Guild Wars 2

So as we know, one cannot name a character that another has already chosen on that server. But here’s the thing. ANet already has a system in place that allows one to use any name they want already regardless of who’s used it first.

When you pick an account name, you decide whatever the name is gonna be. And then that name will have a random 4 digit number appended to the end of it. This basically means that there can be 10,000 users of one exact name. Why don’t we just do this with characters names as well, only except in the game, the four digit extension on one’s name is hid as long as there isn’t someone with the same name in the same instance you are.

Or you could not try to name your new ranger xX-Legolas-Xx.

I know how frustrating it is to think of a great name for your character and find out it’s already taken, but I’m still against allowing identical character names. The “already taken” wall weeds out at least some of the horribly unimaginative names, and the difficulty in contacting players who use unusual characters to bypass the name wall has a hidden benefit of making people consider using a different, more convenient name.

If OP’s suggestion were to be implemented, we’d swim in Daeneryses Targaryen by the end of the day.

Identical names increases the chances of emails going to the wrong person and the difficulty of finding someone later. Let’s say you meet up with someone with the char name Frank and later want to message him. If there are multiple chars with the name Frank you won’t be able to pull him up by putting Frank in the friend’s list and using search.

Dawdler.8521:

Or you could not try to name your new ranger xX-Legolas-Xx.

Or surnames: Legolas Smith

Or occupation: Legolas from Accounting

There are two types of reasons people have trouble finding a name that isn’t already taken:

• They hate inventing character names.
• They have imposed a set of requirements that limits the choice of names.

In the first case, the OP’s solution won’t be of much help; they still will hate inventing names. In the second case, I don’t understand why ANet or especially other players need to indulge one player’s personal preference for names.

Worst of all, it removes something from the game. Right now, the game only allows one character named Arnox. Under the OP’s system, such names would no longer be unique; they could be shared among thousands of people.

Also, this is an “easy to describe” idea, not necessarily an “easy-to-implement” one. The game currently has no mechanism for forcing a rename of toons (and, call it whatever you like, adding “.####” is a “rename”). Programmers would also have to deal with existing mechanics, such as /invite, /sqinvite, /join, and /sqjoin (all of which use character name). Are you allowed to name all your characters the same? or will there be restrictions in place?

It probably would be simpler to implement than a lot of ideas; that doesn’t guarantee that it would be easy or even cheap to do.

In short, this is a lot of work to cater to the subset of players who don’t want to spend a little more time figuring out a name.

While I think this idea would not be great for all the reasons stated already, it did set me thinking. How about being able to name all the characters on one account the same name?
Lets say you have a character called Bob Smith. That name is now linked to your account and unless you delete it and wait 24hrs it stays with your account. Why not let all your chars be named Bob Smith? That way you get to keep the name you like and can play it with multiple professions. Any mail still comes to the one account and you can only log in with one Bob Smith at a time after all.
I get that it is also probably a boat load of work for no return, but maybe one day something like it could be in GW3? Just an idea.

I’m going to be blunt. I think a lot of your guys’ arguments are spurious at best here. If someone wants to be unimaginative with their name,

1. It’s their decision.
2. They already do it anyway.

Furthermore, I’m seeing more and more toons being named with accented letters and special characters anyway. There’s a gazillion ways to misspell a name, especially a long one. So instead of xX Legolas Xx, we’re now getting even more stupid names like xX Leggolas Xx or something similar. The naming restriction does NOT prevent bad or unimaginative names. If anything, it makes them more silly.

And even further, really, I can’t stress enough how little of a #### I give if someone wants to name themselves xX Legolas Xx. If anything, I find it helpful as it may be indicative of their usual behavior. And neither should any of you care.

As to uniqueness of a name, it’s a give and take. Sure, you can say that under this system, your name is the only one. But the frustration of finding the name you greatly want already taken by someone else that you’re probably NEVER gonna meet offsets this positive greatly.

Under my system, you can make your name and not have to worry. No, it may not be unique, but I guarantee you, you’re gonna forget all about it immediately once you start playing anyway. If uniqueness really bothers you that much though, you can have it still do a check to see if the name is already in use. And that system has already been written so it’s an easy fix.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

The game currently has no mechanism for forcing a rename of toons (and, call it whatever you like, adding “.####” is a “rename”)

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/legal/guild-wars-2-naming-policy/

Guild Wars 2 Official Naming Policy

For the second offense, we will assign you a new name

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Programmers would also have to deal with existing mechanics, such as /invite, /sqinvite, /join, and /sqjoin (all of which use character name).

