How about a clientside option to toggle the name displayed above cars (and the user list) between the race name and the username of the drivers? I know you can open up the userlist, hold ctrl-shift and see the usernames, but would this be a bad idea?

with me it does shows the username above the car

no it shows whatever name you want to be called (its under the option of racer or.. something i dont remember)

user name is .. well the name you see here on the forums, but you dont have to have to have the user name in LFS, thats just any random name you want

i dont see why ctrl-shift is so hard?

Quote from XCNuse :

no it shows whatever name you want to be called (its under the option of racer or.. something i dont remember)

user name is .. well the name you see here on the forums, but you dont have to have to have the user name in LFS, thats just any random name you want

i dont see why ctrl-shift is so hard?

Try holding ctrl-shift while driving the BF1 around SO Town for 50 laps...
It would be kind of nice to have a toggle switch for it, instead of a button.

+1

if you are using a logitech wheel you can program a "ctrl+shift" macro onto one of your wheel buttons using the logitech profiler..so as long as you hold the button, it will display the persons username instead of their game name. And then if you wanted the usernames displayed all the time...just tape that button down...lol

why is it important to see usernames all the time? the screen name is usually a better representation of the driver and shows if he is on a team etc.

Quote from RacingSimFan :

why is it important to see usernames all the time? the screen name is usually a better representation of the driver and shows if he is on a team etc.

I agree. And some people don't like their original username, and tend to want a different player name to mask that. I really don't think we need a toggle switch for people's real usernames. Because if you are so interested in their real usernames, the only time you'd need to figure it out is with Ctrl-Shift.

Quote from Tweaker :

I agree. And some people don't like their original username, and tend to want a different player name to mask that. I really don't think we need a toggle switch for people's real usernames. Because if you are so interested in their real usernames, the only time you'd need to figure it out is with Ctrl-Shift.

You need the actual user name (the LFSW one) to ban someone.

Yeah, and when you are an admin you already have the user's player name and you just press Ctrl-Shift to get the username. Click on it, Copy, and then paste it into your ban line. How hard can that be?

Quote from Tweaker :

Yeah, and when you are an admin you already have the user's player name and you just press Ctrl-Shift to get the username. Click on it, Copy, and then paste it into your ban line. How hard can that be?

Harder than if you just read his username above his car . Then, even if he disconnects, you still have his username.

But that's not why I suggested it. Say I want to contact a racer after a race, but I only have his racename, it is quite difficult to work out who he is. You're not always thinking 'oh, I better ctrl-shift to find out who he really is'. This option would just make finding people and identifying people easier.

As said in a post above, I could program the profiler and tape a button down, so why not just have an option.

Quote from i30i3i3y :

Say I want to contact a racer after a race, but I only have his racename, it is quite difficult to work out who he is. You're not always thinking 'oh, I better ctrl-shift to find out who he really is'. This option would just make finding people and identifying people easier.

If using Ctrl-Shift on the connections list takes 5 seconds out of your life, then there must be some other way :rolleyes: I press "N" until I bring up the connections list, hold Ctrl-Shift and it is like magic, I can see that person's username now. :wizard:

If this "special someone" has disconnected, and you want to track down a person's username, you have many options:

• Use your races history on LFSW to see who you raced against, then you have his/her username right there to contact via LFSW.
  
• Turn on logging in LFS so you can read the deb.log file to figure out the player's username.
  
• Use Ctrl-Shift, which is probably the easiest way possible if the person is still on the server.

Seriously, I don't know WHY it is so difficult, and is of the utmost importance to have their usernames shown the whole time. Usernames are usernames, people prefer to have their playername instead. That is why playernames are there in the first place. Unless you can give a good reason why to only show usernames, then I wouldn't be showing the simple options you already have

Quote from Tweaker :

Seriously, I don't know WHY it is so difficult, and is of the utmost importance to have their usernames shown the whole time. Usernames are usernames, people prefer to have their playername instead. That is why playernames are there in the first place. Unless you can give a good reason why to only show usernames, then I wouldn't be showing the simple options you already have

Seriously, I don't know WHY it is so difficult to change the ctrl-shift option into a toggle rather than a push-button function. People prefer to have their playername because they can change that to reflect whatever nonsense they want in there. Like all the strange characters these days and stuff.

If people don't like their username they shouldn't have picked it. It's shown by LFSW everytime they drive a new PB...

I'd like to see who the car in front of me is, but I don't like to see all those strange characters and dizzying colors over the cars. I just want plain green letters showing me a name.

I'd like to have some continuity in the names I see... I don't want to have to get used to new colorschemes/teamtags etc. If I want to know what team someone's from, I'll press ctrl-shift or something.

