Creating Second Life Last Names

This is HILARIOUS!!! sorry, just struck me as humorous.

But back on topic, I'd pay a one time fee to be able to choose my own last name. After I got it, more power to anyone who wanted to change.

I like this one, but i think there should be a one time fee, and fee for whomever joins ur last name. this would be awesome for who has family want to be the last name@!!!
Own a Second Life Last Name
Purchase a SL last name that doesn't currently exist in the name choices. You own the rights to the name and can transfer it to other residents through an invitation to use it. The name right is analogous to an Internet domain name -- it can be transferred to another person. The fee for ownership would be a recurring annual fee.

I agree on all points.

I've spent 58 years building up and breaking down my RL name and reputation. Now it's up. And I'd like to create a space for my business in a metaverse. Perhaps here.

But I'd never invest in Tom Ramona, tossing away my good reputation. Beyond the lost IP, let's imagine SL fails, God forbid. And the business I've developed here must be transferred to another metaverse. What's my name there?

But perhaps I'd also like a life in SL as Tom Ramona. A small fee ($.25) might be acceptable.

I like the idea of us being able to own a last name. A small fee to do this sounds reasonable. However, I would only be in favor of this if we would be allowed to change our existing last names as well. This should not be limited to just new accounts.

I would also like to add that a first name change be kinda cool at the same time we acquire a new last name. To avoid too much confusion we should only be allowed to change our names once. Otherwise, it could turn into a real nightmare in my view.

If the name is going to be treated like a domain name, then it would have to be truly unique and the ability to invite others to use it is workable. It would be like the groups we have now. I agree with others, we should not be allowed to sell names in SL.

I hope that this option is included in the future.

The idea of starting a new name to be added to the list doesn't appeal to me personally, but it might appeal to others and I would be in favor of that as well.

Now I know this starts geting into issues of Political and Social Sciences, but what we're really talking about here is "Identity".

In our first life, Identify consists primarily of "physical" characteristics. which is how we distiguish between Brad Pitt of Hollywood from Brad Pitt of Boise Idaho...

In SL, "physical" characteristics are probably the most mutable of all elements of "identity", so my guess is that the Last Name "construct" (and especially the "cyclic" nature of retiring names as people here have pointed out) is the way that SL establishs "Unique Identity".

As a Newbie, I'm ZacWolf Resistance. As I evolve my second life, and become rich, powerful, and extreemly successful {fingers crossed}, the "Resistance" name is retired, which prevents someone from comming along and creating "ZacWolfe Resistance" to try to spoof my Identify (and thus try to take advantage of my Fame and Fortune <wink>.

After thinking on this I see the "wisdom" of the current system, but as a total newbie to SL, I have to say that the whole "Naming Structure" of SL was a real turn off. Why did I have to have any kind of "Last Name"? I gotta say I just didn't "get it"? (I think a much better job of "explaining" the purpose of the Last Name needs to go into the New Account web site!)

Now with all of this said, I think opening up "Dynamic LastNames" will "break" some of the formation of the current "Unique Identity"...

As even after "Resitance" has been retired it would possible for (as someone has already pointed out in this discussion) for someone to create a new LastName of "Resistence" with the firstName "ZacWolf" and therefore spoof my SL Name Recognition (Identity).

I think fully Customizable Names is a bad idea, as you lose the "Unique at-a-glance Identity". What I think needs to happen is a broader discussion of SL Identify, and what that really is/means/and-is-implemented, and then better education of "why things are the way they are"...


My suggestion of a possible solution might be something like:

Drop the whole First Name Last Name construct, and just make it: "Name"
BUT use everyone's SL BirthDate "as" their "Last Name".

Then setup a rule base wherein your Identity is a unique combo of "Name BirthDate". Meaning that someone couldn't use the same name on a single day, but it would be possible to use the same "Name" on a different date.

This would allow everyone the flexibility of setting(and changing) their "Name" to whatever they want it to be, but since what get's shown above your head is that name AND your birthdate then it becomes "at a glance" a quickway to "Know people apart" (i.e. establish Identity).

This also becomes pretty useful "at-a-glance" information. As a Newbie I found a Newbie Pointer to wear above my head, that has allowed people to Identify me quickly, and people have been INCREDIABLE helpful with information AND stuff because of it...

