PlaneShift
Gameplay => Wish list => Topic started by: Kerol on June 18, 2006, 01:29:53 am
-
As GM, one is confronted all day with improper names, just silly stuff and other appearant violations of the naming policy (http://hydlaa.com/smf/index.php?topic=21538.0). Most people however overlook that the naming system itself is getting more and more inadequate for the growing numbers of players and characters.
This post is how to improve the name system itself, NOT the naming rules.
The alphabet has 26 characters. A good forename has about 5 characters. 26^5 = 1188376 possible names (not regarding the forbidden names, repeating characters, unpronouncable names etc.). At this moment we have 246262 accounts on laanx. This number * 4 (possible chars per account) = 985048.
By that simple calculation, leaving out all the restrictions, limiting the number of "good" names considerably, it is more than obvious that the current naming system is getting towards it's limits.
As PS grows each day in numbers of new players, the need for new names grows. With this system it is only doable to increase the number of allowed names by increasing either
- the number of possible characters in the alphabet
- increasing the length of the names
- allow formerly forbidden names (by changing the rules)
The first cannot considered seriously as it is not easy to type foreign characters on european keyboards, for instance.
The last is not an option as it is unlikely that they will be changed. Besides that, allowing banned names would only have a minor impact on the number of valid names.
So only the second variable is an option. This however is not limitless. In RL, a name with 8 characters or more is simply not practical.
A reworked system would have to increase the number of valid names by a linear factor or even exponential.
I propose following changes:
1. allow multiple same forenames by adding a (I), (II), (III) after the forename in /who and buddylist, indicating the registering of the names in the time flow.
2. allow middle name(s). Two or more forenames seperated by space could be handled as one internally. It would show up in /who and buddylist as one big forename,
but name completion would only complete the first forename.
3. to have a possible "location field", similar to medieval names like "Fred of the field". One could implement that in the CC (charcreation) by giving a list of possible locations in Yliakum and letting the player choose the location of birth. If a location was chosen, it may show up as addition to the name in the chardesc (not on the label, see below), but as additional information for the players by /who for instance, and the system, in order to allow multiple forenames, but with different birthlocations and keeping names unique.
I also propose a change in the naming system that won't multiply the number of valid names, but won't affect the number of valid names either and will probably solve the ever ongoing question if one should have a birthname as name on the label or whether nicknames for labels are allowed.
The solution is to have both, a birthname as required unique identifier and an optional nickname that mustn't be unique.
As stated above, the birthname may be pretty long, including birth location, multiple forenames or even a latin number as counter for the occurance.
If that all were implemented, it would be overkill to have all that in the labels. That's also why I propose to have a nickname that will be shown in the label.
As implementation, there could be an optional nickname-field in the CC in which the player may initially enter his wished nickname, apart from the birthname.
The above may be sufficient for solving the problem with the number of valid names and also solving the nickname-birthname problem. Related to that, but not about the problem above is my following proposal about the buddylist (BL) system:
A long wanted feature is a mirrored file containing the BL that is being stored on client side, not only on server side. Initially, those two files must only contain the birthnames as identifyer.
The birthname list on the client gets synched with each login.
The file (or another file, refering to the mirrored file) on the client side may contain the initial nicknames.
The BL shows only the nicknames in that file. Rightclick on a buddy may open the option to change the shown nick. Changing the nickname that way would only affect the local client. However, there could be a built-in routine to check each time a new label pops up if the player is already in the BL and if yes, then show the custom nickname also on the label.
This way it would be possible to modify the nicknames offline, have custom nicknames with each character/installation but not having the disadvantage of a client-side only BL. This solution wouldn't require additional space on the server neither.
I hope I wasn't too confusing :)
-
The cries of "all the good names are taken" have been shouted since MB, but we've 2 or 3 or 4 or more times as many characters now, and I don't see any problems.
Most people however overlook that the naming system itself is getting more and more inadequate for the growing numbers of players and characters.
People aren't limited to 5 letters per name, and I don't think we're approaching any limit at all.
1. allow multiple same forenames by adding a (I), (II), (III) after the forename in /who and buddylist, indicating the registering of the names in the time flow.
