Naming Policy Suggestion

[BlancoFallowhide]

I just stumbled off a new naming policy posted by Turbine
http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.p...-Policy-Update

I'm not particularly impressed that this wasn't trumpeted from the mountain tops like updates and known issues are. I'm pretty good at checking the "new info" window on the launcher and I didn't see this one.

However, that's besides the point. In the policy it says that if a player is not online when the GM investigates, and if the GM sees the name as a violation, that the investigating GM gets to choose the new name. I would suggest that the account be sent an email, or at least the character sent an in game email, that the player has 2 weeks to change the name for free or submit to the GM a new, appropriate name. If the concern, as stated in the policy, is that Renamedrock is no better than before, then I suggest a system be in place in which the player can reply to the GM's email with a new name suggestion. This prevents the problem while preserving the player's control over the character.

I know to date that the player had a "free" name change when this happened. I would encourage Turbine to continue this practice. If somebody complained about my character's name and a GM changed it without my notice because I wasn't online at the time, I'd be really ticked that I had to PAY to choose a new name. So my suggestion is about protecting or maintaining good relationships with customers while at the same time preserving player control over characters.

[whheydt]

A lot of the issues bring up revolve around how long it takes between the time a name violation ticket is submitted and a GM deals with it.

The policy change still doesn't address the more fundamental policy flaws, though. To wit, Turbine doesn't actually enforce their policies with regard to other sources of IP violations and doesn't even always enforce violations based on "near, but not exact" conflicts with LoTR names.

I'd provide a list of examples, but that would violate forum rules....

--W. H. Heydt

Old Used Programmer

[Yula_the_Mighty]

I am surprised Turbine did not change this policy sooner.

IMHO - It is due the heavy work load the free players are putting on the game masters. There is no incentive for them to name their characters in line with the naming policy. The game masters are being buried under complaints from the VIPs about horrid names. They change them to Rename... Now they get an email ticket which might not have a new name that meets the requirements. Many free players could not care less if their account gets banned. Make another one.

Plus they have the issue of delete the character made a new character with another trash name. Or run around with Rename annoy people.

Since the game master has to rename the character anyway, they might as well choose an appropriate name. This situation ends their interaction with the customer.

The down side is that VIPs get the same treatment as everyone else when they pick a name that is in violation.

[Talrol]

Sure it would be frustrating to have your name changed to something not of your choosing, however if you actually take the time to read the information presented when creating an account on what is and is not appropriate it would never be an issue for anyone

[JBGronin]

Aside from the other policy issues mentioned or not mentioned the name a person picks for them-self represents their attitude to...
1. the game
2. the other players
3. how important they feel about themselves in regard to the likes or dislikes about others
4. established rules for preservation of the enjoyment of all
5. attitude to be under rules of fairness

I cant feel sympathy for Joe the Shmoe because from the start he chose to disregard all concern for fellow players and rules and crafted a name he knew was out of line. they get what they deserve... a forfeit of rights in that naming process. I find that very few names that are changed are done so against innocent players. The ones that are innocent if any I apologize to.

[Penter-Kar]

The down side is that VIPs get the same treatment as everyone else when they pick a name that is in violation.

This is my only gripe about the new policy. I pick names that fit with the character and are appropriate for the game they are in. I would not feel right playing a character that I did not get to name. I will not pay to rename the character. I would be more apt to delete the character and be peeved at Turbine for it.

It would be better if they could lock the character and force a rename to unlock it. Renames could also be required to get GM approval before the character gets unlocked. They could limit this to VIP if they want, or to accounts that are entitled to GM support. They should also limit the number of free renames an account can have in a given time period to prevent those that feel the need to deliberately give their characters bad names.

[NamelessZombie]

This is my only gripe about the new policy. I pick names that fit with the character and are appropriate for the game they are in.

If you picked a name that fit the character and was appropriate for the game, then I have a feeling your name would not get changed.

Also, all this really hurts are those idiots who think IRNotHeala" for their RK is a good, fantasy, RP name. Or "Smoookinweeeds" or "Highaskite" or ect ect ect.

This is just another example of how some brain-dead idiots make things harder for the GMs.

[Khafar]

Back in AC, if you picked a racist or obscene name your character was deleted (no matter how long you'd been playing before you were reported). Forced renames, even to names not of your choosing, are weaksauce in comparison .

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the GM have to assist you in renaming your character once you'd been changed to "Renamedroc" (or whatever)? If that's correct, I suspect that one major reason to change policies is simply to lighten the load on GMs - they just have the random name generator spit out a name, change you to that, and they're done. No "assist" necessary. Having the "approve" a rename would just load them back up again.

Khafar

[Yula_the_Mighty]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the GM have to assist you in renaming your character once you'd been changed to "Renamedroc" (or whatever)?

Correct. In order to prevent the Yula exploit:

1) Yula names Hunter Legoles.
2) Turbine changes Legoles to Renameaaa
3) Turbine gives Yula rename credit
4) Yula thinks Turbine is dense. Yula changes Renameaaa to Legoles.

