Name Change

[Wolfandre]

ok, let me try again
we are role playing
what does we role play as?
we role play as an adventurer in a medieval setting
do we have a suitable environment for that?
we have castle, busy business city, lively port city, and god-forsaken town in a middle of a jungle. we have knight, mage, mystical creature with a bit of magi-tek blend on it
does changing your name, your gender, heck even your race is logical while role playing in this kind of setting?
I don't know, but I don't think it's possible. Currently this setting doesn't have the proper technology to do so. what do you think?

I understand your fears. You see the game crumbling around you, the immersion you worked so hard to delve into all crashing to the ground. However, there comes a time when you have to break that barrier, no matter what. This is called the metagame, and suspension of disbelief. Let me go over these in turn.

The metagame is using outer world influences to affect an inner environment. Everything from naming your character Shaq Oneal, to that awful, immersion breaking 'arrow to the knee' line in Limsa Lominsa (don't remember the NPC. I nerd raged for an hour about that.) The metagame is also used to take an outer spin on inner environments, and thusly affecting the disbelief (the point of immersion) of the world around you.

Now, there are some times you have to suspend this disbelief. It always happens when the metagame is just unavoidable. Case in point, and while we're on topic, are names. When it comes down to it, we built our characters based on aesthetics, then worked around the limitations of each race. When the Dev. Team decided to give us more options and a different look to our characters, it put an element of fairness to the game. They invoked the metagame, and we have to respond by turning the other way when it comes to lore for just a second.

Personally, I had to forgo my moniker of Wolfandre because it just wasn't a Mi'qote name. Hell, it's not even a girl name. Now that I can make a cat man, I certainly don't want him named Jivu, as even THAT would invoke a suspension of disbelief on the part of the players interacting with me. Guy with a girl name? Must be a girl. Or was a girl. Or a man-girl? Thoughts like that destroy the elements of the game just as much as the names themselves do.

So you see, in terms of the world spinning around you, you just have to look the other way for the game to march forward into greatness. And in case you're wondering, I do have my credentials on the matter. I run a theatrical role-playing game with a few friends for a group of 100+ of our peers. We have to do this stuff all the time in order to progress story lines and plot arcs. It just has to happen, and there is no way around it.

[Moonbringer]

Does she comment on every thread to disagree with the person who started it?

People should be given the option especially if changing gender.

[Delila]

Name change should be allowed when you start up in 2.0. Make it so #1!

[SMKscourge]

Guess what? This is a GAME! Give us the abilty to swap race and gender, and go ye that's alright.. but to change name!? What is this MADNESS!!! This is a fantasy game, it makes no sense to change your name!! Realy?
Look at it this way, if you can't see a reason ingame lorewise to it. We always where, the new race/gender with the new name before 2.0. The only one who notices it is the players, who also notice the WORLD CHANGING!!! Realy now is it that hard or disagreeable for a name change?
"does changing your name, your gender, heck even your race is logical while role playing in this kind of setting?"
Questioning Logic in a fantasy game is Ilogical!

I want a name change with gender change, not havin Mancat called Zaria Faye. And Tell me to re roll? And then whats the point of playing now? Whats the point of working on this character, if im to just make a new one?

[AegisXI]

The opinions/wants/needs of the many outweigh the opinions/wants/needs of the few in this case name changing doesn't do anything wrong to the game. It just changing names

[MHB3000]

Even though what im about to say may be un-popular to the 3% of the FFXIV population (the people who post on the forums).. I feel that Name change is a bad idea. With the mail system and ability to make multiple characters for cheap (especially if in legacy campaign) there is no excuse for someone to re-roll a character and be back to where they were in a fraction of the time of their original character. Identity is something that is earned in an MMO community not replaced.

[AlexNiculaie]

Going to have to disagree. Reputations are pretty transient, even in an MMO. I have been playing XI since it hit NA and I don't remember ever hearing about other players outside of my LS or statics for any length of time. Even 4 months dow nthe line most people seemed to forget who did what when, unless it was just that horrible. Honestly, this isn't big issue. Let people do the one time name change, it won't effect anything.

[Vaer]

Going to have to disagree. Reputations are pretty transient, even in an MMO. I have been playing XI since it hit NA and I don't remember ever hearing about other players outside of my LS or statics for any length of time. Even 4 months dow nthe line most people seemed to forget who did what when, unless it was just that horrible. Honestly, this isn't big issue. Let people do the one time name change, it won't effect anything.

People usually lumped people together based on LS on XI anyway, didn't really matter what your name was unless you were a total jerk/really noisy/outspoken. Only thing different are the RMTs with the same name structure like the Binfens from olde midgard. Everyone knew back then who the RMTs were.

They could just add a field to Lodestone that states what their previous names were like:

Previously Known As: _______

or something. Make all the sites like XIVPads that scan lodestone able to pick it up and off you go if you care about people hiding behind new names because they have a bad rep.

[MHB3000]

If SE allows the majority of achievements earned to be account wide then I don't see the problem with re-rolling a new character, especially if your maxed out character is sending mats, gil, and gear through the mailing system.. Will SE allow us to change race/gender/name every version update? I hope not :/

[JillyBean]

I don't know if I would change my name, but I definitely would like the option available.