OP
Game Admin
🛡️ x2
🤝
The case of alias ownership is usually a straightforward process. As a continuation of the official release, FreeInfantry both shares in and continues that lineage. The issue before me, however, presents a unique circumstance involving one of the few legitimate counterarguments to the notion of <i>ad infinitum</i> ownership as it pertains to one’s primary alias.
NewJack has a valid claim to request the alias remain in his possession: he owned and utilized it as his primary alias during SOE for nearly a decade and held prominent positions within CTFPL, including League Admin for multiple years. As a result, many players know and refer to him as Joe. There is precedent for players obtaining their primary alias from SOE upon arriving to FreeInfantry.
Hairy’s claim to have the alias returned to him is also valid: he has owned the alias for roughly the past 12 years on FreeInfantry, during which time he has competed in USL over many seasons and logged more hours on the alias than all others on his account combined. At the time the alias was transferred from him, the alias would not qualify for transfer under either “lifetime hours” or “account last used” criteria.
Retrieving aliases has been easy in the past because in almost every instance, they were either:
a) deliberately being held by a friend for the person retrieving them, or
b) created specifically to impersonate the original owner.
It is in the latter example that an important distinction emerges. Harry has never used the alias to impersonate NewJack. Instead, he chose it for a simple and rational reason: Joe is also his legitimate given name.
If someone were to create the alias Unit92, for example, it would strain credulity due to the strong associations it has to Infantry as well as its lack of real-world prominence. Given names do not share this trait. I can personally attest to myriad common Western given names being frequently requested over the years. It is this reason why Hairy was able to play under the alias Joe for so many years without this becoming a much larger issue in the past. This would also have been a very different discussion had NewJack shown up to ask for this alias closer to when Hairy began using it.
I want to respect and always consider SOE history. In a perfect world where the SOE and FI databases were linked, this would never have become an issue due to the high hour count initially logged by NewJack. But a perfect world we do not inhabit, and the last 12 years of FreeInfantry cannot be summarily erased.
***
Based on the above, and after much discussion with Military Police, we are in agreement that more damage would be done by forcefully depriving Hairy of his primary alias. As a result, the alias Joe will be returned to Hairy.
NewJack has a valid claim to request the alias remain in his possession: he owned and utilized it as his primary alias during SOE for nearly a decade and held prominent positions within CTFPL, including League Admin for multiple years. As a result, many players know and refer to him as Joe. There is precedent for players obtaining their primary alias from SOE upon arriving to FreeInfantry.
Hairy’s claim to have the alias returned to him is also valid: he has owned the alias for roughly the past 12 years on FreeInfantry, during which time he has competed in USL over many seasons and logged more hours on the alias than all others on his account combined. At the time the alias was transferred from him, the alias would not qualify for transfer under either “lifetime hours” or “account last used” criteria.
Retrieving aliases has been easy in the past because in almost every instance, they were either:
a) deliberately being held by a friend for the person retrieving them, or
b) created specifically to impersonate the original owner.
It is in the latter example that an important distinction emerges. Harry has never used the alias to impersonate NewJack. Instead, he chose it for a simple and rational reason: Joe is also his legitimate given name.
If someone were to create the alias Unit92, for example, it would strain credulity due to the strong associations it has to Infantry as well as its lack of real-world prominence. Given names do not share this trait. I can personally attest to myriad common Western given names being frequently requested over the years. It is this reason why Hairy was able to play under the alias Joe for so many years without this becoming a much larger issue in the past. This would also have been a very different discussion had NewJack shown up to ask for this alias closer to when Hairy began using it.
I want to respect and always consider SOE history. In a perfect world where the SOE and FI databases were linked, this would never have become an issue due to the high hour count initially logged by NewJack. But a perfect world we do not inhabit, and the last 12 years of FreeInfantry cannot be summarily erased.
***
Based on the above, and after much discussion with Military Police, we are in agreement that more damage would be done by forcefully depriving Hairy of his primary alias. As a result, the alias Joe will be returned to Hairy.
Gentlemen 
Clique 
Monkey Business