Are names unique to the character like it was in City Of Heroes or will it be more like Champions Online where anyone can have any name? I'm kinda hoping it's the latter and there won't be a big rush to get all the "good" names.
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Shadryx
Thu, 12/03/2015 - 19:42
#1
How do character names work?
I prefer it to be like City of Heroes in almost all aspects, names especially. No one ever picks the names I choose.
It would be just my luck if the name I want for my main character would be snatched up ten minutes before I create him.
Shadryx
[Url=http://cityoftitans.com/comment/19298#comment-19298]Way back when[/url],
Foradain, Mage of Phoenix Rising.
[url=https://cityoftitans.com/forum/foradains-character-conclave]Foradain's Character Conclave[/url]
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Avatar courtesy of [s]Satellite9[/s] [url=https://www.instagram.com/irezoomie/]Irezoomie[/url]
If no one ever picks the same names you use then having a global naming system (like the one CO uses) shouldn't really bother you one way or the other. *shrugs*
One of the typical criticisms of a global naming system is that some people claim it would lead to everyone using the same common names. In other words people think there would be a million "Super Dudes" or other cliché comic book names. But in my experience with games that use a global naming system you basically never really run into duplicate names while playing. I think I've only seen it happen once or twice out of several years worth of playing games like that.
The key advantage of a global naming system is that you don't have to worry, for example, about a given name being locked out by some idiot level 2 character that was created years ago by a player that has stopped playing the game. There are simply far more advantages like that using global names.
CoH player from April 25, 2004 to November 30, 2012
[IMG=400x225]https://i.imgur.com/NHUthWM.jpeg[/IMG]
In my perfect game server:
Allow for the purchase of a name.
Otherwise names are on a @Global system
Crowd Control Enthusiast
I'm in favor of "toon@user" or whatever you'd call it.
R.S.O. of Phoenix Rising
That might provide some money to MWM but besides that a "purchase character name" system would still have all the same problems the original CoH non-global name system had. You'd still have people locking up names that couldn't be used by anyone else even if those players left the game.
I'm all for finding fun new ways to support MWM financially but I can't really see any advantage to such a "pay for names" scheme for the players. Perhaps you could explain what you think would make your idea better than the original CoH system or even a global name system.
CoH player from April 25, 2004 to November 30, 2012
[IMG=400x225]https://i.imgur.com/NHUthWM.jpeg[/IMG]
That's pretty much the "global" name system in a nutshell.
CoH player from April 25, 2004 to November 30, 2012
[IMG=400x225]https://i.imgur.com/NHUthWM.jpeg[/IMG]
Something about seeing someone else with your really cool concept's name out in the world can be kind of disheartening but I'd rather be inclusive than exclusive so I completely agree that the @Global should be the base system
I would honestly pay to rent the name tho .. and you guys know by now I'm not against monetization for details like this
That being said, i assume there will be a blacklist system in place for people who want names like "Jean Grey" and "Wonder Woman" so why not let that same system make you some bling instead of just costing you bling is all I'm saying
Crowd Control Enthusiast
Auctions!
[i]Has anyone seen my mind? It was right here...[/i]
I've thought of name auctions before while playing CoH. I think they'd get pretty crazy.
FIGHT EVIL! (or go cause trouble so the Heroes have something to do.)
Oh, they'd definitely get crazy. And it would be cool if you could see the final price in the character bio screen. "You paid how much for that?!" Whale bait.
[i]Has anyone seen my mind? It was right here...[/i]
Precisely.
People who never had a problem naming their characters and finding original names in CoH should not have a problem doing so in CoT. If someone goes about picking names that are the equivalent of "Batman" or "Wolverine" then they have no room to complain if other people have picked the same names. For those who really are that paranoid about it, the unique name system is no great guarantee either. Would it really make anyone feel that much better to see "mysuperuniquename" and "XmysuperuniquenameX" versus "mysuperuniquename@user1" and "myseruperuniquename@user2"?
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That's exactly what I was thinking Darth Fez, there were plenty of times when I saw things like, Lightning Shock - Lightnin Shock - Lightning Shok etc.
