SWTOR Forces Players to Share Surname Between All Characters?
Star Wars : The Old Republic just recently revealed its new legacy system. Players who complete the Chapter 1 storyline may choose a Legacy Surname. And then, they have opportunities earn Legacy Experience Points which in turn raises their Legacy Level. So what’s the catch? The first is that the Legacy Surname must be unique. No problem there! The second is that the name is shared among all characters a player has on that server.
Legacy System: Helps or Hurts Role Play?
Being a die-hard Iron Realms gamer, this concept was completely foreign to me. Like Ultima Online, Iron Realms allows independent surnames with a free-form naming system. If my alts in any of their five popular MMORPGs shared the same surname or bloodline, there would be serious allegations questioning my integrity as a player! Each game also offers some kind of family system allowing characters to choose their own level of involvement. Additionally, tying a surname to a given name is completely optional!
Some Star Wars players like this change, and applaud the new Legacy Surname system. Forcing all characters one person plays on the same server to wear the same surname helps to eliminate the concept of anonymous griefers. (For players who wish to take advantage of the Legacy System without revealing a surname, the option exists to turn off the display.) However, some other players feel the game is trying too hard to compete with similar MMORPGs, like Lord of the Rings or Guild Wars. One disgruntled gamer likened the change to a one-person guild system that desensitizes players to the concept of true roleplay.
A legacy system is great in its own right. It offers players an opportunity to earn bonus rewards at certain milestones. But when the rewards come with strings that restrict the ability to roleplay a character to its full potential, as with Star Wars’ new family system, it makes the game less appealing. Combining two otherwise unrelated elements might work in a themepark environment. But combining the two in a sandbox format where players are encouraged to interact and work together to enhance the roleplay setting? Not so much.
Part of a successful roleplaying adventure lies in the freedom of creativity. Forcing characters to do things like wear a surname linking them to their alts sucks the fun right out of the game. One perk to Iron Realms games is that characters aren’t locked into a any kind of social environment within the realm. Even the ones who do choose to join a family system within the game are still often welcome within the ranks of clans belonging to families of spouses, friends, or even adoptive parents. One of my characters belongs to five different family clans, and not one of them is relevant to his blood family!
What are your thoughts? What if Iron Realms forced all characters using the same Iron Elite account to wear the same surname, or belong to the same family system? How would this change the way you play your characters? Answers to these questions and all other comments are welcome in the section below!
Author: Penelope Swain
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Comments
Why is this article here?
Why are you posting this article here?
To keep use relevant.
To keep use relevant.
Actually, this is a good
Actually, this is a good point. If all my characters shared the same surname, everyone would know that they were all me and that would really, really screw any chance I had for meaningful RP on them. I couldn't rightly play a Mhaldorian and an Eleusian like that because people would see the name and just keep thinking, "Oh, it's that person. I know they play for the other side, too."
Agree
That would make playing a different character and keeping it seperate impossible.
Precisely my point. Just a
Precisely my point. Just a bad, bad idea.
Exactly
^
Meh. Don't feel like reading
Meh. Don't feel like reading another article today. Too much turkey. Credit.
This.
^
This.
^
true
True
Indeed
You are correct.
Also
Now that I read this again I have one other thing to add. In our games you have a chance of getting married with possible name change, adoption, changing families. How would that work out the other way?
Don't do it in IRE. It is a
Don't do it in IRE. It is a bad idea. Conecting characters that are supposed to be separate is bad for RP.
There's always going to be an
There's always going to be an article desperately trying to link IRE MU*s to whatever big new RPG is out, however much of a stretch it may be. This one's better than comparing us to Farmville.
Why does it have to be new?
I'd so want to read "what Pacman could have learned from IRE games".
Wasn't there already one
Wasn't there already one comparing IRE games to Farmville?
ew
ewwww
For real!
Huh!
Kinda hard to see how it is.
Relevant
Indeed, but I found this one to be more relevant than usual.
Aye
Somewhat
^
True.
Not bad idea
Not bad idea
Depends on the opportunity
Depends on the opportunity cost of alt abuse. IRE has a good enough balance, I think
Are you kidding?
It would limit RP possiabilities.
Won't work in Lusternia
Family honour etc.
not sure about that
I do not see how a big issue there. Players could roleplay the family thing well, if they would. Of course, if mandatory the legacy system clearly jeopardizes players possibility. It is a restriction, in the end. That's pretty simple.
No love for family?
The trouble with this idea is that since the name must be both unique and shared across your characters, it means that there are no circumstances where your family roleplay can come into effect. This isn't just assigning an account name that may or may not be displayed but is otherwise irrelevant, it's the character's surname that's being pre-empted by what is essentially a loyalty incentive, necessarily a purely out-of-character mechanic. This doesn't just restrict family style roleplaying, it eliminates it entirely since no two members of a given family under that system can be on at the same time, and even if they are, both are actually the same player.
