Goblin Squad Member
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As this is starting to gel. I have a name that is gelling but it may be edgy. This should not be a tread and it should not be a fourths of those trying to claim names, but if the name is a little edgy, will there be someone that we can contact in the summer?
Is it "Fantastic Lam Bastic"?
I'm actually looking forward to seeing some really clever but silly names.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Here're some of his statements, all from the thread Naming Conventions:
Here's how you do it so its fair.
You begin with a simple set of rules that must be obeyed, which include prohibitions against using the names from popular copyrighted works. Other obvious restrictions are on names intentionally designed to be harassing or insensitive.
But the meta rule is "you can't use any name we don't like, and we can't tell you in advance if we like a name or not."
People with "name review credentials" (whomever those people may be) are empowered to flag any name they think is problematic. This function could be something that is awarded to particularly helpful volunteers. Flagging the name has no effect - the player of the character should be told they've been flagged, but not by whom, and there's no action to be taken until the process has concluded. Asking for an advance decision or trying to go around the system will be prejudicial to the case.
People with "name enforcement credentials" (whomever those people may be, very unlikely to include anyone not on the payroll) periodically review all the names currently flagged. They decide (using whatever criteria are established, some of which may include subjective opinion, and with the ability to bandy the debate around in an internal discussion for marginal cases that deserve it) if the name should be changed or not. If it is deemed necessary to change the name, the name is switched to something meaningless but obviously not a "real name". Such as "Name_Must_Be_Changed_217". A character with such a name will be required to change it before the character can log in again.
If the player involved thinks the change was unwarranted, they can make a single appeal, in writing, which will be reviewed by the supervisory authority of whomever did the name change in the first place, and the decision of that review is final.
A player who consistently generates names that are reviewed and found to be a problem will simply be banned - it will be cheaper to fire the customer than to try and fix the customer.
When we begin Early Enrollment the naming conventions are going to be the equivalent of the Wild West.
You should assume that any name you choose is provisional, subject to change, and remains active only at our discretion.
The rampant abuse of the name system I expect will be massive, but it doesn't make a lot of sense to devote a lot of resources to a more reflective and discriminatory naming review process in Early Enrollment compared to the other tasks on the priority list.
So expect that whatever name you choose is likely to get changed at some point and then you won't be disappointed if and when that happens.
Nihimon asked whether there'd be early name registration:
@Nihimon - we're talking about ways to do that which don't lead to name brokering.
Names will have a real-world value (someone will snag a desirable name and then seek to sell the account that name is on; we can't stop it). Because of that we have to be careful to not let someone or some group namefarm the game. That means we have to have some systems in place to control the rate and proliferation of names before we start letting people claim them.
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Goblin Squad Member
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I would suggest that forum names, since they are already tied to our accounts, are already registered.
This would avoid anyone but Nihimon from taking the name "Nihimon". Many of us have established ourselves or our characters through these forums, and it would be detrimental to the community if others took those names and falsely portrayed themselves as the original person.
I would also hope that naming based on geographic features or place names, even if canon, be allowable because that is a very common derivation of names, particularly surnames.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Lam d' Cort was a 3.5 cleric with a Vow of Poverty back when I first registered with Paizo and Pathfinder beta was out. I paid for beta as it was cheaper than printing the free pdf. That character is gone as are a couple more. That character is not feasible in PfO and the special benefits of VoP are not available.
Most likely, I will not be using Lam d' Cort as a character name.
When PfO came out, it was default to old forum name. Those who wanted new name had a lot of problems.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Lam d' Cort was a 3.5 cleric with a Vow of Poverty back when I first registered with Paizo and Pathfinder beta was out. I paid for beta as it was cheaper than printing the free pdf. That character is gone as are a couple more. That character is not feasible in PfO and the special benefits of VoP are not available.
Most likely, I will not be using Lam d' Cort as a character name.
When PfO came out, it was default to old forum name. Those who wanted new name had a lot of problems.
I don't see why following a vow of poverty won't work in PFO. Even if it has no mechanical effects, benefits or just disadvantages, it would still have role playing value.
I intend to follow this same vow, even if I have to simulate its mechanics.
Was that how Lifedragn happened? :-)
Seriously though, not even having some sort of time limit for this, with no guarantee that name after name won't get flagged and as a consequence, you getting banned, yeah, that would sour me pretty badly on the game. And before you say it won't be a problem, just ask yourself "how do I know Bartoth isn't a seventeenth-century racial slur in Hungaria?"
Leggo Lass?
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Goblin Squad Member
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Was that how Lifedragn happened? :-)
Seriously though, not even having some sort of time limit for this, with no guarantee that name after name won't get flagged and as a consequence, you getting banned, yeah, that would sour me pretty badly on the game. And before you say it won't be a problem, just ask yourself "how do I know Bartoth isn't a seventeenth-century racial slur in Hungaria?"
Actually, Lifedragn happened in my teen years before I knew how to name things. I was going for Lifedragon, as many correctly surmise, but the name was one character too long for the name field. I felt the 'o' would be missed the least. And then I thought this name would be relatively unique enough that I would never need numbers like 73845 after it, so I decided to make it my internet alias so to speak. To date, I've only ever found one copycat. According to google they used it for some pokemon stuff.
Lifedragn will not be an in-character name ;)
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Goblin Squad Member
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Speaking of... I finally found a good use for that "Hide Thread" button. After flagging all the posts, of course.
I logged in this morning about 10-15 mins after all those spam posts went live. I flagged them as "Break Other Forum Rules" on the flag options, out of curiosity, what Flag did you use to report those posts?
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Goblin Squad Member
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Speaking of... I finally found a good use for that "Hide Thread" button. After flagging all the posts, of course.I logged in this morning about 10-15 mins after all those spam posts went live. I flagged them as "Break Other Forum Rules" on the flag options, out of curiosity, what Flag did you use to report those posts?
"Breaks other guidelines"
I'm glad to see the posts have been removed.
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Goblin Squad Member
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The only thing I'm worried about name choices is the possibility of restrictions could "kill" the roleplaying of some people.
An example:
Somebody named "Joern Green Lantern".
Everybody knows Green Lantern is a DC superhero, and people would say it is a copyrighted name.
However, the player uses this family name due the fact that in the background he created to his character, his family was reffered as Green Lantern, because there was a big green lantern in the front door of their house.
I hope in such cases if the player appeals, explaining the reason he/she chose this name, it will be reconsidered.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Bookmarked for inclusion in the soon to be updated EE FAQ thread; and for new people to add new insight to the topic on hand. :)
Somewhere on the Alpha forums one of the Devs updated this topic with their positions on names, the Kickstarter name reservation perk, and something similar. Damn the lack of search functions...
Bluddwolf also declared he is keeping his names secret (we will see how long that last; I offer a bounty of 200 coal to the first person not of the UNC or its allies to find out). :)
The Baba Ji (or equivalent) name from the spam thread that was deleted doesn't count. (Grin)