Offer a name change feature for FFXI SE.

Yeah, hopefully a staff member responds to this. There obviously are quite a few people interested in this.

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Originally Posted by Juri_Licious

Yeah, hopefully a staff member responds to this. There obviously are quite a few people interested in this.

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And this isn't the first or second time this has been brought up.

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Originally Posted by svengalis

And this isn't the first or second time this has been brought up.

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Three times a charm?

Bottom line is from a business standpoint, they should've done this years ago. For $5, I know a ton of people (myself included) who would have changed their name at least once- especially after the server merges. If they don't want to charge real money (Yeah right) then they could make it cost gil and be somewhat expensive. From the looks of the most recent ideas for taxes, they want to get excess gil out of the economy. If you don't support a name change... then don't change your name. As far as /blist goes, it tracks the account, so people won't be able to "get out of jail free". Having this would simply make it so that players would not have to get around the current system, either by the old way of deleting and reactivating a character, or by hoping servers to name change.

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If you don't support a name change... then don't change your name.

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It goes without saying that anyone who doesn't support name changes isn't going to change their name. They don't want other people to be able to do it either, and with good reason.

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Originally Posted by Alhanelem

It goes without saying that anyone who doesn't support name changes isn't going to change their name. They don't want other people to be able to do it either, and with good reason.

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The only reason so far is "I don't want them to hide from meeee!". Wouldn't call that a good reason.

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Originally Posted by Alhanelem

It goes without saying that anyone who doesn't support name changes isn't going to change their name. They don't want other people to be able to do it either, and with good reason.

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Seriously, what "good reason" would that be?

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Originally Posted by Soranika

Seriously, what "good reason" would that be?

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Seriously, haven't you read the thread? Name changing makes it easier for jerks/douches/etc to screw over other people after taking the drops/ls bank/gil/etc and running. It does and has happened with server transfers. If you're actively trying to figure out who's bad and who isn't, you can study the cross server boards on BG, but if you're not someone who lurks on community sites a lot, you're not going to be doing that.

Not being able to change things like this is also supposed to encourage people to put more thought into them. You see a lot more nonsense/silly names when you know you can just change it after it gets old. Not to mention the bandwagon namechanges when some new monster comes out or some character in some anime becomes popular. I see it all the time. After Odin came out, we got more than one server transfer resulting in a name change to one of Odin's TP moves etc.

Frivolous names and reputation escape attempts to me is something to be concerned about.

This isn't 2005 anymore. Most any mob of importance can be spawned at will. As a result, the rarity of equipment isn't nearly as bad, nor the incentive to ninja lot (typically the highest risk when PUGing, so why not do such things with friends?) is as present. You certainly can't ninja VW or WoE drops. SE's added new BCs, but they don't seem terribly popular (no doubt because people don't have many seals).

And has been noted, name changes can be achieved in a roundabout manner. As someone who played on Fairy/Sylph, I certainly give a rat's behind to follow what was going on on Odin, Alexander, Bahamut, or whatever other server. Only those that craved and no doubt instigated drama would care. Pretty much anything you "fear" out of a bad apple can be circumvented by a good party/linkshell leader (arrange who gets drops beforehand, utilize QM or don't lot/pass as appropriate with the readiness to kick mysteriously "idle" players) or, in the case of ToS violations, GMed. The latter would follow them regardless of what name they adopted on a particular account.

Because Ninja lotting and theft are the only reasons that people may want to escape their names.

Ever heard of Vigor or Xrela? Welfare?

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Originally Posted by Alhanelem

Seriously, haven't you read the thread? Name changing makes it easier for jerks/douches/etc to screw over other people after taking the drops/ls bank/gil/etc and running. It does and has happened with server transfers. If you're actively trying to figure out who's bad and who isn't, you can study the cross server boards on BG, but if you're not someone who lurks on community sites a lot, you're not going to be doing that.

Not being able to change things like this is also supposed to encourage people to put more thought into them. You see a lot more nonsense/silly names when you know you can just change it after it gets old. Not to mention the bandwagon namechanges when some new monster comes out or some character in some anime becomes popular. I see it all the time. After Odin came out, we got more than one server transfer resulting in a name change to one of Odin's TP moves etc.

Frivolous names and reputation escape attempts to me is something to be concerned about.

