IGN Requests

Hi team,

I came to understand it's impossible to request an in-game name that was permanently banned from the game

I think it's unfair that because one person made a terrible mistake, a name will be forever gone, lost, unavailable for others.


Therefore I think in game names that were permanently banned, and have stayed permamently banned for over 2-3 years, or banned for RWT for example, who I don't think will ever be let back into the game (cause I believe that's your policy) should be available for grabs for others.

To make it worthwhile for the team, in case there's any re-reports or headache for them, this request/feature could come with a price, a reasonable donating price that u guys will pick that'd be worth it.

Or a voting price, let's call it Voting Points. When you vote you start a streak, every day of a streak is a Voting Point, if u donate 30 days in a row you get 30 Voting Points, and you can also pay for a name change with that aswell. That way it's not only with donating money if some people are less comfortable with that.


Pros:
1.WAY more people can have the names they really want, and be happier not settling on other names.

2. A new way for the server to get donations / more votes for reasons other than just for NX items/gacha/APRs.

3. I know of games that have implemented this feature and it incentivized more players to start playing / come back from a break to play

Cons:
1. It **rarely** could cause an issue like players re-reporting the new user of the name because they'd confuse him/her with the old user who was banned

2. If **rarely** the player who was permanently banned appeals to remove the ban and succeeds, he'd see his name was lost.

I don't think other players are so easy on the report button and I don't know if most of the players even know or remember exactly who got banned and who didn't.

So I think a Name Request System can and should be implemented.

I know it's only names, but I know a lot of people might agree with me, as it will also save people the time of looking for owners of IGNs that are taken and don't even play them, or they're perma banned.

Thank you.

 

Think this isn't a good idea for a few reasons:
1) How would you sort out priority if multiple people wanted the same name?
2) Extra work for Staff when they already have their hands full
3) Voting points is definitely a no-go. RP should be the only option to change IGN's as people donating directly supports the server running and it's already pretty niche.
4) Probably creates even more trails for Staff to have to follow if a banned name gets re-used and banned again.
5) Creates potential avenues for impersonation and scams though maybe unlikely

I also take warm comfort in the fact that some people, that I don't like, will never get the IGN they want so that would be my personal reason for voting no.

 

So to answer your points:

1) In other games it's an automatic system, a NPC, whoever chooses the name first gets it. Literally just like you create a new character.

2) It's not really extra work, literally 99% of the game barely even remembers people who were banned 3 years ago, no one would report a name, and even if they do, it'll be 1 or 2 reports from people who are REALLY petty.

3) I also agree it should be only RP, because it helps the server with donations. I gave the voting idea simply as a free2play alternative.

4) No trails to follow, whoever gets banned, their account username gets banned. The name of the character is generally irrelevant, even if staff want to see if someone did something, they'll know that this X character is connected to X account. and the new Y character, isn't connected to that account.

5) Impersonations and scams are very unlikely, hell, there's people who were banned in 2017 and still hold names, no one remembers anyone from 2017.

As to your personal reason, I can respect that. The pleasure of seeing other people not get what they want is sometimes very heartwarming.

 

I think what they mean with extra work for the staff is that it has to be implemented in the first place, which will take a lot of work. I think most players rather see that energy go towards development of new content.

 

That I can understand.
But atleast personal requests until then should be taken, as I presume there's not many anyway..

 

Yeah - I seriously doubt they could implement a NPC that tracks old IGNs from banned accounts, deletes them upon requests, and then uses 20 RP to assign the IGN to your character. Especially given that the existing implementation for name changes is a request on the forum where Staff has to put it in manually and it only goes into effect with a server check. Hence more work.

 

It exists. In maple. Just like you said, it's a NPC that works just like the name change item, the only difference is that it puts available names that were perma banned for over 3 years. Staff receive the request and in the next server check the staff takes care of it. If u ask me it might be a little bit of work in the beginning to initiate it but after the fact it'd solve a lot of problems for the staff.

There's a name change item for RP in cash shop anyway, and when u buy it you need to tell the staff and they still need to manually change it in server check. So it won't add work, it'll just replace that and instead of making a thread for a name change, there'll be a NPC so it's automatic and even saves staff the time of visiting thread after thread.

