It’s a valid feature request that can be considered.
It’s helpful for the original feature request and following replies to state their case in terms of the user experience.
In this thread I’m seeing these general cases:
And, how big of a problem is this?
Having a limit of 1 name change per month would be the most sensible option IMO. It would deter people from changing to troll-ish usernames for a few days, but it wouldn’t permanently limit anyone from changing if they’re disappointed with their name. It’d also (hopefully) get people to really think about whether they’ll be satisfied in the long-term with the new name that they’re picking.
EDIT: Then again, I feel like more of the confusion stems from the fact that there’s no indicator for when someone has recently changed their name unless you directly visit/search their profile. Though I don’t think this whole thing is that big of an issue.
People who change their name once or twice aren’t much of an issue. Typically they’ll notify all of their friends of the name change in advance, and even if they don’t, I’m not going to complain about having to look up who they are a few times. When the issue arises is once people start changing their name every month, or even so often that they have more than 40 name changes. The only reason you change your name that often is if you want to snipe names (which prevents future registrants from using those names) or to purposefully confuse people (it’s certainly effective).
The best way I can explain the issue is asking you to imagine if Progressive changed their company name 40 times in one year. “Oh, what’s this new insurance company? Oh, it’s Progressive.” Anyone would be annoyed by that. I don’t think I’ll need to put in a lot of effort into convincing because the staff members who developed user-initiated name changing had already foreseen this as an issue and made name changes cost money so people wouldn’t be changing their username too frequently. This solution does not prevent everybody from misusing the name change feature though (namely people with large reserves of cash), and it needs to be refined to cover those people too.
Money can be spent on whatever the owner wants to spend it on until it starts negatively affecting other people. No matter how much money you have, you can’t legally import RPGs, landmines, and tanks to your house across from General Elementary. No matter how much money you have, you can’t legally pay for someone to be assassinated. Those are extreme examples, but they prove the point. Once spending money starts negatively affecting other people, you lose the right to spend it on whatever you want. That being said, all that needs to be determined now is if name change spam is negatively affecting the community enough that people shouldn’t be able to change their name at will.
My eyes are full of tears. I have never in my entire life seen such a suggestion glisten and twinkle like a star. With every tear that falls from my cheek, I realize how amazing this suggestion this is. This would change…EVERYTHING. How the world thinks, how we see everything…I’m astonished. OP, you deserve every award on the planet for this great suggestion. You have changed my life, and I thank you again and again.
[quote]
Money can be spent on whatever the owner wants to spend it on until it starts negatively affecting other people. [/quote]
I fail to see how this negatively impacts anyone/anything besides their own funds. I have a couple friends who like to change their name (some of them frequently), and I just don’t see the problem with it. Please, explain to me how someone else changing their username is affecting people other than themselves.[/quote]
(emphasis added)
[quote] [quote=“CeaselessSoul” post=192065][quote=“Echo” post=192047]
Money can be spent on whatever the owner wants to spend it on until it starts negatively affecting other people. [/quote]
I fail to see how this negatively impacts anyone/anything besides their own funds. I have a couple friends who like to change their name (some of them frequently), and I just don’t see the problem with it. Please, explain to me how someone else changing their username is affecting people other than themselves.[/quote]
(emphasis added)[/quote]
“(which prevents future registrants from using those names)”
They could just make an account with that name. The only difference is it’s on the same account. It’s not even confusing, just hover over the question mark. It’s not hard.[/quote]
But the question mark is only on their profile, it’s not in game, in the catalog, on a place page, on the forum etc…
+Sniping a name doesn’t really have much benefit if you’re not going to use it. You wouldn’t namesnipe as frequently on accounts you’re never going to touch again as much as you would knowing you’d be able to use them on your main account.
I didn’t say it would stop name sniping. I stated that it would reduce namesniping because creating random accounts with nice names does not have as much appeal as having nice names on your main account.
I knew a guy who couldn’t stop his indecision over his username. The only problem is, he didn’t have robux. It made playing his games a challenge.
I see this as a more of “That’s your problem, not mine.” type of deal. If I were to change my username too much, that’s my choice. If you change your usernames you’re willing to put up with any consequences from it. So if it negatively affects the person, they have only themselves to blame. But I don’t think it is up to the user who wishes to change their name to cater to everybody else if they choose not to.
“I want to change my name again!”
“You can’t do that! Because i’ll get confused!”
Why should they care? If they personally don’t see a reason to cater to you, then they should be free to do so.
People who do care don’t change their name so people know who they are. They either have no desire to change it or want to keep it for gaining more customers. If they didn’t care then that would be their choice.
Your account. Your games. Your popularity. Your relations with others. Taking down a popular game affects the community as a whole, but that isn’t limited or not allowed. If you get annoyed by username changes then that’s your problem.
I share your frustration, and I’d also love to see something done about this
Avatar, Name color (old/ no longer relevant feature) and a name’s shape (placement of capitols, length, letter repetition) is how I got by remembering most people. The moment it changes or one of those elements is impeded, they lose their identity.
So naturally, this led to confusion -> anger
But this is kinda a losing battle; some people really do have different needs/ functions than us. If they are doing something that bothers you (“Hey do you remember me!?” or “Can you get around to that favor I asked?” when you don’t know who they are) you can just be direct with them and say “I don’t know who you are, go away”. It’s rude, and you’re kinda stooping down to their level, but since I know your frustration, shoving it in their face is something that feels really satisfying. And hey, maybe they realize they should stop doing it/ be more upfront with who they are next time they approach you. Or better, they never approach you again! 
Since this has become a battle of opinions, let’s take the thread in a different direction:
What good reason can you give for changing your username 40 times?
[quote] Since this has become a battle of opinions, let’s take the thread in a different direction:
What good reason can you give for changing your username 40 times? [/quote]
Some people like re-iterating themselves; usually done by new clothes, or a new project, or a new desktop background. Some people find changing their name helps portray a different outlook/ identity. (PhireFox does this a lot)
Some people just like to cosplay as certain characters and think this is a god damn necessary step (I’m looking at you Worl)