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Character Name Changes and Inactive Users


IaraLuv

Question

Suggestion: Let regular users be able to check up the date of certain inactive usernames and, when the usernames in question reach a certain threshold of inactive time*, allow users to change their usernames into that one.

 

There are several different processes to make this as smooth and easily applicable as possible. The following are just but few potential ideas on how this could be applied.

 

 

METHOD 1 - TICKET CENTER

Spoiler
  1. Make a new ticket category in the support system. Specifically made to check the status of a name and be able to change into it.
  2. Minimize the amount of "time-wasters" this new category can generate by adding harsh punishments for abusing the name change ticket center feature.
  3. Make it so that there are requirements before someone can actually ask for a name status. Example: Have your character be 500 hours old or more.
  4. Make every user able to keep track of ONE name only. If the account whose character name they want is not inactive enough yet, keep the user in a 'queue' for that name only, and make the user unable to ask for any new name change request for an inactive character name.
  5. Should a person get their desired inactive character name, forbid them of sending any more name changing tickets for the next 2/5 years or so.

 

METHOD 2 - AUTOMATED

Spoiler

Please, keep in mind I don't know how the ins and out of how this could work. All I can do is suggest.

 

  1. Using the "Last Online" data of accounts, make their names able to be 'checked' from the Name Change UI in the gift shop after the reach a certain threshold of inactivity.

 

 

Justification:

The following are the reasons why I feel this system should be in place, as well as detailing how the PokeMMO staff has failed to keep the current system, and used it as incentive for staff. It's not a necessary read, but it helps to understand why.  I would like to add a disclaimer. The following might come as complaining to some people. I tried my best to remain cold and clinical, but at the sight of a perceived injustice, even I crack. Please, keep that in mind when reading and I am sorry for any perceived pettiness. I did not edit the following any further from my initial thread release.

 

Spoiler

On 22-12-2022, at 03:36:01 (UTC time), user "IaraLuv" (henceforth referred as "I") sent ticket #231065 via the support system of PokeMMO. The ticket in question was to ask for a certain service. The ticket opening statement was as follows:
 

Quote

Good afternoon! Is there any way to free up the name of an inactive user, if possible? I have came back to this game after a long absence period, and I would like to have the nickname of "Iara" (Capital i). Is it possible to check the availability of such user, and see if I can either make a new character with that name, or pay to have my current one changed to that? Thanks for the time replying!

Logic would dictate that, should a name be in hands of inactive users, it should eventually be back in rotation. At least that's what I thought at first. My ticket got quickly answered by a member of the staff, however. The staff member who responded was @Damian. I draw attention to the staff member who responded to it, as it will be pertinent as the thread continues.

 

Quote

Hello,

Players are entitled to keep the names they have chosen even if they stop playing for a long time. If this name isn't available during character creation or in the UI option associated with the name change contract in the gift shop, it means another player has taken this name. Unfortunately that means that this name won't be available to you.

I hope this clarifies, please let us know if you have further questions.

The answer is clear and concise enough. Rules are in place for this particular reason. I decided to ask a question as 'compromise' to both continue with my inquire, as well as find a solution to what I deemed an issue for myself. In the following textual quote, I have pasted all of the ticket in its entirety. Extraneous text in this response has been marked with italics.

 

Quote

Thank you, that clears the doubt for now. There isn't any way for me to contact the person with the name, is there? Thanks anyway.

 

I wanted to ask: Is there a difference between an 'old' trainer and a new one? Will my game experience be different if I make a new character and play there, compared to sticking to my current one?

Staff member @Damian responded to the ticket as well. In the interest of transparency, all of the ticket has been pasted "as-is". Extraneous text in this response has once again been marked with italics.

 

Quote

Hello again,

For privacy reasons we cannot disclose activity on other accounts to you. We discourage the trading of names of characters between players and as such we cannot help with this request.

Regarding your second question, I'm not entirely sure what you mean. The game experience is the same on new and old characters, the only difference would be if you create a new character and the mechanics of the game were changed in a way that is irreversible since your old character was created.
For example, all gift pokemon in the game currently have 6x15 IVs and neutral natures and are untradeable, but many years ago pokemon such as starters had random IVs and natures and could be traded. Other things such as the teams that trainers or gym leaders use would be the same regardless of when you created the character, assuming you're attempting the fight now.

