Disclaimer: I am only offering an idea. I know that the coding would probably be a nightmare, or that it may not even be possible. I read a post recently that was requesting the use of old retired names to be cycled back in, since much of those players aren't on anymore. This got me thinking about how this could actually work. It would be absolutely devastating to anyone coming back to the game after a long hiatus to find that their character was forced into a rename. I know that two characters with the same name can be on the same server because I had a GM recover a deleted character of mine who shared a name with another character on a different account. This was many moons ago, back when the FV server only allowed one character per account, and the characters could not be logged in at the same time (it would just block the other from logging in). In theory, unless this was a glitch, characters with the same name on different accounts can exist. The idea: After X amount of time of a character not logged in, allow their name to be 'borrowed' (maybe have a warning upon name creation) where the original owner suffers no penalties if they log back in. However, the 'borrower' must then purchase a name change in order to log back in on that character. Making it on a /friends list would be hard to fix along with a few other quarks. Thoughts?
That would be a disaster. You're just going to have to use a variation of Aragorn(Arahgorn, Aragorrn, Aaragorn) or Legolas (Legalis, Leggilas,Legggolasss) like everyone else.
I've offered before, I'll try again. Buying the name "Bonq" on Tunare, paying kronos. Send me an in game message to Conq. Thanks. Conq
In the past, they did mass wipes of characters that were not above level 10. I forget the reasoning, but i assume it would solve this issue in a way. however small.
Or in the case of the great Dwarven peoples; Gimlie, Gimlee, Gimlea, Gimleee, Gimlei, Gimleaa, NoonecaresGimThing, and so on. And let's not get started on the ancient tiresome argument over the Gandalf homonyms.
When servers are merged they do some consideration on who has played the longest / active etc. However there are some famous well known names out there and even if that player quit 10 years ago and you may not know them others do and it would be bad to remove their name and give it to someone else.
If I remember correctly, it was also characters that were Level 1 and hadn't been logged-in in some long period of time.
Paying three krono to whomever has Tuco on bristlebane, which i had when i made tuco on bristlebane twenty years ago and lost in some merge.
I like the idea of finding a way to allow duplicate names. Like a blizzard battle tag or discord tag. Under the surface each name is unique and associated with a number, but to players it would be just the name, or a name with a # at the end. It would probably be a monumental amount of work. I think there's a few problems with actually putting this in the game, though. If two people have the same name, it would be hard to differentiate between the two when you see them, want to send them a tell, invite them to a group, etc. It would also be a problem for chat messages (and logging). I guess the log could write a number at the end of a player's name (like a_decaying_skeleton03). It's definitely an interesting problem. I wonder if any games allow duplicates like this already? Edit: I've had a character get an X at the end of their name, even though I was still playing (although I hadn't logged into that character in years). It's not unheard of, but really rare that a GM would give you your name back. I do think names are really important to people, and its one of the really bad things about server merges. If you lose your name it can be like losing your identity. I played Warhammer Online when it came out. The population was pretty large, then decreased and they did server merges. My brother's character was named Solusek. After the merge, his name was Solusekx and he was flagged for a free name change. He sent in a CS ticket and they said he could change his name to Solusuk. After that he quit playing, and because I had no one to play with, followed shortly after.
Duplicate names is a terrible idea. It would be simple to do until you start using /tell /invite or having 2 people with the same name start talking in general channels at the same time.
This is more work involved for DBG, so I do not know how feasible the following can be... I want to transfer to xyz server. My name is taken. I petition to have the name. DBG looks up account, and notices the character has not logged in for abc years. DBG sends an email to the account owner, asking if that character will be back in game. Owner responds no, it will not. DBG then grants the petition, and I can have my name on xyz server. I realize there is a lot of what if's in this situation. How long is abc? What if owner does not respond to email? But it is a brainstorm idea, if anything...
I could see only one benefit - mistake in name when sending parcels and no way to recover due to that name not active. Other than that there is no effing reason to make anyone's name available again. There is one well known player who has a sword in the game named after him when he died - Ticka - if would be disgusting to see some "gimme gimme need level 120 right now" newbie get his name. Yes during one of the mergers they made it so if two characters had the same name on the servers being merged that the one who was oldest would keep the regular name and the younger character would get the X at the end of the name with the one time chance to change it. Not many running around with that X still, but I have one character with it. I am surprised at the availability of names now days, seems like there are a lot more so I wonder if something was already loosened up.
