General

I missed this post until now because you didn't actually quote me, which means it didn't show up in my lower left

[quote=BobR]You know as well as I do there IS no "concrete evidence" to be had in any of this. Not for my side, not for your side. Your opinions have as much validity as do mine. You apparently don't think people play an MMORPG to "role play," and I do. Oh well.[/quote]

The defining difference is that I'm arguing against a change from the current state. You need evidence that something is broken if you want to change it (if you're a logical person). So, if there are arguments to the contrary (which I am making), and they qualitatively make some sense, then you shouldn't want to break something that isn't broken, unless there is overwhelming evidence for the side that wants to change it.

... At the very least for a major change such as account deletion.

[quote=BobR]
I go back to my point that Nexon is going to face increasing pressure from the lack of usable "role playing" names in the namespace they've allotted that fit within the limitations in their Terms of Use. With the influx of new players they appear to be expecting to generate, they'll eventually have to do something about it whether it's to increase the number of allowable characters, allow redundancy across servers or delete unused accounts.[/quote]

Maybe, maybe not. That's in the future.

As for me, I'm just arguing against account deletion. I could care less about anything else.

There are actually a number of ways they could eliminate the naming problem, if it arises.

For instance, if they could be arsed enough to code it, they could make it so that very old accounts just get all of their characters' names taken away, rather than the actual character. The characters' names would be replaced with some randomly generated name, and if they wanted to change it they would have to buy an item specifically for accounts like theirs (much cheaper than a full set of character renames, for sure).

Arguably you could use that as a loophole to get cheaper character renames, but I doubt anyone would want to wait a year or two to do that, so the original character rename item isn't going to sell for any less, and Nexon will be making a small profit from any returning players.

The largest problem is that usually Nexon can't be arsed to do anything. They treat their players like trash in general, and players just take it. Some people apparently are even having symptoms similar to Stockholm syndrome. If Nexon ISN'T messing things up horribly, things are going GREAT, and they defend the company's actions constantly. To be honest, this is what scares me the most. People are scary creatures...

And that's the thing I'm noticing from this. We're naturally treating "account deletion" as the proper method, because it involves the least work for them. Why? This entire discussion makes little sense when you think about it. There are a number of ways Nexon COULD free up character names without any deletion involved! Millions of possible ways!

... but they're all less simple than deleting old accounts. So, from the way we're used to Nexon treating us as players, this is the most natural route.

So, when I think about it that way, this whole discussion is kind of scary in many ways. One of which is that it could have been avoided entirely had we suggested alternative options.

But I'm just rambling now...

[quote=BobR]
As for names, I understand what the root of your character's name is, but regardless it skates very close to the edge of being inappropriate under the Terms of Use. Try sending in a Ticket and ask if your character name, minus the "S" would be allowed. It might be an interesting experience, if they have the time to answer. Or, as an actual experiment, create a new character with that name, post here with it and watch to see how quickly it gets banned.[/quote]

That'd be an interesting experiment, but with tests and essays due this week, I think I'm gonna opt out on that one until later.

As for where my name came from... you're probably half-right. Most people are.

omg stop arguing, no one cares.

I just took 15minutes (okay fine, it ended up taking like 30), and reserved a bunch of names for no reason.

MrDragon
Ulqamoth
Warqle
zerh
wajt
taiqa
sdzk
qoggles
RenownWyvern

I got 3 4-letter igns for the heck of it. they suck, but they're 4 letters...
The other igns have Q instead of Gs. In game, q looks like g, so it works out.

a third of these are random words. a third of these are 5th gen pokemon. the other third i actually like, such as qoggles and warqle (which is also a pokemon).

You know as well as I do there IS no "concrete evidence" to be had in any of this. Not for my side, not for your side. Your opinions have as much validity as do mine. You apparently don't think people play an MMORPG to "role play," and I do. Oh well.

I go back to my point that Nexon is going to face increasing pressure from the lack of usable "role playing" names in the namespace they've allotted that fit within the limitations in their Terms of Use. With the influx of new players they appear to be expecting to generate, they'll eventually have to do something about it whether it's to increase the number of allowable characters, allow redundancy across servers or delete unused accounts.

As for names, I understand what the root of your character's name is, but regardless it skates very close to the edge of being inappropriate under the Terms of Use. Try sending in a Ticket and ask if your character name, minus the "S" would be allowed. It might be an interesting experience, if they have the time to answer. Or, as an actual experiment, create a new character with that name, post here with it and watch to see how quickly it gets banned.

[quote=BobR]Indeed. That's an error, which has been pointed out to them They obviously MEANT character name and typically screwed it up when they posted the ToU.

Regardless, they DO ban inappropriate names and gibberish names. I've reported a lot of both, and they've disappeared from the game.
[/quote]
And how do you know this? I want actual evidence. Just because you reported some gibberish name doesn't mean that there wasn't simply a legitimate reason for banning it.
[quote=BobR]
Those are merely ones that haven't been reported and banned yet. That's the same argument that's used in the forums often.. "My IGN is (insert inappropriate name here) and I've never been banned". My answer to them is they've been lucky and just haven't happened to pass by a GM or MWLB. Then I report the name and it disappears.

Like I said, there are over 12.5 MILLION character names in the rankings. I seriously doubt Nexon has a whole staff of people doing nothing but combing through that list for illegal names. Doesn't mean they're not illegal.
[/quote]

Again, that doesn't mean that the ones you pointed out WERE illegal. I want hard evidence that that is why they banned them.

[quote=BobR]
Except that Nexon is trying very hard to make the game easier to play to attract new players. I seldom "grind" and I just hit level 90. With all the changes in the game, "grinding" for a name is counter to Nexon's goal of attracting new players.
[/quote]

The game is still gonna be about grinding. That's never gonna change. That was just an aside point anyway.

