This game seriously needs a name purge

[FranOhmsford]

How hard is it to give back some names from those that haven't logged in 5 years? I want a Horc Barb named Beefcake.

Have you tried Beephcake?

Or Biefcake?

Or Bieffcake?

Or Beefkake?

Or Beephkake?

Or Beefqake?

Or Beefcaic?

Or I think you get the point

[csantoni]

My most recent creation was Seamohr Behindus so I don't see any problems.

[Memnir]

Thesaurus.com.

Thesaurus.com

[Graedyn_Jaxx]

Just wait for the next hardcore and select the name you want. With the free transfer move it to your home server. It will have a dash one or more at the end of it but will still be the name you want.

Alternatively DDO could place toons that have been inactive for more than 2 years in a holdings server to be transferred back to a live server if reactivated with a free name change if their name has been taken while inactive.

[C-Dog]

Alternatively DDO could place toons that have been inactive for more than 2 years in a holdings server to be transferred back to a live server if reactivated with a free name change if their name has been taken while inactive.

There's a good argument for that, but "2 years" is not nearly enough.

If someone is on military deployment, a term could be 4 years. If someone has a kid, it could be about that long as well before life begins to return "to normal". A college career is (typically) 4 years. Similarly with some medical situations. So, imo, certainly nothing less than that.

I'd say 5 years, as a good, round number for "Sorry, but you've been gone, really didn't expect to see you (ever) again". But even 10 would open up some great new (old) names. Something, anything.

[Phoenicis]

https://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/

[Arkat]

There's a good argument for that, but "2 years" is not nearly enough.

If someone is on military deployment, a term could be 4 years. If someone has a kid, it could be about that long as well before life begins to return "to normal". A college career is (typically) 4 years. Similarly with some medical situations. So, imo, certainly nothing less than that.

I'd say 5 years, as a good, round number for "Sorry, but you've been gone, really didn't expect to see you (ever) again". But even 10 would open up some great new (old) names. Something, anything.

Agreed. 5 years seems fair.

[crazycaren]

Agreed. 5 years seems fair.

Agreed on 5 years. But you wouldn’t have to purge their name or character, you could just change the name from Silver to Silver2022, as in the year the base name was reclaimed for the active player community.

If that person actually did return to the game they would still have a somewhat familiar named character to play.

Speaking of which, being able to incorporate numbers into names would be cool.

[Uska]

Just wait for the next hardcore and select the name you want. With the free transfer move it to your home server. It will have a dash one or more at the end of it but will still be the name you want.

Alternatively DDO could place toons that have been inactive for more than 2 years in a holdings server to be transferred back to a live server if reactivated with a free name change if their name has been taken while inactive.

I quit for 5 years and wouldn’t have wanted to lose a name I had for 10 years or more

[Amideus]

I don't often make a new name, but the tone deaf replies of people suggesting the fantasy name generators and other resources, or just calling people uncreative over this issue is actually quite sad and I really wonder if they even make new characters ever. When I do it and I land on a name phonetically I want to use I rarely get to use it regardless of spelling. Trying every vowel and doble consonant combination possible, doing that for the same style of name twelve times over it gets pretty frustrating and annoying.

The process usually is think of a reasonable name, not too short to have been used and not absurd as to look like a bot created it. And base it on sound rather than a specific spelling. Then it's always taken, always. So then there is the process of changing the vowels. e or i being subbed out, trying y where it might work instead. Sometimes even swapping i or e with a, like my current name. That also will often times not work. Start trying adding silent letters to the end, changing the letters for similar sounds. CK with CH, F and PH, etc. Continuing to change it until even what is being attempted is so far removed from the original to be frustrating but just WANTING something to finally work. And when it doesn't, just giving up and quitting.

People need to remember a few things about this game. First is that it's an MMO, and a lot of what drives people to play and keep playing MMOs is investment. Investment not only in the tangible parts of your character like gear, mounts, and other achievements but intangible attachments like the creation of a character you identify with and can become attached to. Visual attachment as well as the name you select is a part of that.

The other part is that this game is tiny. And there needs to be more to bring in newer players. If I as a veteran from 2004 am getting frustrated and giving up on creating a new character sometimes because of name issues imagine what a brand new player is going to feel when they are asked to spend 45 minutes going through the dictionary of every name combination just to get a character created. There definitely needs to be SOMETHING there.

Personally I think surname is 1000% the right answer. I get there might be some logistical issues but we're not using 2004 hardware anymore, concerns over string sizes should be a thing of the past at this point. I get why older systems that used unique identifiers might not have recorded past a certain string length but I think we can handle that at this point. Whether the underlying code can be updated is another matter.

Barring that as an option, I think a 5 year name recovery wouldn't be a bad idea. Firstly if you're not playing for 5 years you clearly aren't that invested in your name that having to change it would be a problem, otherwise you'd log in more often than every 5 years. And this is coming from someone that does take consistent and often times long breaks. After all if you're going to be someone that gets upset because you have a name you really like and you want to keep it secured on your character no matter how long you don't play for you are the exact kind of person that is creating the problem a name reclamation would try and solve. A name squatter. Secondly, there's still no promise you'd lose your name even if it was "reclaimed" because someone else would have to then chose it after that, and if they haven't when you come back you could simply reclaim it yourself.

That's my two cents on a 4 year old thread that clearly never got addressed just like every single other post in this "feedback" forum so at this point we're all just stroking our egos at each other.

