Names of Merged Characters "Second Chance"

[Behemothx]

Because people don't server move and use a mule to force a rename at all right?

Was replying about the 5$ namechange actually.

[Charismatic]

Was replying about the 5$ namechange actually.

There's already ways to do this, more costly but it's already available. If someone really wanted to steal stuff and vanish without a trace they already can.
Besides, we need to get away from the "don't add convenient features because someone might abuse it kinda thing, if you don't believe me... take a look at FFXIV.

[Tsukino_Kaji]

There's already ways to do this, more costly but it's already available. If someone really wanted to steal stuff and vanish without a trace they already can.
Besides, we need to get away from the "don't add convenient features because someone might abuse it kinda thing, if you don't believe me... take a look at FFXIV.

It still doesn't excuse the haste and lack of forthought on the individuals int he first place.

[Rya]

It still doesn't excuse the haste and lack of forthought on the individuals int he first place.

you still haven't acknowledged the fact that extensive forethought guarantees nothing... you could come up with 20 well-thought-out names beforehand, only to have them all ring up "unavailable"

I wonder if you would say that if your name, and your best 20 alternatives, were unavailable to you ... would you say to yourself, "boy, I shoulda made a list of 40 crappy names to pick from, not 20! my fault!"

[Tsukino_Kaji]

you still haven't acknowledged the fact that extensive forethought guarantees nothing... you could come up with 20 well-thought-out names beforehand, only to have them all ring up "unavailable"

I wonder if you would say that if your name, and your best 20 alternatives, were unavailable to you ... would you say to yourself, "boy, I shoulda made a list of 40 crappy names to pick from, not 20! my fault!"

Nope. Because I've never had any problem what-so-ever coming up with any name at any time for any reason. And I am well aware of forthought, hence why I mentioned it in the first place. You're still not being particularly swaying why people should be able to rename, when they already had that option. It is the individual's fault for picking a name they didn't like the first time. If the entirety of the merger gets a rename, why not everyone else?
Which still leads me back to the main point. Why was so little thought put into renaming your characters after the merger leading to you thinking this is a major issue? We all only got one chance to pick a name, why do you need another?

[Crysten]

Nope. Because I've never had any problem what-so-ever coming up with any name at any time for any reason. And I am well aware of forthought, hence why I mentioned it in the first place. You're still not being particularly swaying why people should be able to rename, when they already had that option. It is the individual's fault for picking a name they didn't like the first time. If the entirety of the merger gets a rename, why not everyone else?
Which still leads me back to the main point. Why was so little thought put into renaming your characters after the merger leading to you thinking this is a major issue? We all only got one chance to pick a name, why do you need another?

"It's never happened to me therefore what's the issue?" is not a particularly swaying argument either. You seem to have a very narrow minded view of the situation, really.

Your core argument is lack of forethought. Forethought this. Forethought that. Ponder this. When the World Merge was announced, I would imagine the majority of people who were concerned would've done what I did at the time: log onto FFXIAH and check their character database or alternatively, attempt to create a PH mule on the destination world.

Is that a lack of forethought? No. The latter was sadly impossible for me as the servers were locked down less than 24 hours later.

The world merge rolls around, and you have a yellow name. OK, that's fine, you have a list of backups. The name change system in XI at this time is completely flawed at the moment though. The system, instead of checking name availability before confirmation, simply takes the first name available that is entered into it and automatically confirms it. As Rya mentioned in a previous post, this is not lack of forethought on the part of the player, but a design flaw to the character creation system.

In most MMOs, I can pick a name, and the system will tell me "That name is available!" or "Sorry, name taken!" Here, I can't even find out which of my back up names is available or unavailable, nor can I get an opportunity to experiment with potential new ones. The second I click Enter, that's it - I'm done. That is something I was not expecting. It's bad interface design. This brings up another flaw in your argument - the first time we created our characters, we had the option to change things we didn't like before we logged in for the first time - name, race, city and so forth. Didn't like your character model? Click back. The name not doing it for you? Click back. Wanted to start in Sandy instead of Windy? Back! This time we didn't get that luxury!

And no, I'm not spending a dollar for the privilage of a name checker via a new Content ID. That is retarded.

Your secondary argument is the idea of impatience. This I will agree with to an extent, but in a game with an addictive nature, you have to realize people wish to get back into the game ASAP. At the same time, it's naive to think that people didn't put thought into renaming characters they've had for several years.

[Rya]

I've never had any problem what-so-ever coming up with any name at any time for any reason.

That suggests to me that you actually put less thought into a name ... or you're just lucky. Either way, your first statement here did not support your arguments very well...

Consider what might make a name desirable:

Naming Goals
-- Short ("Rya" not "Ryaaaa")
-- Catchy ("Funtimes" not "Fnantaems")
-- Easy to type ("Palwalfal" not "Pqowmziiiin")
-- Wholly meaningful ("Zambam" not "Zambamxxxxxx")
-- Closeness to original name ("Ryaa" not "Nyoo")

As these factors approach convergence, two things happen:
-- Probability of invested forethought increases
-- Probability of availability decreases

Basically, the more of these goals you try to reach simultaneously, the more time it [probably] takes to reconcile them (one goal may contradict or impede another).

Also, because these goals are likely universally appealing, others may use similar tactics to devise new names (reducing the likelihood of availability):

Characters "Rya" & "Ria" both turn yellow:
-- Rya comes up with "Riya, Riyah, Ria, etc"
-- Ria comes up with "Riya, Riyah, Rya, etc"

--> Ria logs in first, and claims "Riya" (so, now taken).
--> Rya tries the same names and fails.

...
.....
.......

PLUS! You still didn't address the "forethought" issue:
Forethought guarantees nothing.
(which invalidates the whole "shoulda prepared better" idea)