Inactive names.....

RBK

RBK

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Jan 2006

England

Forgotten oF Cantha

W/R

Right as you know finding a name that is worthy of you character is now next to impossible. So when they bring out factions what’s going happen? I mean if we can use all the characters from he first guild wars that means even less names will be available for factions!?

So I was thinking is it possible to delete the name of characters that haven’t been used for say 30 days or something? They would still keep there items however they would just need to be renamed be four you could use them again. Maybe a button could be made available between create and delete of something. Otherwise I can see people going around with some really lame names just so they can make a char. What do you all think?

Daena

Daena

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Dec 2005

I agree that finding a new name will get harder.
To be honest I have no idea what Anet will do about that, but I am certain that they are aware of this problem.
However, just deleting a character's name cause they haven't played for 30 days seems a bit too harsh to me. I personally think that they will give us more options to make new character names e.g. longer names, one word names, etc.

I do agree though that there is currently no option to completely leave the game and turn in your character names for others to use. I mean if someone has decided to stop playing GuildWars alltogether (God knows why ), that account cannot be cancelled and the names stay registered as "taken". Maybe Anet should consider this option?

Falcon213

Academy Page

Join Date: Feb 2006

I don't think it's hard to find a name.. only if you decide to use common names or phrases. It doesn't take much imagination to find a good name that is unique.

Soul Shaker

Soul Shaker

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Aug 2005

Sunshine Coast, Australia

Soul Crusaders

If someone has stopped altogether, and never intend to go back..well, see that little delete button?

No, i don't like the idea, but you have to be more creative. Most names are titles, rather than names. Just think. I think of last names for some chars like this: i want an ele that will either use earth or water. So i think...merge earth and water somehow..earth is shortened, water is sea. So, my last name turns into Ersea. Did the same think with my monk. Disoul=divine soul

Tuoba Hturt Eht

Tuoba Hturt Eht

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Jul 2005

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Deimos Tel Arin [CCTV]

W/

No.
There is no need to delete anyone's name just because you cannot come up with an unique name yourself.

Just bring out the creativity in you.

Daena

Daena

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Dec 2005

Quote:
Originally Posted by Soul Shaker
If someone has stopped altogether, and never intend to go back..well, see that little delete button?
You honestly think all people delete their characters when they stop playing? Anyway that's not the main issue.

With the Factions event at the end of March they expect over 3 million players, all looking for a new name, maybe even making 2 or more characters in those two days.. that will ask for a lot of creativity!
I personally don't have problems finding a name for my characters, but I can understand other people will.

Falcon213

Academy Page

Join Date: Feb 2006

I'm sure ANET will eventually start deleting characters on accounts that have been inactive for three months or so, just to cut costs on storing all those dead characters. However I don't see this happening all too soon, at least not until Factions, and then you would still have to wait three months before characters started to get deleted.

Manic Smile

Manic Smile

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Dec 2005

Hawaii

----- 15^50[Rare] ---- Alliance: ----- [SMS] -----

not true...took some time off...no deletion

Makkert

Makkert

Black Beast of Aarrrrgghh

Join Date: May 2005

The Netherlands

The Biggyverse [PLEB] // Servants of Fortuna [SoF]

No deletion.
Don't like it.

Just call your character 'Legal Ass the Elf' or 'xxxAragornxx zomg'. I'm sure everyone can think up a variation of the name they want for a long time.

Apple

Apple

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Dec 2005

N/Mo

Or you could be like these other peasants and make stupid ethereal sounding names like "Blaze Shadowbreath" or some crap like that. Ugh.

Cymmina

Cymmina

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Apr 2005

Me/N

Quote:
Originally Posted by [Apple]
Or you could be like these other peasants and make stupid ethereal sounding names like "Blaze Shadowbreath" or some crap like that. Ugh.
And what's wrong with RP sounding names?

Only the people without any sort of imagination or are unwilling to at least *try* looking for a half decent random name generator will have problems with names. The most unoriginal names and names from popular fiction will always be taken after a game launches, that's life. There's no possible way every single letter and space combination 20 characters long is taken. Maybe when even the most unusual and unique names are gobbled up, then ANet will do something about inactive accounts.

xxSilhouette

xxSilhouette

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jan 2006

Lost in the sands of time...

Blood Of Orr [BoO]

R/Rt

I agree it will be even harder, But I'd say they will lengthen the name or like others have said, let you have a one word name or something of the sort.

I don't think they should delete the characters name though - maybe after not playing for a couple of months or something, But 30 days is to shorts, I went on vacation for 2 weeks and the week I came back I had a lot lot to do and was very tire, so i was off for 3 weeks - but it didn't mean i was inactive, just meant i was busy. There is all types of names though that you can still come up with - It is hard but not all that hard.

