Name Change Deed Policy Update

Starting on May 1st the policy for players requesting a name change will have to meet the following additional requirements.

• You may no longer copy another players name.
  Note: You can however make a case to why you should be allowed to pick this name, if consideration is given to the information below.
• You will no longer be able to impersonate another characters name for the purpose of confusion or anonymity.
• You may no longer use a name change deed to pick a nonsensical name.

This is in additional to the existing naming rules.

• No offensive, gross or sexually suggestive names.
• No staff impersonation.
• Maximum of 16 characters including spaces.

And as always these adjustments to your characters name will be made free of charge.

• Small adjustments that do not change your name.
  Example: Jim Bob to JimBob
• Proper Capitalization adjustments.
  Example: GhOsT KnIgHt to Ghost Knight, or ghost knight to Ghost Knight
• Spelling Adjustments.
  Example: TemarBob to TamerBob
• Characters named generic player can request a name change for free anytime as well.
  Note: These names result from creating a character that failed the name validation on creation. The above rules will still apply.
• If you have named 2 characters on the same account, with the same name.
  Note: This can cause problems with how UO handles your ingame macros, settings and profiles. So these name changes can be done free of charge.

Additionally if you currently have a character that shares the name with 5+ other players we will allow you to select a different name free of charge. Simply page with the requested new name, and a staff member will contact you regarding the change. You do not need to buy a deed to page for approval. We will review the character list to determine if you qualify.

Reasoning:
The staff lack the time and resources to deal with upset players who are discouraged and otherwise harassed by players operating under the veil of anonymity provided by 15-25 other people sharing the same name. Name change deeds have morphed from their purpose of being a gold sink into a method of players to operate without risk of repercussions for their actions. 50% of the deeds being used in the last month have been to copy another players name. And while we initially allowed this to happen it is now being abused to encourage players to adapt a style of gameplay they might not undertake otherwise.

For years this has not been a problem, however I have spent 5 hours this week consoling players who have been discouraged by players using copycat names and this is usually the point where I draw the line. Once our policies are being abused to allow for discouragement of other players it is time for a change to that policy.

If you want to copy each others names, you are welcome to continue to do so. However you will need to make a new character. The staff will no longer assist you in these endeavors.

For information on where to buy a name change deed, see this article on the hair stylist vendor.

They were possible, however name change deeds were not a thing.

We are simply adjusting the policy that is in place for selecting a new name after purchasing a name change deed.

Unique names are I believe are something that was copied from other MMO's and developed as an addon for RunUO. I am not a fan of this given the scale of a server like UOR. I think we have almost 40,000 characters so far.

Players who currently have a name shared by 5+ other players can simply request a free name change anytime. We will however never force a player to change their name unless it breaks the classic rules. (Sexual, Racist, etc)

This has nothing to do with any specific action in the game. The duplicitous names have started to result in more and more staff time being spent on researching bug reports, conduct violations, etc. Since account names are hidden from all but our administrative staff researching a complaint can start to take an abnormal amount of time when 12 people are online with the same name.

Generally the staff felt like this policy was allowing players to abuse the name change deed policy. When it was 1-2 a week it was not a major issue. Now 50% of all name change deeds requests are being used to duplicate another players name.

Discussions regarding the intense dislike factions have for one another should be kept to the proper forum as this has nothing to do with this policy change.

Visually similar would be covered by the policy as well. Players are welcome to make any new character that the naming system allows. But name change deeds can no longer be used to create a collect of characters that are impossible for the staff to identify.

If you want to use a name change deed going forward you need to pick a name. Not a random collection of letters or another players name.

You started with the assumption that I can somehow link someone in IRC to someone's faction membership. I cannot. So the assumption that any policy change is related to statements players make to me on the forums or IRC is incorrect. Additionally no development or policy change is ever made due to a specific player or group of players.

The policy change was instigated by the amount of time the staff has had to spend recently performing our standard daily activities in recent weeks.

Regardless I was fairly clear in my reasoning for the change.

Throughout the history of UO:Renaissance systems have existed in their default form until they are abused. Once a system we have in place is used for a purpose other than what it was intended that system can be changed.

When I patch faction guards in the next patch, will it be because someone complained about it? No.
Will it be because they are being used for something other than their intended design? Yes.
Will the intense hatred that one faction has for another faction be blamed instead? Most likely.

The decision was made days ago, the only adjustment made last night was to allow people to change their name for free if you share a name with enough other players. However I am busy at work, and it took me a few days to get the "convoluted" post made.

You can even review the IRC logs to find the exact point that I had enough of the name copying. As it was related to a new player being told to leave the server over being upset regarding the name cloning. That was the tipping point for the staff to begin considering a policy change.

Faction skill loss is fixed in the next patch as well. And there are no open tickets related to the heat of battle system.

Now related to factions I did reach out to a variety of players last night to determine if various groups of people had involvement with factions for the fun of Player vs Player activity. Or to simply make sure that people are immediately discouraged with the faction system and return to doing other things.

I was given some very clear answers by a variety of players, most of which blamed other players. It does seem to be that with factions at least, no one ever refers to their own conduct, but to the conduct of others to justify something. Like a change to the NCD policy. Which ironically is quite far from the truth, and I even stated that in my original post.


Future Complaint Template
Chris changed <name of recent patch/policy change>. It must be because of <Insert name of faction I am not a member of here> complained about <insert situation the staff has no knowledge of> and convinced Chris to change it because we <Insert recent faction activity by own faction> in the field <insert recent time period>.