Purge Dead Accounts!

[humbleroller]

Purge Dead Accounts!

Sorry, Im not sure if its been a week or not since this idea has been posted. Probably not.

I came up with a great character name a while back, tried it, **** its taken. I sent in game mail and it came back to me.

There must be some very fair way to remove accounts and free up some cool character names from accounts that are clearly dead.
Im talking about the ones that never made it off of Korthos. Free2Play accounts than never paid any real money and didnt like the game and are not coming back.
Send them an email first telling them that if they dont log in within 30 days their account will be erased. If they care then they will be back.
I am talking about people who havent dropped a cent into this game.

I dont claim to have the perfect formula but there must be something that can be done that is fair to all.

Those of us with Altisis and Multi-Character Playing Disorder need those names.

Also, can we have hyphens in first names please ?
And can the price of first name changes be dropped from 995tp to something more respectable please ?
Even if it can only be done while LR/TRing.
It wouldnt be available in the store if it was too hard of a job (search'n'replace in the database probably)

PPP. Please your Paying Players.

I guess I wont be spending 600 TPs on a new character slot now and another 600 to upgrade to a Greater Tome of Learning.
Your loss Turbine.

[biggin2]

/not signed

People come and go. I was a VIP for 4 years, took a year break and now I'm back again. Had my account been deleted there would have been no way I would have started over. Now if there were a way to put in a request for a name, have the person emailed then they could sell you their name for say 500 TP, 300 being transferred to the seller with Turbine getting a cut, everyone would win.

[Lonnbeimnech]

Maybe next time you could come up with the great name before someone else does?

[PsychoBlonde]

They could just do what some games do and allow people to give their characters whatever display name they want to and associate all of those characters with a unique player-name. There's really no reason why every character needs to have a "Unique" name.

[Catteras]

/not signed

There are a lot of disgruntled folks around here as it is, it seems. To take a summer vacation only to return home to find my account deleted would certainly lead to pitchforks and torches. Horrible idea. Absolutely horrible.

Everyone has to deal with his name being taken. Work around it like the rest of us do.

[Icywave]

/not signed

There are a lot of disgruntled folks around here as it is, it seems. To take a summer vacation only to return home to find my account deleted would certainly lead to pitchforks and torches. Horrible idea. Absolutely horrible.

Everyone has to deal with his name being taken. Work around it like the rest of us do.

That exactly!

[redspecter23]

If Turbine decided to clear all player names from accounts that haven't been active in say 5 years or more, I wouldn't be against it. There is zero reason to purge entire accounts just because a name is taken. Clear the names to free them up and then if the 5+ year inactive player comes back, they can rename themselves. I'm not saying they should go ahead and do this. I just wouldn't have any issues with a player that hasn't logged into their account in over 5 years having their name go back into the pool.

[Mahalko128]

There should definitely be a forced renaming process for lengthy inactivity so that others might receive the name from those that no longer play, like an inheritance to those more deserving.

[Jasparion]

/not signed

There are a lot of disgruntled folks around here as it is, it seems. To take a summer vacation only to return home to find my account deleted would certainly lead to pitchforks and torches. Horrible idea. Absolutely horrible.

How is this in any way related to the OP saying to delete years old accounts which never made it past Korthos?

[Memnir]

I say give em ten years after the last log-in on account record.
Granted I am utterly not in favor of any purging of old account... but I think a decade of inactivity might be a clue they're not coming back. And, in another year-plus-change- we'll be at the ten year mark from launch. Seems like that'd be the time to start purging, not before.

[SirValentine]

Purge Dead Accounts!


No.



Those of us with Altisis and Multi-Character Playing Disorder need those names.


Or more creativity.



Also, can we have hyphens in first names please ?


There's a winner!

/signed to hyphens in names

We know Turbine has the tech to allow this, as there are currently names with hyphens and digits in them (folks renamed when forcibly server-transferred).

[Qhualor]

once in awhile you see threads from players that come back after a long period of time, even 5 years. I wish there was a fair way to free up names, but I don't know what that could be. there could be a time limit and if not logged in than the account loses the name only not the characters, but I doubt that would work. whether or not someone pays into DDO or not, F2P or not, shouldn't have any bearing in character names.