Another easy argument I could make is that if you can't take the time to make some meaningful (to you) 12 letter combination... then you don't care enough to play. That seems to be the same type of argument you're doing.
[quote=BobR]
That's been suggested before, and yes, it would be a good solution. The problem is the competitive aspect. Having each server maintain its own list of names would mean there'd be almost a dozen "FangBlades" and "curryishotts". That meets with almost as much resistance as the idea of deleting old accounts.
[/quote]

How is this being "competitive"? I fail to see how directly copying names makes you any more competitive. Either way, people would only bother to take a very few select names, since the only ones this would really affect would be people who cared enough to try to get a unique name. It's easily a sufficient enough fix to any "problem" you could be foreseeing".

[quote=BobR]
Accounts do get deleted, but very seldom. My guess is that Nexon holds out the hope that you're right, and every single person who's ever tried the game and never came back will someday come to their senses and return, and buy lots of NX Cash. That idea will have to change as they run out of legal names.[/quote]

Supposing there are any illegal names. It's also supposing that the above fix would be insufficient, when it's plenty sufficient.

[quote=BobR]
That returns to the thesis that started this thread. Sure there are plenty of boring English words that can be created using up to 12 letters. And if that's what floats your boat, then perhaps you'd be happy running around with a character named "Vocalists". Just watching IGNs here on the forum and in the game indicate that a lot of people don't much care what their cartoon is named.
[/quote]

Kay. Except that's not the thesis of this thread. The creator of this thread did not think them boring. Other individuals such as yourself did.

[quote=BobR]
However, for anyone who doesn't care to have a completely unrelated word as their name, it's getting extremely hard to find any remaining. Remember, over 12.5 MILLION names have been taken. What's left are a lot of boring common English words and a very very few names that have anything to do with the game.
[/quote]

Says you. I beg to differ. This is entirely subjective.

[quote=BobR]
And before you go off on "assumptions" again, just look at the number of people who've resorted to intentional misspellings, use of visually similar characters and combinations of characters to form other characters, just to get a meaningful name. Not everyone is satisfied being "AFacepalmer" when playing a Role Playing Game. You want to force everyone into picking a random word that just happens to be left over.
[/quote]

You're acting like I'm satisfied with "AFacePalmer" when it's an "inferior" name to me. It isn't. I was looking specifically for something having to do with facepalming, and am fully satisfied with the name. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. It's not like making it "Facepalmer" or "Facepalming" would make it any different in meaning.

I might also be sensing a veiled attempt at insulting my tastes, but I'll let that slide.

[quote=BobR]
It's true that Level 10 characters may be mules, but who leaves a mule unaccessed for five years..? If Nexon was to implement a policy like this it wouldn't be done by Level, it would be done by length of time the account was left unaccessed.
[/quote]

I'm talking about your lack of evidence. You pointed me to 12,500,000 as being a large number of taken character names, and then said that a majority of those were people that quit, when you had no evidence for it. By saying what you just said you're effectively proving the point you made null, and agreeing with what I said in response to it.

[quote=BobR]
You have an almost amusing tendency to project. I don't know where you get the idea that I'm angry about anything, or that I'm raging. I'm simply pointing out a flaw in the game- the limitation on character name creation and suggesting a solution. And pointing out that Nexon is going to have to do something about it eventually.
[/quote]

Amusing tendency to project? No, I'm rather honest. I just tend to notice any patterns and then point them out. I didn't mean "raging" (and by extension "angry&quot as in the way you're used to seeing it. The implied meaning was that you're pretty much whining about something that doesn't actually affect a majority of the community nearly as much as you think. You do suggest a solution to the "problem", except from what I'm seeing you're one of the few who really identifies it as a major "problem", especially one worth this much attention. You further support this by using personal viewpoints and situations for most of your arguments, combined with assumptions that you're making to further you're point.

To me, aside from proposing a solution, this is no different from whining about a problem. You either have clear evidence supporting a change, or you don't. You don't, and your argument isn't very strong (in part because of that). If you actually cared to further this point, you would be doing a lot of research. This is a major change, and you can't just make blanket statements supporting it (which is all you're doing).
[quote=BobR]
Except that the adult population of Maplestory is exceedingly small. Yes, adults do play the game but in a very tiny minority. You're an exception to the case. And you want to deny names to new players in case some post college former player ever gets a case of nostalgia and wants to pick up where they left off years ago. An "assumption," true, but I don't think that happens often enough to keep millions of names locked up forever.
[/quote]

... You're even admitting that you're pulling random data out of nowhere for this, so I won't even bother responding?

[quote=BobR]
Lol.. there you're flat wrong. You only have to spend a little time in the "Maplestory Tech Help" forum area to see the DAILY pleas for help recovering forgotten passwords, birthdays, e-mail addresses, e-mail passwords, and yes even Account Names. People who used to play and can't remember anything about the account and want help getting all that info back. And remember, Basilmarket is only a fraction of the total number of Maplestory players. The real number of forgotten account info is very likely many times greater. Kids simply don't write things down, and don't appear to remember things very well either. If you do, you're an exception. I seriously doubt many of those post High School folks you're concerned about would remember more than their character name, if even that.
[/quote]

I used me as a counterexample because I thought you said "all". But your "most" is just as convincing, considering you have no data about who the password forgotten/whathaveyou forgotten threads are made by?

Has it also ever occurred to you that there are so "so many" people there because that is what the forum is for, and naturally even 1% of a huge community like basilmarket posting stuff in a forum in list format would look like a LOT of people?

Just an FYI, my point is regarding ANYONE who would chose to do that, not specifically High School or post High School kids.
[quote=BobR]
If you're speaking of not needing the e-mail address attached to a Maplestory account in order to use it, again you need to spend some time in the "Maplestory Tech Help" forum. Losing Maplestory accounts because of forgotten e-mail accounts is a DAILY occurrence, and again.. that's only Basilmarket members we're seeing.
[/quote]

Uhh... I've never needed to use my email account for my accounts? Literally. You can easily play without it, as long as you know the username and password for your current one.

