumped in.

Right? It's not exactly hard to be creative when making a new character/name. I've only had a few instances where the character name was taken and it didn't take long for me to find a compromise that worked and it was for the better as I can then place them more accurately within their own culture's lore without being an edgelord.

rpa · April 2020

There are enough possible unique names for every character. So the simplest solution is to have player give a suitable unique name for their character. I prefer my names simple and short and have no trouble finding em.

I'd suggest instead of getting attached to a Spęcïål but common name pick a naming schema to generate lots of potential names. I myself have not yet ran out of short names for long objects in finnish.

Lysette · April 2020

i get quite attached to character names - they might not be the most original names, but they are mine and I want to keep them. I changed 2 names slightly though to make it easier for others to whisper to them. But I agree with those who say, it doesn't feel like playing the same character with a new name.

I have this problem in real life even - citizenship ceremony is up soon and I cannot change my name currently, because neither australian authorities nor german embassy is providing this service during the pandemic. It would be just a slight change (getting rid of german umlauts) - but those umlauts are a problem quite often and I have to get rid of them. I would not be comfortable though having to choose a totally different name.

Lysette · April 2020

rpa wrote: »

There are enough possible unique names for every character. So the simplest solution is to have player give a suitable unique name for their character. I prefer my names simple and short and have no trouble finding em.

I'd suggest instead of getting attached to a Spęcïål but common name pick a naming schema to generate lots of potential names. I myself have not yet ran out of short names for long objects in finnish.

Some of my characters have south african names - Zulu and Xhosa names - I was surprised how many of those were taken already.

Dark_Lord_Kuro · April 2020

Maybe someday but i do not think we are there yet

When that time come, they could free the name of every account that did not log in since morrowind chapter release(june 2017)

They could announce it durring the reveal event, send emails to all concerned account and remind us in their social media a few time

We could keep the name by either loging in or contacting the costumer support(if loging in

The delay between the reveal event in january and the release in june is a reasonable amount of time for it in my book

And obviously they would get free name change token for each character

newtinmpls · April 2020

Still curious as to why OP cares about this issue.

marius_buys · April 2020

STEAM did a recent purge which may have prompted the OP

ZOS_Lunar · April 2020

Greetings! We've removed a few posts from this thread given their baiting nature.

It’s okay to disagree and debate on the official ESO forums, but we do ask that you keep all disagreements civil, constructive, and on-topic.Thanks.

newtinmpls · April 2020

I understand the frustration of wanting a particular name.

I had a character that I rolled up as one class, and as she leveled, I really felt she should be another class. Tried to re-create her, but then got the "this name is taken".

Granted, that surprised the heck out of me; I mean why should it matter, as surely in the software, that character is identified as some version of [character name]+[class/level data]+[player name/data] so why should it matter that I still had the "old version" (really to check that I'd gotten her appearance correctly)?

No idea.

But then seeing so many versions of name steals from TV, movies and other places, I guess I'm fine with having to stretch my creativity a bit.

Back to my personal dilemma, I ended up changing one letter; so Nellas Riverthorn the Bosmer Sorc (all my initial characters were socrs - long story) was reborn as Nellas Riverthorne the Bosmer NB.

The sorta sad part of this, is that as a player I'm pretty decent at playing sorcs. Despite feeling that she needs to be a NB, I still kind of suck at playing her.

But it's only been a few years, I'll figure it out.

Path · April 2020

Naaa.
As launch player, I would be very unhappy if my character names were gone.
Not planning on leaving so, there!