I want names that people will remember though. Instead of being lore-inspired name #420,024 Id rather have a name that people will see and go "hey, I remeber seeing that guy before" especially in PvP.
I wouldnt roll on an RP server with names like that so I dont see anything wrong with it.
I suppose it works in PvP. Speaking from a personal standpoint however, if I see a name like eyesmokeganj then I make a point to try and avoid grouping with that person. I just assume they're a bit of an idiot.
Sorry. It's just that so many times in the past I've found myself in a group with someone named after a statement (often in a comical way) and they've been a complete detriment to the group.
I know it's probably not the truth for all people who follow this naming trend, but it's a stereotype that sticks for me. Quite a few times in SWTOR I've been looking to do a particular heroic quest and seen someone shouting for more people. If they have a terrible name I wait.
When I was a young child, probably around four or so, my sister was studying Russian. It's one of my first childhood memories, the time when she looked at me with a smile and said, "Sputnik means 'travel companion' in Russian. We'll be travel companions in life, so you're my Sputnik."
My two year old is on my lap while I drink my morning tea and browse the forums here. I read him that line and he poked my nose, called me "Putnik" and laughed. Just thought I'd share!
On topic though, yeah, names like that used to bother me. I don't know if it's cuz I'm getting older or kids chill you out or something, but I don't really care anymore. Unless they're just strait up profane, then I just report them and forget about them.
So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." - Matthew 6-34
^This. I also have a couple names I like that I just kind of stumbled upon through trial and error, and have ended up using them more than others. But yeah, that "name already taken" is such a killer.
Silly names in game are immersion breaking for me, but sometimes they do make me laugh.
I'm really pleased that Bioware has a naming policy that forbids use of things like leet speak or random collections of letters. I wish the policy was enforced a bit more but at least it's there as a reference.
I hate games that encourage you to run alts. Probably the only one that I enjoyed where alts are encouraged is DIABLO and maybe GUILD WARS. For the most part, I do not understand it/I think it is terrible.
I wrote a long post a long time ago about why, but I don't know where I've put it Having one character per server is vastly superior IMO, it helps build community, immersion, and attachment to your character, friends and to the world.
I have been using LunaCrist since OG Neverwinter Nights. At the time it was kind of a joke being "Jesus christ that's ludacris you lunatic!" mashed down. Ever since he's been my main and first char in every MMO i play, gaming forums etc. I guess you could say he's my online persona.
Others I use are Galiel, a play on Galadriel from LotR, Celladur - a play on Cellar door, Lemilinus or Lemi was from the dwarf random name generator in NWN, Sanguine - for blood, Hinjai - based on the rad online cartoon Ninjai, Saass - was Luna's pet panther in NWN and many many more.
Over time they all developed similar backgrounds over multiple games and platforms and I feel comfortable rping them because of it.
Your love of the halfling leaf has clearly slowed your mind...
Most of my character's names are based on sounds I like, the prononciation varying based on the language (I speak both French and English so I often mix up the prononciation to come up with names). If a game has some sort of name distinction (like Lalafels in FFXI-FFXIV where parts of the name is repeated), or indicators/suggestions (like in LOTRO were they suggest you use certain sounds depending on each race), then I tend to try and follow those a little more.
Even though I don't RP (at least not anymore), I still try to make names that are as RP-friendly as possible. It ruins the immersion for me when I see "UrMumLol" running around, I just want to PK him so bad.
( Just a FYI : MadnessRealm isn't a name I use for gaming, only for Forums)
So the ultimate question: "Why do people use stupid names like "pizzadeliveryguy"?
I honestly have no idea. But I agree that it is an immersion breaker. Moreover, these "funny" names aren't even funny. They are just stupid. When I see a name as such, I honestly think that the owner of that character is stupid.
It wasn't intended as a judgment. I was (and still am) genuinely curious how people go about naming their characters. As opposed to Coyote's column last week, this is from the other side a little bit. Not that I haven't laughed or been entertained by some of the sillier names I have seen, but I was trying to understand why someone might run around named pizzadeliveryguy.
It likely has to do with the way we see our characters. Not that I'm all srs bsns about things, but I like to create something different each time. And I don't approach games as "I'll play for a month and see." I admit to being a bit old school in that I want games I can stay around in for a while (themepark, sandbox, or something in between).
I've always turned to my collection of Dennis Mckiernan books for inspiration for characther names in fantasy games.
Sometimes, I use Japanese names if my character needs to feel "exotic".
My TOR character is named after a lesser-known GI Joe.
My DCUO character has the only wholly-original charcter name I've ever come up with. It's based on his civilian background (which is based off of mine) and his powers.
I've had, in the past, the names Aravan, Vanidor, and Vanidar, but my usual name is (unoriginal and stolen, yes...) Modru. I went with Modru for ages in WoW, and since then, haven't played many other games long enough to really remember what I've named 'em.