[GreenGurgler]

I get the idea, but what would Turbine get out of the deal?

Why would it be in their interest? And dont automatically say $$$ because there would likely be a very limited market for it once the shakedown occurs and somebody gets their shiny new Drizzt, Bruener, Strom, etc... And the arguments made for money Turbine could make could just as easily be argued the other direction.

And I think its pretty obvious why an account deletion should NEVER occur. Perhaps the lose your name after X many years of inactivity but even that will cause ill will if players come back from extended break only to find their names gone.

The way they chose their naming scheme so many years ago was a failed plan but they have stuck to it and I doubt that will change in DDO's lifetime.


I just dont see what good Turbine would get out of it and lets face it if it isnt good for Turbine, it isnt going to happen.

Just my 2 copper

[MalkavianX]

I say give em ten years after the last log-in on account record.
Granted I am utterly not in favor of any purging of old account... but I think a decade of inactivity might be a clue they're not coming back. And, in another year-plus-change- we'll be at the ten year mark from launch. Seems like that'd be the time to start purging, not before.

Ten years minimum. Even then, what happens when someone comes back after ten years and is super ****ed that their account has been purged? Or even something as simple as their names being changed? I know I would be quite p.o.'d.

I think people should learn that just because they came up with a name, it doesn't mean that someone else didn't also come up with the same name. Try and make a unique name. If someone else already picked that name, try something radical and unheard of... pick a different name!

Problem solved!

/close thread





P.S. I've been playing for a few years now and I have yet to be stumped for a name on any one of my 40-some odd characters.

[Ungood]

Keep looking till one sticks (http://nameberry.com/list/404/Badass-Baby-Names).

[humbleroller]

well i can tell by some of the replies that some people cant read, or choose to read the words they think i mean.

i was talking about Free2Play accounts that havent been touched in over a year.
if you spent a single real cent you would have gone from Free2Play to Premium, therefore safeguarding your account.

[Memnir]

well i can tell by some of the replies that some people cant read, or choose to read the words they think i mean.

i was talking about Free2Play accounts that havent been touched in over a year.
if you spent a single real cent you would have gone from Free2Play to Premium, therefore safeguarding your account.I read it. I just think that regardless of pay-label, 10 years is a better number... if at all.

Because, and I hate to break this to you, most of the "good" names you are thinking this would free up were nabbed by folks who paid for the game when it was first released in 06- so they'd never qualify as F2P anyways. Just sayin.

[humbleroller]

it was a really good name though!

i develop a deep connection with my characters and maybe its a bit OCD of me but if they cant have that name then they arnt the same character.

i have 3 characters that need renaming (its either that or deletion) but ill be buggered if im going to spend 2985 tps just to do it.

[Memnir]

Thesaurus.com (http://thesaurus.com/) helps me quite a bit when naming characters. Quite a lot of good names still abound out there - just need to uncover the right one. I make alts all the **** time, and am still finding great names. That's why I think a decade is fair if they do a purge at all. As a person who has seen friends return who've been away for five or more years - I don't think we should ever purge names. But... if they've not logged in for ten years or more, something could be said for the likelihood they're not coming back.

[Qhualor]

it was a really good name though!

i develop a deep connection with my characters and maybe its a bit OCD of me but if they cant have that name then they arnt the same character.

i have 3 characters that need renaming (its either that or deletion) but ill be buggered if im going to spend 2985 tps just to do it.

http://rinkworks.com/namegen/

[humbleroller]

Bumwobble lives!

[Sidewaysgts86]

Apologies kiddies- I know theres a lot of nay say against this, but totally signed- And if youd be mad that this could/might happen to you, I say too bad- Let me explain.

Reality check: Turbine is a business. Accounts, alts, and characters use storage space. Storage space costs money. Im sorry but if youre not paying or contributing, you have, in my opinion, zero right to ***** about it when the party paying for your dead space wants to free it up because youre not using youre free account that they are paying for. Ive had this happen to me, numerous times, in numerous other games. Any fellow Diablo 2 players here? What happened if you didnt log onto your character after like 90 days? Poof- It was gone. Did it suck if it happened to you and you wanted to come back and jump onto a character that you havent dusted off in the gods know how long? Indeed it did. Did I "complain" or feel it was "unfair"? Hells no- Why? Because it was *free* for me, yet cost them money to have that character. I cant blame them in any way shape or form if they give me ample time to use their free service that they are paying for, and i dont, and they choose to delete my free thing after a very long/fair period of inactivity because it is costing them money for me to not use it.