[quote=BobR]
You seem to be aware of what an MMORPG is, but totally oblivious to the impact of a suitable character name when playing an MMORPG. Once again, if you're happy being "Vocalists" or "AFacepalmer", good for you. (Assumption): I really doubt many people approach wanting to play an MMORPG and being known in the game as some random, boring, combination of letters.[/quote]

You seem to be completely oblivious to the meanings of the words/phrases "subjective", "opinion", and "differing tastes" (or rather that last one should be differing tastes, but whatever). You seem to be completely oblivious to things that in other words make it so that what you think is a good name is not a good name to other people!

From what I'm seeing, your definition of an ideal name doesn't fit mine. Great. That makes us different. That has nothing to do with any kind of standards. For you to say anything contrary to this you would be implying that your standard of names is higher than everyone else's. Good luck getting that one across.

[quote=xshadow2]The terms of use sentence you read was under the Username/Password section. Notice "USERNAME" not "CHARACTER NAME". Your character name can be anything you want it to be.[/quote]Indeed. That's an error, which has been pointed out to them They obviously MEANT character name and typically screwed it up when they posted the ToU.

Regardless, they DO ban inappropriate names and gibberish names. I've reported a lot of both, and they've disappeared from the game.

[quote=xshadow2]If you really want to be PROVEN wrong, put "asdfghjk" in the rankings list.[/quote]
Those are merely ones that haven't been reported and banned yet. That's the same argument that's used in the forums often.. "My IGN is (insert inappropriate name here) and I've never been banned". My answer to them is they've been lucky and just haven't happened to pass by a GM or MWLB. Then I report the name and it disappears.

Like I said, there are over 12.5 MILLION character names in the rankings. I seriously doubt Nexon has a whole staff of people doing nothing but combing through that list for illegal names. Doesn't mean they're not illegal.

[quote=xshadow2]If they have that little tolerance, they wouldn't make it through this game anyway. Most of the stuff (lolgrinding) in this game IS a chore. If you aren't prepared to think out SOME KIND of name, get out of here. It's not for you.[/quote]
Except that Nexon is trying very hard to make the game easier to play to attract new players. I seldom "grind" and I just hit level 90. With all the changes in the game, "grinding" for a name is counter to Nexon's goal of attracting new players.

[quote=xshadow2]Anyway, you have mentioned that server names are shared globally. You realize that what would be much easier than deleting accounts is probably making it so all servers did NOT share names? I bet they were just a bit lazy with their database coding, and they could easily change this within the time of a server check. Doing so would make naming problems almost nonexistent, and I think that they would do that before account deletion. Depends on how lazy they are, of course, and how hard account deletion actually is (notice they just "ban" people. Have you ever seen an account actually deleted?).[/quote]That's been suggested before, and yes, it would be a good solution. The problem is the competitive aspect. Having each server maintain its own list of names would mean there'd be almost a dozen "FangBlades" and "curryishotts". That meets with almost as much resistance as the idea of deleting old accounts.

Accounts do get deleted, but very seldom. My guess is that Nexon holds out the hope that you're right, and every single person who's ever tried the game and never came back will someday come to their senses and return, and buy lots of NX Cash. That idea will have to change as they run out of legal names.

[quote=xshadow2]Ummm... I can come up with plenty of names that I know aren't taken, and I would like. Do you want me to? I just made a Dawn Warrior named "AFacepalmer". Before you start, no I don't care if you like that name or not. I did. Was it hard to come up with? Not really. It's not even really novel or difficult to come up with.

Moreover, you're assuming everyone WANTS to come up with a unique name. Let's add that to your growing list of assumptions.

That's a false one, by the way. A lot of people make XX<insertsomethinghere>XX thinking it's the bomb. Not everyone CARES to have a "unique" name, or even a decent one. Some people just... y'know... like playing the game![/quote]That returns to the thesis that started this thread. Sure there are plenty of boring English words that can be created using up to 12 letters. And if that's what floats your boat, then perhaps you'd be happy running around with a character named "Vocalists". Just watching IGNs here on the forum and in the game indicate that a lot of people don't much care what their cartoon is named.

However, for anyone who doesn't care to have a completely unrelated word as their name, it's getting extremely hard to find any remaining. Remember, over 12.5 MILLION names have been taken. What's left are a lot of boring common English words and a very very few names that have anything to do with the game.

And before you go off on "assumptions" again, just look at the number of people who've resorted to intentional misspellings, use of visually similar characters and combinations of characters to form other characters, just to get a meaningful name. Not everyone is satisfied being "AFacepalmer" when playing a Role Playing Game. You want to force everyone into picking a random word that just happens to be left over.

It's true that Level 10 characters may be mules, but who leaves a mule unaccessed for five years..? If Nexon was to implement a policy like this it wouldn't be done by Level, it would be done by length of time the account was left unaccessed.

[quote=xshadow2]Except that obviously doesn't apply to every account. That's just a unique case: your case. You're just angry about it, and now you're raging up an absurd (well perhaps not entirely absurd I can see where you're coming from) policy.[/quote] You have an almost amusing tendency to project. I don't know where you get the idea that I'm angry about anything, or that I'm raging. I'm simply pointing out a flaw in the game- the limitation on character name creation and suggesting a solution. And pointing out that Nexon is going to have to do something about it eventually.

[quote=xshadow2]Yes, I have a total of 4 and 1/5th conceptions of how long five years is, currently. I must say it depends on the age, too. These next five years will no doubt pass by faster than any set of five years in the past. The older you get, faster time goes. So, if I tried this out some time in High School and then dropped it for a bit, picking it up in five years isn't terribly absurd... and I would still want my account to be there. Otherwise, I would probably ragequit and drop the game forever.