Hm. I much prefer IRE's
Hm. I much prefer IRE's liberal naming system, but to each their own.
However.
Alot of names are so dumb...
I agree
A few really sparkle, though.
There are always....
A few gems in the rough. Its all about creativity in the end... and personal taste.
wouldn't work for ire
This would stop you completly seperateing the characters you had in a particular game becaue people would still know it was your from the surname. Works for a game that isn't so focused on rp, but unlikely to be good for ire.
exactly
exactly
agreed
agreed
True, is not like swtor wants
True, is not like swtor wants to focus on RP for me
i like the idea of keeping
i like the idea of keeping people connected. However detachment is also good, no matter how good you are at RP. its extremely difficult to keep detached if a person, for example, destroys your city. Then his brother asks to be accepted, knowing its the same RL person.
This article didn't capture
This article didn't capture my attention, just being honest.
agreed with above
I was more compelled to read because of Star Wars; set a surname, hide it if you want to. Problem solved?
I'm ok with it
I think this will be cool, I was a big far of the KOTOR games, so I'm totally into the new MMO version. Additionally, I think it'll be really cool having something that people can recognize, even if they don't know who "Kyle Le'mar Haagandaz" is, they totally recognize the surname of "Haagandaz", and probably not just cuz of the ice cream!
don't know if I like it
I would rather not have everyone in the game know my alts, but in what is going to be such a huge world like SWTOR i dont think anyone will remember your name
Why?
Only the guilty need hide...
Hiding
Incredibly shortsighted. Many of us play multiple characters with significantly different personalities, and ther are things we do on one which would be horrific on another, but totally fits the game world. I personally don't trust most people to keep the actions of the two characters separate from the player - which is why exactly four people, all very close friends, know who my main is.
This isn't true at all. Some
This isn't true at all. Some people just like their privacy!
I'd say both are true.
I'd say both are true.
helps
something like this would lay bare the amount of alt seconds violations that happen in Achaea.
I think the main problem with
I think the main problem with that is if you decide to do some kind of major RP move, like joining a different faction. (Not sure if that's possible on Star Wars or not) But, then it's impossible to change your title. I've seen many people in IRE games change title after moving cities, or accepting a new surname that is related to the city they've joined. (Mhaldor has a few surnames like this)
I wish this would be optional
I wish this would be optional rather than enforced. It limits creating random alts to use them as actors in a storyline arc.
If it was tied to Elite
If it was tied to Elite Membership, it would be enough reason not to have an Elite Membership. The great thing about alts is that you can experience the world through different eyes. If you everyone knows its you, then you are robbed of that experience.
This would be a bad idea
Adding this to iron realms games would be a bad idea.
This would be a very bad idea
It's extremely difficult to role-play (or even just play) effectively when everyone knows you're the same player as a more famous (or infamous) character. It might work for SWTOR, which I suspect has less interplayer role-play than Achaea (if only because being restricted to an existing continuity limits things somewhat), but not for Achaea (and I suspect not for other IRE games either.)
Could always just play one
Could always just play one character (Though, if you can't switch classes that's a bit harder)
I like
it
Bad idea, especially if you
Bad idea, especially if you screw up big time with one character or another. Everyone will know that alt is you and you were the big screw up.
:)
:)
Great comment. <3
Great comment. <3
Very much so!
Yay!
Mixed feelings
I think it's a tricky situation. In an MMO like Star Wars, my guild-mates and I may be a little RP-esque with cause we love Star Wars, but not as intense as IRE games by any stretch of the imagination. It's still going to be like WoW for us, just hack slash, win, etc while loving the fact we're Sith/Bad Guys. Now if we had the same idea for IRE games..that would be terrible, anyone could know your alts with just a glance, and if they had bad feelings about your other character on an OOC level, they'll probably at least unconsciously translate that to interacting with your other character.
I agree
I agree
No
I would hate to have the last name shared on all my chars. It kind of ruins one of the points of making a alt.
me too
me too
No possible way
One of the things I've desired is that no one know who else I play as. I have three characters, all in different orgs, some of which really don't get along. Knowing things creates expectations as well. I have alts who never do anything but lackaday and that's how I want it. I do enough work with Stratas. I don't want anyone having expectations of my alts because they know there's a connection.
Also, the 'alts in different orgs' things would ruin the snobby superiority of Stratas's two families, being almost entirely Glom only.
cult
And the same surname will become cultish, and not really about family.
Pretty much this. My Taurian
Pretty much this. My Taurian Ebonguard is more or less level-headed outside of combat, but my budding Geomancer is out and out paranoid and his tertiary and trade skill will help reinforce how he doesn't quite trust anyone completely.