How many of the same multiples? Unlimited? Would people have to type /tell Johnny2055 to send a tell? What if five Johnny's get together in a tavern and have a chat, how would you understand and keep up with which character said what? This suggestion is ignoring all of the discussions that have ever taken place concerning the issue of nonunique first names.
I like the nickname suggestion - but if all the "real" names of characters must be unique anyway, this isn't really solving the "problem" you wanted to bring up. Nor does this address the chat system issue, again, if multiple nonunique nicknames are talking in the same place at the same time.
I am strictly against displaying any numbers by names, whether roman numerals or not.
-
There are plenty of good names with more than 5 characters. Just with 6 characters, 26^6 is 30897776, or thirty times the total number of names that would be taken if every current account had four characters.
-
How many of the same multiples? Unlimited? Would people have to type /tell Johnny2055 to send a tell? What if five Johnny's get together in a tavern and have a chat, how would you understand and keep up with which character said what? This suggestion is ignoring all of the discussions that have ever taken place concerning the issue of nonunique first names.
I like the nickname suggestion - but if all the "real" names of characters must be unique anyway, this isn't really solving the "problem" you wanted to bring up. Nor does this address the chat system issue, again, if multiple nonunique nicknames are talking in the same place at the same time.
I am strictly against displaying any numbers by names, whether roman numerals or not.
The first you address is the counting in birthnames. On that, I agree. If only one of the two other methods (birthlocation or middle name) were implemented, there would be no need to count (while the birthlocation could be regarded as method to count).
If you have non-unique nicknames, on the other hand, it is necessary to have a counter. That shouldn't be a problem, though, as you can change each nickname you come across, privately. When a Johnny28 /tells you the first time, you see "johnny28 tells..". You change the nickname shown to you to "moron12" and reply /tell moron12 .. . The other person only gets "Karyuu tells you..." .
If you have, let's say five people in the tavern who chose all "johnny" as nickname its a similar problem as in RL. You either can have /say using the birthname as default ("yes you, johnny muller; not you, johnny becker"), or one could use the targetting feature in the way most newbies think it works. Many think (me included when I started) that the color in say convos get blue when someone has you targetted, and not because someone mentions your name.
There are plenty of good names with more than 5 characters. Just with 6 characters, 26^6 is 30897776, or thirty times the total number of names that would be taken if every current account had four characters.
I have a book with "official" german names. I guess that there are maybe one million names in that book, but not much more. And those are all common names in Germany, including the lengthy ones (up to 9 or 10 characters). In PS you shouldn't have names that obviously are related to RL, ruling out a whole lot of possible names.
Of course common names like Johnny aren't forbidden, but they aren't considered as good PS names, neither. If one only regards the good PS names, one has to subtract from the whole possibilities:
- all the compound words (names including words that are used in sentences, like verbs),
- all swearing words of course,
- all firm names and
- abbreviations
- RL names and
- all the names that somehow include a word from above as they could be seen as compounds.
For example "ass" is forbidden as name. Taking the given from above into account, that rules out every word with more than 3 letters _containing_ that word. Like assel, assassine, rassel, tasse (german word for cup), mass.. and so forth. I'm only saying that raising the number of letters in a name isn't automatically raising the number of possible valid names exponentially.
-
I still don't see us running out of names, and I don't understand your suggestions for addressing the nonunique names in the same place issue. Maybe you can explain this particular point in better detail?
Also keep in mind that last names are -not- a requirement. Thus you could have five people named nothing but Johnny in the tavern, one of them says something that requires a /report, and then the system goes wonky, right?
Maybe we can "clean out" barely used names - recycle them, so to speak. If a character has been used for under an hour and hasn't logged in for half a year, they'd be gone. Or similar, the details can be fine-tuned. That would make a lot more names available - though again, I don't see us having any problems right now or in the future.
We don't rule out RL names, and we don't change them. Nor do we change words that have meanings in languages other than English, unless the words are reported and checked for being offensive.
-
Many think (me included when I started) that the color in say convos get blue when someone has you targetted, and not because someone mentions your name.
