It's 7+ years and still no name reset. Why?

[Danikat.8537]

One thing I've not seen suggested is to try contacting the person who has the name you want. I know there's an assumption here that all the "good" names are always taken by people who stopped playing years ago, but as far as I'm aware there's no way to know for sure and if they do still play there's a chance you'd be able to get it.

 

This is dependant on them having the same attitude as the OP that it's just a name and doesn't matter and if someone else wants it they're entitled to claim it, but these topics come up often enough that it's obviously not a unique perspective. It couldn't hurt to ask, and offer to buy them a name change contract if they need one.

 

Admittedly I wouldn't give up any of my permanent characters names (but I could tell you all the variations I considered which were also available) but if it was a temporary character I'd let you have it. And for some reason it's more often those characters where my first choice was taken and I had to change it. I'm not sure if that's because I spend less time thinking about it and so end up with something less creative, or when I'm taking it seriously I think of different names to most people, but I assume that means it's my temporary ones which are most likely to be in demand by other people.

[SoulGuardian.6203]

> @"Danikat.8537" said:

> One thing I've not seen suggested is to try contacting the person who has the name you want. I know there's an assumption here that all the "good" names are always taken by people who stopped playing years ago, but as far as I'm aware there's no way to know for sure and if they do still play there's a chance you'd be able to get it.

>

> This is dependant on them having the same attitude as the OP that it's just a name and doesn't matter and if someone else wants it they're entitled to claim it, but these topics come up often enough that it's obviously not a unique perspective. It couldn't hurt to ask, and offer to buy them a name change contract if they need one.

>

> Admittedly I wouldn't give up any of my permanent characters names (but I could tell you all the variations I considered which were also available) but if it was a temporary character I'd let you have it. And for some reason it's more often those characters where my first choice was taken and I had to change it. I'm not sure if that's because I spend less time thinking about it and so end up with something less creative, or when I'm taking it seriously I think of different names to most people, but I assume that means it's my temporary ones which are most likely to be in demand by other people.

 

I know it's all with good intentions, and the last person I want to disagree here is you.

You've been the kindest, most respectful person, I know in these forums.

 

But I think that, that request would come across to most people as cheeky, to say the least; in the kindest sense of the word.

 

In my case, I play often now.

But I stopped playing some time ago for several years due to unfortunate circumstances.

I wouldn't take it well at all some cheeky buggar contacting me to request me to give up my character's name.

 

At best, my kindest answer would be to tell the person to use their own creativity.

[Danikat.8537]

I know a lot of people wouldn't want to give up their names. I'm just thinking it's an option, and one more likely to succeed than hoping the name you want is taken by someone who hasn't played in years AND hoping Anet will agree to take them away, which is unlikely to ever happen.

[Fenella.2634]

Speaking of messages...

If there was a reset system and players return after some years to find their names missing, don't you think this would in turn result in some unfriendly mails to the people then using these names? And since we can't know at character creation if a name was ever taken or not, everyone creating a new character would theoretically be at risk of having "stolen" the name from someone else and maybe receive angry mails at some time because of it.

[Taylan.2187]

Never had problems with names. Guess I must be pretty creative. Here's a list of my characters:

 

- Luna Illyasdottir (Sylvari Ranger, main/story char)

- Imoen Dremur (Asuran Thief, PvP, WvW roaming)

- Lisa Blackwell (Norn Necro, WvW zerg)

- Tora Bloodclaw (Charr Warrior, unused)

- Adria Flameheart (Human Elementalist, unused)

- Luna Hartwood (Sylvari Guardian, WvW zerg)

 

See, no alternative spellings or weird characters, just creative names. :-D

 

Luna: Simply a name I like. I had a kitty named Luna who passed away at a young age. ._.

Illyasdottir: Icelandic surname if your mother's name was Illya (ref. to Fate/Zero)

Imoen: Baldur's Gate character

Dremur: Anagram of "Murder"

Lisa: uhh, just a female name

Blackwell: A very obvious necro-ish name

Tora: Tiger in Japanese, you know, coz Charr

Bloodclaw: A very obvious Charr-ish name

Adria: Just a female name, though also the name of the witch from Diablo

Flameheart: a silly elementalist-ish name

Hartwood: she's a Sylvari and her skin looks like hard wood...

 

I confess that with some of them I had to think for up to ~5 minutes to come up with it. I'm not even an RPer or anything, just like to put some thought into character design. I might change Luna Illyasdottir's last name some time though because Icelandic is more like Norn and not Sylvari.

