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Player Features and Ideas Discussion

 
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Character Name Changes

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Z GTC
Bioxium Securities
#21 - 2013-04-12 22:53:12 UTC
Alx Warlord wrote:
I'm also pretty sure that the "Key" field is the Name, as you can't have 2 equal names. So, also this would be a nightmare to develop. And how would you identify people changing name every day in your alliance?.... Bad Idea...


Every Character you see has a ID number attached to it that you never see.

Slhild could be 0001
Ruze could be 0002
Alx Warlord could be 0003
Z GTC could be 0004

etc etc etc

So if name changes ever happened I would still be known to the system and all of its programming as 0004. Therefore all other information tied to that ID# 0004 would be kept intact. The only thing that would change would be what that ID# told the system to display in game as it's name.

As for the alliance question. You would still be in your corporation and you would still be in your corporation's alliance. It would. however. be your job to let people know that you will be changing your name and what the new name will be. Also, you would only be able to change your name once a year which you have to pay for. People would not be changing their names endlessly every single day.
Kura Hyougou
University of Caille
Gallente Federation
#22 - 2013-04-14 20:08:54 UTC
Sounds well thought out and balanced to me. As long as only the Name gets changed and no other info.
Felix Judge
Regnum Ludorum
#23 - 2013-04-15 12:58:53 UTC
Once per account every three years.

Long enough time to reduce downsides to a minimum.

Short enough to have dedicated players who want to stick with their beloved pilot even in spite of poor naming when entering the game and not knowing much about it. Or reflecting relevant changes that the pilot has undergone.
Felix Judge
Regnum Ludorum
#24 - 2013-04-15 13:01:20 UTC
I also suggest first renaming option to be unlocked after six months.
Z GTC
Bioxium Securities
#25 - 2013-04-15 18:30:35 UTC
Felix Judge wrote:
Once per account every three years.

Long enough time to reduce downsides to a minimum.

Short enough to have dedicated players who want to stick with their beloved pilot even in spite of poor naming when entering the game and not knowing much about it. Or reflecting relevant changes that the pilot has undergone.



This timing is even acceptable in my opinion. It is a much longer cool-down but at least one would have the option.
StoneCold
Decadence.
RAZOR Alliance
#26 - 2013-04-15 18:35:19 UTC  |  Edited by: ISD Cyberdyne
*Non-constructive comment removed. - ISD Cyberdyne

My true stories
ISD Cyberdyne
ISD Community Communications Liaisons
ISD Alliance
#27 - 2013-04-15 19:59:20 UTC
Quote:
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Felix Judge
Regnum Ludorum
#28 - 2013-04-18 10:35:29 UTC
/bump
Felix Judge
Regnum Ludorum
#29 - 2013-04-19 09:04:10 UTC
Z GTC wrote:
Felix Judge wrote:
Once per account every three years.

Long enough time to reduce downsides to a minimum.

Short enough to have dedicated players who want to stick with their beloved pilot even in spite of poor naming when entering the game and not knowing much about it. Or reflecting relevant changes that the pilot has undergone.



This timing is even acceptable in my opinion. It is a much longer cool-down but at least one would have the option.


Still in love with this. So /bumping.
Put likes/bumps in if you agree. The larger a thread while relatively compact, the more likely CCP will notice and consider.
Roime
Mea Culpa.
Shadow Cartel
#30 - 2013-04-19 09:16:41 UTC
Hi

Character name is the unique identifier for the database record. It cannot be changed, ever, hth



.
Seranova Farreach
Biomass Negative
#31 - 2013-04-19 10:34:14 UTC
No for any Plex 4 services

[u]___________________ http://i.imgur.com/d9Ee2ik.jpg[/u]
Old Fellow
Royal Amarr Institute
Amarr Empire
#32 - 2013-04-19 12:15:23 UTC
Z GTC wrote:
Sometimes people get tired of their names and want to change them or they buy that new character off of the bazaar that had all of the skills they wanted but it has the worst name in the universe. Well here is an Idea I had. Provide a name Change Service.

Name Change Service:

-Cost: 1-2 PLEX
--The effort required to adjust this information is worth up to 2 PLEX in my opinion.

-Availability: Once a Year per account.
--Even though you have 3 slots per account only ONE name change is allowed for that account per year.

-ALL information attached to the character persists.
--Employment History
--Contacts and Contact Standings
--Notes saved by other players
--NPC standings
--Portrait

The only thing that changes is the displayed name of the character.


I think that this service could end up being very popular. Not only does it give players the ability to identify with there characters again, or identify with their newly aquired character they bought off of the Bazaar. It is also a new source of income for CCP.

As long as all character information remains through the name changing process and the service is restricted to once per year per account this wont be majorly exploitable by corporate thieves and griefers. Before people start to argue with me on this point; If people wanted to steal/grief they could find much easier ways than renaming their character. An example? Buying a new character, a service which is already provided by every other player.

