Naming system for GW2

As I was writing an essay for Ancient History, a totally unrelated thought entered my head: "I wonder how they'll organise the naming system for GW". Well, what would you like? Do you think the system of having at least 2 words, (Bella B, or I Leonidas I if you're desperate) with no accents (é, ñ, etc) or numbers is suitable?

Personally, I wouldn't mind more flexibility. I've been a tad annoyed not being able to add accents... However, I can't see numbers ever being implemented, 123 456, anyone?

Opinions please :P.

*Disclosure* This isn't a "Tell me what's going to happen in gw2" thread...

Check out #11. Looks like a 1 to me.

http://www.guildwars.com/competitive...er/default.php

But, I would like one word names and the use of accents as well.

You're right! I've seen asian players with numbers in their names before... interesting. While we're on the subject of numbers... how would Arenanet be able to balance numbers, and how do they currently?

*Researches*
This is what wiki has to say on the matter:

America and Europe

Names must comply with these rules:

* Does not exceed the maximum character limit (maximum 19 characters).
* Must use a minimum of 3 characters (a space counts as one).
* Must use two or more words (implies at least one space).
* Must use only Latin letters (digits are not allowed).

Japan

You must first select whether the name will consist of only Latin letters or a mixture of Japanese characters and Latin letters. Those of the former are governed by same rules as those of North America and Europe above. Those of the latter must comply by these rules:

* Does not exceed the maximum character limit (maximum 16 characters).
* Must use a minimum of 4 characters (each Japanese character counts as 2 characters).
* Must use at least 1 Japanese character (Latin letters are optional).
* Must not contain any spaces.
* Must use only Japanese characters and Latin letters (digits are not allowed).

Taiwan

You must first select whether the name will consist of only Latin letters or a mixture of Chinese characters and Latin letters. Those of the former are governed by same rules as those of North America and Europe above. Those of the latter must comply by these rules:

* Does not exceed the maximum character limit (maximum 16 characters).
* Must use a minimum of 3 characters (each Chinese character counts as 2 characters).
* Must use at least 1 Chinese character (Latin letters are optional).
* Must not contain any spaces.
* Must use only Chinese characters and Latin letters (digits are not allowed).

As Japanese has no spaces inbetween words, I can understand the rules behind it. Interesting how they "have" to use a japanese letter (whether that's Hiragana, Katakana, or Kanji, dunno ;p).

States for all that digits are not allowed... *confused*.

Anyway, that's all for gw1. Wonder if they'll make any drastic changes (or indeed need to).

Your list doesn't include Korean rules. I don't know what they are, but I assume they're more flexible as Korean accounts are the only ones I've ever seen with numbers in the name.

They need to be careful of the crossover aswell so not only cant you make gw2 characters with someone elses gw1 name but vise versa.

Not being able to have single word name bugged me. Just like being forced to use single-word name in certain other game bugged me even more.

Other than that, Character naming does not need any improvement. Accents are not really necessary in names (but they really, REALLY need to be enabled for ingame chat, long time ago you were able to type stuff like ěščřžýáíé in GW. Now you can't for some weird reason that no-one bothered to notify community or to explain :-/)

I would like single word names, so I hope that's implemented.

I don't care about accents.

no beta
no screenshots
no concept art
no new information since july
and you are worried about the naming system for this vaporware....

There will never be accents in character names because it makes things too complicated (try whispering someone with an accented name.)

I actually prefer NOT having single word names. Other MMOs (WAR and WoW for one) that have single word names always bugged me.

The problem with Guild Wars is, unlike all those games, the game isn't run on seperate servers. Even GW2, A.net has claimed, will be run on one sever (with several different "worlds" kinda like districts that one can switch between freely). While in other MMOs, you might be able to get away with single word names, in GW and GW2 it won't be that easy. In GW there will only be one guy named "Hawk" or "Earth" or "Axel" not 7 on 7 different servers. And rather then having a bunch of people named "Earthx" "Hewk" or "Axell," I'd rather have characters named "Earth <lastname>," "Hawk <lastname>," etc, even if the last name is something as lame as "X".