Game will now require users to append the 4 digit identifier if they insist on manually entering the command into chat to invite them. Can be completely avoided by just right clicking the name and inviting that person to the party as everyone should be doing anyway. Not an issue.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Are you allowed to name all your characters the same?

Probably not.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

this is a lot of work to cater to the subset of players who don’t want to spend a little more time figuring out a name.

Sooo… Almost everyone. Too much work to fix an issue almost everyone has had. Why are you acting like this is a problem for only a small little group of players? Guild Wars 2 is utterly massive now in terms of toons made. It has hit the point where finding a unique name is now an exercise in annoyance. As I said, for my system, just have it check for the name’s uniqueness as it usually does but allow people to pick a name anyway even if it is. It’s the best of both worlds.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

If there are multiple chars with the name Frank you won’t be able to pull him up by putting Frank in the friend’s list and using search.

You can already set nicknames in your friends list though.

Arnox.5128:

Just a flesh wound.3589:

If there are multiple chars with the name Frank you won’t be able to pull him up by putting Frank in the friend’s list and using search.

You can already set nicknames in your friends list though.

Of course, but when there are a bunch of other chars named Frank that doesn’t help you to find Frank again if you haven’t friended him. And as I’ve mentioned before, if there are multiple chars with the exact same name that’s going to increase the number of emails (and items in the emails) that go off to the wrong person. Any items sent off to the wrong identical name will not be recoverable by support.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Of course, but when there are a bunch of other chars named Frank that doesn’t help you to find Frank again if you haven’t friended him. And as I’ve mentioned before, if there are multiple chars with the exact same name that’s going to increase the number of emails (and items in the emails) that go off to the wrong person. Any items sent off to the wrong identical name will not be recoverable by support.

In a single instance on a single server, you’d be pretty hard pressed to find a person with the same name as another in the instance. But let’s assume that you want to whisper them again after a while and they’re in a separate instance now. The thing is, that problem already exists under our current system. If you didn’t save the full name of that person somehow and don’t remember the full name under our current system, you will end up PMing the wrong person or nobody at all.

As to emails, I have no idea what you’re talking about. Emails are emails and will continue to be the same, regardless of the character or account name. Emails are not addressed to individuals characters but accounts anyway. Are you talking about in-game mail?

Arnox.5128:

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Of course, but when there are a bunch of other chars named Frank that doesn’t help you to find Frank again if you haven’t friended him. And as I’ve mentioned before, if there are multiple chars with the exact same name that’s going to increase the number of emails (and items in the emails) that go off to the wrong person. Any items sent off to the wrong identical name will not be recoverable by support.

In a single instance on a single server, you’d be pretty hard pressed to find a person with the same name as another in the instance. But let’s assume that you want to whisper them again after a while and they’re in a separate instance now. The thing is, that problem already exists under our current system. If you didn’t save the full name of that person somehow and don’t remember the full name under our current system, you will end up PMing the wrong person or nobody at all.

As to emails, I have no idea what you’re talking about. Emails are emails and will continue to be the same, regardless of the character or account name. Emails are not addressed to individuals characters but accounts anyway. Are you talking about in-game mail?

Ok. I’m confused.

Let’s say there are 20 chars named Frank in the game. You play with one for a while then sometime later, after you’ve parted, you want to send him an ingame email/message. You don’t know the last 4 numbers that the game has assigned to identical char names. How do you contact the Frank you want and not one of the other 19 Franks?

Edit: for example, if I want to send an ingame email to an account that I don’t know the account name I can type the char name in the Friend’s search and pull it up. If there are multiple identical char names, wont I need to know the assigned 4 numbers? I won’t be able to put Frank in friend’s search to find it.

The game does have a way to force renames. How well it scales if you apply it to all characters in the game is another matter …

/invite, /join, mail, etc. all accept Display Name as well as character name.

I don’t think the change is necessary either but at least those issues already have solutions in place.

could you imagine the abuse this could bring?

imagine someone has a character named Jack, and someone else decides they don’t like the person behind Jack, so they make a character of the same name and then proceeds to be an absolute kitten to everyone, while pretending to be the original Jack. a lot of people then turn on the original Jack for being like that.

