As most of us know, CoH had strict naming policies with regards to uniqueness, copying legally owned characters, and punctuation. CO, however, has a different naming scheme: only your @ handle had to be unique. You could have ten different "Raven Darkblackdeath" on your team, as long as their handle was unique. Both systems have pluses and minuses. CoH forced creativity, and in the case of Virtue, community. The Virtue name forum was bustling, and I gave and received a lot of great names. However, if you needed a specific name, and the person who had it hadn't played since launch, you were out of luck.
With CO, you can name yourself anything. It may even be unique! But even if you grabbed a name you thought was so unique and awesome you couldn't believe it, there could be ten other toons with the same name in the tutorial.
Personally, I think I prefer CoH's naming conventions. Sure, I got blocked out of dozens of names I wanted. I also got to spend hours researching different spider and snake varieties, mental conditions, and old words in crusty dictionaries that nobody has used for a century. I even made a character with a "?" in his name, and I loved the Golden Age feel it gave the character.
What naming convention do you prefer? Devs, at this time, is there any information about what naming convention we might see in CoT?
The @global naming convention is pretty much the way things are done these days in MMOs. From what has been said in other forum threads I believe this is the way CoT is going to handle it. The real debate is on whether or not the global handle is always visible or not, or under what circumstances, etc.
-----------------------------------------
I never set anything on fire accidentally!
The Titan Legacy - Defender of the Inner Flame
I also liked CoH's naming conventions, it made you really think of what made your character special and individual.
Oh man, that global handle had BETTER be a toggle. Flying around as Centurion@snickersnort is a lot less epic than flying around as Centurion.
GW2 does not show the global floating above the head, but if you select a player and click you can see it, or hover over their portrait if they are in your team. I'm sure that is not the only game that handles it this way.
-----------------------------------------
I never set anything on fire accidentally!
The Titan Legacy - Defender of the Inner Flame
I debated this back in like January and i agree why we have to do it this way. Yes, i believe they are going with @global because of many reason and with options.
Pros were
1. Everyone can choose the name they want with their creation.
With their goal of 1 server for everyone, having unique character names would limit the naming options just after 1 month :)
If naming was tough on CoX with 12? Servers then just think how it will be with only 1.
Cons which was my argument was
1. The unique of a name. Being the one and only batman.
2. Knowing who is who based on characters used
Options i can see
1. Always showing character name only both in the world, in chat, in team window.
2. Shows character@global in chat, in the world, in team window
3. Shows only @global in chat, in team world, in the world
4. Option 1 with @global on mouse over
Variation between em of course
My favorite option to have as default is to have option 4
Keep @global to a minimum of mouse over and friends list
-AlienMafia (Justice Server)
Main: Thorns 13xx Badges
I much prefer the way that CO handled the naming convention. Having a unique Global and providing the ability to name your characters anything you can imagine, regardless of the fact 1 other person may have used it already.
I haven't played CO in forever, but I believe there is an option so the Global doesn't float above your head, only your character name. The only time I saw a Global was in chat.
That's the way I would like to see it work anyways.
Personally, I hope there's an option to never see @global. I turned that puppy off in CO as soon as I loaded in.
The problem with making each character name unique is that it creates Batman999's. Suddenly you have a heroic landscape full of Batman999, The-Real-Iron-Man, xXReaperXx... talk about breaking immersion. You want to see this in action? Go play DC Universe Online. Wander around the Watchtower and count how many Supermans, Batmans and other dupes you can find.
Be glad of the @global naming convention. It doesn't stop Batman999s... but it slows them down.
--
"My attention span doesn't wander. It takes long trips to exotic locales where it meets strange women that leave it crying and broken in the hot, hot sun."
--me
On the uniqueness of names...
1) In the games I have played with the global handle I have not seen anyone with my name (or one of my friends). Could they have it somewhere? Sure, but out of sight, out of mind. I have heard plenty of other stories that are similar
2) With this system we never have to worry about expiring names on inactive accounts. How many names in CoH were tied up by inactive players or someone who was active but hadn't touched a a particular toon in three years?
3) As John mentioned, it eliminates the need throw asci sprinkles into a name (unless it is supposed to be a l337 speak). Though I do have to admit, I did have a certain appreciation for the Parallel Illusions SG, that was downright clever.
-----------------------------------------
I never set anything on fire accidentally!
The Titan Legacy - Defender of the Inner Flame
Also, if we have different shards or servers, we can easily explain name duplication: different timelines! So now I'm Captain Amazing of Earth-7, you're Captain Amazing of Earth-9, he's Captain Amazing of Earth-23... and [i]she's[/i] Captain Amazing of Earth-63.