Personally, I hate having to choose between one word names or multiple word names. I feel that multiple word names adds more diversity; but at the same time it could just be a vice to someone.

There should be a way to be able to have both one word names and multiple word names. It would allow for the most freedom. However, ANet should not allow digits or accents.

I don't care about one worded names. I would love to see accents, however, for those without the accented keyboards, that would be just as much trouble as spelling a Korean name on an American keyboard.

Iirc, beta characters were able to use numbers, no one since then though.

I can see your point, but I also see the point of one worded names. I personally dislike the whole X or I to bypass the second word idea. If it is kept to two words, I want a minimal 2 characters per word. Although that won't fix things like "I Am Monk" or "Xxx Healsalot Xxx" it is better.

Not issue if you think about it. MMOs always have people "competing" for some common names. And if they go misspell-it way, it won't look pretty in any case. A X E L.

Allowing single word names expands list of possible names considerably. I'd rather have one pure "Axel" person getting his desired name and rest forced to be creative or misspell. It beats having noone get it.

I vote for single word names! How I'd <3 to name my character "Icy"

Also, they shouldn't be allowed to take the name of someone's character if they have a hall of monuments?? I think that would make sense... although since we're playing as our character's children in GW2, that probably won't be the case.
That is, unless A-Net decides to auto-name all our character "Gw1 Name here" & "Junior".

The whole point of using two words minimum was to prevent one person from camping on a name forever, and then everybody ends up coming up with creative spellings or attaching numbers to the same name to use it. This is probably the right move in Guild Wars as account owners remain account owners forever as there's no monthly fees and therefore nobody can delete your account. (Although it's unlikely that any MMORPG really deletes many, if any, inactive accounts as the small chance that you could have a returning customer makes the relatively effortless tape backup worth it).

To be honest, I didn't like it at first, but now that I have characters with full names, I kind of like them. In some ways, this is no different than anything else in life... The more effort you put into something, then the more you'll care about it. I put a lot of effort in my character generation, so I care about them a lot. That's the primary reason why I give a crap about GW2 and I'm glad that my character names are reserved.

That being said, I also wish that there should be a minimum two character limit in GW2, but that's my personal opinion since I play this game seriously. But there are many others that don't play seriously, so I guess that there are always those that want to continue making "X X X Naruto X X X", despite that it makes you look more boring and generic than clever.

What I want for the naming system
-max character (insert max # here)
-min character, the default 3 seems good

That's it, no more restrictions. Also, remove any cap restrictions. I want my l33T KILLER. Well, not really, but that's a good example of the type of name I want to be able to use.

Apostrophes and dashes and yes accents should be available (for English) as they can be found in real names. Numbers and symbols though I could care less for, 1337-speak should not be condoned

One thing I would like to see happen for GW2, although it would be unlikely, is a name wipe for all inactive accounts and guilds that either ended up on a beta account or just an account for a trial that was never activated to help free up a bunch of the potentially great names that have been taken since the beta over 3 years ago and never used since.

(and yup, I'm saying this because I do have a few special character names that has started up some interesting conversations and encounters since i started playing this game oh so long ago )

@Mammoth - I don't think you need to worry about inactive account character names.

ArenaNet stated that they would reserve character names for a short period of time after release of GW2. Most likely, you will need to register a GW2 access key to your account to activate the name reservation.

In that case, the character names on inactive accounts will be released for use in GW2, as there will be no link to GW2. It then becomes a free-for-all in obtaining those names. There are players who will spend hours hitting the same keys over-and-over in hopes of getting a certain name.

I think it needs much stronger enforcement of names.
- No single word names
- No "X Name X" type names
- No more then one 1-letter word (No "N O O B" type names)
- No numbers (duh)
- Much larger internationalized word-list of no-go names (with added checking for 'work-arounds')

Not certain, but doesn't special characters interfere with coding, as code uses special chars?