Because in my book, it doesn’t really, People can already delete their own characters, but they don’t seem to do that. Hence why this person haves this „problem“ at this time. People deleting their whole account I feel is far far less likely then someone deleting the character(s).
People choosing to delete their characters is a different thought process than someone leaving in the context that the original poster presented. Yes it can be related to someone who decided to leave the game but it is still a one by one choice versus a complete account clearing.
The reality is this:
- We have people that have PM James that they quit because of a decision in the game the Devs made.
- We have people in the forums that threaten to quit and some that have quit because of decisions the Devs made or how the game is played by players.
This feature gives them the true ability to really quit and remove themselves from the game. If people are going to threaten that action then we should provide them the features that support their decisions. Whether they use it or not only speaks to their integrity and how they chose to communicate and if they were bluffing or not.
Additionally, it hurts nothing to allow the feature and give people the option. Obviously at some level the steam or PSN account might still have to exist but we could certainly wipe all other aspects.
Either way, my original question to the person making the suggestion post still stands outside of any person’s view on the importance or need of the feature. They should be able to provide their input as we continue to develop the scope and goals of the suggestion. There really is no reason to dispute importance or put in opinions on whether it is smart or now when my post was only a fact finding one of questions. That derails from the intent of my message to him. The opinion stuff could certainly come later once we have a full understanding of what they envision.
I am firmly in the camp that anyone who bought a copy or copies of Boundless should expect their characyer name(s) to be protected.
However, are/should the free weekend accounts be handled the same? I would think there should be a 3-6 month life on those accounts. If a game is not purchased in that timeframe, all characters could be deleted to free up potentially desirable names.
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what if you go inactive and i go around insulting people as mrhugoblue that happend to me in the beta when more alts where added def want nobody touching my ingame names ever again even if im inactive
Nah, that’s BS. I’ve been playing on an RP server for 14 years. Nobody ever enforces rules like that. The one rule that is enforced is “don’t use an offensive word for a name”, and even then, some people are clever enough to be juuuuuust borderline enough to not get caught. ^^
Anyway, on the topic at hand, Boundless is still a game with a full retail price. You can’t ask someone to answer the question “are you quitting the game forever?” when they go on a prolonged hiatus just because you want to have their name. I mean, like @Trundamere said, Boundless doesn’t have the same quantity of players as a game like WoW, if it’s all about the name, find a variation…
Wishing players who are currently not playing (but who might come back nonetheless) to lose EVERYTHING… that’s pushing the scavenger concept a bit too far.
If Boundless was a free to play game, that’d be different, though.
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Firstly, I don’t think that would work well in this game. That being said…
I think once BL has finished it’s big promotion next year (if that’s still the plan), they would need to update their ToS to implement this…letting everyone know that they will “purge accounts after 12+ months of inactivity”. I personally wouldn’t participate in an MMORPG if they decided to go that route bc it’s very common for people to take long breaks or rage quit & then change their mind later.
Also, when people delete their character, we don’t know if it removes all of their entries in the database. If they delete their stuff via the front end, does it truly remove everything in the backend…or if they change their mind later, can they still log in and access their account? I don’t think deleting a character = deleting an account.
I think this one is simple…if the username you want isn’t available (maybe a dev is using it for their alt? who knows?), then you select a different name. That’s why you see XxMrGreenxX and MrGr33n.
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I do think it is fair to consider this… I think we would need input from the Devs on what happened and how far some of these people got. But, I do think that if the person did come back now and buy the game they might be mad if they find themselves starting over.
I can see that. I tried to think of a time frame where it could reasonably be assumed they would not buy the game.
Happy medium time!
After a year of inactivity after all beacons have expired, all characters usernames of the account are reset and accessible to someone else again. If that player ever returns, their character progress still exists–they simply receive a prompt indicating they have been inactive for over a year since their last beacon expired, so they have to rename their character.
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Just for the record I am not for or against the OP feature request. I am just investigating the options and trying to get data for a better conversation around the feature.
If I had to choose now on if we do it or not I am leaning against the feature. I think it is hard to define when someone might come back and don’t think a person should start over from scratch again. We already have a hard enough situation with the beacon expiration.
I do think the “quit and delete” option, though, is fair and viable option if people wish to make that decision themselves. That I could accept even if no one ever used the feature.