For example "ass" is forbidden as name. Taking the given from above into account, that rules out every word with more than 3 letters _containing_ that word. Like assel, assassine, rassel, tasse (german word for cup), mass.. and so forth. I'm only saying that raising the number of letters in a name isn't automatically raising the number of possible valid names exponentially.
1) me too.
2) just becuase it has the word ass in the middle of the name doesn't automatically make it non useable.
-
I don't understand your suggestions for addressing the nonunique names in the same place issue. Maybe you can explain this particular point in better detail?
You talk to an NPC by target/select him/her and just type in /say. Many think that highlighting a message in /say to players works the same way, by selecting the player.
One could have, for instance green, highlighting by selection (additionally to mentioning the name).
This mechanic would be independant of the name of the target, therefore be a solution to the problem of having multiple same names in one place.
Thus you could have five people named nothing but Johnny in the tavern, one of them says something that requires a /report, and then the system goes wonky, right?
No, not the way I proposed. The system internally would work with the complete name (except maybe the family name, but taking the additions to the forename) as identifier, not just with a single forename. Externally you wouldn't see much of that. The nicknames always have a clear reference to only one identifier. Although the nicknames may vary from client to client, the reference always stays the same.
For example, you have Johnny I, Johnny II and Johnny III in the tavern. EAch of them would have chosen "Johnny" as nick in the CC. The system adds automatically the number in the order of occurance. If you want to /report Johnny III, it checks your BL if the nick is listed there, but no it isn't, therefore taking the initial nickname (that is being listed on the server) and refers to "Abrah Blab of Hydlaa" as unique identifier.
If you encountered Johnny II already and chose to give him (privately) the nickname moron5, and you want to /report this guy now, you have to type /report moron5. The system checks if he is in your BL, finds it there and refers to the same "Abrah Blab of Hydlaa", although he has (for you) not the same nickname as he has for everyone else.
We don't rule out RL names, and we don't change them. Nor do we change words that have meanings in languages other than English, unless the words are reported and checked for being offensive.
I was talking about good PS names ;) Only because they are allowed, it doesn't mean that they are good.
And yes, only because a word as "ass" in it, doesn't make it automatically bad. However, if you knew how many compound words are tried that way, you'd be amazed :)
Edit: I'm not fan of having numbers in nicknames neither. Numbers should only be added by the system, automatically, if ever. "moron5" was just an example, the "5" shouldn't be possible. Sorry, it's getting late :)
-
I don't understand how you would /report Johnny III if you don't have any of them on your buddy list.
Anyway, it seems overly complicated and unnecessary to me.
-
I don't understand how you would /report Johnny III if you don't have any of them on your buddy list.
I don't get what is so complicated about that.. You see the name Johnny III as nick on the label.
The moment someone chooses a nickname on the CC the system checks if another Johny exists and adds the appropriate number.
However, maybe it is really easier to have unique nicknames.. but then it will be somewhat more difficult to have costumizable nicknames on client side, which I find a unique feature that no game has that I can think of.. and it isn't really that complicated to implement that. I could write an implementation in pseudo-code for you, if you like ;)
-
Did I mention that I am strictly against seeing any numbers for player name labels?
No way - this will never fly. Just because you see "III" instead of "3" by someone's name doesn't make the system any more appealing.
-
OK, alternatively to numbers one could restrict the number of same nicknames on the locations added to the birthname.
If the system detects a duplicated nickname it would automatically add to the next johnny(ies) the location of birth he gave in the CC. That would make it in our example a Johnny, Johnny of Hydlaa and a Johnny of Ojaveda.
-
And what happens when 2 people both want johnny and are both born in hydlaa?
-
And in the chat you would constantly see "Johnny of Hydlaa says:"? And there can only be one Johnny of Hydlaa? And if you would only see "Johnny" in the chat, again how would you do a /report if all the different Johnnys from all the different regions came together, and one of them says something inappropriate?
*edit*
Moreover, what if our Johnny doesn't want to be in Hydlaa? What if he has a past that doesn't include any of the game regions? What if he "shifted" from another plane? What if he doesn't want any regions attached at all?
