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Server Transfers, namechanges etc - Your view?
Chtuga
Member UncommonPosts: 116
Following a rather heated discussion in Age of Conan I decided to voice my concern about what this does for the communities in MMORPG's. Its not aimed at a certain game, rather this is a general discussion and something every game that offer more than 1 server will have to decide and take a stance on.
Namechanges - Changing the name of your character that has played for a longer periode of time.
While it can be a good thing for some people that didnt think hard enough on what name they would give their character when they created it, it opens up for individuals to "clear their name" after they done something stupid. Ninjalooting, harassment etc.
The communities we create within the games itself are mirrors of the society, and while every game has rules and settings of their own, changing name is like getting a new name in real life. People do this because they want to change the way people look upon them or remove traces.
- Allowing people to change playername gives players the opportunity to do "whatever they want" or harass anyone they want and get away with it. Repeatedly.
At last, but not least it makes ebay'ing a character easy. Bad reputation? No problem, with a namechange its all cleared.
I think players should be allowed to change the name of a character only before a certain level/ playtime or when a GM deems it necessary (profanity etc)
Servertransfers - Moving your character from 1 server to the next.
Again this gives people the ability to "do anything they want or harass people". He can ninjaloot, steal, harass and do anything. Then move to another server, and start out fresh again.
Then again, changing server can be nice and refreshing for people. Your friends play on another server? Cool, you can then join them and play together with them.
Giving the opportunity to change server needs to be done with great care.
Each server has its own rules and mindset, that has developed over time affected by each and every player that plays on that server. Servers can due to this be radically different.
Also servers can be underpopulated or overpopulated, and transfering to an underpopulated server can be benefical for the player.
The economy is different from server to server, and for players it can open up for various services or ways to make more ingame or real life $$$.
Since each server has its own population and community, things that are cheap on one server is expensive on another.
This goes for various items or quests or raids as well. Maybe it is time consuming to do what you want to do on your server while it is totally different on another server?
Do you think it is OK to move characters between servers, and thus giving people who use, or sometimes even pay for these services to have an advantage?
And do you think its OK to let people "reset" their ties with the community? Allowing serverchange and player rename certainly gives people the opportunity to completely change identity.
Discuss!
Comments
To be honest I couldn't care less.
There is absolutly nothing wrong with a server transfer. Sometimes you find out friends are playing the game and are on a different server so you want to go join them. Sometimes your server dies out or is much less active then it once was so you want to go to a more acitve place. And with games like WoW you might meet a guild who is more your play style in the cross server dungeon finder and want to be a part of them.
Name changing doesn't really matter. First off no one's name means anything in an MMO anymore, and the more populated an MMO is, the less likely a bad person is going to be known. Also there are so many safe guards in MMOs today, it is near impossible to actually grief someone. There is safe trading, guild permission levels for all kinds of things, ignores, squelch etc etc. Never once do I meet someone and wonder if they're a griefer, because if they are I can instantly be done with them with no harm done.
It seems that all of your ideas are based off of punishing those who have done bad things, and not allowing all the rest of the population who haven't done bad things to enjoy the game to a larger extent. That is never the approach you want to take.
You can change both your name and your location in real life too.....so what's the big deal?
Am I the only one who miss the good old communities where everyone knew everyone, and what you did and did not mattered. Where one could gain respect, or be hated - depending on who you decided to be. You made enemies, and friends and fought over things?
I do however think this matters more on pvp servers than on pve servers. People have stronger feelings, and are more involved when they can kill eachother almost everywhere.
What about the issues on player economy and value of "things"
The days when you knew players or their characters by reputation are pretty much gone. "Back in the day", the servers in EQ, for example, were nothing like as busy as they are in comparison to WoW in the present day. In EQ, servers had more of a small-town kind of feel to them, and I knew many players very well indeed, whereas in a game like WoW the feel is more that of a teeming metropolis. Everyone is bustling around, rarely stopping to chat in intelligible sentences and you're pretty unlikely to even notice each other as you pass buy.
It's a shame, in a way, but that was then, and this is now.
Because the community in Ryzom is so small, players will actually remember each other's names in chat, and when they meet in the world at large. If you log on at relatively consistent hours through the week, you'll easily recognize certain players about. And they will recognize you. Its really nice.
If you stand VERY still, and close your eyes, after a minute you can actually FEEL the universe revolving around PvP.
same. Look at all the gear snobs, barren's chat fanatics and regular elitiest and pretty much you have the same crappy attitude on most of the servers. People as so selfish with demands on things in game it really doesn't matter if they can hide. It's just a game not a life style.
If people want to act like dicks and then 'clear their name' through a payed for name change, it is like a self imposed idiot tax so I'm all for it lol.
Please Mr Elfhunter, use the service for the sake of my sanity.
Seriously though I dont see any problem with it. I've been in a long standing guild which has over time evolved into something I don't like so much, whilst other friends have discovered a game and started playing on a different server. The payed options give me a chance to revive my enjoyment of a game by going to play with other friends and without the hassle of having to start again to do so. I dont mind leveling up on a different server if you all start a fresh together though. Its certainly cheaper!
Common sense is not a Sixth sense
Let's imagine there's no name changes or server changes. I want a new identity. I make a new character. BAM!
Are you going to stop me from making new characters? Going to let every stranger identify me by account?