Also, the older you are, the more likely you're able to afford NX. Just saying. I have decent amounts of money in my bank account as extra cash, and once I get an engineering internship, it'll start multiplying. I MIGHT just spend more.[/quote]Except that the adult population of Maplestory is exceedingly small. Yes, adults do play the game but in a very tiny minority. You're an exception to the case. And you want to deny names to new players in case some post college former player ever gets a case of nostalgia and wants to pick up where they left off years ago. An "assumption," true, but I don't think that happens often enough to keep millions of names locked up forever.

[quote=xshadow2]You'd be wrong, I remember my passwords for nearly everything, same with usernames. Anyway, me aside, you form a plausible argument, but one with a huge lack of evidence behind it. It's blind conjecture to move your point forward.[/quote]Lol.. there you're flat wrong. You only have to spend a little time in the "Maplestory Tech Help" forum area to see the DAILY pleas for help recovering forgotten passwords, birthdays, e-mail addresses, e-mail passwords, and yes even Account Names. People who used to play and can't remember anything about the account and want help getting all that info back. And remember, Basilmarket is only a fraction of the total number of Maplestory players. The real number of forgotten account info is very likely many times greater. Kids simply don't write things down, and don't appear to remember things very well either. If you do, you're an exception. I seriously doubt many of those post High School folks you're concerned about would remember more than their character name, if even that.

[quote=xshadow2]Moreover, you don't actually need to remember the email address for your account in order to use it! Amazing![/quote]If you're speaking of not needing the e-mail address attached to a Maplestory account in order to use it, again you need to spend some time in the "Maplestory Tech Help" forum. Losing Maplestory accounts because of forgotten e-mail accounts is a DAILY occurrence, and again.. that's only Basilmarket members we're seeing.

You seem to be aware of what an MMORPG is, but totally oblivious to the impact of a suitable character name when playing an MMORPG. Once again, if you're happy being "Vocalists" or "AFacepalmer", good for you. (Assumption): I really doubt many people approach wanting to play an MMORPG and being known in the game as some random, boring, combination of letters.

[quote=BobR]Yes, character names are shared among ALL the GMS servers. And most of those 12 character combinations are gibberish. That big number is meaningless.
If you read the Nexon Terms of Use, gibberish names are ILLEGAL. That's one reason why hacker names like "gkfuidieoxls" get removed.[/quote]

The terms of use sentence you read was under the Username/Password section. Notice "USERNAME" not "CHARACTER NAME". Your character name can be anything you want it to be.

If you really want to be PROVEN wrong, put "asdfghjk" in the rankings list.

[quote=BobR]
You're trying to force NEW players who've never played Maplestory to sit at the character creation screen and try to come up with some combination of 12 letters that makes some kind of sense and is meaningful to them. How long do you think a NEW player- one who hasn't played before and has no idea whether the game is even going to be worth the wasted time trying to create a character name, is going to sit there and try again and again and again and again, with all their possible choices being REJECTED because someone has abandoned that name FIVE YEARS AGO..? Most likely they'll give up in disgust and go play a different game.[/quote]

If they have that little tolerance, they wouldn't make it through this game anyway. Most of the stuff (lolgrinding) in this game IS a chore. If you aren't prepared to think out SOME KIND of name, get out of here. It's not for you.

Anyway, you have mentioned that server names are shared globally. You realize that what would be much easier than deleting accounts is probably making it so all servers did NOT share names? I bet they were just a bit lazy with their database coding, and they could easily change this within the time of a server check. Doing so would make naming problems almost nonexistent, and I think that they would do that before account deletion. Depends on how lazy they are, of course, and how hard account deletion actually is (notice they just "ban" people. Have you ever seen an account actually deleted?).

[quote=BobR]
Or- here kid, here's a great Role Playing Game where you can be a Fighter, Magic User, Pirate... and your name can be "Vacationers". Or "Vocalizers".
Great names for adventurers. Right. Join our game, spend your money and be named "Tourists".[/quote]

Ummm... I can come up with plenty of names that I know aren't taken, and I would like. Do you want me to? I just made a Dawn Warrior named "AFacepalmer". Before you start, no I don't care if you like that name or not. I did. Was it hard to come up with? Not really. It's not even really novel or difficult to come up with.

Moreover, you're assuming everyone WANTS to come up with a unique name. Let's add that to your growing list of assumptions.

That's a false one, by the way. A lot of people make XX<insertsomethinghere>XX thinking it's the bomb. Not everyone CARES to have a "unique" name, or even a decent one. Some people just... y'know... like playing the game!

[quote=BobR]
Do this- go to the Nexon Rankings page and in the "Rank" box at the top right of the page enter "12500000" (TWELVE MILLION FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND), and look at the names in the bottom of the rankings. Then come back a few months later and look at those same names again... NO ADVANCEMENT. None of those names are being used. Active new players advance quickly up the rankings out of that range. The names that sit there UNUSED are the ones where someone logged in, created a character, played for 5 minutes and said "This game Sucks" and never came back.
[/quote]

Except not all of them necessarily said that, nor can you be sure that some of those characters aren't mules that current players are using. You can also make an assumption that most of them have stopped playing, but do you really want to make your list of assumptions grow larger? I doubt it.

[quote=BobR]
I've DONE that- four years ago when I first started playing MapleStory I tried name after name after name and all were taken. I looked at them on the rankings and they all were Level 10 or so. Over the years I've looked at them again- SAME LEVEL. Obviously abandoned, but completely unusable.

THOSE are the accounts I've been talking about. Ones where the account, character names and everything else have been ABANDONED. Not your oh so valuable account you don't plan to use for FIVE YEARS but want to keep in perpetuity just in case you someday get the urge to Maple again but won't bother to log in once a year to keep it active- I'm talking about the ABANDONED accounts.
[/quote]

Well, bad luck for you.

