If a name isnt offensive/racist/vulgar/copyrighted,etc i honestly dont care. In fact i think every uptight, anal retentive, busy body that feels the need to try and dictate what others should call themselves in a game should be sterilized if not shot dead.

I don't mind creative names, even if they are out of character for the game. Like the Hunter named Dazed and his pet named Confused. (Dazed & Confused, hehe). That inspired me to roll a Hunter named Bonnie & I named my pet Clyde.

I did have a guildmate once who would always start of a quest or dungeon by saying "OK, do we have all our ducks in a row?.  So I rolled a character named Duxina Reaux.

Originally posted by karter64

I don't mind creative names, even if they are out of character for the game. Like the Hunter named Dazed and his pet named Confused. (Dazed & Confused, hehe). That inspired me to roll a Hunter named Bonnie & I named my pet Clyde.

I did have a guildmate once who would always start of a quest or dungeon by saying "OK, do we have all our ducks in a row?.  So I rolled a character named Duxina Reaux.

 

 

 

Made me laugh.

I once tried to name my boar pet in WoW "Kosher". Game wouldn't let me.

Meh. To me the whole naming controversey is a big load of "so f*cking what". If someone wants to pic a goofy name, no skin off my back. Its their in game actions that are important to me.

I'm honestly not sure which faction in this little conundrum does more damage. People with mildly silly to outrageously silly names can indeed break game immersion for other players and that expression of personality can also foreshadow that they are one of the truly socially retarded that haunt these games these days.

However I also feel the opposite faction of parsimminous, snobbish, dickweeds that make blanket and snap decsions about other players based only on a factor such as character name or a messurement such as gear score, without bothering to ever try to get to know the living breathing human being on the other side of the computer screen, are a major factor on why todays MMO comunities have become the festering snakepits they are today as well.

Personally I feel vilifying and excluding other players for superficial reasons to be a shade worse for the over all gaming community than the player that decides he'd really like to name his personal character "Admiral Snackbar" or "James T Jerk".

"Why do you ask, Two Dogs F*cking?"

You missed a few, the ones that use special characters in their names, mainly so you can't easily report them.  Also those that use all those "x"s and underlines surrounding a name.  Finally those that have to mix every other character with an uppercase one(nothing like announcing to the world you are 12 or under).

Lastly this is a RPG you are playing, names are quite important to a lot of people.  So yeah, pick a stupid name and suffer the consequences.

Originally posted by rygard49

I knew I had seen that sign before... and now I remember that it's in the Cali desert b/w Barstow and Las Vegas... haha.  Named for the "town" that it goes to.

On point though... I undertand the frustration and was annoyed for a long time... but now I kind of like the fact that these names speak volumes in a finite space, allowing me to either avoid or engage another player.  Stereotyping you say?  Hell yeah... when it works =)

I would also point out names that are a little weirdly too lore friendly, though no examples come to mind (wracking my brain over where the hell that road is took a toll).  Heavy, heavy RPers can be just as douchey.

This reminds me of a time I was playing an instance in DCUO. I was playing an ice villainess named "Snowfake." I.e. FAKE. Like, Fake snow, or implying that the character has a "fake" personality or alter-ego.I thought it was a funny, comic-booky name to use for a villain in DCUO.

The people in the instance somehow got on the topic of villain names and were ranting (in voice chat, mind you) about how so many people try to pick names that are "too serious" for villain names. Then they mentioned aloud, "What kind of name is 'Snow Flake'? I mean really? A flake of snow? Come on."

At that point I activated my mic and tried to yell back at them, "Read it again, it says Snow FAKE, how is that a serious villain name?" But suddenly my mic produced extremely loud feedback in the chat channel and they all started screaming into their mics in agony...

Oh well...

Originally posted by Tardcore

Meh. To me the whole naming controversey is a big load of "so f*cking what". If someone wants to pic a goofy name, no skin off my back. Its their in game actions that are important to me.

 

I'm honestly not sure which faction in this little conundrum does more damage. People with mildly silly to outrageously silly names can indeed break game immersion for other players and that expression of personality can also foreshadow that they are one of the truly socially retarded that haunt these games these days.

