So I have no idea where else to stick this, sooooo this will work lol.

I was trying to remember my other accounts that I haven't logged into in a while (I have 12 total) and so did a player search on my name Absinthe to see if I could get the IDs so I could have the email sent with my passwords and I saw 2 other players playing under the name Absinthe who have signed up somewhat recently. That's something that has kind of bothered me about SIM games. Often times, you will see multiple players with the same name, thus making it hard to tell the difference between them. For me, as I'm the only Absinthe active in Chat, it's easier. But at the end of the day, I wish I was the only one again. I asked Sam's permission to change my name to Absinthe when the rule about alcohol references was changed. I GOT SPECIFIC PERMISSION FROM HER WHEN I WAS A MOD TO DO IT. And then I see 2 other players just waltz in and take that name? It isn't hard to be original in thinking of a name for yourself. I was Voodoo Doll when I first played here, then became Veritas Aequitas, and now finally Absinthe. 

Dunno if I'm overreacting or what, but I just think, in my instance where I got actual permission to change my name to this, that having other players come in and use the name makes me feel like asking permission was pointless (even though I know it wasn't). I just sort of feel like once a person chooses a name, it's their name. No one else can use it. Since we link our accounts to emails, if we could have it so we can be the only ones with our names (spanning over to spares and all of that) and then no one can use it but us. Like have it pop up with a note that says "That name is already in use". Then another person wouldn't be able to use it. 

Sorry if this is jumbled. I'm not 100% awake lol. But it's just something I've been pondering.

That would be a great idea cause their is 2 castiels..other than me.. on here..

Another thought I had with it is if you want to change your name (let's face it, most of us have done it a time or 2...) when you do, the name you had before is freed up for someone else to use. I go out of my way when starting on a new game (or even if I want to change my name here) to look through the database and see if another player has the name already so I don't duplicate. So I think this would make it so it couldn't happen.

I really don't see this being able to happen without making your name permanent and never being able to change it.  Like for instance I have played World of Warcraft on and off for YEARS.  You pick a name that you want your character to be and it cannot be something another player already has, which prevents duplicate names.  However, once you chosen that name it's your name permanently.  The only way you can change your name is to pay blizzard $10 to allow you to change your name, and again it has to be something no one else has claimed.

One thing I like about here is you can name yourself whatever, whenever, and there isn't any restriction.  If you have a player name that's a common person/place/thing, something related to a popular tv show/movie, celebrity related, etc replication is bound to happen.  Even if it isn't something popular I am sure someone will try and use it at one point and time.  It happens, it sucks, but it does.  I would just let it roll off your shoulders.  If/when they ever become active players I would just approach them about it.

I personally agree with this. I've noticed time and time again that names are repeated (not on spares) and it causes me to be confused about who I'm messaging.

I'm not saying it's bothering me to the point that it needs to roll off my shoulders. It's just something that I find a bit of a nuissance. And yeah it really could bring issues for messaging players if you don't remember a player number.

My name has yet to be repeated, thankfully, though I get where it's coming from.  But like Tron said, it'd be hard then, to change account names for the things we add in them.  And then there'd be `nekeneke1, etc. 

No one has my name so I'm good. Closest thing is insomniac

I added "Castiel" to my Doxerex account a while before Chen started using it. And I'm not changing it to something else.

Thankfully I have a pretty Unique player name. That I can get away with on almost every game.

But going back to the point about alcohol references. WHAT?!? I think I need to read the Rules again I have a Line of horses named after alcohol brands!

Zad you are ok!  Alcohol references used to NOT be ok.  Now they are.  Abs asked right after the changed happened to make sure it was ok.

Oh! I think I remember that... Im getting old haha

Aren't we all. :P

I have gone by Amaya online for like... ever. When I joined here it was already taken. So I went to use my other normal Moonlit Dreams and it was taken at the time too... so I dubbed my name from my favorite buildings in the metro atlanta area.... 

I would much rather be Amaya though. IDK why people join and use names that are already in use. 

I miss being Amaya, it is odd not to be Amaya on here. I am still Amaya on every other site I am on. 

I think I am the only azalie...although another player was using the same short nickname "aza" as me, but yeah, i think people need to be original in their player name choosings, or atleast you think they would?

It bugged me on HL when I was P.uma...like, seriously. Who thought up that name AND also thought to put a period in there too...conincidence? I don't think so. So I changed my name to Onca and now I threw the "Panthera" in front of it too. I wanted to be Panthera on HL but Embla used to be Panthera on HL .....AND I DIDN'T WANT TO COPY HER...!!! :) Someday I may even drop the "Onca" and just be HP's "Panthera". ;)

I don't think I've run into another Chaotic. But honestly, blocking multiple names would never really work on here. I mean. This account is xxCHAOTIC and then I have xxCHAOTIC // Walkers, xxCHAOTIC // Pitbulls, xxCHAOTIC // Icelandics, xxCHAOTIC // Saddlebreds, xxCHAOTIC // Grandes, xxCHAOTIC // layout 1, xxCHAOTIC // layout 2, and xxCHAOTIC // layout 3.

See where I'm going? Yeah there's other Absinthes, but they don't use your shade of green text in chat original of house blah blah blah... We know it's you. They're not trying to be you. They just want to go by the name of an edgy alcohol too. I feel like if you go by just. A noun. A verb. A popular character. You're going to share your name with someone sooner or later. 

Link Tree

There is another halo on here, but they haven't logged in since 2011 or 2012, so I don't really mind. But I guess if they're not trying to impersonate you, then I don't think it's that big of a deal.

I don't play a lot of different sim games (or rpgs) and I've only used one name for HL and HP (Sassafras Tango). Since it's a 2 word name and I made it up seemingly out of the blue, I never expect to run into another person using the same name. And I never have, so I don't have the problem of someone using my name, or think about it that much. I wouldn't be too happy if someone did have the same name as me because of confusion, and I like to be unique as the only player with my name. Although, I wouldn't say anything to them unless it really did prove to be a problem (like people are actually confused about who's who).

I do know people use "Sassafras" as a name or part of a name, like I do, which I don't mind because, although I use "sassafras" (or Sass) as a nickname, my actual name is Sassafras Tango.

I have noticed over the years that people like/use one word names and I have thought about changing my name to one word, but I've been Sassafras Tango for so long and I am so horrible at thinking up unique names, that it's not really worth it.

Fortunately, I haven't met any other "Masquerade"s. I think I would find it mildly irritating but I'd just continue on without incident, I think. Unless they added the ~{ }~ to their name like I have on mine. At that point it would be rather obvious, to me, that they flat-out copied my name. I have a specific reason for the added characters and I'd find it unlikely that someone else would just happen to do that as well.

Just my two cents.

Unfortunatley for me, my name is similar to someone else's name here on HP. For a few years, I was the only JD Farms or JD for short. Then WD Farms joined the hp family. For a long while, people would assume I was WD and vice versa. Plus it didnt help that both of our primary breeds are AQH's. So it was confusing for a while. 

What really irks me is people using the same brand as you. I have my brand as 3212 for my aqh's (which is my main account's id number) and JD for my side breeds. I recently searched for horses with my brand JD and saw someone else was using the brand JD as well. Idk how I feel about that, but the person who was using the same brand as me has not logged in since 2013, so its not a big deal anymore.