 

Subtracting the why behind it, and if we should or shouldn't I am not looking to discuss as my opinion is that there are always names that are locked away by early adopters, lost to bans, the ether, forgotten passwords, IRL death/etc, and the argument that limits inspire creativity.

My concern is still that on equality.

For example. I now want the names Pain, Geto, and Thor.

Who should get them? There's competition who wants them, and if we pick a time to release them when is fair? Should it be during a US time zone? An EU Time Zone or Asia time zone?

Then there's the technical hiccup. To get any of these names staff would have to either.

1. Delete all banned users thus freeing up their name. (What happens for false positives, hacked accounts, etc.)
2. Do a name change for a banned user (What happens for false positives, hacked accounts, etc.)
3. Allow duplicate names (This is not feasible, very confusing, and could create more issues than it solves)

So let's say we agree there will be a server reset we pick a time that may suck for a certain time zone, what makes it worth it for staff to do this?
If we email everyone and say "Hi we're going to disable your account" Then suddenly there's a huge influx of ban appeals trying to save accounts, people requiring technical assistance and more. This creates more work for staff.
If we don't we'll get angry people, what you stole my name, that's not fair, and then it becomes more of a headache to judge for staff.
If we say do this for a fee "RP" or a specific donation, is this not pay to win? What is to stop me from spending $500 on high quality names, and then try to sell them to other players for 1b.

For example if I could sneak away the name Geto because the Geto in discord plays in a much different time zone from me +10 hours from me, then I could easily sell it to him for 1-2b? Is this not pay to win? If we then remove selling of names, then this just becomes a 'premium feature'

Also this may inspire ban hunters, watching and harassing users that want their name, looking for anything that might appear to be scam-like, hack-like, etc. There are false positives and quirks of the server especially on slower connections. Ban appeals also are much harder for those who don't speak English natively.

I think this creates more problems than it solves, the lack of names is one of MANY things a mature game has to contend with, and it inspires more creativity instead. I would never have created the fun names I now enjoy if such easy names were available and with that....

It's a no from me dawg.

 

You literally can't buy the item. Staff manually subtract the 20 RP from your account it's a 100% manual process. So yes it would create more work. This isn't something that the code is 99% of the way there or anything.

 

Releasing banned usernames would create identity confusion and open the door to impersonation. Many usernames carry history and reputation, and letting others reuse them risks misleading players, causing drama, and more. Recycling usernames also dilutes the feeling of identity and uniqueness, so it's also a no from me.

 

Hey please don't take the IGN Geto I'm trying to get it for over a year now

For this comment to be relevant - huge no from me. It just deletes a player from the game. All of his history, all of his uniqueness, gone in a blink of an eye.

Let's say I want to release the IGN JustJae in 3 years. Then the player that had a substantial history here is somewhat deleted, cause now I own that IGN and the whole history behind it is now gone, cause that player is not JustJae anymore.

This is just one example on why it's a bad idea.

 

Once again, it's a simple system that have worked wonderfully in other games, and those have way more of a playerbase aswell, so if they got it right and they took all those issues into account, I fail to understand why here it's not worth it.

1. I'm talking only about accounts that were permanently banned and have stayed banned for multiple years so that question is irrelevant to this.

2. what duplicate names? it's simple, just take what's available and if someone took it before you then it's not available anymore, who said we want to allow duplicates?

3. selling IGNs for mesos happens regardless. You could limit the amount of times a person can request a name change to once per month or something and that way people won't be able to overuse it.

 

90% of the game don't even remember a single soul who was banned in 2017. Who cares about their history? If the IGN "Noobmaster69" got banned in 2017 and I want that username now, who remembers Noobmaster69? Do you remember a hacker that got perma banned in 2017?

 

1. Just because you're permanently banned doesn't mean you can't appeal (And win) at a later date.
IE: https://royals.ms/forum/threads/ban-appeal.246246/
Imagine if there was an actual 7 years between this.

2. My argument was that one of the three ways this would be technically plausible would be to allow more than one player to have the same name that's all.