However I also feel the opposite faction of parsimminous, snobbish, dickweeds that make blanket and snap decsions about other players based only on a factor such as character name or a messurement such as gear score, without bothering to ever try to get to know the living breathing human being on the other side of the computer screen, are a major factor on why todays MMO comunities have become the festering snakepits they are today as well.

Personally I feel vilifying and excluding other players for superficial reasons to be a shade worse for the over all gaming community than the player that decides he'd really like to name his personal character "Admiral Snackbar" or "James T Jerk".

 

"Why do you ask, Two Dogs F*cking?"

Thing is, a person's name is a representation of themselves. In an MMO its that all-important first-impression. People see someone named "didurmom" running around and think, "what kind of person chooses something like that for a name?" More often than not, the answer is someone who is immature, childish, and not desirable to associate with. Maybe thats not who "didurmom" is at all, but that first impression is already made, and if people disassociate with him because of it, he has no one to blame but himself.

What gets me are the people who make off-the-wall and/or offensive names, and still expect others to show them some respect. The world just doesn't work that way.

I often times either make up a name that sounds like it would fit the game world or I name my characters after plants (that sound decent as names). Had characters named Ficus (hume) and BigSquid (galka) in Final Fantasy XI years and years ago. (Galka are commonly given names like that similar to stereotypical Native American names for those unfamiliar with the game).

There is a difference between judging a person based on their given birthname and judging based on a name they chose themselves. A person usually does not choose their birthname, they do not choose their genes, they don't choose their parents and their initial social class, etc. 

However, there are many things people can choose. They  can choose to smoke, they can choose to be fat, they can choose their education to a certain extent, they can choose their manners, they can choose their friends and they can certainly choose their virtual name. Everything a person can actively choose should be a basis for judging them. 

Here is one I saw in wow a lot:

People putting 'qt' on the end of their names.  Usually paired with something about their class.

rogueqt (or rougeqt)

pewpewqt

deathgripqt

Edit:Just out of curiosity, I armoried those names to see if they are in use.  Sure enough there are 8 Deathgripqts, 13 Pewpewqts, 25 Rogueqts, and 2 Rougeqts

I kind of like the ones that are clever or funny without being lame, copied or overly immature. Anything that brings a laugh or a light moment. And even some immature ones are funny or don't really represent the player. I have a friend who made  a "Dildo Daggins". Funny the first time you see it and doesn't represent him as person or gamer, but that he has a strange sense of humor. I do hate the Drizzt or Legolas copies-just for their frequency and lack of effort to think of something original, but I still will group with anyone regardless, until they prove to be a bad player or person.

I judge players based on name because it is almost a tag as to whether or not they are going to be friend-worthy players. I would never run any instance/dungeon with a player that has an offensive name. It is more than likely these players are not good players and will probably do something really stupid. One bad player can ruin an otherwise good instance/dungeon. Something I like doing is finding random words in dictionaries and using those as names ( Stalwart, Stoic, Scapegoat, Torpid ).

You forgot the players that just use Final Fantasy Character names: "Cloud, Sephiroth, Yuna, Tidus". They generally have extra letters on the end or beginning of the name because they apparently are very popular names.

Some distasteful names I've seen in various MMORPGs:

- Horsecox

- Fetusman

- Iamgod

What other people name their characters has never really bothered me that much, though I'll admit it does irk me a little when I see people on RP realms with idiot names like "Istabzu" or "Pwnface" (yes I've seen both) but hey, not everyone plays on an RP realm to RP I suppose...

I used to just assume anyone who was RP'ing with a character that didn't have an RP name (and by that I mean names similar to the two I listed above) was just trolling but I've since come to accept that some folks probably weren't interested in RP when they first made their characters but have decided to give it a shot and they can't afford/don't want a name change. When it comes to RP I'm willing to give everyone a shot despite whatever name happens to be floating above their character.

ChuckNorrisFTW

You sure you call yourself Coyote in every game you play?? Now, now, dont lie to us :P

Actually, I think these types of names are very useful!   They let me know who not to team with.....

Nice article that I totaly agree with.

I tend to use obscure references, like from games I played in the past, and occasionally meet someone who recognizes it. Good convo starter.