Come on. You know it's a much wanted feature. You know we're okay with it being a crown item, like a Name Change Elixir. Heck, I'm even okay with there being a time limit on how often we're allowed to use it.
Maybe only allow one per 6 months? 2 per year per account?
Come on. You know it's a much wanted feature. You know we're okay with it being a crown item, like a Name Change Elixir. Heck, I'm even okay with there being a time limit on how often we're allowed to use it.
Maybe only allow one per 6 months? 2 per year per account?
Come on. You know it's a much wanted feature. You know we're okay with it being a crown item, like a Name Change Elixir. Heck, I'm even okay with there being a time limit on how often we're allowed to use it.
Maybe only allow one per 6 months? 2 per year per account?
KI, please take this post under serious advisement. We would love the ability to change our wizard's name(s).
No, unless you have meaningful information to contribute instead of just 'BUMP!"
I've left this one though so everyone else gets the memo :).
Appreciate it.
It's important that we be able to rename our Wizards, for the same reason it's important we are able to rename our pets.
A name is a part of a character's aesthetic and charm.
Personally I always go with my own name, because canonically the Wizards we play as are us "from Earth". This doesn't technically count as a spoiler does it? I mean, it's mentioned in the character creation screen.
But sometimes I'm tempted to go with a different name, a high fantasy name, like Tarlac or Morgrim.
And other times, I'd like my alts to go by a different name that is also my own, like Greg or Gregor, Gregory. If those are ever added to the list of available names, I'd love to use them.
But since my characters are already created, and I spent a pretty penny on Level 50 Elixirs for two of my alts, I can't just start over- and for my main character, that I worked so hard to get this far? Forget about it. Definitely can't start over.
So a Name Change Elixir is an absolute must.
Plus there are those who started playing when they were much younger and probably didn't put a lot of thought into their name or have outgrown it in some way.
Speaking of- what about gender changing? My nephew is a trans man. I feel like if someone created a character as a kid and grew up to realize they didn't identify with the gender they were assigned at birth, they should be able to change both their character's name and the gender expression of their character.
The Magic Mirror can change someone's skin tone, hair and eye color and even facial structure- surely it can change gender expression.
It would be even better if we could have a custom name - like every other game has.
Perhaps it could be subject to approval, like our forum names, and available for a price in the crown shop.
I just hope it doesn't end up with people having names that aren't actually names, like in most MMORPGs. Like "5pARKs77a" or something. As if a person would ever actually have such a name.
(Blocks out the memory of X Æ A-12 purposefully. That poor kid.)
I’ve created my account in November (I think?), 2008. The year the game was released. I’ve made multiple wizards with somewhat high levels (not really) and with wacky, silly, irrelevant names. I created these wizards when I was 10. I am now 22 coming back to the game with some friends who also played back in 2008-2009, and we have dumb, idiotic names and we worked really hard getting gear and XP for our wizards, but our names are just silly and always wanted to change our names, but sadly don’t want to make a whole new wizard and start over. I know I’ve seen other posts on here asking the same thing. I stopped playing around 2010-2011 and came back a year ago (plaued for an hour or less) then stopped. I finally came back again and have seen a lot of changes (one huge difference is the model redesigns). I also noticed that they added a shop in the shopping district where you’re able to customize your characters looks! That is something the community loves so much because I did not like the way my wizard looked lol. Anyways, I think making it where you must pay in crowns to change your name would be an excellent feature to the game and the company would make extra $$ cause I know for a fact that other wizards (players) would pay for this as well.
However, constant name change would be a con too. You have someone named “Brandon Firestorm” as your friend, but they changed it to “Brandon” then changed it again to “Devin” or something else and it would be hectic remembering who is who on your friends list, so I think having a one time offer to change your name for one per wizard on your account would be a good feature maybe?
I think one reason KI is scared of this feature is the same reason why, from my experience with talking with its staff years ago through FB, they don't want to add the feature - they essentially probably fear it will be a hassle for your friends to realize its you, and they may delete you off the friend list. I think a great solution would be for your friends to get the notification when they log on their wizard which notifies them that you changed your name.
I’ve created my account in November (I think?), 2008. The year the game was released. I’ve made multiple wizards with somewhat high levels (not really) and with wacky, silly, irrelevant names. I created these wizards when I was 10. I am now 22 coming back to the game with some friends who also played back in 2008-2009, and we have dumb, idiotic names and we worked really hard getting gear and XP for our wizards, but our names are just silly and always wanted to change our names, but sadly don’t want to make a whole new wizard and start over. I know I’ve seen other posts on here asking the same thing. I stopped playing around 2010-2011 and came back a year ago (plaued for an hour or less) then stopped. I finally came back again and have seen a lot of changes (one huge difference is the model redesigns). I also noticed that they added a shop in the shopping district where you’re able to customize your characters looks! That is something the community loves so much because I did not like the way my wizard looked lol. Anyways, I think making it where you must pay in crowns to change your name would be an excellent feature to the game and the company would make extra $$ cause I know for a fact that other wizards (players) would pay for this as well.
