Guild Wars 2

Riku.4821:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Yeah, I can’t get on the ‘delete their name if they have been inactive for ’x’ time or longer’ bandwagon. Nope, sorry.

I would be utterly kittened if names that I stayed up all night to get at launch were suddenly “gone” because I chose to take a break, or because life was more important than a game for a period of time.

But what if they hadn’t been on since the first week of launch?

Doesn’t matter. Unless they contact Anet and say “delete my account” or Anet institutes some option for account termination that a player can use, that account and those characters exist. That person is free to come back at any time. They paid for their account the same as you or I.

Changer the Elder.2948:

Maybe, for future reference (and I apologize if that has already been suggested), an optional Surname bracket would be nice instead. The kind storywriting could use naturally (with either of the names) but would still be able to distinguish all the “Jane” players in the world by their full display name. After all, that’s what surnames pretty much are for IRL x)

Hardly appliable now, but maybe Guild Wars 3?

I like the basis of this idea, it annoys me too when NPCs use my characters full names all the time.

But I think having the option to specify a surname is too limited and would only work with certain kinds of character names. A better solution IMO would be to have an optional ‘preferred name’ box where we can put something (which doesn’t need to be unique) for NPCs to call our characters when they’re not using the full name.

That was you don’t get weird effects where a character called something like Beastmaster Kelvar ends up just being called Beastmaster in what’s supposed to be an informal setting.

You could even use just part of a characters name. I could finally get DE 2.0 to call my main character Dani like everyone else does (real people I mean, both in RP and in real life discussions).

Or it could even be something with no bearing on their real name at all. Like when they were calling us “Boss”.

Orpheal.8263:

Nobody has the right to claim names, as if they belong only to them, be it in real life, or be it a a freaking game.

Which is why ANet doesn’t need to accommodate people who want to choose a specific name.

Orpheal.8263:

We are only in this situation now, because ANet forcefully artificially limitates for everyone the maximum amount of how oftenly a name can exist in this ganme,

We are only in this situation because (a) ANet limits to a single character the number of times a name can be used and (b) some people limit themselves to only a few, specific names.

(Limits on character names are no more artificial than limits on anything else in the game, like stack size being limited to 250 — the game has to draw limits, or be impossible to cost-effectively grow and expand.)

FlashAhAhh.4307:

Orpheal.8263:

People should stop to try making out of ants now elefants here …

I agree. Just use a surname or a little creativity to get a name.

Don’t write walsl of text about a minor issue or argue for a total overhaul of the naming system because you can’t get the EXACT name you want.

Why do I just have the feeling you understood absolutely nothing what I said and you just logged in here now to tell me this and twist my words to use them against me, while not understanding at all the context behind my message…

If you just have personal problems with bigger postings, I just have a tip for you…. ignore them.

I absolutely have no problems with coming up with names, I have absolutely enough creativity for that to come up with completely new and unique names for my characters – that is and was never at all an issue for me.

As if just adding always surnames to names would solve everything >.>
My personal gripe with the naming system is just only, how forcefully artificially Anet limits the total amount of names to 1 per server, what is an absolute unfair and outdated system that leads to this shameful situation that people “fight” over names to the point, that they get even the opinion, that they have more “rights” over a name, than others, what is not correct…

This discussion got even to that low of a niveau, that it has been mentioned here, that having a same name as like someone else would be seen as “theft”, what is a ridiculous statement when you just think about it, that absolutely nobody has rights about names and that we can all have in real life also basically infinite name sharing.

So why the hell shouldn’t this be able to work also too in a game like GW2?

Just only because of some people with too much paranoia in their life, that instantly fear for every single person they might meet in the game that shares the same character name, that this person guaranteedly has this only to hurt them and to destroy their reputations and virtual identities?

