username change coming soon: can keep last name of "Resident"?

[GypsiesSoul]

hello so i heard that username change will be coming soon
and i already know that it will be based on creating your personal first name and then choosing from a list of last names that SL provides.

it will be a paid service.

my question is if its possible you can choose a new personal first name BUT just Keep the last name as RESIDENT? to have Resident as a last name again...
i didnt hear anyone talk about if this is possible?

 

Edit:

the list of possible last names that SL provides will alternate from time to time, but the name change service wont change the fact that new accounts will still have the last name "Resident".

so its not like Resident will be outdated and it won't be a rare lastname. My question is if we can just keep back this last name "Resident"?

Edited February 25, 2019 by GypsiesSoul

[Ethan Paslong]

3 minutes ago, GypsiesSoul said:

my question is if its possible you can choose a new personal first name BUT just Keep the last name as RESIDENT? to have Resident as a last name again...

create a alt now with the desired name
I think nobody now already knows what the choice of last names will be, and if Resident will be one of those. Also when it is, it most likely will be a roulating list of names, so if Resident is one, it won't be available all the time, and/or only till the amount is reached thats able to wear that name ( as it was in the past )
There's also nothing said about availabillity of names that already exist.. as it will be a paid option, so in certain things limited, big chance it won't be possible to get a name that's already used. ( i know it's possible as displayname, but this is a different feature)

[GypsiesSoul]

the username change will be a paid service. the list of possible last names that SL provides will alternate from time to time, but the name change service wont change the fact that new accounts will still have the last name "Resident". So we will still see "Resident" everywhere. so its not like Resident will be outdated or a rare lastname. My question is if we can just keep back this last name "Resident"?

[Cindy Evanier]

42 minutes ago, GypsiesSoul said:

the username change will be a paid service. the list of possible last names that SL provides will alternate from time to time, but the name change service wont change the fact that new accounts will still have the last name "Resident". So we will still see "Resident" everywhere. so its not like Resident will be outdated or a rare lastname. My question is if we can just keep back this last name "Resident"?

Of course.  If the new naming is a a paid for premium service as we suspect.... don't pay.  Stay resident.

[Maitimo]

If it works the same way that names worked previously, then no, "Resident" won't be on the list of possible last names because they will only be using last names that have never been used before. So no, you probably won't be able to change just your first name and keep the last name "Resident".

But I'm confused why you would need to. Just make a new alt with your chosen first name. And if that chosen first name is already taken, you wouldn't be able to use it in the paid name change either.

[Madison Heartsong]

Wny a list of last names?  Why not just let us choose any last name we want?

[Ethan Paslong]

32 minutes ago, Madison531 said:

Wny a list of last names?  Why not just let us choose any last name we want?

just because that's what LL wants, and perhaps to prevent at least the last names will be mutilated to some idiot forms as we see at the displaynames.

[ItHadToComeToThis]

20 hours ago, Madison531 said:

Wny a list of last names?  Why not just let us choose any last name we want?

Well, 531.....

[Talligurl]

and I wonder,will   we  be able to check  on our choice of names before we pay the premium, or do we have to pay and then have to check if the name we wanted to pay for  is even available.

 

[Maitimo]

My guess is you'll just have to put US$10 (or whatever the price will be) onto the dollar balance of your account and it will just take the payment from there whenever you choose to do it.

 

[Madison Heartsong]

On 3/8/2019 at 9:03 PM, Talligurl said:

and I wonder,will   we  be able to check  on our choice of names before we pay the premium, or do we have to pay and then have to check if the name we wanted to pay for  is even available.

 

That'll probably determine whether I do it or not.  If LL wants my money for it, then the same as I demoed my mesh head to make sure I could get the face I wanted before buying it, they'll have to let me see what name I can have before I pay to change.

I still don't get the having to choose the last name from a list though.  If you choose your own last name than everyone can have a first/last combo they like, and If you want a profane name or something you can choose it as the first name, so I don't see how it prevents abuses.