[quote=BobR]
Those people have obviously moved on and never plan to come back to continue their Level 10 character which has been sitting there for FIVE YEARS with the names all locked up.
[/quote]

Except that obviously doesn't apply to every account. That's just a unique case: your case. You're just angry about it, and now you're raging up an absurd (well perhaps not entirely absurd I can see where you're coming from) policy.

[quote=BobR]
Do you have any conception of how LONG five years is..?
[/quote]

Yes, I have a total of 4 and 1/5th conceptions of how long five years is, currently. I must say it depends on the age, too. These next five years will no doubt pass by faster than any set of five years in the past. The older you get, faster time goes. So, if I tried this out some time in High School and then dropped it for a bit, picking it up in five years isn't terribly absurd... and I would still want my account to be there. Otherwise, I would probably ragequit and drop the game forever.

Also, the older you are, the more likely you're able to afford NX. Just saying. I have decent amounts of money in my bank account as extra cash, and once I get an engineering internship, it'll start multiplying. I MIGHT just spend more.

[quote=BobR]
Most of the kids who started those accounts are probably at the end of High School or beyond now and have completely forgotten the 10 minutes they spent playing some kid's game called Maplestory. If THOSE accounts haven't been played in FIVE YEARS, they're never going to be played again, ever. Do you think those kids are even going to remember the account name, let alone the password and PIN number..? Chances are about the same as that big number of (mostly useless) character combinations you calculated.[/quote]

You'd be wrong, I remember my passwords for nearly everything, same with usernames. Anyway, me aside, you form a plausible argument, but one with a huge lack of evidence behind it. It's blind conjecture to move your point forward.

[quote=BobR]
THOSE names could easily be freed up without bothering anyone.
[/quote]
Or those names could not be freed up, and I doubt that many people besides you would care. Not everyone is crazy about a unique name. Nor does everyone find making a name they like difficult. Especially not xx<insertsomethinghere>xx-san.

[quote=BobR]
Also- If you have a Hotmail account, you KNOW that you have to log in every so often or they will DELETE your e-mail account. I have to do that with my Maple e-mail accounts just to keep them active. And I DO that so my accounts don't get deleted.

This is no different.[/quote]

Those are email accounts. They're almost always free, too. If you don't log in for months at a time, they can be pretty darn sure you don't actually need to use that email. Email accounts are always things you either use often, or you don't really need (much like you're using your emails for no other purpose than Maplestory?), so email companies can make a fairly solid reasoning that if you're not using an email account for a long time you don't need it. Plus, you're actively eating up bandwidth and data just by existing. You're probably getting offers from "here" that the spam blocker has to filter out, you're getting newsletters that you randomly signed up for, etc etc.

This is an MMORPG. Totally different scenarios. In an MMORPG, the only thing it needs to keep track of is your data. If you choose to not login for 5 years... no one really cares! You just have a fixed amount of data sitting somewhere in the server. No bandwidth wasted, just some data they have plenty of room for.

As for email accounts, though, I believe Hotmail makes it so that your email account is just deactivated (that's what happened to me last time). It may delete your emails and whatnot, but the actual account is still yours. I've actually never noticed any of my accounts lately getting deleted even if I don't access them for months at a time.

Moreover, you don't actually need to remember the email address for your account in order to use it! Amazing!

[quote=xshadow2]...gazillion character combinations...[/quote]
Yes, character names are shared among ALL the GMS servers. And most of those 12 character combinations are gibberish. That big number is meaningless.
If you read the Nexon Terms of Use, gibberish names are ILLEGAL. That's one reason why hacker names like "gkfuidieoxls" get removed.

You're trying to force NEW players who've never played Maplestory to sit at the character creation screen and try to come up with some combination of 12 letters that makes some kind of sense and is meaningful to them. How long do you think a NEW player- one who hasn't played before and has no idea whether the game is even going to be worth the wasted time trying to create a character name, is going to sit there and try again and again and again and again, with all their possible choices being REJECTED because someone has abandoned that name FIVE YEARS AGO..? Most likely they'll give up in disgust and go play a different game.

Or- here kid, here's a great Role Playing Game where you can be a Fighter, Magic User, Pirate... and your name can be "Vacationers". Or "Vocalizers".
Great names for adventurers. Right. Join our game, spend your money and be named "Tourists".

Do this- go to the Nexon Rankings page and in the "Rank" box at the top right of the page enter "12500000" (TWELVE MILLION FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND), and look at the names in the bottom of the rankings. Then come back a few months later and look at those same names again... NO ADVANCEMENT. None of those names are being used. Active new players advance quickly up the rankings out of that range. The names that sit there UNUSED are the ones where someone logged in, created a character, played for 5 minutes and said "This game Sucks" and never came back.

I've DONE that- four years ago when I first started playing MapleStory I tried name after name after name and all were taken. I looked at them on the rankings and they all were Level 10 or so. Over the years I've looked at them again- SAME LEVEL. Obviously abandoned, but completely unusable.

THOSE are the accounts I've been talking about. Ones where the account, character names and everything else have been ABANDONED. Not your oh so valuable account you don't plan to use for FIVE YEARS but want to keep in perpetuity just in case you someday get the urge to Maple again but won't bother to log in once a year to keep it active- I'm talking about the ABANDONED accounts.

Those people have obviously moved on and never plan to come back to continue their Level 10 character which has been sitting there for FIVE YEARS with the names all locked up.

Do you have any conception of how LONG five years is..? Most of the kids who started those accounts are probably at the end of High School or beyond now and have completely forgotten the 10 minutes they spent playing some kid's game called Maplestory. If THOSE accounts haven't been played in FIVE YEARS, they're never going to be played again, ever. Do you think those kids are even going to remember the account name, let alone the password and PIN number..? Chances are about the same as that big number of (mostly useless) character combinations you calculated.

THOSE names could easily be freed up without bothering anyone.