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So you're worried about abuse of a few and stupidity of... well I guess a great mass? If that's the case, there's a lot of things that should have not happened through out the history of man that those could actually use as intended. For that stuff, I don't really care.

Trolls, thieves, and ect of the bunch will always exist. If you see it that way, nothing stops the people who would abuse said feature to just buy an account and go at it again.

Buying an account generally costs a lot more than a name change does in most games that have them and effectively prohibits many who would otherwise do that.

If these guys have such tremendous horrible reputations and you guys are worried they will change their name.
Guess what, they can already do so. I mean you guys make it sound like a name change is some kind evil hidden plot device.

"It looks like my reputation has gone sour! Time for me to change my name and sneak my way back into this linkshell and screw my enemies ooooveeeeeerrr!!! Muahahahahaha!!" "Oh...wait...Name changes don't effect ID numbers! NOOOOOO!!!!"

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Guess what, they can already do so.

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Yes, but since they have leave your server in order to do so, at least they're not your problem for at least 3 months. It still sucks for whomever they victimize on their next server, of course, so it's far from a perfect world. But most people don't switch servers very easily unless they have no friends at all in the first place.

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"Oh...wait...Name changes don't effect ID numbers! NOOOOOO!!!!"

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Who the hell even notices, much less pays attention to the handle ID numbers? You can't see them unless the person is on your friend list anyway.

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Originally Posted by Alhanelem

Who the hell even notices, much less pays attention to the handle ID numbers? You can't see them unless the person is on your friend list anyway.

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Because /blacklist will remain the same.

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Originally Posted by Alhanelem

Seriously, haven't you read the thread? Name changing makes it easier for jerks/douches/etc to screw over other people after taking the drops/ls bank/gil/etc and running. It does and has happened with server transfers. If you're actively trying to figure out who's bad and who isn't, you can study the cross server boards on BG, but if you're not someone who lurks on community sites a lot, you're not going to be doing that.

Not being able to change things like this is also supposed to encourage people to put more thought into them. You see a lot more nonsense/silly names when you know you can just change it after it gets old. Not to mention the bandwagon namechanges when some new monster comes out or some character in some anime becomes popular. I see it all the time. After Odin came out, we got more than one server transfer resulting in a name change to one of Odin's TP moves etc.

Frivolous names and reputation escape attempts to me is something to be concerned about.

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People have already said how name changes can't take a person off your blacklist but of course you must have missed that.

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Originally Posted by Alhanelem

Frivolous names and reputation escape attempts to me is something to be concerned about.

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You're a paranoid schizophrenic who is afraid people will steal your in game items and then run away; we get it. The only way you seem to make your point in all these threads is by saying the same thing over and over again until people get so tired of hearing it that they stop posting.

If you're really so afraid of all of this, there are ways around it. I.E. only allowing a name chance every 30 days or longer. Only allowing one even. I'm sure SE could think of a ton of ways to prevent abuse if they implement it.

Fact is, a ton of people want this and have been screwed over by the forced merges. We get that you don't want it, but you're reasons why are moot.

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You're a paranoid schizophrenic who is afraid people will steal your in game items and then run away; we get it.

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No, actually, I'm not, and I haven't had it happen to me in the game. That doesn't prevent me from being opposed to name changes on that basis. Though when people violate your trust a lot, yes, you do become a little suspicious of motives- but not to the point of paranoia.

I don't understand this bit about people "screwed over by server merges." If there's a name conflict, someone has to change their name. Which one should it be? the incoming user or the already existing user? Those people get to choose their new name, it's not like the server assigns them a random one.

Fact is, a "ton" of people don't want it too. Using exaggerated superlatives doesn't enhance your point.

Personally I just like being able to walk down Port Jeuno and know who 90% of the people there are. Relearning names is confusing.

"What? Vigor? Who's Vigor? Oh, you mean Barbarossa? Wait, he was banned and bought a new character? Again? God dammit"

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Originally Posted by Greatguardian

Personally I just like being able to walk down Port Jeuno and know who 90% of the people there are. Relearning names is confusing.

"What? Vigor? Who's Vigor? Oh, you mean Barbarossa? Wait, he was banned and bought a new character? Again? God dammit"

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It's amazing how many names you tend to recognize after a while, even if you're bad with names in real life. Especially common with Galka comradery- more than anyone else I can recognize most of the galka on the server, JP or NA alike.