--
"My attention span doesn't wander. It takes long trips to exotic locales where it meets strange women that leave it crying and broken in the hot, hot sun."
--me
How about you can choose any name you want, but the game tells you how many of them are already out there? That may give someone the incentive to be a bit more creative.
Steve
___
"Listen, and understand. City of Titans is out there. It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely [i]will not stop, ever,[/i] until we are live!"
Warcabbit
This, to me, is no more or less immersion breaking than seeing 25 different "Batman" in one stroll through the park, whether they are "Batman2" "Bat-manxx" (in the case of original names) or all named "Batman" (allowing duplicate character names). We're going to see a lot of DC and Marvel, etc inspired/uninspired characters either way.
My vote goes towards forcing an original character name per server. If I think of a original backstory, costume, etc for my character and think of an original name, great for me. What's to stop someone from seeing me kick butt on the street and copy it? Copying my story and style is bad enough, now there are two Marthe Amarantha's running about both in concept and name. If that person wants to make a Marthe Amarantha-2, great I don't mind. Because I'm the original, I was the one who came up with the idea first, and you're the one running around as an obvious copy.
[img]http://i.imgur.com/lokkiCw.jpg[/img]
Former CoX Server: Liberty (Global Chat Handle ET Illusion)
I will mourn the loss of unique characters per server, but in a single server system then I can see the logic for the @global system. I actually liked having to find an unused name, but I know a lot of other people didn't. Just because *I'm* happy to footz around until I find Penny Umbra, doesn't mean all those people who wanted the name Lord Darkness shouldn't have it if it makes them happy. :-)
Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, Or what's a heaven for? - Robert Browning
EHEM! That's Dr. Professor Lord Darkness to you!
But ya, it got really ticky when you tried to make a character, had a great name picked, and then were smacked with the "Someone's got this already" window. Although it also added a bit of laughter when you found names not taken. I can't believe "Cryo" wasn't taken on Infinity. Seemed like a simple name for an ice based mutant.
Outright felt like a genius when I saw Lord Nightmare wasn't taken either ;D
[B]Revenge is motivation enough. At least it's honest...[/B]
Roleplayer; Esteemed Villain
[img]http://www.nodiatis.com/pub/5.jpg[/img]
Let's all just pray that CoT takes CoH's approach to shameless and unimaginative rip-off's: You get a random costume and a free name change to something that isn't a pathetically unoriginal copy! You like Deadpool that much? Google the word "homage" and read carefully.
'Homage' and 'blatant rip-off' are two very, very different things. An homage to Deadpool might be a similar powerset, similar costume (or just red-and-black) with a different, but similar name ("Deathwatch", "Hangman", and "Jack Gallows" are three I've seen). A blatant rip-off is the exact same costume and the exact same name (or some 'slight' difference so the creator can whine, "But it's not the same name!" It's close enough for the lawyers, buddy.)
I say there should be a three-strikes rule. First time you make a blatant rip-off, the character is deleted and you're given a warning via email. The second time you make a blatant rip-off, the character is deleted and you're auto-locked into choosing from a list of autogenerated names for your characters, If you can't be trusted to choose non-infringing names on your own, then we treat you like the child you've proven yourself to be.
Third strike? If you get off the autogenerated list name-choosing (through probation or some such) and then turn around and do it [i]again[/i], your account is deleted and your IP is banned. You are told "You are not the kind of player we want on our game." You're done. You want to play again? Get yourself a new game, new account and new IP.
Yes, it's draconian, but it reflects the kind of frustration I get from seeing all the Batman999's running around.
--
"My attention span doesn't wander. It takes long trips to exotic locales where it meets strange women that leave it crying and broken in the hot, hot sun."
--me
I say each step is accompanied by a livestream'd flogging.
Also, I'm sorry if I wasn't clear, but I was actually trying to convey the idea that...
"To homage is better than to blatantly copy"-Shakespeare.
Shakespeare said that, right?
Lady Grey... wearing a corset, long skirt, hair tied up? Good or bad?
I like this idea.
I kamehameha'd your mom
[list=1]
[*]Standard @global setup, which is to say the global must be unique, and applies to the account, while the character name only has to be unique within that account.
[*]There are no separate servers in the sense of Virtue, Infinity, etc. The *exact* details of how things will be set up (or rather, how they will appear to the players) is not yet completely pinned down, but barring any major technical problems it will very probably resemble the "zone instance" arrangement that CO has, in mechanical terms. In UI and player-consequence terms, it may or may not be much like that, we're still working through that.