I hope this clarifies, if I did not answer the question please explain further exactly what you'd like to know about new vs old characters.

After this, the ticket was left open (as it should be so that the user can actually respond and say if the ticket attention was satisfactory) by staff member Damian. I draw attention to this, as it might seem trivial but it will mean much more as we continue with this thread. Back on track, I responded the ticket in question, of course, with the following to notify the staff team that they did a good job at informing me with all of the issues pertinent about this:

 

Quote

Thank you. Feel free to please close this ticket.

"PokeMMO - Staff" responded by saying "You're welcome" and closing the ticket, and that was that. No need for further interactions, as all questions were answered. The constants in place for every user were the following, as paraphrased from the ticket interaction:

 

  • Constant 1: All users are entitled to keep the 'character names' they have chosen, even if they stop playing for a long time*.
  • Constant 2: If a 'character name' is not available during character creation or in the UI option associated with the item "Name Change Contract" via the Gift Shop menu in game, it means that another player already is using that username.
  • Constant 3: Staff can not disclose activity information on other accounts and players.
  • Constant 4: Staff discourages the trade of usernames between players.

 

After several months have passed after this encounter however, I noticed something unusual while chatting in the English section of the Global Chat. User "DamianTe" was no longer called so. Their character name had changed to "Damian". A name that, until this time, has been taken by another account for a long time. This change was most peculiar, so it reminded me of the ticket I had sent several months ago. I was told of these (unofficially called) "constants" previously, and user @Damian having a new game broke all of them when you look at the facts:

 

  • Fact 1: The 'character name' "Damian" was already taken by an user. An inactive one, that has stopped playing for a long time. But regardless of that, that user is entitled to keep their 'character name', no matter what.
  • Fact 2: Staff can not and will not disclose activity information on other accounts, so contacting the original owner of "Damian" is almost impossible.
  • Fact 3: Even if an user finds the original owner of a 'character name', any sort of deal to transfer names is not allowed.

 

Looking into the facts, it seemed that this situation made less and less sense, so I sent a ticket (Ticket #245058) inquiring about this on 12-03-2023 at 01:10:51 (UTC time) The quote below is the complete ticket I have sent and, as it might be clear to see, I made sure to quote and refer to my previous ticket of months ago.

 

Quote

I want to draw attention to " Ticket #231065", one of the very first I have ever sent. I was told the following in a ticket. This seemed like a pretty clear and concise response at the time.

"Players are entitled to keep the names they have chosen even if they stop playing for a long time. If this name isn't available during character creation or in the UI option associated with the name change contract in the gift shop, it means another player has taken this name. Unfortunately that means that this name won't be available to you"

I also asked if there was a way to check an availability status for a name, or if there was a way to contact an inactive user to inquire about their name. I got the following response which, again, seemed clear.

"For privacy reasons we cannot disclose activity on other accounts to you. We discourage the trading of names of characters between players and as such we cannot help with this request."

Having gotten this clear response, I did not insist on the topic. However, now the user "DamianTe" managed to get the name "Damian". How is it possible for that user to get what I was told was impossible? Rules should be followed by everyone and be the same for everybody, regardless of their status as a GM. DamianTe had to have the inactive account (that very much still existed) expunged somehow, or any other method to get this.

My support request here is to get information on how this exactly happened. Was there a preferential treatment for what seems to be a member of the staff?

After a while, I managed to get a response from staff member @BabyTap at 04:47:01 (UTC time). The response is, as follows.

 

Quote

Hello, Good day!
There is no preferential treatment to members of staff. The previous responses still holds true. A player is entitled to keep the names they have chosen even if they stop playing for a long time. Just to make it clear, players are entitled to keep it but they can also choose to change name using name change contract anytime.

Looking at your previous ticket, the second response you mentioned answers your question to that ticket on how to contact another player which indeed we cannot disclose for privacy reasons. However, if you want to check availability status for a name, you can use the name change contract "check availability" feature in the gift shop which is also mentioned in the first response.

If a player currently holding the character name that you want chooses to change his name, then you can change it to that name after he do so and you can confirm the availability in the gift shop prior buying the name change contract. I hope this clarifies the issue and let me know if you have other questions. Have a nice day!