Also- If you have a Hotmail account, you KNOW that you have to log in every so often or they will DELETE your e-mail account. I have to do that with my Maple e-mail accounts just to keep them active. And I DO that so my accounts don't get deleted.

This is no different.

[quote=BobR]In the Terms of Use you READ when you sign up. In on-screen notices. In an e-mail campaign.

If a policy like this was to be implemented, there would be two things that would need to be done. The first would apply to NEW accounts made AFTER the policy goes into effect. For these people, all the above notices would make them aware of the need to log in at least once in the [whatever] period. If they don't do that, they've lost any claim to the account. They knew the rule and didn't care enough about the account to follow it.

For people who made their account BEFORE the policy went into effect, they'd have to send multiple e-mails to the e-mail account on record. If I was implementing this I'd start with accounts that haven't been used in FIVE YEARS. Anyone who's let an account sit that long has very likely moved on and never plans to come back anyway. Send them several e-mails. If they don't respond, wipe the account. They haven't played in five years, they're never coming back.

The next year, do the same with the current five year abandoned accounts. Eventually, after another five years it would be caught up to people who were INFORMED of the policy and who have the choice of keeping the account active or abandoning it and having it deleted.

Walking away from something for five years pretty much indicates a total loss of interest. It doesn't make sense to deprive other active players of useful names just for some vague "principle".
[/quote]

Like I said, people may not necessarily check those email accounts, and they should not be penalized for it. The way you put this just sounds terribly high-handed.

[quote=BobR]
You're making some rather broad assumptions there.
[/quote]

That's funny, coming from someone whose entire point is based on assumptions (or rather, just one: apparently everyone that doesn't play for a year doesn't give a crap...).

[quote=BobR]
I never said anything about "rare" names, I'm talking about USEFUL ones.

Ones that aren't "XxNAruto1235674302943549xX" because nothing else is available. Or "akduitidhglus" because a new player got frustrated after the 47th name he chose was rejected.
[/quote]

... No, I can assure you, with a decent amount of creativity, you can still make a unique player name. It's not difficult. There are 26 letters in the alphabet, and there's somewhere around... what... 11 slots (probably more) for you to put those letters into?

So, 11 slots, 26 choices per slot. I finished DiffEQ a bit over a year ago now so I'm a bit out of touch with this SAT-type stuff, but from what I found on the internet I believe the calculation for total number of possible combinations is 26^11. That's 3670344486987776 possible choices. Not all of those will be meaningful, but there has to be something useful you can make out of that. If you can't, then I don't know what to say.

[quote=BobR]
If you put that much time into a character, and you can't be bothered to log in at least ONE TIME during an entire YEAR to keep it active then you don't care very much about the account or the characters.
[/quote]

No, I care. I just don't necessarily want to worry about it every year, and perhaps for a few years in a row. That doesn't mean I won't come back to see what's new... and I have done something like that. As I said, your entire argument is based on one assumption... one which is terribly high-handed.

[quote=BobR]
This isn't a single player game on an individual personal computer where the only thing you're tying up is your own disk space if you keep saved games around for five years or more. This is a MULTI player game where your unconcern about your account has other effects besides just wasting your own disk space. Other people could be making good use of abandoned names.
[/quote]

1. It's not necessarily unconcern. The way you phrase it is terribly one-sided.
2. Those names aren't necessarily "abandoned". Perhaps postponed near-indefinitely at times. But I'd prefer no one ever be at risk to have their account deleted at the expense of it being harder for me to make names.

[quote=BobR]
Also- Nexon will probably be forced into doing something like this eventually anyway, regardless of what you or I may think about it.

They keep pushing for new players by adding new content, new classes and making the game easier to play. With only 12 characters available for IGNs, they're going to eventually face having used up all the "legal" names available in that space.
[/quote]
Oh, so it's actually 12 characters.

26^12=95428956661682176.

That's a rather incoherent number, so let's put it into perspective (known as scientific notation). 9.54*10^16. There are currently somewhere around some X billion people on earth. That's X*10^9. There is enough space for everyone on earth to have some ten million unique names.

That's assuming everyone on Earth played Maplestory.

[quote=BobR]
It'll be pointless for them to try to attract new players if there aren't any names available for them to use. When that day comes, old abandoned accounts will be gone before you can blink.[/quote]

... That day will be a long ways away, unless we colonize a few more planets and start breeding like rabbits (rabbits that like playing MS).

Just going by the numbers, and the fact that we have a huge number of servers to soak in the entire population of GMS alone (each of which has 9.54*10^16 possible character names, unless the character name restrictions are shared across servers), I'd say we're gonna be in the green forever.

[quote=xshadow2]Well publicized how? If they're not checking their emails or anything regarding to the game in general, it's pretty obvious they're not going to get any notice of the policy.[/quote]

In the Terms of Use you READ when you sign up. In on-screen notices. In an e-mail campaign.

If a policy like this was to be implemented, there would be two things that would need to be done. The first would apply to NEW accounts made AFTER the policy goes into effect. For these people, all the above notices would make them aware of the need to log in at least once in the [whatever] period. If they don't do that, they've lost any claim to the account. They knew the rule and didn't care enough about the account to follow it.

For people who made their account BEFORE the policy went into effect, they'd have to send multiple e-mails to the e-mail account on record. If I was implementing this I'd start with accounts that haven't been used in FIVE YEARS. Anyone who's let an account sit that long has very likely moved on and never plans to come back anyway. Send them several e-mails. If they don't respond, wipe the account. They haven't played in five years, they're never coming back.

The next year, do the same with the current five year abandoned accounts. Eventually, after another five years it would be caught up to people who were INFORMED of the policy and who have the choice of keeping the account active or abandoning it and having it deleted.

Walking away from something for five years pretty much indicates a total loss of interest. It doesn't make sense to deprive other active players of useful names just for some vague "principle".

