First and foremost, it needs to be laid out that changing names in a way that leaves the average player (armed with no information other than your playername) with no doubt as to who I am is NOT smurfing, and breaking even THAT guideline once in a blue moon isn't relevant to the conversation you've started.

smurfing: changing your playername to lessen others' ability to determine your identity

Name changes that do not lead to identity confusion are harmless. Name changes which cause identity confusion are harmful. If I only do it for a few moments, while folks have fun with their names (e.g. everyone taking a moment to use ones and ells in various places to *all* be named "soulflame" just to get his goat) ... ok... haha... no big deal, as long as it's brief.

But if it becomes a pattern of behavior, the harm is potent. When I change my playername, the burden lies on *me*, not my fellow players, to preserve *my* identity in the eyes of my fellow players. It is *my* job to make sure my fellow regulars know who *I* am when I join the game.

Originally Posted by givebeesachance

Hey guys. I've been playing on the server for a couple of months now and I've noticed a lot of people smurfing (using a name other than the one they are known by). I personaly think this goes against the premise that TG is a community. I want TGNS to be a place where friendships and community are created. And changing your name when you join the server stands directly counter to this goal. I personaly think there should be some sort of pollicy against it. But those are just my thoughts. What do you guys think?

Those are not, in fact, your thoughts only. They're shared by others.

Your SteamID has used the following names on TGNS. This displays a pattern of identity changes, as the average player has no idea to know who is who.

STEAM_0:1:1274583
F, Shae's butter slave, Shae dog, not really, NSPlayer 3:16, Pooky Wookooms <3, Viva la Raza, the internet is for americans, and his pal Jesus, [wb]The Greatest Bot Ever, The Unstoppable Cannonball, Mae Young's hand baby, Apoplectic Therric Ferret, I'm runnin' wild on you, Lunch?, uncouth, Weesa gonna die', Curly G Cradle Rock, [wb]WakkaWakkaWakka, Choose Heroine, Choose Heroin, this is all fake, I got a rock in my rollerskate, The meatier man, P-Shaw, whois, Marvelous Marshmallow Monster, Hi\, I'm Zek, Kirby Puckett's Dreamland, soulfIame, Jesus loves the little gorges, The Hole, sug4r, with DEAD BATTERIES, Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighter, juiced-up sumo driver, juiced-up, Timothy Real, Hanson Fan, Awesome Possum, I am poor, poor, They call me Bruce, I'm dead to you, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Hacksaw Jim Dugan, Scootypuff Sr., God loves marines, the plural of onos is onos, Morbidly Obscene, Dargforth Whitlhopper, RUNNOFT, Jesus is my commander, I kill people\, for money, Catfish Dynasty, Tuna, Skulks love mayonaise, you cant see me, peter sellers door, iCRAVEBRAINS, icravebrains, I'm no cowboy, I just wanna fly, Kfgpdtsq, Face-Ninja, a real-live snake, The Larch, Level 10 Vice President

So, now, every time you join the server, everyone must take time to determine just who you are. That's not how a community is built, and this is a server built on a community... friends who know one another and look forward to playing with them night after night. While you immediately enjoy the comforts of knowing with whom you're playing, others are forced to determine your identity time after time, each time starting from scratch.

Moreso even than the uniqueness and superbness of Natural Selection itself, the reason TGNS is this community's longest-running title is because it stands as a hallmark of the community's potential to populate a server with good people, with favorable demeanors, who are prepared to apply those demeanors toward enjoying each others' company while playing under a set of sufficiently-shared gameplay standards. Is it perfect? No. But it's established and admirable, nevermind valued.

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Yes, we could create new policy, as you've suggested, to avoid the unnecessary inconvenience of having to "re-introduce" ourselves to the same players over and over again.

Consider Apophis' recent comments, in other conversations, regarding his concerns about policy abundance:

Originally Posted by Apophis

Complex rules ... only come into play when two things happen. A) Players are not playing with the spirit of TG and this community in mind. ... B) Those players are not simply removed from the servers they are playing on.

A player that is trying to get AROUND the rules or get around the spirit of TG will continue to do so until such time as they are banned. In the process, 1,000 rules get created to try and stop a player from manipulating the system. Those rules make the games less fun for those individuals who ARE playing to the spirit of TG and become an administrative nightmare.

Originally Posted by Apophis

Nothing irks me more than people trying to figure out ways to get around the rules rather than simply obeying the spirit of the rules.

We don't have a "smurfing" rule, so there's no "rule" to "get around." But, in changing identities regularly, I *am* "getting around" the sense of community that drives the server and makes it special.

Yeah, we can create a "smurfing" rule. We can create a "rule" that says regulars have a right to know with whom they're playing, as this is a server built from a community, a place where friends can come to be together, as anyone who makes that unnecessarily difficult is putting his personal "I know who I am and you don't" need before the community need and "not playing with the spirit of TG."

Or we can trust our administrators, if not first our beloved regulars, to individually manage the regulars who feel it acceptable -- and for some reason necessary -- to readily change identities when they're among us, the people who choose exclusiveness over fellowship.

This is only a problem with a very small count of arguably unique regulars. As long as the problem doesn't get more out of hand than it is, I'm all for the latter. Given how disrespectful I feel it is for one regular to change identities on everyone left and right, I'm quite comfortable with this being managed with existing documented expectations about "respect" and "maturity". It leaves us with fewer rules, which keeps things simpler.

I can think of a few regulars, including, for example, soulflame, who used to smurf regularly and haven't in some time. I know *I* enjoy a regular more when he decides to stick with one identity, as that commitment enables me moreso to enjoy his company, as I easily and immediately know with whom I'm actually playing.

If sticking with one identity (again: name changes which preserve identity are harmless) prevents me from enjoying the server, then I'm playing on the server for the wrong reasons.