I would like to call attention to a part of @BabyTap's response. "There is no preferential treatment to members of staff." and "The previous responses still holds true.". These could even be added as new 'constants' if we feel pedantic enough about it.

 

  • Constant A: There is no preferential treatment to members of staff.
  • Constant B: The previous responses to ticket ticket #231065, which now are referred to as constant 1, constant 2. constant 3 and constant 4, still hold true.

 

Regardless, I replied to baby Tap on 05:11:12 (UTC time):

 

Quote

I feel like, since Damian is a part of the staff, and he was the one who replied to my former ticket, it would be in the interest of transparency to have him explain how he obtained the name "Damian". How could he contact the person who owned that name? I, too, would like to contact an inactive person for the name "Iara", so that I can change to it. I would appreciate if you could discuss this with Damian, and he could provide a venue of telling us how he got the name. It does not sit right with me that he was able to get a name he wants, yet others like me are unable to contact people who are long inactive. There is no way for people like me to message them.

I hope this response is understandable. I do not think I am asking for anything unreasonable.

At this point, it was 23:00:00 UTC time. It had been a while since the last response, as staff members usually are effective in their response times. I decided to further elaborate with the following message, sent at 23:43:19 (UTC time):

 

Quote

On an update about this topic: I messaged Damian in private, as an user, asking about what he did to get the name but he said he is not "in the liberty of responding this". What am I supposed to get from this particular interaction, except that it makes the whole situation feel slightly more suspicious. I hope that the conclusion I am trying to arrive with this is understood by the staff members.
If "something" could be done for Damian, then it could for sure be done for my case, as well.

After having send that, I went to bed. It wasn't until later that I saw a response by @Bearminator, which reads as follow:

 

Quote

Hi,
I'm sorry that other staff members didn't give you enough information before this reply. As a token of appreciation for them volunteering their time and effort to the project, we do offer name changes from inactive accounts for high-ranking staff members. I hope that explains the issue, have a nice day!

After this response the ticket had been automatically closed. Instead of letting it open for further discussion and to allow me to say if this solved my issue, they forcefully closed to ticket. Something that, until now, had been unheard of in my ticket experience. I imagined this would have been a mistake and, since my issue had clearly not been solved, I made a new ticket about this topic. This ticket was "ticket #245280" and was submitted on 14-03-2023, at 00:03:40 (UTC time). The opening statement of it is as follows:

 

Quote

My ticket, "Ticket #245058" was closed even though I did not feel like I got the right answer out of it. I am afraid ". As a token of appreciation for them volunteering their time and effort to the project, we do offer name changes from inactive accounts for high-ranking staff members" does not sit right with me. I have asked for a name change before form an inactive account as well, and I was told that cannot be done. Rules are rules, no matter for who they are applied to, and when you show that you can do it, but don't want to do it for an user, I cannot help but scoff at this clear display of favoritism. It just is not fair.

I am not asking for a brand new generated Pokémon or anything like that. I am asking the same DamianTe has asked for: To free up an inactive name so that I can change to that one as well. Doing this for staff but refusing to help users to do so, specially when this has been an expressed desire for such people "Ticket #231065" feels like a punch in the gut for regular users.

If you can do this for staff, you can do it for regular users too.

The answer to this statement was given by staff member @Teddi. This was their response, which seemed to be more of a cut-off than anything else.

 

Quote

We already explained in our last answer. I'm sorry it's not what you would like to hear, but this is something we only offer under special conditions to high-ranked staff members. The answer will not change, please do not contact us about this anymore.

The ticket was, once again, automatically closed, with no way for me to say my piece in response. And that's where we stand.

 

I believe that rules and the details of such (which I referred to as 'constants', since they are unchanging for all users) should work the same way for every user. Favoritism is a double-edged sword that only 'poisons the well', so to speak. If an user is able to change their name, then saying "staff cannot" does not means much, because staff actually CAN do such changes, but they choose not to. What is a regular user, such as myself, do in this situation? I have expressed my desire to get a character name from a long inactive inactive user a while ago, but I understood it could not be done because rules exist. Now, however, the staff proves something else entirely with this favoritism. It's not fair and I am asking them to reconsider. I am asking them to give me a chance to change my username to one of an inactive user, just like Damian did. If Damian can do it, then I should be able to as well as an user. And if I can do it, everybody else should be able to change their name to inactive users. It is clear that "users are not entitled to their names" if the long inactive owner of "Damian" had their striped away like this.

