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Names in MMOs are unrealistic

TheScavengerTheScavenger Member EpicPosts: 3,321

So, Guild Wars 2 and 1 are only ones I'm aware of that have proper names.

 

Why can't I be John in an MMO if it is already used? In real life, there are hundreds of thousands (if not more) Johns. Parents aren't forced to not name their child John because there is already a John. Guild Wars 2 and 1 allow last names, so I can be John Ozay or John Smith.

 

But it doesn't really go far enough. There are lots of John Smiths in real life. Why can't I be John Smith if it is already used? That isn't how it works in real life. If I had a child, I could name him John Smith even if it is already taken.

 

But at least Guild Wars 2, even without doing that...has proper naming. There can be hundreds of Johns, but with last names that are different. Most MMOs are unrealistic with only having a first name and...a first name. Who ever heard of that? Everyone has a last name. It allows for more uniqueness anyway.

 

Seems rather lazy programming design, and seems simple enough to include. Dunno why MMOs don't.

 

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Comments

  • WaterlilyWaterlily Member UncommonPosts: 3,105
    A single name is much simpler to communicate, I think that's the only reason you can't do that in many games.
  • LoktofeitLoktofeit Member RarePosts: 14,247
    Part of the reason was the adoption of IRC-style chat channels. Another is the shear amount of petitions the devs have to deal with each time someone is using a similar name for the sake of abuse. Personally, I'd like to think it was also to help cut down on the number of Drzzts, Sephiroths, Raistlins and Legolas in the world.

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  • NitthNitth Member UncommonPosts: 3,904


    Originally posted by TheScavenger
    So, Guild Wars 2 and 1 are only ones I'm aware of that have proper names.

     

    Why can't I be John in an MMO if it is already used? In real life, there are hundreds of thousands (if not more) Johns. Parents aren't forced to not name their child John because there is already a John. Guild Wars 2 and 1 allow last names, so I can be John Ozay or John Smith.

     

    But it doesn't really go far enough. There are lots of John Smiths in real life. Why can't I be John Smith if it is already used? That isn't how it works in real life. If I had a child, I could name him John Smith even if it is already taken.

     

    But at least Guild Wars 2, even without doing that...has proper naming. There can be hundreds of Johns, but with last names that are different. Most MMOs are unrealistic with only having a first name and...a first name. Who ever heard of that? Everyone has a last name. It allows for more uniqueness anyway.

     

    Seems rather lazy programming design, and seems simple enough to include. Dunno why MMOs don't.

     


    They need a unique ID to have you in the database?

    or would you prefer to send mail and such to c0807b908n798767 ?

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  • alkarionlogalkarionlog Member EpicPosts: 3,584

    in UO you could ahve the same name as otehr players, problem was people acting like a certain player or well know crafter to scam others, or make certain guilds start wars on each other.

     

    I do say in Gw2 is kinda funny its more rare find people using one name then double names, who most of time is part of lore or at least is not LLLLegola$$$ kind of name

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  • botrytisbotrytis Member RarePosts: 3,363
    Originally posted by alkarionlog

    in UO you could ahve the same name as otehr players, problem was people acting like a certain player or well know crafter to scam others, or make certain guilds start wars on each other.

     

    I do say in Gw2 is kinda funny its more rare find people using one name then double names, who most of time is part of lore or at least is not LLLLegola$$$ kind of name

    It really depends - I used 2 named in GW1 and GW2 and find it odd that other games do not use that. It helps with immersion because it is more believable. You still have people who use, 'Ipwnnoobz' and other such nonsense but for the most part people do use the 2 names and it makes more sense than in other games.

     

    In GW1 and GW2 the whole name has to be unique. So you could have, John Smith, John Tell, etc. They are all unique and different.


  • AccountDeleted12341AccountDeleted12341 Member Posts: 351

    Because most developers are stupid and ignore the important small things like that. (Not to mention the important big things as well.)

    Instead, they're more interested in putting in a bigger feature which no one will use or care about, and which never in a thousand years had asked for.

