52 replies to this topic

[Aethon]

Devs, please put a filter on the allowable in-game unit names unless they are going for some unknown merc unit. We do not need "Clan Rainbow" and "Federated Suns First Armored Ponies" here.

If someone wants to make a custom merc unit with such a name, whatever...there are hordes of small, virtually unknown merc units in Battletech with which this would work, but there are no unknown Clans, and there are no unknown House units.

[ManDaisy]

All clans fear the name of Clan rainbow Pony. Infact so powerful is their might that others dare not not speak of them much less record their existence the in archives of the battletech universe.

[Iron Horse]

ManDaisy, on 21 November 2011 - 08:39 PM, said:

All clans fear the name of Clan rainbow Pony. In fact so powerful is their might that others dare not not speak of them much less record their existence the in archives of the battletech universe.

I was once in the middle of a running battle when I saw a swarm of Rainbow Ponies swoop down from the sky like locusts to devour hundreds of Ghost Bears. When the rainbow trails they leave behind them finally cleared all that was left of the Ghost Bears was bare bones and skittles. LOL!

On a serious note: I wish the Devs would just use the original unit names. There are already a ton of them with rich histories and insignia, plus it would be less jarring than OMGWTFCODRAWKS! with buttcheeks painted on their chassis, regardless of the skill level. My immersion would be gone, which in turn would ruin the game for me. I know there's people who would want to start original merc companies, but if they're serious I'm sure they wouldn't mind being subject to some sort of screening process (Maybe player must be level 30 to start a merc corps, and have the name approved by moderators?) I just think that the BT Universe is too rich to let trolls in to destroy it.

[DocBach]

Every game I've ever played had tons of guilds and players with incredibly obnoxious names - no doubt that MWO will be the same.

[CG Anastasius Focht]

I have to agree with the OP, A lot has been said about keeping the game as close to canon as possible, to create an immersive BT experience.
I think if the people creating these names are honest, there is a degree of jest in such creations, and while we are all here for the fun, there is a fine line between a joke and outright mockery.

I'm only one voice, i get one vote. But thats mine

I hate censorship, i love creativity and fun, but i think its counterproductive to the genre "universe" being created here

Just my 2 C-bills worth, thats my honest opinion, its not worth much, but if i dont say it like i see it, its not worth anything at all

[Threat Doc]

I'm eager to hear and/or see how Merc units are going to be started? Will a potential commander have to earn so many points in their command abilities first, and/or overcome many other hurdles? Or, will it be like all previous leagues for any previous games, you submit your unit name once you have it put together, supply a minimum number of MechWarriors who are at least nominally active, and move out?

[CaveMan]

Not saying I disagree (I'd definitely like to see a word filter on "Clan _____") but how do you propose to make this work, OP? You can't force people to be serious.

I'd like to see nonsense words (l33t sp34k, characters other than letters/numbers, etc) blocked though. We don't need "Clan 0MG\/\/7FBBQL0L".

[Aethon]

CaveMan, on 21 November 2011 - 09:56 PM, said:

Not saying I disagree (I'd definitely like to see a word filter on "Clan _____") but how do you propose to make this work, OP? You can't force people to be serious.

Well, here is the way I see it: there are complete unit lists for every IS House and every Clan, as well as the more famous merc units. However, there has *always* been wiggle room in Battletech when it comes to small, freshly-started merc units; this is where people could enjoy their naming freedom without being able to intentionally annoy the entire community. Want to have a Clan unit? Fine...pick a canon Clan unit, such as the 87th Armored Cavalry "Vindicator Cluster" of Clan Hell's Horses Gamma Galaxy. Want to have a unit called "Clan Derpy Rainbow"? Tough.

HOWEVER: if this person wanted the Derpy Rainbows to be represented, they could name a merc unit after them...for example, "Herpy's Derpy Rainbows" or something like that; a simple filter could prevent the word 'Clan' from being used in merc units. While the name would be retarded, it would fit into Battletech, instead of completely ruining everyone else's immersion and sticking out like a sore thumb. It really would not take much moderation to make this work.