No matter what you do there is going to be something of the sort, I think the global name is a great way to go
The Carnival of Light in the Phoenix Rising
"We never lose our demons, we only learn to live above them." - The Ancient One
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By "rent" do you mean paying an ongoing fee (monthly?) to keep it unique? If so then it might work since it'll be "released" back into the generic pool once they stop playing and presumably paying.
I would be against a one-time fee to create a fully unique name.
The big problem will be if one person buys a name when one or more others also have it. I don't really see how it would be fair to force a name change on the others at that point.
That would be a pretty significant modification to the black list system, by introducing another field to it or creating a secondary one, where it will allow one specific player to have one specific name but deny it for all other players.
If we take GM names into account (pretty sure they will be unique, or at least restricted to a GM pool) then I'm sure that is handled on an account level and not on a character level.
I would suggest that it would be worth it to allow one specific player to have an otherwise banned name. [url=http://cityoftitans.com/forum/game-master-tool-player-account-notes]RottenLuck reports[/url] a precedent: that Jim Butcher played his character Harry Dresden in CoH. I would not want our devs to have to tell a published author, "No, you can't use the copyrighted name of your character because it's copyrighted." I'd much rather they say, "Certainly, Ms Lackey can play a character named Diana Tregarde. All we need is to be sure that you are [I]that[/i] Mercedes Lackey."
Acceptable certification procedures are left as an exercise for the devs. ^_^
Foradain, Mage of Phoenix Rising.
[url=https://cityoftitans.com/forum/foradains-character-conclave]Foradain's Character Conclave[/url]
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Owning the copyright to a character gives you a lot of leverage to using that name in other games.
But it all depends as to how tightly they police those names though. For all you know, someone could have taken that name previously, and due to lack of enforcement it was not stopped from being taken... so then when the original creator shows up, do you force the older character to be renamed just for the author wanting to use it and potentially loosing the existing character (who might well have not even known about that name being copyrighted).
I know someone who quite CoX because they had their *forum* (and ingame) name forcibly changed on them; one name that they had used for a few years on the CoX forums. The thing is, it wasn't the name of a superhero or the name of a book character (any genre)[1].
And yet, there I was using THIS forum name (or a derivative of it) on the forums for the life of the game in the EU market.
[1] Persil was the forum user if you remember them.
Normally in these games, the license says that for all practical purposes you're giving them the right to use any character you create in the game as they see fit. Generally, this doesn't come up as a problem when an author uses a character they own, but if the game company wants to be EA-grade jerks about it,
So if an author wants to do something like that, they can, but if they want to have an amended license in place that keeps MWM from taking over their character (and using it in advertising, for example) they'll probably need to have that license in place before they create the character.
Also, if an author licenses their character to a studio for a TV show or whatever, they have to indemnify MWM against that studio suing them for use of that character. Studios are very protective of their turf.
[i]Has anyone seen my mind? It was right here...[/i]
And remember this as well: whilst it might seem like a lot of hurdles for the SMALL guy to jump through... the large companies have to jump through them as well.
Yes I said an on-going rental because "buying" a name and then leaving the game is bad for the overall game population imho. The entire digital sales model is based on recurring sales.
It's better to get people used to the idea of paying small somethings accumulating in larger revenues
Crowd Control Enthusiast
I like reading this post (remember the original discussion years ago).
I don't remember who brought it up originally but a few liked the idea of each paid @global would be able to have 1 unique name that they can register at any point. The older the game gets the harder it will be to register an unused name.
-AlienMafia (Justice Server)
Main: Thorns 13xx Badges
Thanks for clarifying that you meant that you'd like to RENT names instead of BUYING them. Your first post on this thread said you'd like to "purchase" names which generally means buying something outright, not renting.
For what it's worth the idea of renting character names is an interesting one, as long as the price is set to be something very trivial, like say $0.25 a month. The main goal of such a rental system is technically not to provide money to MWM (that's a best a very side benefit to this) as much as creating a mechanism to release names once a player STOPS paying. Remember that players might choose to have multiple rented names and it would be pretty bad if any given player had to pay say more than perhaps a total of $5 or $10 for this for all their characters per month.
