Creatu names seem to be a largely debated topic. It seems to be a common complaint from new users that naming is hard, because so many names are taken. At the same time, names being unique has been a part of the economy, and so some players have paid a lot for a certain name, and it is one of the selling points when there's a limited amount of species and colours and effects for creatu to have, the name adding that individuality.

It's also been said that creatu and names on inactive accounts will not be touched, which does make sense, because if those users were ever to come back, it wouldn't be very nice if their show room that they had worked hard to fill, was suddenly empty.

I think I have a compromise. It's come to my attention that not EVERY name on the site is completely unique. For example, there are actually 2 creatu with the name, "Pan". I'm not sure how this came to be, probably has something to do with how the site worked early on, but it got me thinking...

Now I'm not sure if this idea is even possible, let alone how easy or difficult it would be to implement, but I thought it was worth putting out there.

With the amount of creatu on the site, having 2 pets with the same name isn't THAT less unique than just having the one. I'm not saying to allow ALL names on the site to be used twice, but to free up the names from inactive accounts.

The idea is that if an account has been inactive for a set amount of time... say a year or two years, then all of the names of the creatu in their showroom (since any profile pets would eventually lose their name through the graveyard), would be given duplicate privileges. If we're being honest, most people who have been gone from a site for a year or two, probably aren't coming back, which locks up a lot of those names permanently. They're not enhancing anyone's game, and it's frustrating for active players to see all those names off limits. There are exceptions and people who will come back after years (I did), but even if a few people did come back, having 2 creatu with the same name in the game won't completely destroy the economy, or make those two pets worthless.

Even if it was extended that every time a name became inactive, it was given another "slot", and over the years a name racked up 5 pets with the same name, since 4 of them would likely be trapped on inactive accounts, there would only really be 1 of that name, actively in the game or with a possibility to join the market, which shouldn't diminish it's value that much.

It would also be a motive to keep active with the site if you're happy with the names you're collected, as users who remain active, can keep their names as one-of-a-kinds.

I think it's a win-win for new and old users, but I'm curious to see what others think, and again... I'm not even sure if it's possible to implement that kind of a system on the site.

Thanks for the support. :)

Yeah, I'm not personally someone who's attached to names, but I do know that they're apart of the economy, and some people have paid a lot or worked hard to get a specific name, and it's not fair to just completely open up all the names... so I thought this was a good compromise.

If there were duplicates, how would Name Tags work?

The few names on the site that are duplicates are the results of a glitch that occurred long ago. The downside to the duplicates is that if you use a name tag on a duplicate, that duplicate name simply disappears. So instead of there being 2 creatu named "Pan", it drops down to one. If you don't own both Pans, you're out of luck.

If there were duplicate names everywhere, you wouldn't be able to tag that name onto anything. You'd have to morph or be stuck with the creatu that name is on. It also makes Name Tags obsolete. Since that's a Cash Shop item, it means the site would make less money IRL. Anything that would negatively impact the site's profitability is probably not likely to happen.

No support for those reasons.

However, I would support clearing accounts inactive for a very long time. Say, 3-5 years. I don't think you can have any reasonable expectation that your stuff will still be waiting for you after that long.

Well like I said, I'm not sure if it could be implemented, and I'm not sure what the back end of the site looks like... but the general idea is that there would be more than 1 of each name allowed. Right now Pan is an error, but this would be a deliberate change to the system.

So each name would carry a counter. So... for example, let's say a pet named "Example" has been on an inactive account for the set amount of time, and is going to be given duplicate privileges, it's counter would be raised to 2. So when someone goes to name a pet "Example" instead of the system checking to see if there's one pet named Example, it checks to see if there's less than 2. If there's 2 pets with the name, then you get the error that the name is taken, but if there's less than 2 pets with the name (1 or 0) then it would allow it. Which would allow moving the name around.

That's the way I assumed it would work anyway. Again, I have no idea what the back end looks like, and I haven't written code in a long, long time... so I don't actually know if it's possible, it was just an idea. Also name tags can be used for a lot more than just moving a specific
name, since I tend to use them to rename pets I buy for the colour/species/effect, but
have names I don't like.

That's fair though. Like I said, I'm not really sure if the idea is even possible.

I was also pretty sure that they had said that they would never clear inactive accounts, which is why I was trying this suggestion.

At least this way, if the users were ever to come back (even if just for a little bit) they come back to their names and creatu, while we get some of the names!

Win, win situation.