-
And what happens when 2 people both want johnny and are both born in hydlaa?
Then a popup opens in the CC "invalid nickname", similar to how it is now.
Moreover, what if our Johnny doesn't want to be in Hydlaa? What if he has a past that doesn't include any of the game regions? What if he "shifted" from another plane? What if he doesn't want any regions attached at all?
Then he must be the first Johnny that gets registered. Only the first doesn't get the addition.
Johnnys from all the different regions came together, and one of them says something inappropriate?
Same as before: You state the nickname, the system checks to which birthname it is linked and uses the birthname as identifier and target for commands like /report.
"Johnny of Hydlaa says:"
Too tired to think of a better solution for shorting the line.. so coming from the given above, it would have to look like this, yes.
-
What if you just make it so everyone has to be a first and a last name? Wouldn't that solve the problem ???
-
Not really, Last names are used for show purposes only. Making everyone have a last name wouldn't change anything since everything is based off of first name only.
-
Moreover, what if our Johnny doesn't want to be in Hydlaa? What if he has a past that doesn't include any of the game regions? What if he "shifted" from another plane? What if he doesn't want any regions attached at all?
Then he must be the first Johnny that gets registered. Only the first doesn't get the addition.
I don't like forcing any names or name additions onto any players. They may have their own stories and their own backgrounds, that such additions will effectively stomp on. I don't see this as an effective "solution" to anything, nor necessary, again. It is much simpler to require unique first names than go through all this - we are not going to run out.
Johnnys from all the different regions came together, and one of them says something inappropriate?
Same as before: You state the nickname, the system checks to which birthname it is linked and uses the birthname as identifier and target for commands like /report.
Maybe I need a nap, but I seriously do not understand this point. You state the nickname to report, but how the heck would the system know which Johnny you mean? Would it need to log all three? Or four or five or more as the world grows? How would the system "check" the birthname attached, if all you can provide is /report Johnny?
"Johnny of Hydlaa says:"
Too tired to think of a better solution for shorting the line.. so coming from the given above, it would have to look like this, yes.
Thumbs down :>
What if you just make it so everyone has to be a first and a last name? Wouldn't that solve the problem ???
Again, I would hate for names to be forced onto players - in addition to Neko's reply.
-
The simplest thing I can come up with to solve this issue is to require unique full names and not worry about first and last. (ex: 2 Bobs allowed and 2 Smiths allowed, but only 1 Bob Smith) All commands would require the full name, a la: "/tell Bob Smith This is a message." To make it easier to do, we could add an autocomplete that pulls names out of your proximity list, group list, guild list, and buddy list. (in that order) So, to talk to the Bob standing next to you, you'd do "/tell Bob<tab> whatever". If you really wanted the Bob in your buddy list, smack tab till it finds it. This gives us more flexible naming, with less restrictions, no numbers, and last names aren't required.
All that being said, we don't need this yet and won't for a while.
-
The simplest thing I can come up with to solve this issue is to require unique full names and not worry about first and last. (ex: 2 Bobs allowed and 2 Smiths allowed, but only 1 Bob Smith) All commands would require the full name, a la: "/tell Bob Smith This is a message."
I haven't seen anyone really figure out how the system would work if there are two Bobs though :\ Then who do you send the /tells to if they don't have any last name? Did I miss something?
If there are five Bobs in-game with a first name only, they aren't anywhere around you and not in your guild/buddy list/group, but you need to talk to a certain one because you need to relay an OOC message, or had an issue or misunderstanding that needs resolving, or want information on something or other, what happens then?
How would /report work if you are surrounded by two Bobs and you don't know which is spouting his offensive nonsense, because they both have the same name that shows up in the chat window? If the suggested solution is chat bubbles, what if you aren't able to turn in the right direction to see them (or hear the chat through walls)?
What if your character is harassed by a Bob, and then later you stumble onto a Bob that looks just like the one you had problems with? What if you refuse to accept his denials and constantly drag GMs into the ring to run /info's and check IPs and accounts, and find them flooded with similar issues almost nonstop, because the chances of abuse are that much higher?