Not paying? Use it or lose it.

So what would I like to see? Delete a character that hasnt been used after a fair time (Individual character basis, not account)- not 10 years, not 5 years, hell 1 year is imo, way way WAY more than generous, all things considered. However if youre a VIP, or you buy x amount of turbine points over x period (Ie, if youre actively giving money to turbine), you should be exempt. If youre just enjoying the free benefits of the game- Then log into your free account once in awhile.

[Ungood]

I could see, IF this was limited to just Free accounts, to be purged after about a year or two of inactivity, would make a nice bonus feature for paying into the system.

[Ailaesaedol]

it was a really good name though!

i develop a deep connection with my characters and maybe its a bit OCD of me but if they cant have that name then they arnt the same character.

i have 3 characters that need renaming (its either that or deletion) but ill be buggered if im going to spend 2985 tps just to do it.

"Really good names" generally mean something copied from pop culture. Make an original and forge your characters own identity rather than lending ideas from another author.

We cant all have Warforged Bards named Soundwave.

[Drelak]

A bit off topic, but reducing the cost of first name change to 100 TP would probably make it tempting at every TR.
Especially if combined with a possibility to change the gender of the toon.

[Tscheuss]

No.

At least wait until a minimum of 0.1% of all possible workable names have been taken before beating this poor horse again. :p

[cdbd3rd]

.... And, in another year-plus-change- we'll be at the ten year mark from launch. ...


:eek: Gah.

Always new and different ways to make people feel older. Thanks, Mem!


:p


'NO', @ account purging.
'Maybe', @ 10-year-old accounts getting character renames.

[Ungood]

Yah, but, if it's a free account, I gotta go with the idea that, it won't be held forever. I could see any paid account being "locked in" but a free one, as far as the company goes, is a "trial" account, and should be susceptible to being purged after a long enough time of inactivity.

If you cared, then you would pay into the system, to protect your investment.

[stoerm]

A bit off topic, but reducing the cost of first name change to 100 TP would probably make it tempting at every TR.
Especially if combined with a possibility to change the gender of the toon.

Seconded!

[Memnir]

Always new and different ways to make people feel older. Thanks, Mem!Just call me Memthuselah. :D

[zwiebelring]

it was a really good name though!

i develop a deep connection with my characters and maybe its a bit OCD of me but if they cant have that name then they arnt the same character.

i have 3 characters that need renaming (its either that or deletion) but ill be buggered if im going to spend 2985 tps just to do it.
If you have that deep connection then spending that amount of TP does not look like a big thing, does it? I have alts just to save some names (and twink gear) and bought slots just for that.

[MartinusWyllt]

I wonder if folks are making similar pleas on the Mythic forum about names I have on my account or guild that I stopped playing...oh, almost 10 years ago now.

[H8Tank]

Maybe we just change them to "Ex-Member" so we can still see all of the ignorant things they have done or posted after they chone. I love games and fan sites like that.

[MalkavianX]

Just call me Memthuselah. :D

Mem's so old he still has a Jesus rookie card.

[SisAmethyst]

They could just do what some games do and allow people to give their characters whatever display name they want to and associate all of those characters with a unique player-name. There's really no reason why every character needs to have a "Unique" name.

This option is long settle and gone. DDO uses the first name also as mail address and association of the AH, I doubt you can that easily unplug this from the backend system. This is the reason, there is no handle system as in other games. Fiddling with this - especially considering their spaghetti code - would result in the fact that your AH purchases will be delivered to someone else in the end or go puff... no thanks. Get creative and you find still nice names that are not taken, or roll the character on Wayfinder instead :P

[SisAmethyst]

...Reality check: Turbine is a business. Accounts, alts, and characters use storage space. Storage space costs money...

