Guild Wars 2

I’d really like to change my display name but so far the only method I can see for doing that is to create an entirely new account and delete the old one, and I do not want to do that for a number of reasons.

So now that people can just make a new account for free, the whole user accountability reasoning doesn’t really work anymore. Can we hope to get display name changes now? I’m sure people would be happy with just a one time only change, possibly with a way to see the old one on their account.

Falclon.3156:

So now that people can just make a new account for free, the whole user accountability reasoning doesn’t really work anymore. Can we hope to get display name changes now? I’m sure people would be happy with just a one time only change, possibly with a way to see the old one on their account.

I have a totally same idea like yours. The accountability is actually meaningless anymore because of the new free account system. I hope Anet gives a chance for the change as well.

I agree, my brother made my account and uses my real name, now im stuck with it, I would like change it, i dont want to delete this account because of those achievements and gears i worked on.

Kevin Ardinez.8906:

I agree, my brother made my account and uses my real name, now im stuck with it, I would like change it, i dont want to delete this account because of those achievements and gears i worked on.

Kevin, is that you? Let’s talk Monday morning when you appear to work…to my office – immediately!

Kevin Ardinez.8906:

I agree, my brother made my account and uses my real name, now im stuck with it, I would like change it, i dont want to delete this account because of those achievements and gears i worked on.

Assuming that’s your account and not his, then contact support. They change display names if it’s the real person’s name.

Kevin Ardinez.8906:

I agree, my brother made my account and uses my real name, now im stuck with it, I would like change it, i dont want to delete this account because of those achievements and gears i worked on.

That they will grant a change for.

Behellagh.1468:

Kevin Ardinez.8906:

I agree, my brother made my account and uses my real name, now im stuck with it, I would like change it, i dont want to delete this account because of those achievements and gears i worked on.

That they will grant a change for.

Since his brother set up the display name I’m betting it’s not “his” account but one his brother bought for him and set up completely before giving it to him. In that case, he can’t contact support about it and his brother might not be able to get it changed as it’s not his own name.

Gaile Gray.6029:

This is a policy, explained in the links that JT provided, and in the quote that AP added to this thread.

This is not a matter to take to support, because unless you meet the very narrow requirements (read the threads for those details) your display name will not be changed. By creating tickets to ask for services not offered, or to protest policy, you slow service for others.

I will take the suggestion to offer display name changes to the team, but at this time and for the foreseeable future, that is not a service that will be offered. If it is offered, we will make you aware of it.

Thanks for understanding.

Hi Gaile

You wrote this 2 years ago:

I take on board things like typos in making a name. But assessing the difference between a change and a correction can be difficult, and at this time, we’re holding firm on the “no changes” policy.

As you can see my displayname shouts abit kitten CAPS. Is that anything you guys can help me with? Was ment to be Ekan. Im one of thouse that gets Grrrrr when someone types in caps when you shoudnt and this, my name I see everyday and disturbs me alot!

Hoping for an reply, regards EKAN (sigh)

They just don’t care about us, alot of my friends quited GW2 because of this….

Liberis.9573:

+1 for account name change.

My account name is really close to my real name, but ArenaNet won’t let me change it.

My display name is also part/close to my real name like them and they won’t let me fix it either. If we can at least get ONE chance to change it, I’d be happy to fix my mistake. I was kinda just rushing for a name at the time.

So really not even a chance to change the name with the expansion?

DragonSlalyer.5786:

So really not even a chance to change the name with the expansion?

That actually would be a fantastic opportunity for people to fix their display names if they magically allowed the option.

I have few things that are hard to understand to me.
1. They allow change of my email address, but they say that no you can’t change your display name and that’s not our service.
2. Accountability with the display name. The free account system already made exacting accountability meaningless even though the new system does not offer some functions like map chat and daily things. (I don’t think its few limited services are covering the accountability. And its purpose is not only for the accountability.)

And, now, there is only hope that we want to change the name.

So what should Anet do for us?
What can they do something for us?
1. Maybe… they can allow the change.
or 2. They need to persuade us again with some understandable reasons.

Do anything, please.

DragonSlalyer.5786:

I have few things that are hard to understand to me.
1. They allow change of my email address, but they say that no you can’t change your display name and that’s not our service.
2. Accountability with the display name. The free account system already made exacting accountability meaningless even though the new system does not offer some functions like map chat and daily things. (I don’t think its few limited services are covering the accountability. And its purpose is not only for the accountability.)

And, now, there is only hope that we want to change the name.