    It's the same reason that a game will be plagued with endless bugs, incredible flaws, and massive balance-ending PvP- and the first 10 patch notes say stuff like

     

    Patch 1.0.1a

    *Fixed a grammatical error in a quest no one accesses.

    *Altered Level 1 hit points of the Butorial Toss from 101hp to 105hp.

    *Fixed a grammatical error in the Patch Notes.  Issue 2 should now read "Altered Level 1 hit points of the Tutorial Boss from 101hp to 105hp."

    *Smoothed out the login GUI by adding AA to the title logo.

    *Fixed a few quests that no one knew about and 99% of players never accessed. Now you can't type /questWinAccessVictory and instantly finish the quest. This stopped 3 people who exploited this quest which you can only complete once.

    *Added in a feature we should have added in Alpha: The Ignore Function. (It was already coded, but we forgot to turn it back on.)

    *Did nothing to resolve the huge flaws, horrible broken balance in PvP, horrid graphic errors, incredible performance issues, or massive disconnection bugs.

    *In fact, we deny that those even exist! More grammatical fixes in the Patch notes in Patch 1.0.1b!

  • KyleranKyleran Member LegendaryPosts: 43,435

    EVE has always had two names, and while it makes it easy to create a name you like, you really get tired of seeing all the "ENDERs" around. (The EVE equivalent of Legolas it seems)

    No good way to allow duplicate names unless you put some sort of number after them.... Ender Wiggens (234) or something like that.

     

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  • ScalplessScalpless Member UncommonPosts: 1,426
    This is especially annoying in TSW, where you've got to give your character a nickname. Well, that name can only be one word long and, since TSW isn't a high fantasy game, I'd like to call my char something reasonable. All reasonable ones seem to be taken. To make things worse, they force you to give your character a first and last name, but of course those aren't used as identifiers, so you end up with a John "Lfhajgsj" Smith.
  • ReizlaReizla Member RarePosts: 4,092
    Originally posted by Nitth

    So, Guild Wars 2 and 1 are only ones I'm aware of that have proper names.

    Why can't I be John in an MMO if it is already used? In real life, there are hundreds of thousands (if not more) Johns. Parents aren't forced to not name their child John because there is already a John. Guild Wars 2 and 1 allow last names, so I can be John Ozay or John Smith.

     There's more than one of those in the world as well ;-)

     


    Originally posted by TheScavenger

    They need a unique ID to have you in the database?

    or would you prefer to send mail and such to c0807b908n798767 ?

    In Star Trek online (and I guess Champions online as well), there are more players with the same name in-game. There the link is set to the account instead the character. When you communicate with Admiral Kirk, you're actually chatting PlayerX instead of PlayerY who has picked the same (obvious) nick.

    Also worth to mention, lots of Asian MMO's allow the usage of dots and underscores in names. This way you can name your char with a first and last name as well...

  • NitthNitth Member UncommonPosts: 3,904


    Originally posted by Reizla

    Originally posted by The scavenger
    So, Guild Wars 2 and 1 are only ones I'm aware of that have proper names. Why can't I be John in an MMO if it is already used? In real life, there are hundreds of thousands (if not more) Johns. Parents aren't forced to not name their child John because there is already a John. Guild Wars 2 and 1 allow last names, so I can be John Ozay or John Smith.  There's more than one of those in the world as well ;-)

    Originally posted by Nitth
    They need a unique ID to have you in the database? or would you prefer to send mail and such to c0807b908n798767 ?
    In Star Trek online (and I guess Champions online as well), there are more players with the same name in-game. There the link is set to the account instead the character. When you communicate with Admiral Kirk, you're actually chatting PlayerX instead of PlayerY who has picked the same (obvious) nick.

    Also worth to mention, lots of Asian MMO's allow the usage of dots and underscores in names. This way you can name your char with a first and last name as well...


    Even still, The master account in this case has to be unique.