This information also lends an air of "establishment" as you know "at-a-glance" how long someone has been a resident.

Just my idea...
-ZacWolf

i think forcing us to use last names has been a realyl great thing for this world.

It forces us to appear indigenous to the world we live in.

It forces us to create an avatar unique to this world, giving our avis and the world the feeling of authenticity and extra meaning.

It forces us to work within defined parameters, reminding us that this is a world of limitations.

It forces us to create somehting new and original instead of "hockeyfan82" or NeoPunisherNinjaProtagonistpimpw00t394856"

We also don't see last names that hardly serve as names at all. such as 0000001 or 1111110 lol

In a nutshell I think it is a vital piece of structure that helps keep this program of ours a WORLD and not simply a graphical chat room. A world of believable (and therefore effective) metaphores.

~Lefty

ZagWolf has an interesting idea. But I think that 'd create an awful and really HARD to remember lastnames ever! Who will remember MY birthdate??? Someone can just use my name on the next day and people will think it's me, while it's really not but they failed to remember my real birthdate.

And I like Lefty's reply. The limited lastname is a charming to me in the Metaverse. And shouldn't be opened for fully customizable with all those reasons that have been said in this thread.

Just open a new voting page, allow people to vote for a creating new lastname. And when some name has enough vote, just add it into the list. That'll eliminate many problems.

And also, I think a 10$US dollar fee (not L$) for lastname changes in-game is somethings reasonable enough, if the feature is to be added. This's to prevent people from unnecessary changes their lastname daily. And also cover all the problems of updating the lastname stored in every objects (and friends list) in the database.

Frankly I don't understand why you chose the naming system you did. You could have allowed your customers to have more freedom in their names & have a name filter to dis-allow bad/offensive words etc. in names. I'm sure there have been many potential customers who decided not to start or keep accounts here based on the fact that they could not choose their own name. After all, the MOST BASIC of factors in roleplaying is being able to decide for yourself what your character will look like & what they will be called.

In a gameworld where complete freedom is the main focus, not having the freedom to choose a name seems very out of place.

Another solution would be to create a separation between the account & character names, so that they are listed separately. This would not change the game much at all as far as the mechanics go. First, change it so the account name is not visible unless you use the radial menu to examine the player, & then use a name tag for the avatar name that functions similar to the title tag so that the player can name the avatar to fit whatever roleplaying mode they are currently in.

Here is where LL does not agree with you. LL has created a platform to build/create, socialise, entertain/be entertained or do business in. SL is not a Roleplaying game. You can roleplay if you want, just like you can in rl. And that's ok. =)

Having complete freedom in name, raises issues for people who are here to do business.
For example, Prokofy Neva is a well known person who Rents houses to people. Now if i was able to use his name, it would be easy for me to fool people, and do a lot of scam business. Or if the names can't be completly unique but all last names stay availible then i could become Prokafy Neva and still fool people who are new. And i'm sure there are people who can think of other ways this could be abused.

I understand the desire to have complete control over your name, but unless we can fix the issues i described i don't think it will happen soon.

I am all for the idea of the last name change.. I have been wanting this since I started.. you have my vote..

wanna send a shoutout to everyone who knows and hates me LOVE YA TA TA xoxoxo

I hope I do not sound controlling in any of these posts I wouldn't want a politician calling me commy I am certainly a proponant of freedom of expression and I hope this comes accross in this post. I did recieve an interesting private message about this post and want to say that freedom is seperate from anarchy.

~lefty

No no no to the first option, that's far too open to monopolistic behaviour.

But I like the second one. I also think folks should be able to change there last name, but this needs to be trackable by the rest of the user community to avoid its use for to hide after being abusive.

Have you made a decision on this yet?

Just so you know, I support a one-time change of name. Mine was chose without any serious thought or knowledge of what this world involved just so I could get started in my Second Life. I wish I could change my last name or even go without one at this point.

What Spinner said.

This debate has gone on long enough, surely time for a decision or some other form of consultation?