Turbine has to approve and set the name themselves.

I played these games since the 90s, never had a character renamed. it is not that hard to avoid problems with the operator.

The new policy makes sure that characters have a decent name after the game master is done. Wealthy players can go this route:

1) Yula names Hunter Legoles
2) Turbine changes Legoles to Erchdriel
3) Yula buys a name credit for ten dollars changed Erchdiel to Legoles.
4) Turbine changes Legoles to ...

[Nymphonic]

I hate the names copying characters. I've seen Bagggins, Gandallf, and Aragorrn. Very original!

All three of those were some years ago. I'm not even sure if those names would get past the filter anymore.

[whheydt]

I hate the names copying characters. I've seen <Hobbit example>, <Maia example>, and <Dunedain example>. Very original!

All three of those were some years ago. I'm not even sure if those names would get past the filter anymore.

They'll get past the filter (probably). It'll just be a matter of time until someone reports them.

On the other hand, specifying them in a post is another issue....

--W. H. Heydt

Old Used Programmer

[FoxFire]

100% Approve.

That is until one of my toons gets a forced name change. LOL.

I don't anticipate that happening unless I accidentally chose some LotR or other IP name I wasn't aware of.

I only wish Turbine would broaden their naming policy to include the forced changing of asinine names like Ninjakiller or Bunnybutt.

[JBGronin]

I only wish Turbine would broaden their naming policy to include the forced changing of asinine names like Ninjakiller or Bunnybutt.

I agree...some were present before f2p but now I see that kind of name everywhere. But as long as this is the policy.....taken from the community involvement thread by Jesenne.......

"It’s common for people to have opinions on the names others choose for their characters. If you’re in the world as “Renlanwen Aldaviel, Daughter of Tithlaithor Talos”, and you see someone else go by on “Whackanything Tankshield”, it may bother you that they have just run across your role-playing and didn’t fit in your storyline. However, this is not a violation of the policy. You choose to play in the Lore, they choose to play in the Gore. We will not change these names as it is not causing any harm."

....then nothing will change. They're right, its not causing any harm to gameplay by anyone. It does damage the suspense of disbelief though. I clearly think it does. You are being reminded in-game just like the constant store repeater adds...this is just an amusement park and the real world is right behind you.....no immersion or only short immersion then back to reality. Of course if you raid all the time this is no issue.

[Crell_1]

Anytime a player gets forcibly renamed, that name should be automatically added to the list of unacceptable names.

[FoxFire]

I agree...some were present before f2p but now I see that kind of name everywhere. But as long as this is the policy.....taken from the community involvement thread by Jesenne.....

....then nothing will change. They're right, its not causing any harm to gameplay by anyone. It does damage the suspense of disbelief though. I clearly think it does. You are being reminded in-game just like the constant store repeater adds...this is just an amusement park and the real world is right behind you.....no immersion or only short immersion then back to reality. Of course if you raid all the time this is no issue.

The solution of course is to have an official Role Playing server where just a handful of very basic rules are GM enforced, one being no ridiculous names.

Of course unlike the European Union, who HAVE been given an official RP server, Turbine has refused to give the Americas one, simply giving us insulting lame reasoning that 'we consider all our servers to be RP servers', yet having no RP policy or rules on any of them.

This is a disservice not only to those who want to RP or be in and respect an RP atmosphere, but it is ALSO a disservice to those who want to avoid such rigid rules and BE Fuzzybunnybutt. So... we have such players on Landroval, never knowing it's an Unofficial RP server, and often finding that they have a much harder time forming groups, getting in groups, getting in kinships, and otherwise being shunned in game.

I still find it inexplicable that a fantasy RPG with such a rich and intricate Lore as Lord of the Rings, that would attract serious Role Players, there are no official RP servers, where as other fantasy MMOGs without such a rich lore, they DO have official RP servers.

[whheydt]

I still find it inexplicable that a fantasy RPG with such a rich and intricate Lore as Lord of the Rings, that would attract serious Role Players, there are no official RP servers, where as other fantasy MMOGs without such a rich lore, they DO have official RP servers.

Ummm.... If the game basis were just some fantasy made up by the game company, what would you base the fantasy names ON? Could I name a character, based on a book (with apologies to David Gerrold), "As-a-shade-of-purple-gray"?

--W. H. Heydt

Old Used Programmer

[DarkCntry]

The solution of course is to have an official Role Playing server where just a handful of very basic rules are GM enforced, one being no ridiculous names.

Of course unlike the European Union, who HAVE been given an official RP server, Turbine has refused to give the Americas one, simply giving us insulting lame reasoning that 'we consider all our servers to be RP servers', yet having no RP policy or rules on any of them.

This is a disservice not only to those who want to RP or be in and respect an RP atmosphere, but it is ALSO a disservice to those who want to avoid such rigid rules and BE Fuzzybunnybutt. So... we have such players on Landroval, never knowing it's an Unofficial RP server, and often finding that they have a much harder time forming groups, getting in groups, getting in kinships, and otherwise being shunned in game.

