Will probably be remove from public games in the next major NP release. I get a lot of complaints about how its abused. You will be turn it on in your private games.
Share your thoughts in this thread.
I have no issue with star renaming, and find it can add character to games, but regardless of what happens to star renaming I hope that carrier renaming remains. Maybe carriers can even be given proper unique names instead of just being named after stars. (And the carrier message link bug could be fixed?)
Okay, while I do enjoy star names I acknowledge there are issues. The main one I see is that you can rename stars that a non-premium player cannot revert after they capture those stars. So a premium player can name stars hard-to-remember things like 0100011000, 0100011001, 0100010100 and 0001011000.
If you did want to preserve star renaming then I would advise a method for f2p players to revert the star name to the default. Otherwise it feels unfair that a premium player can name something, get it stolen but the name remains. (And a change to how messages work so the star ID is used when linking)
Iām curious what people complain about though, can you expand in more detail what the issues are?
If itās stuff like insults/slurs/profanity then removing star names will not help. People will express themselves with whatever is available.
I like being able to rename stars, it can be fun and add character/role-play and add a psychological warfare element ;). I donāt do it every game, even most games, but itās a good option to have. Also, itās one of the features of Premiumā¦
How about, instead, an toggle option that you do not see the new names, only the original? So if you find that star renaming offends or confuses you, or whatever, you donāt have to see them.
I realise that thatās a lot more work though, keeping a record of both (although I also like the idea of having a revert name option, so youād do that for that anyway) and handling the star link in chat (different players will see different names).
I find it incredibly useful, as I rename my stars so that I know where they are by putting the same first word for a āclusterā of stars. I canāt remember where āBeta Marfakā is in my empire: remembering where the Beta cluster is easy.
I also really enjoy the āflavourā name changing people do (e.g. I remember BLORT doing variations of BLORT for all his stars with amusement).
I realise that Iām fairly unique and that most people use it to troll each other and I get where youāre coming from. Could you just implement the āadjectiveā part of the name being grouped together automatically for me? 
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Ditto what others have said - renaming stars is not only useful, but can actually be a bit of fun as it provides some levity to the game.
If that is the underlying issue, the āsolutionā is banning the player who does stupid sh*t.
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Suggesting people be individually accountable for their own actions? What sort of absurd nonsense is this?
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Yea, pretty radical idea these days @GluteusMaximusII ā¦ 
[If not obvious, I too am a fan of personal responsibility]
Haha, Iām BLORT - glad you enjoyed my antics! BLORT blort blort. Blarty blort. A challenging yet worthwhile language.
I am obviously very fond of renaming stars, mostly for humour value. I do understand how it could be abused though. Perhaps, if it must be turned off, turn off in regular games but keep in premium modes like Dark Galaxy?
Certainly what others have said could be helpful with a ārevert to original star nameā for non-premium players so theyāre not stuck with something
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Donāt have much to add, but I agree with what others have already said. Renaming is both fun and useful for keeping track of logistics.
I think this is not a problem Jay, except for its misuse in renaming with " ", " "ā¦ blanks, which makes it difficult to refer to allies in text on mobilesā¦
What youāre suggesting should by extension apply to aliases. eg Iamadickhead and worse. But letās be honest,
- Reasons given above by others
- A fair few players including myself have paid good money to have the capability to rename stars and that in the UK forms part of a contract between you and us. Letās not go through the 64p debacle again ā¦
- This is a rule change to fix a minor administrative problem - a hammer to crack a v small nut - the solution should be administrative. I would suggest co opting volunteer moderators to deal with this.
A much bigger problem is players multi-accounting - using VPNs or āghostā relations - which is rife in 64p games ā¦
Iād rather put up with the nonsense than have changes that detract not add to the game.
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Iām in a game now where the player has renamed his stars after D&D monsters, and itās hilarious. Also, I like to rename certain stars to relate to their functions - especially ship producers, rally points, and waystations along the warp gate railroad.
Iāve seen it abused yes, but not all that often. I would rather not see it change. but if it needs to be done how about limit it like you did the abandon star feature? one rename a day? I myself have a personal preference on renaming my homeworld and will miss that if taken away.
Possible solutions to some abuses:
- Star names must have at least 4 alphabets
- Star name can have at most 3 numbers
- Star name can be max 15 characters
Star name canāt have any other special characters- Switch names back after recapture
- A bad word filter for most popular bad words (if thatās a problem)
OR - Add an option to show ādefault namesā or ārenamed namesā
- Make the star name changes visible only for the player who renamed them
Edit: Silly me, there are already restrictions like those.
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I think this solves none of the issues mentioned and would just be frustrating to players. The issue is not that people change many star names quickly so a throttling mechanism doesnāt fix it. Linking in messages is affected somewhat by many star name changes, but is easy to fix without throttling.
It also removes the possibility of fixing a typo. Or even removing an offensive star name if you realise something innocuous is actually offensive.
Filter are very difficult to write well, never work completely and generally discriminate against minorities.
For example do you ban all non-English text? Only filter English language?
What if a bunch of players want to play a game using elvish mapped to the Unicode Private Use Area? (This is more a reason why any constraint must be optional in custom games)
Why canāt I name my home-star simply 1984? Itās a very well known reference possibly relevant to role playing but breaks two proposed rules.
Also, it already filters a lot of stuff:
There has been misuses like having empty names = at least 4 alphabets required.
There has been misuses naming them 01001010101001001010, = max 3 numbers.
Bad word lists exists in very many games. No perfect solution, but better than disabling.
If we canāt give up some freedom in naming then we probably loose the renaming totally.
Just providing alternatives for disabling the renaming all together.
Edit: Silly me. You are right @AnnanFay , the first ones are already there.
youāre entitled to your opinion. but from what I have seen in the past is someone is losing and starts changing all his/her star names to profanity / insults to the player taking them. hence the suggestion. I will however reiterate that I would rather not have this happen. but would rather keep things as they are. its a very small issue and does not need to be fixed by a sledge hammer.
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Regardless of public renaming (which I am very much in favor of), I would love this option of having hidden āprivateā star names to make structuring infrastructure upgrades easier, especially on mobile where itās more of a hassle to check the geographic location of stars.
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Iām not going to comment on the suggestions, but Iām interested in what kind of abuse Jay is referring to.
If this abuse is bullying or racism or trolling/haters etc, then Iād like to see a report button that is monitored and acted upon rather than removing the star renaming feature.
If thatās not an option, then I think itās a bigger problem than just renaming stars, what about in-game chat, forum, Discord, all are open to abuseā¦
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