How to regain a name?

[Holleyz]

oh, now i got it - all those data files i have on my hard drives are causing lag - i should delete them all, and be lag free

You didn't know? The fastest way to eliminate lag is to uninstall DDO.

You people have never noticed how much faster a new pc runs v/s an old one OR how much faster a fresh installation of an operating system runs v/s an old one? I wonder why then any company even puts disk defrag on the operating system if data files do not slow down the operating system.????? Why do the guys at computer geek tell me to clean out my browsers history folder if data files do not slow it down???????????????????????
I would assume that a game like DDO is the same way. They have a server somewhere with a hard drive storing account information on that. Even if the account is never logged into the hard drive or server still has to store that information aka data. Then each time the server is started up or accessed by other players that dead accounts data or info is still in the system causing the processor on the games end to have to sift through it to find your data. Thus causing lag. But what do I know I'm just a model who is dating a IT tech.

[Gauthaag]

You people have never noticed how much faster a new pc runs v/s an old one OR how much faster a fresh installation of an operating system runs v/s an old one? I wonder why then any company even puts disk defrag on the operating system if data files do not slow down the operating system.????? Why do the guys at computer geek tell me to clean out my browsers history folder if data files do not slow it down???????????????????????
I would assume that a game like DDO is the same way. They have a server somewhere with a hard drive storing account information on that. Even if the account is never logged into the hard drive or server still has to store that information aka data. Then each time the server is started up or accessed by other players that dead accounts data or info is still in the system causing the processor on the games end to have to sift through it to find your data. Thus causing lag. But what do I know I'm just a model who is dating a IT tech.

lol, and i m hobgoblin using my photo as avatar seriously, using your identity remark as agument should be considered troll attempt.


anyway keeping account database clean and optimized is not the same as deleeting not recently used data

[Rys]

But what do I know I'm just a model who is dating a IT tech.

[Fasuil]

The character had been created right here:
http://ddowiki.com/page/Module_7:_The_Way_of_the_Monk
8,5 years ago. On the german Server Dorn. On Devourer the name was still there/mine. Only when I came to G-Land, had the name been used by somebody else. I’m a VIP since 2006. I do understand that it’s not a name misuse. There is no player named Elminster, or Alustriel, because these names are protected. Noone would want to be Elminster-1. And every name that has been created first, no mater the game, should be protected. I made up a name that doesn’t show up as a first name when I google it. Granted there are hits on the word, but not in connection to a first name. So, yes I’m all for the principle of name ownership. The one who had the name first, should keep it. And if I was not the first one whose character was named that way, then that’s fine with me. The seemingly random arrangement with the -1 behind the name is still incomprehensible to me.
I did have other chars with the -1, but with this special char it’s more important to me. And even though this matter is many years old, or maybe because of that, I wanted to give my input to this topic.
We’re the player. We’re the people who keep this game running. AND we’re the only ones being able to change the things that are important to us. In a way that’s what a Forum is here for. So we can discuss these things and if they are important enough to us, the will be read/heard by those who are able to implement those changes into the game.

[SiliconScout]

It's actually quite simple to understand why your name got the -1

**CAVEAT WHAT COMES NEXT IS INCREDIBLY SIMPLIFIED **

When they are merging servers then they are merging much of the databases of those severs and for sure all the player tables. It's easy enough to change the back-end account ID (I will guarantee this is a number) that uniquely ID's your account and character to the server. Assuming you do this when the server is down (any other way would be insanity) then for the unique number ID's you do something like adding the current maximum to the numbers in the server being decommissioned. For example if the server being decommissioned had 8,500 total accounts and the server it's being moved to had 18,000 then you would add 18,000 to the number on this sever and move it over. Thus account #1 on the decommissioned server becomes account 18,001 on the new server.

This works just fine for numbered fields and is super simple and clean. Unfortunately DDO uses a string (the name) as an additional unique identifier. So how do you handle THAT one. Sure you could write some sort of query that looks at say the number of days since the character was created and say multiplies that by the total off all levels of the character (to catch past lives say) and then have the one with the biggest number the "winner" but what if a guy has a 1 life toon that is his main and only toon and he plays regularly ... does he lose the name he's always had on the server to someone new who might have played half the time but is a TR junkie? You try to start factoring in all the "what if's" and it doesn't matter how tight your update is you are going to **** off someone and probably legitimately so. Plus the more complicated you make the update statement (ie the more hoops it jumps through) the more likely it is that something screws up.

So the easiest thing to do is when you do the update say something like if this name already exists then append something to it and use that instead. It ensures that there are no duplicates and granted it will tick some people off who are coming off the shutdown server but at least it's a consistent application of the change and they did offer a free rename spec when that happened. It doesn't matter who was here first, the target data wins, the source data adjusts to fit.

So trust me as a former codemonkey / DBA before I became management there is only one good way to even try this and it's the way they chose.