[Alyona Su]

13 hours ago, Madison531 said:

That'll probably determine whether I do it or not.  If LL wants my money for it, then the same as I demoed my mesh head to make sure I could get the face I wanted before buying it, they'll have to let me see what name I can have before I pay to change.

I still don't get the having to choose the last name from a list though.  If you choose your own last name than everyone can have a first/last combo they like, and If you want a profane name or something you can choose it as the first name, so I don't see how it prevents abuses.

This will be a given. Whenever there is something you have to pay for - you can set it up, preview it, try it out. Then if you want to keep it - you pay for it. This has always been the way with things from LL in SL.

[Claireschen Hesten]

13 hours ago, Madison531 said:

I still don't get the having to choose the last name from a list though.  If you choose your own last name than everyone can have a first/last combo they like, and If you want a profane name or something you can choose it as the first name, so I don't see how it prevents abuses.

In the past LL made you cough up some serious RL money to have a custom last name of your choosing and it was often major businesses like AOL or high profile people like Duran Duran that would want and be able to afford to set up and maintain a custom last name. If you go on SLnamewatch.com click on heritage only and sort bu usage you'll find many of the very low usage names are custom last names people have paid for

[Madison Heartsong]

On 3/11/2019 at 12:12 PM, Claireschen Hesten said:

In the past LL made you cough up some serious RL money to have a custom last name of your choosing and it was often major businesses like AOL or high profile people like Duran Duran that would want and be able to afford to set up and maintain a custom last name. If you go on SLnamewatch.com click on heritage only and sort bu usage you'll find many of the very low usage names are custom last names people have paid for

Well, now at least I understand why, so for custom last names they can continue to charge very large amounts.

It defeats a lot of the purpose, though.  Obviously as Madison531, I have that name because I couldn't just be "Madison."  I don't remember for sure, but I don't think I even checked to see if that was possible.  Since right now there's only one last name ("Resident") there's no way "Madison" wouldn't have been taken.

I may keep my display last name regardless, but if my official name can be "Madison" as a first name with a last name that's even mediocre instead of "Resident" and that's $10 or $20 or something like that I'm almost certain I'll pay it, though I'm not sure if I'll change my display last name to match it (but I'll consider it).  Just "Madison" as a first name would definitely be possible if I could choose a last name, not limited to a list.  Unlimited last names would mean there could be 1,000 "Madisons".  With a limited set to choose from, the chance of that will depend on how long the list of last names is and how soon I find out once that becomes an option.  If I'm still going to have Madison531 (or anything else that doesn't sound like a real name) as my official first name, it's already a strange name to be known by, so I'm not sure I'll pay to get rid of "Resident" to change to a realistic official last name.

So, if LL wants to sell a lot of people changing to a more realistic, but want to use a list so custom last names can still cost a whole lot, they should have hundreds of last names on the list or something.  If there were, say, 300 last names available, there probably aren't many people who couldn't get their preferred first name (especially given that a lot of people will stick with Resident rather than even paying $10-20 regardless), so nearly all those inclined to pay for a realistic official name would be able to.

[Chic Aeon]

For anyone who has been reading the official statements on this from The Lab (most of them in Town Hall meetings which you can watch on YouTube) the latest that we know is:

People can choose a FIRST name and THEN a name from a DROP DOWN LIST.

The last names will change periodically over time.

NOTE: That this was the method for YEARS before LL did away with last names (presumably because of some Facebook connection that didn't work out but you would need to research that if you care).

 

The last charge amount mentioned (again in a Town Hall meeting) was "around $35US* which kinda blew me away as I was expecting something lower.

People will be able to (again, nothing has been set in stone that we know of so most all if this COULD CHANGE) again, or switch back (think marriage and divorce maybe) if they choose (same charges will apply).

Feel free to watch the Town Hall meeting videos as almost all of these address the last name changes.

As far as we know there has been no date set for name changes even though it has been worked on for sometime. There was mention of technical issues (scripts failing types of things) that needed to be worked out.  There really hasn't been much official news on this in a long while. 

So we will know when we know.  