 

The argument to give this service to high-ranked staff members is, in my humble opinion, moot. Staff does not join to get favours, but to help the game be better for everybody. The rules and constants were in place long before this and it frankly does not sit well with me that the people who are supposed to uphold the PokéMMO rules to the best of their ability are also the ones looking to make exceptions, even if they are "high-ranked staff members".

 

This is my justification for why we should be able to change our Character Names to the ones of now long time inactive* users. I do not think I am asking for anything out of the ordinary here. I am just asking for equal treatment for all. Or a way for me to be able to attain my goal somehow.

 

--------------------------

*"Threshold of inactive time" and "long time" not specified as of now. To be determined.

 

Edited by IaraLuv
Added suggestions and a disclaimer
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13 answers to this question

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I am sorry that you are not always able to get what you want, but that is how things work in this world. 

 

However, that doesn't justify you go act like a Karen towards our nice community managers. Screaming at them won't change a thing or give you nice benefits coupons. 

 

Have a nice day. 

Edited by Seth
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3 hours ago, Seth said:

I am sorry that you are not always able to get what you want, but that is how things work in this world. 

 

However, that doesn't justify you go act like a Karen towards our nice community managers. Screaming at them won't change a thing or give you nice benefits coupons. 

 

Have a nice day. 

"I am sorry that you are not always able to get what you want, but that is how things work in this world. " If you had read the post, you would understand I did not mind "not always being able to get what I want" before. It was only an issue when a staff member, Damian, got preferential treatment over me to get the character name from an inactive user account. At that point is when it felt like we weren't being dealt the same cards.

 

I find your response not only reductive, but unnecessarily  provocative. Is talking about my grievances with staff favoritism "screaming at them"? Is this abusive behavior toward the "nice community managers?". All I am asking for is the same treatment. I was told staff members do not get preferential treatment over regular users, but this is clearly not the true. I am asking for rules and constants to be the same across the board.

 

You can disagree with me, but stupid passive-aggressive comments like this do nothing for either side. Specially with your "have a nice day", because to me it seems you don't want me to have a nice day at all. You are here insulting  me in a passive-aggressive manner, instead of being upfront and telling me objective issues with my original post. You can, however, tell me why you feel I am wrong. And please, read ALL of my post.

 

LATE EDIT: I think your name was not always 'Seth', was it?

Edited by IaraLuv
Late edit.
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I think the suggestion itself and parts of the justification are great. Accounts and character names that have been registered and inactive for a very significant amount of time and/or are registered for the sole purpose of being made unavailable to others (similar to cybersquatting but for accounts and character names) could be open to new or active players. I could also somewhat understand if they wanted to leave this benefit to high-ranking staff members for their hard work. But what bothers me is that, assuming @IaraLuv is telling the truth, @Damian could not admit that he received this benefit. Personally, if @Damian had just said he was given a name change as a token of appreciation for his hard work, and higher-ups said to either make a suggestion in the Suggestions Box or simply said no to letting normal users change names in this way, I would have been fine with it. I am hoping for more transparency and less secrecy when it comes to things like this.

 

Edit: Also, thank you to @Bearminator for responding to @IaraLuv with the correct information!

Edited by CJHUSTON
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2 minutes ago, CJHUSTON said:

I think the suggestion itself and parts of the justification are great. Accounts and character names that have been registered and inactive for a very significant amount of time and/or are registered for the sole purpose of being made unavailable to others (similar to cybersquatting but for accounts and character names) could be open to new or active players. I could also somewhat understand if they wanted to leave this benefit to high-ranking staff members for their hard work. But what bothers me is that, assuming @IaraLuv is telling the truth, @Damian could not admit that he received this benefit. Personally, if @Damian had just said he was given a name change as a token of appreciation for his hard work, and higher-ups said to either make a suggestion in the Suggestions Box or simply said no to letting normal users change names in this way, I would have been fine with it. I am hoping for more transparency and less secrecy when it comes to things like this.