[Jesterix]

[CG]Anastasius Focht, on 21 November 2011 - 09:03 PM, said:

I hate censorship, i love creativity and fun, but i think its counterproductive to the genre "universe" being created here

Couldn't agree more ! Though that said, I believe that a lot of people will try and push the limit , just to see what they can get away with.

The other side of the coin is that too many people will want to be "Wolf's Dragoons" or the "Kell Hounds" just because it is cool and everyone wants to be a hero ! So it may be "amusing" to find units with the tags of "The Real Wolf's Dragoons" or "The Proper Grey Death Legion"

Jester.

[Alistair Steiner]

Jesterix, on 21 November 2011 - 11:16 PM, said:

Couldn't agree more ! Though that said, I believe that a lot of people will try and push the limit , just to see what they can get away with.

The other side of the coin is that too many people will want to be "Wolf's Dragoons" or the "Kell Hounds" just because it is cool and everyone wants to be a hero ! So it may be "amusing" to find units with the tags of "The Real Wolf's Dragoons" or "The Proper Grey Death Legion"

Jester.

Well said. The only thing I could think of is for the devs to literally code in canon Merc units, House units, and Clan units, and have we the community join up with whoever we like best. Needless to say, I'm with the Skye Rangers, or at the least, House Steiner. You accurately described the extremes of what we could have. People with completely outlandish names, and people fighting over "real" merc units.

I'm all for (mostly) free reign of merc unit creation, but if everyone wants to create a unit of their own, who's going to fill the rank and file? Casual players who noticed a pretty banner ad somewhere and don't know the difference between a jump jet and a JumpShip? I've started a Skye Rangers thread, yeah, but I would have absolutely no problem with enlisting under a competent player who also wants to represent the Rangers. There should be mergers, not schisms. I don't want twelve variants of "Wolf's Dragoons," with the most serious being forced to spell the name with some sort of wacky characters because someone beat them to it, and that person only has three players who show up at least once a week, with the founder not being one of them. Or having "Trollface's Titanium Trouncers" having the most members because of people signing up, but the unit itself does nothing.

Point being, yes, there needs to be some kind of moderation with the merc units. Unfortunately, with what the devs have already said, that's going to be hard. Once again, I throw myself to the mercy of the Dev's eternal wisdom, and trust they will come up with an excellent solution.

[Sam Slade]

Just make Clan creation tied to the Conquest thing... a merc unit can create a clan if they can take some territory.

[Dlardrageth]

Well, there surely will be some sort of restriction imposed. Where PGI will draw the line in the sand will somewhat depend on the PG rating they are going for. It could be as strict as outlawing some obvious prankster name like "Ghay Death Legion", it could be as liberal as allowing anything short of known War Criminals mentioned.

About the "Rainbow Pony" thing I'm less worried personally. It's not actually an offensive name/tag. If some people/clans want to make a point of it that you cannot take them seriously to any degree just by choice of their name, so be it. Meaning they are probably not eligible for any diplomatic agreements and similar stuff. Due to not able to being taken seriously. They want to handicap themselves? Let them, I say, they are probably just exercising their god-given right to publicly pose as twats...

Edited by Dlardrageth, 22 November 2011 - 12:28 AM.

[Aethon]

The thing is, multiple units of the same name could coexist before, because there were multiple leagues per game; I am not certain of that being the case here.

However, there is no need to make such a broad selection when choosing a unit name; there are many, many sub-units within each faction. For example, under the Lyran banner, you have all these different units from different areas of their space; with the Clans, you have multiple Galaxies in each Clan, and different clusters and trinaries within them. For example, I am part of the Gamma Galaxy of Clan Hell's Horses. We do not claim to represent the entire Clan; only our galaxy. That leaves more than half a dozen other galaxies for other people to claim.

If you go smaller than that, it only gets better, IMHO. Look at the Ghost Bears registered here; they specifically represent the 72nd Assault Trinary, which is part of the 304th Assault Cluster, which is part of Beta Galaxy (unless I am mistaken). The smaller you go, the more interesting your unit's history/personality becomes.

Edited by Aethon, 22 November 2011 - 01:05 AM.

[Havoc2]

If the Devs want to act like ***** and filter, restrict and tell the players what they can and can't call themselves, this game won't last beyond the first week of release.

