Remove dragons names from dead scrolls

[tiktokism]

I had written out a long and eloquent response to this and then accidentally closed the tab.

 

I support the name-stealing function that may or may not still be in development with perhaps six months of inactivity (with appropriate prior warning before names become available to other players), and the immediate erasure of names from dead (non-revivable) dragons. I also think it might be appropriate to place limitations on the steal function for reasons I will expound upon below.

 

I am against wiping the names of an entire scroll all at once due to inactivity. It strikes me as largely unnecessary and would be a turn-off should a player return after a long period of inactivity. Losing a some of your names because you didn't play for a while is a reasonable penalty. Losing all of your names and having to decide whether it's worth it to try to put them all back, and then trying to remember them all is probably a game-breaker.

 

I do have sympathy for people that have lost access to the site for whatever personal reasons, but if you're not actually playing the game, you don't need those names anymore, do you?

 

For those users that seem to think that names aren't of value - I suspect this is because you don't have any valuable names. I have been contacted several times by players looking to trade for one of my dragon's names, usually because I have their own name or that of a loved one, and they want it. I am always happy to help other players get these names that mean something to them when it is in my power. Meanwhile, my own real name and my younger brother's name, both quite unusual, sit on dragons several years old on scrolls I believe to be abandoned, and my youngest brother's name belongs to a dragon that's been dead since 2014. I would love to have these names, but they're not available to me or anyone else, for no defensible reason.

 

My experience in name trading is what leads me to think that limits should be placed on which players can steal names, and perhaps how many they can steal at any given time.

 

I suspect that the current situation has led players to believe that good names are less valuable than what I have seen, and that the sudden mass availability of previously "locked" good names could spark a wave of both multiscrolling and... jerkishness in the hoarding and trading of good names by some players. Names are valuable, but I rarely ask for much for them, because they usually mean more to the other person than they do to me, and if I can make someone else's day brighter so easily, I should. Names don't register as a tradable commodity to most players right now because most players that are actually here don't have anything worth trading (sorry guys, I know it sounds harsh). It would bum me out if names became "accessible" the way some rares are accessible - that is, accessible in theory, if you pay the right price or have good luck. I still don't have any caveborn golds or silvers, because I don't have the luck and I doubt I can trade anything I could breed or catch for them.

 

The prospect of a new player coming in for a few days or weeks, grabbing a good name (or several) and disappearing, leaving the name in limbo for another six months or a year or however long, is also distasteful to me.

 

I would prefer name stealing as a breed-specific action, or as a limited action like freeze or kill, to prevent overaggressive name stealing. I would also prefer that it not be immediately apparent if a name is available to steal when viewing the existing dragon with the name, because that would be an active encouragement to take a name, and I think it would be better if you were only taking the names you thought to look for.

Edited February 13, 2017 by tiktokism

[Nayelianne]

As a user who has been away from the site for long periods, I'm strongly against name-wiping on inactive scrolls.

 

I think name stealing would only be ok if it were after 3 years of inactivity, and/or the original owner of the name had the option to "claim the name back", effectively wiping the name from the dragon that stole it (but that could provoke chaos into lineages, so... maybe just allow them to not be unique?).

 

Stealing a name seems rather polemic to me. I certainly wouldn't be happy losing a name and it could mess up long lineages for people who are still active. Between getting it stolen/wiped and it not being unique, I'd rather them not be unique.

 

An alternative would be that the user who's having their names stolen gets an email about it, and if they do nothing in 14 days, the name is then stolen.

Edited February 18, 2017 by Nayelianne

[Laura-Borealis]

I'm absolutely against name-wiping, for the reasons others have already discussed - no need to repeat.

 

Name-stealing I would conditionally support, but only if the period of inactivity was at LEAST a year. Preferably two or three. There are too many reasons why someone might not be able to log on for a few months. The whole thing seems unnecessarily punitive.

 

My preference would be to leave it as it is. No wiping and no stealing. It's not that difficult to come up with creative names. "The best names are taken" argument seems valid at first glance, but when you think about it, stealing wouldn't change the situation much. Once the name is stolen, the situation is the same. The best names are still taken. Maybe what's needed is to re-think the concept of best names.

[Pokemonfan13]

The point of the suggestion isn't punitive, it's letting people use nice names that people aren't using anymore. That's the nice thing about name stealing. It's not like the old system where the entire scroll would be wiped, which could definitely be seen as punitive.

 

I agree that creativity can lead to lots of names being available, but it would still be nice to be able to get a nice name that's on a scroll that's been abandoned for 5 years and the person lost their password three years ago. Sure, some names will be taken from people who will eventually come back, but I think that's a reasonable price to pay for forgetting about a site for over a year, since it would just be a few individual names. Most of the freed up names would come from people who really are never coming back. Also, a lot of people who are mostly gone still log in for the holidays, so their names are safe.

 

I think one year absence should be fine, but I don't disagree with two years to be on the safe side.

 

This honestly doesn't affect me much at all. I use the codes of my dragons to come up with their names, and then I add a surname for good measure. But on the rare occasion I want to give a real name I can get frustrated with everything I can think of being taken.

 

Edit: I just thought of an interesting idea. Names that are stolen aren't wiped entirely, but instead (as long as the name isn't too long) a small random string is added to the name to make it unique. That way lineages aren't -quite- so ruined from names disappearing, and people who come back still have a version of the name. They can remove the random string and figure out a different way to make it unique, rather than having to try to remember what the name even was. It wouldn't work with names that use every single character available for naming, but I think that's a minor downside.

