Hey guys, wanted to get these naming rules out to you now that the servers are down.
Please read this first!
The goal of these rules is to in the vast majority of cases make the same decision in who gets to keep a name as a rational, objective, unbiased human being would. However there will probably be corner cases, and if you login and feel as though you have wrongfully lost your name, please email customer support.
First off, we define a "naming collision" as occurring when the migration script checks to see if your name is unique across all dimensions, and it turns out that it isn't. We then pull the account data for the accounts on which each character lives, and compare stats.
Here is the algorithm we used to resolve naming collisions. It walks through each Check in order, and then either determines a "winner" (the guy who keeps the name), or it determines to move on to the next Check in the sequence if the winner cannot be determined on that check.
Check 0: Dead Accounts
Create 3 buckets
- Most recent login for any character on the account is before 2003
- Most recent login for any character on the account is between 2003-2008
- Most recent login for any character on the account is after 2008
When comparing two characters, if they are in the same bucket move to
Check 1. Otherwise, the player in the higher bracket keeps the name. Note this check is concerned with account activity, and not specifically the activity of the character in question.
Check 1: Character Age
Create 3 buckets
- Age < 1 month
- Age between 1 and 6 months
- Age > 6 months
When comparing two characters, if the are in the same bracket OR if two characters are within 2 weeks of each other, move to
Check 2. Otherwise, the player in the higher bracket keeps the name.
Check 2: Character /Played
Create 5 buckets
- /Played < 48 hours
- /Played between 48 and 168 hours
- /Played between 168 and 984 hours
- /Played >984 hours
- Not played any character on their account for more than 1 year ago
- Has played at least 1 character on their account in the last year
When comparing two characters, if they are in the same bracket OR if two characters are within 24 hours /played each other, move to
Check 3. Otherwise, the player in the higher bracket keeps the name.
If the two characters are both on subscribed accounts, move to Check 4. If neither characters are on subscribed accounts, move to Check 5. If they have different subscription status, the one who is the subscriber keeps the name.
Check 4: Subscription Active
If both subscriptions are active, move to Check 5. If they have different values for active/inactive subscription, the one who is the active subscriber keeps the name.
Check 5: Was Born First
If the algorithm reaches this check, tie-breakers are resolved by who was born first.
A couple of notes:
- Levels are not included because we don't want to penalize characters for being a mid-level twink. AO is a game where you can invest just as much time, effort, and passion into a non-220 as a 220.
- No preference is given for dimension source. This includes D3 (German Servers).
- A Froob will only lose to a Subscriber if they have previously tied on /Played and Character Age
- Most collisions got resolved on Check 2 and before. I'm not aware of a single collision that actually hit Check 5.
Server Migration Naming Rules
Originally Posted by Means
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