Fwiw, Cryptic uses a system similar to the one the OP proposes. They put it into Champions Online, then later used it in STO and Neverwinter, iirc. Say someone with the account handle mogul498 wants to name a superhero Maximus. His name would appear in chat, friend’s lists, etc. as Maximus@mogul498. Another Maximus would appear as Maximus but with the different handle after the @. In game, you only see Maximus on his name plate, but if you chat, report, add, etc. you automatically get the @ plus the account handle.

If Cryptic can do it, I imagine ANet could. However, what I don’t know is:

1. Is the current way names are handled baked so deeply into the game that changing would be non-trivial. It might even be impossible, or at least difficult enough that doing it would involve major changes to the game’s underpinnings.
2. Whether there would be sufficient interest to warrant the effort. Of course, the more effort that would be needed, the larger the interest would have to be to warrant that effort.

My suspicion is that this type of feature is best added to a game while the game is being constructed.

nottsgman.8206:

could you imagine the abuse this could bring?

imagine someone has a character named Jack, and someone else decides they don’t like the person behind Jack, so they make a character of the same name and then proceeds to be an absolute kitten to everyone, while pretending to be the original Jack. a lot of people then turn on the original Jack for being like that.

Per the OP: in the game, the four digit extension on one’s name is hid as long as there isn’t someone with the same name in the same instance you are.

Presumably the maps aren’t instances. If they aren’t you could have multiple chars of the same name, on purpose or by accident, all talking in chat and you can’t tell them apart by looking at chat alone.

The idea would really need to have the 4 numbers on each and every char’s name, unique or not, that shows at all times, not just in instances. I expect it would be way to much trouble for the game to go back and rename chars that no longer have a unique name.

nottsgman.8206:

could you imagine the abuse this could bring?

imagine someone has a character named Jack, and someone else decides they don’t like the person behind Jack, so they make a character of the same name and then proceeds to be an absolute kitten to everyone, while pretending to be the original Jack. a lot of people then turn on the original Jack for being like that.

First of all, you need to waste an entire character slot just to make that character. THEN you gotta go through the entire tutorial over again. And then you have to finally go to… Somewhere and then be the jerk. Oh, and you’re going to have to have:

1. The same level as the person.
2. The same title.
3. The same minis.
4. The same guild.

Now here’s the thing. You can still kinda do that even now because again, you make a toon name with accented characters. And the two very slightly different names will most likely blur into one in people’s minds.

Arnox.5128:

I’m going to be blunt. I think a lot of your guys’ arguments are spurious at best here. If someone wants to be unimaginative with their name,

1. It’s their decision.
2. They already do it anyway.

Sure, but you want to make it ANet’s problem, too, by asking ANet to create an entirely new mechanic to support your preferences. I don’t have a problem with other games allowing one name per world or forcing identical last names on all characters — that’s the choice of the developers of those games.

There are pros & cons of any naming convention in any existing MMO and if you want to debate those for a theoretical future game, we can do that (although not in these forums). The idea of attaching a number to a name isn’t unreasonable. The point is that it’s not without cons and it’s definitely not free to implement.

Arnox.5128:

nottsgman.8206:

could you imagine the abuse this could bring?

imagine someone has a character named Jack, and someone else decides they don’t like the person behind Jack, so they make a character of the same name and then proceeds to be an absolute kitten to everyone, while pretending to be the original Jack. a lot of people then turn on the original Jack for being like that.

First of all, you need to waste an entire character slot just to make that character. THEN you gotta go through the entire tutorial over again. And then you have to finally go to… Somewhere and then be the jerk. Oh, and you’re going to have to have:

1. The same level as the person.
2. The same title.
3. The same minis.
4. The same guild.

Now here’s the thing. You can still kinda do that even now because again, you make a toon name with accented characters. And the two very slightly different names will most likely blur into one in people’s minds.

This has actually happened to me with the current model, except luckily people knew it wasn’t me because of an accented í or something.

Now imagine the same scenario but everyone can mimic other characters exactly.

No thanks.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Ok. I’m confused.

Let’s say there are 20 chars named Frank in the game. You play with one for a while then sometime later, after you’ve parted, you want to send him an ingame email/message. You don’t know the last 4 numbers that the game has assigned to identical char names. How do you contact the Frank you want and not one of the other 19 Franks?

Edit: for example, if I want to send an ingame email to an account that I don’t know the account name I can type the char name in the Friend’s search and pull it up. If there are multiple identical char names, wont I need to know the assigned 4 numbers? I won’t be able to put Frank in friend’s search to find it.

Sorry it took so long to reply.