The sad truth is that no info about this would have ever come to light had I not made tickets about it in the first place. I whispered @Damian in-game, and he told me "he wasn't allowed to talk about it with me" and that I should wait for my ticket to be responded to. This was all clearly done in secrecy but it's like trying to cover the sun with your fingertips.

 

I am now hoping they release name changes for everybody. There are ways to streamline this process. It is more than clear that "users are not entitled to their character names" any more. At least the original owner of "Damian" is not. If someone is inactive, they shouldn't have a say on this kind of topic any more.

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I think Bear made it pretty clear that due to the volunteer work that high-ranking staff do (not a small amount of work, I guess) "normal" players have certain limitations (for example, not participating in events that staff do for staff, getting the Ban Hammer 😎, have access to all the information they have etc) and this is fine and normal, but if it's limited it's for some reason to avoid future problems, if we are "late" to the game to choose the name we wanted and it's not available because someone who arrived "before" chose it first, we must do as in any other game, select a new one.

 

And we may not have the same cards but that doesn't affect the nice gaming experience at all.

 

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2 minutes ago, IIZapperII said:

I think Bear made it pretty clear that due to the volunteer work that high-ranking staff do (not a small amount of work, I guess) "normal" players have certain limitations (for example, not participating in events that staff do for staff, getting the Ban Hammer 😎, have access to all the information they have etc) and this is fine and normal, but if it's limited it's for some reason to avoid future problems, if we are "late" to the game to choose the name we wanted and it's not available because someone who arrived "before" chose it first, we must do as in any other game, select a new one.

 

And we may not have the same cards but that doesn't affect the nice gaming experience at all.

 

Players are apparently entitled to their usernames, as one of the constants stated, unless a staff member wants it. This is not the first name change there is, and at this point it seems like inactive accounts really don't matter when staff interests come into play. Not opening this chance to regular users, at this point, just feels pretty.

 

I would also like to draw attention that being a staff member is a VOLUNTEER work. When you do something as a volunteer, you do it because you are passionate about it, and truly believe you can make a difference. Not because you are expecting benefits down the line.

 

I am not saying this destroys the game or anything. I just wish there was the possibility for regular users to do this. Even if an account has to be inactive for well over 5 years, I can take that. But just keeping it to mods shows a lack of care for the userbase's desires. Staff is supposed to make the gaming experience better, isn't that so? How could an extra feature like inactive name removal not enrich it even more?

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I don't want to get further off topic with this suggestion but if your suggestion is accepted, a specific and reasonable time should be set to be able to do that, but for all the reasons that have been explained before I'm not sure if it's possible.

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The answer to this question is the same reason my boss drives a nicer company car than me - you deserve a little pizazz after putting in the hours.

 

At the end of the day, it's not that deep. This is a game in which the TOS reserves the right to randomly terminate your account for any reason. I am glad you got a real answer but in all honesty MMO does not owe you one. Your logic is sound to an extent but it is not your game and unfortunately presenting evidence in an elaborate manner for something this trivial just paints a negative picture for yourself. 

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10 hours ago, IaraLuv said:

Suggestion: Let regular users be able to check up the date of certain inactive usernames and, when the usernames in question reach a certain threshold of inactive time*, allow users to change their usernames into that one.

 

There are several different processes to make this as smooth and easily applicable as possible. The following are just but few potential ideas on how this could be applied.

 

 

METHOD 1 - TICKET CENTER

  Reveal hidden contents
  1. Make a new ticket category in the support system. Specifically made to check the status of a name and be able to change into it.
  2. Minimize the amount of "time-wasters" this new category can generate by adding harsh punishments for abusing the name change ticket center feature.
  3. Make it so that there are requirements before someone can actually ask for a name status. Example: Have your character be 500 hours old or more.
  4. Make every user able to keep track of ONE name only. If the account whose character name they want is not inactive enough yet, keep the user in a 'queue' for that name only, and make the user unable to ask for any new name change request for an inactive character name.
  5. Should a person get their desired inactive character name, forbid them of sending any more name changing tickets for the next 2/5 years or so.

 

METHOD 2 - AUTOMATED

  Reveal hidden contents

Please, keep in mind I don't know how the ins and out of how this could work. All I can do is suggest.

 

  1. Using the "Last Online" data of accounts, make their names able to be 'checked' from the Name Change UI in the gift shop after the reach a certain threshold of inactivity.

