Guild Wars 2

So I came online to play my Engineer through her storyline a bit today when I was greeted with a box telling me to change my name.
For what reason?
I DON’T KNOW.
There’s no reason explained or any sort of explanation as to why this is happening, I’m just told to change my character’s name.
I see zero logical point in this forced change.
I was happy/amused to get the name Gwen Stefani on the first day of the head start, and I’ve had hundreds of people comment on it and also be amused at my choice in name, and now I’m being forced to get rid of it.
My thief is called The Thief, are you going to force me to change that?
How about my other engineer called Adam Sandler?
Or my necromancer called Samwinchester?
I really hope this forced name change can be canceled because I’m only going to change it to Gwen Stefani with some sort of accent on one of the letters, which will render the entire ordeal pointless.
Also my character’s face looks exactly like hers because I’m a complete creep who had lots of time on his hands so whenever I look at my character’s face I’ll be reminded of the crime Anet has committed on her.

So community, I’m going to see what you think of this, so hopefully arenanet can see what you think of this, and hopefully all this can be undone and forgotten.

It says in the terms of service, which you agreed to upon confirming your account, that you will not take names relating to real world celebrities. That’s why they are making you change your character’s name. Incidentally, changing it to something similar with accents is likely to get your name changed again.

You don’t know why?

It’s in the naming policy you agreed to when you started playing.

“We do not permit names that: Reference real-life people.”
From the policy page.

So it won’t be undone and will happen again is my guess judging from the other names posted.

Perhaps because Gwen Stefani is a famous musical (at its loosest definition) artist, not a level 31 human Engineer, and the misuse of her image, if discovered, could have the potential of being a legal nightmare for Anet in the rare case that something like that would happen. The fact that you modeled your character’s face after hers only makes it worse.

This affair is stupid anyways, but I can see their logic behind it – they’re not oging to risk a large, highly improbable but still possible lawsuit over one guy’s bizarre fetish.

But the character was made in fun as a joke, what’s the harm?

It’s against the rules, simple as that.

You agreed to abide by the rules when you installed the game.

So you instantly go and break those rules and then complain because they caught you and you think it’s unfair cause it was “a joke”?

Rules are rules. You agreed to them, so follow them.

I read the naming policy before I made a single character.

With the fact that ANet seems to be actually enforcing their own rules – renaming with random characters in the name sounds like a great way to get a ban.

The Grump, if you played other online games where they did not enforce their own ToS/EULA especially when it comes to naming, let me be the first to welcome you to ArenaNet. They are serious when it comes to naming. Either you change your name or risk getting a ban.

It is for their own protection when the people you copied the name from, for whatever reason (a joke or an insult or whatever), finds it offensive or inappropriate or whatever, they can sue ArenaNet for it. And who knows, maybe they can sue you too – do you have the means to defend yourself? Or do you think you can win in the court by just saying “it was just a joke, what’s the harm”?

Either way. Rules are rules. All games have ToS/EULA. ArenaNet is just strict when it comes to enforcing it. I’ll even say that it wasn’t ANet actually but NCsoft itself that is strict.

Which is good, especially naming our characters.

Now maybe, you haven’t seen cases wherein some party asked a company to remove all copyrighted names from their game. But I tell you, it happened a lot before They just got tired. But not because they got tired does it mean no new party will bother to do the same.

Imagine the horror of renaming everyone using a copyrighted name or a real-life celebrity/famous name. I also know International guilds that takes their name seriously. They have a trademark and copyright filed for their names in many countries and asks game companies to rename guilds with the same name as them It was fun to watch how real-life Law gives power to people and groups over game publishers and gamers.

It happened before, it will happen again. It’s just a matter of time and money.

misrepresentation. and maybe she trademarked her name or something like that.

http://imageshack.us/a/img708/2246/gw296t.jpg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yLFYJrirzQ

The Grump.3209:

http://imageshack.us/a/img708/2246/gw296t.jpg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yLFYJrirzQ

You just wasted a rename, you know that? You could have thought of a new very good name instead of “WasForced ToRename”

But hey, your choice.

I know you’rekitten but still you wasted a rename. You’ll never get another one unless they find a reason to give you another rename.

You should have cooled yourself before renaming.

Shael.4703:

The Grump.3209:

http://imageshack.us/a/img708/2246/gw296t.jpg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yLFYJrirzQ

You just wasted a rename, you know that? You could have thought of a new very good name instead of “WasForced ToRename”

But hey, your choice.

I know you’rekitten but still you wasted a rename. You’ll never get another one unless they find a reason to give you another rename.

You should have cooled yourself before renaming.

THE GRUMP CANNOT BE COOLED
I AM A PROP KILLER
I WILL NOT BE TREATED THIS WAY

Nah I don’t really take my names seriously, my 80 thief is called The Thief lol.
This way I will never forget the travesty that happened today, I’m also getting a four paragraph tattoo on my chest documenting today’s events.

The Grump.3209:

Shael.4703:

The Grump.3209:

http://imageshack.us/a/img708/2246/gw296t.jpg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yLFYJrirzQ

You just wasted a rename, you know that? You could have thought of a new very good name instead of “WasForced ToRename”

But hey, your choice.

I know you’rekitten but still you wasted a rename. You’ll never get another one unless they find a reason to give you another rename.

You should have cooled yourself before renaming.

THE GRUMP CANNOT BE COOLED
I AM A PROP KILLER
I WILL NOT BE TREATED THIS WAY

Nah I don’t really take my names seriously, my 80 thief is called The Thief lol.
This way I will never forget the travesty that happened today, I’m also getting a four paragraph tattoo on my chest documenting today’s events.

Haha, cool then. But who knows, maybe they’ll sell rename tokens in the Black Lion down the road ~_^

“Or my necromancer called Samwinchester?”

BTW John Winchester was originally supposed to be Jack Winchester, but there was already a real life Jack Winchester living in Kansas so they had to change the character’s name to John. So yeah – even Supernatural had to have a name change.

“No one really reads those things so why should I?” – Most people on earth

Read the terms you agreed upon, IF not, then atleast find out whats “legal”. Using a celebrity name is a no-no in many places and you ranting about something that couldve been avoided had you used common sense.

Its all good though, just change the name.

You’ll probably find that you need to change Adam Sandler, too, by the by.

It always surprises me how RPG player can have a complete lack of imagination.

Also, Gwen Stefani and No Doubt have been known to be quite litigious regarding use of their names and resemblances in video games without seeking their permission.

It’s fun to have comedic or normal celeb names but a rules a rule, There’s a minor chance of someone actually doing something, but if they did then you wouldn’t like it. If I ever become famous then you may use my name

Didn’t thy state that after the first time they don’t like your name and send you a name-change ticket, they won’t do the same again, instead opting to rename your character to what they think is fitting? If they find your new name lacking, they’ll just write it over with some generic kitten.