Player Features and Ideas Discussion

The same way you have an employment history per character, you should have an alias history. With a remap once per year, or 5 or 10... If you buy a character and you get to re-sculpture it, you should at least rename it. And wiping the killboard slate clean every now and then isnt really bad :D.

The only problem I see is the database issue, a new table per character to hold extra information. If that isn't a problem for CCP, I dont think it will impact the game negatively. Onomatology is a very important thing. I don't see why you shouldn't at least have 1 attempt to revamp your character.

They will add a tab for it and new alias will be linked to old alias killboard. Its not difficult to implement, question is whether CCP wants to bother with it. It would be nice to have that option. There would be a mechanism set in place to make sure it will not be abused.

I mean they touched the holiest of holies, Skillpoints, I don't see why name would be such a big issue. I don't mind people trading Skill points, I don't even mind people trading Loyalty points. Changing a name or regretting onomastics employed 5 years ago to create a character, shouldnt cause concern, unless its a DBase issue.

Your name is a major part of who you are and a key component of how others will choose to interact with you, even one name change will seriously compromise someones responsibility for their actions, so NO!

Add my no to this. Identifying people by name is important in eve, where as the only practical reason to change your name is to avoid being identified.

Not liking your name or having a typo in your name (lol wat?) doesn't justify breaking down the the games primary form of identification. And an 'alias list' is too cumbersome to compensate.

I mean christ. If you had a typo in your name why didn't you biomass your char when it was still new and had nothing to lose?

I logged on last night to join over 32,000 people also logged on. I also hang out in the English Help channel (under one guise or another) and attempt to help out... and sometimes snark about within reason.

I recognize maybe 15 or so souls on a nightly basis. The others are just EvE mooks. No offense to other players is meant, but they're extras in the movie that is Gadget's EvE Playtime. Those with noticeable roles are remembered, those without are forgotten.

The extra's names mean little to me, because I can never remember them unless they're part of the main cast.

However, since I also like to move products in EvE, keeping track of self-identified pirates, gankers, and other ne'er-do-wells increases the chances of my shipments making it to their destinations intact.

Since I'm never going to remember the names of every person in game, and a piece of paper (or spreadsheet) with every person I've ever met tends to get ridiculous, I just assign a contact status - along with a note - to the individual. That status stays even if the individual changes corps, makes his or her sec status to +5, or whatever. I believe that the status even stays should the character be sold on the market (need to test that one).

This is what I use to determine someone's identity... not the name for the most part.

I also mark friends and pilots that were cool to work with in the past. Sometimes these people come back online after a year or more break. The notes help when the name doesn't ring a bell.



The game's primary form of identifying others is a combination of contact status, sec status, corporation/alliance history with individual name coming in way late. That is, until that individual pilot becomes part of your main cast.

Checking the name change history ...actually I like "alias list"... should generally be supplemental to contact status when dealing with the extras in your personal movie. You or your corp/alliance set the status, so act upon that. Do the research legwork after the shooting (or running) has stopped. If someone gets blapped because you didn't recognize their name... that's on them. That is, unless you were ignoring a previously set contact status.

The player's primary form of identifying their own character(s) is by name, and that is totally on an individual basis.

I've been gaming in general for a bit over 30 years in many different types of games. I've observed many different play styles. Some players don't care about the toon's name at all and opt for the random name generator. Some players take forever in choosing the perfect name for their avatar. Most people are somewhere in between. All of these types play EvE. None of these types are playing EvE wrong.

Name changing will be used for many different reasons. Type-o's would probably be the least used. Most changes would likely come from people that were bored with their persona. "Mining Ted" hasn't mined in 10 years, but is tired of explaining the name to his friends and/or enemies. While many play EvE as WoT in Space, and could care less about things like characters or RP, some enjoy that aspect of EvE...which is still an MMORPG. To each their own.

Yes, some will try to pull the wool over the eyes of some players with paid name changes should they ever be implemented. However, if a name change policy were implemented smartly, then while this behavior might catch a few inattentive/lazy players off guard, most would act accordingly. Just like everything else in EvE.

--Gadget

There is a limit to how many contacts you can have, therefore it is impossible to keep track of everyone as an individual via standings. So no it's not. And again, Victim blaming isn't cool.