If anyone has any constructive feedback feel free to post questions/concerns.


No absolutely not, the only time a name change should be available would be ONLY in the case of selling a character and EVEN THEN the pilots name should end with a little footnote icon showing they have had a name change
seth Hendar
I love you miners
#33 - 2013-04-19 13:11:47 UTC
Jint Hikaru wrote:
OP... you ever hear of the search function?

and NO to name changes.

Your name links you to your reputation. Eve as a game needs to maintain characters reputations.

And don't come back with that 'put old name in an aliases tab in char info' Bullspit.... that's not a solution, that just means players will have to make hundreds more calls to the char information database every play session.

^^this^^

so many issues would arose from this, like what about the watchlist (they are already so buggy, no need to add more) etc...?
Daichi Yamato
Jabbersnarks and Wonderglass
#34 - 2013-04-19 13:55:23 UTC  |  Edited by: Daichi Yamato
u are identified by ur name. no changes.

how would u check the killboards for someone with a changed name? the character with the old name would have one set of kills and losses, but the new name would have an entirely separate list. tedious as it is to go through several ppls lists at once, u would now have potentially twice as much work to do, assuming u know who's who and what they changed their names from/to.

trying to add someone to ur contact list. u know the old name, but when u type it in it says they dnt exist, or they do exist, but its someone else, which is even worse.

EVE FAQ "7.2 CAN I AVOID PVP COMPLETELY? No; there are no systems or locations in New Eden where PvP may be completely avoided"

Daichi Yamato's version of structure based decs
Ruze
Next Stage Initiative
#35 - 2013-04-19 14:01:26 UTC
Daichi Yamato wrote:
u are identified by ur name. no changes.

how would u check the killboards for someone with a changed name? the character with the old name would have one set of kills and losses, but the new name would have an entirely separate list.

trying to add someone to ur contact list. u know the old name, but when u type it in it says they dnt exist, or they do exist, but its someone else, which is even worse.


You type their name in the contact list. One comes up white, the other greyed out (since you can only change your name every few years, you don't have a LOT of greyed out names). Look for the name that existed when you knew them, and find out on their AKA sheet who they are now.

Killboards may be going through a massive overhaul shortly if they update the API again with DUST and industry changes. Now would be a perfect time to make sure it's sorted by character ID more than name (since that was the designer of the killboards choice, to make the name the primary field, not CCP's).

Either way, in the case of a name change the API would be updated with the new name as well as the old one, so hallmarking a 'change of identity' would be very easy to do. And useful, especially in sold characters.

If you're driven to threaten others with harm or violence because of what they do in game, you can't separate fantasy from reality. That "griefer/thief" is probably more sane than you are. How screwed up is that?
Ruze
Next Stage Initiative
#36 - 2013-04-19 14:03:21 UTC
seth Hendar wrote:
Jint Hikaru wrote:
OP... you ever hear of the search function?

and NO to name changes.

Your name links you to your reputation. Eve as a game needs to maintain characters reputations.

And don't come back with that 'put old name in an aliases tab in char info' Bullspit.... that's not a solution, that just means players will have to make hundreds more calls to the char information database every play session.

^^this^^

so many issues would arose from this, like what about the watchlist (they are already so buggy, no need to add more) etc...?


Watchlist has always been a little bit overpowered. It should only be available when someone sets you on their watchlist as well (mutual).

I use it for all kinds of nefarious purposes, and I like to use it. But I recognize that it's a system all it's own and, much like local, really too powerful for no expenditure.

If you're driven to threaten others with harm or violence because of what they do in game, you can't separate fantasy from reality. That "griefer/thief" is probably more sane than you are. How screwed up is that?
Tchulen
Trumpets and Bookmarks
#37 - 2013-04-19 14:12:53 UTC
As has been explained ad infinitum on many other threads regarding this request, the name is a unique identifier in both the database and killboards. To change this would require substantial development time from CCP and from all killboard developers/admins.

This would also break the much loved consequence system which has also been discussed at length within other threads on this very same topic.

Whichever way you cut it, the combination of way more effort than eventual worth and the fact that most of the players who actually understand the implications disagree with it means that this change simply will not happen, no matter how much you would like it to.


ps Buying characters - You chose to buy it. You could have bought one you did like the name of. The choice was yours. You can't change the skills. You can't change the past deeds of that character. You should not be able to change the name.
Daichi Yamato
Jabbersnarks and Wonderglass
#38 - 2013-04-19 14:15:06 UTC
Ruze wrote:
Daichi Yamato wrote:
u are identified by ur name. no changes.

how would u check the killboards for someone with a changed name? the character with the old name would have one set of kills and losses, but the new name would have an entirely separate list.

trying to add someone to ur contact list. u know the old name, but when u type it in it says they dnt exist, or they do exist, but its someone else, which is even worse.


You type their name in the contact list. One comes up white, the other greyed out (since you can only change your name every few years, you don't have a LOT of greyed out names). Look for the name that existed when you knew them, and find out on their AKA sheet who they are now.

