Character names being not globally unique

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eliasfrost wrote:

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Artophwar wrote:

Ya I agree, we should have a global profile name, gamer tag, or whatever they want to call it that is unique. That way we can still have the character names we want. I want people to know me by my profile name anyway because I like to make a lot of alts. Its simper to remember one global name then 20 character names.

Isn't this in the game already? because my friends are listed in the friend list with their account name and their character name in a list below.

Well, if so, then the step wouldn't be that big to just ditch the MMO-unique-name-system.

I think u guys have to be a bit more creative when thinking of names :P

My first choice names were taken, but soon I found compromises that worked.

I don't ever remember playing a game online where you didn't automatically get the first name you picked.

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CuteStar wrote:

I think u guys have to be a bit more creative when thinking of names :P

My first choice names were taken, but soon I found compromises that worked.

I don't ever remember playing a game online where you didn't automatically get the first name you picked.

"This is how things have always been" does not equal "this is how it should be" though ;)

Some games have solved this and made it a non-issue and I doubt anyone over at their forums suggest to change it back, if you know what I mean.

You shouldn't have to compromise, that's my point. There's really no point to it if you can keep players apart anyway.

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mercetron wrote:

I would love to see character names not being globally unique. I've noticed that even in the beta I can have trouble finding a name that I like for my characters because somebody else has already taken them. ...

+1

I fully agree with OP.

This is a serious problem that will only become more serious as time goes by.

Seeing as this game is pretty much DESIGNED to have us create a multitude of characters, (just think about those short 3 hours race events and other short lived leagues, every weekend, for example. But also the fact that creating a new character to try out a different build is pretty much the core of the game) the number of available names will very quickly diminish, and the number of remaining available GOOD names (as in, short 4 to 6 letter, dark fantasy style names, not in the xXHaXoRzXx crappy style) might already be quite low.

Not to mention this is a free to play game, so many will come in just to try the game out, play a few weeks/months, then move on to some other game, and never come back. While playing, they will have created a bunch of characters, whose names will now forever be unavailable.


Anyway, long story short, this is a serious problem and should not be summarily dismissed.

I already mentioned this before, but it got buried in open weekend excitement, and never got noticed:
http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/24099

Unique names are easy when clan tags are part of ones name, though raises the obvious bit with changing of ones name if it were to change ones clan.

Yeah, I guess I've spent too many years coming up with well over 300 names on Battle.net circa 1997-2001 to really understand why people can't just be a bit more creative.

That said, if GGG were to come up with some way of incorporating account name with character names, I'd be very happy with that.

I would NEVER accept that!

We should grind to get letters which we can then form the words with. Some kind of unbearable minigame with small dots bouncing around unpredictably. Once finished after hours on hours, no time limit and no breaks, a random letter is given.

I've always found it kind of a fun challenge. Yeah if I want names that actually sounded like names, that might be harder, but I'm perfectly happy with characters called IdRatherHaveAMoose, or GoodLuckHaveBatman, or ReplaceCapAfterUse.

Having said that I'm not actually against the suggestion, of course. It just means you have to have some other way of uniquely identifying the account behind the character.

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WippitGuud wrote:

Possible solution:

A character (not account) not accessed in 120 days has their name removed. On the character list, you would show up as unnamed_character. Upon selecting that character to play, you are forced to choose a new name.

I love this solution.

I really like having a unique name and I like to see what my friends come up with when there's a challenge of finding a new unique name. However I can also see how dead accounts would clog up the names, especially as the game is F2P.

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Dorkmaster wrote:

I would NEVER accept that!

We should grind to get letters which we can then form the words with. Some kind of unbearable minigame with small dots bouncing around unpredictably. Once finished after hours on hours, no time limit and no breaks, a random letter is given.

Be careful what you wish for... :p