So what should Anet do for us?
What can they do something for us?
1. Maybe… they can allow the change.
or 2. They need to persuade us again with some understandable reasons.

Do anything, please.

Here is your ‘reason’: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/support/Name-Questions-Please-read-merged/page/4#post5498462

(Recent Dev post – again, explaining why Display Names changes aren’t often offered.)

Good luck.

Personally, I find their uncompromising policy on this absurd. I’m not trying to escape some sort of bad reputation, or abuse a system; I simply wanted to correct an embarrassing typo on a name that most of my associates know me as.

I had my display name correctly spelled during their early access, but when I received the hard copy and input the product code, it asked me to re-input the name. I made a typo and this is how it has been ever since.

Every attempt I’ve made to contact CS about this has been denied. They will only change a display name under the most narrow of terms. They won’t even delete the account entirely, so that I can reassign the product code to a new account; yeah, that’s right: I was willing to have everything on my account deleted and start all over just for the opportunity to have this corrected.

My frustration with this is an understatement, as it is quite literally 2 letters that got transposed years ago. So, yes, I would appreciate some form of leniency or even an agreeable compromise to the situation instead of being stonewalled over it. If the option existed in account management, I wouldn’t even have to inconvenience anyone on their staff to do it, I’d do it myself.

As for the reason behind it posted by one of the users here, via a link to another thread, I’d totally risk a significant batch of problems on my account if it meant correcting the blatant typo. As I stated earlier, I was perfectly willing to deal with a complete deletion of the account. But they don’t do that either…

Well the new Engi and my name, not really that surprising. Doesn’t help that my guild lead has name problems so I was the new class since half-a-year ago. Still won’t make me reroll engi ;-)

Edit: please gief name change.

Okay, I think I kinda messed up the display name just a tiny bit.

5AE76C11-8938-4B4E-A3DA-DB888B349324:

Okay, I think I kinda messed up the display name just a tiny bit.

Yours is a bug. If you make a ticket and contact support, they will change it.

Top of page: support
Top if page: submit a request.

Have piety to allow to change at least ONE(1) time. Not everyone knew what the display name is, when the game was released. Why ruin the gaming experience to players eager to play but with a crucial missing piece that reduces the desire? Currently i happen just that. I want to play, but at the same time I think that my display name is not what i want on my account and automatically decreases the desire to play.
Here we all have purchased the game (about $50) i think that changing one line of text in a SQL database is not that difficult.
So, my question is: There is support to help or not?
Thanks.

EpiX.2671:

So, my question is: There is support to help or not?
Thanks.

Answer. No and Gaile explain why here.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/support/Name-Questions-Please-read-merged/first#post2087181

What shall I say? As I created my account back on 2012 it wasn’t clear what for is the display number and at that point my English and German skills weren’t good enough to understand what does 4-digit-number means….I thought that I’m only able to create a display name of 4 letters…and there they are…first it was no problem for me, but after some time, as I joined a big guild of 100 ppl, they named me all PLDE….which is no Role-Play name, but a result of missunderstanding and lack of a good explanation by creating an account back in 2012 (don’t knot how it is now) and I lost motivation to play that game, late on 2014, some players of my native country called me with words like “traitor”, cause of their nationalism….After seeing trailers and gameplays of new content I really want to play again but not with such nickname….Buying and creating new account is like “loosing” my current achievements, my “personal history”.

If You, Anet/ncsoft/Guild Wars 2 Teams want from old players, who bought the core game for simmilar price like now CORE GAME + EXPANSION, 2nd time the same ammount of money, then I think should you at least them give an option to change their name.

Think about it, cause new and better MMOs are coming out.

+1 Change Display Name

<software developer babble>

The fact ArenaNet can’t allow Display Name change sounds to me like the back-end database is using the Display Name string as its pk (primary key) to identify accounts somewhere in the constellation of services that make up our game/web experience. It’s ironic, since most data architects would recommend the creation of a Display Name field specifically so that the users can have something to control, while intentionally masking the non-human-readable string in the back-end that is no-mod and used to “actually” track that user among the various services.

In this case, I can only guess that one or more services are hardcoded to that string in some way and it would take an architectural overhaul to crack it open for users to own/modify. They’d have the shift the primary key burden onto some other string. There may be software services reasons we can’t see that drives their decisions here. It’s probably not impossible so much as low priority (they have bigger fish to fry) and low return-on-investment (it’s not really “broken” so much as irritating to end users and if it ain’t broke don’t fix it).