** END OF SIMPLIFIED EXPLANATION **

Now having said that I think it would be a good idea for them to allow people to requ est a name, in particular if the other person with that name has been inactive for a long time or is of a low level. But that also would mena that they have easy to use, simple and foolproof tools for doing so. Considering that a character transfer is still a largely manual process I am going to jump out on a limb here and guess that they don't have such tools. Having said that I understand that they are working on a self-serve character transfer tool now so this MAY be something that they could look at offering in the future.

[Memnir]

How to regain a name?

In this case - you don't. Because you never "lost" it.
Somebody on the server had it before you got merged in. It's their name.

And hey - if you want to look at it a certain way your name is even better because of the ~1. You can't just add that to your name on your own. So that name is now even more unique as a result. Stands out in a crowd. Don't try to get rid of it - wear it proudly.


I hope Turbine never does a name purge. I've known people to step away from the game for years, and then come and dive right back in. If they came back and found the characters they'd come to know and love had had their name stripped - I doubt they'd have stayed beyond log-in. Some may disagree - but that's the way it is and I for one am content with it remaining that way.

[Ralmeth]

That really stinks OP...I say you snooze, you lose. In general, if someone hasn't logged into their account in years and an active player petitions to take that character name, someone who is actually playing and possibly spending money, compared to someone that may or may not ever come back, I say give the name to the active player, and give the other person the -1 to their name, along with the capability to change their character name, if they ever come back.

[Chai]

lol, and i m hobgoblin using my photo as avatar seriously, using your identity remark as agument should be considered troll attempt.


anyway keeping account database clean and optimized is not the same as deleeting not recently used data

Using primitive 20 year old databasing that cant handle more than one character of the same name is what got them into this name convention mess in the first place. WHen feedback was provided years ago on how to change this, it was filibustered right off the forums with armchair developers who knew squat all about how to DB telling those of us who do that they didn't want the devs to "waste their time" on it. Now you have people who haven't played in eons owning names they will never use in the game again. and players who act like nothing can be done to change the way it all works.

[Chai]

oh, now i got it - all those data files i have on my hard drives are causing lag - i should delete them all, and be lag free

The same people who believe that more active NPC entities in the same instance causes lag are now denying poorly managed data slows down PC performance?

Hint: Active NPCs in instance = data being processed.

[Tscheuss]

Using primitive 20 year old databasing that cant handle more than one character of the same name is what got them into this name convention mess in the first place. WHen feedback was provided years ago on how to change this, it was filibustered right off the forums with armchair developers who knew squat all about how to DB telling those of us who do that they didn't want the devs to "waste their time" on it. Now you have people who haven't played in eons owning names they will never use in the game again. and players who act like nothing can be done to change the way it all works.

Maybe, but we still have billions of names available on each server.

[Daine]

Whoever choose that name can only have known it, from my original character and picked it afterward

You need to question your assumptions. The following are things you do not know:

1. That you made a character with the name first

2. That the other player saw your character name and decided to copy it on another server.

3. That the other player is never coming back

4. That you are more emotionally attached to that name than the other player

5. That if the other player came back he would agree to rename his character so you could take the name.


This is what you do know:

1. You no longer have the name on Ghallanda in DDO, it is not yours on that server and never will be.

2. ...and this is most important for you: that if there is another server merge and you do not immediately go to all other servers and make "place-holding" characters with that special name, then you will get what you deserve! (do it, do it now)

NOTE: once you have the placeholder character, after a server merge you can delete that character then use a token to rename your character.

ALSO NOTE: If you are more deeply attached to the name than the community on Ghallanda, move your character to another server where the name is free, ie create your own server merge. You have options, they are just not what you think they are. Good luck!

[Ykt]

Heh, i hope all those "merge the servers" callers read this and know now about possible consequences.

So what? There are other systems for handling this.

Instead of having unique character names, we can use unique login names or public names.

On Battle.net you have a unique battletag for your account for example "johnny#1234" and that's all that matters, everyone can name their Diablo 3 character "johnny", there's no conflict.

[Gauthaag]

So what? There are other systems for handling this.

Instead of having unique character names, we can use unique login names or public names.

On Battle.net you have a unique battletag for your account for example "johnny#1234" and that's all that matters, everyone can name their Diablo 3 character "johnny", there's no conflict.

And i guess it makes the interaction really easier U will have for sure easier time to find the right one drizzt u re looking for among all those drizzt on server. Unless u ll have direct contact link for any person u d like interact with (so we ll get overpopulated friendlists instead recent situation when one can be fine with just his own memory). I guess it fine solution for Diablo or WoW where paladin Pepe cant change to Drow sorc Pepe in couple days like in DDO.

and believe it or not i wont want to make my account name or any sort of identifier public .

[Gauthaag]

The same people who believe that more active NPC entities in the same instance causes lag are now denying poorly managed data slows down PC performance?

Hint: Active NPCs in instance = data being processed.

I am not sure where are u pointing with this.

All i know u need take steps to have even lfm pannel populated, so i m pretty sure the game checks all old database data at any moment., heh