[*]We have tools planned to allow dealing with folks who infringe, as well as those who use the possibilities here to harass. Personally, I'm curious just how effective the remote cattle prod module will prove, but I guess we'll just have to wait for someone foolish enough to warrant it, before we find out.
[/list]
[hr]
[color=#ff0000]Developer Emeritus[/color]
and multipurpose sheep
[img]http://missingworldsmedia.com/images/favicon.ico[/img]
[i]"I Didn't Spend Six Frickin' Years At Evil Medical School To Be Called Mister, Thank You Very Much!"[/i]
___
"Listen, and understand. City of Titans is out there. It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely [i]will not stop, ever,[/i] until we are live!"
Warcabbit
A unique global with an account based unique character is definitely my preferred choice. Having played a lot of MMO's, sometimes awesome names are taken, and for me personally, I HATE coming up with new names just to have them denied because one person has a level 1 alt that they never deleted or they quit playing but the name is still taken. I don't think this system discourages unique names either, I don't want to be Reaper if there are 4000 other Reaper's (just a random name used as example, no offense to anyone named Reaper). I still want something unique and I think the @global system is the way to go for sure.
Seconded.
___
"What you say is rather profound, and probably erroneous." - Joseph Conrad
“The universe is made up of stories, not of atoms” - Muriel Rukeyser
[color=#ff0000]Composition Team[/color]
[img]http://missingworldsmedia.com/images/favicon.ico[/img]
I'm of two minds of the naming issue.
Overall I think it a more fair system to have a name@username system that helps prevent an insular atmosphere for later joiners to the game. I brought new players into CoH throughout its 8 year lifespan and one of the common complaint among the later participants was the perception that "all the good names are taken". It might have been a perception I disagreed with but it was present and I witnessed it being a discouraging factor into getting new people into the game. Meanwhile, I saw ways around the uniqueness in CoH (the capital-i, little-l trick) that directly impacted me, one of my characters was named Indivisible, without the trickery, I myself had 3 versions of the character running around with the "same" name and I saw 2 other people using the name as well. It just didn't concern me and imitation is the sincerest form of flattery after all. Did I reserve full and exclusive rights to the name simply for getting their first? I didn't feel so, if others had a good usage for it knock themselves out.
On the flipside, I appreciated and valued the unique name system of CoH often forcing me into more creative names than I the ones I would have originally accepted before finding them already in use. For *me* I was ok with it, I suspected a non-unique system would be a better thing for the majority of the players but the system as it was didn't prove detrimental to this user and since we were forced with it anyways there wasn't much need to worry about it.
I don't know if we've had word on which way CoT is leaning and I won't be heartbroken whichever path is taken. I just hope smarter people than I consider it carefully and make the decision thats best for this game, whatever it may be.
This idea coupled with a few mouse over display options for the @global naming convention would be ideal for me.
[IMG]http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h7/Amygdala27/sigglow.png[/IMG]
I'm not a name snob. I know people who not only got a great name by camping it (sometimes for YEARS) but they then went and camped that name on every server. Nope...I can't support that.
In a game where you might have 10,000 players on at a time during peak hours and a base of (using CoH numbers) 150k players, each with multiple toons, I'm not too worried about seeing 3-4 or more Megadeaths in a team. Odds are just plain against it.
I remember when Star Wars was cool...a long, long time ago...
Exactly - and you have to consider not just being "lost in the crowd" but changes over time as well. This should be a fertile game for alt-aholism, and many people will probably play multiple characters. They will play some more than others, alternate between them, "retire" some, etc. The players themselves come and go, new ones join up, people move on. The chances of running into someone with the exact same name is really low. And if you do? It's a great conversation starter.
So - I'm all for being able to pick whatever name via a @global system! Though - even I would like the option to hide the @global - except on mouse-over, viewing the character info, etc. Have it hidden but easily accessible.
A few posts up from yours - DeathSheepFromHell's explanation.
Is there anyway to kind of combine the systems?
Like..... each name has 5 uses per year? Or... if a name is dormant for 4 months a duplicate can be made?
Global handle is hidden unless moused over in chat or on the character itself
Supporting how I can, Starting up a DA group for art, stories, and concepts to be collected
http://city-of-titans.deviantart.com/
Please join up if you plan to make or collect CoT related art.
Too much work for too little effort IMHO. Better to adopt a CO-style with the invisible username tag and let the players run with it.
In many ways simple is better.
I remember when Star Wars was cool...a long, long time ago...
I agree with you Comicsluvr. Simple is better, and CO naming conventions are my preference. No offense Steamtank but that system is a little convoluted, and would cause way too much head scratching I think. It's good to see people coming up with ideas though.