I still find it inexplicable that a fantasy RPG with such a rich and intricate Lore as Lord of the Rings, that would attract serious Role Players, there are no official RP servers, where as other fantasy MMOGs without such a rich lore, they DO have official RP servers.

Lets cover the EU version first, since it ties so nicely into the reason why the US version doesn't have an RP-strict ruleset server...

Codemasters does not develop the game, they host only the servers and the billing for the EU territories, that means that they can focus almost their entire staff for LOTRO on doing GM-related duties.

Seeing as Turbine develops LOTRO, as well as a couple other MMOs, and by that very nature makes them smaller teams, that Turbine cannot allocate funds enough to cover what would be required to employ GMs to police a server using a specific ruleset.

We won't even get into the whole "ruleset servers attract more that want to break the rules, than those that don't" quandary.

[dubsyubsy]

I'd just like them to set certain automatically filtered words to get forwarded on instead for human approval. I can't use names that contain words like "lass" or "farthing" because those words contain words that are automatically barred by the software. It's frustrating to be punished because some player somewhere else apparently can't be trusted with a keyboard.

[NamelessZombie]

Ok, a simple question for those worried about this "new policy".

LoTRO/Turbine makes it pretty clear that you need an "rp like" name.

If you are following that rule, then why are you worried about the name being changed? Seems to me the only ones who should feel "worried" about this are people who don't follow the Naming Policy from the get go. If you know Buttmunch is not an RP correct name, why try to use it?

[Khafar]

The solution of course is to have an official Role Playing server where just a handful of very basic rules are GM enforced, one being no ridiculous names.

That "just a handful" of very basic rules would significantly increase the cost of running the server. Blizzard once said their RP servers had 30% higher CS costs than regular servers, and having played on one myself (Argent Dawn)... I can tell you that their "enforcement" wasn't very strict. At all. If that represented +30%, yikes. I can't imagine what it would cost to actually do a good job at that sort of enforcement.


The suggestion I've made in the past that would deal with some of this:

• Add an RP server that costs $3 extra per month if you have even a single character there.
• Use the additional revenue to hire more CS staff to work that server and provide RP-related rules enforcement.

This would accomplish a couple of things. First, it would weed out a lot of the people who weren't serious about RP, or who just wanted to harass RPers - they'll do that if it's free relative to other servers, but not if it's going to cost them extra. Second, it's self-funding, making it more attractive to the service provider and preventing other players from having to subsidize the extra costs.

If someone wants to play on an RP server and that costs more, they should be willing to pay more, put their money where their mouths are. $3/mo isn't very much even for my teenage kids, and if someone isn't willing to pay that... they didn't want to be there very much.

Khafar

[JeanCarlo]

Ok, a simple question for those worried about this "new policy".

LoTRO/Turbine makes it pretty clear that you need an "rp like" name.

You may want to read Turbine's naming policy...

/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*


As for the Naming policy itself: what happens when a name is not (a guess) reported in game but is "blatantly" used on the forums? Not to start a drama thread, but this past week alone, I saw recruitment threads for kinships named after Terry Goodkind's work.

[JeanCarlo]

I just stumbled off a new naming policy posted by Turbine
http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.p...-Policy-Update

Well, at least they were honest about this...

With that in mind, effective April 4, 2011, we will be changing names that are found to be violations to a suitable fantasy name of the Game Master’s choice. The player that is found in violation of the policy will not have a choice of a new name.

We encourage that each player thoroughly review our Naming Policy prior to creating a character. Violations of the policy will result in a more suitable name being applied to the character and, if appropriate, action being taken against the player’s account.

You may certainly still appeal the name change by visiting support.turbine.com. You may also choose to purchase a new name if you are unhappy with the name that was provided to you.

Which, at a guess, is the root of this change. (Emphasis/bold added in)

[NamelessZombie]

You may want to read Turbine's naming policy...

/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*


As for the Naming policy itself: what happens when a name is not (a guess) reported in game but is "blatantly" used on the forums? Not to start a drama thread, but this past week alone, I saw recruitment threads for kinships named after Terry Goodkind's work.

My understanding is that people report people with names like Booroomi or Gimlli or Ganndalff. ButtFace, I<word for naughty things that i wont post here>noobs, Teabagginyourface are also reported.

I have yet heard of anyone reporting someone for using the name Belkar or Vork. It is not so much, i think, that people hate using "homage" names, so much an issue of people using names that are clearly ripped from LotR heroes OR just have no place in a fantasy mmo.

Likewise, I dont think people mind guild names that are taken from popular books.

[Sapience]

We've seen an increase in names that violate our policies. We've also seen an increase in names that are clearly attempts to provoke/troll other players. Because of this, we have changed our policy.

At the end of the day, naming your character is a deliberate action that is impossible to categorize as 'accidental'. Also, no one is ever forced to change their name based on another player's reports. If your name is reported and it is not in violation, nothing happens. If it is in violation, then the issue is that you chose an inappropriate name, not that someone reported it.