What's the big deal here anyway?

(I really couldn't care less about this, actually... But since there's a key combo that shows you usernames, it might as well be a toggle switch for those who want it)

All valid points there tweaker, but I don't understand why you're so strongly against it? It was merely a suggestion. A few others on this thread agree with me so it's not totally absurd.

I wasn't suggesting something that would take months of work to implement. A simple toggle would take what? all of 5 lines of code probably. And it's not of the utmost importance, just a suggestion that you can feel free to ignore.

People prefer to display their racename, I prefer to see their username, it's all about preference isn't it?

And theres no need to be condescending.

I can only support what others have said about the reasons for having a nickname masking your username. There are benefits to that you know....

• People who dont like their original name (sorry TagForce, but some people don't keep the same username for eternity, and people like to change it, or have short abbreviations by which people call them. I am known as "Tweak", and I have loads of other friends who would prefer to have a short version or something completely different)
  
• You can tag yourself as part of a team. Important for an online racing game.
  
• Some users have usernames with an old team-tag in it, and a playername is better of masking that
  
• There is a bit of creativity and user freedom of having the ability to use a custom username. We have a color system.
  
• I can understand you want it as an option, but all online games have "nicknames", it is important to have it. And nearly all players have usernames which are ID #'s or whatnot, usually found in a console of some sort. LFS saves you a step by just pressing Ctrl-Shift.
  
• I do not understand why you would need to toggle it. Then people would be talking to others online with real usernames, and you wouldn't know who the hell he/she is talking to! A players nickname is exclusive and is what should be used in a multiplayer game. Usernames are for reference and admin controls... that's it.

Sure it can be your preference for viewing usernames, but then it defeats the whole purpose and usefullness of having nicknames if there is a toggle button. That is all I am saying.

YaY... Let's discuss this...

Quote from Tweaker :

I can only support what others have said about the reasons for having a nickname masking your username. There are benefits to that you know....

Yes, but the real kicker is that even now, it is possible to view usernames all the time... You just have to hold down the button all the time. Also, your username is used on the forum. How can masking a username benefit you?
It shows your username when you connect to a server for the world to see.

Quote :

People who dont like their original name (sorry TagForce, but some people don't keep the same username for eternity, and people like to change it, or have short abbreviations by which people call them. I am known as "Tweak", and I have loads of other friends who would prefer to have a short version or something completely different)

Yeah, I know... And there are loads of people who just put in some username when registering... I'm known as Tag... Even in conversations people start to automatically call me Tag even though my nick will always say TagForce... I'm probably one of the few people who's been using his nick for as long as some of our users are alive (17 years, and counting).

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You can tag yourself as part of a team. Important for an online racing game.

Is it? How important is it to have a team tag on your nick? What if I don't look at any information on the screen, and press '-' when a race starts...
Why not just create a skin with the team name on it? That way everybody sees it.
Teamtags are basically something that blew over from the FPS community where there was almost no other way of showing what team you were on.
(yes, I have a team tag too... I wouldn't mind losing it, though)

Quote :

Some users have usernames with an old team-tag in it, and a playername is better of masking that

There's a big warning when you register your username that it cannot be changed... Where does their mistake become my problem? Besides... Your LFS Username is also your LFS Forum nick... Wouldn't that be a problem too?

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There is a bit of creativity and user freedom of having the ability to use a custom username. We have a color system.

Yes, but with the codepages it's getting abused to create all kinds of weird дпп0џاп٩ and unreadable nicks. Sure it's creative, but it surpasses the purpose of a nickname... which is basically a name you want to be known by... Nobody is going to be known by those special characters or colors...

Quote :

I can understand you want it as an option, but all online games have "nicknames", it is important to have it. And nearly all players have usernames which are ID #'s or whatnot, usually found in a console of some sort. LFS saves you a step by just pressing Ctrl-Shift.

Hmmm... I'm missing the point on this one, sorry. People created their own usernames, and therefor 99% of them are a nick (an obsolete one, maybe, but a nick).

Quote :

I do not understand why you would need to toggle it. Then people would be talking to others online with real usernames, and you wouldn't know who the hell he/she is talking to! A players nickname is exclusive and is what should be used in a multiplayer game. Usernames are for reference and admin controls... that's it.

Because maybe I'd like to drive looking at their usernames because they're easier to read... For chatting, the nick should be used even if the username is displayed.

Quote :

Sure it can be your preference for viewing usernames, but then it defeats the whole purpose and usefullness of having nicknames if there is a toggle button. That is all I am saying.

I think it wouldn't be that bad... I feel the whole purpose and usefullness of racernames has been defeated long ago by a lot of people. They're no longer a means of identification, they're a billboard.