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  • SimphanaticSimphanatic Member Posts: 92

    This is totally beside the point, but I have to laugh sometimes at the names people choose, for instance the last game I played was Pirates of the Burning Sea. These were some names I saw:

    Clark Kent

    Dick Tracey

    Robin Hood

    John1555555

    And of course, there was a guild with the ever-present title "Templars."

     

    I usually try to pick something appropriate to the game. I was a pirate, name: "Bloody Hump."

     

    Honestly, I don't care what people want to call their avatars, but every now and then it's nice to see names that fit in with the game's lore.

     

  • AeliousAelious Member RarePosts: 3,521
    Originally posted by TheScavenger

    So, Guild Wars 2 and 1 are only ones I'm aware of that have proper names.

     

    Why can't I be John in an MMO if it is already used? In real life, there are hundreds of thousands (if not more) Johns. Parents aren't forced to not name their child John because there is already a John. Guild Wars 2 and 1 allow last names, so I can be John Ozay or John Smith.

     

    But it doesn't really go far enough. There are lots of John Smiths in real life. Why can't I be John Smith if it is already used? That isn't how it works in real life. If I had a child, I could name him John Smith even if it is already taken.

     

    But at least Guild Wars 2, even without doing that...has proper naming. There can be hundreds of Johns, but with last names that are different. Most MMOs are unrealistic with only having a first name and...a first name. Who ever heard of that? Everyone has a last name. It allows for more uniqueness anyway.

     

    Seems rather lazy programming design, and seems simple enough to include. Dunno why MMOs don't.

     

     

    I agree that it would be nice if all MMOs had at least two seperate names to enter.  EQ2 and Vangaurd have options for first and last names.

  • moguy2moguy2 Member Posts: 337

    I will call you John from here on out.

    Good day, John.

  • worldalphaworldalpha Member Posts: 403
    I think the "impersonation" issue is at the heart of it.  A lot of MMOs will allow spaces in usernames, but users prefer a single name.

    Thanks,
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    Working on Social Strategy MMORTS (now Launched!) http://www.worldalpha.com

  • VelocinoxVelocinox Member UncommonPosts: 1,010
    Originally posted by TheScavenger

    So, Guild Wars 2 and 1 are only ones I'm aware of that have proper names.

     

    Why can't I be John in an MMO if it is already used? In real life, there are hundreds of thousands (if not more) Johns. Parents aren't forced to not name their child John because there is already a John. Guild Wars 2 and 1 allow last names, so I can be John Ozay or John Smith.

     

    But it doesn't really go far enough. There are lots of John Smiths in real life. Why can't I be John Smith if it is already used? That isn't how it works in real life. If I had a child, I could name him John Smith even if it is already taken.

     

    But at least Guild Wars 2, even without doing that...has proper naming. There can be hundreds of Johns, but with last names that are different. Most MMOs are unrealistic with only having a first name and...a first name. Who ever heard of that? Everyone has a last name. It allows for more uniqueness anyway.

     

    Seems rather lazy programming design, and seems simple enough to include. Dunno why MMOs don't.

     

    I find your post offenive. I always use my real name for my MMO characters. I think it leands an air of realism to the game and certainly helps me identify with my character. Plus it's really cool when the game has a ladder and I'm at the top with my real life name.

    The flipside is also true however, real names can be boring, many times when people see my characters they send me tells about how boring my characters name is and why don't I have any imagination. Well, I understand their point of view, I like the OP just want to see more realism in my MMOs.

    Here's hoping I have shown that not all players go with the strange and unique names in MMOs and that hopefully others will follow in our footsteps in making the MMO worlds more believable, realistic places.

    Thank you.

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  • madazzmadazz Member RarePosts: 2,100

    Worked in UO. When I booted it up for the first time I had no idea what I was getting into, so I just named my character "Buddy". Sure enough I ran into another 1 or 2 over the years I played. We had different skill sets, armour, and notes on our character sheet. I do recall our guild master having 2-3 other guys with the same name as well. Thing is, they never had the same title "Glorious Lord" for instance, or the same clothing, or the same notes. I loved that there could be multiples of the same name. Someone abused it once (that I recall), but like real life, the community punished them ;) Now a days everyone looks to get babysat so we try to remove every little thing that COULD become a problem. Would be nice if a game came out that offered it again so I wasn't forced to use something ridiculous. Heck, add in last names like some do.