[quote=xshadow2]Two, I don't agree with your reasoning. Just because you want your "rare names for teh e-peenz", I'm not going to support something as drastic as widespread account deletion. If someone wants to come back to this game after not playing it for four years, then he or she should be able to do so, rather than "hay, your account's been deleted because people wanted to use rare names for teh e-peenz".[/quote]
You're making some rather broad assumptions there. I never said anything about "rare" names, I'm talking about USEFUL ones.

Ones that aren't "XxNAruto1235674302943549xX" because nothing else is available. Or "akduitidhglus" because a new player got frustrated after the 47th name he chose was rejected.

[quote=xshadow2]An account and its characters just have way too much time put into them to be deleted for any reason (especially on an official server),[/quote]
If you put that much time into a character, and you can't be bothered to log in at least ONE TIME during an entire YEAR to keep it active then you don't care very much about the account or the characters.

This isn't a single player game on an individual personal computer where the only thing you're tying up is your own disk space if you keep saved games around for five years or more. This is a MULTI player game where your unconcern about your account has other effects besides just wasting your own disk space. Other people could be making good use of abandoned names.

Also- Nexon will probably be forced into doing something like this eventually anyway, regardless of what you or I may think about it.

They keep pushing for new players by adding new content, new classes and making the game easier to play. With only 12 characters available for IGNs, they're going to eventually face having used up all the "legal" names available in that space.

It'll be pointless for them to try to attract new players if there aren't any names available for them to use. When that day comes, old abandoned accounts will be gone before you can blink.

[quote=BobR]The policy would be well publicized so that everyone would KNOW they have to keep an eye on their e-mail if they don't play for a long time.

OR- maintaining your account would be as simple as logging in ONCE in the entire year. That would re-set the one-year timer.

If you can't be bothered to do that, then you really don't care much about the account.[/quote]

Well publicized how? If they're not checking their emails or anything regarding to the game in general, it's pretty obvious they're not going to get any notice of the policy.

Like I said, I completely disagree, and I'm pretty sure a lot of people would as well. I don't support account deletion policies in general, in any way shape or form, and I sure as hell am not going to start agreeing now.

For one, it's just not a good precedent to set. Nexon already treats people like crap as it is, I'm not going the extra mile to give them another reason.

Two, I don't agree with your reasoning. Just because you want your "rare names for teh e-peenz", I'm not going to support something as drastic as widespread account deletion. If someone wants to come back to this game after not playing it for four years, then he or she should be able to do so, rather than "hay, your account's been deleted because people wanted to use rare names for teh e-peenz".

An account and its characters just have way too much time put into them to be deleted for any reason (especially on an official server), and that's my final stance. It'd be like me walking over and deleting all of your old game saves on any old games. Wanted to go back and play those some time? You obviously didn't care about them if you left them sitting still that long. Sorry that logic doesn't work for me. Maybe it does for you.

[quote=xshadow2]That's assuming you check those email accounts at regular periods. While the email accounts for this account and my other account are still active, I check them once a month, maximum. I use another email account for everything else... and I'm sure there are other people in the same predicament. Moreover, some people don't even know how to log into the account they used to make their account anymore.

It might be your opinion that they do not deserve to keep their accounts if they don't want to keep track of the data associated with it, but I'm pretty sure that that isn't everyone's. It's especially not mine. I sure as hell don't want something like this implemented just so you people can get your prized "rare names". =|[/quote]

The policy would be well publicized so that everyone would KNOW they have to keep an eye on their e-mail if they don't play for a long time.

OR- maintaining your account would be as simple as logging in ONCE in the entire year. That would re-set the one-year timer.

That would also solve the problem for people who didn't bother to write their e-mail account info down. Just log into the game once and it's done for another year.

If you can't be bothered to do that, then you really don't care much about the account.

[quote=BobR]This would be very easy for them to implement.

At 11 months since the last time you logged in on an account, they'd send you an e-mail saying "Hello Mapler, we've noticed you haven't logged into your Maplestory account for almost a year now. Are you still interested in maintaining this account and playing Maplestory? If so, simply reply to this e-mail and your account will be kept safely for another year."

If you don't reply, they could put the account "on hold". Five months later they could send another e-mail saying "Hello Mapler, since we haven't heard from you, and since it's been almost a year and a half since you last logged into the game, we're going to have to assume you no longer are interested in playing Maplestory. If we don't hear from you before the end of the month, your account will be deleted and the character names associated with it will be freed up for someone who actually wants to play."

Something along those lines. It doesn't makes sense to hold onto old accounts, especially ones that haven't been used in five years.[/quote]

That's assuming you check those email accounts at regular periods. While the email accounts for this account and my other account are still active, I check them once a month, maximum. I use another email account for everything else... and I'm sure there are other people in the same predicament. Moreover, some people don't even know how to log into the account they used to make their account anymore.

It might be your opinion that they do not deserve to keep their accounts if they don't want to keep track of the data associated with it, but I'm pretty sure that that isn't everyone's. It's especially not mine. I sure as hell don't want something like this implemented just so you people can get your prized "rare names". =|

[quote=xshadow2]I disagree. I have quit for a year or more and then come back to play. [/quote]
This would be very easy for them to implement.

At 11 months since the last time you logged in on an account, they'd send you an e-mail saying "Hello Mapler, we've noticed you haven't logged into your Maplestory account for almost a year now. Are you still interested in maintaining this account and playing Maplestory? If so, simply reply to this e-mail and your account will be kept safely for another year."

If you don't reply, they could put the account "on hold". Five months later they could send another e-mail saying "Hello Mapler, since we haven't heard from you, and since it's been almost a year and a half since you last logged into the game, we're going to have to assume you no longer are interested in playing Maplestory. If we don't hear from you before the end of the month, your account will be deleted and the character names associated with it will be freed up for someone who actually wants to play."

Something along those lines. It doesn't makes sense to hold onto old accounts, especially ones that haven't been used in five years.

