Step one would be to go back to the old registration when you picked your account name and disable this graal######################## garbage.

Please report bugs with community name on RC or similar (may be someone could assemble all problems with it so that I can fix it one batch).

I don't see the problem with handling community names for scripters except when converting very old scripts. If you want to show someones name it's usually not identical to the account name (most of the time it's the nick name). So it's your choice if you display the nick name or community name.
You should identify people with their account name, but never show the account name. You should show the nick name of the player, or in rare cases the community name if you don't want that they modify it all the time.

A lot of systems are based on using a different identification than the current player name. The original idea was to directly use the computer id (like for guests) but that can change so it's better to use some other number.

Like I said in the original post, the problem is that you have to keep track of multiple identifiers: one that is displayed to the public, and one that is used behind the scenes to keep track of the player.

Before, we didn't have to worry about this because players were perfectly happy with using their account name as an identifier.

There are also problems with RC (problems that you could easily fix) such as when you try to open the attributes of a community name, they appear blank. The same thing happens for comments, rights, etc. Besides that, there's no way to find someone's account name via profiles unless the server has opted to add it to profilevars=, like a few servers (including Era) have. This is especially a problem since there is an existing glitch which causes players to have no community name (shows as '0' in profile), which can also mess with a lot of scripts.

There are also other reasons why community names are disliked, which are outlined in this thread (which is based less on the developer's experience and more on the players, which should be especially important to you), as well as the one we're in now.

The thing is that you don't need to display the account name, I don't see problems with this on Zone. Why do players need to know the account name of someone else via profile?
Like I've said before, if there are really problems with community names that make administration harder then please let me know.

Apperentially some people have scripting problems, even thought FindPlayerByCommunityName() exists, Chris said it doesn't solve all problems tho.

I even once heard people complaining about the function being too long, z_Z.

Normally you don't need it often though, use the account name for identification. You might need it if you want to search for players by name, but then you also need to check for nick names.
I only see problems with very old scripts, e.g. you make a bank and remember the amount stored with accountname=amount (or you remember the members of a gang or so), and then when you want to display all accounts to a player then you don't know the nick name or community name. For that case it's better to remember more information about the player (amount, nickname, last bank usage time etc.).
The community name is more like a registered nick name which enables you to use '*Stefan' as nick name.

Where?

It is pretty common.

Guest accounts I think, here's a few examples:

Might be some requestsql() problem, will check it.

Or just remove the whole Graal### system

Ok should be fine now (when people login again).

it's harder to pin point who people actually are when you can't indentify them by their account name. i used to have my playerlist display account names instead of nicknames, because the nickname could by anything - the account was the only hard name you could definitely give players to help know, for certain, that the person was who you thought they were. with graal#### accounts, it could be anyone behind that string of numbers, they could have a different community name the next day, and the accounts are not memorable because no one is going to take the time to memorize which numbers are their friends accounts. it also takes away from seeing those "legendary" account names, the people who obviously signed up for good account names back in the day, the ones people want to horde and keep for themselves. no one wants a buncha' graal#### accounts - you might even forget which account has what

not to mention they just suck compared having a lifetime classic account, not only in how long the account lasts, but also in the eyes of the community. people get made fun of for having graal#### accounts because it means they are newbies who started after lifetime's were taken away

Well thats a problem of the community not of the community names. Normally it shouldn't show the account name of other people anyway if they have choosen a community name.

How are we supposed to identify people from RC? RC only shows account, therefore we have to place it in the profile somewhere. What if the player starts hacking with a nick like "unknown" and their community name is something like "The1337Hax0r4Life"? Era usually has 15+ Graal### accounts on, it would be quite annoying searching through all of them to figure out who are 1337Hax0r is, don't you think?

Well for that you can use the command /global communityname <account or community name>

What we're trying to get across is that they're just too complicated. They complicate what used to be an easy process, and they have minimal benefit to the player or for developers. Players don't even like community names, which makes me wonder why you even have them.

Also, please respond to my PM.

Make it so a player can't set their commuity name as Graal######? ^^

Yes should enforce that x-x

Some irritating parts of communitynames is when you do /open CommunityName or /openrights CommunityName it will not find the player's account name automatically, causing the staff to have to search for it.

Also, if you're using a new account and you just say '/openrights' in RC (last time I checked), it doesn't work, where as if you're using an old account, it'll open your own rights.

yes exactly. they are not received well by the community, which i don't think makes it a community problem, but a problem with the way accounts are being distributed and names are being controlled. in addition to all the inconveniences it causes developers, it would seem better to have the same type of account system, minus the community names/graal#### accounts

for instance, why do you let players change their community names? why not have the community name become the account name? if the account isn't be used after a period of time, then the name they chose can be recycled back into the system for someone else to choose, which can revert the account back to the email it used originally. if graal treats the community names the sameway it treats lifetime classic accounts, then it can all be solved. if the account doesn't have a community name, the account name can be the email - which is much easier to sort out rather than a string of numbers. the only trouble it would cause the staff would be in recycling and changing the community names for new accounts, but you guys are already doing that. another option added onto this idea could be the option of purchasing (for more money of course) a stable community name, one that won't get recycled if the account isn't being used after a period of time

You should be able to use community names in server options.

What if a player decides to change his community name?

That's why I never use communtiy names in DB NPCS either

I wasn't aware that you could do that willy-nilly.

Yea, well, Graal does a lot of things that people tend to not be aware of because of LACK OF DOCUMENTATION and consistency.

It's like you expect this to be read or something.

I thought being able to change them was pretty much the whole point behind community names.

I fully agree with Stefan that clients should never have to view account name of other players, but I also think that RC commands should be account specific and not having to deal with community names.

I'd rather let people view my account name then have to be known as Graal47289729847.

Agreed !