"Shares reputation and last name..."

You're talking about real life families that want to share multiple characters on the same account?

First of all, I have 6 other family members that may play this game with me. So I'm not confined to a view point that is lacking understanding. However, there's no substitute for accountability, so any solution that makes it easier to avoid accountability is a complete no go for me.

Secondly, I don't understand why having multiple characters for your family should be considered some kind of right. Buy another account for your other family members. If you can't afford an account for your other family members (which I understand is expensive and most people will fall under this category) then your other option is to not play the game in a way that makes your reputation negatively impact your family members.

Much like in real life, if a close family member is a lying cheating worthless murdering jerk, then the people in your neighborhood will know that and you'll have to try harder to make people believe that you're not really a bad guy. I have no problem with that happening in the game, in fact I prefer it.

 

In real life, there are at least six other people in the town I live in that have the same first and last name as me. One of those people is an insurance salesman. I often gets calls asking if we "got the check for the car insurance?" or "how much more would it be if we lowered the deductible." I'm always tempted to give them made up answers and just see how crazy a mess I can create - but I never have.

I also occasionally get their mail and have the same issues that you've described with the local services. But what I never have to wonder is, do the people with the same name as mine have an alt? Now that would be really scary.

 

Yup, I'm talking about separate accounts with real life couples. We have 3 couples in our guild right now, so 6 people are affected in our little group. Add to that the people we know who have kids who will be playing too. Some people will be more than happy to share family names, some expect it and want it, but will they be able to have it on all of their accounts? I know a family where both parents and 3 kids games. All 5 will want the same last name on all 5 accounts. For them it is nearly a deal breaker if they can't all be identified together. (Yes, I know they can be the "Robinson Clan" guild if they want, but we all know it is not the same if they have their hearts set on it.)

This is not a problem without a solution. A few have been suggested here already. So far, I like Karrolanth's idea. (though others are good too) It seems to solve the issues I see. Perhaps there are other, better solutions. Let's see if we can find them and present this to the Devs.

Of course, this does not address the issues of multiphasic personality disorder where the player logs in as evil twin and does horrible things then logs in as good twin to be appalled by his own actions. Having a family name identifies the offender, but not really the root problem. Is having such actions reported to in-game community mental health possible? No, that would probably be over the line huh? Nevermind. Well, I'm with Drocis here, and Karrolanth's suggestion addresses it IMO.

Great stuff. Are there other possible solutions?

 

I think there's some confusion. I'm talking about multiple accounts within the same family.

 

Oh ok. So you'd like those families to have the option to share the same name even though they're technically on different accounts? I wouldn't see a problem with that. In some ways you'd further enable people to use multiple accounts (paying a few more bucks) to do what their characters on the same account are unable to do (i.e. avoid the linked reputation), but that functionality exists regardless. So I'd have no problem with that.

 

Yeah, separate accounts are the way to go, especially now that they've confirmed reputation is tied to the account, not the character. I mean, if I gave my account to my brother to play on the alt, he'd grief everyone to death and then my rep would be killed on my primary. He can get his own account and impact his own reputation. Even though we share last names...well, IF I haven't disowned him by that point, then yeah, I'd have to carry that perception around in town that I've got a griefing brother.

 

If first names are unique across all characters, then last names can be treated as decorations. Last names can be displayed or not, and they can be made available at certain levels or by pledge rewards.

People who want a character with a unique first name, and only a first name, can have it and just not show the last name. If they have alts on the same account they can choose to have other characters with one name, or display the last name - without affecting their primary.

Linking reputation based on last name, which may or may not be set or displayed, might not be the best approach. Falling back to some unique account id could work, provided it's only visible when inspecting characters and not shown for in game purposes (chats, emotes, character name shown over the character).

/inspect - shows basic character info for the currently targeted character: first name (account last name if set), account identifier, etc
/inspect <unique first name> - as per above but for the character name specified


If last names aren't available or set prior to starting the first character on an account, some other value will be needed (e.g. account id mentioned above). Once set on an account it can be used as a more human-readable reference than account id (though account id can always be there and never changed).

Unique first names mean last names don't need to be unique across all accounts, but can be. Sharing last names across accounts should be fine since it's just a field on the account and no longer required to be unique. Once a player has chosen a last name for their account, no one else can choose it.

If family members (or friends or the 5 other accounts you paid for) want to share the same last name, they can send an invite to those other accounts, allowing them to opt-in to using the same last name. This is only possible if the 'owner' of the last name allows it. Multiple accounts don't need to share reputation just because they share the same last name, but they can still be forced to be kindred.


There is still the question of being able to change last names on an account. For example you kill off all of your characters and want a fresh start under a new name. Or you had previously set a last name and want to opt-in to a family members last name. Or opt-out of that family. Needs additional study for griefing or dodging linked reputation, etc.

 

It would be nice to have multiple ways to display your name:

Name : Fireangel
Name + Surname : Fireangel Dancealot
Name + Title : Fireangel the Undulant
Name + Home : Fireangel of/de/von/van Ember
Name + Parentage : Fireangel Mc/Mac/O'/bar/ben-DarkStarr

And then any of them with prefixed titles like "Sir", "Lady", "Lord", "Baron", etc.