Hey that's a good idea... Have some kind of 'cool down' after changing a name.

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Originally Posted by Alhanelem

The only other reason (and the only really valid one) I can think of is- you didn't take naming your character seriously when you started playing and either named your character some kind of gibberish or gimmick, and now you want to give it a real name. But even to that I say, "too bad, should have put more thought into it the first time."

For me, in any game, naming is the longest part of character creation. It's hard for me to think of a good name, and I don't want to regret it later, so I take my time with it. In a few cases i've sat staring at the comptuer screen for a good 5-10 minutes or more trying to come up with a name.

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I had to go through about 40 minutes of name cycling for my taru before I finally found one that hadn't been taken. I wouldn't be so quick to judge people as 'careless' with names, as not everyone has access to their first pick... or even their fifthieth.

At the time I thought Meyi sounded pretty darn cute. A little taru, a little name. But damn, every single person automatically assumes I'm a chick because it apparently sounds girly. The thought never crossed my mind when I made it, but it can be nerve grading when I have to explain every day to someone new that no, they're wrong.

It is hilarious listening to people try and pronounce my name though. I've gotten May-ee, May-yee (how I pronounce it), Meh-yai, Mee-yay, My-yee, and the most common, meh-yah. Hell, they even spell it Meya! Or Mayi. I think I got Maya once, even...

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Originally Posted by Alhanelem

Name changing makes it easier for jerks/douches/etc to screw over other people after taking the drops/ls bank/gil/etc and running.

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They already do this. Speeding up the process won't make douche bags any more douchey. That's just who they are by nature, and they'll strike when the time is right regardless.

I heard the same lame excuse against race/face/hair change and it's ridiculous. Apparently we should hinder the enjoyment of innocent players because of a few rotten apples. And just because you don't want it doesn't mean other people shouldn't have a right to it; I don't like PvP, but I don't mind if other people play it. FFXI is not just my game, it's a game meant to be enjoyable for everyone who plays it. If someone is miserable on this game because of things they cannot control (harassment, being bullied, utter disgust with initial choices) then they should have options to make the game fun again.

Thankfully SE made the game so easy that taking up a new character only takes a month or two, at best. I am very thankful that I dropped my Elvaan and took up my new taru. To anyone else who wants a current fix to names/race/face/hair changes, this option is always available. It really is easy to catch back up to your past character's accomplishments.

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Originally Posted by Alhanelem

It does and has happened with server transfers. If you're actively trying to figure out who's bad and who isn't, you can study the cross server boards on BG, but if you're not someone who lurks on community sites a lot, you're not going to be doing that.

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Odds are high if someone feels jipped by a LS leader/douchebag, they will be looking this information up. Otherwise, the person with a new name will just be a new douchebag and will find their way on everyone's blacklist relatively quick.

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Originally Posted by Alhanelem

Not being able to change things like this is also supposed to encourage people to put more thought into them.

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See my dilemma above. :/ Most names that aren't ridiculous have already been taken.

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Originally Posted by Alhanelem

You see a lot more nonsense/silly names when you know you can just change it after it gets old.

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Does it really matter if someone has a ridiculous name?

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Originally Posted by Alhanelem

Not to mention the bandwagon namechanges when some new monster comes out or some character in some anime becomes popular.

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Does this matter? Can only have one per server.

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Originally Posted by Alhanelem

I see it all the time. After Odin came out, we got more than one server transfer resulting in a name change to one of Odin's TP moves etc.

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Cool. I personally like seeing FFXI based names running around. I named my Alchemy mule Romidiant after my adventuring fellow.

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Originally Posted by Alhanelem

Frivolous names and reputation escape attempts to me is something to be concerned about.

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At least you made sure to leave this as an opinion.


Hm, I have to wonder if naysayers to this suggestion would also be against people leveling up a new character on the same account. Someone could easily run away with money, or items (preferably mog house deliverable ones), or be a jerk, then create another character on their account and swipe all of that information over. If they go invisible on their Friend's list, previous people won't see them as online. This might still be trackable, but it's a possible loop around the current system. The punishment here is, instead of $5-20 to change names, the person just has to relevel a character and catch it back up. As I said earlier it's not hard.