CoH player from April 25, 2004 to November 30, 2012
[IMG=400x225]https://i.imgur.com/NHUthWM.jpeg[/IMG]
The solution to that would actually be in your example since you suggest User1 vs User2.
You didn't suggest User vs UserX in your example.. that'd be silly.
I'm not understanding why people aren't seeing "Heroguy" vs "Heroguy (2)" as a viable naming system, vs. Heroguy@ThisOverlyLongGlobalNameIsToMakeAPoint Heroguy@ThisNameIsAlsoLong.
I've heard people suggest they don't want to be referred to as BaconGuy 20, but I would think that would be a given.. you're not going to refer to each other buy the full global name either in game, presumably. The number would basically be the "Hero guide naming system" that real comicbooks use in their handbooks but totally ignored in game. (Or flat out contradicted if in-game logic contradicts who actually got the global name first.)
Mind you, I don't have to understand it since they're going with the global naming system and ultimately, I really don't care so long as the solution is viable.
Longtime City of Heroes player, longtime writer. :) Working in Nebraska.
COT: Mission tips writer, studying Cinema 4D animation program
So, if I chose the name for my toon 'BantMan', my global is still 'BantMan@MyGlobal'... but there's also a Unique one thats created automatically that isnt show 'BantMan227', unless you look at the players Stats/Bio/etc... Window somewhere, where you can see if its the very 1st one: 'BantMan' or 'the 227'th 'BantMan227'?
Izzy serious?
Heh.. sorry. bad pun.
I kind of like that best of both worlds approach actually. :)
Like a character index name. I wonder if people would complain about being #64 if #48 isn't active anymore.
Edit: I thought about it more and I kind of like the concept of a "This is the Xth character to register this name under the global data network" type stat. It would be a cool stat.
Longtime City of Heroes player, longtime writer. :) Working in Nebraska.
COT: Mission tips writer, studying Cinema 4D animation program
I'm glad we'll be using the toonname@global but I sure will miss that feeling of lying in bed and having a concept hit me and jumping online to see if the name is available ... and it is!!!
"I don't think you understand the gravity of your situation."
With Izzy's stat suggestion, would you still get that thrill if you see a note saying you're the first to pick it?
Arguably, it'd be an even bigger thing to pull off since there's no chance of it being used on another server, since we're not using the classic multishard system.
Longtime City of Heroes player, longtime writer. :) Working in Nebraska.
COT: Mission tips writer, studying Cinema 4D animation program
I hadn't thought about that till you asked. I probably would!
"I don't think you understand the gravity of your situation."
But would you want to pick a different name if you saw that it was used 500 times?
The Carnival of Light in the Phoenix Rising
"We never lose our demons, we only learn to live above them." - The Ancient One
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If 'Hado Master' was taken 300 times already, and i really wanted to roll a toon that looks like Ryu from Street Fighter, (and probably get generic'ed), i would still pick it. ;D
We are all Spartacus.
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We are the Borg.
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I don't know if anyone has mentioned this, but I hope we can have self-created titles before and after our names too--ie. Superman: The Man of Steel, Daredevil: The Man Without Fear, Blade: The Daywalker, Batman: The Dark Knight, The Invincible Iron Man, The Amazing Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk, etc. etc.
It's an established comic book genre convention, AND it adds another layer of the all-important customization of theme that is such a big part of the legacy and spirit of CoH. And it should be titles you create, not just pre-fabed ones like in CoH--let's move things forward!
I'd be ok with these being earned as accomplishments or awarded by leveling, and it should probably be limited to choosing whether you want your title before OR after your name to keep things from getting out of hand, but it'd be a really nice touch with, presumably, little work to integrate this into the game somehow, since they wouldn't be part of your global or anything.
FIGHT EVIL! (or go cause trouble so the Heroes have something to do.)
I'm Ok with this, as long as the players can turn it off.
