Change character(s) name(s)

[Belmonts]

It isn't as easy as it seems.

Firstly, you've got AH history that would have to change to reflect the appropriate character (unless you're trying to hide your 3,500,000G purchase of a Flame Sword or something... <_<

The same problem with any signed armor.

Lastly, and probably most importantly, is what happens when the name you want to change to is already taken by someone else?

Thanks for replying ^_^

Database talking (and a decent db imo) doesn't have a name as the Key ID, I believe is the PoL ID or something. So it won't be as painful to do that. It duplicates easily.

Signed armor is not related/linked anymore with the character at very moment you end up crafting it, only sad thing would be that you will have to remake that gear again with the new name for your friends but i'm sure they can live with that, esp with HQ crafts hehe.

If the name you want is on an account that is active there is nothing you can do. Idea is for those accounts that has been gathering dust for years and years with names that other ppl would like to put on their chars. ^_^

[Dazusu]

Database talking (and a decent db imo) doesn't have a name as the Key ID, I believe is the PoL ID or something. So it won't be as painful to do that. It duplicates easily.

No database in the history of man has a string as Key ID. If it does, the entire technical department of said company should be fired.

Secondly, why would they need to change AH history, or signed items? Leave them as is. The same way they are left as-is when someone transfers server or quits the game.

There's absolutely no reason SE couldn't implement this, and if there are any reasons - none of them are logistical.

The only thing this proves is that SE aren't out to make a quick buck like people seem to suggest. If they were - this feature would fly like hotcakes.

[Daniel_Hatcher]

No database in the history of man has a string as Key ID. If it does, the entire technical department of said company should be fired.

Secondly, why would they need to change AH history, or signed items? Leave them as is. The same way they are left as-is when someone transfers server or quits the game.

There's absolutely no reason SE couldn't implement this, and if there are any reasons - none of them are logistical.

The only thing this proves is that SE aren't out to make a quick buck like people seem to suggest. If they were - this feature would fly like hotcakes.

Exactly.

All accounts are ID (number) based.

[Belmonts]

No database in the history of man has a string as Key ID. If it does, the entire technical department of said company should be fired.

Lol, Yep pretty much, however, the point is that there are no restrictions whatsoever to not implement that.

Secondly, why would they need to change AH history, or signed items? Leave them as is. The same way they are left as-is when someone transfers server or quits the game.

Lol don't look at me on that one, there is no problem on that either.

There's absolutely no reason SE couldn't implement this, and if there are any reasons - none of them are logistical.
The only thing this proves is that SE aren't out to make a quick buck like people seem to suggest. If they were - this feature would fly like hotcakes.

I don't know if I agree with you on that one, SE whims comes and goes lol (we see it clearly on game tweaks and such), and actually they could of make some good profit out of it. Like world transfers. Not getting into details but, as you said, none of the restrictions they can meet are logistical/data related. Prolly tough at first to implement the code.

But if there are pancakes involved, I'm down lol.

[Llana_Virren]

Secondly, why would they need to change AH history, or signed items?

A few reasons, which may sound petty; however, hear me out:

1. AH history. Any in-game accessible sale log is dual purposed. For one, it shows who sold/bought what, and for how much. This is not simply for bragging rights, but also for accountability. Perhaps the influence of the AH system is lost in modern times, however typically speaking, if you are buying tens of millions of gil from the AH at a time, it is significantly impacting the economy; players and developers should have visibility on those actions and individuals.

By not changing history, mules can essentially tamper with the economy, and "vanish" under the guise of a witness-protection-program for the in-game Mob.

2. For signed items, my philosophy is this: although some people say "who cares, people can just recraft it" the point is that there WILL be players who will want their signed gear to carry over a name change. And this would effect -other- players' equipment. Just as people here say "who cares, just recraft it if it's an issue", there are others, like me, who say "who cares, just create a new character if you want a different name/race."

3. Player reputation--or lack thereof. If a name has been associated with labels of "terrible LS leader" or "total asshat noob" you want to be able to avoid those players in the future. How can you do so if players change their names unexpectedly? Your friends' list (and block list) are based on character names, not POL IDs. While POL IDs may be running in the background, you will not be able to immediately associate a player to his "new" name, which would have major implications.

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All is fair in love and gil, but the moral of the story is that name changes (and race changes, which has been suggested on another thread) serve no meaningful purpose to the gaming community as a whole. With the exception of asthetics there is nothing to be gained by the man-hours spent on implimenting such a system. Let me be clear, I have nothing against the idea of a name change, however I do believe that players need to mature and realize that choices in-game have consequences, just like in meat-space. I think players have gotten used to the idea that you can read a FAQ that tells you every option to pick in dialogues to ensure you get the uberest, leetest item available... but we've come accustomed to not accepting our past choices when we cannot change them.

Just chalk this up as another consequence of your decisions, and the next game you play, you'll be more prepared to make a decision about character name, race, gender, height, and other attributes.

[Belmonts]

A few reasons, which may sound petty; however, hear me out:

You are more than welcome to express your thoughts and I really appreciate em.

1. AH history. Any in-game accessible sale log is dual purposed. For one, it shows who sold/bought what, and for how much. This is not simply for bragging rights, but also for accountability. Perhaps the influence of the AH system is lost in modern times, however typically speaking, if you are buying tens of millions of gil from the AH at a time, it is significantly impacting the economy; players and developers should have visibility on those actions and individuals.

Not quite, as I stated before, regardless of your game char name there is an ID for your account and each char, so i should't be a problem that if you are the char "A" with the ID "300" relate it with your new "B" name. Not impossible to do and even also can be paid for that.

By not changing history, mules can essentially tamper with the economy, and "vanish" under the guise of a witness-protection-program for the in-game Mob.

