Hello something needs to be done about unique names. C:

I love my unique names and am very proud of them and the work I put into applying for, searching for, waiting for and working through clearings for, to get them. My names are what keep me coming back to subeta. I feel like losing them to someone else would be a pity, and I'm happy to work on them since I feel like I've got something special. I'm sure other people feel the same way and this is very understandable.

The other side of the argument is: Why should there only be One Bob on site? People have tribute pets that have to have weird names just because xx user who is never active ( using this as an example not thinking of anyone in particular, but i'm sure it's a common scenario. ) has the name of their mom or grandfather or deceased cat. This can be really really discouraging and isn't really necessary.

On top of all this and the ever growing pet population, we're really starting to run out of good names here. How will Subeta accommodate all of it's userbase and also be welcoming to new and future users?

With a nickname system, people with unique names they're proud of will be able to keep these names, people with IDs they're proud of can keep these ids and everyone will be able to, for the most part, name their pet the name they want. If Subeta were to, say, in the future move towards a non-unique name system, this would also be a small, safe, step in that direction.

Another perk for staff, imo, is that it could be another way to bring in income for the site. I'm sure people would be more than happy to pay a small fee to be able to use a nickname on their pet. c:

[edit] Edited by Staff, please do not create user-made rules. Thank you.

I love the irony of this thread getting posted 5 times in a row

Uhh just FYI, you blocking someone won’t stop them from seeing or posting on your thread. It only stops you from seeing them.

EDIT: It looks like people would prefer naming a pet 12345 and nicknaming it what they want rather than having it be unique. With this in mind, I think we should just get rid of unique pets names. OR pay a fee to name your pet the same thing as another pet on the site. This would please everyone but it's also something I could get behind. Nicknaming seems extra. Why not just pay for the unique name? :D

EDIT2: I'm sorry, but I have to agree with everyone else that we aren't having a "name shortage". There are still tons of rws and rns available on subeta and they are cleared frequently. I think the majority of people running into this problem are those who want to create fanpets. I understand how you feel, but at the moment there are still ways to work around that.

Hmm.... I do like the idea of giving pets a nickname. But somehow it just seems so... extra? When names are taken, and you create a different version of a pet's name you want, you've practically already given them a nickname. I get it though, instead of people seeing "Spongey Bob the Square" they just see "Spongebob Squarepants". But then you're taking away the uniqueness of not only your pet, but everyone else's too. Trust me, theres a bunch of pet names I'd love to have, but if everyone walked around with their pet nicknamed "Carl" it gets old and boring, and eventually the adoption scene dies down, applications for pets wont be needed, and everyone will just have what they want. If we were on a website like Flight Rising where anyone could name their pets what they wanted, it would be fine because pets in that case are the central focus of the whole website. And everyone can have multiple versions of the same pet. No one's worried about who has what name, because names aren't important. Unfortunately, names are important on Subeta to many people. I'd feel a little bummed out if after all the money I spent acquiring my pets and their names, 20 other people suddenly have the same thing. Once again, the idea itself is fine. But we're really not ready to take this step. You can have custom overlays of your pet appear onsite. Thats unique enough already. If someone can't figure out that your pet is supposed to be Spiderman by looking at its overlay, then I don't think nicknaming it that is going to help either. As it stands, I don't think this is an idea that is needed, yet.

As for being bummed out over inactive users having nice pets names, or people who "never do anything with their pets" I really think some people should have a better outlook. We all get mad at not having nice things. Having nice things is well... nice. When you take away one nice thing and let everyone have it, its not very nice to have anymore. For a few people, having that one pet name no one else can have is their nice thing. For others who get angry at not having it, I like to look at it as "Well, what other thing do you like? Have you tried making that one or that name yet?" You'd be surprised at what you find that isn't taken, and I promise you that not having the name "Pickles" suddenly doesn't feel bad when you instead get another name or common word thats just as good. ;) I'm just saying, we're not 'short on names' here. You just can't have or find the one you specifically want, therefore to you it looks like theres nothing to have. Cheer up. Theres always something up for grabs out there, and if not, you can always message people and ask if they would be willing to adopt~

TL;DR Nicknames are fine. But it takes away from the uniqueness of the original name(s).

I ideally would like non-unique names. I know people put effort into their current names, but given how many slots people can reach + unique names... it's a little silly.

That said I'm also happy with nicknames! I think some way to make names obtainable will be best for the site in the long term. It would encourage newer members to invest in the site, help older members who return to their pet names taken by clearings feel better about the situation, and users with the original of the name still have that status. I'd be happy to pay 50 - 100 CSC for a nickname.