However, constant name change would be a con too. You have someone named “Brandon Firestorm” as your friend, but they changed it to “Brandon” then changed it again to “Devin” or something else and it would be hectic remembering who is who on your friends list, so I think having a one time offer to change your name for one per wizard on your account would be a good feature maybe?
What do y’all think?
No. I'm sorry, I can't agree with this.
There should be some time restrictions to avoid abuse of the name change feature, but only once? Only one character? Per your entire account?
Perhaps as a "free courtesy service" from Wizard101's Support Team, but there needs to be a paid option that you can use more frequently. In the original post I mentioned 3 per account per year or something.
They can add features to make it obvious when a friend has changed names. Like a notification when you log in. "Your friend __ has changed their name to __ since you've been gone."
Perhaps, ONLY FOR A LIMITED PERIOD OF TIME AFTER THE NAME CHANGE, your old name can be visible to your friends. I cannot stress this enough, a permanent record of previous names would be terrible for some people, myself included.
Unless it's optional, and the user can choose to clear it.
I'd love to be able to change the name of some of my wizards and I buy crowns so would not have any problem with using some to do it. Sometimes you can't think of a name right away so just go generic; then as you play a name comes to mind.
Alexander the storm addict ( Don't believe me? I have 9 lol )
I think one reason KI is scared of this feature is the same reason why, from my experience with talking with its staff years ago through FB, they don't want to add the feature - they essentially probably fear it will be a hassle for your friends to realize its you, and they may delete you off the friend list. I think a great solution would be for your friends to get the notification when they log on their wizard which notifies them that you changed your name.
Solution: 1) Allow everyone to see a wizard's name change history. 2) Of course, as other people have mentioned, limit how frequently it can be done. However, I don't think there should a limit of the amount of times you can change your name, just limits on how frequently you can do it.
I think one reason KI is scared of this feature is the same reason why, from my experience with talking with its staff years ago through FB, they don't want to add the feature - they essentially probably fear it will be a hassle for your friends to realize its you, and they may delete you off the friend list. I think a great solution would be for your friends to get the notification when they log on their wizard which notifies them that you changed your name.
Oh and one more thing: This happens anyway, even without name changes. Since all the names follow the same format in Wizard101, I have trouble remembering who's who. I think a good solution to this would be to introduce "friendship notes" where you can take private notes about a friend, and then you can include reminders about where you met them and such. This would be very helpful!
Oh and one more thing: This happens anyway, even without name changes. Since all the names follow the same format in Wizard101, I have trouble remembering who's who. I think a good solution to this would be to introduce "friendship notes" where you can take private notes about a friend, and then you can include reminders about where you met them and such. This would be very helpful!
Assign specific wizards on our friends list to groups. So, "group A" would be "mary", group B would be John, Group C would be Heather, etc. This way, we can label the groups, and add the wizards we know they have to the group. Then, on the friends list, list them by group name then wizard name (like a treebar list). This way, if later on, we get the ability to change our wizard names, there will be zero confusion :) Problem solved.
Solution: 1) Allow everyone to see a wizard's name change history. 2) Of course, as other people have mentioned, limit how frequently it can be done. However, I don't think there should a limit of the amount of times you can change your name, just limits on how frequently you can do it.
Unless the Wizard in question chooses to clear it, or it's a temporary list only visible to friends to help them identify who's who.
Seriously, a permanent record of previous names is problematic for some people for a multitude of reasons. Privacy, deadnames, neuroticism. Just...no. Don't do that KI.
Features should always be optional. It's a helpful feature, so long as it's optional, but otherwise...
Oh and one more thing: This happens anyway, even without name changes. Since all the names follow the same format in Wizard101, I have trouble remembering who's who. I think a good solution to this would be to introduce "friendship notes" where you can take private notes about a friend, and then you can include reminders about where you met them and such. This would be very helpful!
I back this idea, name change, maybe for a crown cost, if and only if KingsIsle accompanies the feature with some very carefully considered restrictions. But it seems to me every single previous poster has missed the blindingly obvious reason KI does not allow name changes.
Harassment.
