Names and globals discussion

[indigowulf]

Actually, I don't think we've been too clear about the convention on names. The reason for that is simple. We're sort of hoping the community will discuss it, converge on a proposal that most everyone likes and announce it.

We've got a lot of smart people on these forums. Collectively we've got a million horror stories to consider. And some very smart models to from other games that can be considered too.

I know it might sound a little lazy for us, as devs to be waiting for all of you to figure this out, but from our perspective, that approach makes a lot of sense. We know that all of you want to help. Well, we'd like to get your help.

So, rather than continue to hijack an announcement thread that had nothing to do with names originally, how about we discuss it here in a dedicated space? lol


My thoughts:
I like global names, but I don't want them showing on every character. Maybe something where you can /whois or click my name in chat or click my actual toon and see it if you care (to report me for being a jerk or friend me or something)

I don't think global should be tied to log in, that makes your account that much more hackable.

local chat and team chat should use your toon name, global chats and maybe broadcasts use global name.

I still don't know how I feel about multiple toons on different accounts sharing names. I can see 10 "John Doe" running around and being amusing, but if I saw someone else named GladDog for example, I'd think it was him and it would be confusing and I don't like it I tell you!

I do feel that our forum names should be protected and we should be guaranteed that we will get them when it goes live. Using the same example, if only 1 person is allowed to be named GladDog, and his power goes out the day of launch and someone else steals his name.. burn them at the stake! lol

Those are just my thoughts, please chime in everyone, let's get a good conversation going like we are so good at! <3

[Golden Ace]

Global names are fine, but I don't want anyone to see them unless they become friends first. Once you are friends you would have the option of going global friends, and once accepted you can see the global name.

I don't like family or account names my characters are not necessarily related and are played completely different.

I do like unique names but because of the one server you can't have as many as we had before.

before names were spread around all the different servers. I was Golden Ace on liberty, but someone else had the name on Protector and on Guardian. with one server someone is bound to get the name you wanted unless we can have multiple of the same name, other wise we're going to get people having to use numbers or other symbols in their names to get as close as possible to the name they want.

Example: G01D3N 4C3 or Golden Ace07 we've all seen it.

I seriously doubt you will see two of the same character name playing at the same time the odds are against it. unless it was purposely done.

My proposal is the have a simple hidden number designator after each name that can be visible with a toggle.

With the toggle on

GladDog[01]
Golden Ace[01]
indigowulf[97]

and with the toggle off

GladDog
Golden Ace
indigowulf

I would also like the ability to be able to place notes on each person I team with

[Jasix]

When it comes to naming I have mixed feelings. I liked the fact that I was the only BurntToast on Freedom. Not sure how I would feel about 2-3-4-5 BurntToasts running around even if they had a different global name than myself. To me allowing people to use the same name as others even with a global name making them distinct is asking for issues. 'I also do not want the development team spending extra time on devising a system for global/local names when in all actuality I don't think the 1 per server thing is going to be a huge issue.

So yeah I guess I am mostly against it LOL! I didn't get to use a lot of names that I wanted to in CoH and I was alright with that...it made me become more creative. I wasn't upset that a character name I had on Guardian was not available on Freedom... I just adapted. I truly do not want my global name being seen by anyone unless I decide to become global friends with them.

[Golden Ace]

actually I think the one per server thing will be a huge issue, because we will only have one server. with CoH even though we had a dozen servers to split the population it was difficult to get a name at times. so I'm thinking one name per server will not work well.

[GladDog]

I do want to mention that at certain donation levels you get a name reservation.

Veteran saves one name ($100 USD)
Deep Pockets saves another (I think it is $500 USD)
Prolific saves 3 more ($1000 USD)

Prolific is a pipe dream for me, but I think I will get the first two. I already have the first one.

Also, when you donate to the Beta Tester level ($25 USD) you get to d/l the Character Creator two weeks early, so you can have characters ready to go with names the moment the game releases! So if you have rare names, you can click in as soon as the game releases, in effect reserving them at the moment of release!

[lunawisp]

actually I think the one per server thing will be a huge issue, because we will only have one server. with CoH even though we had a dozen servers to split the population it was difficult to get a name at times. so I'm thinking one name per server will not work well.

I agree with this, it's the point I've been trying to make all along. If names are unique, most of us here will very likely get the name we want but if the game proves to be as popular as we all hope, getting the name are looking for will become more and more difficult as time passes.

[Jasix]

lunawisp - I honestly do not think there is going to be a huge rush in the beginning of the game. While I am super excited to see SoH launch - I think it will have a very soft launch and will gain momentum after 3-6 months. This would allow the Dev team more time to create/incorporate a more advanced naming system into the game. My whole thing about names is this: From first hand knowledge I have seen this "non-unique" system cause issues with reputation. You get someone with your same name, but not same global who is a jerk to people during a PUG - that reputation will transfer to you somewhat. So people see that you are looking for a group and unless they look close will be like "Oh that person was horrible to play with!"

I also do not want to be seen as @Jasix - BurntToast - That takes away the oomph of my name so to speak.

So whatever system they do come up with - unique names or something else... I just hope it does not look silly or obtrusive.

[JestersGhost]

It's a difficult question, because both sides have very valid reasons. Well, curiously, it's actually the same reason, really.

People like to have *their* name, which they can have a very strong emotional attachment to.