Also, the site often suffers because of name clearings. It would improve everyone's experience to reduce the need for the 3PM refresh-a-thon, if even slightly.

Why is everyone having what they want bad? The adoption "scene" is usually either "just post if you're interested" or "write a big app and hope you are one of many to get a name, as I subjectively judge which of you 'deserves' the pet the most." Some people don't feel this stress is worth it and pound names. Just let multiple people have a name. (Also, an army of Carl's would be delightful. You mentioned Flight Rising, so--Sunshine army anyone?)

Except nicknames would be to help users who had to create a pet with a name they didn't really want. It was a means to an end, not the desired goal. Preserving uniqueness, with a maximum of 100 slots per user especially, doesn't seem worth it to me. Frankly 20 would be too many with this system.

If overlays are enough, why does it matter that names are unique? The issue isn't uniqueness, it's "I want my pet's name to say their name, not some adverb I found."

But what if I really, really want a specific name? A lot of users create pets for OCs, or as fanpets for content they enjoy. Names matter in that regard. If another name or word is just as good to you, then if I really want a particular pet name you have, surely you wouldn't mind giving it to me. Then we'd both be happy!

This annoys people, the person may be inactive/only log on to retain names, the person may not have an idea for the name but really like it, but now another person wants it really bad and now there's guilt about keeping the name (or they've gotten this request a hundred times, and the answer is still no) but if you give up the name there's a good chance you won't get it back.

Unique pet names cause a lot of stress that I feel can be mitigated with nicknames. I know they have been the standard for years and years now, the change would have backlash, and I understand why people want to keep their unique names. This feels like a solid long-term idea that pleases both sides as much as possible.

I've been thinking a lot about this since the last mega discussion. I'm not sure how the staff felt about this topic. Maybe it's not a huge issue site wise, maybe it's just something that stirred the pet community. But it seems to have created silent tension within our community that needs to be resolved desperately (edit: totally not blaming that post as it was something that has been creating problems and bounded to be brought up). I've seen people feeling guilty and more conscious about their objectively good pet names. I've seen people feeling guilty for making those who have good names guilty. Pet names started to become a "forbidden" topic in public forums. If we don't have our community anymore, nothing will actually matter.

Now, non-unique doesn't bother me anymore after sitting on the idea for months, however, if we want to go that direction, I kinda feel that we need to switch to a pricing system that's more aligned with FR (that's another entirely different discussion).

Back to the compromise, it's not perfect, and it's not going to make everyone happy for certain. But it is kinda the best and most feasible solution at the moment, a step up from endless discussions without actions. It doesn't take away the uniqueness of names, you are just allowed to add and display a nickname. And I think we should still be required to display the original name somewhere on the pet profile. At the same time, people are given the freedom to pick whatever nickname they prefer, and have that displayed. I can totally see myself using this feature because I'm using a lot of RWs for fan pets, and I'd prefer to assign their RNs as nicknames. And people don't have to go the rigid RN and RW route. Nicknames can actually be creative and fun.

Lastly, I totally support the idea that the site can charge a small amount of CSC for having or changing nicknames (yay for income $$$). It'd be a lot less than renaming, but still a small barrier so this feature won't be overused by users who don't care about pets/names (I guess to somewhat prevent having too many of the same nicknames on site).

I think the price for a nickname should be the price of a namechange plus a surcharge that gets additive for each other person that has it. Yeah, you can have that name, but you have to pay more for it the more popular it is, first come first cheapest. This way Subeta doesn't lose any income that it needs to provide this game as a service to us, because running Subeta is not free.

And conversations are a passage through time, so any assertion that folks are posting once and only once seems like the person who is claiming it wants this conversation to go their way and only their way. The OP claims to not want to cause trouble, but this riles me from the very start. I think the other 'rules' are not conducive to good communication either. Maybe if they don't wanna fight, they should be less bossy to start with?

Nicknames are basically already possible with CSS and it's apparently allowed.

I got curious a while back, filled a ticket and got the green light. Asked if it was okay for spotlights, I was told it was as long as it was clear what the nickname was and what the pet's actual onsite name was. If anyone wants screenshot proof of my ticket with more details: here you go.

My examples: https://subeta.net/petinfo.php?petid=811034 - neat, small nickname under the petname https://subeta.net/petinfo.php?petid=709769 - large nickname on the page

So yeah. With a little bit of code, you too can own Bob! (Bob, who is actually named Pickle Cruncher 4000 on Subeta due to his great fondness for gherkins, but that's not important. He's still Bob in your story, and that's what matters.)

We're just going to end up at essentially the same place, with popular names being 10k+. No one should have to pay above current name change/swap price for a name.

