Someone impersonating me using my old name

[Feyvolta]

Basically someone in this game (whose name I won\\'t mention due to it being an ongoing issue) has had a problem with me and my other half ever since this person left my FC.
This morning I come online to find one of my mebers had a friend request from a conjurer with my old name, made by this person as a malicious attempt to impersonate me.
I reported this to Square who only said that I\\'d given up my old name for anyone to use basically so it wasn\\'t impersonation when clearly it is in this case at least.
Is there anything I can do?

[WinterLuna]

Unless they are harassing you or other members, there's nothing you can really do since you have technically given up your name and therefore anyone can freely take it.

If they harass you or another player then you can report them for a "legitimate" reason, although I know it must be really annoying and frustrating. Hope everything gets sorted

[StrejdaTom]

Unless they are harassing you or other members, there's nothing you can really do since you have technically given up your name and therefore anyone can freely take it.

I believe they are free to take it but I am also 100% sure they just can't act like her and steal her personality.
If they act like her and actually do stuff in her name they should be either banned or forced to rename (which is a thing, people with offensive nicks are teleported into gaol and forced to rename for free) so they cannot impersonate her anymore.

So yeah, unless OP has a proof of them acting like her, it isn't reportable, if yes, then there should be definitely some action taken from SE.

[Feyvolta]

Unless they are harassing you or other members, there's nothing you can really do since you have technically given up your name and therefore anyone can freely take it.

If they harass you or another player then you can report them for a "legitimate" reason, although I know it must be really annoying and frustrating. Hope everything gets sorted

They have previously harassed me as their main account and they spent most of last night following one of my members around. They also use shout whenever I'm around - not using my name but I know it'd addressed to me because he used a particular insult he used upon sending me a PSN message during which I was referred to by said insult and also told he hoped I'd "cop cancer".
This however having occurred on PSN and not in game means I have little evidence barring the shouts to report him for.

[WinterLuna]

I believe they are free to take it but I am also 100% sure they just can't act like her and steal her personality.
If they act like her and actually do stuff in her name they should be either banned or forced to rename (which is a thing, people with offensive nicks are teleported into gaol and forced to rename for free) so they cannot impersonate her anymore.

She didn't actually state that they were acting like her but that her friend had a friend request from this person, if that's the case then yes, you should be able to report them. If so, send in another report and explain in detail of what is happening including times and dates so the GM's can do something.

Edit: This would be very difficult then as they are dodging any way of you being able to report them. SE are very specific with their reports and need quite a lot of information to do anything about it. I once had a person saying very horrible things about me to other people (and even had screenshots) but because he wasn't addressing me personally, SE couldn't (wouldnt) do anything about it.

I'd document anything he says with the date and time. Again, SE need every little piece of information to be able to take action. Good luck

[Kosmos992k]

I believe they are free to take it but I am also 100% sure they just can't act like her and steal her personality.
If they act like her and actually do stuff in her name they should be either banned or forced to rename (which is a thing, people with offensive nicks are teleported into gaol and forced to rename for free) so they cannot impersonate her anymore.

So yeah, unless OP has a proof of them acting like her, it isn't reportable, if yes, then there should be definitely some action taken from SE.

Exactly, I think that taking the name that has been given up is not a problem, as long as the person doesn't use that maliciously. As soon a malicious action is taken that makes use of the name to mislead anyone into believing it's you, I think you'd have a case to report. But simply using the name doesn't seem like it would be sufficient reason to file a report; it's legitimate to use any name you want as long as it is not already taken and doesn't break the T&C.

Honestly, if I were to change my in-game name (which I won't), I'd create a new Alt immediately on the server with the name I was giving up to prevent anyone from impersonating me - especially if I knew there was already one or more players with an ax to grind.

[Remilia_Nightfall]

And this is why you create an alt with your old name and keep it there forever

At least that's what I did.

[Sakuraluna]

At this point, I'm afraid I can't think of anything immediate that you could do, as the GM was correct that since you've given the name up, anyone has the right to use it. Thing is though... If they took the name specifically to harass you by impersonation, then I doubt they'd leave it at just using a name. I'd say keep an eye on them and report them for anything malicious that they might do both on that character and on their main (if the character isn't their main already). Unfortunately, having a list of things this person has done to harass you will work more in your favor than just reporting a name change.

Also, if the name you were using before was a very common name, like a character name from a tv show or book, then it could be a completely different player just looking to make friends. (Though not so much if the name is original enough that you know it most likely points back to this person, but that would have still probably been the gm's assumption.)

[Feyvolta]

I'll be sure to make note of any harassment from either character.
The name itself is quite unique as only myself and one other ever had the name and the other is a resident of a server I have never stepped foot on and is a male to boot.

[Feyvolta]

And this is why you create an alt with your old name and keep it there forever

At least that's what I did.

I originally planned to but I never got round to it. I guess I figured no one would be malicious enough to pretend to be me and that the name was unique enough not to be copied easily.