Character Name Policy: Difference between revisions
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== Historical (live) Name Retention Policy == | == Historical (live) Name Retention Policy == | ||
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The '''character name policy''' is a tactic for recycling used player names from inactive accounts so that other players may use them. The policy only applies to ''accounts'' that are currently ''deactivated'', '''not''' characters on active accounts that aren't logged in frequently. Additionally, accounts that are still being paid for, but simply have not been used for 90 days, are not affected. | The '''character name policy''' is a tactic for recycling used player names from inactive accounts so that other players may use them. The policy only applies to ''accounts'' that are currently ''deactivated'', '''not''' characters on active accounts that aren't logged in frequently. Additionally, accounts that are still being paid for, but simply have not been used for 90 days, are not affected. | ||
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For this version of the policy, only characters that are level 5 and under are eligible for unreserved status. | For this version of the policy, only characters that are level 5 and under are eligible for unreserved status. | ||
=== Previous | === Previous Policies === | ||
On October 27, 2005, the character name policy was changed in order to allow names used by inactive accounts to be used by new characters created on active accounts. | On October 27, 2005, the character name policy was changed in order to allow names used by inactive accounts to be used by new characters created on active accounts. | ||
Revision as of 14:42, 7 October 2024
Description
The Character Name policy is a system to release names of characters under level 50 which have not been active for a set amount of time. Unlike the system on live, this is not just restricted to inactive accounts, and will be automatic versus the manually run script system used on live.
The name is not immediately removed from the inactive character, but the policy does allow someone to make a new character and use the name if the previous name holder does not log back in to that character.
Temporal Warriors (PVP-only characters that start at 50) are not subject to the exemption for being level 50 that standard characters have, and can be subject to the policy if inactive for long enough.
Homecoming Name retention policy
On October 1, 2024, Widower announced on the City of Heroes Homecoming forum that the name retention policy which had previously been announced but was not active would be going live on November 1, 2024.
Name Release Begins November 1st
The City Council has decided that we will activate the long-awaited name release policy on November 1st, 2024. As a reminder, the policy is as follows:
Characters will be flagged as ‘inactive’ when the following time thresholds are met:
Level 1-5 characters will be flagged as inactive if they have not been played in the last 30 days
Level 6-49 characters will be flagged as inactive if they have not been played in the last 365 days
Level 50 characters will never be flagged as inactive (with the exception of Temporal Warriors)
When a character is flagged as inactive they are not immediately renamed. Instead, their name is simply no longer locked. This allows another player to create a character with that name, at which point the original character will be renamed.
This flag will be visible on the character select screen. You can remove the inactive flag from a character at any time simply by logging them in.
As you are likely aware, the timer has been going since the release of Issue 27, Page 4, so most names should be released immediately.
Why are you doing this?
In the very early days of the server, back when we didn’t know how long we’d be around, a lot of people made a lot of characters and then abandoned them. There’s no reason to permanently preserve the names of someone who never intends to return to the game.
How many names will be freed up?
We estimate that 1.6 million names will be eligible for release upon activation, drawing roughly evenly from the 1-5 and 6-49 buckets. This is roughly half the total number of characters.
Isn’t there a better solution?
We have considered alternate solutions, but the way the servers and databases talk to each other makes those solutions impractical. This solution strikes a balance between preserving character names and freeing up unused names.
Will this ever extend to max-level characters?
We have no plans to do so.
Per Number Six, unlike the live version (historical information below) this is not a script that must be manually run, but a system which will continually run "real time" to flag and inactivate characters.
Historical (live) Name Retention Policy
This article contains information that no longer applies to the current version of Homecoming: City of Heroes/Villains. It is provided for historical purposes.
The character name policy is a tactic for recycling used player names from inactive accounts so that other players may use them. The policy only applies to accounts that are currently deactivated, not characters on active accounts that aren't logged in frequently. Additionally, accounts that are still being paid for, but simply have not been used for 90 days, are not affected.
Long before City of Heroes Freedom launched, the development team decided that running the scripts wasn't freeing up an appreciable number of character names, and has not run the script since the second wave.
Policy Details
The policy change affects all accounts that have been inactive for over 90 days. This only applied to accounts that were deactivated in some way, such as payment expiration or account suspensions.
Any character on such an account less than a certain level has its name set to "unreserved" status, which allows any new character on the server to be created with that name. In the event this happens, the original character under the name will be prompted to choose a new name upon login. In order to return a character's name to "reserved" status, the user must log the character in question into the game. As such, it is possible that a player can be actively using an account with characters whose names are still set to "unreserved" status.
When "unreserved" status is assigned to a name, the following changes are applied to the affected character:
- A new character name needs to be chosen (if existing name has been taken)
- The character's description and battle cry is cleared
- All mail received is deleted
- The character is removed from their Super Group, if any
- The character's Friends list is cleared, and the character is removed from others' Friends lists
- Mail other characters have received from an affected character reverts to having been sent from "Unknown"
Current Policy
On August 29, 2007, this policy was brought back. The re-enactment of this policy came in time for the Character Transfer and Character Rename features. This is a manual process run infrequently during a server maintenance period. Paragon Studios and NCsoft does not guarantee that the process will be announced before it takes effect, only that notice will be given if the policy is going to change.
For this version of the policy, only characters that are level 5 and under are eligible for unreserved status.
Previous Policies
On October 27, 2005, the character name policy was changed in order to allow names used by inactive accounts to be used by new characters created on active accounts.
During this enactment, eligible characters were level 34 and under.
On May 4, 2006, the character name policy was changed again to lift the previous enactment, which once again meant all new characters needed a unique name upon creation. Any characters already affected will retain "unreserved" status until said character is logged in though.