Fantus

Fantus

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Jun 2005

Yes, Drizzt, Legolas, Gandalf and Wulfgar are taken. Every possible variation of those names, too. If I had a dime for every time I've seen a Drizzt in game...

How about the following suggestion...:

Use your imagination!! Not every character in game has to have a retarded name like "Drizzzzt-Wulffgarrrrrrr Do-Burden", right?

Isis Mordecai

Academy Page

Join Date: Oct 2005

Mo/W

www.dictionary.com , dictionary and thesaurus is a good source, i mean i used thesaurus to get the word Eidolon and crimson(thought of as colour of blood)for my N/Me called 'crimson eidolon' it fits the char and is unique(i think) and my War/Mo i took the name decon, changed it to Zekon and added a lil bit of unpopular mythology with the word Mordecai as my last name(also a Between the buried and me song name tho ).

AxiomSoulthief

AxiomSoulthief

Pre-Searing Cadet

Join Date: Dec 2005

N/Me


Disagree highly on name deletion. I have two accounts 8 builds and have had 0 problems with getting a unique and interesting name for each of my builds!!!

Loviatar

Underworld Spelunker

Join Date: Feb 2005

Quote:
Originally Posted by Falcon213
I'm sure ANET will eventually start deleting characters on accounts that have been inactive for three months or so, just to cut costs on storing all those dead characters. However I don't see this happening all too soon, at least not until Factions, and then you would still have to wait three months before characters started to get deleted.
sorry for being rude but you somehow forgot that Anet has specifically stated that your character and account will be intact for you to play for as long as the game is there.

you will be free to play chapter 1 even if you dont buy

CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7

THAT (AT 2/YEAR) IS 3 YEARS NOT MONTHS

they will not delete period

Diablo???

Diablo???

Forge Runner

Join Date: Jun 2005

Seattle

SPQR

N/R

I do wonder where Anet manage to store all those data? So many idle accounts...

Loviatar

Underworld Spelunker

Join Date: Feb 2005

Quote:
Originally Posted by Diablo™
I do wonder where Anet manage to store all those data? So many idle accounts...
because they come back now and then.

did you notice the 200+ districts for the specail events?

they will simply expand storage as needed

Flame

Flame

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Mar 2005

There have been only two names I failed to get in my dozens of characters. Dihydrogen Monoxide for my Hydromancer, and Gavin T, a tribute to the funniest Call of Duty 2 player every (who, coincidentally, was the one who had the Guild Wars name).

Dralspire

Retired

Join Date: Apr 2005

/not signed

I like my IGNs, and I want to keep them until I properly delete them, so I don't need anybody to put a time limit on them.

Ristaron

Ristaron

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Mar 2005

Canada, eh?

Legion Of Valhalla

E/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Daena
I do agree though that there is currently no option to completely leave the game and turn in your character names for others to use.
Untrue. Once a character is deleted, its name becomes available for use by anybody.

Age

Age

Hall Hero

Join Date: Jul 2005

California Canada/BC

STG Administrator

Mo/

There are guildies in my guild that haven't been on in months close to 9 and the original founder of the guild hasn't been on in months.I would say if they were going to delete those names that the account holders need to be contacted.

Cjlr

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Aug 2005

SMS

E/Me

There are four kinds of character names:

First, is the ripoff name. These are the guys who try to name their characters after LOTR but can't because someone else did way back in April. So they decide to spell it wrong instead. Not only is it crappy, but it's probably also already taken.

Second, is the "name generator" types. You know, the ones where the first name is some random type of tree or something and the last name is composed of two random parts, making something uninspired like Stonecrusher or Skygrasper or Shadowbane or such crap. Probably won't be taken, but still suck (in my humble but correct opinion).

Third are the joke names. Trodgor the Burninator is my favorite. But there's lots of these too. Ward Against Idiots comes to mind.

Fourth, my personal favorite, are the name names. You know, ones that aren't pretentious or stupid. Like the ones I chose (). They won't be taken either.

m0gden

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Oct 2005

Ottawa, Canada

Arkangels

I apologize to anyone who wanted the name of "Octopus Prime" for the three months that I was inactive. Honestly though, I'm quite thankful that my characters were not removed over a long period of time! I saved up a lot of gold during this and the deletion of my characters would have turned me away from returning to GW. Well, that or I'd sign in once a month to keep the name refreshed. I don't think it is all that hard to come up with an original name though sometimes it can be a little annoying to not choose a name you really enjoyed.