This is a kids game, and KI has proved over and over that preventing any sort of harassment or bullying is a very high priority. This is part of why chat is full of so many tedious restrictions KI only very reluctantly relaxes. So players can't call each other hurtful names, or use various forms of shocking language. It's a pain, but I have grown used to it over time, saying "Aargh!" or "darn" instead of a stronger adult word I would more likely use in ordinary speech, and so on. It's all about being a kid's safe place, where parents can let relatively young children play with little supervision but also little worry their child will become the victim of toxic abuse.
What does this have to do with name changes? Well, very simply, freely allowed name changes make it way harder to avoid bullies. Some aggressive brat of any age takes delight in making hurtful comments, and the player starts avoiding the rude person. This is a particular problem for younger kids who don't know how to deal with such garbage. Perhaps the victim figures out to how to block the bully's speech so they don't see it anymore [click the character's name, then look for the button to the right of his picture that says "ignore", and click that], scoring a minor but real victory in learning to use their own agency.
But then this rude person changes his name, and gets to start a whole new round of bullying. The victim may or may not realize this is the same person he dealt with before. Name changes make it quite difficult to avoid bullies in any really permanent way.
Kingsisle is by no means alone in this. I have been playing MMORPGs since 2002, half a dozen different titles at least, and until recently not a single one of them, no matter how adult oriented, would allow character name changes. Name changes just make it way too easy for toxic bullies to thrive.
I do understand how badly many players want to change their names, and I think giving the option is doable, but to do it without enabling harassment will require some careful implementation on KingsIsle's part.
1) If any other character in the game has the name change candidate ignored, KI needs to fix it so the name changer is still being ignored under the new name.
2) The name change dialog must emphasize how serious this change is, mention the consequences of possibly losing contact with in-game friends, and state any time limit or crown cost that will be associated with a future additional change.
3) A time limit restriction on how often one can change names seems perfectly reasonable to me, six months, as some other commenter suggested, feels about right to me. The first name change might be allowed after a much shorter period, perhaps 3 days, just long enough for the player to really start regretting his original impulse or randomly generated name.
4) To avoid charges of excessive profit-mongering, I suggest KingsIsle allow the first name change for free. A one time chance to erase the poor judgement of the past. I'd be fine with any additional name changes costing crowns.
5) Players in any sort of restricted status due to harassment should not be allowed to change their names. And this limitation should last a good while after the restriction is lifted, perhaps six months, maybe even longer.
6) It is debatable if players on family accounts should be allowed to change their names without approval from the family account's administrator. I would like to see other player's comments before forming and expressing an opinion.
7) KingsIsle should fix it so any gifts or event rewards the character is due follow him to the new name.
There are probably other details I haven't thought of. Commenters please chime in with other potential issues.
Being able to change your name for a modest fee of about 10$ would be awesome. I started to play WOW and that is something you can do, and it cost about ten dollars. It did not affect my friend list whatsoever. I would LOVE for that to be implented here. Because yes, after over ten years of playing I want a better name and I do not want to start over. I haven't even played til the very end yet.
To keeping the change simple K.I. does not have to change the original name, but simply adds an "alias". So the default is original name, AKA original name. <-- Make it what every you want within the naming convention. This way K.I. old friends list is still valid, and If you want your friend to add your new name, he deletes your old name and adding your new alias to his list.
If you complain about a verbal abuse, both the original and the alias name are reported simple.
Honestly this is something I've thought about before. I have a character or two who's names I'm not all to sure about. I also believe that there should be an option in the character creation for an 'other' option when choosing gender because there's not just one gender. People go through change and the mindsets of a middle schooler are different from adults nowadays.
Like think about this: Someone has a character they loved based on themselves. They made it years ago, so they picked a name that was like theirs or something of the sorts.
Imagine they figured out they were trans and seeing a deadname or a name that wasn't them anymore. Plus the character could be a different gender than how the person identifies. When someone is in middle school and they make a character for the first time, chances are it will be based on themselves.
If KI doesn't allow gender changes and name changes, I will be really disappointed and also?
If their worried about people un-friending someone because they won't recognize, perhaps on the other people's screen there's an AKA with the old name so they can figure it out that'll only disappear when the person has been online and seen it.
Um, I don't get what, "BUMP", is about. Also, yeah. I really want to change my character's name, because for some reason I made the last name be, "Stormrider", on an ICE school wizard!
I think this would be a good idea if there were a time restraint, like maybe one name change per year or two. A name change history would be nice as well, so friends can know that it's you (and perhaps make an option where name history could only be seen by friends).
I saw other people on the thread suggesting custom names, that would be cool too, but definitely would require an approval system, which can be hard to keep up with.
notification when they log on their wizard which notifies them that you changed your name.
Don't do that KI.