Setting standings is insufficient. There are only so many colors for standings. If you have set tons of people set to -10, the whole standings mechanic defeats its purpose because you do not know at a glance whether this person is just a -10 to you, your corp, your alliance; or whether it's -10 because it is a cyno hotdropper, a wormhole ganker or a camper or because we are at null sec war with this group, just to name a few examples.

Names, however, stick to your memory after a while and you know who that person in your local is without having to laboriously check notes and standings. Name changes remove that consequence of having made a name for yourself in the past from that person for a insignificant fee.
When I read Bernard Watup in intel (or just Bernard) or Stunt, to name 2 examples, I know exactly who it is, what to expect from these characters and what I want to do to them if they dare to enter my system. I think that Stunt would not want to rename himself simply because of his "legacy", but other less mentally firm players like Bernard Watup would very likely use that mechanic to avoid instant recognition and content creation against his tools.

That is your own mental incapacity, I can and do memorize names of many characters that matter. It's not hundreds, it's a couple of dozen that frequent my area a lot and from which I know what they are doing. If you cannot do that, that's not my problem.

A threat is not equal to other threats. If I see a random no-name member of CONDI passing through my system I do not necessarily warp out of my complex, I start watching dscan and see what's what - that's it (exposing myself to potential danger). If I see a red with a certain name, like Stunt, appear in my system, I start preparing for either fun or retreat. Just the standing set to -10 does not allow for this quick evaluation of the situation because Stunt is in CONDI and they are -10 by default. Names, however, do. I do not see tags in space, I do not see notes at a glance in space, I do not see a difference between the many types of -10s, as described before, in space. I do, however, see names in space and what they mean.
If you do not distinguish between different kinds of threats, that's your problem, not mine. However, your lack of capacity in that field makes your argument for name changes weaker.

With regards to the instant use of this feature by certain people: First of, I never mentioned "instant". Secondly, I only say one thing: Skill Injectors. Everyone and their dog races after them since hour 1 after the patch. Everyone except for the mentally firm who believe in the core principles of the game or do not have a deep enough RL wallet to afford the many PLEX you need for that life style. It's a convenience features (I do not agree with that description of an eroding tumor to the game, but I am in the minority here), just as this name change feature is a convenience feature. And if Bernard can make his life easier and void lots of hours and days worth of observation for his character, he and many others will embrace it just as readily as SIs. You may call that bullshit, but hard facts speak against your weak evaluation. But I have already established that before...

FFS kids. Learn to live with and overcome your mistakes.

If you picked a stupid name - make a new character and transfer the SP. Yeah it cost you, but then again - you're the one who decided upon a stupid name - that would be balance. There has yet to be a compelling game play reason to change a name. "I screwed up" and "I don't like my current name" are neither compelling or related to game play.

This forum section is to forward ideas and features that advance game play. Character name changing doesn't even fall under this forum section. It doesn't really fall under any forum section. Yet here we are w/ the same 5 characters going on and on and on w/ drivel arguments.

Grow up and be accountable for your bad name choice. Use available game mechanics (starting a new character and SP transfer) to fix your mistake. If you're not attached to the character name, then rerolling should be no big deal.

All 15 threads about this are full garbage and have no game play value.


TL/DR - Your character's name is like that tribal tattoo you got across your face. You can fix it (new character and SP transfer) but it will cost you.

None of those reasons justify allowing people to make themselves harder to identify. Not even once a year. Yes i read the reasons. They are feeble. Like grasping at straws. Number three from your last post shows you are hilariously out of touch with the game. Where players had to be told to stop recycling alts, you dont think people will change their name? In a game made famous for its meta-game, you dont think people will change their name if it can give them an advantage? The best argument you have is 'i dont like my name.' thats it. And not that its an invalid reason, it just doesn't justify detaching names from reputations and MO's and devaluing intel.

People can certainly remember 100 names. Put up a list of 100 of my friends and i could put a face and a memory to each one. And that's how eve works. You see the name and then recall memory.

Contacts is insufficient. The sheer ignorance in thinking five colours will even begin to replace identifying people by name. As if there are only five mutually exclusive factors that are used to identify a person. For most players its a bit more complex than 'shoot or not shoot'.