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 since UO without an issue,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.

Today my account was suspended for the name Smashed Azzhole…wasn’t warned, just suspended for 71hours.

This is way too heavy handed, should be made to change the name instead.

I cannot even begin to understand how soylentt green was flagged as inappropriate.

“Soylent grün ist Menschenfleisch!!!”

Charlton Heston would be rolling in his grave.

I hope it was a mistake but I wouldn’t hold your breath.

I was actually going to make a similar name, guess it’s a good thing I didn’t.

I don’t get how this violates the naming policy at all Soylentt. Did you send in a ticket?

I did send a ticket and I’m waiting on a response , but I’m not holding my breath. I will however say that if I’m being flagged for my name, I’ll be making at least 100 other complaints about the various Raistlins, Langolas’s, Drizzts, Daenerys, etc on my server…..

As long as you don’t end up like the last guy. He successfully appealed his nickname, only to have it taken by somebody who was obviously reading his thread. All his efforts were for nothing, and customer support couldn’t help him. Very anti-climatic.

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…

It may be happening now.
And yes there are other names that should be changed, but I fail to see how other peoples bad behaviour makes your mistakes acceptable. The rules are easy to understand “Don’t take bad names and don’t use names where other people might have rights on.” That’s not that difficult.

Any word on this? I’d love to read their excuse on this one.

As Michael referred to, it’s likely you need to change away from such a direct “Soylent Green” name derivative because of copyright.

I don’t think there is anything wrong with the name. Banning it for “copyright” issues is ridiculous for several reasons.

1. “Soylentt Green” is different from “Soylent Green”
2. Names are not copyright. If you use a name of a video game character, it is ok. The characters themselves are copyrighted, not the name.

If that’s not the case, they should ban every “John”, “David”, “Mark”, “Juliet”, etc to name a few, because I surely can find a movie somewhere that has characters of these names.

3. Sure “Soylentt Green” is a little close to “Soylent Green” and one might add the “trademark right” argument. But how close is close? Should “Soybean Green” be banned? Should “Gibsons” be banned? “Gibsons” and “Simpsons” are very close.

For examples: Jinx – “Jynx” the Pokemon.
Michael – there is a movie named “Michael” made in 1996? to name a few…

But again, my point is that names are not copyrighted. I’m pretty sure there is a court ruling on that in the US.

Another example of how Anet doesn’t try to educate its players so they can avoid / correct their mistake. It makes people second guess every single thing in-game and instill a sense of worthless fear. All it does is gives itself a bad name and doesn’t help the player to grow and learn from his/her mistakes.

Change your name to what? What’s wrong with the current name? Will the new name be yet another mistake?

Keep your player in the dark. Yeah, that’s the best way to help them.

ArenaNet added their right to removed “copyrighted” names in EULA to protect itself from meaningless lawsuits from other companies. But there is no such thing as a copy righted name nor title. Here is the link to the official US government website:

http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ34.pdf

What one might argue is that “Soylent Green” is a trademark right of whoever produced that movie, and sure it is. But 1. “Soylentt Green” is different. The moment you mispell 1 character it is no longer the same, 2. Even if the player has used the word “Soylent Green” for his character, this is different from Soylent Green the movie. Since neither the player nor ArenaNet is “selling” this “Soylent Green” the character. So they are not the same thing, in which case, trademark law doesn’t apply.

What ArenaNet should do is stand up and protect its players from ridiculous issues as this instead of hurting them.

Here is the applicable excerpt from the Guild Wars 2 Naming Policy:

“. . . The guidelines listed below outline the types of names that you can NOT use, and apply to player, character and/or guild names..

We do not permit names that:
. . .
Reference names of copyrighted or trademarked characters, materials, or products.
Use misspellings or alternative spellings of names that violate any of the above rules.
. . ."

You may not agree with ArenaNet’s choices in what it allows for names on its servers. We’re second-guessing when we talk about why the rule on copyrighted characters, materials, or products exists. The problem is that the name violates ArenaNet’s naming policy. It doesn’t have to actually be illegal (by violating copyright law, for example) for ArenaNet to declare it unacceptable.

Is there any way to check to see if a name is copyright or trademarked? An acceptable way to avoid a problem would be appreciated.

That is why Guild Wars 2 Naming Policy is ambiguous and not fair to players. Here is an example. I went to a online random fantasy name generator and take 10 random names. Most of them look like legit random fantasy name. At a closer inspection, nothing, nothing can be used under Guild Wars 2 Naming Policy. Here

Keus - Reference to a real person named Peter Keus. I have no idea who this is, but he is a real person. This name is bannable.
Nakydy - This name contains the phrase “Nak” which is an abbreviation for Northern Dynastyc Minerals company. This name is bannable.
Riloryn - “Loryn” refers to Loryn Lopes, a real person. Bannable.
Garomash - “Aromash” is a football player. This name is bannable.
Er’urn - “Urn” – urncompany.com is a registered domain name of a company that makes urns. This name is bannable.
Therkine - “Erkin” refers to Erkin Koray a Turkish musician. This name is bannable.
Eldeldlye - “Elde” is a name of a dutch college, obviously trademarked. This name is bannable.
Notanis - “ota” is an abbreviation for Orthopaedic Trauma Association. This name is bannable.
Elmineos - “mineos” – refers to “MineOS” which is an operating system for Minecraft. There is also a pizza restaurant named “Mineo’s Pizza House”. This name is bannable.
Tanrd - “Tan” is a book publisher. This name is bannable.

Pretty much every name that is even comprehensible out there refers to some copyrighted/trademarked things that somewhere, someone already done. So should ArenaNet ban every comprehensible names which is basically 99.99% of the player base?

Even a name that is basically gibberish like this “Kglgntske” (contains “gnt” which is a Brazillian satellite tv channel) is bannable.

Well copyright to some obscure thing that nobody would even know about is absurd and stupid to enforce.

Also what happens if later on after making your name, the name becomes irl trademarked or copyrighted? Do we deserve a ban and name change now? That seems rather unfair.

Stars.2179:

…
Michael – there is a movie named “Michael” made in 1996? to name a few…
…

Sorry, but I have been first. I’m from 1957, so I own that copyright.

Such arguments are not clever. Names are repeated everywhere, so you cannot copyright such a name.
As there have been several posters copying the rules here, I don’t have to do it again. Anet is ambiguous intentionally. You cannot make rules governing a game that is to be played worldwide that will fit once and for all times. You need room for moving. That’s why it is up to Anets employees to set the frames. They will check it, they will think it over and finally they will decide.

Just don’t discuss their decisions. Try to get a review and if that fails simply live with it and follow the rules and decisions.

I Tried to make one “Lenina Crowne” because of the book Brave New World that i recently read, couldn’t do because the name contais “Lenin” on it.
¬¬
That was just terrible…

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