Ahhhhm, I do not subscribe to that argument. In a century where storage space is cheaper then a warm supper? A new 1TB internal hard disk cost what, 30$? The data of several characters probably even would fit on a 8" Floppy Disk from the eighties. In fact the salary you have to pay the tech person to check and purge the account is far more expensive then just keeping the data rot on your disk...

Agree with Memnir that if it was a F2P account that was created for testing and hasn't been access since 10years you may free that name, but those most likely aren't the names everyone is after anyway...

[humbleroller]

... or roll the character on Wayfinder instead :P
If i wanted to solo i have plenty of offline games left unfinished :)

[Enoach]

One of the flaws of the premise of the OP's argument is that the desired name is contained within one of these no longer active accounts.

The reality though is there is no way for a USER to know, they can only speculate because 1) They get the message that the name is already used 2) During their time on the server they don't see a player with their desired name. But that does not mean the person that has that name has left.

Personally I am glad that Turbine has opted for not purging accounts from their system. In the MMO business the customer can be finicky but it is not unheard of for them to return, even for a brief moment to relive some aspect of something they enjoyed. By taking the course they are taking, it makes it easier for someone to return to the game and maybe stick around for a bit. Purging means a person will have to start over from the beginning, which can be a turn-off for re-entry.

Hardware and storage is Cheap, maintaining the data over long periods of time is a pittance of an investment.

I hope Turbine stays the course and does not purge accounts, to me this is something positive.

[count_spicoli]

Purge Dead Accounts!

Sorry, Im not sure if its been a week or not since this idea has been posted. Probably not.

I came up with a great character name a while back, tried it, **** its taken. I sent in game mail and it came back to me.

There must be some very fair way to remove accounts and free up some cool character names from accounts that are clearly dead.
Im talking about the ones that never made it off of Korthos. Free2Play accounts than never paid any real money and didnt like the game and are not coming back.
Send them an email first telling them that if they dont log in within 30 days their account will be erased. If they care then they will be back.
I am talking about people who havent dropped a cent into this game.

I dont claim to have the perfect formula but there must be something that can be done that is fair to all.

Those of us with Altisis and Multi-Character Playing Disorder need those names.

Also, can we have hyphens in first names please ?
And can the price of first name changes be dropped from 995tp to something more respectable please ?
Even if it can only be done while LR/TRing.
It wouldnt be available in the store if it was too hard of a job (search'n'replace in the database probably)

PPP. Please your Paying Players.

I guess I wont be spending 600 TPs on a new character slot now and another 600 to upgrade to a Greater Tome of Learning.
Your loss Turbine.

Purge em all I don't care. 3 months of inactivity your kicked. I pay and play all the time so wouldn't bother me none. Not a big fan of people who quit the game then come back and whine they don't have all the good stuff I have.

Wait a minute these days even a 2 week in noob can have all the good stuff just run a chain 3 times. OK never mind.

[Sidewaysgts86]

The data of several characters probably even would fit on a 8" Floppy Disk from the eighties.

May I inquire as to what youre basing this information on?




In fact the salary you have to pay the tech person to check and purge the account is far more expensive then just keeping the data rot on your disk..

You say "in fact" which leads me to the conclusion youve dealt with data management, is this true? If not, again, what are you basing this assertion on? I ask because every company I have personally dealt with has had such a thing handled by an automated system, ie, they dont pay anyone diddly squat to do it because the system does it itself.

Id also like to ask you why, if your assertion here is true, other companies (ie Blizzard) would bother to do this practice at all, if, again according to you, its not financially beneficial at all to do such a thing in the first place? Thanks.

[Tscheuss]

May I inquire as to what youre basing this information on?





You say "in fact" which leads me to the conclusion youve dealt with data management, is this true? If not, again, what are you basing this assertion on? I ask because every company I have personally dealt with has had such a thing handled by an automated system, ie, they dont pay anyone diddly squat to do it because the system does it itself.

Id also like to ask you why, if your assertion here is true, other companies (ie Blizzard) would bother to do this practice at all, if, again according to you, its not financially beneficial at all to do such a thing in the first place? Thanks.

How do you think such an automated system came into being? Someone designed it; someone coded it; someone installed it; someone configured it, etc. System design requires resources, so whether such process is done manually or via other software, it is not free.