I find this idea very cute and a good compromise, I myself don't really care about names and usually I'm trying to play around with the taken name to find something similar, but I'm always supporting the suggestions that gonna make people happy and not hurting anyone :)

We're just going to end up at essentially the same place, with popular names being 10k+. No one should have to pay above current name change/swap price for a name. ^ seconds

While I am 100% on-board with non-unique names, I think that a nicknaming system would be a lovely compromise and a great first step towards eventually implementing a non-unique name system, should Subeta want to go that route! Not everyone is going to be happy with this decision, but ultimately I think it contains the best of both worlds - there would still be a certain prestige to having the original instance of a name (and the perk of being able to use subeta/pets/name links instead of ID links), and both OC creators and fan pet enthusiasts alike would be able to have pet display names that would better inspire them.

I am also 100% in support of paying for the ability to use a nickname on a pet. I don't think it should cost very much, perhaps 100csc maximum, but it would provide Subeta a little extra oomph, AND discourage the nickname system from being abused (ie, if everyone adopted pets with keysmashed names like "fgdsjfdg" but used nicknames to effectively cover that up). It would also force people to think carefully about what they want to nickname a pet, too, which alleviates any concerns over the naming system becoming a free-for-all and suddenly having 46327343287 pets nicknamed Emil or Nicolai (or some other desirable name, you get the idea).

I would expect the original pet name to still be required on pet profiles, to further discourage pets with official names like "fdsghfjds", because who wants THAT displayed on a pet profile?

Furthermore... I think nicknames would allow users to be a little more creative with how they name their pets! For example, if someone has a character named Jackson who is a knight in shining armor, they could make a pet with the official name of "Knight in Shining Armor", but with the nickname of "Jackson". I don't know if many people would get excited over this prospect, but I thought it was a cute idea worth mentioning.

tl;dr I support non-unique names, but if Subeta doesn't want to go that route yet, I support a nicknaming system 100000%.

Except that, in the case of fan pets, this isn't always an option. I experienced this recently - I wanted to create a pet dedicated to a video game character, but all the variant spellings of his name AND in-game title were taken. There's nothing wrong with using an adjective or verb for a fan pet, but I didn't want to go that route because it felt so... generic? I wanted a pet with a name that would instantly be recognizable to anybody visiting my user profile, so that other users could look at my pets, see his name, and go, "Oh! Look! A fanpet of Sorey from Tales of Zestiria!". BUT with an adjective or verb, you don't get that same effect.

Also, not everyone likes using RWs. I personally HATE the fact that I have some RW pets in my sea of RN pets, because I am a creature of consistency and perfection. I know not everyone is as anal about it as I am, and some people greatly prefer RW names over RN names, but it's still an issue that some people face. Nicknames would solve this problem, to a degree!

In general, it feels like a disadvantage for fan pet users to not have unique names, especially if a character is extremely popular (Harry Potter, anyone?). There's only so many variants of Harry Potter you can come up with before the variants start losing their "nice name" aesthetic.

Ohhhh heeeeeeck no, I know a few users with very "desirable" names who absolutely hate this phenomenon. It definitely varies from person to person, but I know I would be pissed if people kept asking me if X was up for adoption. And I know plenty of users receive these kinds of messages even though they outright state on their profile that none of their pets are up for adoption. Unfortunately, people can be pretty nasty if they feel entitled to a name, and non-unique names (or the nickname system) would at least alleviate some of that pressure.

Really? Wow, I didn't know that! I will raise one point, however - this can only be done on the pet's profile, at least to my knowledge (and I have limited CSS knowledge, haha), and my idea of a nicknaming system would allow the nickname to be displayed when you interact with your pets, and around the site, like your leashed pet on the forums, in the drop-down site menu for your pets list, etc., etc. I don't know how feasible this is, but boy, it would make my life a lot easier!! I have a pet named Refugee, but his character name is Luka, and I can't tell you how many times I get confused trying to figure out, "Hey, where the heck is Luka in my giant list of pets--oh wait his name is Refugee, my bad lmao".

I support any measure that will eventually move Subeta to a non-unique pet name system. I'm one of those people who's stalked pet names on inactive accounts, and I hate doing that; it's the antithesis of "fun."

Nicknames could also be a great way of adding more character to a pet. For example, say you've got a fanpet based on Sugimoto from Golden Kamuy--slap the nickname "The Immortal" on him, and boom, you've got a more accurate-to-the-character and interesting pet profile.