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Originally Posted by Greatguardian

Personally I just like being able to walk down Port Jeuno and know who 90% of the people there are. Relearning names is confusing.

"What? Vigor? Who's Vigor? Oh, you mean Barbarossa? Wait, he was banned and bought a new character? Again? God dammit"

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This I will agree with. I always tell people I was Kin so that they know who I am (I didn't create a character to 'hide'), but I'm sure it was confusing for some. I've had a few friends who had to change their names because of the server hop and it was sometimes difficult remembering their new spelling/new name.

I'm not sure I would change my name. I'd like the option to be available, should I ever break down and want it, but for now Meyi is pretty unique. If I did change it, I'd definitely change it to something incredibly masculine, like Butch, or Tom, or maybe even Iamamandaysu. Mm, that last one rolls right off the tongue...

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Originally Posted by Alhanelem

The only other reason (and the only really valid one) I can think of is- you didn't take naming your character seriously when you started playing and either named your character some kind of gibberish or gimmick, and now you want to give it a real name. But even to that I say, "too bad, should have put more thought into it the first time."

For me, in any game, naming is the longest part of character creation. It's hard for me to think of a good name, and I don't want to regret it later, so I take my time with it. In a few cases i've sat staring at the comptuer screen for a good 5-10 minutes or more trying to come up with a name.

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I'm disappointed in you for this post. You can do better than this in thinking of valid reasons.

I don't know about you, but I've taken my time in thinking up some good character names, and I have a LOT of them.

I shouldn't need to 1) make a mule 2) buy a server transfer 3) wait three months, and then 4) change servers again as well as 5) shell out USD$50 (see steps 2 and 4) to change my character name without changing servers or starting over.

SO hey, here's another Valid Reason to want to do a Name Change: Roleplaying.


Also, 5-10 minutes is a pretty short amount of time to think up a good name.


Seriously, instead of asking "why should someone be able to change their name?" let's ask why someone should NOT be able to change their name, and see if the possible answers to that can't be effectively neutralized.


Reasons someone should NOT be able to change their character name in FFXI:

1] They're trying to avoid the consequences of abusing other players (in a manner that violates ToS)
-- counterpoint: Character IDs do not change where names do, with a zone and time the offending character can still be tracked down by GMs.

2] Blacklist evasion
-- counterpoint: Blacklist based on character ID instead of name makes it impossible to evade blacklist by name change.

3] They're trying to avoid the social consequences of abusing other players (in a manner that does not violate ToS)
-- counterpoint: It's not SE's responsibility to manage this since the behavior they are partaking in is within the terms of service. Deal with it. Also, remember this is more of a niche case than you might think, considering that all manner of harassing violates ToS.

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Originally Posted by Alhanelem

I don't understand this bit about people "screwed over by server merges."

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Ask Pikko about it.

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Originally Posted by Volkai

Ask Pikko about it.

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The only people that got screwed over this way were the people from the 1st merge when SE forgot to disable new character creation on the destination servers. Those people should be given a chance to reclaim their name, although it would have to be on a case-by-case basis. A lvl 1 mule has little right to the name, since it was most likely made in an attempt to grief the source server player. But if that name was taken by someone actually playing the game, it's a different matter and they should keep it. Regardless if it is held by a 3-year inactive player.

As for other people wanting to change their name.. keep in mind that your ideal name is very likely taken. As is anything remotely like it. And even if you did get one you like, what's to keep SE from reducing the number of servers even further? Then you paid for your name change in vain. I'm sure some server jumpers must have had that happen to them...

Honestly, I wouldn't pay for it, even if it's kinda dorky to have this name at this point; but does it *really* bother anyone?

Like, does it really break the game? Let people change their name if they want, it's their money; let them figure it out if they can't get the name they want.

I see Square Enix is avoiding this thread like the plague.

I would be also honestly. :|

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Originally Posted by svengalis

I see Square Enix is avoiding this thread like the plague.

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I know right.

If this became a problem, SE could easily remove the feature again. Really nothing to argue about.

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Originally Posted by Meyi

I had to go through about 40 minutes of name cycling for my taru before I finally found one that hadn't been taken. I wouldn't be so quick to judge people as 'careless' with names, as not everyone has access to their first pick... or even their fifthieth.