There will obviously be a restriction on racist/offensive names (sorry, no Clan F***k Yourself) but to tell someone that they can't run tags that they have been using for years because it's not true to canon and would make the Baby Jesus of BattleTech cry is ludicrous.

So let's say that all units are restricted to only canon names, well now you all need to drop your pilot name and re-register as a character in that unit. What? Can't find enough canon names to give everyone that's joined one? Oh well, thanks for signing up but we're out so **** off?


No.


Restrict racist names and offensive names, but don't tell someone they can't be Clan WTFPWN because it's not "canon".

(even though anyone who says "wtfpwn" "l33t" or "r0x0rs" should be auto banned IMO)

[Fiachdubh]

Dont have any problem with 'Clan Rainbow', 'Federated Suns First Armored Ponies' or anything like that, at least they are coming up with new and original names for Battlech units and not just copying the same few unit names from the fiction.
Its the flood of Clan Wolf/Jade Falcon/ Smoke Jaguar, Wolfs Dragoons, Grey Death legions etc. that need to be controled in game. The names of characters and units should be locked (I think I read somewhere that they would be).
It would be cool if you could join a famous merc unit like you can a house or attach an new player formed unit to them as in mw4:mercs but we really dont need to see 15 player controled Northwind Highlander merc units with slightly different spellings or mulitiple Phelan K€ll\Jamy Wulforz\whoever walking around in game either.
Im not saying there is anything wrong with it in the forums, it lets us see who has similar interests in our favourite factions, roleplay, have discussions and debates and so on but lets try and keep the game world itself uncluttered by clone units.

[Aethon]

}{avoc, on 22 November 2011 - 05:06 AM, said:

If the Devs want to act like ***** and filter, restrict and tell the players what they can and can't call themselves, this game won't last beyond the first week of release.

There will obviously be a restriction on racist/offensive names (sorry, no Clan F***k Yourself) but to tell someone that they can't run tags that they have been using for years because it's not true to canon and would make the Baby Jesus of BattleTech cry is ludicrous.

So let's say that all units are restricted to only canon names, well now you all need to drop your pilot name and re-register as a character in that unit. What? Can't find enough canon names to give everyone that's joined one? Oh well, thanks for signing up but we're out so **** off?


No.


Restrict racist names and offensive names, but don't tell someone they can't be Clan WTFPWN because it's not "canon".

(even though anyone who says "wtfpwn" "l33t" or "r0x0rs" should be auto banned IMO)

Your point would be a little more clear to me if you did not contradict yourself; what I got out of that post is, "The devs should not limit names, but anyone with stupid names should be banned."

Anyway, I never said anything about usernames; only unit names.

[Threat Doc]

I haven't read everything from above, because I wanted to get this out on the forum while I was thinking about it. So, forgive me please if these has been suggested, before?

How about rather than have the devs determine what names are good, set up a category on this forum for vetting names? Each potential name would have a poll for Yes or No, only, by the individual proposing the name and commenting/discussion will NOT be encouraged. Just put in your vote and move on.

[metro]

oh FFS !

Dear Devs,

Please save us.

For we have gone astray!!

[Kaemon]

The only problem with voting names is it just takes a bigger group of dousche bags to get the names in.

Hard code the Clan/House names, then allow Merc units (even Lances could get a custom name) to name themselves (maybe only allow the Merc option after a certain 'level' so you weed out the trolls a bit).

It's going to either be a bit restrictive or a damn free for all, I'd rather err on the side of caution to begin with and if it seems to be ok, let it out a bit, then start loose and have to try to herd the cats once they get our of the bag.

[Threat Doc]

Well, and that's one of the things I've said in other threads a couple of times, Kaemon: Commanders should be required to reach a certain level of command ability, or in various abilities for their role, if necessary, have to be in a Command role in the first place, which I believe a lot of those folks proposing to be merc commanders will actually dislike, and have them recruit 3+ friends, get affirmations from those friends, for a minimum of a single Lance -which is not unheard of in the lore, either- before they can propose their unit name and move into the mercenary arena. This will weed out those who believe they should just be able to form a unit without any work or commitment which will, in turn, weed out the ridiculous names we would have to endure.