[Freeciv-Dev] Let's remove player name

["Per I. Mathisen" <per@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I think we ought to remove remove the concept of a 'player name'. While I
realize that a lot of you have grown familiar with it, it is quite
counterintuitive and confusing to be operating with two sets of names.
First you have username, then you have player name. Provided we do not
ressurect the multiple controllers feature, there is no real game reason
for this double name set.

I have seen again and again newbie players (and I do it sometimes myself)
who type in one name as their username, quickly click through the nation
selection dialog (people are waiting!), and are quite surprised (and
annoyed) to see that they have suddenly changed name.

(Very obvious in pubserver to see who is a newbie, by looking if they have
set their player name to their username or just clicked through the nation
dialog abstent-mindedly. No veteran players use player names, AFAIK.)

I find it annoying to relate to one set of names in the pregame dialog,
and then often having to reset this familiarity once the game starts, by
then having to piece together who is who again.

Consider: /ai per, /start, /ai per ... won't work. There is no longer a
player with the name 'per'. I cannot count the number of times this
misfeature has bitten me.

Bonus, we no longer have to deal with political issues associated with
leader names. And no more players who get seriously annoyed because their
name suddenly changed to Hitler...

  - Per