And then have a screen where you can choose how its displayed.

 

I never liked unique first OR last names. Why can't there be two people with the same name?

I understand stuff like Lord British and Darkstarr's Butt being unacceptable but as long as the names fit within the naming criteria, why can't there be two (or more) people with the same of either? I can see zero reason at the moment, unless someone can enlighten me.

There's who knows how many Mike and John Smiths in the real world, we don't make it illegal for people to choose those names "because someone already took it".

I know part of the appeal is to "be the only ones", and I can see how some families might see it that way (e.g. the Robinsons above) but what if there's another family named the Robinsons who hasn't heard of the game yet? Are they screwed? Exclusive names are more a hindrance than a help, whatever help they are supposed to give. :/

 

I am very much for people to be named anything they want to be named, no matter what that name is. If somebody wants to play Lord british, then let them play Lord British and the same with any name. We'd just have to dress up the real Lord British more fancy than any other Lord British.
Once the game goes public, I can imagine that Lord British will disappear or become one of his alternate chrs because famous Avatars have a very difficult time hunting or playing the game because of their popularity. Maybe some of the new "instancing" would help take care of some of that.
"How many Thomas Jefferson's are there?" Name your new baby Lord British... it's is just a little better than...
"A Boy Named Sue"
~Time Lord~

 

Time Lord,

Everyone knows this is the real Lord British, hiding among the commoners:


Hm... How many Adolf Hitlers are there?

 

I do hope we get some clarification on this issue from the Devs AFTER they gather community input. I would hope that they post their current thinking with adequate explanations including technical limitations and allow us to discuss our concerns. I feel this is necessary because of the manner in which this issue has developed. In particular, we were told that there would NOT be multiple characters, that policy was defended by Portalarium until AFTER the end of the extended Founder pledge period, and now we are being forced to work with the mechanics of a game feature that we were told several times over would not be in Shroud of the Avatar (coincidentally, after Portalarium had reaped the benefits of multiple pledged accounts from individual Royal Founder and Founder Backers). This is a legitimate source of anger for some backers because Portalarium has been the benefactor of funds pledged under one set of rules and then they changed the rules. Some of us would have pledged in a different manner if we had known how Portalarium would change the rules.

I will discuss my personal situation with a handful of my accounts because they cover a diversity of situations... All accounts are pledged to at least Explorer so I don't have to buy a bazillion episodes as they are released (I learned my lesson upgrading and playing multiple accounts in UO). All of these accounts will have at least two characters AND the characters will all have Last Names.

1. This account is my MAIN CHARACTER. I guess my main character will have some familial relations? Speaking of familial relations, will all characters on the account share the same nobility titles... that is just sloppy in my mind unless we can share the same first name ALTHOUGH I would assume I can choose to make any character on the account whatever subordinate title I choose or no title at all. Do all three Duke characters on a Duke account have the same custom face or does only one character have the custom face? For the love of the Virtues... this is such a goat rope now and we haven't gotten further than my main character.

2. An account for my real life wife's ALTERNATE CHARACTER that will marry my main character ingame (we have wedding attire in the Add-On Shop for goodness sake). Characters on the account will start with no last name or an undisplayed Leatherneck last name until the marriage depending upon the mechanics until after the marriage ceremony and then add the Leatherneck last name or display the name already chosen or use the ingame mechanic to change the account last name to Leatherneck. IF we HAVE to display the last name, then it is going to get incredibly complicated and frustrating if there is no mechanic to change account names to a common shared last name for weddings. After the wedding, I guess ALL of the characters on my wife's account will be married to one or the other character's on my main character's account OR they could be female familial relations to my main character.

3. An account for my real life son (his mother is my ex-wife) that will be RPed as the bastard son of my main character and my son has chosen to have a unique last name so we are covered on this account other than I guess we will have to RP multiple bastard children OR he will have some familial relations such as cousins IF we HAVE to display the last name.

4. An account with one of my ALTERNATE CHARACTERS. I guess he will have a few familial relations.

5. My real life wife's MAIN CHARACTER account with the RP wife of one of my alternate characters (these characters have been married over a couple of UO production shards and even more UO freeshards as well as other MMOs... they have also been married longer than my real life wife and I have been married). I guess this account will have a familial relation or additional familial relation of my alternate character. This character has a maiden name and we can resort to it IF last names HAVE to be unique to accounts but it seems ignorant that multiple MMOs could handle this and SotA can't.

For a multitude of reasons... I really hope Portalarium is thoughtful in how they resolve this matter, Portalarium get's adequate community input, and Portalarium avoids unique last names at a minimum.

 

"Free the Names, Free for All!"

"Thomas Jefferson and George Jefferson, Both Approve of this Message"
~Time Lord~

 

This is along the lines of what I was thinking except this way:

Main Character: Tek

1st Alt: Brasko, Son of Tek
2nd Alt: Ann, Daughter of Tek

Or if main has last name

Tek Fistenbeer
Brasko, Son of Tek Fistenbeer
Ann, Daughter of Tek Firstenbeer