Seriously.. give me a break!!
Thats basically all my context behind my statement that people should stop making out of ants instantly elefants, because of massively overexaggerating here with their personal paranoias and wild speculations about what they think will happen automatically once everyone can get without senseless limitations the names that they want, due to character names getting linked from now on to the unique accounts display name instead of being kinded to servers and forbidding this way all other players on the same server to make characters with the same name, while they are still tons of other factors with that you can end of stil lwith a different character, that shares just the same name, due to having an other race, an other class, other body measurements, skin colors and so on …

As a person who likes cosplay characters, as that was my initial standpoint that brought me into this discussion it just looks stupid when you are practically forced to use accents and special letters ect. just to get still a chance to receive a name for your characters that you like, when it would be easily possible for Anet to solve this by making names infinite shareable, so that you don’t need use these kind of cheap methods and it would also lead instantly to significantly lesser peopel running around with Xx Name Xx or III Name III just to give people the illusion that they got the name with the pronounciation and spelling they want how it would be written and pronounced correctly.

However, I know how unlikely it is that this situation will ever change due to beign with this a minority and the change being no priority at all naturally, but this won’t change my opinion on this topic.

BrotherBelial.3094:

penelopehannibal.8947:

I certainly wouldn’t like to log onto the game if I inadvertently couldn’t log on for a year, to find “Your character’s name must be changed” and to find someone else has it.

In before someone else does this meme:

Yeah, My main have had his name since Beta of GW1. Would be really po’ed to lose it because someone has zero imagination when it comes to naming there toons.

Honestly, it would feel like identity theft. A lot of your in-game friends know you by that name (or names), possibly across a number of games if you’re a fanatic of have something slightly more specific. For someone to be able to take that away just because you weren’t in game for an undefined amount of time… Urgh. No.

Lady Elvea.2847:

BrotherBelial.3094:

penelopehannibal.8947:

I certainly wouldn’t like to log onto the game if I inadvertently couldn’t log on for a year, to find “Your character’s name must be changed” and to find someone else has it.

In before someone else does this meme:

Yeah, My main have had his name since Beta of GW1. Would be really po’ed to lose it because someone has zero imagination when it comes to naming there toons.

Honestly, it would feel like identity theft. A lot of your in-game friends know you by that name (or names), possibly across a number of games if you’re a fanatic of have something slightly more specific. For someone to be able to take that away just because you weren’t in game for an undefined amount of time… Urgh. No.

And that was the appeal of GW1 and GW2, you can quit playing for a long time, and come back to pick up where you left off, knowing your characters would be there.

Even for 19 characters, there is no need to expand it. Would that be cool? Sure. But I don’t expect it. GW1 and GW2 use the same login servers, which is pretty much the reason GW2’s limit is 19. Thing is, as posted by myself and others, there are so many ways you can work around that limit and still get names you want. Just don’t go overboard with something like hmm well I had an example and the preview showed it but forum itself can’t display it, but you can make it entirely in character map using umlauts and accents but please don’t, too much use of it hurts the eyes like certain guild names I’ve seen x.x

I’d be kittened if I lost my names… But the frustration of making a new toon name gets to me, especially when I type something stupid like “Broken Bottle Cap” or “Ice Bank Mice Elf” and it works…

penelopehannibal.8947:

Orpheal.8263:

Anet should in my opinion finally alow it that a name can exist as many times as possible

No thank you – I don’t want another player going round chatting verbal abuse at people in map chat with the same name as one of my characters.

Agreed, allowing the same names is awful for many reasons. The naming system in GW2 is awesome. You can have one name, you can have two names, you can have a name that includes a title, etc… there’s a TON of flexibility.

As much as I’d like to have some names I have used in past games, I don’t think an inactive person (who may become active at some point in the future) would be happy returning to Guild Wars 2 and find his characters are generically renamed to a default with letters and numbers. I’d be disappointed if that were to happen to me if I left and returned.

DeadSurvivor.6157:

As much as I’d like to have some names I have used in past games, I don’t think an inactive person (who may become active at some point in the future) would be happy returning to Guild Wars 2 and find his characters are generically renamed to a default with letters and numbers. I’d be disappointed if that were to happen to me if I left and returned.

