Guild Wars 2

This morning I logged into my account, double clicked my main toon and received this message pop up, “You must change your name before you may continue.”… confused, I double clicked again and it came up again. My character’s name is Soylentt Green — I see nothing dirty or offensive about the name (We’ve all seen toons like Lango lol asslasschaps running around), but for some reason the name has been flagged. I’ve been using this name in every MMO I’ve ever played without an issue and had no problems with it throughout all the GW2 betas and I’ve been fine up to this point. So why now? What’s wrong with my name? (And before anyone suggests copyright infringement witness all the Langolas’s, Daenerys, Raistlins, etc that are wandering the world….. I’ve placed a ticket with support but I don’t expect a response before the end of January and then I expect to have no satisfaction. I don’t really know what I expect from this post either, maybe just some insight from the community.

No clue. And yeah, I’ve seen some pretty bad names out there like Buttstink and the like

That is strange. I actually Googled it to see if your particular misspelling was used in something particularly unsavory. And the top results (other than misspellings talking about the movie) seem to be referencing your username.

It’s possible they do enforce copyright infringement, but only when it’s actually reported. Do you know anyone who would report your name just to annoy you?

Doesn’t matter what is out there, but that name would be copyright infringement, and I almost guarantee that is the reason for the name change.

I don’t see any reason anyone would report my name. I usually keep to myself when playing — I’m not even in a guild with anyone other than my toons.

It wouldn’t be copyright infringement as A) it’s spelled differently and b) It’s public domain, so as I said, that’s not the case.

I’m not certain Soylent Green is considered public domain. Even if it is, someone at Anet may have decided it’s in their best interest to follow through the change based on copyright infringement nonetheless.

On that note, misspellings do not circumvent copyright issues with character naming. Never have, never will. Granted, should a legal proceeding result from the name (extremely unlikely), spelling may be more important. But as far as name policing goes within games, companies rarely care if you tweaked the spelling.

It might be public domain outside the United States. However, with U.S. copyright law, the movie can only become public domain once the novel it’s based on is also public domain. Make Room! Make Room! is not public domain.

Oh PS. Soylent Green is already in use…. and obviously not flagged…

Soylentt.6123:

Oh PS. Soylent Green is already in use…. and obviously not flagged…

Such is life. You were unfortunate enough to cross the wrong movie fan, it seems.

why don’t you contact the support instead of asking here? :x

Its probably the same reason the name ‘Adolf Hitler’ or any variation of.. is banned, .. becouse of the prudes…
A name is just a name no matter who has used it or where its come from, alass many people dont relize this and likely som1 within Anet with authority has decided he/she doesnt want you to have said name.

I contacted support Butter… I’m just venting here…

I’m not 100% sure but I think intellectual property rights don’t always cover every single name/original word used within that IP. For example someone might well be able to use the name Legolas because even though the character is part of an existing (and protected) IP the name itself is not copy-righted. (Except if it wasn’t that was probably changed when the movies came out, but you get the idea.)

So there could well be many names we might look at and think ‘well that’s obviously a reference to/copy of XYZ’ but legally it’s ok. The name of a movie on the other hand is definitely protected.

(This is based on someones far more technical attempt to explain why I had “gotten away with” the name Alleria Wildrunner for several years, I may or may not have gotten all the facts right and it might well vary by country.)

Mayhaps someone doesnt care for cannibalism in their game? Or around their children?

Hello everyone, sorry it’s taken so long to respond, but I finally got satisfaction today. Soylentt Green has been released from captivity and he is once again wandering the realm! Thank you ANetfor being so reasonable and understanding about my request. So here you have proof that a name change can be successfully appealed.

For all those that supported my appeal, thank you! For those that didn’t…. well.. all I can say is this… Don’t accept the inevitable. It’s okay once in a while to go ahead and fight rather than just lie down and take it! Peace out my GW2 brothers and sisters

Good to hear. While I understand that Anet has to protect itself legally, I doubt any litigation is going to arise from your username. lol