Edited February 27, 2017 by Pokemonfan13

[XiziX]

Necroing/bumping because I would LOVE to be able to take old names again! It was once implemented for a certain amount of people, and I would really love the opportunity to take some names from inactive dragons to use in lineages and groups!

 

I don't see the harm in it. If a scroll is inactive, let people take the names.Especially if a long amount of time has passed. It used to wipe in the past, so why not let people take names instead of wiping the whole thing?

 

Edit: *Prays for a response to this from TJ, even if it isn't a yes.* ;-;

Edited June 10, 2017 by Lyxii

[Shione]

Honestly, if there were a 'vacation mode' that prevented the deleting of names on scrolls, then implementing a system to delete those used names makes sense.  If you wanna keep your pets names because you're coming back eventually, go on 'vacation mode'.  If you are gone for good, don't go on 'vacation mode', and your dragons names get deleted.

[Dragon_Arbock]

I'm torn on it. A lot of lineages would be affected by it, and were affected by it when name-wiping was still a thing. It's sad to see some iconic names go.

I do get that trying to name things can be annoying, because it is, but can you imagine someone taking the original dorkface names? And I doubt they'd get some sort of special protection.

 

As far as 'vacation mode' goes, everyone could just enable it then the system doesn't work anyway.

[Moonlight_Eevee]

15 minutes ago, Dragon_Arbock said:

I'm torn on it. A lot of lineages would be affected by it, and were affected by it when name-wiping was still a thing. It's sad to see some iconic names go.

I do get that trying to name things can be annoying, because it is, but can you imagine someone taking the original dorkface names? And I doubt they'd get some sort of special protection.

 

As far as 'vacation mode' goes, everyone could just enable it then the system doesn't work anyway.

Before she had to rename them, the owner of the Dorkface had Midas Dorkface and Shallynaar. However because name wiping was still a thing back then, the names were taken by someone else

[Fuzzbucket]

That person took them to preserve them for her. She was offered them back, but declined.

 

Just saying.

[Dragon_Arbock]

I wasn't even aware of that being why they're now called 'The Original' name here. But it's valid since it's already happened once I see.

Dorkface isn't the only iconic name, but it is the most iconic, besides Thuwed. Line names don't seem to be as big nowadays, but I have several Draconna, D'Hennegel, Thuwed, Dorkface, Draconis, Tigris, Opalescent, (am in the process of getting a Dusk), ..and a lot of my dragons were also part of the FF lineage, though the original pair has also lost their names now,

I remember when some of these were big. I'd hate to have someone steal the names of Opalescent Romeo and Opalescent Juliet, for example (though I think their owner is still semi-active as of now). 

Losing most of the names wouldn't really lessen their value, since they're not really worth anything anyway, it's just losing history, and that's the shame.

[Cinnamin Draconna]

The ONLY time I would want names to be wiped from a scroll is if/when a scroll is burned. If I understand how burning works, once your scroll is burned you are permanently banned.. so any names that player had should be wiped and become available for use on the usual 'first try, first get' basis.

 

Inactivity happens, and players shouldn't be penalized for real life boo boos.

 

So I support 'stealing' names 100%.. after all we 'steal' the eggs from the cave, so we might as well extend that to stealing names. BUT.. since inactivity happens.. I think the time frame should be rather wide.. I think 18 months should be the minimum. Why? Because in 18 months you can miss as many as six holidays, and anyone missing that many limited release dragons has more important things going on than a pixel collecting game.

 

That being said, any stealing should be on a first come, first serve basis.. just like stealing eggs from the cave. My proposed process..

1. Attempt to name dragon

2. System checks name availablity, us usual

2a. IF name is taken, system checks scroll activity attached to the requested name

2b. IF scroll is active, you get the standard 'name is already taken' blurb

2c. IF scroll is inactive for 18+ months, you get a new message.. This name is available for stealing, do you wish to appropriate it?

3. Player 'steals' name and the naming process continues to finalization on the new scroll

 

----------------------------

 

My personal fix was to use a surname; Draconna. I just wish it could also be a hard coded feature of the game. As in, register a surname with the system.. then anytime you name a dragon you get a checkbox on the naming page with a message saying.. Do you wish to apply a surname? And if you have more than one registered, you also have a dropdown list with your registered surnames listed.

So you would fill in the textbox with your chosen name, tick the checkbox to apply surname.. then get the dropdown if you have multiple surnames.. click OK, click the 'yes i'm sure' button and voila you have a named and surnamed dragon.

And if you DON'T want a surname, you just don't tick the box.. simple.

 

Edit to add: Once a dragon is surnamed, the name would also be applied to it's offspring automatically. This is what would make it a 'true lineaged' dragon.

Edited January 11, 2018 by Cinnamin Draconna

[LibbyLishly]

1 hour ago, Cinnamin Draconna said:

 

My personal fix was to use a surname; Draconna. I just wish it could also be a hard coded feature of the game. As in, register a surname with the system.. then anytime you name a dragon you get a checkbox on the naming page with a message saying.. Do you wish to apply a surname? And if you have more than one registered, you also have a dropdown list with your registered surnames listed.

So you would fill in the textbox with your chosen name, tick the checkbox to apply surname.. then get the dropdown if you have multiple surnames.. click OK, click the 'yes i'm sure' button and voila you have a named and surnamed dragon.

And if you DON'T want a surname, you just don't tick the box.. simple.

 

Edit to add: Once a dragon is surnamed, the name would also be applied to it's offspring automatically. This is what would make it a 'true lineaged' dragon.

 

I think this is a very clever idea.