@Yoshida> Please remove inactive lvl1-49 characters that take popular names!

[Final-Fantasy]

I think its a good idea to have a system that automatically renames your INACTIVE character/s after say, 365 days of no subscription*.

Why not, if you don't play much, it wont bother you, will it.

[Felis]

I think its a good idea to have a system that automatically renames your INACTIVE character/s after say, 365 days of no subscription*.

Why not, if you don't play much, it wont bother you, will it.

Or a system, that change automatic the last letter of the surname of the new character.
Why not, if you don't have started playing yet, it wont bother you, will it.

As for the second paragraph, there are plenty of people with names like those. So if they're against ToS, should I be going on a ticket spree for the sake of Balmung? Some people don't realize that they could have put in a popular name into it. For example, I had a character with "Jojo" in the name, but never knew about Jojo's Bizzare Adventure. Should I have gotten in trouble? I'm not saying everyone accidentally did, but some honestly are accidents.

Would be only a problem if the name is 100% identical.
Another surname = another person

Jojo can also just mean this:

[Hito-Shura]

To all the naysayers. I would like to remind you that a system is in place already that forces you to stay active or else you lose the house you invested millions of gils in. I find it to be hypocrisy to refuse such an idea when the kicking system for housing was praised when implemented.

In my opinion, I think it would be fair. You have one already with the housing so why not add one for names and further enchain the players to the game? Myeah? I think, though, that a reasonable amount of time, say a year, is beyond enough to flag you as an inactive player making a system add some random letters at the end of your name and offer you a free name change upon your return.

[Felis]

To all the naysayers. I would like to remind you that a system is in place already that forces you to stay active or else you lose the house you invested millions of gils in. I find it to be hypocrisy to refuse such an idea when the kicking system for housing was praised when implemented.

house plots are limited
names in a two name system are endless. The limit is the players creativity.

example:
someone can take your Kaz and use the surname Asham without problems with your character

[Hito-Shura]

house plots are limited
names in a two name system are endless. The limit is the players creativity.

example:
someone can take your Kaz and use the surname Asham without problems with your character

I don't consider it a valid argument when the subject of this discussion is about names that are recognisable and not made-up names. A minor thing, I admit without hesitation, but no different than housing in term of limitations. Let it be know also that such names are only available once in a life time and offered to those quick enough to snatch them before another, usually at launch. Not even time and efforts invested like housing.

Also, the name I currently have was the result of my inability to use a name I've been using for years in mmorpgs. A name that, although extremely obscure and unpopular, was still chosen by some lvl 23 marauder who hasn't been active in god knows how long. I don't really care anymore since I like my new name. But it is a bittersweet feeling considering the missed opportunity.

[Aldora]

To all the naysayers. I would like to remind you that a system is in place already that forces you to stay active or else you lose the house you invested millions of gils in. I find it to be hypocrisy to refuse such an idea when the kicking system for housing was praised when implemented.

In my opinion, I think it would be fair. You have one already with the housing so why not add one for names and further enchain the players to the game? Myeah? I think, though, that a reasonable amount of time, say a year, is beyond enough to flag you as an inactive player making a system add some random letters at the end of your name and offer you a free name change upon your return.

Honestly? I hate that system, because it forces me to go to my house in order for me to keep it. Personally, if they wanted to introduce a system like that, why not use a system where you just have to log in order to keep your house? The time i play is limited, so i try to get the most out of my play time as i can. This means that i'll jump online, work on the moogle quests and run my daily dungeons till it's time for me to head off to bed. Due to this, i forget to head back to my house and log off there, because i'd have to go out of my way to get to my house (just so that i can log off). The moment i'd log back into the game, i'd go back to Idylshire for my daily routine anyway.

I had my own house a while ago. But, after getting a couple of mails (saying that the house would be demolished if i wouldn't enter my house within the next couple of days) i decided that it's just not worth the hassle. Therefor, i let the timer run out, have the house get demolished and just left it with that. On top of that, i also had stuff going on in real life where i couldn't log in for a couple of weeks (PC broke down and i didn't have a replacement i could use). Because of that, i lost all of the furnishings the Housing NPC would hold on to for a limited amount of time.

The question is, why did it have to be like this? I play the game almost on a daily basis. I have plenty of things to do, like leveling and gearing jobs, getting the weekly drops from raids, capping my tomes, running content with friends, etc. So, why do people like me have to go to the house in order to keep it? The system was meant to clear out houses from people who have been inactive for an longer period of time, so that others will have the opportunity to get a house.