But at the same time, that is *their* name, and they don't want to see anyone else with it because they have a very strong emotional attachment to it...


Thinking about it some more, I'm actually going to go back to my original position of supporting purely unique names, no duplication via global handle or whatever.

The two arguments above kind of cancel out - it's the same reason, with the same weight for both sides, so it doesn't help decide the issue in my mind. However, there are other reasons for unique names:

1. It stops the reputation-trashing issue mentioned - yes, we'd ban someone who did this, but the damage done by someone who copied your name and costume and trolled wouldn't be easily undone.

2. SoH is aiming to be fairly small, at least to start. So even on a single server, name collisions shouldn't be a problem for a while. And if you come to a popular game late, I don't think anyone would or should be surprised if some names they want are already taken.

[indigowulf]

I'd like to add, if we don't have unique name, other players need access to our globals not just friends. Otherwise, we have limitations on being able to report reportable behavior.

George was exploiting a bug!
Which George?

[Sinistar]

Names should be unique as some have stated multiple people on multiple servers with the same toon name can cause problems if any of the players are trolls seeking to somehow harm the reputation of another player with the same name.

While I'm feeling pretty confident that we will have only one server at launch, the day could/should arrive where more servers get brought online.

So let's plan ahead and have it where a character name is chosen by the player and it becomes unique not just to the server it was created on but is flagged for the player's account for all servers.

Thus the player with the name can easily claim it on the other server or servers as they come online and there will be no mad scramble to log into the other server and quickly lay claim to the names that you would want to have should you start playing on said server.

Also CoH did have the thing about not releasing names on inactive accounts, including the inactive TRIAL accounts. Between that and the mad dash to new servers to secure character names, that was to me at least, a flaw that CoH should have corrected.

[Eulb]

Sinsitar glad you posted ...

... While I'm feeling pretty confident that we will have only one server at launch,
the day could/should arrive where more servers get brought online.

you are so right there will only be one server ... the days of a multi-servers are going away because of the Mega-server that will handle more that those separate servers in the past ...
But I'm going with Mr.McGeever that multi-servers cuts into the community to deep ... and the mega-server fits into the ship philosophy of were all on this ship together out in space and any problems we have to take care of it as a community ...

[Turtlesandwich]

Multiple servers are a thing of the past just like the old way we used to queue in a bank or the post office.

You would get in a line and the ones next to you would be moving faster, you would look at that queue with envy, whatever queue you were in never seemed to be the best one.
Nowadays we have one queue so everyone is happy, no more arguments.

[BlackestDawn]

While I'm feeling pretty confident that we will have only one server at launch, the day could/should arrive where more servers get brought online.

No, building a proper mega-server from the start makes it so much easier than having to juggle several separate "servers". Main benefit is to not split the community and then having to make workarounds to bring them together for instanced group content or such. There is also lots of extra work in bringing more servers online or taking them offline that just isn't there with a mega-server, mainly in shuffling players around.

So let's plan ahead and have it where a character name is chosen by the player and it becomes unique not just to the server it was created on but is flagged for the player's account for all servers.

Thus the player with the name can easily claim it on the other server or servers as they come online and there will be no mad scramble to log into the other server and quickly lay claim to the names that you would want to have should you start playing on said server.

Non-issue with a mega-server design. Considering that many cloud providers can provision "hardware" dynamically on demand and the possibility to pay "by the second used" makes having multiple separate servers very little sense compared to a mega-server.


The main issue for me in having unique character names is that a few years down the line we may have to spend 10 15 or more minutes just to find an unused name that we are happy with. Most of us old CoH players or otherwise already invested in this will most likely accept it but I seriously doubt that completely new players will be as forgiving.

[Sinistar]

The main issue for me in having unique character names is that a few years down the line we may have to spend 10 15 or more minutes just to find an unused name that we are happy with. Most of us old CoH players or otherwise already invested in this will most likely accept it but I seriously doubt that completely new players will be as forgiving.

Well this is why I don't want to join an MMO that has been running for a few years like WoW.

last time I tried WoW I felt like I was playing more to catch up to long term players in terms of levels and items then playing to have fun. So I pass on it.

Same with Star Wars KOTOR, although no longer being a fan of Star Wars contributes to that too.

Best to get in on an MMO at launch or within the first year of launch and stay with it if you like it.

[Grazer01]

Global names are fine, but I don't want anyone to see them unless they become friends first. Once you are friends you would have the option of going global friends, and once accepted you can see the global name.

I don't like family or account names my characters are not necessarily related and are played completely different.

I do like unique names but because of the one server you can't have as many as we had before.

before names were spread around all the different servers. I was Golden Ace on liberty, but someone else had the name on Protector and on Guardian. with one server someone is bound to get the name you wanted unless we can have multiple of the same name, other wise we're going to get people having to use numbers or other symbols in their names to get as close as possible to the name they want.

Example: G01D3N 4C3 or Golden Ace07 we've all seen it.

I seriously doubt you will see two of the same character name playing at the same time the odds are against it. unless it was purposely done.

My proposal is the have a simple hidden number designator after each name that can be visible with a toggle.

With the toggle on

GladDog[01]
Golden Ace[01]
indigowulf[97]

and with the toggle off

GladDog
Golden Ace
indigowulf

I would also like the ability to be able to place notes on each person I team with

Totally agree with this post.