For instance:
I dont want see text above everyone's Character that takes up the Majority of my screen.
[img]http://i.imgur.com/mob2R39.png[/img]
I go to options and turn Titles Off, as well as a number of other things...
...So the only thing that I see, is the 1st 15 characters, and that's All. ;)
Well, the players I Black-Listed might have Red colored text too. ;)
Then it might be better for there to be an optional or earn-able space for titles on the character's in-game bio page?
Or both? A visible title that other players can turn off to avoid clutter, but that shows on their bio page? I like that actually. Gives the most chance that people will actually see your title without forcing them to have on-screen clutter if they don't want it.
So... you could get, earn, or level into a title slot on your bio page where you type in your title and it always shows on your bio page. It also shows ingame with your name, but that can be turned off by you or by other players, though it would still be on your bio page. Nice and versatile but allows for the title to at least always show to those curious enough to click on you.
Assuming we have an in-game bio page. I assume we will.
PS- I really hope we'll have an option for the title to be either in on top/in front of or behind/beneath the name. We need to be able to create both titles like The Spectacular Spider-Man AND like Superman, The Man of Steel.
FIGHT EVIL! (or go cause trouble so the Heroes have something to do.)
Oh, we've got to have an in-game bio page. It's almost no effort compared to everything else, and it was one of the better parts of CoX.
I'm assuming we'll probably be able to [url=http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Titles]display titles above our names like CoX[/url], and underneath our names obtained from badges like with STO and lots of others. Also SG names.
[i]Has anyone seen my mind? It was right here...[/i]
In life the majority of titles are bestowed by society not self-granted (at least if you don't want to be assumed to be self important.) As a twist, how about titles that can only be granted by the unanimous decision of the other party members of a group you are in after achieving "X" Heroic or Villainous feat ?
They also serve, who only stand and wait.
That is true, in life. In comic books, however, characters can't self-importantly self-bestow titles because they are not real. They're fictional creations.
Titles in comic books are bestowed, not by society, but by the character's creator, which is the role that players will be playing in the game--the creators of their characters and their stories.
I don't have a problem with a path to earning the right to bear a title, but, as the character's creator, I want to choose what it is word for word, and why.
FIGHT EVIL! (or go cause trouble so the Heroes have something to do.)
I've no problem with this idea, in principle, so long as it doesn't prevent me from quickly and easily identifying a PC's name. To use Izzy's example, it'll be a problem if I can't tell whether the "Awesome" is a part of the title or a part of the character's name. I agree that using the CoH approach will likely be the best option.
Also, if we do get self-created titles then I'd definitely want a limit on what'll be displayed on the character. I'd rather not see the occasional joker with an entire paragraph of text floating above their head, with the only option to avoid that being to turn off titles entirely.
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I would also like other users to be able to toggle off the extra stuff on their side. It is one thing that I do in Wildstar. Granted, I forget if it is an addon that I use for it, but all I ask to see is the Users name. Not their Guild/Circle membership, nor their Title.
If I want to know/see more, then I just mouse over them, and it is shown in their tooltip.
I totally agree with all of the visual clutter and abuse concerns.
Keeping the character's title mainly, or even only, on the bio sheet for RP purposes, with or without the option for it to show with your name ingame, would solve that handily. Also, there has to be a letter count limit equivalent to roughly one long word for titles before the name and a few words for the title after the name--in keeping with general comic book conventions--so people will at least be limited in how they can abuse it.
I really don't have a problem with even the most restrictive title system --say, where you have to earn or even pay for it, it only shows up on your bio page, and it is limited in letter count. As long as there is some way in game for a character to have a player-created title if that's part of the player's concept.
Titles are on almost every single comic book cover, so, as relatively easy as this would be to implement, it seems like there should be an actual system for this in a Superhero game. And not just the "Incredible" or "Amazing" title before the name, but the equally common (and often more fun) "Man of Steel" or "The Daywalker" title after the name--though I personally think this should be either/or, not both.