 

Happily I don't have to worry personally --- and glad of it. 

[Shudo]

On 3/8/2019 at 4:23 PM, Madison531 said:

Wny a list of last names?  Why not just let us choose any last name we want?

Because, the story goes, some 16 years ago Phil Linden made the descision to store last names in the user table of the database as a number, with that number used as a lookup key into a seperated surname table.

So you are not really stored as Madison531.Resident, you are stored as Madison531.1023 or similar. There is another table, so the story goes, that converts 1023 into the word Resident.

True or not, I am not sure. But it matches the restriction we now see.

Edited March 13, 2019 by Shudo

[Madison Heartsong]

3 hours ago, Chic Aeon said:

For anyone who has been reading the official statements on this from The Lab (most of them in Town Hall meetings which you can watch on YouTube) the latest that we know is:

People can choose a FIRST name and THEN a name from a DROP DOWN LIST.

The last names will change periodically over time.

 

If I'm going to consider paying for it, I have to be able to make the choice and see if a combo I like is available-- I'm known enough my first name will be Madison regardless, and if I can't have that with a last name I think is decent (whether or not I change my display last name, which I'm not sure one way or the other if I will), I won't do it.

Related, of course, is that if I have to pay first and then see if something I like is available, I won't do it.  That's like buying something expensive without demoing it.

 

3 hours ago, Chic Aeon said:

 

The last charge amount mentioned (again in a Town Hall meeting) was "around $35US* which kinda blew me away as I was expecting something lower.

 

 

That's pretty steep, but it doesn't price me out of considering it.  It raises how much I'd have to like the name combo.  It means that anything that leaves me with a Madison531 (or other name than Madison with no extra numbers or letters-- not that if I were starting out I'd need that name but now that it's part of my sl identity it's the only one I'll use) first name is not worth considering at that price, probably wouldn't be at any price, but for $10 to replace Resident with something decent forever I wouldn't totally rule it out; and that price also raises the bar for what I'd accept as a last name to pay.  I'd easily pay that much if I got to choose my exact first and last name, but I guess some pay tons of money for that so LL won't sell that even for $35.  It almost has to be a full name I'd be happy with as a display name for $35 (it still is a one time charge I could keep forever), whereas if it were $10 and I could have Madison as my first name and something I found not-awful-like-Resident as the last name I'd probably do it even if I didn't change my display name.

[Fionalein]

3 hours ago, Chic Aeon said:

The last charge amount mentioned (again in a Town Hall meeting) was "around $35US* which kinda blew me away as I was expecting something lower.

Whow.... holy name fee, batman!

Are they aware people actually taking such an offer risk being shunned for their vanity? (we will be able tell them by their new names outright - the old ones will not be available, remember?)...

Does not sound like a good marketing strategy to me...

Edited March 13, 2019 by Fionalein

[Shudo]

53 minutes ago, Fionalein said:

Whow.... holy name fee, batman!

Mmm, I was thinking US$20.

The higher fee might suggest that there is a slice of manual work involved rather then being automated. It's getting towards what we pay to move/rename regions.

[Chic Aeon]

Agree that the mentioned price ( I am pretty sure I remember who spoke on that last it but don't want to watch the whole Town Hall again so if someone DOES  please note here) was eye-poppingly more than I  expected (even though I have no need or want to change my name). 

AGAIN, that wasn't etched in stone, just something "being considered" (not a real quote from a source there).  We still haven't  seen that 30% Marketplace cut for creators that was mentioned several time by Ebbe (in my recollection he never SAID that there would be a 30% take, only used that number a lot when talking about things which led me to think that "possibly" it was to make us feel better if it turned out to be 20%). ***  There were some big changes in the Sansar store selling fee and cash out costs a few months ago. That didn't sit well with creators and in part contributed to a mini creator exodus.  So IF we are lucky that "test case" may influence changes here in SL. 

 

I was thinking more in the $10-$20US range for name change  which seems reasonable to me.  BUT unlike a Marketplace fee increase, the NAME CHANGE IS COMPLETELY OPTIONAL and voluntary.  So, not as big a deal in my mind.

