No more naming woes in Champions Online

by Kyle Horner Apr 29th 2009 at 3:00PM

Filed under: Super-hero, New titles, News items, Champions Online

Everyone knows the pain and frustration that you feel when, after spending time on a really great name for your character, you find that it's already been taken. Well no more for Champions Online players! Cryptic has worked out an interesting system that's poised to alleviate the classic issue. You can read about it in the latest Ask Cryptic and also go over a ton of other crunchy information on the game, too.

It works like this: Now everyone can be named Fellbat, but you can only have one character per account with said name. To prevent confusion when looking for a person in-game, you specify the player via their handle. So for example, "Fellbat@Massively" or "Fellbat@Boboid" would reach two different players.

Though a perfect solution it may not be, we think it's far better than having to come up with a second, third, fourth or sometimes even fifth name in lieu of the one you really wanted.

Tags: ask-cryptic, atari, champions, champions-online, cryptic, cryptic-studios

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

rayrayob said on 3:24PM 4-29-2009

Great idea!! As I've said over on the Champs forums, nothing sucks worse than spending hours on a concept and then being screwed out of the name you want!! Some people whine about how long it may take to type it all out but how often will the people be on the same server at the same time with the same name??

Tim said on 3:28PM 4-29-2009

What they're not telling you is that as soon as you create a character that shares a name with an existing one, you get pulled into a gladiator arena where you have to fight, to the death, with any of the other characters that share your name.

Because there can be only one.

JP said on 3:43PM 4-29-2009

That's awesome. Considering how many cool names fall off and rot in CoH, this will make for some incredible characters w/out limitations. Very good job Cryptic.

The likely hood of running into a 2nd or 3rd character w/ your same name will still be slim.

I hope some group out there make the exact same character, w/ the exact same name and run around confuzzling the crap out of people. LOL.

snowleopard233 said on 3:44PM 4-29-2009

Great, now there will be a million and one people named "Wolverine"

Jeni said on 10:22AM 4-30-2009

You know that name for a superhero is copywrited right? Names from well known franchises won't be allowed. What you meant to say was that there will be a ton of people with the name Wolverine, but with the special characters or annoying mispellings.

keifu said on 3:57PM 4-29-2009

Hasn't this been in CoX for some time now? I may be wrong, but I distinctly remember anyone being able to contact me @mymaincharactersname.

Kyle Horner said on 4:04PM 4-29-2009

You're thinking of the Global handle. It allows people to add that name instead of everyone one of your character names, that way they'll always see you online no matter which character (new or old) you've made. It also has some chat features, but it's nothing like this.

JP said on 4:08PM 4-29-2009

no no Keifu.

The global name @name has been in CoH.

What they are now doing, is making all character names unquie to that global name.

So, in CoH, my global is @shooshoo. I want to make a fire/fire balster name Flame Dude. Well, the global name @eatveggies already has that name, I can't use it, and will have to think of something else or a variation Flam3 Dood or w/e.

In CO, we can BOTH have the name Flame Dude, b/c it'd be Flame Dude@shooshoo and Flame Dude@eatveggies. So, they're opening up the nameing policy so that you're never limited by what names other players (current or unsubbed) used.

twolfer said on 5:47PM 4-29-2009

so does this mean that if i create a character named "DR. Cheese", and someone else has the same name, my name will change to Dr. Cheese@whatever?

Brigand said on 6:12PM 4-29-2009

No, you'll still be named Dr. Cheese. But if someone wants to send you a tell or whatever, they'll send it to Dr. Cheese@whatever.

Logrus said on 7:42PM 4-29-2009

I have to admit that I don't like the idea. I believe it will allow a stunning lack of originality in naming. We'll see loads of different "Blue Arrows" or whatever for those abilities that use a bow. And so on.

On the plus side, I guess it will make life easier for new people joining the game a couple of years post-launch.

But I'm suspecting I won't be one of them.

Havok said on 7:47PM 4-29-2009

yeah cuz 'Blu3 Arrow', 'Blue Arrow2', 'Blue Arrow3', and 'Blu Arrow' make for much more original names. What a silly thing to say.

RJGiskard said on 2:01AM 4-30-2009

@Havok

Yeah, but in your example, you can at least tell who the original Blue Arrow is, and who the wannabe copies are by players who can't be bothered to come up with an original name.

Unique names FTW.

fester said on 9:57PM 4-29-2009

I happen to like having a unique name in my games. This idea sucks.

Taxis said on 12:19AM 4-30-2009

As far as I can see, this has both good and bad implications...

One, your incredibly original name that happens to taken on one realm out of 15 others in existence just happens to be the one you play on. Now you can have that name, a name that suits you, the name that defines you as more than a player... as a person. More than one people in a room will have the same first name as you; why not more than one person on the same server?

Finally, everyone and their dog can have a character named 'Annihilation'. The way it was meant to be.

I am really looking forward to the first time I see a guild where everyone is named Malcovich.

A couple of the bads; people will use this as a tool for grieving and scamming, there is not going to be a way around this. However at least they can use appropriate names like 'The Golden Farmer' instead of 'Asgienfi'.

RJGiskard said on 1:59AM 4-30-2009

Sorry, I don't like this at all.

Character name is a part of making a character unique on a server, and having to go around calling yourself Hero@handle in order for people to know who you are is just daft and unimmersive.

Why change something that *isn't* broken? Oh, because, like every other MMO company, they don't want to have to implement a system from the very beginning for clearing out names reserved by inactive accounts.

Last I played, CoX had a pretty good system in place (finally) for this, though I think it should affect *all* characters for accounts inactive over 6 months rather than just those of characters under a certain level.

Taxis said on 4:59AM 4-30-2009

Yes. Its much more immersive having to consult ascii charts to invite someone to your guild.

They aren't changing something that isn't broken, they are adding a feature to a game that hasn't gone live yet.