 

By the way I only created Luna Hartwood 2-3 days ago and was pretty surprised that the name isn't taken. It's so simple...

[Seera.5916]

> @"SoulGuardian.6203" said:

> > @"Danikat.8537" said:

> > One thing I've not seen suggested is to try contacting the person who has the name you want. I know there's an assumption here that all the "good" names are always taken by people who stopped playing years ago, but as far as I'm aware there's no way to know for sure and if they do still play there's a chance you'd be able to get it.

> >

> > This is dependant on them having the same attitude as the OP that it's just a name and doesn't matter and if someone else wants it they're entitled to claim it, but these topics come up often enough that it's obviously not a unique perspective. It couldn't hurt to ask, and offer to buy them a name change contract if they need one.

> >

> > Admittedly I wouldn't give up any of my permanent characters names (but I could tell you all the variations I considered which were also available) but if it was a temporary character I'd let you have it. And for some reason it's more often those characters where my first choice was taken and I had to change it. I'm not sure if that's because I spend less time thinking about it and so end up with something less creative, or when I'm taking it seriously I think of different names to most people, but I assume that means it's my temporary ones which are most likely to be in demand by other people.

>

> I know it's all with good intentions, and the last person I want to disagree here is you.

> You've been the kindest, most respectful person, I know in these forums.

>

> But I think that request would come across to most people as extremely rude and inappropriate.

>

> In my case, I play often, again, now.

> But I stopped playing some time ago for several years due to unfortunate circumstances.

> I wouldn't take it well at all some cheeky buggar contacting me to request me to give up my character's name.

>

> At best, my kindest answer would be... use your own god darn imagination mate.

> At worse, in a bad day, I'd tell him to f right off.

>

> But hey, my good friend.

> Each to their own.

 

I wouldn't say a request for a name would be rude by itself.

 

If a person politely asked for the name of one of my characters that's not my name and was willing to pay for the name change contract I'd at least consider it. Such as "I was making a character and [name] really screamed at me that that was her name and she is adament that it is spelled the way you have her name. What would it take for you to release that name for me to try to get?"

 

Depending on the name, I'd probably even ask what would they be willing to give me for the name (aka what's the name worth to them). Whether or not I collect all or a portion of that would depend on what they say and any conversation we'd had up to that point.

 

I'd have to be given a few legendary weapons (possibly even including Eternity) and a name change contract before I'd even consider changing my main's name. And that's just to consider. I wouldn't be able to guarantee it. They'd also have to have a really good reason for wanting that name.

 

Now if they sent me a message saying "Give me the name", then that's rude and I'd say no and they would find it impossible to reach the minimum amount I'd want to release the name for them to try for.

[SoulGuardian.6203]

> @"Seera.5916" said:

> > @"SoulGuardian.6203" said:

> > > @"Danikat.8537" said:

> > > One thing I've not seen suggested is to try contacting the person who has the name you want. I know there's an assumption here that all the "good" names are always taken by people who stopped playing years ago, but as far as I'm aware there's no way to know for sure and if they do still play there's a chance you'd be able to get it.

> > >

> > > This is dependant on them having the same attitude as the OP that it's just a name and doesn't matter and if someone else wants it they're entitled to claim it, but these topics come up often enough that it's obviously not a unique perspective. It couldn't hurt to ask, and offer to buy them a name change contract if they need one.

> > >

> > > Admittedly I wouldn't give up any of my permanent characters names (but I could tell you all the variations I considered which were also available) but if it was a temporary character I'd let you have it. And for some reason it's more often those characters where my first choice was taken and I had to change it. I'm not sure if that's because I spend less time thinking about it and so end up with something less creative, or when I'm taking it seriously I think of different names to most people, but I assume that means it's my temporary ones which are most likely to be in demand by other people.

> >

> > I know it's all with good intentions, and the last person I want to disagree here is you.

> > You've been the kindest, most respectful person, I know in these forums.

> >

> > But I think that request would come across to most people as extremely rude and inappropriate.

> >

> > In my case, I play often, again, now.

> > But I stopped playing some time ago for several years due to unfortunate circumstances.

> > I wouldn't take it well at all some cheeky buggar contacting me to request me to give up my character's name.

> >

> > At best, my kindest answer would be... use your own god darn imagination mate.

> > At worse, in a bad day, I'd tell him to f right off.

> >

> > But hey, my good friend.

> > Each to their own.

>

> I wouldn't say a request for a name would be rude by itself.