I think the most original name I came up with was Farg Igorg when I played FE for a bit. The term Farging Bastage kept popping into my head, so I rolled with it.
I agree, I love to dedicate a lot of time to find an appropiate name for my character when i decide to play an mmo, ¿Why? because that will increase my interest in it. Same goes to character creation. If you create those links between you and your character you wont get bored easily.
In the end, my characters represent bits of myself to me.
I just realized I put more thought in naming animals like in pokemon, or pets in MMOs or stuffed animals...while for humanoids I just make up a random name. I have no idea the origin of the names I make up, but they do sound like they would all belong to the same culture...you know how some names sound english or german etc, so I'm wondering what culture/s influence my names the most.
I never named a character after an IP character, so now I'm interested in calling one Lavitz, not a common name, but I wonder if I'd make the character like Lavitz or not.
"Great minds talk about ideas, average minds talk about events, and small minds talk about people." - Eleanor Roosevelt "Americans used to roar like lions for liberty; now we bleat like sheep for security." -Norman Vincent Peale
I never use the same name twice, never use a variation (blueman, redman, etc..)
I open up a map and look at city names sometimes, lots of cool names to be found there. Frankly, when i see someone whos name is a sentence, I think to myself, geesh, thispersonhasnoimagination.
When I said i had "time", i meant virtual time, i got no RL "time" for you.
I'll either flip through a baby name book for inspiration and then alter the name to something that feels appropriate to the race, or go to one of the name sites to get some ideas.
When people talk about immersion breaking names, I always think back to DAOC. Not sure if it was only like this on the co-op server, but a large portion of the player base would use their real life name or variation and tag on their profession. So I'd see Johnsnecro, Johnshealbot, etc. I've seen the profession tags in other games, but never so much as DAOC. But then it's not nearly so bad as some of the names mentioned in the article.
I was guilded with a fellow a long while back with a string of alts that had some of the worst names I'd ever seen in game. Typically, when guild mates log in, you greet them by name. But it was really uncomfortable addressing these names so members just started using his first initial instead. I used to think it was typically guys that had the awful names (sorry fellas). But one day he proudly announced his wife had come up with all his character names. Ah well, there went that theory. Eventually, our guild adopted a naming policy to avoid that.
I tend to use castillle in most mmos but i used the random name enerator for my swtor name. It came up as "leinu'vashta" and thought it sounded star warsey and stuck to it lol
More mmos should have random name generators for people like me who are too lazy to think of a name.
My chars tend to be weir names like esquariotte, biaxe'dent/biaxident, mishun, leic ne cral etc... I always try to have a unique name o.o nothings worse than "that name is already taken" i always say.
''/\/\'' Posted using Iphone bunni ( o.o) (")(") **This bunny was cloned from bunnies belonging to Gobla and is part of the Quizzical Fanclub and the The Marvelously Meowhead Fan Club**
Comments
I suppose it works in PvP. Speaking from a personal standpoint however, if I see a name like eyesmokeganj then I make a point to try and avoid grouping with that person. I just assume they're a bit of an idiot.
Sorry. It's just that so many times in the past I've found myself in a group with someone named after a statement (often in a comical way) and they've been a complete detriment to the group.
I know it's probably not the truth for all people who follow this naming trend, but it's a stereotype that sticks for me. Quite a few times in SWTOR I've been looking to do a particular heroic quest and seen someone shouting for more people. If they have a terrible name I wait.
.
My two year old is on my lap while I drink my morning tea and browse the forums here. I read him that line and he poked my nose, called me "Putnik" and laughed. Just thought I'd share!
On topic though, yeah, names like that used to bother me. I don't know if it's cuz I'm getting older or kids chill you out or something, but I don't really care anymore. Unless they're just strait up profane, then I just report them and forget about them.
So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." - Matthew 6-34
"...names via online baby naming sites..."
^This. I also have a couple names I like that I just kind of stumbled upon through trial and error, and have ended up using them more than others. But yeah, that "name already taken" is such a killer.
Silly names in game are immersion breaking for me, but sometimes they do make me laugh.
pie.
My other hobby is amateur radio and I use various electronic parts as the name for my characters. Such as ...
Diode , Zener, Pentode, Dipole and so on.
I'm really pleased that Bioware has a naming policy that forbids use of things like leet speak or random collections of letters. I wish the policy was enforced a bit more but at least it's there as a reference.
I hate games that encourage you to run alts. Probably the only one that I enjoyed where alts are encouraged is DIABLO and maybe GUILD WARS. For the most part, I do not understand it/I think it is terrible.
I wrote a long post a long time ago about why, but I don't know where I've put it
Having one character per server is vastly superior IMO, it helps build community, immersion, and attachment to your character, friends and to the world.
Play as your fav retro characters: cnd-online.net. My site: www.lysle.net. Blog: creatingaworld.blogspot.com.
