KithDPine

Not In My Game You Don't!

Old pen and paper term.

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It is basically a code phrase that refers to when a GM makes a unilateral veto of a rule or set of rules to prevent a player action. It is also known as NYMDYD <where the D is dungeon instead of game>

All of those things are game theory and not business policy.

PSO right off the top of my head, though it didn't have unique names and was all about the items, but on most other points it matches up quite well, fast leveling, action oriented, solo friendly, quick travel times (actually non-existent travel times), and encourages alts up the wazoo. The naming issues has been a part of most MMOs since the first MMO got over 50,000 subscribers. There is a web comic out there called The Noob about an EQ style MMO and the character is sitting in front of his PC trying to find a name for his character after getting ten or so names rejected he says "Oh for f'sake!" and his character ends up with the name "Ohforf". So "every" MMO with more then a small handful of people generates a perceived naming issue. At the one year mark almost every MMO's message board has a thread or two about name purges and most beta boards have a thread or two about solutions to the "naming problem" . This naming problem isn't created by multiple Alts or an Alt friendly game it is created by the nature of Unique names.


Yes they do reserve the right to do whatever they want and one of the things companies with subscription services generally want to do is make it real easy for customers to return, deleting names and accounts makes it difficult for customers to return, thus the industry standard is to not delete names or accounts.

I am pretty sure they are going to run their script for GR. I would be very surprised if they didn't. The issue I have is a lot of players are gunning to get higher level names targeted, up to and including level 50 characters and the specific argument I was replying to made it sound like name purges are standard operating procedure, which is clearly not the standard business practice of MMOs.

I have no problem with their current purge system heck I think it should be run at least once a year. I also have no problems with purging non-upgraded trial accounts be it every 3, 6, or 12 months. I just think that the names most people are "gunning" for where taking in the first year and held by people above 30 and the current trend is to try to "convince" the dev's to target those names, which as I and others have stated is a bad business practice, more so in light of the fact that a major expansion coming out.

I challenge you to name at least three other MMOs within the past 10 years that have had this "Perceived character naming issue" and purged names.

The truth is, the industry standard is to not purge names or old accounts. The times that it has happened it is due to massive exodus and is usually part of the death throes of said MMO.

I will grant that name purges may also happen for non-paid accounts or non-subscription MMOs, but that is a very different environment. One that is not concerned with re-activation so much as keeping a constant churn in player base to push micro transactions, ad revenue or new box sales.

Of course this ignores the fact that the Dev's stated after the very first name purge that very few names rolled over and most of the ones that did where in the under 6 category.

Then perhaps you should have KEPT him on the server he had for the entire 33 months of his existence. You moved the character and created the problem, not the person who was using the same name you where using, regardless of if their account is canceled, they are taking a break or in some other way indisposed. Maybe it also would have been a good idea to make sure the name was available before you transferred the character.

As my old editor used to tell me, "Failure to prepare on your part should not constitute an emergency on my part." Just substitute "my" with "Devs" or "Other players".

Maybe you won't but I would. I know the name of all my WoW characters, EQ characters, Horizon characters, Auto Assault characters, Tabula Raza Characters, iRO characters, PSO characters, EvE characters, SWG characters. . . I am also pretty sure that all the way up to the date those games go down for good my characters will still be there. Most MMOs have recuriting pushes and advertise the fact that your characters are waiting for you. Heck EvE at one point sent me an E-Mail from my most played character complete with stats and an invitation for a free weekend. Name purges really are bad business choices for MMOs, because far more players will be driven away if they find out their characters have been modified then will quit over frustration that they can't get a name. Sure some games may end up with characters like Ohforf but people will still play.

Also there are lots of names floating around, I got Cattleya on Virtue for my plant controller, sure I couldn't get Phalaenopsis, Orchid or Dendrobium, but Miltonia, Orchidaceae, and Catasetum are all available.