If so, then I'm not going to play your game, because it's too restrictive, or too invasive of my privacy in search of something that's POINTLESS.
Why?
Because in my real-world experience, you are as likely to be screwed by a friend or family member as a stranger. Why would it be different in a game?
Pretty much. Why would i want to know everyone when there are 10s of thousands of players just on my server?
I am happy enough just to know like 10-20 people (guildmates & what not). Knowing too many people is a chore. No thanks!
I don't have a problem with name changes or server transfers. I do think they should be limited in a way though. Server transfers I think should be something that is a free service to the game, because some people like to be able to play with other friends. What I do think though is that a person should only be able to transfer once every 3 months maybe. Being able to transfer ever few months helps to protect the economy, because otherwise people could just transfer to servers that had better prices to go with the products they have.
Name changes I am mixed about. I do like the ability to always know someone by name and not worry about if they change it or not, but if my server transfer idea were to work I think name changes would be more common. Due to people changing servers more possibly they would be bound to have to change once in a while if the name is taken on a server already so it would be a forced name change from time to time.
If you have a good reputation then you'll feel no reason to change server or name. So, a good reputation still gets its rewards, people know you from the guild or friend list and know what to expect when they party with you. It's still worth trying to be a 'decent' player.
If someone is a ninja looter or whatever, then they will not build a positive rep and enjoy the benefits. After a while their rep may be so poor that they cannot find parties etc.
In my opinion letting them change their name or server is NOT a bad thing:
They are to some extent accepting they've done wrong and trying to improve and this is a good thing. It seems crazy they should be ostracised permanently for a few idiotic moments or grabbing hands before they realised how unfriendly it is. Let them change name and become a better player. Then they can start building a good rep from scratch.
On a side note on WoW vanilla I played up to level 45 on an 'English' server which I later found out was the unofficial Spanish server. The more I played the more Spanish it became and eventually I had to change servers. Now this was in the time before a server transfer was possible so basically I was forced to re-roll and level up again just so I could play in my own language.
For this reason alone I welcome the opportunity to change server if you want (but not server type).
Yes to both.
Server changes are pretty self explanatory... there's really no reason to not allow it. In most cases people are doing it to be with friends, so its good to have the option. As for name changes, I know I've really wanted to change but not had the option. People get bored with their names, or choose something they regret and don't want to reroll.
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Anybody inclined on being a complete and utter asshole deriving pleasure from other people's suffering will never change their name just for the sake of "realizing their wrongs". To think this would apply to people I think would be rather naive. If someone ninja loots, harrases, or intentionally does things to ruin other people's fun they're not out to change. It's usually that the heat has gotten too great that they are no longer trusted but they still need to steal that certain something so they change their name, pop in where ever it is that whatever it is they're looking for and take it usually following that up with braging about how they "screwed everybody over".
I think server transfers should only be allowed a limited amount of times per year, lets say every 2 months. The name changes should not be allowed if you ask me because quite frankly, it's damn easy in most games now to just relevel a new toon and name him whatever you want. I miss the days of old where your name meant something. If you messed up people would remember and you didn't have a copout like name changes or new toons in 4 days to cover your ass. If you wanted to re-roll it would take you 6 months to get back to where you were. It kept you in line... unless of course you didn't care and were out to piss people off.
No required quests! And if I decide I want to be an assassin-cartographer-dancer-pastry chef who lives only to stalk and kill interior decorators, then that's who I want to be, even if it takes me four years to max all the skills and everyone else thinks I'm freaking nuts. -Madimorga-
I have no problems with server transfers nor name changes -- as long as the old info stays with the char.
You see this in some games as they do server merges -- you can look for people from your old server on the new one, etc.. Others offer char history information so a name change = name change in ignore lists, friends lists and the like.
So, as long as jerk_001 can't hide from their past via such tools, I find no problem with it. As far as any comments about "can roll up new chars!" -- so what? They then have to advance those new chars and the like. Even in a game like WoW with such a fast curve, it takes time so the grief factor stays fairly small but when you have a "top" char that's a drama monger flipping between a dozen servers and groups on those servers, leaving a wake of havoc but "qualified" due to level/gear... That's a bit more of a problem.
Reps should be earned by a char and carry the weight. Changing your name in real life won't dump your past so clean anymore and shouldn't in games. So a bad name like dorky_bozo being changed to a better name... I don't see anyone having problems with the name change for that reason but dorky_bozo that also happens to have built a huge rep as a thieving backstabber who stole a groups assets... That should stay with them -- otherwise, why have names on the chars vs just allowing temporary asignment of a "handle" such as wizard_01 while in a group?
All you do is encourage corrpt bad behavior in games by allowing changes on a whim with no trace of a former "style" showing. Let it track-record the info so the "name change" option is there but won't hide past good nor bad deeds.
I love this idea, of character tracking. You could see which character was really xjfghsdhj and was porbably a purchased character from a gold farmer. Or that your buddy has a new name, due to choice or a GM forced name reset. Or a know scammer who jumps to another server. Guild history included.
A view character history option would be great.
Also im all for paid services. I dont care if it covers name changes, character looks (possibly race where applicable) or even seasonal or special event social clothes and pets.
I do care about class changes.
I dont care if someone levels up on a pve server than switches to a pvp server or vice versa.