Harrasment & Malicious Intent

Well I guess I'm the one coming off as a villain.

You don't "own" a name if you don't get it first. It sucks but it's true.

Someone isn't impersonating you by virtue of taking the name you want.

The games support staff does not extend beyond the confines of Square Enix "territory". They can't police what someone might have said on Discord.

We only have your word for happened, a picture of a chat is meaningless.

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Originally Posted by Conundrum

Well I guess I'm the one coming off as a villain.

You don't "own" a name if you don't get it first. It sucks but it's true.

Someone isn't impersonating you by virtue of taking the name you want.

The games support staff does not extend beyond the confines of Square Enix "territory". They can't police what someone might have said on Discord.

We only have your word for happened, a picture of a chat is meaningless.

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You're right. OP doesn't own the name and it would be easier for them to come up with a new one in game and then block and cease all contact with the harasser. The fact that someone went out of their way to take the name and attempt to extort and coerce OP, clearly thats just normal sane human behavior. But its totally something the OP is responsible for dealing with. /s

As for OP, contact Twitch. Extortion and coercion for streaming activities is a violation of the ToS so if they sent anything through Twitch, or even discord for that matter, it will can be dealt with from that. Unfortunately you are probably going to have to have a different name then the one you want. Just make sure that you stop all responses to the clearly mentally disturbed person and only keep records of things they send you. With enough messages there are other legal routes you can look into that will have a more serious impact for your psycho.

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Originally Posted by dapperfaffer

You're right. OP doesn't own the name and it would be easier for them to come up with a new one in game and then block and cease all contact with the harasser. The fact that someone went out of their way to take the name and attempt to extort and coerce OP, clearly thats just normal sane human behavior. But its totally something the OP is responsible for dealing with. /s

As for OP, contact Twitch. Extortion and coercion for streaming activities is a violation of the ToS so if they sent anything through Twitch, or even discord for that matter, it will can be dealt with from that. Unfortunately you are probably going to have to have a different name then the one you want. Just make sure that you stop all responses to the clearly mentally disturbed person and only keep records of things they send you. With enough messages there are other legal routes you can look into that will have a more serious impact for your psycho.

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Because people never lie on the internet.

I don't think SE will do anything. Plus you already admitted someone was impersonating you intentionally that you asked for. Theres no reserving names, either you have it or you don't. Thats a problem in its own. As far as i see they should give the op a temp ban just on the grounds for impersonating.

The name itself is also a common name. You might as well ban all john smith sort of names if you think it break tos to have a common name.

For the discord message which i assume its from, thats discords issue, not SE.

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Originally Posted by Bsrking5

I don't think SE will do anything. Plus you already admitted someone was impersonating you intentionally that you asked for. Theres no reserving names, either you have it or you don't. Thats a problem in its own. As far as i see they should give the op a temp ban just on the grounds for impersonating.

The name itself is also a common name. You might as well ban all john smith sort of names if you think it break tos to have a common name.

For the discord message which i assume its from, thats discords issue, not SE.

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For regular players a name means very little.
For Streamers or other content creators, Their character names are often associated with their brand.

If someone just took it to annoy them by never actually using the character, that's fine. Happens to all streamers who play MMOs.
The problem is when someone uses that name to impersonate you.
That can do irreparable damage to people with a public image, like a streamer.

Doing or saying something while pretending to be someone else can cause loss of sponsorships, channel demonetizations etc.

Losing your name to a normal player is not the problem.
Impersonation and attempted coercion are literal crimes.

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Originally Posted by Sylve

For regular players a name means very little.
For Streamers or other content creators, Their character names are often associated with their brand.

If someone just took it to annoy them by never actually using the character, that's fine. Happens to all streamers who play MMOs.
The problem is when someone uses that name to impersonate you.
That can do irreparable damage to people with a public image, like a streamer.

Doing or saying something while pretending to be someone else can cause loss of sponsorships, channel demonetizations etc.

Losing your name to a normal player is not the problem.
Impersonation and attempted coercion are literal crimes.

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And Squenix taking away another players name to give it to a streamer would be a PR disaster for them. Because it would be seen as favoritism.

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Originally Posted by Sylve

For regular players a name means very little.
For Streamers or other content creators, Their character names are often associated with their brand.

If someone just took it to annoy them by never actually using the character, that's fine. Happens to all streamers who play MMOs.
The problem is when someone uses that name to impersonate you.
That can do irreparable damage to people with a public image, like a streamer.

Doing or saying something while pretending to be someone else can cause loss of sponsorships, channel demonetizations etc.

Losing your name to a normal player is not the problem.
Impersonation and attempted coercion are literal crimes.

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It doesn't matter if someone is using a name as their brand. They do not own the name within the game. Names are first come, first serve.

Someone having the same name does not mean they are attempting to impersonate another person. To be impersonating, they would have to be telling others that they are the other person.

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Originally Posted by Conundrum

And Squenix taking away another players name to give it to a streamer would be a PR disaster for them. Because it would be seen as favoritism.

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So .. you're more OK with literal crime than perceived favouritism?

SE doesn't have to give the name to the OP, but they can sure as hell ban the character using the name, not only is impersonation a crime, it's also against ToS.
SE has every right and an obligation to intervene.

SE terminating an account for breaking ToS AND law is perfectly reasonable.
It's on the OP to try to get their name back once the offender has been dealt with.

"Square refuses to help a player whose name was taken and used to impersonate and coerce them"

"Square assisted a player whose name was maliciously taken during a transfer issue and used to coerce and impersonate them"

Which story is worse PR?
Even if the OP never gets their original name back, the one who took it needs to be punished for their behaviour.

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Originally Posted by Jojoya

It doesn't matter if someone is using a name as their brand. They do not own the name within the game. Names are first come, first serve.

Someone having the same name does not mean they are attempting to impersonate another person. To be impersonating, they would have to be telling others that they are the other person.

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Did you even read my post?
Taken names are common, especially for streamers.
However, the difference is how that name is used.
If they just play normally, no one would even notice.
If they used the name and proclaimed they were someone they weren't, that's a crime and it has repercussions for the person being impersonated.
Public image is important to brands, even more so for streamers who can lose sponsorships and monetization if the impersonator manages to fool the right people.

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Originally Posted by Sylve

So .. you're more OK with literal crime than perceived favouritism?

SE doesn't have to give the name to the OP, but they can sure as hell ban the character using the name, not only is impersonation a crime, it's also against ToS.
SE has every right and an obligation to intervene.

SE terminating an account for breaking ToS AND law is perfectly reasonable.
It's on the OP to try to get their name back once the offender has been dealt with.

"Square refuses to help a player whose name was taken and used to impersonate and coerce them"

"Square assisted a player whose name was maliciously taken during a transfer issue and used to coerce and impersonate them"

Which story is worse PR?
Even if the OP never gets their original name back, the one who took it needs to be punished for their behaviour.

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Please stop trying to be an internet lawyer. It's ridiculously cringe.

There is no crime and any law enforcement agency on the planet would laugh at you...as would any lawyer if you try to portray it as such.

Name on transfers are never guaranteed but a person can take steps to try and ensure they have them.

1) Make an alt (on the same account) on the world you want to transfer to with the name you want
2) Initiate the transfer process
3) Wait
4) When the character is showing on the world screen then delete the alt with the name you want to use
5) Click on the main character and rename it

It is unfortunate that due to a mistake the name got returned to the "pool" and taken by someone else but that's what happens sadly. SE makes no guarantees over who gets what name so you have no leg to stand on there. SE also do not police what happens on other platforms. If the person has messaged you in game then they will pay attention.