Unique first names were nice, but there are alot more people playing these days. I haven't been able to get the name Fulton, a name I have used since EQ in 2000, and on paper years before that, in the last several games without changing the spelling and such.
There was one game, maybe DAoC?, that I couldn't get the name on the server I chose, and checked the online character info and watched to find the person with the name hadn't logged in for months (since about 2 weeks after release), going to about 8-9 months when I quit checking.
So while I liked the unique name, I think the times have changed and it is not fully viable any longer.
Duffy said:Kilsin said:...
Most of you will be able to secure your names via pledges and early testing access...
Does that mean that the name we chose at early testing access will get somehow reserved?
Not 100% sure at this stage, pledges definitely (for the pledges that include early name reservation) and testing, possibly towards the end cycle like Beta but we will have to wait and see. To absolutely secure you name right now, a pledge with early name reservation is the way to go.
If two (or more) people with the same name both buy pledges with early name reservations, the person who purchased the pledge first (date and time) will get the first choice. S again, first in best dressed. ;)
Kilsin said:Wandidar said:For me, if having my uniqueness depend upon a first and last name combination equates to not sitting at the character create screen seeing "That name is not available" 40 times, then I'm all for it. Now, I've since come up with some fairly unique names and rarely have issues - but I know how frustrating it is sitting there as a new player wanting to get in the game, and having your first experience with the game the sensation of being annoyed as you sit there, seemingly forever, typing new names.
Investing a bit of time and effort into their characters name will actually help them, considering how much time and effort they will have to put into the game when they log in, it may be a good test of character to see how they deal with the first part. ;)
If someone wants to just blow through character select without a care in the world about their character or name and if they can't, that gets them easily frustrated, then applying the same thought process, they are going to have a bad time when they actually do finally log in, so this may not be the game for them!There are so many variations and ways to spell names that I really don't see it as being a problem, especially since many of us have already claimed our names over the years and have a few backups in case of someone else taking them, obviously first come first serve in terms of proper spelling, but that has always been the case in most MMORPGs to date, so I don't see it being a big issue going forward.
Most of you will be able to secure your names via pledges and early testing access, so it will only be a problem for others down the track who come late to the party, and sometimes, life is unfair like that and people have to suck it up and move on. ;)
Yeah - I don't really think I will have a problem. I have established some fairly unique names over the years - some based on avatar type, some not. But in general, the "name taken" thing is a real source of annoyance for a lot of people.
A quick story from years ago. I don't recall the game, but I do recall the event. I bought a game, logged in, and got to the name screen. I put in a name, then another, then another, then another. It got to the point where I was just trying random words - and ALL of them were reported as taken. I litterally was in front of my computer for a half hour or so at an absolute loss for a word that represented something relevant as a name. I finally found one by pulling out one of my wife's medical books and searching the glossary for a term I had never seen before.
Things that minimize the chance of that happening NOT for the people here in the forums, but for people who never go near a forum but buy the game... are (I think) good. To that extent, having uniqueness depend on first and last names would be something that does that.
Kilsin said:Not 100% sure at this stage, pledges definitely (for the pledges that include early name reservation) and testing, possibly towards the end cycle like Beta but we will have to wait and see. To absolutely secure you name right now, a pledge with early name reservation is the way to go.
If two (or more) people with the same name both buy pledges with early name reservations, the person who purchased the pledge first (date and time) will get the first choice. S again, first in best dressed. ;)
Got it, thanks! :)
Aside from the obvious potential issue of messaging I've never noticed immersion issues with not having unique first names. Go to any country in the world and ask a few thousand people for their first name. I'll bet money that every time you'll have at least a couple identical first names. Sometimes it could be quite a few. Heck, when I was growing up we had neighbors for a couple years with kids who not only had my first name and my sister's name but also had our family name. This stuff happens in large populations whether RL or in a game. Sure forcing unique first names avoids having 10 copies of a common name but is having 10 of that name with one letter changed really that much better?
Wandidar said:Kilsin said:Wandidar said:For me, if having my uniqueness depend upon a first and last name combination equates to not sitting at the character create screen seeing "That name is not available" 40 times, then I'm all for it. Now, I've since come up with some fairly unique names and rarely have issues - but I know how frustrating it is sitting there as a new player wanting to get in the game, and having your first experience with the game the sensation of being annoyed as you sit there, seemingly forever, typing new names.
Investing a bit of time and effort into their characters name will actually help them, considering how much time and effort they will have to put into the game when they log in, it may be a good test of character to see how they deal with the first part. ;)
If someone wants to just blow through character select without a care in the world about their character or name and if they can't, that gets them easily frustrated, then applying the same thought process, they are going to have a bad time when they actually do finally log in, so this may not be the game for them!There are so many variations and ways to spell names that I really don't see it as being a problem, especially since many of us have already claimed our names over the years and have a few backups in case of someone else taking them, obviously first come first serve in terms of proper spelling, but that has always been the case in most MMORPGs to date, so I don't see it being a big issue going forward.