And again, can we not put off threads about freeing up names and purging accounts until at least 0.1% of the available, and pronounceable, names have been taken? There are too many available names in the pool for this to be anything approaching a real issue. :p

[Sidewaysgts86]

How do you think such an automated system came into being?

Someone would have programmed it.


Someone designed it;

Indeed.


someone coded it;

Glad were on the same page


someone installed it;
Indeed they would have to do this.


someone configured it, etc
Yup, probably.


System design requires resources,
Indeed it does.


so whether such process is done manually or via other software, it is not free.

Aye, and I concur entirely! But, I dont recall ever stating that it -was- "free", nor void of any kind of investment. I questioned the validity of the assertion: "the salary you have to pay the tech person to check and purge the account is far more expensive then just keeping the data rot on your disk."

Maybe you know- Do you know how much Turbine spends on storage? Its not a case of "Whee lets buy a 30tb drive and fill it up and its free past the initial purchase!" How much space do all these dead accounts/characters take up? How much space does a single character take up? etc and etc. Again, id love an answer to one of my previous questions: If its not financially viable to delete/purge dead accounts/characters, be it because "zomg storage is so cheap! just buy it and fill it up i swear!", or something else (etc), then why do a handfull of companies (still) do this at all? Maybe we should inform them theyre wasting money doing such a thing? Or maybe, maybe theres a reason for it. Considering theyre businesses, my money is on, you know, it being a money thing- But thats just my 02 cents based on my experiences (which I readily admit is limited to just a handfull of examples, and hardly speaks for the market as a whole- but then again I was never fed a reason to believe contrarily. I readily admit, the reality may INDEED be contrary to this, I however would simply like some real verifiable information, or at a minimum, some educated responses, not simply "well i think..."s)

As always, thanks :)

[FranOhmsford]

Also, can we have hyphens in first names please ?
And can the price of first name changes be dropped from 995tp to something more respectable please ?
Even if it can only be done while LR/TRing.
It wouldnt be available in the store if it was too hard of a job (search'n'replace in the database probably)

PPP. Please your Paying Players.


These are fantastic suggestions!

Honestly I've always been one of the main advocates for taking names off accounts that haven't been logged in {in the past year} - No need to delete characters; Just put the name back into circulation and leave a re-name token on said character.
BUT
There's far too many reactionaries on these forums who attack any mention of taking names off characters no matter how gentle you make the suggestion.


A List of changes I'd like to see to Naming Conventions in DDO:

1) - allowed in both first and last names.
2) ' allowed in both first and last names
3) Spaces allowed in both first and last names!
4) Numbers allowed in both first and last names {Especially for Warforged!}.
5) And of course names of characters not logged in in the past 3 years {See I can be reasonable even though I feel a year is more than enough} to be put back into circulation with a re-name token given to the character who lost said name.

[stoerm]

I'm going to have to agree with Ungood on this one. There are lots of available names out there, to the extent it's a problem for me. I am tempted to roll an alt each time I come up with a cool name (for me anyhow) and too often I give in. Perhaps I'm contributing to your problem. Ooops.

For example I just rolled Raidboss on Cannith not many days ago. Might not be a "cool" or "obvious" name, but at least I found it surprising that it was available. I'm making good use of all her backpack slots.

[JOTMON]

Purge Dead Accounts!

Sorry, Im not sure if its been a week or not since this idea has been posted. Probably not.

I came up with a great character name a while back, tried it, **** its taken. I sent in game mail and it came back to me.

There must be some very fair way to remove accounts and free up some cool character names from accounts that are clearly dead.
Im talking about the ones that never made it off of Korthos. Free2Play accounts than never paid any real money and didnt like the game and are not coming back.
Send them an email first telling them that if they dont log in within 30 days their account will be erased. If they care then they will be back.
I am talking about people who havent dropped a cent into this game.

I dont claim to have the perfect formula but there must be something that can be done that is fair to all.

Those of us with Altisis and Multi-Character Playing Disorder need those names.

