Character Name Change, a goldmine for CCP

EVE Technology and Research Center Player Features & Ideas
21

Which is why I think most people really use character transfer instead, so much cheaper.

Also keep in mind I might strip a 100m character into several alts.

The point was a official name change is far better at preserving history.

22

It might be given the time to look it up. But no ones going to do that mid-fight are they.

If my maths is correct, it takes 350ish injectors to make a 100mil sp from scratch. That’s over £1000 (real life money) in extractors. Or 300bil isk in injectors. Which is 86,000 plex. Which is somewhere in the area of £2500 (real life money again).

So, there you go. You can change your name, keeping all the skills you had, for ÂŁ2500 or $3000.

23

Which is so why people use the bazaar.

The sale price over there is more or less tied to the market value of injectable SP.

So you sell your char and buy as much (or more if you had age and a cool name) SP on the market.

The cost is minimal and can even be profitable.

All history is lost and worse the player you thought you knew, you no longer know, which can lead to scams.

Which is why in the char sale a name change should be forced.

24

No.

Your learn right from the start that decisions mean something. Yes you can buy or sell a character, inject or extract but at least the name, the corp history, they follow you.

Or whomsoever bought your character.

Either it is a niche thing few characters would take advantage of (so not worth the coding) or it is a big thing and then we need to examine the reason why.

m

2 Likes
25

So they kinda sorta sometimes follow you and being that it is so easy to not have that history follow you it is a pretty good bet anyone who needs to dump their history for nefarious reasons will do so.

In the end this is preventing causal nobodies from changing a name they don’t like and giving CCP $15-$20 a pop.

26

Or, instead of a Name Change, CCP makes you buy a bunch of PLEX for the Skill Extractors and end up making significantly more than $15-$20 a pop. So it’s still in CCP’s financial interest to not allow Character Name changes and force everyone to Extract SP and re-Inject SP.

OP’s argument of this being a “goldmine” for CCP turns out to actually be VASTLY less money for CCP.

27

Because the same quantity of people who will spend all that money on injectors will spend money on name change.

There is ZERO CHANCE more people would do it if it was cheaper.

Plus of course, lets be real, the primary method of change is the char bazaar.

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28

I want my old char back.
I’d even take it completely stripped of all SP.

*signs*

29

Yeah, sure. There are some that you don’t have a standing with but. 1. all these players would get a standing once CCP announced that they were going to implement this change in a months time. 2. if any players “slip through” then these are players that you see extremely rarely.

You could also just have a list of Former names on the character just like the list of Former corporations he has been a part of.

My point is that a lot of people are not satisfied with their name, and would like a name that more fits their current playstyle and what their character has grown into. This would not only make all of these thousands players happy but it would actually boost their reputation with their new name. because now their new name more fits their current playstyle.

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30

How serious people take the game when they first sign up varies A LOT. Therefore, the names will vary a lot. Also, people change their characters playstyle a lot and it doesn’t make any sense that a character named “mining joe” who mined for 1 week should still be called mining joe if he is a fleet commander today.

If you are worried about “living with consequences” just make a list of “former names” in the character sheet just like you have a list of former corps :slight_smile:

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31

Would it be that hard to just create a “name history”? No, of course not. :slight_smile:

Also, you can easily set up a system where everyone that has a standing with you gets a notification if you change your name. It takes 2 weeks to take effect and you can only do it once a year.

So this makes it rock solid. Nobody would be able to “escape” anything but they would still be allowed to have a name that better fits their current playstyle. A name that they are happy with.
Also, it allows people to Sync up ALL their names so that all of their alts can be recognized. All of these things are stuff that most people don’t think about when they first start playing.

32

Just curious to know how you know so much about the dev work it takes to “just create a ‘name history’” thing.

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33

They have almost the exact same function when it comes to corp history.

Also, even if this was a little bit complicated to implement. Remember, this is a change that would earn them a lot of money because thousands of players would actually pay real money to use this. You can’t say that about most functions/changes that CCP implement.

34

It’s quite a while back, but an ISD once told me, that you could ultimately ask for a character name change. I don’t know if there would be any reasons needed, as it was of no concern of mine, so I didn’t get him/her to elaborate.
But, is it (still) possible to ask for a name change, and what could the reasons for it be, for them to do it?

On the sidenote, it’s too much a WoW type microtransaction I’d rather be without. I still have a hard time with Plex and skill extractors, but I’m not above using it.
There’s a lot of good and bad outcomes of a name change here, so it needs serious consideration. I can’t see many of the good sides of the idea, so I’ll say; please no.

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35

Thousands?

36

Well, sorry, it will be a long post. I hope it will deserve your patienсe.

First of all - it looks loke not all posters above understand how character system in EVE works. Every character has an ID - CID, to be correct. It’s the only “name” game refers to. All other “names” are purely cosmetic, so no harm would be made with name change.

Second. “Name is reputation” never worked. There were a lot of ways to cheat this system and with introduction of SP trading it has no sense.

Third. Name changing already exist. And there are characters around with changed names. For examples - forced name change from GMs, name change for inactive characters (all of the “Citizens XXXXXXXX”), name change for recovered deleted characters.

Name changing is totally OK, because all what you need to track character’s history is just a one more option in char’s info - “Name History”.

Players need name changing for a lot of reasons:

  • unhappy with your 100m SP char’s name chosen years ago (no extractors, please);
  • want to make your new bought char more “personal”;
  • want to start a new career, a new roleplay background or something.

Yeah, i want to buy a new char on bazaar, it’s skills fit my needs perfectly, but - yes, i care for it’s name: “htvshjtvcs5742t788ggLOL Schereau”.

So, CCPlease, TAKE MY MONEY and gimme me a name changing sertificate!

1 Like
37

You can already give them your money by purchasing Skill Extractors, extracting your skill points from your current character and injecting them into a new character for a “name change”. It costs you a lot more to do so, but since you want CCP to take your money, don’t you want to support them even more?

2 Likes
38

Extracting skill points from one character and then transferring them to another with chosen name is just way expensive and idiotic workaround. Probably any EVE player will agree on that.
Sure in theory it may bring CCP more money, but if no one will use that method (and I doubt most people will) then CCP will get no money at all. Cheap and affordable name change on the other hand will incentivize spending.
Games with affordable micro-transactions thrive nowadays - you buy small things here and there and you will spend more in the end. You see 100$ price tag for something stupid like “limited” skin or couple dozens extractors needed for “name change workaround” and you simply walk away and spend money elsewhere.

2 Likes
39

But the point of the thread is that it’s a “goldmine” for ccp. If it’s more expensive to do this via skill extractors, isn’t it even better financially for ccp?

Why should ccp give you an option that makes them less money when you can already achieve what you want right now?

40

It’s not “better” financially if no one is using it. Planning to sell 1000$ digital jeans and basing a business plan on that idea is not the same thing as actually selling them and making a profit.