However, this problem was caused because there weren't a lot of plots available to begin with. This is a structural flaw within the housing system. But, the feature the OP is requesting is not a structural flaw within the system. The OP is simply annoyed of the fact that he/she cannot create a character with a certain name, because the name has already been taken by someone else. He/she requests that every inactive character below level 50 should be renamed, so that he/she can use that specific name for his/her character. To me, that's just some one being selfish and greedy (pardon my English).

If SE would even consider a feature like this, then they should not check if the character has been inactive for an extended period of time, but check if the service account has been inactive for an extended period of time. The same should've applied for the Housing system. They should've looked at the activity of the service account, not if they have entered the house within a certain amount of time.

I mean, come on... People can be a little bit more creative when coming up with a character name. There are plenty of (Fantasy) Name Generators, in case people need some inspiration when coming up with a name for their character.

[Hito-Shura]

Stuff that is very true. No joke.

I entirely agree. The housing system, at its core, is flawed and they used this flaw to enforce this obligation to log on and be active with it or else face VERY HEAVY consequences. It just so happened that the playerbase requested it first, not knowing they were giving a company the key to keep a part of its players through the obvious act of keeping one's house, investment and efforts hostage under the pretense of fairness. A friend has invested 200 million in his house and is now forced to stay subscribed, not wanting to lose the amount which is ridiculous since she is currently taking a break, thus making her spend money for almost nothing. Same happened to me. I took a break for 2-3 months last year because life prevented me from giving the game much attention. I still play today but with 15mil less in my pockets since my house and all its furniture was destroyed and deleted as punishment for not playing the game. Because, let's face it, that's what it is and not a golden opportunity for some random player to take my house and going inactive shortly after, thus losing it in turn. I am not making this up.

All in all, the kicking system is idiotic and unfair, especially since the option to ''recover'' your stuff is hindered by time(another enforcing tool to stay subscribed) AND inventory space.

But let us stay on subject since this discussion is about names and not housing. I defend OP's idea since the housing system is far worst than a naming system and I think my contributing suggestion to make the inactivity flag appear after a year is very reasonable considering the facts. I'm not saying they should make it a thing, i'm in fact against all kinds of punishment systems but if housing was made, there is no reason to refuse its theoretical implementation. Alongside this, just like housing, names can have a sentimental value and it's not because someone can't relate to a particular name that they should disrespect the wish for someone to acquire said sentimental value for themselves from someone who no longer plays the game.

[Aldora]

But let us stay on subject since this discussion is about names and not housing. I defend OP's idea since the housing system is far worst than a naming system and I think my contributing suggestion to make the inactivity flag appear after a year is very reasonable considering the facts. I'm not saying they should make it a thing, i'm in fact against all kinds of punishment systems but if housing was made, there is no reason to refuse its theoretical implementation. Alongside this, just like housing, names can have a sentimental value and it's not because someone can't relate to a particular name that they should disrespect the wish for someone to acquire said sentimental value for themselves from someone who no longer plays the game.

No worries. I was merely pointing out the differences between the auto-demolition feature from the housing system compared to the request from the OP when it comes to renaming and claiming character names.

Which is basically why i ended my previous post with:

If SE would even consider a feature like this, then they should not check if the character has been inactive for an extended period of time, but check if the service account has been inactive for an extended period of time. The same should've applied for the Housing system. They should've looked at the activity of the service account, not if they have entered the house within a certain amount of time.

Someone who's currently playing the game, should not have one of their characters flagged as "inactive" if the character belongs to a service account the player is still using. He/she could be leveling different characters. If the player hasn't paid his/her subscription for an extended period of time (like a year or 2) and the service account hasn't been reactivated since then, you can safely say that the player stopped playing the game. For example, since FFXIV went into Alpha in 2010, i stopped playing FFXI and i haven't touched it since. So, after almost 7 years, i wouldn't mind if SE has deleted my character entirely (since i won't be playing the game anymore). Even if i did decide to pick up the game again, i'd probably want to start over anyway.

The main issue with a feature like this is: Who are we to say that the name has less sentimental value to the player who had chosen this name for his/her character? Is the person behind the character taking a break, or did he/she stop playing the game in general?

Like you said in your post, a system like the one the OP mentioned should not be a thing in any game. But, if it's obvious that the player doesn't play the game anymore, then they won't be needing the name anymore. It's just hard to determine if the player did stop playing the game, or if they are taking a break.