Dear whoever is running EQ1 and EQ2, Putting it as bluntly as possible, your naming system sucks. The age of the game, combined with the thousands of players past and present, getting a decent, legible and meaningful name is next to impossible. I admit that eq1 has eq2 beat with all sorts of consonant filled gibberish, but eq2 isn't far behind. It's the 21st century. Think beyond the tip of your noses and use some imagination to make things work better. Recently you made names with any sort of umlaut illegal, forcing name changes. Why the umlaut bugged yall so much, but trying to find suitable replacements is as fun as picking dingleberries out of a pair of tighty whitey undies. Visit some other games and see how they do names. Do it. Just do it. I'll help you out. 1. Allow the character to be given a first and last name at character creation. This alone will cure gibberish names by the thousands. (various mmos use this) 2. Allow a name to be assigned at creation that can be any combination of names up to X amount of characters. (ESO name system) 3. Tie whatever the name is with the account name. If my characters name is Teddy, and my account name is jablonski, it would be coded as Teddy@jablonski, with the account name being hidden at the users request or viewable. (neverwinter system) This isn't an impossible task. If you redo the naming system to be more user friendly, perhaps you might show your remaining playerbase that you care even a little bit. Your choice, your game, but this is coming from a frustrated paying customer who has been so since march of 1999.
The issue with attempting to change the system to match any of your suggestions is the same issue with umlaut names - Sending tells or using typed commands in regards to those characters is prohibitively difficult compared to the current system. There is no reason for accents on your name OTHER than to have the same name someone already has or to make it next to impossible for normal keyboard layouts to type your name. A majority of players using the Latin alphabet don't have *any* accents available by default, requiring them to tab out and copy/paste the letter with an accent or to memorize the ASCII code for it, if there is one. Tying the first AND last name to the character at creation would remove the ability to change surnames *and* make sending tells/commands using the name much more difficult (And is likely impossible without completely reworking the system for names) Tying the account name to your character has the same issue, with the added benefit of being a major security risk for the player. They aren't bad conceptually, but they don't work within the EQ or EQ2 systems. (Edit: That isn't to say there is not an issue with lack of name options 20 years in to the game being live. They did clear names for characters that had no logged in in <x> time a while back, it may be time for another run of that script.)
Actually they could easily work. The game now allows for someone to click on a name and send them a tell.
This is just not true. There are TONS of great names appropriate for a fantasy RPG that go unused. People could... I dunno, get creative so we don't have a dozen variants of Legolas and Wolverine? A great place to find names is the Medieval Names Archive. It has names from a wide range of cultures that work great in a fantasy RPG. If you specifically want a Vikingish/Halasian name, try the Viking Answer Lady. I rarely see any of these names used in game. There are a bunch of online Fantasy RPG name generators out there as well, most with options to help you slant the flavor of the name to a specific race/nation. A few examples: https://www.name-generator.org.uk/fantasy/ https://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/ https://blog.reedsy.com/character-name-generator/fantasy/ https://donjon.bin.sh/fantasy/name/ https://www.fantasynamegen.com/ https://genr8rs.com/Generator/Rpg/NameGenerator
Sure, *if* they say something first. How do you initiate a conversation with some named Áíéóúüñ if you don't have their name to click on?
Games that are well developed and maintained you can. Look, this is all stemming from the impending closure of the rivervale server. I have zero interest to go to the other creepy as hell server IoR, so that means moving them to a normal live server. Pretty much every day i picked when i rolled on the brand new server Rivervale is taken on the other servers. Hell. At the least the lazy dev team could rip off Lotro and just put a freaking 2 next to the name. That's better than renaming it qwertyxxblah...............
Good sources for a new alt or character. I think the OP is speaking more towards cases of server merges, where a character they may have developed over years is suddenly forced to change their name. Depending on the individual, names have power. Some folks are fine naming their toon Leggy-LassXX17XX, while others devote significant time, energy, and focus to choosing a name, associating it with a backstory, and roleplaying the ever-luvin' heck out of it.
I agree that the loss of character names on merges/etc sucks, but being 'Taledx' instead of 'Taled' doesn't stop me from being Taled - Unless the other person without the x plays consistently at the same time as you or is much more popular, it shouldnt cause any issues, really - Definitely not any more than being 'Taled 2' would.
Sometimes for character names i add a vowel or consonant somewhere in the name provided by the random generator. Or add something like ah, nalo, resh, etc.
Those are good suggestions as well, but I don't think they are going to accept anything except keeping the exact name they want.
Partly, but also to cure both games of horrible gibberish names. To give you an idea of just how *BAD* the naming system is right now, act like you are going to make a new character and cycle through the random name generator for a few minutes. Btw folks, i am not trying to be a negative nancy, but this is just one part of the overall health of the game that so many of us love. The status quo is a deadly trap for game developers to fall in.
Personally I'd rather clean up the 600 unimaginative variations of Legolas and the misguided 'cute' statements that no sane parent would ever name their child than any gibberish produced by the random name generator. YMMV.
Oh for the love of whatever. There is nothing wrong with the naming system as it is. Be creative. when you plan to make a toon, have a name already in mind. If it is taken and you want that name, get creative on the spelling of it. They don't need to rewrite the whole program to satisfy a few. If it is too hard to use the random generator for a name or think of one yourself, stop right there an log out.
I agree Jovie and have been frustrated repeatedly trying to create a new name that has meaning to me. A name, to me, is important. It gives the character its game continuity in the face of constant gear and abilities changes. I want to use names that come from my past gaming experiences. Sure I have a name in mind every time I create a toon, but never get that name and respelling it into name gibberish so that the game will accept it reduces my attachment to that character. (Not to mention server merges renaming that character). Being able to have a name combine first name and surname (or middle name) to distinguish it from others with same first name would do the job?!? Eg. for Aethelred it could be Aethel Red instead of EtharlRedXXX. Then to make it easier to send tells without needing to include second name - maybe first name only tells prioritise to friends list, guild members etc I do not expect any change to occur in this game, but if future games were to be developed I think a better naming system should be an important consideration.
Never, ever had any issues with a single one of my character names since EQ2 launched. I've only ever seen one or two other characters with a matching or similar name on any server a few times via EQ2U. I've never had a character renamed or needed to request a rename post-merger (been thru a few). I've never used the in-game or other online name generating systems. If you have a creative, fantasy oriented gaming mind, names are SUPER easy. What bugs the sh*t out of me, is the blatant violations of naming policy that go unchecked. aka, 'lady---' or other such INTENTIONAL breaches of the clearly stated policy specifically. ANY name starting with 'LADY" is NOT allowed (or LORD, KING, QUEEN, ETC), but there are a number of them just on the HoF server. If you want to be Lady who-the-F-ever, then just get the damned title in-game. It's NOT hard.
If a name bothers you that much and is against the EQ2 Naming Policy, then /petition and report the problem name(s).
The point is that the game, company and enforcement is fubar so badly - that it's even possible to name a character that way is only a single example.. It simply shouldn't be. ANY attempt to create a character with that combo of letters anywhere in the name should be blocked. It wouldn't be hard to code given how many other words/names are automatically rejected if one should try. If someone thinks the name they want that includes that character string should be allowed, then let them /petition to get it cleared. I said it bugs the sh*t out of me, not that I feel like it's my responsibility to become a crusader trying to enforce the games EULA & policies that every player agrees to when they create an account & character... I don't have that kind of time or energy to provide without a hefty paycheck included. Do you?
If they have a EULA and a policy, then it is up to the Company to police their policy. I see names that border on being so vulgar that I don't see how it passes, but I don't petition. Not my job. I agree with Morukta.