Every year that goes by that they don’t improve this, I try to remember that they’re likely using those man hours for things that have a bigger positive impact for the player base. Whoever made the original data architecture decision that left us in this situation — maybe even an outsourced vendor and not ArenaNet at all — probably sleeps like a baby every night. ;-)

Noah
(and yeah I wish my display name sounded less like a girl)

I’d support an option to change your display name. I had a dog named Boris, we called him Borie Bo. My ex-husband kept him when we divorced and I still miss that dog so my own display name, which I created prior to the divorce, makes me sad.

Ive been through this same thing with support and they absolutely would not budge on it. Every option or idea I suggested/asked about to them, they were like “nope. no. nope. nuh-uh. nupe!”. So…I ended up starting over and getting a new account…just to have the name I actually wanted. However, I didn’t lose much…I didn’t have a ton of valuable stuff on the old account like other people do, so it was an option for me…at least I got the display name I wanted.

I’d love it if they would reconsider and allow name changes. Some people make typos in them, or just regret choosing the name they did.

Auliya.9061:

+1 Change Display Name

<software developer babble>

The fact ArenaNet can’t allow Display Name change sounds to me like the back-end database is using the Display Name string as its pk

It’s not about any technical issues. They can and do change display names for people using their real name or real email. Or if third name became offensive like Isis because of current world events. It’s about holding people accountable and not allowing them to change their name when they ruin their reputation.

Tbh I kinda want to be able to change my display name aswell because when I first made a GW2 acc many years ago I thought you had to write down a name no one else has (this was before I figured out you could have same display name as others)
and also…. because I thought that it wouldn’t been visible….

This display name I put for this account…. I really regret it, I mean my display name isnt even a word or anything… its just some random letters messed up completly.

If I could I would use same display name I used in GW1 or same battle net ID name.

My main account’s display name was against the rules (trademarked product) and I reported my own name because I didn’t want to get in trouble. They actually let me choose a new display name and I’m very grateful for that. Here’s the GW2 naming policy, if your name is against the rules, give it a try. Unfortunately, this won’t help people with random names. :c

At the bottom of the naming policy it states:

Please note that purchased name changes must also conform to this Naming Policy, and that any name is subject to review and possible alteration if it is in breach of this policy.

So can name changes be purchased then?

Character name changes.

Who would have thought a display name would be displayed. /Facepalm.

RLDE.1064:

They just don’t care about us, alot of my friends quited GW2 because of this….

Ehm your friends solely quitted cause they could not live with a name they give themself? Well in that case i really hope they wont get kids.

Offair.2563:

RLDE.1064:

They just don’t care about us, alot of my friends quited GW2 because of this….

Ehm your friends solely quitted cause they could not live with a name they give themself? Well in that case i really hope they wont get kids.

A minor thing but it is quit, nothing else past, present or future. And yeah leaving a game because of what you yourself did is kind of extreme.

I don’t have to explain why i would like a change. I made the account quite awhile ago and have regrets. I have considered purchasing another account for a new name, but i’ve spent far too much time and money on this account for me to justify abandoning it. Make this a payed option even? idk

I quited this game because of it, it was a bad move done by Anet…. the funny thing is that they lost players because of this, but they don’t care anyway.

Really i quit this game because of it, i diddn’t log on like 1 year…and i came here expecting that they would let us change now but they still don’t allow us, i made this display name because i thought no one would see it, and i know many players irl and online that quited this game because of it, i even sent a message to Anet to let me change because thatname contains the initial letters of my real full name and they said they won’t change. Really they don’t care…and its sad because alot of people quited because of this.

Dang it! Now you all know my name!

Er… why does that matter?

Maybe try contacting support again? Attitudes may have changed. And maybe google your issue, since this has come up in the past, but I don’t remember if anything ever was resolved.

If you hadn’t announced that’s what those letters were, I would never have guessed they were your initials, especially since you have four of them. (At least where I am, it’s uncommon for most people to have initials longer than three letters.)

It’s your business, but I wouldn’t worry about it, personally. <<;

=_=
You thought no one would see a DISPLAY name?

Also they do allow changing display names but only under certain circumstances. In some cases they will even force a rename if it violates naming policy.

A lot of people quit over that? Even if they did allow you to change it, those people would have found some other off-beat reason to quit.

I’m sure it has to do with the amount of work to make it happen isn’t going to generate enough revenue to make it worth while.

From Gaile about this issue:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/support/Name-Questions-Please-read-merged/page/4#post4336410

Gaile Gray.6029:

If your name is Fred Player, and your display name is Fred Player, we consider that a security risk, and we will help you change your Display Name.