{IceFire}

{IceFire}

Forge Runner

Join Date: Oct 2005

W/

Just be like me and use Roman names


no one take my last name please though :/\

c4sped

Academy Page

Join Date: Jul 2005

cir

E/Mo

A-net deleting chars is not a good solution. you take a break for a year only to comeback to an empty account that would not be to much fun.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Isis Mordecai
added a lil bit of unpopular mythology with the word Mordecai as my last name
um very uncool its not mythology its a religious text thats like saying Jesus was a myth and it is not unpopular thats like saying being black is unpopular b/c its the minority.


for those that are not Jewish and are confused the history of purim(notice the histoy not myth) its kind of dumbed down but its mostly there

and sorry to break up the conversation for the flame

aeroclown

aeroclown

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: May 2005

Louisiana

E/Mo

Quote:
Originally Posted by Daena
I agree that finding a new name will get harder.
To be honest I have no idea what Anet will do about that, but I am certain that they are aware of this problem.
However, just deleting a character's name cause they haven't played for 30 days seems a bit too harsh to me. I personally think that they will give us more options to make new character names e.g. longer names, one word names, etc.

I do agree though that there is currently no option to completely leave the game and turn in your character names for others to use. I mean if someone has decided to stop playing GuildWars alltogether (God knows why ), that account cannot be cancelled and the names stay registered as "taken". Maybe Anet should consider this option?
Upon deleteion of a character names are only held for a short period of time, in fact possibly as short as 60 mins. I don't remember the exact time but no they are not locked forever.

Katari

Katari

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Aug 2005

Upstate

Me/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Cjlr
There are four kinds of character names:

First, is the ripoff name. These are the guys who try to name their characters after LOTR but can't because someone else did way back in April. So they decide to spell it wrong instead. Not only is it crappy, but it's probably also already taken.

Second, is the "name generator" types. You know, the ones where the first name is some random type of tree or something and the last name is composed of two random parts, making something uninspired like Stonecrusher or Skygrasper or Shadowbane or such crap. Probably won't be taken, but still suck (in my humble but correct opinion).

Third are the joke names. Trodgor the Burninator is my favorite. But there's lots of these too. Ward Against Idiots comes to mind.

Fourth, my personal favorite, are the name names. You know, ones that aren't pretentious or stupid. Like the ones I chose (). They won't be taken either.
'Ya missed one!

When the name is a phrase, or word, there is a fine line between funny, cool, and well, ugh. I'm talking about people with names like these:

"I R Ownzor"
"Killerz Warriorz"
"G O D N E C R O"
Etc.

I don't know about you, but I think A.Net put in the two word rule for a reason. Atempting to bypass that by spacing out letters looks horrific, the all caps dosn't help it any either. >_<

lishi

Forge Runner

Join Date: Jul 2005

Quote:
Originally Posted by Diablo™
I do wonder where Anet manage to store all those data? So many idle accounts...
probably becouse a account information wont take too much space...

even if a character take like 10-20k to be stored with

10k * 20 million char is something like 20gb (my notebook have 30gb...)

sure there will some probrem indexing everthing for fast access but there are plenty way to minimize or counter the probrem

Daena

Daena

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Dec 2005

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ristaron
Untrue. Once a character is deleted, its name becomes available for use by anybody.
That's my point exactly.. not everyone deletes their characters even though they've decided to stop playing GW. So, for all I know now, those names could be taken for 1 year.. since Anet will not delete. Even if the person uninstalls the game, the data will still be on Anet's servers?!?
I'm just saying... there could be an option to let Anet know they have permission to delete your info... meh

Charqus

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Nov 2005

Mo/

lol ive thought about this in the past.
AT one point i was adding random names to friends list and see what they come up with and then delete it.
I tried an experiment by leaving odd ones on to see if any1 goes on and they didnt so i removed em after 2 weeks :P
I mean what geek would call theyre character harry potter lol

Soul Shaker

Soul Shaker

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Aug 2005

Sunshine Coast, Australia

Soul Crusaders

you'll find one...

But, for name reservations, it's 60 mins after the character has been deleted that the name becomes available. This is so you can re-create your char without losing the name.

And when i struggle for pvp names, i just use for say my monk is : Teh Monkzar, and a water ele is Teh Watar Maeg. Intentional mispelling just adds to the ownage factor.

Esprit

Esprit

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jun 2005

Dvd Forums [DVDF]

E/

Tsk, don't delete idle names. I registered a name for my Factions character a month ago, and I don't use it, I just reserved the name.

