Who has these names?

[bigj1608]

Johnson, Garbage, Snails

PM if you have them.

[toughguyjoe]

There is a very large chance that those names are taken by someone who doesn't play anymore, which means they are gone forever

[jdawg70]

I think that if you haven't accessed a toon in over a year then the name should be forfeited.

I know some R/L issues happen. Same goes for guild names..no activity in a years time (forfeit)

[Ystradmynach]

I think that if you haven't accessed a toon in over a year then the name should be forfeited.

I know some R/L issues happen. Same goes for guild names..no activity in a years time (forfeit)

So if for example, someone in the military gets deployed to some third world country for a year or even 15 months, they should lose their character's name regardless of how much time and/or money they invested in their character(s)? That hardly seems fair.

If I wanted to have to squat on my character for everything I own to still be there, I would go play Ultima Online. DDO is suppose to be better than that, it suppose to be very casual friendly, instead of forcing you into a playing schedule to make the most of the game.

I understand the issue of limited names being available and the problems rewriting the system at this point (especially since parts of code look like they were put together with duct tape), but there still has to be a better solution than that.

[Xionanx]

Well, a lot of MMO's have a character inactivity deletion policy. I wouldn't expect to come back to a MMO and have all your characters and loot after not playing for 6 months. We have some people in my guild who have been inactive for almost 2 years now, they aren't coming back I'm sure, and if they did they would probably need to start from scratch anyway.

DDO needs an inactive character wipe.

[Ystradmynach]

Well, a lot of MMO's have a character inactivity deletion policy. I wouldn't expect to come back to a MMO and have all your characters and loot after not playing for 6 months. We have some people in my guild who have been inactive for almost 2 years now, they aren't coming back I'm sure, and if they did they would probably need to start from scratch anyway.

DDO needs an inactive character wipe.

The better MMO's don't wipe characters. Even WoW keeps characters in reserve indefinitely, and they have a hell of a lot more accounts to manage than DDO. More importantly, wiping accounts would be in contradiction to the free-to-play model that Turbine is trying to promote and which has kept this game afloat.

The idea of ftp is that people are more likely to spend money for the game if Turbine accommodates casual players and those who don't want to pay a monthly subscription fee. Turbine assumes that players will leave and some of them will come back later. But if their character is wiped or even their name lost, they are less likely to return to spend money on the game. While if someone joins who has their name taken will just choose another name.

[Noctus]

DDO needs an inactive character wipe.

No.

[Zippo]

DDO needs an inactive character wipe.

Ummmm no! What they need to do is open the confines of what is allowed while naming a toon. I.E. allowing apostrophes and spaces.

[jwdaniels]

Well, a lot of MMO's have a character inactivity deletion policy. I wouldn't expect to come back to a MMO and have all your characters and loot after not playing for 6 months. We have some people in my guild who have been inactive for almost 2 years now, they aren't coming back I'm sure, and if they did they would probably need to start from scratch anyway.

DDO needs an inactive character wipe.

Pretty much every MMO has a character inactivity deletion policy built in to the EULA - at least every one that I've ever played. To my knowledge, not one of them has ever deleted inactive characters.

[chester99]

Well, a lot of MMO's have a character inactivity deletion policy. I wouldn't expect to come back to a MMO and have all your characters and loot after not playing for 6 months. We have some people in my guild who have been inactive for almost 2 years now, they aren't coming back I'm sure, and if they did they would probably need to start from scratch anyway.

DDO needs an inactive character wipe.

absolutly not. the only hope of recapturing lapsed players is to promise that their characters are still there. every mmo I have played maintains that promise. names are not hard to come by. there is nothing to be gained by wiping inactive characters.

[Bekki]

I think that if you haven't accessed a toon in over a year then the name should be forfeited.

I know some R/L issues happen. Same goes for guild names..no activity in a years time (forfeit)

So let me get this straight...
You want a 6 mo. to one year half life
on inactive characters?

DUDE!

I am a former Marine who now works in logistics
for the Dept. Of the Navy... I can be relocated OCONUS
at any time due to my position... (I am basically a tech Rep)
and on more than one occasion I almost was!

If I were to get activated for a year, you feel I should
lose everything I have done... FOR FOUR and a half YEARS!!!

I'm glad YOU don't run Turbine!

The last time I was deployed to combat back
when I served in the gulf war in 90-91
(I was active duty at the time.)
I was in a deployed status for over a year!

I have also served as a contractor to the military
and was deployed for over three Years!

I have seen tanks massing on the border of Iraq..
Narrowly missed taking incoming fire from enemy
rockets and missiles, survived a friendly fire incident
when an ally have a weapon malfuntion...

And for all that and all the the young warriors of today
are sacrificing... You feel their reward should be...
"Sorry bout you luck, your characters are gone!"

I say again, I am glad YOU don't run this company.

RL happens and you can not know what caused
their absence, and to arbitrarily just delete characters
due to inaction is very shortsighted.
This game thrives not only because of new blood
but because of it's policy for returning players.

I think that is a very bad point of view, and
would show a lack of respect to customers.

Maybe you ought to think about that.