I have been using LunaCrist since OG Neverwinter Nights. At the time it was kind of a joke being "Jesus christ that's ludacris you lunatic!" mashed down. Ever since he's been my main and first char in every MMO i play, gaming forums etc. I guess you could say he's my online persona.
Others I use are Galiel, a play on Galadriel from LotR, Celladur - a play on Cellar door, Lemilinus or Lemi was from the dwarf random name generator in NWN, Sanguine - for blood, Hinjai - based on the rad online cartoon Ninjai, Saass - was Luna's pet panther in NWN and many many more.
Over time they all developed similar backgrounds over multiple games and platforms and I feel comfortable rping them because of it.
Your love of the halfling leaf has clearly slowed your mind...
Most of my character's names are based on sounds I like, the prononciation varying based on the language (I speak both French and English so I often mix up the prononciation to come up with names). If a game has some sort of name distinction (like Lalafels in FFXI-FFXIV where parts of the name is repeated), or indicators/suggestions (like in LOTRO were they suggest you use certain sounds depending on each race), then I tend to try and follow those a little more.
Even though I don't RP (at least not anymore), I still try to make names that are as RP-friendly as possible. It ruins the immersion for me when I see "UrMumLol" running around, I just want to PK him so bad.
( Just a FYI : MadnessRealm isn't a name I use for gaming, only for Forums)
It wasn't intended as a judgment. I was (and still am) genuinely curious how people go about naming their characters. As opposed to Coyote's column last week, this is from the other side a little bit. Not that I haven't laughed or been entertained by some of the sillier names I have seen, but I was trying to understand why someone might run around named pizzadeliveryguy.
It likely has to do with the way we see our characters. Not that I'm all srs bsns about things, but I like to create something different each time. And I don't approach games as "I'll play for a month and see." I admit to being a bit old school in that I want games I can stay around in for a while (themepark, sandbox, or something in between).
www.christinagonzalez.net
I've had, in the past, the names Aravan, Vanidor, and Vanidar, but my usual name is (unoriginal and stolen, yes...) Modru. I went with Modru for ages in WoW, and since then, haven't played many other games long enough to really remember what I've named 'em.
I think the most original name I came up with was Farg Igorg when I played FE for a bit. The term Farging Bastage kept popping into my head, so I rolled with it.
I agree, I love to dedicate a lot of time to find an appropiate name for my character when i decide to play an mmo, ¿Why? because that will increase my interest in it. Same goes to character creation. If you create those links between you and your character you wont get bored easily.
In the end, my characters represent bits of myself to me.
I just realized I put more thought in naming animals like in pokemon, or pets in MMOs or stuffed animals...while for humanoids I just make up a random name. I have no idea the origin of the names I make up, but they do sound like they would all belong to the same culture...you know how some names sound english or german etc, so I'm wondering what culture/s influence my names the most.
I never named a character after an IP character, so now I'm interested in calling one Lavitz, not a common name, but I wonder if I'd make the character like Lavitz or not.
"Great minds talk about ideas, average minds talk about events, and small minds talk about people." - Eleanor Roosevelt
"Americans used to roar like lions for liberty; now we bleat like sheep for security." -Norman Vincent Peale
I never use the same name twice, never use a variation (blueman, redman, etc..)
I open up a map and look at city names sometimes, lots of cool names to be found there. Frankly, when i see someone whos name is a sentence, I think to myself, geesh, thispersonhasnoimagination.
When I said i had "time", i meant virtual time, i got no RL "time" for you.
I'll either flip through a baby name book for inspiration and then alter the name to something that feels appropriate to the race, or go to one of the name sites to get some ideas.
When people talk about immersion breaking names, I always think back to DAOC. Not sure if it was only like this on the co-op server, but a large portion of the player base would use their real life name or variation and tag on their profession. So I'd see Johnsnecro, Johnshealbot, etc. I've seen the profession tags in other games, but never so much as DAOC. But then it's not nearly so bad as some of the names mentioned in the article.
I was guilded with a fellow a long while back with a string of alts that had some of the worst names I'd ever seen in game. Typically, when guild mates log in, you greet them by name. But it was really uncomfortable addressing these names so members just started using his first initial instead. I used to think it was typically guys that had the awful names (sorry fellas). But one day he proudly announced his wife had come up with all his character names. Ah well, there went that theory. Eventually, our guild adopted a naming policy to avoid that.
More mmos should have random name generators for people like me who are too lazy to think of a name.
My chars tend to be weir names like esquariotte, biaxe'dent/biaxident, mishun, leic ne cral etc... I always try to have a unique name o.o nothings worse than "that name is already taken" i always say.
''/\/\'' Posted using Iphone bunni
( o.o)
(")(")
**This bunny was cloned from bunnies belonging to Gobla and is part of the Quizzical Fanclub and the The Marvelously Meowhead Fan Club**