-
The simplest thing I can come up with to solve this issue is to require unique full names and not worry about first and last. (ex: 2 Bobs allowed and 2 Smiths allowed, but only 1 Bob Smith) All commands would require the full name, a la: "/tell Bob Smith This is a message."
I haven't seen anyone really figure out how the system would work if there are two Bobs though :\ Then who do you send the /tells to if they don't have any last name? Did I miss something?
If there are five Bobs in-game with a first name only, they aren't anywhere around you and not in your guild/buddy list/group, but you need to talk to a certain one because you need to relay an OOC message, or had an issue or misunderstanding that needs resolving, or want information on something or other, what happens then?
I said full names would have to be unique. That means one Bob (no last) allowed, one Bob Smith allowed, one Bob Whatever allowed, etc. The full name is unique (essentially, there's no concept of first/last here); you just have an autocomplete to guess the latter parts.
-
Woops. By "full" I thought you meant first and a definitely existing last. Thanks for the clarification.
Of course then there's the problem of players being fiercely protective over their identities :> Which first names have really become.
-
I see no real reason why we shouldn't have multiple people with the same first name. It's rather odd that we don't, frankly. We should encourage some creative naming, but if you want to name your character Bob, be my guest. You'll just need to stick a last name on the end there to make sure the full name is unique. I do admit it might be annoying to have people be able to "steal" name components. ie: someone might like to name their character Xael Something. Most of the time though, I think it should be allowed. (in this case, we might want to require GM char first names to be unique to prevent impersonations) It would also allow for recurring names. Every culture has names based on mythology that are popular, and I think that's fine to repeat here.
-
Having a clear mind again, I'm wondering why I didn't suggest yesterday to simplify the system by, as DaveG suggested, taking the full name including family name as unique identifier. But not only first and last name but allowing one or two middle names (simply by allowing 2 or three spaces as characters in the name). That should make everyone happy :)
The idea with the nicknames can also be solved without numbers or counters in first hand:
As stated in the initial post, you have an optional nickname field in the CC. If you leave it empty, the birthname is taken as nickname.
If you fill something in, it is treated just as a regular forename is treated now, it has to be unique.
Ingame you always have the nickname on the label and the birthname in the chardesc.
But then again, you can modify privately the nicknames like I said, by rightclick on the buddylist. And there one could allow all characters, including numbers and other symbols.
It wouldn't matter to anyone if you privately name anyone "jo1" because "jo" alone isn't unique.
The name resolution works just as proposed, using internally the birthname (or resolved PID) as identifier. Your client could resolve the given identifier (Birthname/PID) to the private nickname again. With that you don't have "Johnny of Hydlaa says:" in the chat, but, if you privately gave him the nick "joh"; "joh says:".
-
You guys said all the good names were taken, well, that's wrong. I played around with some REALLY original names yesterday (fire, wind, water, earth, frost, etc.) and I found a few very original names I put into one account, such as Blare. All the good names aren't taken, people are just thinking too hard, and making names in a different language. If they'd actually search, they'd notice that there are plenty of original/very unoriginal names left, that can also be pronounced easily.
-
I tend to agree. The naming policy does not allow names that are physical or famous things (ie: no stupid crap like Frying Pan Man or Elvis) but that doesn't mean we can't have regular generic names, too. Not everyone's name needs to take 10 minuites to figure out how to pronounce. (if it's even possible...)
-
If there are several johnny are online and you add one to your buddy list, it will ask you "which one do you want to add? Please select one of the characters from the list below and the conversation you had with the Johnny select will appear." The same would happen to the group.
If you are using /tell, it will ask you the same thing as with the group/buddy list adding, but instead of each time asking you, it will say "The Johnny you have select has the ID number 3. From now on, please type "/tell Johhny3" to tell something to this Johhny. if you wish to select another Johnny, type /tell Johhny"" (3 because it is the 3rd johnny to come online). The Johnny # will never change as long as that Johnny is online. if he is the only one online, it will assign #1 and it isn't necessairy to the person who tells to type "/tell johnny1". If a second Johnny comes online, it will ask (as explained before) which johnyy to select.
