[2022] Accounts being suspended over appropriate names

Hey all, while we're not able to get into the specifics of this particular ban, we can clarify that names of in-game item sets, locations, major NPCs, bosses, etc are technically against the TOS (outlined in section 6.1).

Hey all, we'd like to provide some clarification here based on what was said earlier.

First, we typically don't ban an account for a bad character name if there is no other TOS history on the account. We will simply just have you change the name. Now, if there is an extensive TOS history, there may be situations where your account could be suspended or banned for a character name that breaks the TOS.

We also want to clarify that using Tamrielic house names or other lore-friendly names is fine and isn't breaking the TOS. What we don't allow is using the proper name of major characters, bosses, etc. For example, you can't name your character Abnur Tharn but you could name a character Gina Tharn.

Hope this helps, but please let us know if you would like additional clarification!

Hi All, we wanted to address one last question here regarding names that don't infringe on copyright.

Destai;c-7629782

Just for additional clarity - if someone changes one character or includes the name of an asset like an armor set or zone, is that subject to discipline?

Using some examples, which of the following could be subject to discipline:
[list]
[*] Abnor Tharn
[*] Abnur Thorn
[*] Chokethorn Julianos
[*] Greenshade Greg
[/list]

Thanks for the question, @Destai. We are talking about exact name matches for the most part. So all of the example names in general should be fine. Derivatives of core names are fine as long as they are distinctly different. So for example "Abnor Tharn" is different from "Abnur Tharn". The "u" and "o" in the first name are different. So you would be good. If you were to use "Abnúr Tharn" as the character name, you may be asked to change the name as that is visually very close to "Abnur Tharn". The accented "ú" is not visually distinctive enough from "u". Hopefully, this helps to clarify any issue when talking about name derivatives.

In general though if anything does cross that line, customer service will reach out and ask for the name to be changed without penalty. As Gina highlighted, if there is an extensive TOS history (we're talking about quite a few infractions), there may be situations where your account could be suspended or banned for a character name that breaks the TOS. But the goal of Customer Service is to make the name change process hassle-free as possible when it needs to be applied.

Lastly, many of the comments are referencing example or a specific scenario. So for those with specific examples and questions related to different scenarios, we are going to close this thread down and advise that you send those examples in a ticket to customer service. They will be able to give you the most accurate answers related to naming scenarios and if they infringe on any copywrite territory.