Makaleka Manaburner
Administrator Mage..inator
Posts: 334
(5/30/04 10:01 pm)
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Payo gwas forced to change his name (good read)
Everyone Payoti Has had his name changed by the GMs. He is now Payoni... They chose the name not him. Cable down atm will be back as soon as I can get it up.
Below is a copy of the e-mail he sent to SOE.
To Whom It May Conc
I have been playing EverQuest Since 1999, I have had between 1 and 3 accounts since that time. Since I have stared playing EQ, I have had many issues on or in the game, but none that has ever warranted me contacting Verant (now Sony) concerning the conduct of a GM.
In the past, I have heard that conversation that has taken place in game has been recovered for various purposes, so feel free to pull the conversation to check the validity of the complaint that I am lodging.
On May 30 2004, I was logged onto my level 56 Shaman, and was soloing Igs. I had at that time only spoken with two people while I was on, and that was only because they asked that I buff them. I was contacted by a GM who told me the Surname of my shaman was in violation the SOE naming policy. My Shaman’s name was Payoti Visions, and has been so for about the last 4 years. During that time I have had numerous contact with various GMs, and the name has never been an issue. (I have since checked the naming policy on line at the sonystation.com web site and do not see how it in anyway violates the naming policy)
I replied to the GM, “Ok, can you just remove the Surname?” He replied, “yes.” He then asked if there was anything else that he could help me with, so I said, “I am unclear about the nature of the violation, could you tell me how I have breeched it?” He replied that the name was a reference to a drug induced state. I replied, “I didn’t mean to offend anyone, but, actually it refers to Native American Naturalistic belief system (I am a Native American) but I see how it could be mistaken, thank you.”
In truth, the Shaman character is directly based on a Tribal Mystic not only from or of Native American background but can be taken from a wide range of belief systems. The name fits the character, and with the abilities the shaman has in-game (alchemy) adds to the richness of the character like the SOE naming Policy prompts players to achieve when choosing a name.
Again me being Native American was only mentioned, to help explain (like I stated above) that I in no way meant to offend anyone.
However I logged off later (approximately 15 to 30 minutes after the conversation) to think of a new last name and was gone no longer than 30 minutes. When I returned, I noticed that someone had accessed my account. All of my in-game character account information had been wiped, my UI had been altered, my friends list erased and my spell sets deleted. Then I noticed that my name Payoti had been changed to Payoni...
This bothers me because of the underhanded way it was done. If the GM had told me he found my name to be offensive on the whole, or a violation in general, I would have change my name to Payo, and although I wouldn’t have liked it, could at least been sated to some degree. Instead the GM waited until I logged and accessed my account and changed my name without notification or provocation, and vandalized my character account.
I am paying for this account, (and 2 others basically since the game was released) and have never had any complaints filed against me or my characters name’s. I find it offensive that as the GM was speaking to me, I looked at other names of those around me and saw names of characters that were a blatant and direct violation of the naming policy as listed on the SOE naming policy page. Where as my name you had to really read into it to be able even perceive any violation.
Not to mention the fact that I am somewhat disturbed the GM then waited for me to log off before it was changed and never approached me about it in game. If this GM has trouble communicating with players and dealing with them in an open honest and unbiased way, then maybe SOE needs to rethink his position as a GM.
I would like my name Payoti Visions restored, however if you find it is a violation, I would like the option of choosing another name myself, and if there is a discrepancy with my name (which you really have to read into for that to be the case) then I would like to see the rest of the names that are a blatant violation removed as well.
The idea that someone would access my account this way, over this issue, is ridiculous, when there are so many other in-game issues that SOE needs to address. IE collision issues, mobs popping under the world, account crashing, patches causing more problems than they fix, uncompleted quests, graphic glitches, but instead of fixing those issues, no it makes more since to harass a customer that has played since the games inception...
Way to go SOE, customer satisfaction must be at an all new high, people that have played since the beginning and have been loyal customers are now having to do this, rather than enjoy the game... I bet if you isolate and treat all of your customers this well, this game will continue to be profitable for your company. As for me, if this problem isn’t fixed, I will discontinue my accounts and as for EQ II and all the new expansions for EQ you can take them and give them to those that stay, because I won’t be one of them.[/i]
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