I guess one would be classified as a Non-Toire Brujah and the other as a Malkavian. I wonder how many people will get that.
?
What's up with the picture?
Not sure that the new Kotor
Not sure that the new Kotor game will be so much about role play. IRE and many mmos have different focuses.
Why debate whether it has roleplay merits in a game that does not market itself on roleplay?
There's something missing here...
... oh, right! As it stands, across all IREs I've played, sharing a surname across one's alts is *possible* (and easier if it's via a secondary source, big family of other players that those alts have various ties to), but generally borders so close on seconds abuse it's rediculous and generally discouraged. The only times I've seen it done well where it was a name originating from a given player and shared across his/her alts were in a situation where those alts were retired before the next came about, giving family ties that explain away minor mistakes on having preexisting knowledge from the previous character, while avoiding the usual worries over seconds abuse.
This would be terrible in any
This would be terrible in any IRE game.
Skyrim
There wasn't a single mention of Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim in this entire article.
I sense treachery afoot.
horrible
this would be horrible in Achaea. Absolutely ridiculous
I agree with everyone on the
I agree with everyone on the same last name for all characters. ridiculous
But then...
What if everyone just had the same last name anyway? :P Everyone's related as it is...
I don't think our alt abuse
I don't think our alt abuse is high enough to worry about this.
The way
The way the system currently works in Achaea is perfect, there is no need to go this route at all as Achaea is all about roleplay and it would not make any sense... I myself am not bloodlined to anyone, yet I am probably the only one who bears the Kahn surname... I prefer it this way, who knows perhaps some day i will start my own legacy.
Ooh
I have been a Diamante for as long as I can remember and have built such a good relationship with my family... it's about the people, not the surname.
This
^
Hmm...
No comment
Shouldn't be used in IRE games
If my memory serves me well, your multiple characters have to be strictly separated from each other. While this is easy to roleplay if you just use different surnames (or none at all), I could imagine it to be pretty hard, especially if, let's say, two almost newbie characters shared a rather rare and exotic surname, since that would somehow imply (at least for me) that they're in the same family.
The system as it is is great now, there shouldn't be a need to bother with such changes.
Spot on
^
Horrible idea
If everyone could roleplay perfectly it would work well but they can't, therefore it is a horroble idea. If Joe knows Suzie, "his wife" is also Brutus, "the thug who robs and murders him regularly" then Suzie isn't going to get any flowers for valentines day. I don't care how good you are at roleplay. You can't forget that they aren't really the same person. I can't believe we are even considering the idea.
Like Family Systems
It's cool, but yeah, I agree, I don't understand the alts having the same last name part.
Hmm
Alts having the same last name would defeat the whole purpose. Many people would end up treating the alt like the other character.
finally accepted on the beta!
finally accepted on the beta! yay
Erm
What is this SWTOR? :S But having your surname on every Achaean character would be weird, there would be so many families
best thing ever. Gets rid of
best thing ever. Gets rid of alts, which im all for :)
interesting
interesting
Bad idea
Really bad idea
RP destruction
Really ends up destroying Roleplay
I'm sure the have thier reasons
I don't what they are, but whatever
Yes it's hard
Yes it's hard
it just defeat the purpose of
it just defeat the purpose of lots of chars
so true
so true
I agree
I agree
Character separation is a
Character separation is a huge deal in the IRE roleplaying environment. People playing their own brother etc is awful. Having to acknowledge your other characters in any way is fairly awkward.
My char has an awesome surname though.
I have no interest in swtor
I have no interest in swtor since discovering IRE
opinion
the same last name means thier rolepay goes together
You're fooling yourself
If you think hard coded alt revealing will keep people from not trusting you if you have characters on opposite sides of a conflict.
lame
lame
I concur
Lame...
Eh
It's good if you can opt out of it. Being forced to do it I think would be a little... icky.
rough on roleplay
If you have the same surname on all your characters, I feel like that would hurt the diversity of perspectives you would be able to pull from. I mean, members of a family are diverse to a point, but they often share a set of core values.
Credit
^^
yeah,, bad idea..
yeah,, bad idea..
I don't get it.
To me SW and Muds are two different games, I don't really get what you're getting at.
wait, what?
wait, what?
it will still suck!
it will still suck!
Stuff of Nightmares
I think honestly that it would be the death of much roleplay possibilities. As was mentioned if everyone knows all your alts, it will affect how others interact with them, and what the limitations of your interaction will be. It colors all interaction with all alts you have. One of my concerns would be what happens should one of your characters become an extreme pariah? It means alts could be burdened with the social stigma of another character, conciously or otherwise, which is disolving rp right there.