(sorry OP, I can't hold a convo with someone in only one post. It makes my brain itch. And there's also a character limit on post size now so... Not happening. :X Sorry. Doesn't make it easier to read, just makes it harder because you have to bounce between several posts and you get tangled up in a reply someone meant for someone else, not you and just.... no please no)

Yep, it's limited to a pet's profile! c: However, I feel that the profile display is definitely the biggest, most interesting selling point for the nickname feature, at least from what I've seen across several topics.

I can only speak for myself here, but I'm not bothered that I own Sinner instead of owning Salvador. Or Crooked instead of Jayna. Or Jaeger instead of Death. The names I picked for my Subeta pets are, for the most part, already nicknames or words that associate me with the characters. I don't know, maybe I just got used to it after going through droves of petsites. If anything, I would be really confused if I saw Salvador in my pet dropdown at like... 3AM, but couldn't find Salvador on my pets.php page. :'D [sub]("where is my baby and what have you done to him, subeta")[/sub]

Like... if this becomes a site feature? Cool! I'll probably use it to some degree. But it isn't going to keep me (or anyone else, lbr here) from trying to get "good" names for pets.

Alsoalso? I'm 90% sure that asking someone for their pet is begging, which is against the rules & warnable. So pls don't do it.

Edit#2: If it gets implemented, I imagine the nicknames will have the same general mechanics as the custom overlays: you can have the free/CSS option but it's only on your petpage, or you can pay a lil bit (100csc is fine) to have your nickname sitewide.

Well then you're 90% incorrect. Begging and asking politely are two different things. It's fine if you hate the idea of personally asking someone for a pet, but lets not push the mentality that a user who would like to have something = bad. A person is free to ask for whatever they want. A person is NOT free to expect to have that thing or be entitled to it. [I]That[/I] is begging. That being said, the same user should also expect whatever reply they get for asking, and then walk away if they are told no. Persisting is harassing, which is reportable and against site rules. So please don't do [I]that[/I].

EDIT: Sorry that I pinged you instead of quoting I'm on mobile. :x

I'm going to go back on what I said though, and I agree on nicknames BUT only if there is a currency option. Yeah people arent rich but neither is subeta. The currency is the compromise.

@ Wolfism 90% incorrect, but 100% guaranteed to fill a ticket and double-check, inquire & clarify just in case because I'm a goober like that. :P I've been meaning to ask about it for ages anyway and this prodded me into it, so thank you!

It's cool on the ping btw, I don't mind.

OTL, completely offtopic but I have had users ask me for some of my petnames. I have felt like complete and utter shit because of how I perceived an innocent inquiry. It is absolutely a thing that my brain does, it's entirely on me, and I'm working on improving that, butyeah. Still feels bad. Still isn't fun to deal with.

If nicknames actually alleviate that? Heckin' GOOD, I hope they will. But part of me doubts they will because "omg Karen it's just a nickname, it's not the real thing." If nothing else, nicknames would probably help cut down on the inquiries, but they will not root them out entirely.

tl;DR - I am okay with pet nicknames as a properly integrated site feature that could go hand in hand with the custom overlay feature we already have.

Nicknames aren't going to stop people refreshing to get the original name, so it doesn't solve much on the actual problem, which is name clearings breaking the site on days where something desirable clears.

The site's health is more important than my pet having unique names. It stings, I hate thinking about it, but it's true - it's a sacrifice that, at this point, we should make if we want to do away with something that's not great on the servers. The era of yearly clearings is over, we had to change our ways to think about pet names, why not move away from unique per names altogether?

The best solution for the database is non-unique names. We already have a unique identifier - it's pet ID.

Hey its alright! I think its because its personally happened to you that it bugs you and makes you want to gripe about it! I understand why you feel like asking is begging and being annoying. So its alright to feel that way. You ARE entitled to your feelings and your pets names because they are yours! Not judging you there! :) I just think that everyone is fair to ask others for something and if they are told no, or even to piss off, then they should go about their merry way. In no way do I think it is ever okay to hassle someone (especially repeatedly) for a name!

I support nicknames!

Also, I want to add that it appears there may have been a fix for the refreshing for names. Since the last discussion, there has been a lot of good names clearing and through those clearings, I have not experienced lag once. An account even today cleared with a lot of popular names and I did not feel lag at all. The account that cleared today would have most definitely taken down the site considering it was packed with RNs.

I completely support nicknames - it's a compromise on both sides that I think will be equal and fair to all.

I also echo what Hades said - I was also watching that account and despite the fact that all the names got taken immediately (meaning MANY people were watching the account), there wasn't any lag at all. A couple of weeks/months ago, it was almost every DAY that there was lag right around clearing time - I haven't been experiencing that.