3. Exactly it happens? So now you're allowing people with money to PAY TO actually be able to get good names to sell other players. Then having more money to buy better gear and making it easier to WIN.

If I got Geto, He would wait years to buy that name from me no matter how long the wait is. People would use this to take names. For Example, I would do everything in my power to take the name Pain and everything else on your buy list so I could sell it to you because I know how big of a deal it is to you. You'd still buy it if you had to wait, 1 year, 3 years, 5 years. Either way I profited off my ability to pay to buy a name with real world money. If you block name changes indefinitely....then how is it any different than the situation now?

So basically either we introduce a Pay2Win mechanic or we have the exact same situation 6 months from now that we're in right now.

 

I'm not blocking name changes, there's just gonna be a limit to the amount of times u can request a name change. Trust me that a name like Pain or Geto will be taken on the first day. Names like that won't be something you can "farm" so u can sell for quick money if there's a limit of 1 name per month or two.

 

So everyone with 10£, will be able to buy a name they can then sell. If all these names are taken then now 2 months later the names are all gone again and you just gave everyone who could afford it, a resource they can sell for mesos.

This is still pay 2 win. Even if it's once per month, one per year, once ever. It still means whoever can afford it can grab a good name. Cause yeah, with as much as you want some of those names, if this went through I'm going to be refreshing as fast as possible to beat you to it because there's huge profit to be made again with REAL WORLD MONEY to have an advantage. All it takes is a quick scrape of every B> request on the IGN form and I have a list to power through the second it goes live.

I do not support any Pay2Win for this server.

 

People do it now regardless, with or without the system. The only thing the system does is put up more names to be available. for others. People who started in 2015 and have rare names can sell their IGNs, why should we not be able to?
And besides, that can be fixed in literally a second. If u got the name Thor for example, the staff can easily decide that names that were made available and picked by a new player, so Thor CANNOT be sold for mesos. And there you have it. It's solved.

 

You're mixing up apples and oranges here.

Either people have the name since 2015 they have the right to sell it as an early adopter bonus. It's perfectly normal and allowed cause it's names for mesos it's in game for in game stuff.

What you are proposing is that names from banned users get released. It'd happen in one of a few ways

1. It'd be a free-for-all.

• It's bad PR because it's not released in a certain time zone.
• Scalpers would grab up all the good names to resell.
• We'd be in the same situation we are in now, except for a privileged group who have the names from 2015 2025.
• What happens if someone wants an abusive name. Now there's a whole bunch of inappropriate names anyone can grab.

2. It's a paid feature that anyone can buy any name for any reason and can sell/trade/etc the names

• You've now created a Pay2Win feature. Those with real money have an in-game advantage over those who can't pay. Might as well play Classic MapleStory.
• All the names would be bought up quickly and we'd be in the same situation we are in now, except for a privileged group who have money.

3. It's a paid feature limited in scope to amount you can buy at a time.

• See 2, but in a slower time scale.

4. It's a paid feature, but then you can't trade the name.

• How would this be enforced? Could I not delete the character (Freeing the name)? Do I have to have a GM delete a name I bought if I no longer want it. This is a huge lift for staff to now have to deal with this.
• Names slowly get taken up and then none of them are available again. We're exactly where we are now except for the lucky bunch who played this specific time frame.....hey that rhymes with 2015
• Buying names just to troll players (Sorry, I bought Pain, just because I don't want you to have it.)
  • Is this harassment if I come defame you with this character?
• This just creates the ability for a black market. Buy a retired name on an empty account, and now RWTers can just sell the names and staff has to track even more.

5. It's a free for all, but you only get one.

• See 1, but add the extra demand on very limited staff.

Notice how everything boils down to Pay2Win and/or just where we are now, but just a few months later.
Now add all the negatives, extra staff work, coding from the VERY limited Dev resources we have, issues with banned users being around to upset their victims. It just doesn't make sense.

Because you're proposing people pay REAL MONEY for these names.

 

There's also the question of how many perma banned players would this inspire to come back and ban evade because they can get their original IGNs again. Which is even more staff burden.