Getting rid of surnames

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Originally Posted by Rinoa

I'm glad your on Besaid and not Kashuan. (^o^)

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Well if you did decide to reroll on Besaid you could name yourself Rinoa Heartilly like you originally wanted. You'd only possibly be confused with Rinoa Heartlly or Rinoa Heartly.

Gren, that is tempting, but i have my secondary as Rinoa Hartilly. Plus Leonhart has stuck, and i like it.

Nah, that's what CTRL+R is for. If someone has a stupid hard name to remember then just don't talk to them.

Does Ctrl+R block them or something?

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Originally Posted by Rinoa

Oh, so they got rid of surnames in XI? I can't believe Square would be so stupid.

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FFXI never had surnames.

Use Ctr+R to reply to a /tell.

If you removed surnames then lots of people would be upset. Imagine all the Sephiroth Randomsurnames that would be enraged since they can't be sephiroth anymore, since 12,000 people already took every other variant of the name before them. Not to mention the people with normal names... All the Chris's and Mary's in the world would be sad pandas.

Would be stiff competition over the name Mina as well, seeing as I've seen a few other Mina's running about. No fun!

What? No, God no!

Did I already post here? Geez, I hope not. But honestly, ew, no. So it's a half-second's more typing - So what? Do you know hard it is to get the name 'Hana' in most MMORPGs, or even a variant on it? Or James! I could actually use James, my real, given name, for a character of mine here!

Besides, that's why there's the Ctrl+R command, or the ability to type '/t <name>' on its own and have all subsequent tells go to the target player.

There are only two ways I would ever support something like this:

1. In the event Surnames were merely abstracted away, with only forenames appearing by characters on-screen and surnames buried in character info, which wouldn't make much difference to anyone really and might even be kind of nice.
   
   
2. If the forename+surname system were replaced with the system used by Phantasy Star Online and Phantasy Star Universe, where a character's database identifier is a system-generated alphanumeric string and names merely something for players to recognise each-other by. This system had the drawback of making it impossible to use a standard '/t <name>' command since names didn't point to characters in the database, and so to send a tell, you had to go through your contact list.

Both the above options allow players to share forenames, as does the current Forename+Surname system. Being able to have whatever forename you want is a wonderful addition to the game and something really rare in this industry, and of the two alternatives to Forename+Surname I can think of, the only one that removes the extremely small inconvenience of having to type a character's surname once or twice at most per individual set of tells replaces it with having to go through the contact list instead (removing the benefit) and would require a total rebuild of the way Final Fantasy XIV identifies player characters and god knows how many other parts of the database (as would removing forenames+surnames and replacing them with unique forenames only, for that matter). Even if the server doesn't refer to our characters in-database by name at any point you'd still have to completely rebuild the multitudinous parts of the server code where database ID and character-names intersect.

Setting aside the fact it's a feature that I would think it obscene to tear out, it simply is not worth burning development resources rebuilding the databases and code that manages identifying objects in the game world to please the portion of the playerbase has this strange aversion to typing out a single extra word once or twice per conversation (and/or didn't bother to read up on the chat commands).

Absolutely no.

Surnames is one of the cooles things about the game and adds to immersion. I mean I can think of at least 4 to 5 miqotes on my friends list whose first name is Luna. lol

Yes you will get stupid surnames sometimes ("Thegreat"... wtf) but that happens with single names too, so that point is invalid.

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Originally Posted by Konachibi

We already have a pop-up window on our chat box now, i don't see why when someone sends us a /tell we can't just click then box and have a /reply option that would automatically set you to sending a /tell to the last person that sent one to you.

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Actualy ctrl+r do it. Sorry. I didn't read whole tread, maybe someone already answered.

I love surnames. Leave it.

Gotta say Mattia took me no time to come up with. But Liano took me a while. Hated thinking up that name lol. I wouldn't care if they got rid of it. Agree it is a pain when sending /tell, etc.

This is where /sea all would be helpful

No i like surnames.

No! Don't get rid of surnames. I like them and I think they add a nice touch to the game.

If it's so hard to type people's name it would be nice if you got the /tell option when you target people (like in wow, aion, ffxi, etc) and that would solve the issue of typing long names.

Other than that... I don't see this happening.

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Originally Posted by Ceons

No! Don't get rid of surnames. I like them and I think they add a nice touch to the game.

If it's so hard to type people's name it would be nice if you got the /tell option when you target people (like in wow, aion, ffxi, etc) and that would solve the issue of typing long names.

Other than that... I don't see this happening.

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If someone with a long name is standing near you, what you can do is target them and then just type /t <t> Blah blah blah. :cool:

1222 views on this thread, and only (1) like.... guess surname is preferred!

Keep surnames but create a better way to send tells to people.

Definitely preferred... chances are any name you want you can have with it set up this way! (Unless its some stupid unimaginative copy of a name, quite a few out there actually...part of the stupid names list... but there will always be stupid people regardless, especially in regards to names lol)... not to mention it's one of the few mmo's that does this thankfully! Single names are in no way better, just as in real life.

I'm almost certain surnames are here to stay, thank goodness.

I may have read it earlier in this thread, but how about...

Player1 types "/tell + [the first name of Player2]" and the text input displays a small list of everyone's full name that starts with the inputted first name of Player2 for Player1 to select from.

The list could be displayed similar to the auto-translate box that appears when you press tab.