Most of you will be able to secure your names via pledges and early testing access, so it will only be a problem for others down the track who come late to the party, and sometimes, life is unfair like that and people have to suck it up and move on. ;)
Yeah - I don't really think I will have a problem. I have established some fairly unique names over the years - some based on avatar type, some not. But in general, the "name taken" thing is a real source of annoyance for a lot of people.
A quick story from years ago. I don't recall the game, but I do recall the event. I bought a game, logged in, and got to the name screen. I put in a name, then another, then another, then another. It got to the point where I was just trying random words - and ALL of them were reported as taken. I litterally was in front of my computer for a half hour or so at an absolute loss for a word that represented something relevant as a name. I finally found one by pulling out one of my wife's medical books and searching the glossary for a term I had never seen before.
Things that minimize the chance of that happening NOT for the people here in the forums, but for people who never go near a forum but buy the game... are (I think) good. To that extent, having uniqueness depend on first and last names would be something that does that.
Hahaha! I can sadly say that I have had similar experiences man, you're right, it isn't fun, but I really don't think it will be a big deal for Pantheon because most of you will already be in the game and would have secured your names before the rest of the people come and try us out and if there are any big issues our CS team and GMs will be able to help :)
Duffy said:Kilsin said:Not 100% sure at this stage, pledges definitely (for the pledges that include early name reservation) and testing, possibly towards the end cycle like Beta but we will have to wait and see. To absolutely secure you name right now, a pledge with early name reservation is the way to go.
If two (or more) people with the same name both buy pledges with early name reservations, the person who purchased the pledge first (date and time) will get the first choice. S again, first in best dressed. ;)
Got it, thanks! :)
You're welcome Duffy :)
OtakuMegane said:Aside from the obvious potential issue of messaging I've never noticed immersion issues with not having unique first names. Go to any country in the world and ask a few thousand people for their first name. I'll bet money that every time you'll have at least a couple identical first names. Sometimes it could be quite a few. Heck, when I was growing up we had neighbors for a couple years with kids who not only had my first name and my sister's name but also had our family name. This stuff happens in large populations whether RL or in a game. Sure forcing unique first names avoids having 10 copies of a common name but is having 10 of that name with one letter changed really that much better?
We have two Bens (Ben De la Durante and myself Ben Walters) and two Chris's (Chris Rowan and Chris Perkins) on our team, so we know all to well how to adapt, especially in meetings :)
I also know that there are other Kilsin's floating around out there and that was a unique name that I created myself based on a mix match of things, so I will need to be quick to secure my name too or things may get awkward lol ;)
Just curious but, is it possible/would it be a good idea to make it so the first character you create on an account has that first name reserved, and nobody can use it, but then any following characters don't follow those same restrictions, because I know quite a few people who like to steal/reserve other people's character names with a bunch of alts.
Maybe not a big deal idk, didn't see it mentioned so figured i'd toss it in.
Well I suppose it depends on how they choose to do servers. ESO had a "mega server" which made it very hard to have unique names. They fixed it by tying your account name to chat. DO NOT DO THUS PLEASE!! This created real problems. First, some people used their real name for their account name, not knowing this would happen, and the CS was less than helpful to them. Next, it gave hackers a much easier time at knowing account names. Also, it really sucked chatting with a guild mate and learning their name, only to have them show up named something different.
If they go 1 big or a few big servers, I suppose first and last will have to do. However, I prefer unique first for a few reasons.
First, it helps with tells. How am I going to message my friend if he has a non-unique name? Do I need to type his last name too? That will get cumbersome.
Next, in EQ I felt I EARNED my name. How many games give you a sense of accomplishment when you earn the right to a surname? That's freaking cool.
Also, my surname changed throughout the ages. First I was Arksien, then I went the RP route and was Arksien Ivyblade since I was a ranger. Then after I started raiding, I was Arksien Deathtouched, which got quite a few laughs! By the end, I was Lord Arksien, the Peace Maker of Vazaelle. Titles were super prestigious so it was awesome to have one after many years of playing. I felt pride all over again in my name just like I did when I unlocked my first surname.
If we make first and last names from level 1, does that mean no titles? If we don't require unique names, but allow titles, are all my friends seriously going to be forced to type out my full name and title each time they want to message me?
I understand it can be frustrating if someone has your name, but so long as there are different servers, I feel this is a risk worth taking to allow some semblance of sanity into the tell system.
jimm0thy said:I prefer EQ's take , unique first names and earning a last name at a certain level.
A few games have done the first / last name combo at char creation and I've never really enjoyed it as much. I would also have to agree that seeing multiple people running around with the same first name would be immersion breaking
This is my preference as well, and here's why.
While I completely understand that a lot of players will want "their" specific name, if you're building a game where reputation is supposed to matter - having players distinguished by last name only will be a huge pain.
For ESO I have several characters and they all follow this naming convention: Furor (Reserved for name only) // Furor Darkblade // Furor Deathblade // Furor Stormblade // Furor Lightblade // Furor Moneyblade
Now, if Joe Schmuck is to come along and name his character Furor Deathhblade... And he happens to be a kill stealer, ninja looter, and overall bad egg...
Do you think people will be like, "Wait, wait wait, 2 h's? Oooh yeah that's someone totally different!"