     

    And to the guy who thinks "bloody hump" is a pirate name, "bloody stump" imo actually makes much more sense.

  • QuizzicalQuizzical Member LegendaryPosts: 25,347
    Originally posted by Nitth

     


    Originally posted by Reizla

    Originally posted by The scavenger
    So, Guild Wars 2 and 1 are only ones I'm aware of that have proper names. Why can't I be John in an MMO if it is already used? In real life, there are hundreds of thousands (if not more) Johns. Parents aren't forced to not name their child John because there is already a John. Guild Wars 2 and 1 allow last names, so I can be John Ozay or John Smith.  There's more than one of those in the world as well ;-)


    Originally posted by Nitth
    They need a unique ID to have you in the database? or would you prefer to send mail and such to c0807b908n798767 ?

    In Star Trek online (and I guess Champions online as well), there are more players with the same name in-game. There the link is set to the account instead the character. When you communicate with Admiral Kirk, you're actually chatting PlayerX instead of PlayerY who has picked the same (obvious) nick.

     

    Also worth to mention, lots of Asian MMO's allow the usage of dots and underscores in names. This way you can name your char with a first and last name as well...


     

    Even still, The master account in this case has to be unique.

    If having a unique ID is the barrier, then it's pretty easy to give every player in the game a unique ID number for internal database use without ever showing it to the player.

  • SimphanaticSimphanatic Member Posts: 92
    Originally posted by madazz

    And to the guy who thinks "bloody hump" is a pirate name, "bloody stump" imo actually makes much more sense.

    Regrettably, Bloody Stump had already been taken; besides, I'm not a guy and as a Cutthroat Pirate (one of two classes of pirate in the game), I wanted a name for my avatar that was particularly repugnant. Trust me, my normal modus operandi is to play quite upright, straight-arrow type characters (even my SWTOR Imperials were good guys), so with PotBS I decided to be just as vile as possible in every respect.

     

    Now, for the person who said he uses his real name in-game; that's something I'd advise against, particularly girls and women. I have to go waaaaaaaaay back for this, but my very first online game was an early text-based mmo. Being young, dumb, and particularly naive, I did use my real name. At length, some creep decided it would be fun to stalk me. I received phone calls and he eventually showed up outside my school. I was 14 years old, he was at least 40. Besides my name, I'd never given up anything except the state where I lived, but he still managed to find me. Huge huge lesson learned. 

  • ElikalElikal Member UncommonPosts: 7,912

    I am with you in this, OP. Bad naming systems have been a source of endless pain to me. I just recently tried out DCU again, and making a new char I literally spent 30 minutes, getting "Name already taken" a 1000 times, until I took something totally useless.

    Also a really great pain was, when my 3 dear SWTOR chars, two level 50 and one level 45, I had played since day 1, after being forced to move to another server by Bioware, where ALL taken because some low level noobs on the destiny server had them. So I lost the names of my chars I had played all through their stories. I am still mad thinking about that.

    Either make surnames from the get go or like Champions have an account name + char name and the char names then can be given endlessly often.

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  • sekuharadaioosekuharadaioo Member Posts: 22

    That shouldn't be any techinical problem. But consider this, how are you going to whisper John Smith if there is more than one?

     

    Diablo 3 and Starcraft 2 allow same names with an ID, like John#1234. Problem is, you can't whisper or mail the John without having him in your friend list or clicking to reply. 

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  • Trudge34Trudge34 Member UncommonPosts: 392
    I don't have a problem with not allowing multiple character names on a server as much as the absolutely stupid name some people come up with. Just look at the Reddit article on some of the GW2 bannings for character names. Most things with a period or something regarding "yurmom" is pretty stupid to me...

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