Just sayin’, my idea would avoid that. Notice the 9267 at the end of my name? If I were to be inactive for 2 years then come back, that would be added to the end of the names of all my characters (it also ignores character limit). Then when I log back on, I’m mailed a number of name change kits corresponding to the number of characters I have, so I can change all their names back.

I’ve never had problems getting names. Maybe you’re just being too generic. Get creative.

KestrelGirl.9267:

DeadSurvivor.6157:

As much as I’d like to have some names I have used in past games, I don’t think an inactive person (who may become active at some point in the future) would be happy returning to Guild Wars 2 and find his characters are generically renamed to a default with letters and numbers. I’d be disappointed if that were to happen to me if I left and returned.

Just sayin’, my idea would avoid that. Notice the 9267 at the end of my name? If I were to be inactive for 2 years then come back, that would be added to the end of the names of all my characters (it also ignores character limit). Then when I log back on, I’m mailed a number of name change kits corresponding to the number of characters I have, so I can change all their names back.

Back to what? If someone else has taken the name, you can’t get it back.

Donari.5237:

KestrelGirl.9267:

DeadSurvivor.6157:

As much as I’d like to have some names I have used in past games, I don’t think an inactive person (who may become active at some point in the future) would be happy returning to Guild Wars 2 and find his characters are generically renamed to a default with letters and numbers. I’d be disappointed if that were to happen to me if I left and returned.

Just sayin’, my idea would avoid that. Notice the 9267 at the end of my name? If I were to be inactive for 2 years then come back, that would be added to the end of the names of all my characters (it also ignores character limit). Then when I log back on, I’m mailed a number of name change kits corresponding to the number of characters I have, so I can change all their names back.

Back to what? If someone else has taken the name, you can’t get it back.

Back to what they had before if it isn’t taken, or something entirely different if they want.

KestrelGirl.9267:

Donari.5237:

KestrelGirl.9267:

DeadSurvivor.6157:

As much as I’d like to have some names I have used in past games, I don’t think an inactive person (who may become active at some point in the future) would be happy returning to Guild Wars 2 and find his characters are generically renamed to a default with letters and numbers. I’d be disappointed if that were to happen to me if I left and returned.

Just sayin’, my idea would avoid that. Notice the 9267 at the end of my name? If I were to be inactive for 2 years then come back, that would be added to the end of the names of all my characters (it also ignores character limit). Then when I log back on, I’m mailed a number of name change kits corresponding to the number of characters I have, so I can change all their names back.

Back to what? If someone else has taken the name, you can’t get it back.

Back to what they had before if it isn’t taken, or something entirely different if they want.

And if It’s not available and they don’t want something entirely different?

Too bad so sad, I guess. Name carefully chosen is gone and probably went to someone who played a month and hasn’t logged on since.

KestrelGirl.9267:

DeadSurvivor.6157:

As much as I’d like to have some names I have used in past games, I don’t think an inactive person (who may become active at some point in the future) would be happy returning to Guild Wars 2 and find his characters are generically renamed to a default with letters and numbers. I’d be disappointed if that were to happen to me if I left and returned.

Just sayin’, my idea would avoid that. Notice the 9267 at the end of my name? If I were to be inactive for 2 years then come back, that would be added to the end of the names of all my characters (it also ignores character limit). Then when I log back on, I’m mailed a number of name change kits corresponding to the number of characters I have, so I can change all their names back.

If I returned to find I had to figure out new names for my 20+ characters, even if given 20+ kits, that would be a barrier to entry I wouldn’t be willing to deal with. And there are people with far more characters than me.

Ive not as yet found a single MMO that deletes character names after long periods of inactivity.
All MMOs want you to come back, and they all know that if your char names are gone no one will.
Conversly, if someone buys a new MMO and finds their favourite names are already taken they will still play the game .

