changing names

[Luckylu]

Ok so I will get people who disagree and agree with me on this one, but I must say it. Thursday night I logged into the game after taking a couple hours off and BAMN my lvl 14 Sorc was not in my list.. i start to worry a little bit, knowing that ddo has constant bugs, and what do i find? I find my 32 point- lvl 14 sorc that i have had for nearly a year now with a new name.. the name of RENAMEDZZ was his name. I log in, and talk to a few friends I had online about it.. they said to type /changename and ofcourse THAT doesnt' work!!! why becuase I guess there was some infringement on a 3rd rate dc character with a similar name. Again, I have had him for nearly a year. So I contact a DM and wait about 25min. The anger swells up as it would for anyone who has been playing that long with a character you have come to love. When the DM contacts me he is very blunt that they do not have to give any reasons or explanations to my name change just that it is an infringement, and that I had to choose a new name then. I asked if I could have a token things so I could change my name when I was ready, like the /changename thing gives you. NO, I have to decide now, and again.. what do you rename yourself after having the character for a year??????
I understand that they have infringements, and all the rest and whatever though we have all seen others out there with BLATENT names, but I would not turn them in as someone has turned me in I guess. But a little courtasy to people with such long lasting names, and they do know how long we have had characters. Thank you I just wanted to air my upsetness.

Luckylu

[Jket]

top notch customer service... i think its bs too. They dont tell you they are gonna change it, you have had the toon for almost a year... and they say its a infringement all of a sudden... BS turbine give him a name change token... seriously thats just a pathetic thing to do to a customer that pays 15$ a month...

[Boldrin]

Hate to say it, but I agree with Jket

[Jket]

Hate to say it, but I agree with Jket

[Harncw]

that sux...

however what did you do for the 25 minutes that you waited for the DM?

[Luckylu]

well lets see I was UBER ****ed off, talked to a friend in private chat about it, and he tried to help me he told me about the whole /changename thing. I was trying to watch tv with my wife, but coudlnt' help but watch the screen. What did you want me to do? I didnt' know who to email or call, or even if I could. I was pretty upset as this is one of my favorite characters.

[Aranticus]

top notch customer service... i think its bs too. They dont tell you they are gonna change it, you have had the toon for almost a year... and they say its a infringement all of a sudden... BS turbine give him a name change token... seriously thats just a pathetic thing to do to a customer that pays 15$ a month...

ket, dun blame turbine. blame the person who reported it. turbine does not search thru the database for name infringement. most of the time, its because of one person reporting the name before turbine takes action.

on the same point, it doesnt mean if your name is there for 1 year, it means the name is alright. i've seen many copyright/trademark lawsuits being filed becoz the other party did not notice until later. recently, i saw a chinese made car which looked exactly like a mercedes (even had the same logo). i'm just wondering how long it'll take before mercedes take out a lawsuit

that said, i do agree. give luckylu a name respec token.

[Kregger]

I had the same problem too. Excpet they caught me in the middle of a quest. I was given a temp however and when I was ready to change they admins were more than ready to help me. as for someone reporting your name, unless its offensive I just don't see it happening.

[Luckylu]

My name was Zzod, similar to Zod from superman, NOT offensive.

[Falco_Easts]

My name was Zzod, similar to Zod from superman, NOT offensive.

OK that is just sad. If you hadn't of said I would have had no idea who Zod was or what was wrong with that name. Not as if it is a well known one.
As was said though, blame whoever reported you. Turbine wouldn't have done it on their own. Turbine are just covering their own bum from lawsuits by chainging names.