 

Also, I forgot to mention that it was said (again Town Hall) that last names that had been previously used (such as "Aeon") would not be available -- only NEW last names.

Once again, this was quite awhile ago and things CAN change.   For anyone really interested in this, I suggest going to the next Town Hall meeting whenever that may be and hearing for yourself. For sure watch the videos of the last meetings. 

As mentioned by both Ebbe and Oz, the roadmap changes often and isn't that far out in months --- so we won't know really UNTIL we do :D. Right now, it is only conjecture. 

 

 

Edited March 13, 2019 by Chic Aeon
spelling

[Fionalein]

11 minutes ago, Chic Aeon said:

so we won't know really UNTIL we do

How could we? Quite obvioulsy they don't know until they do something themselves =^.^=

Edited March 13, 2019 by Fionalein

[Chic Aeon]

I guess for the sake of history and for all those that have "Resident" as a last name, I should add that the  SL citizens of long ago TOLD The Lab (over and over and very loudly) that they did NOT want last names to disappear.  It happened anyway.  My building alt, Lani has one of the very last  to garner a surname (long after they disappeared officially --  from an educational portal that had been missed and was closed down a few days after :D).  She is seven years and four months old now, so that is a LOT of people with less than wonderful names. 

In the beginning it wasn't so bad, but eventually  -- as we know -- there simply weren't any names left. 

This isn't a lot different than having email addresses as logins in Sansar -- ones that couldn't be changed (that seems to be fixed now and can be changed via tickets).    The Lab has a long history of NOT looking too far ahead :D. I think they need more Aquarian and Piscean "Big Picture" people in the mix. Or maybe they are there and just not listened to - LOL. 

 

Edited March 13, 2019 by Chic Aeon
spelling

[Halo Minoptra]

LL did a terrible job with names. It's apparently implemented in a super-complicated way that is difficult to change or even tweak.

LL did an AWFUL job of removing last names. No one wanted it. It pleased no one. People have complained ever since.

Maybe they will do something good in this next iteration, but I think we should lower our expectations, dim our hopes, and take a huge dose of patience. We can only wait and see.

[LittleMe Jewell]

Here is the info from that last Townhall, from Ryan Schultz' blog on name changes:
https://ryanschultz.com/2018/03/22/more-details-on-the-upcoming-ability-to-change-your-user-name-in-second-life/

As for the cost of this new service, Grumpity estimates that it will be “on the order of a few months of Premium membership” (which is currently US$9.50 monthly, or US$22.50 quarterly, or US$72.00 annually). So expect this to cost about 20 to 25 dollars, which is about what I expected.

I do remember Grumpity saying that about "a few months of Premium membership"

 

 

[Chic Aeon]

7 minutes ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

Here is the info from that last Townhall, from Ryan Schultz' blog on name changes:
https://ryanschultz.com/2018/03/22/more-details-on-the-upcoming-ability-to-change-your-user-name-in-second-life/

As for the cost of this new service, Grumpity estimates that it will be “on the order of a few months of Premium membership” (which is currently US$9.50 monthly, or US$22.50 quarterly, or US$72.00 annually). So expect this to cost about 20 to 25 dollars, which is about what I expected.

I do remember Grumpity saying that about "a few months of Premium membership"

 

 

Thanks!    So a "few" could be 3 and $30 or even 4 and $40 :D. That wasn't the quote I was looking for. Mine was from a much LATER Town Hall meeting (November I am thinking but haven't checked) and wasn't Grumpity (in my memory anyway).  I didn't remember that earlier comment though. Most likely because I didn't care personally --- hence my "shock" at the later comment. 

Again, it really doesn't matter until it is unveiled. And it has been a year now so who knows. 

From Google (and we know Google is ALWAYS correct *wink*)  : 

While many people would agree that "a few" means three or more, the actual dictionary definition of "a few" is, "not many but more than one." So, "a few" cannot be one, but it can be as low as two.