Globally Unique Player and Outfit Names

[Malorn]

This really doesn't have anything to do with E3, but it has been eating at me since Higby mentioned in the AMAA that they plan on doing a traditional server model for the game.

If PS2 is intended to eventually grow into an EVE-like sandbox with many planets and hopefully one large community, starting off with traditional servers seems like a bad idea.

However, there is a way they could do traditional servers and have the flexibility to expand and grow the game into almost any direction they want to take it, but that is only if player names & outfits are globally unique. So while there may be dozens or even hundreds of servers, each player and outfit is unique among all servers.

If that's the case, then a lot of things become trivial...
* Server moves
* Server merges
* Server balancing (to help correct servers that have abnormally large or small populations of a particular empire)
* Unification into one big server ala EVE

It seems like a simple thing that would keep the players happy even if there's server merges or a giant unification. As long as communities don't get fractured with duplicate names of outfits or players then we can easily move around or merge / split without concern for screwing up identities and reputations which are vital for MMO organizations.

[Synapse]

A good idea.

[MercDT]

Sounds great, considering that they're planning on adding more continents...which means server merges.

[WNxThentar]

Agreed.

[Sabot]

yep I like.. signed.

[Sirisian]

I mentioned this on a few occasions that every time we get new continents we'll be seeing a capacity increase for a server by 2000 players. It's a vacuum that will probably be filled by merging servers if players don't join. Especially if they start adding a lot of continents. They don't want to thin the population out on servers with every new continent.

This thing seems obvious to me especially after all the previous discussions. Hopefully the right people see this and start creating a sensible account system.

Also before anyone asks what my secret plan has been this whole time. Step 1) Create a random faction character on every server. Step 2) When they merge servers they'll be forced to give me access to both characters on a single server. 3) ??? 4) Profit :evil:

[Malorn]

Thanks for bringing up the server merge resulting in multiple characters on different factions problem Sirisian. They don't have to worry about that with globally unique players.

I think it also simplifies things if there's 1 player per account. So nothing stops you from having multiple accounts, but if there's 1 per account, and it's globally unique then they avoid server merging problems and having two players of the same faction on the server at the same time and all that garbage that was a problem in PS1.

With a F2P game you can't ever stop characters on different factions, but if it's 1 per account and you have unlcoks and such on a per-account basis then there's incentive to not jump ship all the time and stick with your faction, regardless of what server it is on.

Could also have faction switches as a paid service for players/outfits. Seems like an easy thing to monetize. Allows people to retain identity through the switch and keep unlocks, etc.

[DayOne]

This is really how it should have been done anyway. :)

[Sirisian]

I think it also simplifies things if there's 1 player per account. So nothing stops you from having multiple accounts, but if there's 1 per account, and it's globally unique then they avoid server merging problems and having two players of the same faction on the server at the same time and all that garbage that was a problem in PS1.
If you think this is the correct solution and prevents any problems without just inconveniencing customers, then I'll have to assume you missed the other discussions. Whatever, it's getting closer to the perfect system at least.

[Bags]

Don't like it, someone will steal my name if it's not unique to the server :x

[FastAndFree]

Don't like it, someone will steal my name if it's not unique to the server :x

They could steal it either way by registering it on every server, if they were really inclined to do so. That is a problem with people/the lack of name reservation


I like this idea, please do it SOE!

[Zekeen]

This really doesn't have anything to do with E3, but it has been eating at me since Higby mentioned in the AMAA that they plan on doing a traditional server model for the game.

If PS2 is intended to eventually grow into an EVE-like sandbox with many planets and hopefully one large community, starting off with traditional servers seems like a bad idea.

However, there is a way they could do traditional servers and have the flexibility to expand and grow the game into almost any direction they want to take it, but that is only if player names & outfits are globally unique. So while there may be dozens or even hundreds of servers, each player and outfit is unique among all servers.

If that's the case, then a lot of things become trivial...
* Server moves
* Server merges
* Server balancing (to help correct servers that have abnormally large or small populations of a particular empire)
* Unification into one big server ala EVE

It seems like a simple thing that would keep the players happy even if there's server merges or a giant unification. As long as communities don't get fractured with duplicate names of outfits or players then we can easily move around or merge / split without concern for screwing up identities and reputations which are vital for MMO organizations.

You make some good points.

[Dagron]

Don't like it, someone will steal my name if it's not unique to the server :x

In Champions Online each character could have any name, because they had a sort of surname: your account's name (it only showed in the mouseover tooltip).
The exact same thing might not be right for PS2, but something similar could help reduce the "stolen" name grief.

Just throwing it out there, in case it might give someone a better idea. :p

[Bags]

They could steal it either way by registering it on every server, if they were really inclined to do so. That is a problem with people/the lack of name reservation


I like this idea, please do it SOE!

It's how I picked my WoW server. I went through EST servers until I found one with Bags free.

[Malorn]

Bags the other part is that they should allow ps1 vets to reserve one of their ps1 names and outfit names if an outfit leader.

They could also do what blizzard did and allow multiple display names that are tge same but that does tear into identity value.

[GuyFawkes]

with the whole i-pad server stats thing, I would have thought this might be an easy one to do, and I agree .

[Aractain]

I support global names etc. I would love a GW2 style server "vist" but thats probably not gonna happen lol.

[Xyntech]

I'd prefer names to be unique, regardless of which server you are on. So yes, I support this.