With more names being used, it just forces more creativity, which, in the end, is good for players.

nomed

nomed

Banned

Join Date: Feb 2006

Quote:
Originally Posted by Falcon213
I'm sure ANET will eventually start deleting characters on accounts that have been inactive for three months or so, just to cut costs on storing all those dead characters. However I don't see this happening all too soon, at least not until Factions, and then you would still have to wait three months before characters started to get deleted.
I am pretty sure this will never happen. Storage is not a problem, traffic is.
The customer bought the game and it's his decision how long he doesn't play for, be it 1 week or 1 year.

I know if you took a break and came back you wouldn't want to see your characters gone.

It's not even that hard to find names.

Rayea

Rayea

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Jun 2005

west yorkshire, Uk

Sisters of Serenity

N/Mo

well i reember when you couldnt move on a game for the horde of gandalfs, Neos and legolas clones with numbers at the ends..or with _ or - in them...

i had both a -Kitiara- and -Raistlin- on one account for that game...and almost instantly hooked kit up with her *ahem* half bro -caramon- right from month one ^^ (which was fun, cause the guy was to total dragonlance head like i was back then, so we spent months playing the game with out accounts and chasing about in bros together or bother n sis combinations hehe)

i guess if they aloowed some small amount of symbold..perhaps - and . so that players that *have got* to have a Legolas greenleaf or Neo The One ect chars can have them....simply saying that if your fave characters name is gone, that you cant use the brain you have to make a similar sounding name...i love the anita blake books, but that name was already taken, so...i made anita e blake....

at least were not getting into that crappy, 'my name is better than yours cause i made it with a random rp name generator' or 'if it dosent sound rp, your a crap player' group....

i mean, were humans..admitedly, the necros look undead these days, and theres that elf-alike problem with the rangers, but hey...the chars are HUMAN, so why worry about giving them fancy names...whats wrong with burt cooper or jane smith? proper human names, for human adventurers that have real background....burts dad must have been a barrle maker, and jane came from a line of blacksmiths....
*is so damn sick to death being told har human characters should have fancy sounding names like sparrowfire or bladesinging or frostmourn ect....*

xxSilhouette

xxSilhouette

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jan 2006

Lost in the sands of time...

Blood Of Orr [BoO]

R/Rt

A lot of people stop playing for a while, even a couple of months and then come back to it, I doubt guild wars would want to make people mad, beacuse i know that if i came back after not playing a few months or weeks or whatever and my name or character was gone i would be ticked.

I doubt this will ever happen - There are plenty of combos you can come up with, and if it ever was a problem I'm sure they'd give us more spaces for a longer name or something of the sort.

Epinephrine

Epinephrine

Master of Beasts

Join Date: Mar 2005

Ottawa, Canada

Servants of Fortuna [SoF]

I've never had a name bounce. Possibly beacuse I don't name them "Raand Al Thorr" or other dumb-ripoffs. As for hokey RP names, there are SO many options that you've got to be able to make one. Heck, mine are constrained horribly, they are all anagrams of Adrenaline, yet I still managed to easily make 8 of them, and could likely continue for a long time, only using variations on those letters.

RBK

RBK

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Jan 2006

England

Forgotten oF Cantha

W/R

Quote:
Originally Posted by m0gden
I apologize to anyone who wanted the name of "Octopus Prime" for the three months that I was inactive. Honestly though, I'm quite thankful that my characters were not removed over a long period of time! I saved up a lot of gold during this and the deletion of my characters would have turned me away from returning to GW. Well, that or I'd sign in once a month to keep the name refreshed. I don't think it is all that hard to come up with an original name though sometimes it can be a little annoying to not choose a name you really enjoyed.
If you read my first post I didn’t say anything about deleting characters just the names of inactive characters to make it easier for other people…

But anyway, I was only asking for opinions on the matter, I was kind of asking people what they thought about the idea or weather or not they have a better idea. Simply sparking some thoughts and convocation. Sorry if I offended anyone with the post on confused anyone with the post.

PieXags

PieXags

Forge Runner

Join Date: May 2005

The Infinite Representation Of Pie And Its Many Brilliances

Just...no, it's silly to suggest a time limit for people's character names. I payed for this game, I thought of the names, I want to keep all of them, with their names, for as long as I want regardless of how often I sign in. If I want to pick up this game two years from now and start playing I should by all means have my same old characters to play with their names intact, I payed for the account, I put my time in for the characters, I thought of the names, and I choose how to manage my time with it all. That will not change because someone wants to pretend to be PieXags in game or something.

D.E.V.i.A.N.C.E

D.E.V.i.A.N.C.E

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Aug 2005

Mo/

Main account; poser japanese
2nd account; poser russian

english names get taken and man "god of" and variations of the elf from the lord of the rings(hundres of rangers have this in thier names its crazy but indeed "common" due to media)

D.E.V.i.A.N.C.E calls first dibs on PieXags