Would a namechange hurt or help an almost established dev?

PetitePoet · Joined: 29 Jun 2006 Posts: 494 Location: Antarctica

Bonjour everyone.

This is actually an issue that has been perplexing me for quite some time (the longer I wait, the harder it gets to commit). I’ve been developing on a serious level for about 2 years now, and have only just begun to accumulate some regular buyers. As such, I may still have a small window of opportunity to take a leap of faith and switch things up without shooting myself in the virtual, wanna-be-money-making foot. Ideally, I’d like to have a name that still rings true to my origins on IMVU (something or other “Poet”) for the sake of musty nostalgia. However, as you may have already noticed, the current “PetitePoet” tends to bring a leprechaun-scaled Edgar Allan Poe to mind, not a savvy, well-polished texture dev, and all the catchy names alluding to poetry are sadly taken (and not inactive for more than 6 months).

I’ve been teetering on the verge of activating my golden, VIP name change token for the last few months, and I wanted to collect some opinions from other developers on whether or not this could, to any significant degree, affect my progress, for better or worse (till death do us part…)

I do have a few mentionable apprehensions towards the change, the most obvious being actually CHOOSING a new name (that’s available and durable).

Unfortunately, I long-since missed the clever boat and already lost out on “Skin” or something as direct.

I’m aware that the majority of well-established creators don’t use the literal trick, and some even have elaborate – even garnished – sounding names. What I had in mind for my attempt would be a single word (if attainable without risking total nonsensicalness/ e.g. “Crumb”).

But I’d like to hear your thoughts/experiences/doomsday projections/etc.
So please, share them! : o)

Some things to consider:

How has your name influenced your personal deving successes/failures?

Do you find/ have you ever found yourself drawn to a particular relationship between a dev’s catalogue and their name? (i.e. would someone with the name “Staircase” draw you to their products because of the declared exclusiveness/specialty?)

*Please don’t use existing account names in the discussion unless it’s your own to avoid any unwanted confusion.

Merci!
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Jasmyn · Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2012 2:05 am Post subject:

Well it is a bit of a leap yes, but how big that leap is also depends a bit on the name you choose I think.

I choose to change my name some months ago from J4SM1N3 to Jasmyn, and have been very happy about it ever since. I have not seen a decrease in my sales at all. Most likely because people still saw the same blue and glowy things, the same banner and avi and saw the similarity between the two names. I have been developing since 2007, so I consider myself quite established.

For me it was a bit of a practical decision also. People have found it hard to type out my name and find me, with my former name. I want to make it easy for people to find me.

So are you thinking about a name that is similar to yours now, or one that coincides with what people know about you or your products? Or something different entirely?

I found that advertising about the name change also helped. Pulsing, putting a notice on your page, telling your friends, saying it in the forums etc.
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DarlinLila · Joined: 29 Mar 2007 Posts: 6285 Location: USA - MI

I've seen a few well established devs change their names one to two times. All the changes still had a similarity to part of the original name in it, so I was able to recognize them still. I don't think it will hurt, no.
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4u · Joined: 20 Nov 2006 Posts: 4334 Location: Australia

Try and catch you old name as soon as you change then you have bothnd basicaly redirect old name to new
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Severity · Joined: 09 Apr 2006 Posts: 17843 Location: USA - NY

Take it from someone who did it...yes it will effect sales and yes some people will no longer be able to find you. Try to add your old name in Tags to see if that helps some find out who you are.. inform in any forum threads with product showcase groups or facebook that you use if any. I didn't think my sales would change much when I changed my name but I ended up being wrong because I even had some people no longer recognize me until I used my old name LOL idc though.. mine was a personal thing I hated my old name cause it didn't fit me as an adult at all. Plus I changed a lot from teen years.. (been here since 05) so yea x.x but given seeing your name I think you could change your name and it not effect much just don't wait until you become so popular in deving that people will get confused xD the sooner you do it the better. (In my opinion anyway)
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Goldilocks · Joined: 18 May 2007 Posts: 3201 Location: USA

