Planet naming

[Fost]

I don't like to assume I know what people want beyond my own desires but in this case I'm going to go for it:

People really like naming things!!!

We want to name our ships and we REALLY want to name planets we've discovered!

The other great thing is it adds lots of interesting place names to discover on your travels.

OK there is this problem:

[video=youtube;7K6t77a9Rw0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7K6t77a9Rw0[/video]


So I suggest this process:

* Get first discovered on a planet
* Submit a name + £20 to cover the cost of moderation
* Name must adhere to strict guidelines.
* At the end of the week - all new planet names are pasted onto a thread on the forums so other gamers can double check for stuff the moderator may have missed.
* If no objections (within the guidelines) then the names get sent to be added to Stellar Forge on its next available opportunity.

 

[DocLooshkin]

I doubt this will happen. It's not a bad idea, or anything, but... In the Kickstarter, backers could get things named after them at certain tiers: £500 for stations, £750 for planets, £3000 for solar systems. If players can suddenly name planets after anything they like for £20, I can see one or two of those 220 backers probably becoming just the teensiest, weensiest bit displeased...

 

[Ism]

I like the idea. Money talks so FD might consider it. I certainly would fork over a few $ for the right to name a planet before I would ever pay for a paint job on my ship.

 

[Ekar]

If players can suddenly name planets after anything they like for £20, I can see one or two of those 220 backers probably becoming just the teensiest, weensiest bit displeased...

I watched an ED Twitch Stream the other night, with a prize being given out to allow the naming of a planet. The announcer said something like '400 Billion Stars in the Galaxy!! And you can name a planet!! How fantastic is that!!?'

with no trace of irony or apparent self awareness at what he was saying at all....... LOL! :S (I nearly fell off my chair)


Planet naming should simply be part of the game. Out of billion and billions (and billions) of available objects, most with names as crappy as 'WREGOE KR-N D6-109 AB 6', it's insane that planet naming would be this huge privilege that maybe just a few people would ever get the benefit of doing, and having to pay for that privilege as well... I just can't get my head around it.

And there's a simple fix for the problem of people giving planets stupid names like 'My Balls', or whatever. A name generator to spit out random names, which you just keep clicking on until you find one that you liked. Other people have said that naming should happen by committee/democratically, but no-ones got the time to sift through and vote on thousands of different random planet names, it's just adding complicatedness to something which should be really simple. Just give the discoverer naming rights, a name generator.. and some kind of virtual form to fill out (if they so choose), put the limit on naming things to 1 or 2 objects per month (to make the feature count... you'd only name your most cherished finds), and it's done.