name-change
Latest
Zune Guy's name change endeavor is back on
We can't say we'd follow in this guy's footsteps for any amount of money, but boy, does it make for fantastic drama. Shortly after the famed Zune Guy (you know, that cat with a trio of Zune-inspired tattoos?) decided to legally change his name to "Microsoft Zune," the plan was put on hiatus after hearing that it cost a whopping $500 to get a name swap. After getting curious, investigating and discovering that he only needed $150 to have it done, he put the mission squarely back on the front burner. Unfortunately, there still stands a chance of the aforesaid name being denied, so he's posted up a poll in order to let the general public give him a list of backups. Personally, we're feelin' McZunin.[Thanks, Brian]
Paid transfer and name change cooldowns reduced
European CM Thundgot announced today that the cooldown periods for both paid character transfer and paid character name changes have been reduced from three months to one month, effective immediately. The transfer cooldown was originally six months when the feature was introduced in June 2006, but was reduced to three in October 2006. In the intervening time, they've looked at server logs and so forth and come to the conclusion that moving it to one month would not have catastrophic consequences.This change appears to be effective on the US realms as well, so wherever you are, you can hop servers and adopt new aliases every month if you want to pay for it. Also, Thundy clarifies that as long as your last transfer/name change was at least 30 days ago, you are immediately eligible for transfer/name change now. He also said that "moving forward" the price for paid transfer is going to be 20€/£15, but given his phrasing and the fact that I'm on the North American realms, I can't tell if that pricing is new or not. Do any of you know? Edit: Not new; thanks.
Name that pet
Picking a pet's name is always one of the decisions I like best in WoW. It's creative and interesting, and if done right, it can bring lots of smiles to you and your friends. Naming your own character is also fun of course, but even in light of the name-changing feature, it still feels so permanent to me. With your pets, you can name more than one, and there's always the possibility that in the future you'll get to find some new and incredibly awesome pet and get to think of a name for that one too. Excellent pet namers even have special synergy between their hunter and pet names -- a creative feat which is at once challenging and simple.Mania's Arcania has an interesting little feature: in addition to all her other hunter and pet information, she's started a sort of "contest" called "Name That Pet," where hunters can submit pics of their pets for public inspection, and we all get to help them think of names for them. The latest pet in the series presents an great opportunity for hunter-pet name synergy: an owl tamed by the tauren Hawkspirit. In her blog, Hawkspirit's player shows how her owl finally reached 70, but still doesn't have a name, and Mania is here to help her out.If you're interested in pet names, check it out and apply your naming genus.
Whatever happened to the name change option?
Back in April of this year, I wrote up a story on Linden Lab's announcement that they would offer a name change service at the end of the year for Second Life residents -- $100 up front, and $50 for the yearly maintenance fee. Despite the absurdity of the yearly fee, I thought it was a worthwhile thing to have. I'm happy with my name, but there are many who would gladly pay the kopeks to have theirs changed.It's almost the end of 2007, and I've not heard anything about this since. I still think it's a good idea, and maybe that's why it's still not available. It's far too useful. What's the word, Massively Audience? Is that pricing scheme too much to pay for the right to change and keep your own customized name?
Two weeks of paid name changes
It's been a couple weeks now since the paid name change service was initially offered and I've noticed a few people in my guild that have taken advantage of it. While it's certainly personal preference, a lot of the changed names seem worse to me than the old ones. Some of them were obviously chosen for comic value, since they're reminiscent of the guy in the picture over here.Regardless of my opinions about the specific names, everyone I've talked to has said that the service was quick and easy. I also haven't heard any horror stories regarding sociopathic players changing their names to wreak more havoc upon unsuspecting victims under a new moniker. From my limited experience, it seems like an overall positive change to the game.Have you paid to change your name? What was your old one and what's your new one? Was your experience with the service a good one?
Will name changes let ninjas run free?