Yes, both of the proposed changes seem like viable and creative ways to add flexibility in the naming system. In addtion - I think it would be an awesome feature for married couples to take on the same last names - just as there is a fee for the other options - the a fee here is also a good idea. And if there is a divorce - as there is a fee for that - at that time offer the option to revert to their original last name. Hope this helps a bit.

I would like too see more information on both of these ideas. I agree there needs to be a way that no Name Barrons could get started. It would be nice for those of us that role play large families and businesses having the option of owning a name to be shared with those of our choosing. I wouldn't want to see this abused though.

More last name choices in creation would be nice for those just coming in.

I think the best ideas that I have seen so far is if you wish to change your last name for example a marriage or what not, then you can apply for that with a nominal fee thru Linden Labs. That is if that whole name isn't already taken. This would be a more personal thing, that if not done on a grand options scale, could be controlled on a case by case basis with LL. Just a thought on that issue.

I would have to agree with something someone else said. If I ban Joe Blow from my land, and put them in my ban list or even a list on aftermarket security system. Somehow it should register the avies DNA or Key rather then just the name. If in fact we did have a griefer with the means to do a name change. That information always remains. Not that I expect LL to give out the avie info and make it public, only that it would work. Or.... if LL could automatically update the name information. I.E. Joe Blow changes their name to Joseph Blow. My land ban automatically changes to Joseph Blow. Hope that makes sense.

But as I said earlier. I would definitely want to see more information, cost, etc. before really voting on this issue. Security is very important in my humble opinion so I would hope that LL would be very careful about how they approach these possible new options.

Dear Lefty,

Sadly, whilst your method manages to successfully prevent the corruption of the preset (and thus unalterable) last names, it does absolutley nothing for the first name situation. In only a small amount of travels, I have seen names like Jorge4111 and the likes as first names, and others of similar vein. Thus, your statement of "It forces us to create somehting new and original" is made a lie of. Your reasoning on the matter is unsound, as there is no effective means in place to prevent someone from taking a completely nonsensical, unintelligent, and indeed useless and unpronounceable first name. Were it not for this fact, I may have been inclined to agree. However, as it stands, I cannot. Maybe I fall into a minority of folk who would take a sensible last name, maybe not, but I want my net-identity of Mika Kyubi to be contiguous, and sadly, SL is the one sole breaking point in that.
I am personally for the use of a one-time name shift, for free, to a custom last name, or to another mapped and known last name. I also feel this should of course be checked over carefull to make sure it is not in use. I believe there SHOULD be the "marriage option" in place there as well. I also believe that a second change should cost an exorbitantly, nigh-prohibitively high amount, with the exception of through the equivalent of a divorce, which would grant you your original, pre-marriage (custom or not) name back.
Just my L$0.02, all. Thank you.

Yours,
Mika Kyubi (Muromachi)
Kitsune-at-Large
(Who wants her name of Kyubi on SL!!!)

I'd love to see at least one free modification to the names, since I've seen a lot of problems (my name could actually be taken quite badly by some people, though it really just comes from an onomatopoeic handle I've used for years and the lack of even dashes or spaces in your names - and my not knowing that inter-caps would work) I'd love to be KaKlick instead of Kaklick (and stop getting called Kak quite so often).

I also think that part of the partner fee should be an option to add the last name of the partner - but it would move the current last name to a new middle name and create a hyphenated name, which should solve uniqueness problems. Or, even simpler - have a checkbox to "Include partner's name in last name" that would simply append the partner's last name to theirs, with a hyphen.

there would have to be a substantial fee for changing a last name,even in marriage and divorce....some ppl go thru partners as often as they delete prims! LOL

I think both of the ideas are excellent, and a definite improvement to the current system.

the first option greatly reduces flexibility and allows for people to monopolize last names. The naming system in SL shouldn't be limited. Are we not here to live a second life the way we would like to. Why do we have to share a name given to us by SL with tons ofpeople, that doesn't allow us to be unique and gives us no free will and I think people who decide to marry in SL should be given the option to change their last name after marriage without being charged. We are already charged to play the game, why add more charges for names. Just my opinion.

An issue that affects me at present is the option of one character to take on another's second name when the two marry in an SL ceremony. Predictable maybe, but is that necessarily a bad thing? Price? Same as the partnership wedding & divorce charges