For me, the point of an alt is always to try something new without having to totally rearrange the lives and fortunes of a main character you are happy with or maybe grown tired of playing at any rate, and to start fresh for curiosity's sake or any number of reasons, none of which happen to be so that everyone and their uncle can be immediately informed of the fact that while the name, race, city, guild/house, order, and alignment can be completely opposite to the previous name, it's still me. If I want folks knowing that, I'll tell them, and I do tell them.
I can't imagine that were this to be tried, that anything positive would come of it.
I don't think
it would work with IRE games, but maybe with this other thing, which is probably less rp-based, it didn't have as much of an impact.
Who RP's on MMO's?
Seriously, not to knock anyone but do you seriously roleplay on MMO's like this? I can get the RP aspect of a text based game because in all actuality you are creating everything visually with the power of your attractive mind, but I don't think I could ever get into hardcore roleplaying on something like SW or WoW. It's a little too much for me.
would never work in an IRE game
and I prefer it that way. more hardcore, sure, but I LIKE how I get to take the kid gloves off.
I'd not like
I'd think this would suck the rp out of it. not htat I play alts but I know most do. So they'd not be abble to be a new persona
The interplay of different
The interplay of different families and creating characters for different groups is part of Lusternia's draw for me. I wouldn't like a shared surname at all.
:P
:)
^^
:)
Wouldn't want this. It's
Wouldn't want this. It's impossible to forget when you know two separate characters are played by the same person, no matter how hard you try. Sure, you can act ICly that you don't, but it's always in the back of your mind.
Ew...
Greatly harms RP capability. Great for controling lolalts, but little else.
It sounds fine to me
^^
No.
No.
This makes sense for some
This makes sense for some other kind of game, but not for a real RP game like Achaea and the other IRE ones.
i definitely wouldnt like my
i definitely wouldnt like my alts to share a surname
You can simply turn your
You can simply turn your legacy name off, to hide it.
If you can actually play an
If you can actually play an SWTOR alt without smashing your head into a screen...
Replicated content is painful :/
Don't
do it, IRE. please.
While it would force more
While it would force more accountability, it would probably be a damaging change to make on IRE games.
st00pid.
st00pid.
This seems like a bad idea,
This seems like a bad idea, considering how surnames are often used in RP for family-related ties, and...yeah, potential seconds abuse? More than that, though, the differing sides are pretty antagonistic...
Urgh
That is an annoying idea. I don't even like giving one character a last name.
bleh
Sounds awful
Awful yes..
Why is the question.
Just no.
No.
Do not want.
Do not want.
Never
Never
no
I don't like this idea at all.
Not a good idea
To put it simply, it breaks immersion since it makes it too easy to tempt people to carry vendettas across characters - It is only a matter of time before someone figures out a way to search for someone by surname and makes a list of all the characters with that surname... BOOM! Easy griefing.
I agree
bad idea
.
Lame.
HOW DARE YOU THREATEN MY
HOW DARE YOU THREATEN MY INTERNETS ANONYMITY. HOW WILL I HIDE THE FACT THAT MY 18 YEAR OLD BARDLETTE IS IN FACT A 40 YEAR OLD MALE NOW?
Heh
I'm looking forward to the Pacman article. (I don't have alts, but if I did, I would want to keep them distinct and private.)
Forcing people to conform on
Forcing people to conform on things is always awkward...but doing it on your character name? Bleh.
Boo to this.
Boo to this.
Makes More Sense for SWTOR
I can see where they're coming from - helps you identify the other players. But this works better for an MMO not structured around RP, as Iron Realms MUDs are, and anyway in STWOR there's only two sides. Would *not* want it in Lusternia.
This is a bad idea. I don't
This is a bad idea. I don't use alts, but for those who enjoy them, this would be a bad change.
This definitely kills the
This definitely kills the concept of RP...but then again, it's an MMO.
What does the picture have to
What does the picture have to do with an article? Am I missing something?
this would never fit under
this would never fit under the idea of having seperate characters
terrible idea. It would make
terrible idea. It would make creating different characters and trying to play different roles almost entirely possible. The caliph makes an alt in Mhaldor and everyone knows it' the caliphs alt? That's gonna go down well.
Plus, completely OOC mechanic brought in game on a highly influential level that kills character separation? No thanks
^
^
^
^
Very true
Yeah, it'd definitely complicate your ability to RP characters on multiple sides of a conflict, that's fer sure.
What a terrible, terrible
What a terrible, terrible RP-breaking concept.
Uh
Just don't kiss your sister.
hahaha!
hahaha!
hmm
very glad this would never happen in achaea
I don't know, the article is
Does it really, why? The article is too long to read.
comment
comment
I wonder why they even bother
I wonder why they even bother doing something like this in an rpg
I suppose that makes some
I suppose that makes some sense for a game less based around roleplay
I would be really mad if IRE
I would be really mad if IRE ever tried to instate this. I know it won't happen, though