Also, can we have hyphens in first names please ?
And can the price of first name changes be dropped from 995tp to something more respectable please ?
Even if it can only be done while LR/TRing.
It wouldnt be available in the store if it was too hard of a job (search'n'replace in the database probably)

PPP. Please your Paying Players.

I guess I wont be spending 600 TPs on a new character slot now and another 600 to upgrade to a Greater Tome of Learning.
Your loss Turbine.


Lots of issues with this..
Why would you get preference to a name that someone picked on day 1, and the 500 people after day 1 couldn't get.. then you come along 6 years later wanting it as well.


I agree 995tp is way over priced for a name change... Alignment change and gender changes are 2 other ones that make no sense on a LR.

[Annex]

Purge Dead Accounts!

...

There must be some very fair way to remove accounts and free up some cool character names from accounts that are clearly dead.
Im talking about the ones that never made it off of Korthos. Free2Play accounts than never paid any real money and didnt like the game and are not coming back.
Send them an email first telling them that if they dont log in within 30 days their account will be erased. If they care then they will be back.
I am talking about people who havent dropped a cent into this game.

If such a system were in place I would not be here. I started a DDO Free to Play account back in the summer of 2010, played through most of Korthos Island, lost interest, and left. Over three years later I came back on the recommendation of a friend, found my old character, gave the game another try, and now own two accounts with both expansions and most quest packs unlocked.

Years ago I also created an account with one of the superhero games. The game features excellent character customization features and I spent many hours getting my superheroine just so. Unfortunately, my friends rarely showed up so I lost interest. Again, recently, a friend asked me to give the game another try. My account was deleted so I went on to RIFT and DDO instead.

While obviously anecdotal tales, my experience illustrates how players flit from one MMO to another. Deleting accounts definitely punishes returning players. Given extreme competition in the MMO market, raising barriers that drive away potential business makes little sense.

On the other hand, raising barriers that frustrate paying players also make little sense. How many parked names, characters that never left the character creation screen, lie in the database? How many characters never left Korthos Island and languish unplayed for a year or more?

A compromise seems in order. Take account deletion off the table as that will drive away business. Perhaps it could work something like this: If a character at level 0-2 sits unplayed for a year, give that character a rename token and yank the name. Any character reaching level 3+ keeps her or his name, forever.

A lot of possibilities exist between deleting accounts and waiting 10 years to yank a name from a parked character. Perhaps a reasonable solution lies somewhere in the middle?

[Tscheuss]

These are fantastic suggestions!

Honestly I've always been one of the main advocates for taking names off accounts that haven't been logged in {in the past year} - No need to delete characters; Just put the name back into circulation and leave a re-name token on said character.
BUT
There's far too many reactionaries on these forums who attack any mention of taking names off characters no matter how gentle you make the suggestion.


A List of changes I'd like to see to Naming Conventions in DDO:

1) - allowed in both first and last names.
2) ' allowed in both first and last names
3) Spaces allowed in both first and last names!
4) Numbers allowed in both first and last names {Especially for Warforged!}.
5) And of course names of characters not logged in in the past 3 years {See I can be reasonable even though I feel a year is more than enough} to be put back into circulation with a re-name token given to the character who lost said name.

I don't agree with freeing up of names while trillions + remain unclaimed.

However, I do wish they could expand the range of usable characters in first names. Letters such as ñ, ú, æ, ç, and others would go a long way toward opening up name possibilities. And yes, my Drow Talabriina would much prefer to be known as Riina'Talab.
Spaces... hmm. From what I have seen in programming thus far, spaces are problematic when used in identifiers. That is to say, identifiers with spaces in them usually need to be enclosed within special characters. Maybe that is why we don't have apostrophes in our names, either.

The other characters I would like to have in names are in extended ASCII (128-255), and there may well be restrictions due to how that aspect of the game was coded, or even due to the language or variable type used. That is a little before my time. However, I see no reason why numbers are not permitted, unless the restriction is related to the devs reserving (+) for their own official character names.