The thing is, you’re now gonna have to know the extension now. Having said that, if there’s only 3 variations on Frank and you’re trying to find the one you talked to, you could just quickly PM each of the three Franks asking if they know you. If they do not, move on to the next. Having said that though, I can’t think of very many situations at all where this would actually come to play. Most people if they like them friend them or even just mail them. Both of which can easily and quickly be accomplished by right-clicking a name and clicking “Add friend” or “Send mail”.

There’s problems with both systems at the end of the day. And the question is which system has the most advantages.

Arnox.5128:

nottsgman.8206:

could you imagine the abuse this could bring?

imagine someone has a character named Jack, and someone else decides they don’t like the person behind Jack, so they make a character of the same name and then proceeds to be an absolute kitten to everyone, while pretending to be the original Jack. a lot of people then turn on the original Jack for being like that.

First of all, you need to waste an entire character slot just to make that character. THEN you gotta go through the entire tutorial over again. And then you have to finally go to… Somewhere and then be the jerk. Oh, and you’re going to have to have:

1. The same level as the person.
2. The same title.
3. The same minis.
4. The same guild.

Now here’s the thing. You can still kinda do that even now because again, you make a toon name with accented characters. And the two very slightly different names will most likely blur into one in people’s minds.

You’d be amazed at how much effort some people will put into trolling/harassing others.

char slot: sure but if they’re going to troll/harass another person it’s doable.
Same Level: tomes. Many people have lots of them
Tutorial: only takes a few minutes. Negligible.
Title, minis, guild: not necessary as they don’t show up in chat, people don’t always use the same minis or stay in the same guild or keep the same title. (If people even notice this sort of thing, which I doubt they do).

Arnox.5128:

And the question is which system has the most advantages.

The current system. It’s the simplest and works the best.

Never fix something that isn’t broken.

penelopehannibal.8947:

This has actually happened to me with the current model, except luckily people knew it wasn’t me because of an accented í or something.

Now imagine the same scenario but everyone can mimic other characters exactly.

No thanks.

sigh I’m sorry that crap happened to you. This is probably the biggest problem by far with the system I proposed and I don’t quite know how to solve it yet.

ANet has been doing it this way for 10 years thru Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2, why change it? I have no difficulty coming up with new names but then I don’t put restrictions on me about how each race has to be named.

Having many players with the same name makes it difficult to distinguish them apart. I don’t think people are going to memorize the numbers at the end of their name.

‘’Mom : My new daughter is so beautiful. I’ll call her Sarah.’’

‘’The Doctor’’ : Sorry Sarah was already taken, but Sarah1234 is available.’’

Ayrilana.1396:

Having many players with the same name makes it difficult to distinguish them apart. I don’t think people are going to memorize the numbers at the end of their name.

lol

It was confusing enough when we had two forum posters with the same name on the same thread responding to each other. For a while I actually thought there was one person arguing with him/her self on the thread. It took a while before I noticed the two different account numbers.

I think that the uniqueness of the names of my characters makes them special (to me).

I wouldn’t like to run in another character with the same name as me. No particular reason but it just wouldn’t sit right with me. It’s probably that urge that people have that wants them to be unique individuals and not a number in an army of drones/clones. We spent a few decades on individualism.

I have always been someone that is constantly creating and deleting new characters in many MMO’s and i very rarely run into troubles finding a name. In GW2 it is even easier since here you can put a First and a Last name.

I never seem to run out of funny, appropriate Rp names for my characters and i can’t imagine anyone could. The possibilities must run in the millions.

If you do, you lack imagination or the drive to come up with something unique. I don’t think that should infringe on my enjoyment of my unique names. Just put some effort into it.

- TIP: First and foremost, let go of the (childish?) urge to want to name your character after a famous popstar, moviestar, moviehero. Put in some effort and come up with your very own unique creation. Sure it’s your choice but … pfffff.

- TIP: come up with a nice family/clan/house name you like and give that to all your characters, that way you can probably use any first name you like.

- TIP: come up with a last name that reflects your characters profession, haircolor, hight, etc..

- TIP: If all fails use one of the thousands of name generators on the Internet.

or adding “The” or “Real” or “Legit”

I agree with being allowed to name all your characters the same thing / having the option to just use your account name. I have a lot of friends that would very much enjoy that since they basically do it already. You already own the name. Whether a person is talking to your ele or necro wouldn’t matter since it’s still you.

Allowing everyone to use any name is a huge no no though.