Killboards may be going through a massive overhaul shortly if they update the API again with DUST and industry changes. Now would be a perfect time to make sure it's sorted by character ID more than name (since that was the designer of the killboards choice, to make the name the primary field, not CCP's).

Either way, in the case of a name change the API would be updated with the new name as well as the old one, so hallmarking a 'change of identity' would be very easy to do. And useful, especially in sold characters.


greyed out names? eve has been going on for ten years, in another ten years every character could have 4 greyed out names...lol, and if u cannot remember the name exactly the search function gives u a list of suggestions, each with their own greyed out names?

and killboards with api are fine, but not every kill or loss is submitted with API. many are submitted manually by name alone.

not thought through.

watchlist only tells u when they are online. doesnt tell u where they are (like local tells u where they AND that they are online). without it u could be decced against an alliance of 200 ppl, and have to individually locate each person, travel to the system, see that they are not in local and STILL have to wonder 'are they offline, or have they moved?' and run another locate.

watch list is not overpowered.

EVE FAQ "7.2 CAN I AVOID PVP COMPLETELY? No; there are no systems or locations in New Eden where PvP may be completely avoided"

Daichi Yamato's version of structure based decs
Jint Hikaru
OffWorld Exploration Inc
#39 - 2013-04-19 14:27:12 UTC
Z GTC wrote:


Every Character you see has a ID number attached to it that you never see.

Slhild could be 0001
Ruze could be 0002
Alx Warlord could be 0003
Z GTC could be 0004

etc etc etc

So if name changes ever happened I would still be known to the system and all of its programming as 0004. Therefore all other information tied to that ID# 0004 would be kept intact. The only thing that would change would be what that ID# told the system to display in game as it's name.


That's all well and good for the game's database, but what you don't address is the fact that other players don't know you (or see you) as '0004'. They know and see you as 'Z GTC'.... as soon as you change your name, unless a player actively goes through your char info, you appear to them to be a completely different person.

When you take this into account, along with me not knowing if you have an available name change or not....

For all I know every person who's name I don't recognize could be you. I would have to check every 'char info'.

OR

Every time I logged on, I would have to do a search for all the players I want to keep an eye out for, to see if the search function brings up a name change.

Jint Hikaru - Miner / Salvager / Explorer / SpaceBum In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.
Ruze
Next Stage Initiative
#40 - 2013-04-19 14:28:05 UTC
Daichi Yamato wrote:
Ruze wrote:
Daichi Yamato wrote:
u are identified by ur name. no changes.

how would u check the killboards for someone with a changed name? the character with the old name would have one set of kills and losses, but the new name would have an entirely separate list.

trying to add someone to ur contact list. u know the old name, but when u type it in it says they dnt exist, or they do exist, but its someone else, which is even worse.


You type their name in the contact list. One comes up white, the other greyed out (since you can only change your name every few years, you don't have a LOT of greyed out names). Look for the name that existed when you knew them, and find out on their AKA sheet who they are now.

Killboards may be going through a massive overhaul shortly if they update the API again with DUST and industry changes. Now would be a perfect time to make sure it's sorted by character ID more than name (since that was the designer of the killboards choice, to make the name the primary field, not CCP's).

Either way, in the case of a name change the API would be updated with the new name as well as the old one, so hallmarking a 'change of identity' would be very easy to do. And useful, especially in sold characters.


greyed out names? eve has been going on for ten years, in another ten years every character could have 4 greyed out names...lol, and if u cannot remember the name exactly the search function gives u a list of suggestions, each with their own greyed out names?

and killboards with api are fine, but not every kill or loss is submitted with API. many are submitted manually by name alone.

not thought through.

watchlist only tells u when they are online. doesnt tell u where they are (like local tells u where they AND that they are online). without it u could be decced against an alliance of 200 ppl, and have to individually locate each person, travel to the system, see that they are not in local and STILL have to wonder 'are they offline, or have they moved?' and run another locate.

watch list is not overpowered.


Good point on the first problem with too many options in the character search screen. So what you do is add a little drop-down arrow off of the name itself, and shows greyed names and dates, so that you can quickly see who was this character from december 2005 till april 2013, and who was that character from april 2013 to present, etc. Thanks for pointing that oversight out.

Manually entered killboard stats are ... imperfect, as it already is. They should never be trusted to begin with, as often they are either fibbed or the facts are forgotten. API only KB's, and KB's that generate from larger API fields, are pretty much the only source to truly trust. Everything else is too subject to epeen and braggadacio anyhow, and that shouldn't be something CCP has to avoid a vital fix for just to keep at it's current level of crap.

As far as the watchlist, I've argued it in other posts far more succinctly than I feel like posting here. Agree to disagree.

If you're driven to threaten others with harm or violence because of what they do in game, you can't separate fantasy from reality. That "griefer/thief" is probably more sane than you are. How screwed up is that?