Policy Makers need to discuss new naming policy, IMO

For too long, IMO, EQ2 has had a very archaic naming policy that hurts more players than it helps. You have players whom reserve names on other servers (never playing those characters) taking away enjoyment from players that might really use the name.

You have characters from several years ago with less than one hour of total playing time just sitting there doing nothing again taking up naming rights from actual current players.

The naming filter is quite vague as well when it comes to what things SHOULD be filtered, often filtering out very harmless names.

I would really think that a change in this policy especially for characters created that are for the sole purpose of just holding names be addressed. Players that want to play this game should not be the ones hurt by individuals taking advantage of the naming policies.

Some accounts should have seniority against extremely inactive accounts.

Accounts with a period of inactivity should lose their naming rights until which time they return to the game and can choose a new name when their account is reinstated.

There needs to be something where developers can meet the players halfway on this or even GM's make the call on when a name is petitioned to change extremely old names and inactive names for players who are actively playing this game.

Praetorian

I couldn't create a guild named Iratonga because Iraton is filtered. The filter doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

True story, I petitioned and CS just told me buy a Guild Rename potion! (Because clearly that would let you bypass the filter? lol)

Characters that have not logged in for more than 2 years should get a "X" added to the end of their name, making the name available again for general use. They could have a free name change if they ever come back and don't like the "X" at the end of their name.

I dunno, I don't like the idea. So I quit for a couple of years for what ever reason, decide to come back and have my chars names changed because someone else couldn't think up a different name? No thanks. Not only that, but also you have to realize that with that name comes the reputation of the name. Suppose they were a scammer, or a lot of their friends are still on and now you are showing on their friends list? I still have people on my friends list that haven't played in 2 years, one day they may return.

How many years are people supposed to hold a name? Some names have been held for EIGHT years now. There is a point where you have abandoned that name and it's time to let it go. We're talking hundreds of thousands of names being held for absolutely no reason by people who will NEVER come back.

Again, the example given was characters with only 1 hour playtime. Come on! Let's be reasonable. Does that name need to be held forever?

First come, first served is the only truly unbiased way to handle naming. Sorry, you didn't get it first, doesn't matter if the person got it 8 years ago and only played the toon for 5 minutes. Any other case comes down to a person making a judgement call about who deserves it more than the other.

The only thing that needs to be done is to have someone go through the blocked name filter and remove names that have no reason to be blocked.... like Simon. =P

It can be argued quite well that the player who is supporting the game has the right of way. If I play and support this game for 8 years vs someone who logged in once during a free weekend should not have more clout or equal clout than a lifetime supporter. Account age should mean something.

in most things, but not in naming policy. i dont care how long you've been playing if someone else thinks of a name first and creates a character with that name tough luck.

as for non-players the only thing they have over you is a different set of reserved names.

even if you dont copy names from somewhere else, even if you come up with a name on your own you can still encounter a duplicate of it that someone thought of first.

Or, its about time they caught up with the rest of the gaming world and allow first and last names on creation. I personally know a couple hundred Joe's, but can tell the difference by their last names. That would be a reasonable half way point. Ive been around since launch, but have taken a year or two break from time to time. If I came back to have my names gone (or an X added to the end), I'd simply quit period. Last names are acceptable, which I use anyways. Just a thought.

I don't think so Lucas. I'd have to disagree. Names are a big part of a MMO. If people are purposely NOT using a name just to block someone else from taking it's no different than a troll player blocking you from content in game and ruining your gameplay experience. If the toon has substantial playing time... sure. But I am also talking about people just creating names to create names. That has to mean for something.

If someone created an account 4 years ago and had a level 11 toon named roxy, I'm sorry but I dont think you deserve the right to keep that toon's name whether you came back to the game or not. There needs to be a cut off for characters staying active to support new characters coming in.