I don’t see the big deal add a last name and be done with it.

Another option that usually works, is to double up on the consonants in the name.
eg the names Xowen and Xowin which are taken.
Try Xxowen or Xowenn or Xowwen.
This generally works unless the name is extremely popular, and then you can try doubling up both the vowels and consonants.
eg Xxoween
If you desperately want a particularily sounding name then simply spell it differantly.
eg for Xowen becomes Ecksohn.
This mostly always works.

KestrelGirl.9267:

Had this issue too when attempting to make my second sylvari. (Surprisingly, my first sylvari’s name went through after only one added letter.) Eventually gave up and made a norn and an asura instead. :P

Wait wut, race affects name availability? I’ve never heard of that…

And like others have said, remember that you can use ACCENTED letters to make virtually any name you want. There are many variations of accents for just about every vowel you’d want to use.

Mal.1670:

KestrelGirl.9267:

Had this issue too when attempting to make my second sylvari. (Surprisingly, my first sylvari’s name went through after only one added letter.) Eventually gave up and made a norn and an asura instead. :P

Wait wut, race affects name availability? I’ve never heard of that…

No, it’s convention to give your human, charr, or norn a last name, but not a sylvari or asura (though asura can have titles, eg my Rev “Mistwalker Ryxxi”, so that’s a workaround).

Orpheal.8263:

FlashAhAhh.4307:

Orpheal.8263:

People should stop to try making out of ants now elefants here …

I agree. Just use a surname or a little creativity to get a name.

Don’t write walsl of text about a minor issue or argue for a total overhaul of the naming system because you can’t get the EXACT name you want.

I absolutely have no problems with coming up with names, I have absolutely enough creativity for that to come up with completely new and unique names for my characters – that is and was never at all an issue for me.
[…]
As a person who likes cosplay characters, as that was my initial standpoint that brought me into this discussion it just looks stupid when you are practically forced to use accents and special letters ect. just to get still a chance to receive a name for your characters that you like, when it would be easily possible for Anet to solve this by making names infinite shareable, so that you don’t need use these kind of cheap methods and it would also lead instantly to significantly lesser peopel running around with Xx Name Xx or III Name III just to give people the illusion that they got the name with the pronounciation and spelling they want how it would be written and pronounced correctly.

So, is it an issue now or is it not? You argue that you have no problem coming up with unique names but you want an entire system changed to accomodate to your desire to make ‘cosplay characters’ that are just copies of very popular characters which of course will have taken names. That makes the issue even less prevalent.

I stand by the point that people who don’t really care about their character name will just continue to name them ‘ZZZZZZZzzzzzzZZZ’ and people who actually put thought into it will easily find a unique name because if you don’t just copy a well known name you can usually get it right away. Changing an entire system on the premise of ‘but that would be kind of nice for a few people’ is unrealistic and unnecessary.
‘One name per server’ as opposed to ‘one name at all’ wouldn’t work that well either, since Megaserver throw everybody into the same map. So you would have to have hidden unique IDs (like the account name), but then how would you differentiate John Doe(acc.123) from John Doe(acc.234) in map chat? Or you add the ID behind every name which increases clutter even more.

Another point is that names serve a purpose in GW2. They are unique identifiers. You can use the character name for a number of things (writing letters, direct party invites [this works with any name from the account by the way, no matter if they are logged into that character], blocking, etc.) and those would become considerably more complicated/bloated if you had to add a server or account ID everytime.

No matter how you twist it, the cost outweighs the benefit by far too much.

I personally like the fact that names will never be reset. I am one of those who played a ton in the first year and now only occasionally logs on (I spend more time in GW1). I like knowing that my names will never be reset as I got some pretty rare ones that I remember having to spam the launch login button at the time :P

Rinoa, Dance, Finesse, Meteo – these are all unique names I was able to get and keep because of this system.

Sorry guys I know it sucks – I have difficulty naming new chars now but that’s the way of things.