While Robin and I think it's a great idea, some people are in an outcry about the upcoming name-change service that Blizzard is offering. As Monsoon tells Blizzard on the forums:This is probably the worst ever decision ever made. How are we supposed to track ninjas and retards who may apply to our guild if there is no way to track their name changes?"Nethaera calmly responds:Perhaps putting them on an ignore list might help.The ignore list will be automatically updated once that character's name change gets activated. Of course no system is fool proof, and there will always be someone looking to exploit things, but realistically, is it a terribly big problem if people you consider "ninjas" and "retards" yet are still unwilling to put on your ignore list can change their names once every 90 days? In my experience, the kind of person who likes to call others "retards" generally isn't very nice themselves, and tends to find new "retards" all the time (with no offense meant to Monsoon here). I don't think it would be possible, even if the ignore list were extended to include a potential thousands of names, for some people to be satisfied that all the "ninjas" and "retards" were sufficiently dealt with and removed from the system
Finally! Paid Name Changes
Blizzard has announced that they will change your character's name to an available, allowable name for $10 and I say, "It's about time!". This is an administrative service that should have been available from the beginning, in my opinion. Regardless, it's available now (on selected servers) and here are the rules: It's $10 per name change. You can't change your name again for 90 days and your old name will be unavailable for 90 days as well. It has to be available on your server. Captain Obvious says, "Duh!". It will take a few hours while they approve your name change, since it must follow the Naming Policy. While the name change process takes place, your character will be unavailable. The name change is permanent unless you pay to change it again 90+ days later. This function is being rolled out in phases, a few servers at a time. Characters on your ignore list who have had their names changed will remain there with the new name. (Update: edited for clarity) Blizzard has a FAQ page setup on their Support Site if you have more questions. If this is something that interests you, go to the Account Management page and select Paid Character Transfer (you will have to login). I actually like my character names, but I reserve the right to change my mind at any time and I'm glad I now have the option. The official forum announcement with the list of the first phase of servers is after the jump.
What's in an obscene name?
After a snow day and a night of staying up way, way too late getting to level 68, I felt in the mood for something light-hearted today. And thus I stumbled upon this thread in the Guild Relations forum, where the guildmaster of "Two Dollar Horde" complains that Blizzard made her change her guild's name. What follows is a rollicking discussion of sexual innuendo in WoW. Many people come to the guildmaster's defense, arguing that Blizzard itself has more innuendo in the game (i.e. the /flirt emotes) than what was in the guild's name. Rising and Tori of the guild "One" on Blackrock take the opposite position -- according to them, prostitution is a much worse evil than the mild stuff Blizz puts in the flirt emotes. And it just kind of ... goes from there, in many weird and wonderful directions, about defiling sacred unions, frost mages named "Hoar", and the existence of certain establishments in Nevada. At the end, Rising and Tori are revealed to simply be cleverly trolling. I kind of suspected this, since both of them are usually informed and intelligent contributors to the Guild Relations forum, which in itself is like the big soft teddy bear of the WoW forums. However, one of the last posts -- by the guildmaster of the former "The Spreading Taint" on Proudmoore -- made me start laughing all over again. I know a couple of people and guilds on my server who have been forced to change names. A guild called "Domestic Violence" was reported, and Blizzard sent them a tell saying that their guild name had been deemed inappropriate. For the next few months, "Deemed Inappropriate" was one of the top guilds on Magtheridon. A druid formerly named Fukanocturna was complaining in Nagrand general chat that Blizz made him change his supposedly computer-generated name. In protest, he changed his name to something involving the phrase "your mom." Have you known of any forced name changes on your server? Do you think this is a good policy of Blizzard's, or should people be able to make all the juvenile guild name jokes they want?
CNET still not over it
And by "it", we of course refer to the cataclysmic tugging of the carpet that Nintendo so infamously performed when they quelled the Revolution (the what now?) and released the Wii. After Nintendo's powerful showing at E3, most people seem to have gotten used to saying the new name without breaking a sweat or breaking into laughter, content in knowing that the name means little in the face of a game like Super Mario Galaxy. The folks at CNET must not have played it, then.In their "Worst Tech of Q2 2006" article, CNET reserves the ninth spot for the Wii, awarding it with "Worst name change." Their justification is short, noting that "'Nintendo Revolution' sounds cool. 'Nintendo Wii' sounds dumb. That's about all there is to say." Well, fair enough ... coming from a website that sounds like something you catch fish with! ZING!On a more serious note, we also preferred the Revolution, but to put the name mame on the same list as Segway Polo and iPod imitations is just mean.[Via VGGEN, thanks AssemblyLineHuman!]