 

 

Justification:

The following are the reasons why I feel this system should be in place, as well as detailing how the PokeMMO staff has failed to keep the current system, and used it as incentive for staff. It's not a necessary read, but it helps to understand why.  I would like to add a disclaimer. The following might come as complaining to some people. I tried my best to remain cold and clinical, but at the sight of a perceived injustice, even I crack. Please, keep that in mind when reading and I am sorry for any perceived pettiness. I did not edit the following any further from my initial thread release.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

On 22-12-2022, at 03:36:01 (UTC time), user "IaraLuv" (henceforth referred as "I") sent ticket #231065 via the support system of PokeMMO. The ticket in question was to ask for a certain service. The ticket opening statement was as follows:
 

Logic would dictate that, should a name be in hands of inactive users, it should eventually be back in rotation. At least that's what I thought at first. My ticket got quickly answered by a member of the staff, however. The staff member who responded was @Damian. I draw attention to the staff member who responded to it, as it will be pertinent as the thread continues.

 

The answer is clear and concise enough. Rules are in place for this particular reason. I decided to ask a question as 'compromise' to both continue with my inquire, as well as find a solution to what I deemed an issue for myself. In the following textual quote, I have pasted all of the ticket in its entirety. Extraneous text in this response has been marked with italics.

 

Staff member @Damian responded to the ticket as well. In the interest of transparency, all of the ticket has been pasted "as-is". Extraneous text in this response has once again been marked with italics.

 

After this, the ticket was left open (as it should be so that the user can actually respond and say if the ticket attention was satisfactory) by staff member Damian. I draw attention to this, as it might seem trivial but it will mean much more as we continue with this thread. Back on track, I responded the ticket in question, of course, with the following to notify the staff team that they did a good job at informing me with all of the issues pertinent about this:

 

"PokeMMO - Staff" responded by saying "You're welcome" and closing the ticket, and that was that. No need for further interactions, as all questions were answered. The constants in place for every user were the following, as paraphrased from the ticket interaction:

 

  • Constant 1: All users are entitled to keep the 'character names' they have chosen, even if they stop playing for a long time*.
  • Constant 2: If a 'character name' is not available during character creation or in the UI option associated with the item "Name Change Contract" via the Gift Shop menu in game, it means that another player already is using that username.
  • Constant 3: Staff can not disclose activity information on other accounts and players.
  • Constant 4: Staff discourages the trade of usernames between players.

 

After several months have passed after this encounter however, I noticed something unusual while chatting in the English section of the Global Chat. User "DamianTe" was no longer called so. Their character name had changed to "Damian". A name that, until this time, has been taken by another account for a long time. This change was most peculiar, so it reminded me of the ticket I had sent several months ago. I was told of these (unofficially called) "constants" previously, and user @Damian having a new game broke all of them when you look at the facts:

 

  • Fact 1: The 'character name' "Damian" was already taken by an user. An inactive one, that has stopped playing for a long time. But regardless of that, that user is entitled to keep their 'character name', no matter what.
  • Fact 2: Staff can not and will not disclose activity information on other accounts, so contacting the original owner of "Damian" is almost impossible.
  • Fact 3: Even if an user finds the original owner of a 'character name', any sort of deal to transfer names is not allowed.

 

Looking into the facts, it seemed that this situation made less and less sense, so I sent a ticket (Ticket #245058) inquiring about this on 12-03-2023 at 01:10:51 (UTC time) The quote below is the complete ticket I have sent and, as it might be clear to see, I made sure to quote and refer to my previous ticket of months ago.

 

After a while, I managed to get a response from staff member @BabyTap at 04:47:01 (UTC time). The response is, as follows.

 

I would like to call attention to a part of @BabyTap's response. "There is no preferential treatment to members of staff." and "The previous responses still holds true.". These could even be added as new 'constants' if we feel pedantic enough about it.

 

  • Constant A: There is no preferential treatment to members of staff.
  • Constant B: The previous responses to ticket ticket #231065, which now are referred to as constant 1, constant 2. constant 3 and constant 4, still hold true.