But hey, that's just me...

[Narmolanya]

I have a character that I have not logged into since Xoriat merged with Thelanis, that's over two years ago. I don't plan on ever logging into him yet I still am an active player.

I am no longer ViP but have purchased 95% of the adventure packs from the store. I will buy Half Orc and Druids when they are realeased. I don't have time for TP grinding either so I buy those point with dollars.

Should I loose my character name under you plan of 1 year inactivity?

[Marcus-Hawkeye]

I agree that something should be done to release names that are not being used. But I also agree deleting characters is not a good idea as people have spent a long time building them. How about 18 months and all the characters in an account are renamed a random sequence of letters and the account is given a rename token per character?

[Alabore]

RL happens.

That is so true.
And I never had to face enemy or friendly fire.



...

Please bear with me, I would like to reiterate my previous suggestion: introducing different naming mechanics so only user name needs be unique, and characters can share first name on the same server.

If at all possible on DDO, that would make name squatting less of an issue.

[Tymoriel_Ayreweaver]

I have to say, I'm with the holding names in reserve crowd. You shouldn't penalize people for needing to take breaks.

Now what I really enjoy is when someone sends you a PM to chastise you for "taking their name." Someone sent a message to my main with this long and tired story about how I stole "their" name. Apparently, I am a terrible person who goes out of their way to take other people's ideas. They said that deleting my toon would be the honorable thing to do. LOL. I told him that I chose Audrianna for a toon 4 years ago and have used it ever since. Somehow that was lost on this f2p dude that joined last October.

[KannyaAryien]

So let me get this straight...
You want a 6 mo. to one year half life
on inactive characters?

DUDE!

I am a former Marine who now works in logistics
for the Dept. Of the Navy... I can be relocated OCONUS
at any time due to my position... (I am basically a tech Rep)
and on more than one occasion I almost was!

If I were to get activated for a year, you feel I should
lose everything I have done... FOR FOUR and a half YEARS!!!

I'm glad YOU don't run Turbine!

The last time I was deployed to combat back
when I served in the gulf war in 90-91
(I was active duty at the time.)
I was in a deployed status for over a year!

I have also served as a contractor to the military
and was deployed for over three Years!

I have seen tanks massing on the border of Iraq..
Narrowly missed taking incoming fire from enemy
rockets and missiles, survived a friendly fire incident
when an ally have a weapon malfuntion...

And for all that and all the the young warriors of today
are sacrificing... You feel their reward should be...
"Sorry bout you luck, your characters are gone!"

I say again, I am glad YOU don't run this company.

RL happens and you can not know what caused
their absence, and to arbitrarily just delete characters
due to inaction is very shortsighted.
This game thrives not only because of new blood
but because of it's policy for returning players.

I think that is a very bad point of view, and
would show a lack of respect to customers.

Maybe you ought to think about that.

But hey, that's just me...

/salute.

**** straight.

[Kawabonga]

Johnson, Garbage, Snails

PM if you have them.

I would suggest : Johnzon, Garpage and Snailz...

[Crann]

How about only for characters on FTP accounts under level 5 or so, after a year of inactivity. How many names were taken by people that signed up, played very little, and are never coming back? I would be interested in finding out what the number of inactive accounts is since the FTP model went live.

Shortly after I started, I created a toon on day one of Orien, only to read a thread from vet complaining that someone "stole" his toon. I spoke up, and gave him back "his" name, then a short time later....he somehow lost it again, to someone who has never done anything with the character.

It was a common name, so its possible that someone downloaded the game, chose the name, and decided this game wasn't for them. In this scenario, should that name be lost forever? It's also possible that someone was just griefing this vet for making such a big deal out of the whole thing, and probably nothing can be done about that.

As far as a blanket time frame for anyone Premium or VIP.....no.....never. Knowing your account/characters will be there when you come back if you need to take a break is a massive selling point for this game. It has allowed me to commit to this game long term.....knowing that I can take a break of any length should I need to.

[gamblerjoe]

im not going to bother to check, i just assume these names are taken:

Nearl, MrFord, Hoopy Frood, Barnaby Jones, Magic Johnson, TheCleric Regnor, Master Cylinder, Darcel Jones <Team Jaguar>, Brawndo, Ronnie James Dio, Clay Moore, Bill Hook, Ray Pierre, Handy Jay, Hugh Manatee, Pastor of Muppets, O-Chul, TheDuke, TheNozzle, Maxazillion Wheelrazor, Dewey Cox, Sekzokyushnr, Raven Feeblement, Scrambles the Death Dealer, Awesome Bill from Dawsonville, Sir Phobos/Sir Deimos <Knight of Mars>, Anderson f***ing cooper, Eve Oaker, White Debbie, Black Debbie. im out of slots anyway. also i havnt played for months.

i omited Beef Supreme from the list, that one is all Pickles.


"Thank you Ronald Reagan! Your legacy is in tact!" -Nearl

[Cratecrusher]

The problem is DDO doesn't accept spaces in names, so we all have to have different first names

It would be better (imho) if a character's unique name was a combination of first name + surname, as it is in some other RPGs.

But that is not likely to change