Account names recycled, please!

[cinevaaa]

OK, so good evening. I have some questions, like many other players...Why Valve does not recycle account usernames? Why you don't alow new players to get desired usernames? When you'll realize that recycling account usernames no longer in use after account deletion will make people like me, very happy?

[Wolf Knight]

the database was badly designed, and they have looked at trying to allow people to change their log in names. its not happening, the risk of accounts loosing everything is far to great.

its not a we dont want to do this, its a risk vs reward issue, the reward is far too small to be worth the risk

and YOU are the only one that should ever see your log in name, no one else. there are no "desirable" usernames. this is not a game. your profile name is not unique, multiple people can have it at the same time.

[cinevaaa]

I understand that you cannot allow players to change their account name but you could delete already closed account names and they would become available. I do not see what the impediment is since it would not affect all existing accounts. There is a difference between changing an existing name and making a name locked in the system! The account name I wanted is unavailable since 2015, because that player requested to close the account ... You could at least make an exception for players who really want a certain account name. Like me, there may be other players. Unfortunately, I didn't find an agreement with the Steam team because they didn't care ...

[Yzal]

Valve is not going to mess with their system just so people can reuse/ change a name that shouldn't be visible to more than 1 person. It's too much work just for ther 0,x% of people that would use it.

[Cathulhu]

Just because an account is closed/terminated, does not mean it is deleted.
For many legal reasons Valve is required to store account information.

For example in Germany you must keep certain information available for over a decade. Some even longer. Especially information regarding financial transactions.

It's not that simple.

[cinevaaa]

Originally posted by davidb11:

That's confusing. You can't know what the account name is that someone else has. That's not possible.

You also can't change your account name period. THat's also not possible.
Are you confusing your name of Fraisenanu Ionut with your account name?

I know what i mean, trust me

[Brian9824]

Account names are internal to your login and not visible to anyone else. As stated you'd have to make a new account to use a new account name and account names should be unique and not re-used to help with security anyways.

[cinevaaa]

Originally posted by davidb11:

Then it is impossible for you to know someone else's account name. Period.
Literally, it is impossible.

Unless you personally were told that account name by that person.

There is a little story about my situation, however its clear that Steam does not give a s--t about people who pay real money for just some games..sad but true..

[Crazy Tiger]

Originally posted by Frasineanu Ionut:

Originally posted by davidb11:

Then it is impossible for you to know someone else's account name. Period.
Literally, it is impossible.

Unless you personally were told that account name by that person.

There is a little story about my situation, however its clear that Steam does not give a s--t about people who pay real money for just some games..sad but true..

Or your story simply isn't of interest to a company. Or anyone else, for that matter.

Paying money for some games doesn't mean they have to do whatever it is you want done.

[Brian9824]

Originally posted by Frasineanu Ionut:

Originally posted by davidb11:

Then it is impossible for you to know someone else's account name. Period.
Literally, it is impossible.

Unless you personally were told that account name by that person.

There is a little story about my situation, however its clear that Steam does not give a s--t about people who pay real money for just some games..sad but true..

Yes, they don't care about frivolous requests from one random user. They aren't your mom where throwing a tantrum gets your way.

[Wolf Knight]

Originally posted by davidb11:

He wants to change his account name. He's not trying to recover an account at all.

many people have asked to have their account name changed because it was stolen. they falsely believe it will help protect their account.

could also be the OP picked a name they now think is childish and/or embarrassing. taking a few guesses at why the OP may want to change the name. I think I got the most popular reasons covered

[cinevaaa]

Originally posted by davidb11:

Ah. Okay.
I wasn't aware of that.
My bad.

I never said I want to modify my current account name, I only said would be a great idea if they recycle account names that are no longer in use, after the previous player quit that account wich mean that account was deleted but steam support. But some people don't understand the difference ...

[Brian9824]

Originally posted by Frasineanu Ionut:

Originally posted by davidb11:

Ah. Okay.
I wasn't aware of that.
My bad.

I never said I want to modify my current account name, I only said would be a great idea if they recycle account names that are no longer in use, after the previous player quit that account wich mean that account was deleted but steam support. But some people don't understand the difference ...

Accounts aren't actually deleted, they are just unlinked and archived, but the account still remains.

Also again account names should never be re-used.

[nullable]

Originally posted by Frasineanu Ionut:

Originally posted by davidb11:

Ah. Okay.
I wasn't aware of that.
My bad.

I never said I want to modify my current account name, I only said would be a great idea if they recycle account names that are no longer in use, after the previous player quit that account wich mean that account was deleted but steam support. But some people don't understand the difference ...

Inactive or non-active accounts are still in use. Since the username is how you login you can't be taking usernames away from people anymore than you can take email addresses away from people because you feel like the one you want isn't being used enough by the current user who has it.

Not to many accounts are actually deleted, so I wouldn't expect too many user names to be freed up from that.

That being said, forever is a long time, so there's always the chance that someday they refactor the user tables and have a process to migrate users over to a new system over time. That's not impossible. But users wanting to change user names probably isn't the concern that will be driving those upgrades.

[Brian9824]

Yeah thats the other thing, plenty of inactive accounts, incredibly few deleted ones as there is basically no need to EVER delete an account

[Judgmental Amaterasu]

Originally posted by Frasineanu Ionut:

I understand that you cannot allow players to change their account name but you could delete already closed account names and they would become available. I do not see what the impediment is since it would not affect all existing accounts. There is a difference between changing an existing name and making a name locked in the system! The account name I wanted is unavailable since 2015, because that player requested to close the account ... You could at least make an exception for players who really want a certain account name. Like me, there may be other players. Unfortunately, I didn't find an agreement with the Steam team because they didn't care ...

It's literally something only you can see so there's no reason for Valve to bother.

Originally posted by Frasineanu Ionut:

Originally posted by davidb11:

Ah. Okay.
I wasn't aware of that.
My bad.

I never said I want to modify my current account name, I only said would be a great idea if they recycle account names that are no longer in use, after the previous player quit that account wich mean that account was deleted but steam support. But some people don't understand the difference ...

And then they get into hot water because that person suddenly decides they want to come back and use all the stuff they purchased but SURPRISE it's been poofed.