Some of you may not know that it’s possible to get your name in the game as a randomly generated crew member.
For those that do know, you may be curious as to how and where your name could be used.
In this blog post we’re going to answer those questions.
How do I get my name in the game?
We have a Newsletter that you can subscribe to, and as an added incentive anyone that is signed up gets their name added to a database that the game uses to assign names to crew members.
Aside from it being a great way to keep up to date with our major announcements, or get first dibs on being a playtester, every newsletter we send out includes some piece of information never before previously released. These exclusive reveals could be screenshots, concept art or whatever we pull from the Abandon Ship archives.
If you like the sound of all that, you can sign up by using the form at the bottom of the page.
How is my name used in the game?
When the game creates a crew member, whether that be on your ship, the enemy vessel, or one that can be hired, it takes the name from a database.
All of the names of people that sign up to our newsletter have their name added to this database, so you could be playing and one day find a crew member with your own name, or know that in someone else’s game you could be performing heroic deeds (or suffering a dismal demise!)
If you want to change the name of any crew member, you can do this in the Crew Management menu located in the Journal:But I don’t want Newsletter names in my Game…
That’s absolutely fine, and you can switch them off when you start your game.
There are two Names Databases, one that is standard and is filled with names that are suitable for the world and period of Abandon Ship, and the other is the Newsletter Names Database.
If you play a game with the Player-Generated Names switched off, all of the names will be exclusively taken from the standard database. When it’s switched on, it’s approximately a 50-50 split.
What are the rules? Is it too late to get my name in the game?
Every time we’ll do an update on the game, we’ll also update the Newsletter names database. So as long as you’re signed up, your name will either already be in the game, or imminently so.
To be fair on everyone, we manually remove names of people that unsubscribe from the Newsletter, or suffer a “Hard Bounce” – this is a term used to describe Newsletter emails that are unable to get through, either because a mistake was made when putting in the email address, or it’s suffered several “Soft Bounces” (these could be the mailbox was temporarily full). Essentially, if you’re receiving Newsletters, you’re in the game (and don’t forget to check your spam folder!)
One other thing worth mentioning is offensive names are not allowed, and are removed.
Of course, that doesn’t stop a small minority trying to sneak them through, occasionally in an obvious fashion, but predominantly in extremely creative ways (I’m looking at you, whoever put in “Dickson Balzac”).
I do my best to pick up on these before they make it into the game, and I sometimes feel like Moe from the Simpsons, receiving prank calls from Bart – but when scanning thousands of names, some inevitably slip through the net. Well done whoever put in “Lt. Jerkoff”, I missed that one until he joined my crew in one of my playthroughs…
When offensive names get spotted in the game, we remove them – which means they get rectified in the next update. If you see any that you feel are too offensive, please reach out to the team via the Contact page on our website.
It’s tough to know exactly where to draw the line, particularly as some will make me chuckle when I read them (thank-you, whoever put in “Hugh Jass”) – ultimately this is a judgement call and intended to ensure everyone enjoys their game without it being unfairly spoiled for them.
I hope that answers any questions you may have had about how Newsletter names are used in the game. I look forward to you becoming part of my crew, although I’d just like to apologise in advance for all of those horrendous deaths you’ll suffer through my mismanagement in battle!
Jose Angel
February 21, 2018 @ 12:56 am
What I am is anxiously waiting for the happy game. Do you plan to release a demo before the final game?
gburchell
February 21, 2018 @ 8:10 am
It’s not something we’ve really talked about, so it’s not part of the current plan.
Babalonkie
June 21, 2018 @ 3:16 pm
How i get on the newsletter? I cant see a link 🙁
gburchell
June 21, 2018 @ 4:08 pm
Head here, there should be a box at the bottom of the page: http://abandonshipgame.com/get-your-name-in-the-game
Babalonkie
June 22, 2018 @ 2:19 am
I figured it out, adblock blocks it for some reason. Whitelisted the site and gave you folk a new in game name 😉