Character Name Policy
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 - Per Number Six, they are treated like level 1 characters and are flagged inactive after 30 days.
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.
Other changes for the Homecoming implementation
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.
Unlike the live system, characters will NOT lose server friends, mail or supergroups. Characters who have been renamed will have a number appended to the end of their name. If their name is at the maximum character limit, the last character will be replaced with a number. If nobody takes the name while the character is inactive, the name will not be changed.
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
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.