Tendertouch01 · Joined: 23 Feb 2009 Posts: 572 Location: Canada

I would think if you are going to change your name do it as soon as you can so that you can rebuild if you do lose sales. I have lost a few devers that i used to buy from because they changed their names and I can no longer find them in the catty. Yes i could do it the hard way and go to one of their products and find them that way but... see.. that is a pain in the rump lol. I have avoided changing my name. This is the dever that is known and i don't wanna take that chance lol
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Cella · Joined: 01 Feb 2007 Posts: 1464 Location: Brazil

Hello darling! Decided to post my opinion since I been through this kind of situation. My name used to be CuteMarcela.. well, I was young when I joined and most of my creations could be considered cute! But time went by, my creations got a bit more 'mature' so decided to change the name. The issue at the time was; I had many products on the front pages in different categories. They were dresses, shoes, earrings and so on. It could be risky, you know.. people would loose the connection they had with my name and quality - or not.

My trick was to keep my old icon and banner design and the way I edited the pics. Instead of CM, I left just the C. And I was slowly making changes to the icon so people could still remember me whenever they saw it - even with a different (kind of similar) name. You could also leave a note to your regular buyers letting them know about the name change - if you keep track of your sales.

Yes, sometimes I think its important to have some kind of connection between the name and its creations - I wouldn't expect to see pink hello kitty stuff from a developer with a dark/goth name! Its not crucial, but it makes your work coherent. I believe that's why most devs prefer neutral names, giving them to change their style any time.

Hope this helps you somehow! good luck ♥

InDulGia · Joined: 20 Jan 2008 Posts: 583 Location: USA - TX

It can work both ways. I recently changed my name after almost 4 years and it hasn't hindered my sales. It is a lot of work if you have a large catalog of products but I do believe it can be worth it in the long run.

As many others have said, try to keep tags etc. listed in your product pages/catalog that can help redirect other customers to you who know you by the previous name if you choose to change it.
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Jamo · Joined: 20 Apr 2007 Posts: 12895 Location: United Kingdom

I had a name change in 2008, after i had been creating for a year. I never had many sales so i saw no change at all. However, my name remained the same but went from Jamo07 - Jamo

so it was rather obvious who i was.

i have been considering a name change for ages, but now i'm considering an Alt, seeing as i like Jamo too much. Can't currently afford (time wise) to keep an alt, so not taken he plunge yet Razz

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Payne · Joined: 18 Dec 2009 Posts: 96 Location: United Kingdom

I buy your skins regularly, and actually I creator search your name when I want something new. I don't feel in your case that it's complicated enough to warrant a name change, as PetitePoet is short and already easy to remember.

Speaking as a customer only it would be a bit of a jolt if I couldn't find you that easily anymore. But if you'd prefer a change for personal reasons, go for it. I love my short name, even though I doubt it has affect my sales one bit lol
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xLadytot · Joined: 20 Jun 2010 Posts: 1088 Location: Australia

This is the sole reason I haven't changed my name, It will definitely hurt your sales.
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WickedAngelNB · Joined: 31 May 2009 Posts: 7181 Location: Australia

There is a creator on here who had a name and made pro quite quickly, mainly does rooms and very detailed ones at that, and they suddenly changed their name. Totally messed up all searches and I thought they had left until I found one of her normal derivers with a new room from them. It would have messed up a lot of their direct sales for a while until people caught on to their name change.
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Antlers · Joined: 08 Oct 2009 Posts: 9 Location: USA - CA

In my opinion changing my name was the best thing that happened to my sales. I guess i chose the right name LOL. I chose something that was a trend to most of the people I know and sales started spreading as more and more people were looking up "antlers" in the cataog. The only thing that is really a pain in the arse is having to update product icons. Dreadfully boring ;-;

Shira · Joined: 29 Jun 2006 Posts: 11540 Location: USA - OH

I did a name change but I just shortened it from ShiraStrider to Shira. I think that if you want to do a name change, do it. Smile

But I would recommend you keep it similar to what you have now and/or make an announcement saying that you changed it. A few shoutouts might help too.
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