[SevenDeadlySins]

I think what most of you wanting to claim someone else's character name don't seem to understand is there are many reasons why character names should never be purged based on how long someone has not logged into the game

As a vet I served my country for over 5 years and had little to no chance to log in and play a game I was out protecting my country and the freedoms some of you enjoy because of mine and many others sacrifices while serving our country

people can have many circumstances for a long absence

a stroke learning how to walk, talk, eat, and perform daily tasks again is certainly more important I guess than logging into a game

the death of a loved one during which time they need assistance to deal with financial , emotional, and family issues to name a few in this case

the loss of a job and having to seek not only employment but education to change to a new career opportunity

I play with someone who purchased a rename certificate and every time they logged in and before logging out they used it to see if the name they wanted was available 10 years later it opened up and they claimed the name finally on their main with many past lives

Hardcore is a perfect example of how to claim a name sure it has a -1, -2 or whatever its just a name

there are plenty of alternate ways to name your character as pointed out by several people in this thread and other threads I would think

I have credit cards statements while serving my country and supported DDO with a VIP subscription but I was not 'INVESTED' ???

perhaps while you are pointing your finger at someone saying I want what they have because they have not logged in should take a look at your hand and ask yourself why while pointing your finger at someone else there are normally three fingers pointing at you

anyone can end up in one of many situations where they are unable to log into a game when it happens and you finally log back in to find your character name taken sorry you were a day late and a dollar short

I think you might change your mind and be more mindful of throwing rocks in your glass house next time

[DarkSkysz]

Shouldnt be hard to SSG to implement that. They already have a system to rename toons aka -1 -2 -3

Old toons could get those -1 -2 -3 to recycle those names.

But 1st SSG need to fix the duplicated toons that are created after transfering from one server to another...

[Villefere]

I was out protecting my country and the freedoms some of you enjoy

Those who threaten our freedoms aren't overseas but here in DC

[Uska]

I don't often make a new name, but the tone deaf replies of people suggesting the fantasy name generators and other resources, or just calling people uncreative over this issue is actually quite sad and I really wonder if they even make new characters ever. When I do it and I land on a name phonetically I want to use I rarely get to use it regardless of spelling. Trying every vowel and doble consonant combination possible, doing that for the same style of name twelve times over it gets pretty frustrating and annoying.

The process usually is think of a reasonable name, not too short to have been used and not absurd as to look like a bot created it. And base it on sound rather than a specific spelling. Then it's always taken, always. So then there is the process of changing the vowels. e or i being subbed out, trying y where it might work instead. Sometimes even swapping i or e with a, like my current name. That also will often times not work. Start trying adding silent letters to the end, changing the letters for similar sounds. CK with CH, F and PH, etc. Continuing to change it until even what is being attempted is so far removed from the original to be frustrating but just WANTING something to finally work. And when it doesn't, just giving up and quitting.

People need to remember a few things about this game. First is that it's an MMO, and a lot of what drives people to play and keep playing MMOs is investment. Investment not only in the tangible parts of your character like gear, mounts, and other achievements but intangible attachments like the creation of a character you identify with and can become attached to. Visual attachment as well as the name you select is a part of that.

The other part is that this game is tiny. And there needs to be more to bring in newer players. If I as a veteran from 2004 am getting frustrated and giving up on creating a new character sometimes because of name issues imagine what a brand new player is going to feel when they are asked to spend 45 minutes going through the dictionary of every name combination just to get a character created. There definitely needs to be SOMETHING there.

Personally I think surname is 1000% the right answer. I get there might be some logistical issues but we're not using 2004 hardware anymore, concerns over string sizes should be a thing of the past at this point. I get why older systems that used unique identifiers might not have recorded past a certain string length but I think we can handle that at this point. Whether the underlying code can be updated is another matter.

Barring that as an option, I think a 5 year name recovery wouldn't be a bad idea. Firstly if you're not playing for 5 years you clearly aren't that invested in your name that having to change it would be a problem, otherwise you'd log in more often than every 5 years. And this is coming from someone that does take consistent and often times long breaks. After all if you're going to be someone that gets upset because you have a name you really like and you want to keep it secured on your character no matter how long you don't play for you are the exact kind of person that is creating the problem a name reclamation would try and solve. A name squatter. Secondly, there's still no promise you'd lose your name even if it was "reclaimed" because someone else would have to then chose it after that, and if they haven't when you come back you could simply reclaim it yourself.

That's my two cents on a 4 year old thread that clearly never got addressed just like every single other post in this "feedback" forum so at this point we're all just stroking our egos at each other.

The game didn’t exist in 2004 I have one of the earliest dates and I’m Jan 2006

[Cranjis]

I recently got the name "Exploit" for an alt I made on Orien. Was super surprised that wasn't taken.

[Bunker]

I recently got the name "Exploit" for an alt I made on Orien. Was super surprised that wasn't taken.

Even though this thread is a Necro, it is still relevant today. I think this is an important enough topic to not be considered a Nekro. Hopefully the devs can consider options, so the moderator does not close this Neckrow.

[Uska]

Even though this thread is a Necro, it is still relevant today. I think this is an important enough topic to not be considered a Nekro. Hopefully the devs can consider options, so the moderator does not close this Neckrow.

They said long ago they would never purge names that should be enough

[gravisrs]

No way purge will ever happen. Security reasons.

If you lack of imagination with naming, you prolly won't see this problem also.

[magaiti]

Have you tried Beephcake?

Or Biefcake?

Or Bieffcake?

Or Beefkake?

Or Beephkake?

Or Beefqake?

Or Beefcaic?

Or I think you get the point

Biffkek

[Antheal]

And you'll never get the name you want every time unless you play single-player games only. That's just life. Adapt or sulk, the choice is yours.

I'm pretty sure there are MMOs out there that use a player's account name as a surname, so you're literally wrong.