[Notice] Character Name Changes Are Coming October 15

[RayGun]

I guess it's a good thing I logged in once to try Pink Bean this summer...

Seems dumb that they won't release names on banned accounts. Wonder if anyone would purposely get banned so no one can ever get their name...

but if they did that they woudl have had to log on so no point?

[Untradeable]

Eh, Not sure if i'd bother logging in to change any of my character's names.

[Marksman Bryan]

Does anyone else think this is going to end up poorly because of hackers?

I can imagine just one hacker would be able to test thousands of "good" names before legits can even load maple.

Only thing I can think of is them being limited by character slots, but that could be easily avoided by making multiple accounts. And with how much preparation time they have I'll be surprised if anyone gets anything good.

[babo]

Does anyone else think this is going to end up poorly because of hackers?

I can imagine just one hacker would be able to test thousands of "good" names before legits can even load maple.

Only thing I can think of is them being limited by character slots, but that could be easily avoided by making multiple accounts. And with how much preparation time they have I'll be surprised if anyone gets anything good.

well duh
just pray that the ign you want is somewhat unique that you don't think anyone would want/try to get.

I'm already just f7ing at all the future dumb igns I'll see that people will think is cool because it's an actual word or something.
"Hey what's up, I'm Chair!"
"Hey, you can call me Door."

Kinda disappointing too because when they had this event for dragon nest, I was able to get a lot of nice igns. too bad for hackers though and the ign market.
I jus

[SaptaZapta]

Does anyone else think this is going to end up poorly because of hackers?

I can imagine just one hacker would be able to test thousands of "good" names before legits can even load maple.

Only thing I can think of is them being limited by character slots, but that could be easily avoided by making multiple accounts. And with how much preparation time they have I'll be surprised if anyone gets anything good.

Oh, definitely. People who are hoping for "cool" names like short dictionary words and popular Anime characters (*cough*Naruto*cough*), are quite unlikely to be able to get them.

But I have some characters whose names are nowhere near that awesome, and I still had to use creative spelling because the straightforward one was taken. And I've seen other people with the same problem. For example, my buddy had to name his Aran iitieJohn because LittleJohn was taken. I doubt anyone would bot for that. (Well, maybe now that I've posted it in public someone will try to snipe it, if it even becomes free, and sell it to my buddy. GL with that, buddy's quit years ago). So I think many people will be able to get the name they wanted.
Additionally, character name change is good for people who no longer like the name they gave their character years ago.
Unfortunately, it's also good for scammers wanting to not be identified :-(

Anyway, I hope Nexon will change the character-creation process enough to hinder botting it. A Captcha would be nice (I heard KMS has it? Or is that for account creation?). We don't need more ways for hackers to make $$ off this game.

[Liable]

Probably a very rough idea.. but you could possibly block character creation entirely for 24/48 hours (preferably a week) to allow for (mostly) legitimate name changes only. To compromise a day or two of character creation to make your current active users happy sounds "worth" to me.

This way you're limited to only 1 free character name change that period and have to spend NX for more on that same account. A botter would have to log in multiple accounts to go through a myriad of names before getting chain-banned(if that's still a thing) to keep the process free of charge to them?

(and obviously if people want more names then.. hue more $$$ for Nexon).

[Typhoon]

There have been countless clientless bots made just for IGN sniping over the last few years. There's a few who still actively do it in order to sell them. This will definitely bring even more back for another go.

I say good luck to any of you attempting to get an extremely rare 1 word, 4-6 letters long. If I were you, I'd just find one that is an unlikely target for them, and focus on it. Your only chance to be honest..

(not to mention other means that are used to get a leg up on getting such free information on things like igns)

[ricthenoob]

In Maplestory's current state of decline, there won't be enough players changing their names for bots to even be effective.

Also, are names unique to each server, or across all servers?

[SaptaZapta]

Also, are names unique to each server, or across all servers?

Across all servers.

I do not stand convinced of the desire to lower the threshold, currently.

Furthermore

We would like to make this process more common, as in, once a year. If not, I believe it would do us well to automate the process, so that any player inactive for 1-year + gets a name change automatically.

Meaning: unless you're willing to reinstall Maple once a year to preserve your IGNs, might as well let them go now. Or sell them off, I suppose, if you have really desirable ones.

The majority of the responders to that thread in the official forums seems to agree with him.

[Justin]

Furthermore



Meaning: unless you're willing to reinstall Maple once a year to preserve your IGNs, might as well let them go now. Or sell them off, I suppose, if you have really desirable ones.

The majority of the responders to that thread in the official forums seems to agree with him.

Pretty quick way to make sure your old timers never come back. Whatever, if they want to keep making things worse then be our guest lol

[SaptaZapta]

Pretty quick way to make sure your old timers never come back. Whatever, if they want to keep making things worse then be our guest lol

Well, they tried the route of enticing people back with "welcome back" packages that made active players quite jealous.
Apparently it didn't work very well. The people who came back just quit again shortly after.
So Nexon is just a tad resentful of past maplers in general. (Joke's on them, though... the people who did log in to claim those giftpacks are safe from renaming for now)

Of course it may all be just a cynical way to boost numbers. "2015 was our best year yet! A million new accounts, and ten million new characters!" Shareholders don't need to know those are all IGN-farming bots.
Plus, you know, selling name-change coupons for $10 apiece can't be bad for the balance sheets, either.

[Marksman Bryan]

Nexon does not take well to being told this game is dying. I'm not sure they even realize it, honestly. They definitely don't appreciate being told the truth.

[SaptaZapta]

Nexon does not take well to being told this game is dying. I'm not sure they even realize it, honestly. They definitely don't appreciate being told the truth.

I'm sure they know it. They have the numbers.
What they may not understand correctly is why it's dying, or how it could be revived.
And while they don't appreciate being told the truth, they absolutely hate it when their few remaining users - or potential users - are told the truth.

Right now Artasi seems to think that the reason new people aren't joining is because it takes a few tries to find an IGN that is not already taken (and that their stupid censor will allow).
Sure, whatever.

[dowie]

artasi is going to "personally" deal with any bots selling igns huehue

[Marksman Bryan]

artasi is going to "personally" deal with any bots selling igns huehue

And then what? Those IGNs are banned and gone forever? Or they're turned into a string of numbers and another bot gets the name?

Yet another example of Nexon's lack of understanding how the game really works.

[Shads]

I guess this can combat that bots can't get random string of numbers and letters now? I don't really see any upside to this though if they're going to refresh it that often.

[dowie]

nexun dun turned people into bots :3

[RayGun]

Furthermore



Meaning: unless you're willing to reinstall Maple once a year to preserve your IGNs, might as well let them go now. Or sell them off, I suppose, if you have really desirable ones.

The majority of the responders to that thread in the official forums seems to agree with him.

those forum people. going through such a scheme to please such people will do nothing to help the game, while annoying and deterring potential returning players (customers). even though i will be renaming some of my chars, i think this whole idea is bad, esp if it becomes a regular occurence.

[Marksman Bryan]

I'm sure they know it. They have the numbers.

Nexon might realize the game is dying but Artasi is in denial:

[SaptaZapta]

Nexon might realize the game is dying but Artasi is in denial:

Just because he posts it doesn't mean he believes it.