PS- I know there will be mixed feelings about this next point, but, just like costume pieces, this is an additional level of conceptual customization and individualization, and some people will WANT it for their characters and be willing to pay--so this is totally a non-pay-to-win revenue opportunity for CoT. An additional non-pay-to-win revenue stream for such relatively easy implementation? Seems well worth the return on effort.
FIGHT EVIL! (or go cause trouble so the Heroes have something to do.)
500 times... I'd probably try to pick a different name unless it was vitally important to my concept (I can't in all honesty see a situation where it was THAT important, but...).
Afterward, I suppose on how often I ran into the 500 other players using the same name.
Granted, I don't play CO all that often but I've yet to run into anyone else using the same name as me.
"I don't think you understand the gravity of your situation."
The theoretical idea/concern that you'd run into "500" other characters named exactly same thing is an interesting hypothetical question to ponder. But I as I mentioned earlier in this thread that kind of thing simply doesn't actually happen in practice. Once again in my several year experience playing games that used some kind of global naming system I think I ran across a pair of duplicate names (as in two characters standing in the same place with the same name) maybe twice at most.
This so-called "problem" is simply not a statistically relevant issue when you're actually playing a game like this. *shrugs*
CoH player from April 25, 2004 to November 30, 2012
[IMG=400x225]https://i.imgur.com/NHUthWM.jpeg[/IMG]
Knowing how MMOs work, chances are, of those "500" (because Lothic's right that there's no way that there'd ever be that many), only maybe 2 of the people who chose that name for their character will still even be playing them. So, yeah.
Duplicate names come up for one of three reasons:
1. On purpose, whether it is one player giving his alts all the same(ish) name or a group of players picking the same it is a player made choice to be identical.
2 The name is cliched or not that original to start with, this would be all the "Super Dudes" and "Bat Guys" out there.
3. It is just a coincidence; different minds thinking alike.
If I run into another alt named SyntaxError37, I would not be upset, I would be curious. What led the player to the same name I did? In short I am more willing to see them as a kindred spirit, rather than a name thief
-----------------------------------------
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The Titan Legacy - Defender of the Inner Flame
3a. The name is from a common concept that's very likely to be used in superhero names. This is why we got "Redlynne" instead of "Redline" (which was the original pen-and-paper RPG character name, and was already in use in CoH when Red signed up.
IMHO, this is where most of the PITA name collisions will take place, because they're not malicious or trying to toe the line on copyright.
[i]Has anyone seen my mind? It was right here...[/i]
I've fallen on both sides of the spectrum. I've had the, "What, other people use that name?" moments and the, "What, nobody's used that name?" moments.
No doubt people will continue to survive not being the only "Michael" or "Jennifer" in class.
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Wait, there's another Jennifer in class?!?! *Gunshot*
The Carnival of Light in the Phoenix Rising
"We never lose our demons, we only learn to live above them." - The Ancient One
Avatar by lilshironeko
Prefer the global naming system. It allows people to have the names they want, which isn't easy when games don't allow already in use names. :p I know I have at least TWO names I've used for superhero types that are in use now by the major publishers :/ (Backlash and Angel Dust) sooo, I'm sure it can happen to others. :p
As for running into the same names, usually only see it when people are doing clones of established heroes and a few common names, such as Halo.
I *really* like this idea. Maybe subs would get a discount or it was included in the sub? If you go F2P you could just switch to paying the F2P name leasing rate. Or X amount of months of unique name usage included in buying the box. Either way yeah I'd think any lifetime purchase of a name would be not great for the reason JayBezz mentioned.
I'd like to see, under the @global base system, that if you are choosing a non-rented name that someone has already you'd be able to see that at the name selection screen too. Something like, "2 other players with this name, continue?" so if you don't want to share a name you could try another on the spot. Of course this is just to appease the laziness in me because I know it would be easy enough to have logged in before hand and searched for players with the name...
