The automatic system doesn’t work. I have tried over and over to get names from obviously abandoned accounts just for it to tell me the name is unavailable. Making the system purely automatic is nothing but problematic. You shouldn’t be allowed to be completely inactive for months on an account and be allowed to keep a name just because you happened to login one day. I understand that by removing names it creates room for player irritation but you already take part in this by renaming people. Just give the account a warning, then assist with removing the name for the desired party. ATA can’t even give you an idea of what they consider an inactive timeframe even tho they developed the system? What? Knowing that information gives both parties the ability to help either know when to try and get the name or when they need to login to maintain it. But the system being based strictly on time is not good for longevity.
Is NoGoodFather taken? 🙊 Seriously though, usernames should be unique to you. I would be pretty upset if someone had taken my name while I was inactive. I started PIMD 14 years ago, and have had periods of inactivity over the years. Almost everyone I know has taken a break, a lot of them for over the 6 months needed to free up a name. I would also hope that someone who has a purchase history would have their account protected from renaming. Be creative and come up with something different! 🙏
Yea and this is an understandable gripe that I have mentioned. However it holds no strong foundation. You said it yourself, 6 months of inactivity. Why should a username be locked away for so long just because you used Tapjoy rewards to buy a name change? It isn’t like its a facebook or social media where it is directly linked to you, it is a game username that isn’t connected to the actual account you have which is personal to you. But your IGN should only be seen as active by you actually being active and not just having a name locked down on sub 1kcs alts that you login in every who knows when. The very integrity of the concept is abused by peoples ability to do so and opens the door for black market name sellers.
You're right. It is just a game username, so no stress if it isn't the exact one you want, right? I understand that it's frustrating when someone else beat you to a name you want, but I would much prefer that names never reset, and that the legacy players who chose the name first get to keep them! Maybe accounts that played under a certain period of time, like those that did not make a 30 day award, could be reset.
Still runs on the same mechanics the devs were using. The person must just still be logging in enough to keep it tagged as active. And ata wouldnt do the name awap based on that as well