 

Regardless, I replied to baby Tap on 05:11:12 (UTC time):

 

At this point, it was 23:00:00 UTC time. It had been a while since the last response, as staff members usually are effective in their response times. I decided to further elaborate with the following message, sent at 23:43:19 (UTC time):

 

After having send that, I went to bed. It wasn't until later that I saw a response by @Bearminator, which reads as follow:

 

After this response the ticket had been automatically closed. Instead of letting it open for further discussion and to allow me to say if this solved my issue, they forcefully closed to ticket. Something that, until now, had been unheard of in my ticket experience. I imagined this would have been a mistake and, since my issue had clearly not been solved, I made a new ticket about this topic. This ticket was "ticket #245280" and was submitted on 14-03-2023, at 00:03:40 (UTC time). The opening statement of it is as follows:

 

The answer to this statement was given by staff member @Teddi. This was their response, which seemed to be more of a cut-off than anything else.

 

The ticket was, once again, automatically closed, with no way for me to say my piece in response. And that's where we stand.

 

I believe that rules and the details of such (which I referred to as 'constants', since they are unchanging for all users) should work the same way for every user. Favoritism is a double-edged sword that only 'poisons the well', so to speak. If an user is able to change their name, then saying "staff cannot" does not means much, because staff actually CAN do such changes, but they choose not to. What is a regular user, such as myself, do in this situation? I have expressed my desire to get a character name from a long inactive inactive user a while ago, but I understood it could not be done because rules exist. Now, however, the staff proves something else entirely with this favoritism. It's not fair and I am asking them to reconsider. I am asking them to give me a chance to change my username to one of an inactive user, just like Damian did. If Damian can do it, then I should be able to as well as an user. And if I can do it, everybody else should be able to change their name to inactive users. It is clear that "users are not entitled to their names" if the long inactive owner of "Damian" had their striped away like this.

 

The argument to give this service to high-ranked staff members is, in my humble opinion, moot. Staff does not join to get favours, but to help the game be better for everybody. The rules and constants were in place long before this and it frankly does not sit well with me that the people who are supposed to uphold the PokéMMO rules to the best of their ability are also the ones looking to make exceptions, even if they are "high-ranked staff members".

 

This is my justification for why we should be able to change our Character Names to the ones of now long time inactive* users. I do not think I am asking for anything out of the ordinary here. I am just asking for equal treatment for all. Or a way for me to be able to attain my goal somehow.

 

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*"Threshold of inactive time" and "long time" not specified as of now. To be determined.

 

No. You will not get my nice IGN's.

Edit: If you want an OG name you should have started playing in 2012. Besides there are players returning after years even some from 2012. Imagine returning to the game and your character name is now bullshit cuz some Karen demanded to have it. This will also cause a huge identification issue between long term friends of those players who are still actively playing. Bad idea.

Edited by Goku
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Hi,

 

First off, I believe it is necessary for me to correct you once more. Damian has stated that he is not permitted to discuss his name change since we have asked him to hold off until we have responded to the ticket. We responded honestly, stating that we had indeed changed the name and had done it on our own initiative, as we had previously done a few times. This has been going on virtually from the beginning and is not a new thing made for Damian.

 

In case you were unaware, we occasionally wipe old inactive characters under very specific conditions, such as:

- No money (under $25,000) is on the account

- No Shiny Pokémon

- Years of inactivity

 

Damian's name change was approved by SGMs+ since it met mentioned criteria. If the said inactive player would come back, it could be easily undone.

 

As per

 

3 hours ago, IaraLuv said:

I would also like to draw attention that being a staff member is a VOLUNTEER work. When you do something as a volunteer, you do it because you are passionate about it, and truly believe you can make a difference. Not because you are expecting benefits down the line.

 

While it is true that our staff members are volunteers and do not seek compensation, we don't advise anyone who wants their project to succeed to not give any compensation for their volunteers who devote HOURS each day to it. It is a modest expression of appreciation for the most devoted staff members, who are restricted in their gaming talents and are not eligible to participate in tournaments and other events or win prizes.

 

In response to a suggestion, we won't delete or modify inactive players for other players to take their names, we've already declared in the past that it won't be done. The name you've asked for wouldn't be meeting the requirements anyway.

 

We are aware that you have been slandering the staff members in the game and in our support and we strongly advise you to stop, this harassment will not be tolerated anymore.

 

Since I reject the suggestion, I will close the thread.

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