[Emili]

That is sad they did not give you a token. They should at least give you a reasonable amout of time to think of a new name. Then again the online support in this game is not really much support. People reporting you for the use of Zod - that's pretty way out there, seems they'd have better things to do. I'd had been tempted to tell the GM you wanted the name Zzod as it is your real name and want the character named after you Then again I do not condone or recommend telling a fib;-)

[lenric]

ket, dun blame turbine. blame the person who reported it. turbine does not search thru the database for name infringement. most of the time, its because of one person reporting the name before turbine takes action.

on the same point, it doesnt mean if your name is there for 1 year, it means the name is alright. i've seen many copyright/trademark lawsuits being filed becoz the other party did not notice until later. recently, i saw a chinese made car which looked exactly like a mercedes (even had the same logo). i'm just wondering how long it'll take before mercedes take out a lawsuit

that said, i do agree. give luckylu a name respec token.

I agree that luckylu should get a respec token and have some time to make the choice, but for an example of such lawsuits of infringement that come after a long time....think WWF or World Wrestling Federation...the WWF was around since before I was born, then recently in i believe 03 or something like that the WWF(world wildlife foundation) decided they wanted to be a jerk and make the WWF(wrestling) change their name...and as such we now have the WWE which I'm not even sure what stands for...I mean the WWE was around for at least a dozen years as the WWF before the wildlife foundation said anything....

[Aranticus]

My name was Zzod, similar to Zod from superman, NOT offensive.

turbine code of conduct:

16. You may not upload or transmit copyrighted material to any aspect of the Game without the express consent of the copyright holder.

this is prolly what turbine used to rename you. zod is copyrighted, to whom i do not know. hence your name contravened this regulation and thus deem inappropiate. not offensive, but like what Falco mentioned, they are covering their behinds from potential lawsuits

[Shaamis]

When I see Zzod running around, I think of the Superman movie, but I never thought to report it to Turbine. I have no problem with Zzod, as there are many more infringement close one's out there.

it sounds like someone was mad, and saw Zzod, and reported you. By you having that name for so long, it is a testament that Turbine doesn't actively troll the player name base.

Another option could be you beat down someone in PvP, and they decided to report you as a final revenge.

Just a thought.

[Aranticus]

When I see Zzod running around, I think of the Superman movie, but I never thought to report it to Turbine. I have no problem with Zzod, as there are many more infringement close one's out there.

it sounds like someone was mad, and saw Zzod, and reported you. By you having that name for so long, it is a testament that Turbine doesn't actively troll the player name base.

Another option could be you beat down someone in PvP, and they decided to report you as a final revenge.

Just a thought.

truth be said, the limitations of human creativity would mean a name that you think up of could already be exisiting somewhere out there in the world unknown to us. with cultures and lifestyles being merged, its hard to come up with a "true" name.... oh well....

[Svetelana]

turbine code of conduct:

16. You may not upload or transmit copyrighted material to any aspect of the Game without the express consent of the copyright holder.

Just out of curiousity, did they ask you if you had express consent of the copyright holder????

[Luckylu]

ofcourse NOT, they didn't ask me anything. I logged on and my name was already changed. And there was no way to change my name to anything but "RENAMEDZZ" unless I contacted a GM And waited forever for him to show up and help me. that is true I should call DC comics and ask them if i can use the name Zzod, I bet they wont' give a ****.

Luckylu

[Yukiko]

Yea, this has peaked my intrest. I would really like to see what a Dev. or a DM has to say about it. What did you have writen in your Bio? Anything movie related or something that should not have been there?

[Luckylu]

So I just sent DC comics an email asking if I could have permission to use the likeness of Zod, in my name for my sorceror. If they agree then what do I do? who do i contact?

Luckylu

[Draclaud]

If the Superman name is Zod...how is Zzod not allowed? It's not the same, it's different, and therefore not a copyright problem. By that logic every name would be wrong. "Your character name Bob is an enfringement due to a kids show "Bob the Builder"."

I "lil"bit of common sense needs to be applied. I had a guildie named "Percocet" for a year, and he had to rename his char in the middle of the quest after a year...That I can see, but if his name had been Percecot...That wouldn't be a problem legaly. Your name should not had been changed IMHO.