No, because my character's surname is the online name I go by.
And you only need to type their full name if they haven't sent you a tell before.
Most people I send tells to I type the first few letters of their first name and then just use auto-translate to fill the rest in

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Originally Posted by Validas

I may have read it earlier in this thread, but how about...

Player1 types "/tell + [the first name of Player2]" and the text input displays a small list of everyone's full name that starts with the inputted first name of Player2 for Player1 to select from.

The list could be displayed similar to the auto-translate box that appears when you press tab.

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Just using auto-translate is a lot easier if they've sent you at least one tell before.

So to send a tell to me just type "/tell Esth" then hit auto-translate and if I've sent you a tell (and had my name put in your dictionary) then it will automatically fill in my name

Maybe we should write a /tell guide for all people with /tell difficulty ^^
Then we can link to the guide if a new thread with the same topic pop up again in some months.

I think surnames is cumbersome. I don't care if they remove it or left it alone because I mostly chat in LS or in party. rarely send tells.

I like the surnames in the game!

Anyway you only have to type it once and then you got the nice 'ctrl+r' that auto pops the name back up for you.

I want it to stay. :)

IMO, surnames would be less of an issue if we could do a "/sea all shortname longlonglonglongname" then click on them and hit "Send Tell" like we could in FFXI because you could just search for part of their name to find them. :/

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Originally Posted by naaros

IMO, surnames would be less of an issue if we could do a "/sea all shortname longlonglonglongname" then click on them and hit "Send Tell" like we could in FFXI because you could just search for part of their name to find them. :/

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Since they're still tweaking the UI with each patch to make it more usable, I imagine we'll see something like this in patch 1.20+.

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Originally Posted by Kam

I'd like to hear peoples opinions on this. I've had a few discussions in game with friends and some are for, some are against.

Personally I'm not much of a fan. "/tell Charles whatthehellstupidlongname" is wearing thin.

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1. Your major complaint is supposed to be addressed with the FList fixes.

2. Have you never tried to played an MMO and it says "Sorry but that name is already in use." Often happens to people upwards of ten times. Will essentially not happen ever in this game unless you make a common Joke name.

I know my way around a QWERTY keyboard, so I don't have a single issue with typing multiple names.

btw WHY DID WE NEED ANOTHER OF THESE THREADS!?

Keep surnames, improve the communication methods. I shouldn't have to constantly scroll and select different things just to talk to two people in different chatmodes.

Lina Lux. How epic does that sound? I love alliteration.

I'd rather "Big Arse" than XxxXXXBigxxxArseXXXxxX

^like what the hell is that? A crown for your name?

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Originally Posted by Kam

Practical reasons for turning them off - off the top of my head - would be more space in the chat log. Easier insta-tells to someone you just saw. Easier chatting in general. Less screen clutter. All these add to more "immersion" than a simple 'last name'

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Thats just my own personal points about immersion'. And to continue on my own personal opinions - If you can't invent something thats unique with 30k players on the game (split into their own servers....), I generally feel sorry for your lack of creativity.

I'd want an option to opt out. Hell Foxclon can only have one name. I don't require a surname to immerse myself into XIV. Why can't I at the least have an option to opt out. Or even turn them off.

rly? still going on this? still arguing cumbersome and difficult? you know a space is just ONE more character right? typed several in all your posts. no big! extra word. i can't go on! /faint o.O' i can see possibly reducing the total characters between the two names because sometimes two huge names is annoying, and having optional one name. rly if the person wants an annoying name so badly a surname won't stop them. but the whole arguement that the surname is too difficult is just phooey.

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Originally Posted by Kam

I'd want an option to opt out. Hell Foxclon can only have one name. I don't require a surname to immerse myself into XIV. Why can't I at the least have an option to opt out. Or even turn them off.

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It's because his char is on the internal test server.
I bet on the offizial server he need 2 names, too

I love the surnames. There are 2 Skadi on Lindblum. I don't want change my name. And I bet the other don't want too.

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Originally Posted by Overkill9000

rly? still going on this? still arguing cumbersome and difficult? you know a space is just ONE more character right? typed several in all your posts. no big! extra word. i can't go on! /faint o.O' i can see possibly reducing the total characters between the two names because sometimes two huge names is annoying, and having optional one name. rly if the person wants an annoying name so badly a surname won't stop them. but the whole arguement that the surname is too difficult is just phooey.

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Read the first page? eh?

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Originally Posted by DeadRiser

Lina Lux. How epic does that sound? I love alliteration.

I'd rather "Big Arse" than XxxXXXBigxxxArseXXXxxX

^like what the hell is that? A crown for your name?

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i nearly forgot about all the poor souls who actually though putting a bunch of Xs in there name was a good idea...

Sir names seem to have cut down on the sepheroths as well..

So basically I skipped everything, this thread is way too long to get into now. But to answer the OP question; the day they remove my character's surname, is the day they remove a part of my character. I've had it since I started out. Then it's better to change the way 'tell' works.

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Originally Posted by Kam

Read the first page? eh?

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no ty ^.^;

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Originally Posted by Jinrya-Geki

For anyone who wants to get rid of surnames, if we lose them... I will find you.

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I can help!

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Originally Posted by Kiote

i nearly forgot about all the poor souls who actually though putting a bunch of Xs in there name was a good idea...

Sir names seem to have cut down on the sepheroths as well..

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all those x's in the name would definitely mean you'd have to run to me for a party invite as i would not be typing it.

lol I take it some people actually hate freedom in mmorpgs... I'd just go back to FFXI or WoW if that's the case...