If you can't be bothered to reply to an e-mail, then you either don't want the account very much or have moved on beyond Maplestory.

[quote=DrakeCalvin]I'd much rather have Calumnious than FantomeFlame or MikeTheMagus.[/quote]
I was speaking of the list of names the TS thought were "good names". If you'd want to be "Vacationers", that's fine with me.

just made a good ign for henehoe, its "F3F6"

im fine with my ign

[quote=HappyFaces]Omg, I totally agree with you. I think accounts that haven't been touched for 1-2 year should be "wiped out." Then, people wouldn't quit for as long, so Nexon benefits and we do too. x)[/quote]

I disagree. I have quit for a year or more and then come back to play.

Plus, this would set a terrible precedent. "We don't mind getting our accounts wiped out in certain conditions". <- What happens if they expand on "conditions"?

Bad things.

Anyway, to me this is all rather pathetic. If you want a name because you feel it truly fits you, you like it, etc... then in my opinion that's fine. If you want a name just because it's "original"... why? So your e-p---...err e-self-esteem can grow larger? I'm sorry, but I can't think of any other way to put this. I suppose I'm just disappointed that so many people think a "good name" is one that's hard to get. You should just choose whatever you think fits the character, or whatever floats into your head at the moment.

Well, that's my 2 cents on that issue... and I intend to practice what I say. As such, all my names are ones that floated into my head randomly, or I found funny. Many are inside jokes (I actually have some mule on a random account that I called "OutsideJoke", but that's beside the point... >.&gt.

[quote=OoMmGg]You are right. It's not hard to get good IGNs [/quote]
Those are not good IGNs... they're just boring words nobody bothered to try to use before. That's the only reason they're still available.

They have nothing to do with the game, a character class or an individual. They're just words. And boring ones at that.

Nexon needs to free up names that have sat unplayed for five years now. It's pointless to force new players to have to go through name hell just to find an unused combination of letters.

There are over 12 MILLION characters in the rankings, and every single one of those 12 million is tying up a name. Look at all the level 10 and below names which haven't been played for years, just locking up good names.

Hai.
I like my IGN.

if you like you IGN's keep them.
there are no wrong or right IGN's

everything is right....

except AzNbw0ii4LiFe1254323442 << those kinda sux,..just saying

Add and 's' to every word

Swirlings vs Swirling
You be the judge.

I like Readjusts.

op: reading your list of "good igns" made me shiver. and not in a good way but in a nails-scraping-on-a-chalkboard way.

I have Solicitudes and UnForgeable although they aren't that great

I like made up IGNs, that look like real names.
Like some of my characters are:

Austa
Jeriden
Wheeve
Dachane

etc.
More fantasy based.

Please, all the good IGN's are either taken or have been banned which is an utterly waste and that person
can go jump of a bridge now.

OG. I win (:

[quote=KeybIaderAri]I wanted the name 'Keyblade' or 'Keyblader.' 'Keyblade' has been level 81 for as long as I can remember, which is when I first started 2 years ago. 'Keyblader' has been level 31 for just as long. They need to wipe accounts that haven't played in years. They probably don't even play/use that account anymore.[/quote]

Omg, I totally agree with you. I think accounts that haven't been touched for 1-2 year should be "wiped out." Then, people wouldn't quit for as long, so Nexon benefits and we do too. x)

I have MasDebate and MasDebater.

I wanted the name 'Keyblade' or 'Keyblader.' 'Keyblade' has been level 81 for as long as I can remember, which is when I first started 2 years ago. 'Keyblader' has been level 31 for just as long. They need to wipe accounts that haven't played in years. They probably don't even play/use that account anymore.

EDIT: Keyblader/ Keyblade(w/ an 'i' replaced for L)aren't even on rankings . So damn frustrating.

I have Tidus. I have yet to see any IDs from Beta.

[quote=Gustavoon]Every person has their own point of view.[/quote]

Exactly.
In many, "good" doesn't always mean "original".

That's what I don't like when people say it's always like that.

I have the IGN "Rebirth", I win this thread.

Your IGNs sound like guild names.

I have Draining. Is that a good IGN?

@spike123422:
lol look up for the correct spelling, darn that evan!

CarnalLust
StickyFluids
Insemination
Incestuous
Copulated
SluttyPig
Cuckold
Urolagnia

I make up stuff like:
Xyaleon
Vurakino
PsychoLogic
I wanted BladedChaos but had to settle with an I....
Also have a guy in bera named Igot10inch with a toben haircut

[quote=LiquidCrystaI]Would you guys count Reputant, Supriority, Khristmas and Australion as "good" IGNs?
I also have a few job-related IGNs such as TopGeared, Combologist and TopEvan. [/quote]

Haha, I have Combology, Dragonology, Dualology as well. <~ not my proudest IGNs though

I have Realized, Nuova, Afflictional and Falsifying. I have more 1-word ones, but they're not super original IMO.

original, unique=good

yea you gotta make up words or get real words and turn them into names. like the word hydra for example. i put -cerus at the end and thats how i got my name

[quote=PrePreparation]I have the IGN AnaICreampie, what do I win?[/quote]

You win my respect

i think they're pretty good. i have igns like that.

redirects
WorkForce
averages
amplitudes
floaties (cute)
Coagulating

Mines Cool

wut about my name ? is it good ?

[quote=Irony]People these days always confuse "original" igns for "good" igns. ^__^[/quote]Every person has their own point of view.

I got:

DragoWarrior (worthless)
NastyTurnip (also worthless)
SatansWarriors (I think) (worthless)

I got ColdLunch =D

All IGNs are good...
It all depends what you like or want, why should you care if someone else doesn't like your IGN?
@people who think those IGNs are bad, I think yours suck too. -_-
People in this game make me lol XD

Adding a S to every word at the end isn't very good like mine

Those aren't good IGNs.

Hell, my IGN isn't that original. (Realized, not ReaIized)