is riot going to do anything about people hoarding usernames for money?

shyv·3/21/2016, 6:03:32 AM·1 votes·747 views

ever since i've started looking for names to change to, i've realized that there are a HUGE amount of low level accounts with popular usernames.

i check on lolnamecheck and wait for them to be available only to find out that the account owner has played 1 game just to keep the name. the only reason they have these accounts is to sell them. they're profiting off taking usernames on accounts they don't even use..

if i report an account to riot will they free up the username or something? it's seriously annoying. i feel like i have to pay some sketchy boosting company just to get the username i want.

4 Comments

Princess Emma3/21/2016, 9:09:33 AM1 votes

This is a common thing across all online multiplayer games though. You will even see it on plenty of websites (games or not) where you have to sign up for something.

Not everyone who has sought out, one word names like Dragon, Challenger, or a random skin name like DJ Sona is out to sell them.

Some want to keep it to themselves to use at later date.
Some have it just because it is a rare name that you will not get easily.
Some names are simply forgotten by their owners.
Others want to deprive others of the names.
I would even like to say that some people don't care, but the chance is too good to pass up so they grab it
Then there are people with thoughts to sell them at later dates or full intentions to sell them, but that isn't always the case. The same can apply for the other 4.

I doubt Riot would force a name change purely out of suspicion until is was proven the name was going to be sold. They could possibly do a wipe to accounts that haven't logged on since a certain time that are low leveled, but the chance of that happening now is slim to none.

Karfuss3/21/2016, 7:57:10 PM1 votes

Ask Riot support what they can do about freeing up the name you want, probably nothing, though always worth a shot. Some developers do it, some don't.

Blizzard has been known to free up names from inactive WoW accounts on request. They don't guarantee that you'll get the name, though they'll throw it back into the name pool and work on a 'first come, first served' basis.