Q for developers: Will we ever be able to "register" a player name?
corpsman
Join Date: 2004-04-17 Member: 27979Members, Reinforced - Shadow
Join Date: 2004-04-17 Member: 27979Members, Reinforced - Shadow
<div class="IPBDescription">registered names</div>First, this is a question to the developers or anyone who actually knows the answer (like a playtester). If you don't know, please don't reply with opinions. If no developer answers, I will assume the answer is no, which is fine, but I just want to know before I start making a new sig.
I am wondering if we will ever be able to (or if players are now able to) register character names? I had a name I chose for my gorge when I played NS1 and I would like to keep using it. I am asking this question because I would specifically like to use it for the forums, leader boards, create a NS sig again for the forums, etc etc. I know this seems like a trivial question, but when we enter our keys into Steam, does it register a name for us every time we play, or just for "account use/forum use"?
I am wondering if we will ever be able to (or if players are now able to) register character names? I had a name I chose for my gorge when I played NS1 and I would like to keep using it. I am asking this question because I would specifically like to use it for the forums, leader boards, create a NS sig again for the forums, etc etc. I know this seems like a trivial question, but when we enter our keys into Steam, does it register a name for us every time we play, or just for "account use/forum use"?
Comments
I am wondering if we will ever be able to (or if players are now able to) register character names? I had a name I chose for my gorge when I played NS1 and I would like to keep using it. I am asking this question because I would specifically like to use it for the forums, leader boards, create a NS sig again for the forums, etc etc. I know this seems like a trivial question, but when we enter our keys into Steam, does it register a name for us every time we play, or just for "account use/forum use"?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
You mean a name reserved for just you?
You can set your name in the games options just like NS1. If you want your forum name changed, try pming a moderator to change it for you.
So yes, you can do everything you want to do.
You can set your name in the games options just like NS1. If you want your forum name changed, try pming a moderator to change it for you.
So yes, you can do everything you want to do.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
But this wouldn't keep other players from choosing the same name as yours. In the forum yes, but not in the game. There could be people playing with the same nick, not on the same server at the same time, but they could.
I think thats what the corpsman wants.
I think thats what the corpsman wants.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Bleh! I hope that isn't what he wants. An ego, not a person, is what would want this type of mechanic.
Since i have a unique name, never have seen anyone else with this nick and username is always available i don't have such a big problem with that. But in general i don't like it when people take the names of other people, taking clantags without being in that clan etc.
I know how you feel. I never saw somebody that it's nick also was Floodinator, and I wouldn't like if somebody uses it. That why I reged my nick in Americas Army 2 and 3 by paying those guys from Punkbuster some money, so that only my Guid can use this nick.
A similar system for NS2 would be great, and I would pay for it!
My other forum thread was locked because of replies like this. I became angry because the person personally attacked me (like a politician does), which is what is happening here. So, this time I will reply in a positive thinking, forward moving, manner.
*ahem*
Please try to keep this thread on topic, and post a reply only if you have something to contribute which is relivant to the posted topic. If you find that you do not like the idea posted, instead of attacking the person's character, may I suggest a positive, healthy, outdoor activity to help relieve the anger, such as soccer or running.
I think thats what the corpsman wants.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Ya, I was playing a game and someone chose the same name as me, but he added a number at the end or something. It wasn't the end of the world, but I always kinda hoped maybe we could choose a permanent name when we buy the game and set it up. Every time I reinstalled the game, it would allow me to change my name, which is fine, but I wished my name would be "me." People knew me as a fairly good gorge in NS1 and that guy destroyed my name on all of the siege only servers with the crazy siege maps.
I was also only poking at the idea of it being persistant too for leader boards and such, but even if it was just for stats, that would be cool. I could see how often I use a spit vs. others and maybe try to fogure out how and when to heal or defend better on certain maps maybe... Just a thought too, it might not even bring anything to the table really stats wise. To keep this "friendly," they could completely leave out k/d ratios and only post the rest of the stats like favorite weapon used %s, healing %s and how often you build-what type of structures, and such. Then you can look and say to yourself "damn I spend too much time building this and this," or "I spend too much time healing during the begining of the maps." Just a thought. I agree with the other guy above though, so maybe leave out kill %s and numbers, so as to keep people from using it only for "e-peen" whatever.
Your reply above reminded me very much of a Bill Hicks quote, which I thought I'd share..
People say to me, "Hey, Bill, the war made us feel better about ourselves." Really? What kind of people are these with such low self-esteem that they need a war to feel better about themselves? May I suggest, instead of a war to feel better about yourself, perhaps … sit-ups? Maybe a fruit cup? Eight glasses of water a day?