I hate the name filter. I've encountered this both with character names and even names of AA profiles saved in my mirror. What's happening is the word filters don't take into account just English. They seem to take into account every commonly-spoken language out there. I couldn't even name my Inquisitor's AA profile "Perseverance" because there's a dirty foreign word in there. Same with the character name "Ashina." After a dev helped me with my AA spec and I knew what was going on, I now have to Google out specifically why letter combo x y and z can't be used.

It's one thing if someone goes and deliberately names their character something offensive in a foreign language. That's what reporting is for. It's another thing if you're in an English-speaking country on an English server and have absolutely no clue your name contains somewhere inside of it the wrong combo of letters that may only matter in a country you're not even in. I could see having filters for the English language on English servers, but why the need for a huge amount of them?

I have to agree on this thought. A person who makes a character with a name just to reserve it and never play it, especially if we're talking toons rolled at launch and abandoned, should not be given preference over paying and playing customers. SOE is already showing preference to paying players (not just talking Gold subs, I'm talking SC too) and I'm surprised they haven't come up with a set of rules to make money off of the naming subject as well.

I really liked how Neverwinter is doing this with the first and last name combos. I also like How SWTOR lets you put in special characters (how I could be Æthenia) to get you different names. If it's too late to mess with the coding of this game, then I sincerely hope that first-last name combos and special characters are taken into account with EQNext.

EQNext could last for a long, long number of years like EQ and EQ2. Devs should be taking into account both the time the game may be alive and just how many new players and characters would be created during that time when the naming system is put in.

Server error and multi-posts! Delete! :x

Server error ending with multi-posts! Sorry!

The naming policy has needed to be dealt with for literally years now.

But there's no money in it, so it won't be.

But again, UNLESS naming is first come, first served, it comes down to a judgement call on who deserves it more. That means that some person somewhere is going to decide who is going to own a name based on some set of rules that can in no way cover every circumstance. Then grey areas are born, and people use these loopholes to steal names from legitimate players who have legitimate reasons for not actively playing. Especially in the new Free-to-Play world, you have NO WAY to know if a person has truly quit, or is merely caught up with RL obligations, yes, even for years. I personally just had a friend return to game after nearly 4 years away.

Guild Wars naming policy is based as well on a combination of first and last names. I used the full name of one of my chars in GW for the char in eq2 but I had to combine them in one. Which I thought at that moment was a bit odd. In eq2 it looks like you are giving a character a nikname (w/e the spelling is) rather than true name. Was it few years ago soe finally introduced an option to add the last name? At least it's already something.

This is why there hasn't been a change to the naming rules. they have to carefully consider any set of changes and what impact it'd have.

any active player could have toon names taken from them. at least in a PTP game they can put in "If not subscribed for X time and below level Y equals remove character name"

also how can anyone even SOE look at an inactive character and judge whether that character exists to hold the name out of malice or if the player made the character to play.

anyone who has played EQ2 in the past has some reserved names attached to characters, the only difference is some don't play anymore and some reason that because they possess a name that is desirable that they shouldnt have it because they don't play for any number of reasons.

if someone is holding a name out of malice, sure release the name, if you can prove it.

how did neverwinter handle the special characters if you wanted to send a tell without a telltarget command?

e.g if someone wanted send a tell to your toon Æthenia would they type out aethenia and then use a function command on the AE to make it into Æ?

I believe that the special characters comment was about SWOTR, not Neverwinter.

Just a note about Neverwinter, having played it.

Neverwinter handles players by their character name@account name. You can create a name with multiple words, even more than two. And it is entirely possible to have two characters played by different players with the same exact name, but their account identifies them.

A good system for preventing name changes to wipe the slate clean on a player's reputation, and also to find your friends.

Interesting, I have characters that I created back when the game started, all the accounts are still active, they are storage mules and they have very little time played on them - they get logged on one when I need something from them so I should lose those names by your thoughts?

Did not know that you could tell the future since you are stating with certainty that these players will NEVER come back, you using tarot cards or a crystal ball?

this dead horse needs to stay dead

if it hasn't been played in years, do a /petition and cross your fingers.. otherwise be more original.