If there are several Johnny on a same map, the ID will automatically appear after his name (Johnny1 Smith, Johnny2 bla) so that it stops the confusion
-
DaveG's suggestion was by far the simplest and the most likely to actually happen. No numbers, no messes. Anyway, we are still not running out of names, nor are we likely to any time soon.
-
In RL, a name with 8 characters or more is simply not practical.
As someone who has a name of 8 chracters in Rl and 7 ingame I think one is severely limiting yourself if you think names like that are to complicated. Perhaps a little hard to creat pronouncable names but thats something different altogether. Anyhow since when are we in Planeshift worried if you can pronounce a name or not lol ;)
-
Just count the number of names in a specific language of 6, 7, 8 characters. It's not a coincidence that nicknames never (i never seen an exception) have more than 5 characters, ever.
It's not a question of possibility, but of human nature. I'm not against lengthy names, but the lengthier the names get, the higher is the need for nicknames, and my thought was, if nicknames get implemented, why not having them fully customizable? However, the customizable part is a low priority, really. Having full names and nicknames I see as medium to high priority, though.
-
hmm a nick of mine ingame: Merman ;)
nickname I have seen: fluffy
Anyhow having long names doesn't mean people can't have nicknames ;)
-
I believe that goes off topic, but I reply nevertheless ^^
You convinced me on the number of actual characters. I had phonemes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoneme) rather than characters in mind.
And I had nickname = shortname = short version of real name in mind..
However, I suppose discussing the definition of nickname, the psychological impact of the length of names, the statistical distribution of length of names in different languages, phonemes and the difference between nicknames, pseudonyms and shortnames is more a topic for a dissertation rather something that can be discussed in here in detail with a convient result. I propose to leave that subtopic from here.
-
The idea of requiring the entire name string to be unique would IMO indeed create problems with having to recall the full name, which is fine when you are talking with them every day, but if you talked to a John Smith half a year ago, then made friends with a "Johnny Smith", only to stumble accross a "Jon Smith" and a "John Smiht", both of whom you don't like, then you log off for half a year and then "Jon Smith" stands before you, are you sure you would recall which one it was?
Why do people have nicknames? For various reasons. Mostly because they are shorter, not to recall, but to say, and result in abbreviations of the birthname. This would be an issue in PS if it did not have autocompletion.
The remaining reasons do have nothing to do with the length or complexity of the birthname. If they had, then everyone with a "problematic" name would end up with a nickname everywhere, but they don't. Likewise, even people with comparatively short and simple names do get nicknames. These stem from the small community creating the nickname. Someone by the name "Kerol" might well be called "Ker", but that doesn't provide greater efficiency in talking nor in recalling, as "Kerol" is both short, and easily said, typed and recalled. It's a way of individualising a name as part of identifying someone with a group (not within). Similar to the reason why people invented flags. (i.e., by calling someone a nickname you show to the bystanders "That guy is in some way associated with me". You also reinforce the feeling of being mutually associated within both speaker and nickname-owner. Hence, for all I can tell, nicknames are more of a group-psychological thing than a facility to improve communication efficiency, in general.)
The idea of having a clientside customisable nickname collection is good, but it doesn't really solve the issues menationed (and wasn't intended to do so). Something that I think would be needed more is to have a description that can be added to anyone on the BL, and possibly foldable categories that can be arbitrarily created and nicks sorted into.
That would not only help organise the quite unstructured BL, but also help you get up to speed after either you or a buddy took an extended break from PS. People have different reasons to place others on their BL, but currently, it's all one big alphabetically sorted list, requiring the player to keep track of the buddies.
But back to the names. Proposing more than one space in the name string, even if not unique, would require limits on how short one part may be, how many how short parts there may be in total, etc., pp.. These can be solved, but the outcome won't necessarily justify it. Especially not if the entire string needs to be unique, as you can have "Johnny a b Smith" and "Johnny b a Smith", only accounting for the obvious, not so subtle, variations.