[The Janitor]

Not that I want to jinx anything, but isn't SWTOR merging servers into "megaservers"? We should take a look at that and see what happens, see how they handle it. I'm sure similar problems of non-unique names and whatnot will come up and it'll be interesting to see how they handle it and if SOE could get any good insight into potential problems if and when they decide to do the same thing.

Edit: Apparently DCUO did the same thing. Imma go find out how that went.

[Landtank]

Great idea, I remember transferring servers in WoW and changing my character name was a huge pain.

[Baneblade]

Vote Hell Yes on Proposition Universal ID.

[basti]

I did think hard about any cons of that idea, and couldnt find one.

DO IT! :)

[dachlatte]

I like it!

[Kaw]

I did think hard about any cons of that idea, and couldnt find one.

DO IT! :)

It would be impossible for the millionth player to get a decent name that isn't full of numbers. A system like the one Starcraft uses would solve all of the problems in the OP and it wouldn't be a huge turn-off for new players stuck with stupid names.

[Spoof]

I'm all for it if it means I won't have to suffer a "-W" appended to my characters six years from now :)

[Taru]

And here I liked my super unique Taru-E name! ...Agreed.

[Kurtz]

/signed.

never had a -K on my name before, and I don't want one now.

PS1 vets should keep their names and not have to have a FB account to do so.

[Mackenz]

It would be impossible for the millionth player to get a decent name that isn't full of numbers. A system like the one Starcraft uses would solve all of the problems in the OP and it wouldn't be a huge turn-off for new players stuck with stupid names.

I tend agree. This is a big stick for what I see as a not a big problem. With F2P there will be characters languishing forever (what happens to old F2P characters that haven't played for two years?).

Although it would be nice to have vet reserved names, that kind of hints at from where this is coming.

Server merge, oldest keeps the name, other gets a free name change.

[Malorn]

I tend agree. This is a big stick for what I see as a not a big problem. With F2P there will be characters languishing forever (what happens to old F2P characters that haven't played for two years?).

Although it would be nice to have vet reserved names, that kind of hints at from where this is coming.

Server merge, oldest keeps the name, other gets a free name change.

So you lose your entire identity and possibly an outfit's identity because someone who may not even play anymore made their character a few days/weeks before you on some other random server and SOE decides to merge? That's a terrible solution and it's going to upset a lot of players and restrict SOE in doing the sort of things they need to do because of player backlash.

If you're worried about different names not being available as mentioned above, the Battle.net system allows multiple display names, but I can see that getting confusing if the PS universe were to be merged into a more eve-like universe.

In fact, look at EVE, there's a huge world with millions of unique character names and yet people still manage to create new identities and unique names, and not a lot of them have silly numbers in them.

[duomaxwl]

/sign

It's a great idea.

[dachlatte]

I'm all for it if it means I won't have to suffer a "-W" appended to my characters six years from now :)
you do know you get a free name change if you have that "-W"?
/rename ftw

[Malorn]

I would wager most people would rather have their identity than a free rename.

We work hard for our reputations, our history, and our accomplishments, both as individuals and outfits. Name changes are a large eraser to those things. It's like having your home foreclosed upon and the bank giving you a coupon for 50% cents off a hamburger.

Now some people don't like their history and want that eraser, but that's a different topic.

[Xyntech]

I would like to see universally unique character names, but I also like the idea of being able to change the display name. As long as players could clearly see what a characters actual unique name was as well, I think it would be fine if there were a bunch of Bob's running around.

They would just have to be smart about which name the game displayed where.

For example:

Seeing the players name floating above them = display name, not actual name

Kill screen info = display name and actual name

VOIP, squad, and muting options = actual name, not display name

[Mackenz]

So you lose your entire identity and possibly an outfit's identity because someone who may not even play anymore made their character a few days/weeks before you on some other random server and SOE decides to merge? That's a terrible solution and it's going to upset a lot of players and restrict SOE in doing the sort of things they need to do because of player backlash.

You have got that anyway, right? Because they are globally unique names, that other person registered their character name and outfit name before you anyway - unless you are suggesting that the names are not to be globally unique, but it is tagged with a (hidden) GUID, which I am not sure why that helps anyway. See below on a Global check suggestion though.

Folks mentioning vet pre-registering is simply a way of get ahead of the pack. I see that as a nice perk, but it is what it is.

If you're worried about different names not being available as mentioned above, the Battle.net system allows multiple display names, but I can see that getting confusing if the PS universe were to be merged into a more eve-like universe.

In fact, look at EVE, there's a huge world with millions of unique character names and yet people still manage to create new identities and unique names, and not a lot of them have silly numbers in them.

I am not worried about names being unavailable, but you are worried about character/outfit name uniqueness. Maybe they could add a Global Name Check button for Character/Outfit creation that would check across servers, that way you could guarantee that no matter what server merges happens, your name will be retained.

I believe EVE goes for a single-universe model - one main and one Chinese. If that is what you are suggesting for PS2 (I wouldn't but hey its not my game to run), then unique names will be enforced on those servers anyway (assuming normal cannot use Chinese ideograms, while the Chinese one does - not sure about that).

[Malorn]

Yes, globally unique means no two players have the same name.

Allowing them the same name on different servers and then making them change it some time later after they have established their identities, reputation, and relationships is far, far worse than having them choose a unique name from the beginning. That is especially true when the merging can happen multiple times as it did in PS1.

Doing it at the start is relatively harmless while doing it later is extremely painful to players. And it WILL happen.