>

> If a person politely asked for the name of one of my characters that's not my name and was willing to pay for the name change contract I'd at least consider it. Such as "I was making a character and [name] really screamed at me that that was her name and she is adament that it is spelled the way you have her name. What would it take for you to release that name for me to try to get?"

>

> Depending on the name, I'd probably even ask what would they be willing to give me for the name (aka what's the name worth to them). Whether or not I collect all or a portion of that would depend on what they say and any conversation we'd had up to that point.

>

> I'd have to be given a few legendary weapons (possibly even including Eternity) and a name change contract before I'd even consider changing my main's name. And that's just to consider. I wouldn't be able to guarantee it. They'd also have to have a really good reason for wanting that name.

>

> Now if they sent me a message saying "Give me the name", then that's rude and I'd say no and they would find it impossible to reach the minimum amount I'd want to release the name for them to try for.

 

Well.

Here's a person who can take advantage of a situation to go in their favour.

If a few legendaries are up for grabs, well, that's a whole different cattle.

 

You do have a point.

Can't really argue with that. Do you work in business marketing?

Or are you just really good at negotiating?

[Seera.5916]

> @"SoulGuardian.6203" said:

> > @"Seera.5916" said:

> > > @"SoulGuardian.6203" said:

> > > > @"Danikat.8537" said:

> > > > One thing I've not seen suggested is to try contacting the person who has the name you want. I know there's an assumption here that all the "good" names are always taken by people who stopped playing years ago, but as far as I'm aware there's no way to know for sure and if they do still play there's a chance you'd be able to get it.

> > > >

> > > > This is dependant on them having the same attitude as the OP that it's just a name and doesn't matter and if someone else wants it they're entitled to claim it, but these topics come up often enough that it's obviously not a unique perspective. It couldn't hurt to ask, and offer to buy them a name change contract if they need one.

> > > >

> > > > Admittedly I wouldn't give up any of my permanent characters names (but I could tell you all the variations I considered which were also available) but if it was a temporary character I'd let you have it. And for some reason it's more often those characters where my first choice was taken and I had to change it. I'm not sure if that's because I spend less time thinking about it and so end up with something less creative, or when I'm taking it seriously I think of different names to most people, but I assume that means it's my temporary ones which are most likely to be in demand by other people.

> > >

> > > I know it's all with good intentions, and the last person I want to disagree here is you.

> > > You've been the kindest, most respectful person, I know in these forums.

> > >

> > > But I think that request would come across to most people as extremely rude and inappropriate.

> > >

> > > In my case, I play often, again, now.

> > > But I stopped playing some time ago for several years due to unfortunate circumstances.

> > > I wouldn't take it well at all some cheeky buggar contacting me to request me to give up my character's name.

> > >

> > > At best, my kindest answer would be... use your own god darn imagination mate.

> > > At worse, in a bad day, I'd tell him to f right off.

> > >

> > > But hey, my good friend.

> > > Each to their own.

> >

> > I wouldn't say a request for a name would be rude by itself.

> >

> > If a person politely asked for the name of one of my characters that's not my name and was willing to pay for the name change contract I'd at least consider it. Such as "I was making a character and [name] really screamed at me that that was her name and she is adament that it is spelled the way you have her name. What would it take for you to release that name for me to try to get?"

> >

> > Depending on the name, I'd probably even ask what would they be willing to give me for the name (aka what's the name worth to them). Whether or not I collect all or a portion of that would depend on what they say and any conversation we'd had up to that point.

> >

> > I'd have to be given a few legendary weapons (possibly even including Eternity) and a name change contract before I'd even consider changing my main's name. And that's just to consider. I wouldn't be able to guarantee it. They'd also have to have a really good reason for wanting that name.

> >

> > Now if they sent me a message saying "Give me the name", then that's rude and I'd say no and they would find it impossible to reach the minimum amount I'd want to release the name for them to try for.

>

> Well.

> Here's a person who can take advantage of a situation to go in their favour.

> If a few legendaries are up for grabs, well, that's a whole different cattle.

>

> You do have a point.

> Can't really argue with that. Do you work in business marketing?

> Or are you just really good at negotiating?

 

I don't work in business marketing. Haven't really done much negotiating so can't say how effective I am. I just now that very very very little doesn't have a price and I'd imagine there's no name for a character in an online game that doesn't have a price. The price may just be too much for most if not all players.