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I was in the CoH Alpha many years ago (sigh, good times) and I've seen several ways to handle this - my opinion is that you should handle with the global solution. More so than any other type of MMO, people are attached to their character concepts and names. If I invested hours (yes, I said hours, I'm one of those people) in building a back story and look for my character and I got the dreaded "Name Already Taken" I'd lose my marbles. Yes, it runs the risk of bumping into another hero with the name you picked out, but explain it away that we're all part of multiverse. In this 'verse your toon was Titan City's Super Dude, and you just happened to run into a parallel version where another person became Super Dude. I think the idea of having spend even more money to buy or rent a name is too "pay to win." What happens if you have to leave the game for a while and come back? Sorry, your name got evicted... that would be even more frustrating.
Just my two cents...
~Daedelus
While I really want unique names, the reality of an MMO is you need the global naming system. It is for the greatest good. I just hope that the staff is as easy as they can be on the copyright issues. I do not profess to be knowledgeable about copy writes, but names are hard to claim as unique. I have met a Henry Tudor, so why should a person named Bruce Wayne not be able to use his real name? Plus my understanding is Wonder Woman really can't be copy writed (SP?), as it is such a common issue... but wonder woman image can be. Just a thought based on the Jean Grey post.
Copy rights cover artistic endeavors such as paintings, writings, art in comics, sculptures, etc. Basically the image of all superheroes would be copy righted. Names of heroes are covered by trade marks, which require the name to be unique in order to obtain a trade mark.
I would like us to be able to show two names, depending on what our current outfit is.
If we are in our Combat/Super/Villain Kit then I want us to show our "alias" or tag name as an option.
The second choice would be a "Real Name" the name of our character their civilian identity.
I am officially FOR the double-barrel name idea, as in "Radiac@radiac" and I am also FOR the "must have character bio page" idea. I hope our bio page text editing is better than CoX's abyssimal one. I mean seriously, even if you had to limit people to plain ASCII or even a subset of it that just allows letters, numbers and the more useful punctuation, just being able to edit the thing using modern Windows navigation tools like the arrow keys, and the mouse and being able to copy and paste plain text, etc would be an improvement. I'm not saying I want to be able to copy and paset cpreadsheets, images, sound files, links to URLs etc, just being able to actually edit the text like a normal word processor would be an upgrade.
R.S.O. of Phoenix Rising
I don't mind the "@global" thing as a way to let folks have the name they wanted. I'd just rather not have it show up in IMs or in my HUD. Too distracting and, for what its worth, kinda immersion breaking. If I want to ID the player, I should be able to go to their bio page.
Conversely, however, while a very occasionally frustrating, CoH's unique name convention sometimes pushed me to find a more creative name.. That little mini-challenge could be gratifying. As a designer, realizing that someone had your great idea before you is part of life. You sigh, and suck it up, and rework your concept.
This is always going to be a double-edged sword. Sure I could see where the global naming system could make people lazy because they'll always get their "first" choice every time. On the other hand it will save the frustration and waste of time of having to think up a dozen or more "creative" names before you find one that's free to use.
Maybe as an interesting compromise the game could give you feedback as to how many other people have used the name you've picked. For example let's say you truly want a "unique" name but when you type it in you can see that 47 other people have already used it. The game will still let you use that name if you really want, but seeing that it's already been used 47 other times you might choose to use another name that's literally more unique. The choice would be yours as to how much of a copy-cat you wanted to be.
CoH player from April 25, 2004 to November 30, 2012
[IMG=400x225]https://i.imgur.com/NHUthWM.jpeg[/IMG]
I do like this idea, if it's feasible. I'd like the choice of trying to find a relatively unique name, though I don't begrudge anyone wanting to use the same name as me. Feedback without restrictions would be great.
Being able to do quick searches to count up how many instances of a given character name exists across an entire server probably wouldn't take much effort - they ought to be doable with a relatively straightforward DB query. And a plain single number like that wouldn't give you any info about the other players who picked the name or whether those characters are even still active. Remember if the game's been around for a few years then you might be able to assume that a good percentage of the totals you get back from this are names being "used" by inactive characters.
CoH player from April 25, 2004 to November 30, 2012
[IMG=400x225]https://i.imgur.com/NHUthWM.jpeg[/IMG]
This is very true too. So, definitely a feature I'd love to see.