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I would wholy atribute this to a lack of unoriginality. If it's the 15th one you've come up with, then you should have been able to put more forthought into it then most and be satisfied with what you have now. Therefor, there should be no reason for you to want to change it. So then, what's your reasoning for supporting it?

Really? Are people really gonna claim that naming a character is this important? Guess what! It's a game. Most of you people claiming this are the ones who really should be considering changing theirs. Come up with a better reason.

i think one thing i would like to see.. would be the abilty to give your charcter a last name.. if i remember right some of the other MMO's out there allowed that. (everquest, lineage, guild wars..i think.. D.o.C) just to name a few..

You mean like FFXIV has done as well? Something or another about PS2 limitations or spaghetti coding or something like that deters from implementing a first and last name.

Remembering two names is hard. It multiplies the effort you have to do to keep names straight by a factor of 4 (inb4 someone herps and thinks it's a factor of 2).

Yes. I'm lazy. I know a lot of people. Screw last names. It also makes sending tells a royal pain in the ass.

The feature should be offered, but you should have a perma title for 30 days stating Formerly Known as FomerPlayer. So people cant easily escape griefing or other stuff like that.

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Originally Posted by Serei

i think one thing i would like to see.. would be the abilty to give your charcter a last name.. if i remember right some of the other MMO's out there allowed that. (everquest, lineage, guild wars..i think.. D.o.C) just to name a few..

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I imagine they might have to do a lot of (too much) work to allow spaces in names. I generally support even 3 part names, but as they did with XIV, they force players into having 2 part names, and that is not good either. Similarly, even there I think it may be a result of simply bad design, so they will not be able to change it, unless they re-do that part of the game on the way to 2.0 release as well.

Here is a thread about it in the XIV forum.


As for the topic, I would still support the feature. Obviously there should be a limit as to how often one can change a name as has been mentioned I think, and I don't see how people could abuse it, really, as long as certain counter-measures including the above would be taken.

I was/am part of a game that introduced such a feature quite late in the game, it's a bit older than FFXI, but it happened around the same age. Sure it was a bit silly at first, but no one thinks anything of it anymore. Perhaps the only big difference to this game is that the game offers a lot more what comes to the community in the official web-site. You can search for characters and view their old names (for a certain amount of time) on that page, among other information.

They did something like that with FFXIV (the lodestone), but FFXI certainly lacks this feature. But as mentioned, if the character stays in your blacklist, it would be rather obvious it's an 'evil-doer', and those who care will likely know who it is if one does not remember the original name anymore.

Et cetera.

Deactivate your account before the start of the next month, wait 7 days, purchase a new ID if you do not have a mule character, name it your main characters name, then reactivate your main character and whalla you can change your main characters name.

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Originally Posted by Nidhogg

Deactivate your account before the start of the next month, wait 7 days, purchase a new ID if you do not have a mule character, name it your main characters name, then reactivate your main character and whalla you can change your main characters name.

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Might work a bit differently now, since you don't pay for each month in advance the way we used to. ^^;

Moreover, I did try to test due to another reason, to name a new character with a name that a friend has: It's not available even though the account is inactive, and has been for several months. I think I remember this way working at some point, though. Is it treated differently if the name is tied to the same account already? I do doubt it.

I do think a bit that they should have just had the names restricted server-wide, that way merging them would have never had any issues like that. On the other hand, though, since FFXI only allows one part names, it would have been quite restrictive, so I'm not sure if I would have gone with server-wide either after all.

But I digress.
I just wanted to say that I have my doubts on simply de-activating the content ID, as well as from when it really is considered inactive (would likely depend on the payment method, if it's Crystanonsense or the other, too).


Blubb.

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Originally Posted by Nidhogg

Deactivate your account before the start of the next month, wait 7 days, purchase a new ID if you do not have a mule character, name it your main characters name, then reactivate your main character and whalla you can change your main characters name.

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I wonder how this would work with the current setup? How are you able to create a character with the same name if it exists?

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Originally Posted by Nidhogg

Deactivate your account before the start of the next month, wait 7 days, purchase a new ID if you do not have a mule character, name it your main characters name, then reactivate your main character and whalla you can change your main characters name.

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Gonna try this, pretty sure it does not work though.