 

My main is the only one I'd need things of high value to give up the name. I don't RP and I don't have elaborate back stories. My main is just my first character I created back in 2012 when the game launched and has sentimental value attached to it.

 

Xar is right that at the end of the day a name is just a name and if someone is desperate enough for a specific name for their character to message a random player hoping they still play, I'm not opposed to changing.

[Metasynaptic.1093]

Sounds like a great way to abuse identities for personal gain imo.

[Seera.5916]

> @"Metasynaptic.1093" said:

> Sounds like a great way to abuse identities for personal gain imo.

 

For most of my names it likely wouldn't take more than a few gold and a name change contract. And I don't have characters with names that many people would want - at least that wouldn't be used. My key runner is named Seera Key for instance. It's my only "non-used" character that I have. I have plans for my other characters. So it's not like I'm hoarding names in hopes people message me for them. And I would say that hoarding names for that purpose is rude and should not be done.

 

Only my main character would it require things like legendary weapons to get me to agree.

[SoulGuardian.6203]

We're merely discussing hypothetically.

I have disagreed with op from the start.

I've invested too much time, gold, and effort around characters, that are meaningful to me; to just give up the names that easily; even if it is for a legendary.

 

I've actually purchased a few name change contracts from the gem store.

That's how much a simple thing like a character name means to me.

 

I personally would not give up most of my character names, NOT even for legendaries.

But if that's not against the rules, and it's ok to do it, then I have nothing against people who would.

 

[Metasynaptic.1093]

I'm not so much worried about people selling names. Imagine someone snatching names like 'Nike', 'Teapot' or 'Gaile Gray' after they were made available

[SoulGuardian.6203]

A name remains bound to an account for 24 hours after it has been changed.

The previous owner would have to inform the buyer what time it was done.

You'd have to be extremely unlucky, if someone snatched the name in matter of seconds while you type it at that precise same time.

Unless the seller did a number on you.

 

You joked about it, but you do have a good point.

Too risky to buy/sell names.

Thinking about it properly, not something I'd wanna get involved either way.

[Seera.5916]

> @"Metasynaptic.1093" said:

> I'm not so much worried about people selling names. Imagine someone snatching names like 'Nike', 'Teapot' or 'Gaile Gray' after they were made available

 

That wouldn't happen unless ANet purges names and the players behind those names fell into the category of "you lose your characters' names" or if they decided to delete/rename the character and didn't remake/name another character it within 24 hours or before someone else took the name beyond that 24 hours. Whether they deleted/renamed because they were selling/giving a character away or they were tired of the character/name is beyond the point.

 

And I'd suspect that former highly known ANet employees would not be included the list of accounts whose names would be purged.

 

I'd make sure that the player understood (or at least claimed to) that they were pretty much buying a chance at the name, but they would know when it would become available so they would have the best chance at it and would recommend they make a random character to claim the name before actually making the character to go with the name.

 

I don't agree with name purges because some people choose their names specifically for the character they are making and a Sara would be different from a Sarah despite the same pronunciation. Or a name might have sentimental value for them. But I'm totally fine with players asking for something when other players ask them to give up a name.

[grouchybhaal.4275]

If the name is taken, then it was probably a little "too edgy". Use that imagination, be strong and think of a unique name

[Friday.7864]

Well, the freedom in choosing names is somewhat countered by two things:

- each account can hold a ton of characters

- there's no subscription which would hinder people from making a ton of alt accounts

In my case quite a few unique names I used elsewhere were already taken > and they're not TV show names lol

 

But ye, it's probably too much effort for the developers considering the gains.

I suggest spamming a name generator if you lack ideas or finding a word you like and working around that.

[Rasimir.6239]

> @"Menadena.7482" said:

> > @"Dante.1763" said:

> > Is it really so hard to come up with names? Ive yet to run into a name i couldnt use. Seven years after i deleted my first character i was able to remake her, name and all.

>

> If you were able to recreate a character the name probably had not been recycled and was still tied to you.

>

> I use names in Finnish, which you would suppose to not be too common on my server, NA, as most players that speak it would use EU. Rarely is the first thing I think of available. I usually have to try several times to find something that works and it winds up being something obscure.

Actually character names are unique across regions, so it doesn't matter if you play on NA or EU (or transfer your account from one region to the other).

 

Personally I'm glad the game keeps character names, even though several of my multiple asura had a hard time finding an appropriate name (due to the restrictions I personally selected). To me, the name goes with the character just as much as race and class do, and I just don't feel comfortable playing them if I have to rename them.