Of coure there would be a way to allow fully customisable, nonunique names of any length. They would just become special commands, like /pos. It would be possible to assign a numeric ID to each char which can be retrieved by targetting the char and entering /id. That could be used to identify clientside BL entries ("John"-> ID 677612343132), as well as for /reporting. It could be extended to cover the message window (leftclick on a name in the chat box, select "ID", and you can /report it regardless of the number of identical names present). Still, while comparatively simple and allowing for the utmost flexibility, that system would be counterintuitive, and something for experienced players to use, while those most often in need of uniquely identifying someone are newbies, therefore it's not a viable option either.
Regarding the "targetting makes color change on target's screen": that is certainly possible, though then you will need to add multi-targetting facilities in order to talk to an on the fly group with quickly changing members.
While we are exchanging misconceptions about the targetting system: my interpretation was that having someone targetted might make only them hear my /say, much like a /tell. That targetting might have any effect on the color on the target's screen didn't occur to me until someone asked about that, possibly because I'm against of allowing others to alter the display/behaviour of someone elses system. Target colouring could be a reasonable exception.
Edit: Regarding the players being very protective about their identities: I think that that is fully understandable, and fully acceptable. The name you have represents you. It is all that distinguishes you from everyone else at a simple glance. So the name "is" you.
This must, however, not be mistaken as an argument for allowing unsuited names. It is not. An unsuited name is chosen and changed way before you ever get known, hence that name is not your identity yet. The identity comes as you interact with the other players. (Example name used for likelyhood of being known) When the forum software received the confirmation for registration of the name "Karyuu", it was nothing but one out of a bazillion people who have created a board account on that system. It could just as easily have been any other name, or changed into something else. Only with interaction comes identity. "One makes a name for oneself" does not refer to the keying in of some letters, it refers to linking a combination of letters, which by itself is meaningless, to an individual, a personality, an identity.
A case that likely is recalled by some is the transition of "FESFES" to "Efflixi Aduro" (and all the others who did similar things). Leaving all name quality and other issues aside, this one shows pretty well how meaningless the actual name is, provided it is reasonably dissimilar to other names. Works just like the association of an alt with a main char's player.
Therefore, a namechange, even after already having gotten well-known within the community, has almost neglegible effects. A very similar name (John Smith vs. John Smilh), however, does have a big impact, because the first requires, at most, a few days to get fully used to the new name by all parties (associating the identity with the new combination of letters), while the second one causes permanent confusion, blurring the identity.
-
First of all, there's obviously already an ID for each character, but I don't want to make players ever have to see it.
The main problem is that yes, names are the only current way to tell people appart. Eventually we plan to have a fairly detailed character customization system, and this will be far less of an issue. If you don't recognize someone based on their name and what they look like, well then I guess you just don't recognize them. It happens. ;)
-
First of all, there's obviously already an ID for each character, but I don't want to make players ever have to see it.
I sort of assumed that, though since string identifiers of comparatively great length become more and more viable even in large systems, I didn't want to rely on that assumption.
The main problem is that yes, names are the only current way to tell people appart. Eventually we plan to have a fairly detailed character customization system, and this will be far less of an issue.
That would be great for obvious reasons, but it wouldn't really solve the issue of identifying someone to the system in order to /report or /tell. Furthermore, appearance can change quite quickly and radically, so it'd still be easy to impersonate. Therefore truly unique, comparatively easy to recall and key in identifiers like names will be needed. You can't really have players enter "/report the Ynnwn with the black hair, no beard, green eyes, a tattoo that looks like a plant on the forehead, the golden falchion and dagger, leather pants and chainmail,....", even if the system would be able to figure that out, can you? ;)
If you don't recognize someone based on their name and what they look like, well then I guess you just don't recognize them. It happens. ;)
Indeed it happens. Still it would happen OOC-ly, not IC-ly, and since the system should depend as few as possible on OOC things, this may or may not be desirable.
-
One idea a whiles back was to allow comments to be put on names in a buddy list. This solves the whole problem, and allows you to tag it with your character's memories about another character. I think adding more features like this to the list could help with a lot of these things.
We'd also like to get more sorting abilities in the list, and I'm now thinking we might even want to have a category in it based on proximity. Have one window that has lists for group, guild, buddies, proximity, etc. Could be really useful if done right.