EVE General Discussion

Hey all,

After flying around in 0.0 for a little while now, I've come up with an interesting idea. I've noticed that the names of systems in null basically equate to glorified bar-codes, so I thought -- why cant we change the name of the system?

It makes sense from a certain logical standpoint. If an alliance has sovereignty in a system, then it would certainly seem to fall into the range of their influence for them to decide what the system is called.

That's the philosophy of my idea, but I also put some thought into an actual mechanic behind it:

If a corporation/alliance has had sovereignty in a system for a year (or so -- some long period of time) then they can apply to CONCORD for a petition to rename the system. If the name is accepted then it is made the permanent name of the system for at minimum another year (or whatever time period is appropriate.) The new name will show up in place of the old "Zip-code" name -- for lack of a better term -- wherever it was present before. If the system changes hands, the new holders have to hold the system for a year (again, or whatever time length is appropriate) starting at the exact time they gained sovereignty before they can so much as apply to change the name again.

And now for the inevitable question of "how do we filter out completely idiotic/unacceptable/vulgar names?"

I figure that "petitioning CONCORD" is more or less code for having your name suggestion land on the desk of someone at CCP. It's obvious that someone, somewhere, is going to have to look at the suggested names in order to filter out the inevitable problematic names that will be submitted. Perhaps this possibility could be even further tamped down by limiting the number of times you can petition for a system renaming to once a year -- you submit a dumb name and get rejected, you wait another year before you can file a new petition, for example.

I realize that that will be a bit of extra work for CCP, but I figure that there's really only a few thousand systems that this applies to, and I'd bet dollars to diamonds that once half of them are named once they will be highly unlikely to change again for a very long time. In other words, my prediction is that there would be an initial glut of processing renaming applications, after which they would most likely get significantly rarer, probably to the point that one or two guys could handle it as a side responsibility beyond their usual jobs. That said, I figure a rag-tag team of CCP staff could chew through the initial hump in a few weeks -- or maybe it could be delegated to the stellar counsel? Just throwing out ideas. Work is work, but I personally feel that this would be a wonderful way to enrich the experience of EVE. Adding another color to the pallet that we get to paint our little stories in EVE with, if you will.

You may now tear into my concept like a pack of gankers who just found a fresh freighter with no escort. Like it? Hate it? I'd love to know what people think of my idea!

Oh you think that would require system patches? Hmm... didn't think about that.

Perhaps they can be updated weekly, or otherwise in batches? If it would require a patch every time you need to change a system name, I can certainly see having a system where you don't require everyone to upload your new name the moment CCP says "yep, that's an ok name."

Aye, I figured that would be true in some cases. It certainly wont be mandatory to change the names, but you have to admit, for every one system that people know instantly, there's 20 that are gibberish to everyone that doesn’t live in the constellation.

Also, you have to take into account that a name change would essentially require the consent of the entire alliance. It's not something one random guy can just do without asking everyone -- they'd have him strung up by his thumbs before he knew what hit him.

It is also just as possible to note the historic name of the system right along side the new permanent name.

random example: System Name #3 (BZ3-DI7)

Or even perhaps a Phase out period, where the above would only persist for 6 months or something -- or even adding the historic names to the info-box on the system. there's ways to work that out, I think.

Definitely not the millionth "hey let's have (insert some player/alliance mechanic here) to name systems!" post I have read.

Oh, and I could have sworn I wasn't reading F+I. I thought this was GD. Reporting (another) bug in the forum code...

Have you seen some of the names for stations in null

Giving the option to change system names is bad idea for a multitude of reason. Historical importance is number one as pointed out above....well navigation is probably number one

Despite the historical and navigational significance of system names, it does have a certain amount of classic EVE flavor to change it anyway just to screw with everybody else. If you want the system to retain it's standard name, then go get sovereignty in it! :P I can see people relishing that opportunity, on both sides of the coin.

In a game where half of the mechanics include bigger and more crafty ways to blow each other up, you're really going to complain about a minor logistical headache? Nah, i personally think it'd be a good addition if a sane method of implementation could be found -- then again, everyone is allowed an opinion I suppose.

And think of poor Dotlan!

Its sounds like a goon alt...but isn't in an NPC corp....

The jury is still out on you sir....

Welcome to life, kid. Imagine my shock when I was 5 and I discovered that someone had already published quantum theory... indeed expanded on my ideas!

The null sec zipcode names are terrible. But unfortunately I am attached to some of them and know about quite a lot of them. Unfortunately this is one of these things that should have been done from the beginning, rather than in late,late,late,late retrospect.