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One year is to close! Sorry! Games with millions and millions Players have more time!
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Firstly I did not expect this topic to be as inflammatory as it appears to be, I simply was voicing my frustration in the moment. I still feel as though some system should be put into place to free up names at the very least considering that mere days after someone’s beacons have expired it’d be back to nature. This game is already conducive to regular players that play the game at least monthly. If someone knows they’re going to be inactive, Gleam Club is their option if they’d have NO means of logging into the game and making a single item from 10 foliage every 2 weeks. Space is already viewed as a premium, so in that sense I see no reason names shouldn’t be viewed the same way.
Again, my initial remark of total account removal was admittedly a bit hasty, but names at the very least should be made available. “Idle” accounts could be compressed on the game servers and therefore take less storage at the small expense of a small wait when said player returns.
Can we not get caught up in semantics and focus on my actual fix to the problem? It doesn’t have to be one year. That was simply an example because I’m not a developer currently working on adding this into the game.
It would be weird to me if they decided to delete character names. Can anyone name a similar game where they do this?
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Well if you are interested in moving forward with the suggestion I would request that you answer my original reply to you where I asked a bunch of questions. I would expect that the information you give there would be very helpful to the development team to understand your request better. They are the types of questions James would ask of you anyway.
Answers in order of questions:
I feel 3-6 months would be fair, but I’d be fine with up to a year.
No, but the game already demands regularity.
Up to the devs I suppose.
True inactivity is not leaving the sanctum with a character for a given period of time.
Gleam club is always available and would be fair to preserve characters.
Stick their data in a shoe box essentially. Compress it to save server space at the slight expense of time it takes to decompress when they decide to come back.
Inventory and levels are fine to keep as well as any cosmetics and plots as those could indeed have been bought with real money.
The idea isn’t that their name is stripped from them, but simply made available for someone else to take if they want it. If nobody else tries to take that name, it stays put.
A fair proposal if paired with some form of email asking said idle players if they intend on returning to the game, this could remind players who forget about the game as well as give players the option to remove themselves completely.
No, but I’m just really picky about things like that.
Honestly I don’t think many people will agree with that short of a time. And nothing personal but if you had more of a unique name choice you wouldn’t really run into the problem of someone having your name.
I think there’s only been one time where I couldn’t get my name out of all the games(mobile,pc,console) that I’ve played where someone else had my name already. I just switched a letter for a number and I was good to go. My alternate name however is very common and I have to check 3 different spellings on it sometimes 
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Seeing comments on players that go inactive for months and return with their names lost along with their builds, what about all the active service men and women out there in the world and from a couple of posts on the forums i know there are a few that play. Imagine coming home from a tour of duty, sitting down to play BL when you’re back home to find you’ve lost your name while risking your life serving your country.
Personally with where the game is at atm we don’t have anywhere near a big enough player base even with 10 character limit to really need any sort of name function. As stated by others in previous posts it’s easy enough to do variations of names, want a colour in your name but someone has it already try a shade of the colour instead. Want a real name as part of your name, plenty of variations on hos to spell some names. I use summerrae or rafester on loads of games and have come across games where these are taken. I’ve always found a variation that works. Just my 2 cents on the subject.
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Just chiming in with my 2 coins… but I don’t agree… I know lots of players that are leaving and returning. I believe you reduce the player population or the potential to have players return to the game by doing this. I know I wouldn’t come back and part of purchasing the game is you can register player names for your character. They are yours to keep. Also I not ok with the reuse of names by other players, it opens the trust/griefing door too much for my liking!!
Cheers 
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So this is really no longer about freeing up names and more about trying to figure out who haves integrity?
People get upset, and they say things they may not mean literally. People also say things they don’t intend to be taken literally to try to really drive home a point, rather or not they are bluffing, really doesn’t matter.
Rather or not a Self Destruct button may be a valid thing for other reasons is something for another time, But I do not believe for a moment that it will have any impact in terms of Freeing up names. Most people don’t quit in a Self Destructive way. and only people who really have had it, might quit in such a way. and they may end up regretting it later.
It is 100% not ████ ████
I know a few people who have had their characters renamed for RP reasons, and if that isn’t enough.
Oh yes, It has happened to me once.
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