If your name is Mary Gamer and you use M Gamer, that’s not nearly specific enough to be considered a security risk. Nor is using the first or last name, alone, like Knut, Pierre, or Bart or Jones, Lopez, or Schmidt.

We get quite a few Display Name change requests that we cannot support:

• I didn’t know it was going to be seen. It should be clear to everyone upon account creation that the Display Name is… displayed! If it is not clear, I’d really like suggestions on a better way to make it clear, because as I recall the interface makes it clear that one’s display name will be shown in the game. I’m open to seeing if we can make a change to the interface, but only if it’s truly required.
• I want to prevent someone from seeing me. Players may desire a display name change for personal reasons. For instance, they once were friends with someone and now wish to stop interacting. Or they claim they are being “stalked” by another player. Changing for such personal reasons is not supported. More importantly: If we completely change your Display Name, people who once had you on their Friends or Blocked list still will be able to identify you. There is no way to “reset” an account and wipe its history. If someone knows the old Display Name they’ll simply see the new one. (I believe that the system is designed this way to prevent people from losing their contacts if they have to change their Display Name for a genuine security issue.)
• Someone may figure out my personal information. Generally, the scenarios made for this request are not valid. But if you fear that your Display Name makes learning your e-mail address easy, and if you feel that knowing your e-mail address poses a risk to your account, we can help you change the Account Name (log-in e-mail address).
• Why do you have this policy? We feel that one’s history should remain intact unless there is a substantial security risk. It’s not healthy for individuals to be able to swap Display Names because some who request it will be doing so to hide in order to avoid past, negative history. Imagine the issues caused by supporting random Display Name changes that allow scammers, cheaters, verbal abusers, etc., to start their misbehavior anew with the “clean slate” of a new, unknown Display Name.

I hope that this information helps you understand our policy and our practices in relation to Display Names.

And also from Michael Henninger about problems with display name changes:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/support/Name-Questions-Please-read-merged/page/4#post5498462

Michael Henninger.7451:

Hi everyone!

Long story short is that display names weren’t designed in a way that allows them to be changed without causing a potential (and significant) batch of problems on the account so we (support) only do them when we reeeeally need to.

Yeah, I really hated my old display name. But it was a purely personal reason…it was just an old display/character name that I don’t use anymore, and wanted to update to reflect my “new” online personas. I contacted support about it and was told the same things. They reallllly stick to their guns about it. So in the end I got a new account, and now have a display name I’m 100% satisfied with. >.>

As much as my display name is my nickname IRL and that’s could be just a little problematic (no real issue here) and as much as I understand that ANet decided that display name shouldn’t be changed, is there a real reason it should stay that way?

I mean, for security reasons or in need of identifying the player (e.g. beacuse they did something bad, dunno) I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t be an issue at all even with a history of display name changes (just like on Steam, you can see exactly every name a player has chosen since creating their account).

Just curious here is all.

nutri.1385:

As much as my display name is my nickname IRL and that’s could be just a little problematic (no real issue here) and as much as I understand that ANet decided that display name shouldn’t be changed, is there a real reason it should stay that way?

I mean, for security reasons or in need of identifying the player (e.g. beacuse they did something bad, dunno) I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t be an issue at all even with a history of display name changes (just like on Steam, you can see exactly every name a player has chosen since creating their account).

Just curious here is all.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Suggestion-Change-Display-Name/page/4#post6108868

Maybe a bit late on this topic, but I sure hope they make it available to change your name. I was about 11 years old and barely speaking English, so I definitely feel the people’s pain on this topic!

While I have a good display name, I have also been stuck with bad names for a while. 1+ to change name.

Hi!

About this topic. I sent a Ticket to Gw2 asking if it was possible to change for ‘own reasons’. They told me this:

“I would like you to know there are issues with Display Name Change. For example: Players may experience broken guild lists, broken guild rosters, inability to chat, broken friend/block/social lists, and having both the old and new display name visible. It’s not offered to change a display name.”

As they said, it’s not offered. Though a friend of me still changed her Display Name. I wonder why not others too ~ It kind of made me quit playing Gw2…

Display names are typically changed if they violate the naming policy. I remember a year or so ago a user was posting on here who had an offensive account name and it got changed to crimson squirrel or something. Their reaction on the thread was priceless.

It’s likely easy enough for them to change account names on the very rare occasion rather than open it up to everyone which increases the possibility of something to go wrong.