[ishunt]

I personally feel that no deletions or renames should take place, and that the topic should not be considered until no less than %10 of ALL names available to the technology have been used. Including names like thakdhteklarlibrarianfromkansas That said I have this idea:
The biggest problem with renames is the aforementioned mailbox redirect issue. How about a person who was so new that absolutely nothing was ever sent to/from the mail, after 90 days, they are deleted. I also think of the way D2 initially screens players: You must play for 1 hour or the character is deleted at the end of the first 10 days after creation. A great deal of the toons that drowned swimming ashore in korthos would be deleted. People who have really any significant progress would not be deleted, but test toons would. The sweet,sweet plat bots might get tripped up as well!

[SirValentine]

Honestly I've always been one of the main advocates for taking names off accounts that haven't been logged in {in the past year}
<snip>
...I feel a year is more than enough...


A year is certainly NOT near enough.

Quite aside from people who voluntarily take extended breaks, some people become unable to play for extended periods simply due to demands of their jobs.

For instance, military personnel deployed to austere environments for a year or more at a time.



1) - allowed in both first and last names.
2) ' allowed in both first and last names
<snip>
4) Numbers allowed in both first and last names {Especially for Warforged!}.


Numbers & hyphens are no-brainers to allow; we KNOW the tech can already handle it. And apostrophes or some other symbols would probably work fine, too.



3) Spaces allowed in both first and last names!


Spaces might pose a technical issue, though.

[Tscheuss]

A year is certainly NOT near enough.

Quite aside from people who voluntarily take extended breaks, some people become unable to play for extended periods simply due to demands of their jobs.

For instance, military personnel deployed to austere environments for a year or more at a time.



Numbers & hyphens are no-brainers to allow; we KNOW the tech can already handle it. And apostrophes or some other symbols would probably work fine, too.



Spaces might pose a technical issue, though.

Apostrophes are used as delimiters in some languages, so they may pose problems, too.

[FranOhmsford]

A year is certainly NOT near enough.

Quite aside from people who voluntarily take extended breaks, some people become unable to play for extended periods simply due to demands of their jobs.

For instance, military personnel deployed to austere environments for a year or more at a time.

.

I did state later in my post that 3 years would be acceptable to me even though I personally cannot be swayed from my belief that if someone can't be bothered to log in ONE Character on their account {which takes 5 minutes at most} once a year then they have abdicated their right to a say.

Seriously...How many Military Personnel who are in said situation even play DDO?
How many of them that are in said situation can't get a Friend or family member to log them on regularly?


Actually looking at that last line of mine I have to say that Turbine's insistence on people not giving out their passwords to friends or family is just plain wrong.
As their are many situations where this would be valid.

[SirValentine]

I personally cannot be swayed from my belief that if someone can't be bothered to log in ONE Character on their account {which takes 5 minutes at most} once a year then they have abdicated their right to a say.


Where you know it or not, there is a difference difference between "can't be bothered to" and "not able to".

Turbine, please don't screw over your military players (or those with various other jobs) just because certain individuals have no idea what that kind of career sometimes entails.

[Memnir]

Seriously...How many Military Personnel who are in said situation even play DDO?.In my years of playing DDO, I can think of at least 10 people I've known personally who've been away for a year+ for military service, right off the top of my head. Probably more if I tried to think of every single one. And the way to thank them for and to appreciate their dedication is not to strip their character names, nor put them in a situation where they even need to worry about such a thing while away.


I still say that if it's ever to be done at all (and I still say never is a better option) - then it should be a decade at the absolute minimum.

[Mahalko128]

I think a good way to go about this system would be the same as this auto-account management system on a game I used to play called Dead Frontier. It went a little something like this:


Q: Does my account stay forever?
A: Accounts who have bought credits (any amount) or Gold Membership are safe from auto-deletion upon making the purchase.
Accounts who haven't bought anything will be deleted according to this system:
Level 1 - 10 accounts get deleted after 7 weeks of inactivity.
Level 11 - 20 accounts get deleted after 11 weeks of inactivity.
Level 21 - 30 accounts get deleted after 15 weeks of inactivity.
Level 31 - 40 accounts get deleted after 19 weeks of inactivity.
Level 41 - 50 accounts get deleted after 23 weeks of inactivity.
Level 51 - 200 accounts are safe from auto-deletion.


Obviously you'd have change account for name, credits/gold membership for TP/VIP, and the levels for, well, that's up to others to decide. Length of activity maybe?