All changes that can be made on some ppl benefit can be used to abuse. Making mules and disappear em is nothing new. In fact, if you have to pay a reasonable fee for the name change it will be less expensive to delete a mule and make it again with a total different name and keep scamming others, lol.

Again it is not a matter of who screws over who, is a simple way to get something it might be lost in time cus one guy named a mule/main/whatever and then deactivated his/her account for years.

2. For signed items, my philosophy is this: although some people say "who cares, people can just recraft it" the point is that there WILL be players who will want their signed gear to carry over a name change. And this would effect -other- players' equipment. Just as people here say "who cares, just recraft it if it's an issue", there are others, like me, who say "who cares, just create a new character if you want a different name/race."

There will be ppl who care and ppl who doesn't care yep yep. But again, when you end a crafted item with a sign on it, it becomes an object with no relation with the char that made it. Is like you made a document with your name on it and then you decided to change your name 3 years later. You have to delete/scratch that document to make it related with your new name and it never will be the same.

On simpler words if you world transfer, someone got your name while gone and you come back after 90 days and had to change your name, will be absurd to expect all the signed stuff you made will sync with your new name.

3. Player reputation--or lack thereof. If a name has been associated with labels of "terrible LS leader" or "total asshat noob" you want to be able to avoid those players in the future. How can you do so if players change their names unexpectedly? Your friends' list (and block list) are based on character names, not POL IDs. While POL IDs may be running in the background, you will not be able to immediately associate a player to his "new" name, which would have major implications.

Prolly I didn't say it clear and loud, idiots/m***ns/f*ckers will exist on every server as they exists on rl, they can transfer, make another char and they won't change lol, but they will shine anyways and ppl will identify 'em this is nothing new at all. This can give em another way to hide, yeah, but they already had tons of another options to hide, but at the end of the day they end up being the same.
---

All is fair in love and gil, but the moral of the story is that name changes (and race changes, which has been suggested on another thread) serve no meaningful purpose to the gaming community as a whole. With the exception of asthetics there is nothing to be gained by the man-hours spent on implimenting such a system. Let me be clear, I have nothing against the idea of a name change, however I do believe that players need to mature and realize that choices in-game have consequences, just like in meat-space. I think players have gotten used to the idea that you can read a FAQ that tells you every option to pick in dialogues to ensure you get the uberest, leetest item available... but we've come accustomed to not accepting our past choices when we cannot change them.

Just chalk this up as another consequence of your decisions, and the next game you play, you'll be more prepared to make a decision about character name, race, gender, height, and other attributes.

When servers merged we didn't had much of a choice lol, and tbh I'm happy with my chars names I'm talking for many of my friends who really made their choice on their own servers and with the names they wanted/had-to-deal-cus-it-wasn't-avaliable-anymore as you kindly state. But then, BAM! for w/e reason server merged and your name you choose is taken and you had to swallow it and change yours cus someone else had it.

Ok, sh*t happens and if someone else got it and is in an active account you got owned lol. But this is for [accounts that been forever deactivated with names that can get used by ppl who actually plays the game.

[Dazusu]

1. This is not simply for bragging rights, but also for accountability.

No one is accountable to other players. SE have tools to allow them to track these things by account ID. Doing it by character name would be slow and tedious.

By not changing history, mules can essentially tamper with the economy, and "vanish" under the guise of a witness-protection-program for the in-game Mob.

Delete and Create new character?

2. For signed items, my philosophy is this: although some people say "who cares, people can just recraft it" the point is that there WILL be players who will want their signed gear to carry over a name change.

There's a line.

like me, who say "who cares, just create a new character if you want a different name/race."

Your credibility for a serious debate just took a hike.

3. Player reputation--or lack thereof. If a name has been associated with labels of "terrible LS leader" or "total asshat noob" you want to be able to avoid those players in the future.

Such features normally have a 90 day limit. If someone if that bad of an asshat, they might find keeping up a ruse for 90 days pretty though. If they turn over a new leaf, what's your problem with it?

[Llana_Virren]

No one is accountable to other players.

Which is why no one should have to give up an old account name, even an inactive one just to humor your whim.

Your credibility for a serious debate just took a hike.

I just repeated your argument back to you. You want to have a new character name... make a new character. Why should development time be wasted on implementing something as trivial as a name change, when there are more important issues, like modifying NM resistances, job changes, etc.?

Such features normally have a 90 day limit. If someone if that bad of an asshat, they might find keeping up a ruse for 90 days pretty though. If they turn over a new leaf, what's your problem with it?

If you bothered reading the -rest- of my post, you'd see I don't have a problem with it. My problem is that there are more important things that should be worked on, than to argue about old accounts having all the cool names taken.

[Belmonts]

Which is why no one should have to give up an old account name, even an inactive one just to humor your whim.

Really I'm thinking over the guys who choose a good char name, played 4-5 years ago for like 3 months and quit for good. But again is making me to put a time-limit without any research whatsoever on the DB info. But pretty sure I'm not exaggerating that they are plenty of those cases.

You want to have a new character name... make a new character. Why should development time be wasted on implementing something as trivial as a name change,

Because is not a matter of making a new char with a new name, is to be able to get names that are lost forever in a deactivated account that is, probably, never going to be activated again.

Point is really.
* If it does exist and is on an active account = you're screwed and you must rename/make a new char and as you kindly stated, we deal with it.
* If it does exist on a long ago deactivated account = sorry, but that name should be available again.

when there are more important issues, like modifying NM resistances, job changes, etc.?

Oh I can't be more agree with you on that, but honestly this service implementation shouldn't be an excuse/reason for SE to be as lazy/slow with the in-game stuff that is necessary. Even they can/are pipe-lining a lot of stuff so should't be a problem at all. ^_^