No, not very likely, it'll be "That Furor guy is a real a******."
If boxing is something that is possible in Pantheon (And I hope that is it) I would rather you make me choose a different unique first name for my boxed character instead of playing Furor Deathblade and Furor Healblade...
Also on the subject, I really enjoyed hitting level 20 and getting to /surname. It felt like an accomplishment. I can tell you that names to me are very important - I would rather sit without a last name for months and pick the right one than to be rushed into one early on and end up hating it.
- Furor
Canno said:Assuming the server population sizes will be in the range of what EQ did and not one world for all players, I think unique names (to that server) are the way to go.
There won't be that much overlap unless you take an uncreative name - such as the Legolas example.
This is really what it'll come down to on whether forced unique names will work well or not. A few thousand characters registered on a server probably won't have much name collision aside from people who don't bother to try. If you're putting characters per server into the 5-digit range it's likely to be problematic even when you put thought into creating a unique name. If there is some form of name filtering it becomes even worse. I once exhausted a half hour of thought and a dozen unique names making an EQ character because for some bizarre reason it just didn't like something about any of them.
Do remember too that if someone wants to keep to the race, class and/or personality of their character, any old name may not work. You might be able to come up with a good unique name but it ends up badly suited for the character, unless you're playing up the irony of name mismatch.
Azote said:I m agree with that one, We got non unique names in RL, fantaasy books or etc, I t s great idea to make a convination of first name and surname to be unique. A great idea. And makes easier choosing a name for your char.
I'd argue that it can make it harder. A name is very important and I don't want to be forced to have o pick a last name as well. How many Aragorns do you want running around the world?
Furor said:jimm0thy said:I prefer EQ's take , unique first names and earning a last name at a certain level.
A few games have done the first / last name combo at char creation and I've never really enjoyed it as much. I would also have to agree that seeing multiple people running around with the same first name would be immersion breaking
This is my preference as well, and here's why.
While I completely understand that a lot of players will want "their" specific name, if you're building a game where reputation is supposed to matter - having players distinguished by last name only will be a huge pain.For ESO I have several characters and they all follow this naming convention: Furor (Reserved for name only) // Furor Darkblade // Furor Deathblade // Furor Stormblade // Furor Lightblade // Furor Moneyblade
Now, if Joe Schmuck is to come along and name his character Furor Deathhblade... And he happens to be a kill stealer, ninja looter, and overall bad egg...
Do you think people will be like, "Wait, wait wait, 2 h's? Oooh yeah that's someone totally different!"
No, not very likely, it'll be "That Furor guy is a real a******."
If boxing is something that is possible in Pantheon (And I hope that is it) I would rather you make me choose a different unique first name for my boxed character instead of playing Furor Deathblade and Furor Healblade...
Also on the subject, I really enjoyed hitting level 20 and getting to /surname. It felt like an accomplishment. I can tell you that names to me are very important - I would rather sit without a last name for months and pick the right one than to be rushed into one early on and end up hating it.- Furor
These two mostly sum up my preference and reasons for it. I wouldn't necessarily consider it immersion-breaking to find two people named Sue or Tom, but if Sue Smith is a competent, friendly player while Sue Smiith is a jerk, I'd rather it not be so difficult to differentiate between them at a glance. I could live with unique-to-account first names, though I agree with people who've posted that they'd rather retain the option of not having a surname; in games where it's optional, some of my characters didn't "seem right" (for lack of a better reason) with a surname. Duplicate first names could make things like party windows/frames a bit weird, too. If you happen to be in a group with Legolas Greenleaf and Legolas Greenleef, that portion of the UI needs to be large enough to display the entire name. That could lead to a cluttered look, something that occupies more screenspace than some people would prefer, or a teeny font that makes identification more time consuming/painful.
About 17 years ago I "Invented" the name Zorus. Or so I thought. Turns out there was a member of the praetorian guard under Augustus with the name. For years though, I had sole claim. I even had emails dating back to the late 90s with that name in them. Then WoW named some douchebag boss Zorus. Now every game I play has someone named Zorus in it.
I won't lie. A big reason I wanted to pledge was name security.
Blizzard has a character code system where you are identified by...essentially a social security number granted you by blizzard.
This way the game can identify who you are, and you can still name yourself Sephiroth, Solaire of Astora, Saitama, Whatever you like, despite others having the name.
The downside is the self policing community might have trouble identifying the troll John Snow from the all the other John Snows, but a good blacklist/report system should mitigate that ok.
I believe that a first and last name combo is much better for the life of the game. It really sucks when you join an MMO community late and cannot create a name that you like because all of the decent ones are taken. I understand that people want to have the best chance at having a unique name because they were here early, but we should also be thinking about people who will decide to join us 2 or 3 years after release. The first and last name system works much better for them.
I also liked the suggestion one poster made where everyone has a unique nickname allowing you to use whatever display name you want. That would work as well.
I also want to mention that I don't buy the idea that everyone is going to have trouble PMing someone because people might share first names with a first/last name system. Do people not use friends lists anymore? Why would you be relying on the memory of someone's name instead of just adding them to your friend's list once you decide you want to group with them again?