 

Aside from personal preference I suspect there's also a lot of technical restrictions involved in this. The game allows you to use character names of an account and account name interchangeable in a number of situations. If for example I want to whisper a friend, I just type "/tell _name of random character on the account_", no matter what character they are currently playing. Friends list stuff and even guild invitations etc. work with any character name on your account, too.

 

Imagine whispering a friend that logged in after a long time, only to find yourself talking to a complete stranger that picked up a purged character name in the meantime. Or even worse, imagine creating an awesome new character and suddenly getting hate speeches left and right from people that once were badly scammed by a character of the same name that was purged after the scamming account was permanently banned.

[Udolpho.1209]

Name reset won't change anything. Aside from the many problems people have pointed out, even if they did a reset, all the popular, obvious names people covet -- Death, Naruto, Loki, etc -- would either get instantaneously taken OR won't be affected by the reset at all.

[Ashantara.8731]

> @"Xar.6279" said:

> Current players and newcomers could use those nicknames.

 

Surrre. And then the player decides to come back and will find their characters, what, nameless with the obligation of buying a name change contract?

 

Your suggestion is unrealistic. ;)

[SoulGuardian.6203]

I've been taking this post lightly, but if you think about it properly, it's one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard.

 

The only games that do name resets are Facebook 2D f2p mmos, or private non official servers.

 

No serious company, with high value ever resets player names.

I can go to my command and conquer renegade now, that's what... 20 years old now?

...and surprise surprise, my 3 character names are still there.

[tinymurder.5791]

> @"SoulGuardian.6203" said:

> I've been taking this post lightly, but if you think about it properly, it's one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard.

>

> The only games that do name resets are Facebook 2D f2p mmos, or private non official servers.

>

> No serious company, with high value ever resets player names.

> I can go to my command and conquer renegade now, that's what... 20 years old now?

> ...and surprise surprise, my 3 character names are still there.

 

Add to that the fact that the bigger MMOs that have required people to reset names, did so because they had to merge servers due to a shrinking population. Not exactly an action associated with a healthy game.

[kratan.4619]

> @"magnusthorek.8027" said:

> I'm that kind of players who experience tremendous difficulty to name a character because, well, I'm creative like a coconut, so much that my Guardian's name took me 3h to come up with.

>

> While I do understand most of you defending an account without use shouldn't be deleted, you have to agree that's extremely frustrating building a background for your character with a fitting name - after all part of an MMORPG is, well, RPG - only to reach the last screen and be unable to proceed because someone had the same idea or that name was used in a book you neverd heard of.

>

> When I wanted to create my last character, a Warrior Charr, the name wasn't available. It was a name from a famous TV show that eventually died long ago. Still, it had remarkable characters that because of this restriction only one person could show appreciation.

>

> It's like if in the whole world only one John, Paul, Richard, Mary or any other common name could exist.

>

> I could change a letter to this name I wanted - especially because it's derived from Greek - but I found this unacceptable and held my wish to play as a Warrior until a few days ago, when Johanna von Mordkönige was born.

 

I agree, in the real world, that this would be absurd, but, this is not the real world this is about a database and the way they store and retrieve the data. The way it was set up, originally I assume, did not think that a way needed to be created to allow more than one person to have the same character name. This could have just been a business decision telling the devs to not spend time developing a way to allow more than one person to have the same character name because we need to hit deadlines and it was not deemed important enough to work on.

[xenon.3264]

> @"Xar.6279" said:

> > @"Dante.1763" said:

> > > @"Xar.6279" said:

> > > > @"Just a flesh wound.3589" said:

> > > > How do you know that the names you want are from people who stopped playing in 2012? Unless you’ve been checking since that time they could have stopped recently.

> > >

> > > There's actually no nicknames I want. But meantime IMO they should reset it regularly.

> >

> > Disagree with you. i had to stop playing for three years because of multiple deployments, i would have been pissed off if they reset my names when i came back.

>

> Why? Just rename it. It's just character name.

> ID is more important in GW2.

 

You are right

It is just a name. Choose something else. I chose a name and it is mine .

 

Which is this cool name I want but someone registered ?

[Krzysztof.5973]

Y'all acting like your character names will be gone tomorrow. He wants to reset character on inactive accounts. Nothing more, nothing less. If someone didn't login for X years they don't care if they lose it or not. Simple as that.

[Eloc Freidon.5692]

The naming system they used was already many years out of date when the game launched. Should have uniqueness on account names which let people use whatever names they want.