Hell, I would love to change my steam id (which is an email address from 2003), but I can't.
Would I want to be potentially locked into having my name continue to be "Tailor" for this game?
Maybe...
But it should be my choice.
Secondly, the only time I could see a name actually meaning something, is if you have a reputation that you don't want changed, and that, I feel, is only applicable to celebrities or specific people.
Flayra, Max, etc. I can see that.
Professional NS2 gamers (if we get that far), yeah, I can see that.
Everyone else?
Why? Why waste any time on coding that into the game for the slight chance that a very tiny portion of your player base both has the same name and cares that they aren't unique in their digital presentation in a single game?
You can change that to whatever you like though.
Honestly this is a lot of work for what is essentially a non-issue. They could do this if they added persistence for other features, but it doesn't make sense within the scope of the game as it is.
I think it would be incredibly awesome if we had "authenticated" handles. Ie, you could change your name to whatever you liked, but if you had registered a handle and were logged in with it (password required), it would show a symbol next to your name showing that you were the "real" one.
That would allow people to play as their handle and to foster the community that way, or to smurf.
I think it would be incredibly awesome if we had "authenticated" handles. Ie, you could change your name to whatever you liked, but if you had registered a handle and were logged in with it (password required), it would show a symbol next to your name showing that you were the "real" one.
That would allow people to play as their handle and to foster the community that way, or to smurf.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
This is a rather good idea, the main question is if the nick should be the same as the forum one?
I think it would be incredibly awesome if we had "authenticated" handles. Ie, you could change your name to whatever you liked, but if you had registered a handle and were logged in with it (password required), it would show a symbol next to your name showing that you were the "real" one.
That would allow people to play as their handle and to foster the community that way, or to smurf.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
They're called Steam-Ids, admittedly not humanbrain-friendly, but any nickname-based system will likely turn out to be an abstrusive failure.
/me registers as Flayra`
/me registers as Flayra`<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I agree with Player on this. You can come up with hundreds of variations of an alias that on first glance, and in some cases close examination, will appear to be exactly the same. Sure, you can tie this to a player's Steam ID, but coming up with something that can churn through all the odd character variations of that name would not be worth it.
Example:
McGlaspie
Mcglaspie
mcglaspie
McGLaspie
The above example is just working with basic alphanumeric characters.
Things get a lot more complicated if you go above the standard 127 ASCII characters, see below:
McGlaspįe - replaced lowercase I with į
MÄ‹Glaspie - replaced lowercase C with Ä‹
McGǀaspie - replaced lowercase L with ǀ
Just read up on how password brute force attacks work and you'll begin to understand the complexities here. Long story short, sure you can lock-in an exact sequence of characters that is your alias, but anyone can then change their alias to something that could be extremely close. Unless you are cross referencing an alias with a Steam ID before you ban/kick them a server admin may not notice the difference. This would be very problematic to say the least.
okay hold on I'm gonna go impersonate you and spam a bunch of racist chat in various servers while using a LUA aimbot
then we can see if it's "just a name" :)
I don't think anybody would seriously pay to have a name..it should just use steam community names like TF2 does. There's got to be something in the steam API for that, I'd imagine.
Looks like we're back to square one lol
I am wondering if we will ever be able to (or if players are now able to) register character names? I had a name I chose for my gorge when I played NS1 and I would like to keep using it. I am asking this question because I would specifically like to use it for the forums, leader boards, create a NS sig again for the forums, etc etc. I know this seems like a trivial question, but when we enter our keys into Steam, does it register a name for us every time we play, or just for "account use/forum use"?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Forums: PM a moderator.
In-Game: Not at this time/no if never.
Leader boards: NS2 doesn't have them at the moment.
Steam ID in forum account doesn't do much of anything unless you're a constellation/vet/whatever member for NS1 (correct me if I'm wrong)
Honestly the only 'place' that NS1 ever had that was with psychostats and that was independently hosted by server admins and even then you could smurf as other people. Honestly the only time someone will ever 'steal' your name in game was to either: A. Troll you. Or B. Troll you.
In-Game: Not at this time/no if never.
Leader boards: NS2 doesn't have them at the moment.
Steam ID in forum account doesn't do much of anything unless you're a constellation/vet/whatever member for NS1 (correct me if I'm wrong)
Honestly the only 'place' that NS1 ever had that was with psychostats and that was independently hosted by server admins and even then you could smurf as other people. Honestly the only time someone will ever 'steal' your name in game was to either: A. Troll you. Or B. Troll you.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Is the answer C?
Edit: But ya this is also true IMO it should be cool to know the real person who uses the user name.
Player names I can give two ###### about.