When I see a character that has a stupid name, one that obviously shows they made no attempt to fit the genre and consciously decided to be ignorant by blatently circumventing the naming policy, I want to first slap them several times, then punch them in the stomach, and while they are huddled over, kick out their kneecaps.
Here is a fun idea, what if you could rename any player to anything you want? In other words, if you ran into somebody named God Hater or something, and you were offended, you could right click on them and choose 'rename'. Then type in any name for this player you want. This system is used in some non-game chat software. From then on you would see that name over their character, and that name if they send you a message, and when you send to that name the game automatically sends to the player. Everyone else will still see the original name (unless they too rename the player). Now, when you are offended, you can fix the problem yourself. Players who aren't offended can leave them as they are. Another nice feature, you can change a long name to something short and easy to type. Your only limit would be that you can't rename someone to the same alternate name you used on another player. Of course, in voice chat you might have a little difficulty if you renamed someone Bonehead and use that to refer to them... Jatar CitadelofSorcery.com
Great idea! I'll add it to The GAME feature list immediately!
Feel free to add it to 'The Game' feature list, it's already a part of the system for our MMO project, Citadel of Sorcery.
That is, without a doubt, the best answer to the naming problem that I have ever read.
And to the guy who had someone call him a Mexican Jew Lizard (which made me laugh hysterically when I read it): Some people like to string together words that they feel represent bad things in nonsensical ways when they get angry. It's like their already low IQ takes a nosedive when the rage hits, and they can't even swear like a semi-intelligent person. I have been called somethings online that didn't really offend me so much as make me laugh until I cried. Son of Jesus Nerf-f***er is one of the more memorable ones. Son of Jesus? Huh? Nerf-F***er? Is that really supposed to offend me? It's especially funny when other start laughing at them for their nonsense too. You can't really type something like that in general chat and expect nobody to laugh at you for it.
Agent_X7 AKA J Star [/URL] Notice: The views expressed in this post are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of MMORPG.com or its management.
There was one name I was discusted with in World of Warcraft.. They had named their character: HoneySnatch.. Now, that just grossed me out to all end!! How that got past the name filter is beyond me
I am NOT a prude by any means, but good Lord.. give me a break here!!!
I'm in favor of using whatever names aren't racial/sexual/religious. I thought the Vanguard forced naming rules sucked and it put a bitter taste in my mouth even in early beta. To log in one day and find 4 of my 5 characters arbitrarily renamed (with no explanations either) was ridiculous. One of the names I understood. It was a test character (this was beta after all) but it had only been logged in once and that was three weeks prior but I just hadn't bothered to delete it yet. But then again, there were plenty of choices there that have been recognized as being poor on a broader scale.
As usual with MMORPG problems, the naming dilema could be circumvented rather easily if developers put in a little thought.
For example, why should I be able to see your name at all? Remove the daft hovering name over their heads and autolabel them 'player x' where x is a number which starts at 1 and increments for each new player you target or posts in chat. The labeling would reset with each zone or on logging off. Then also allow you to attach your own choice of name to any player - this could be a nickname, or the name they give when you ask them for their name. Every character would have an invisible serial number for the game to identify them by.
This seems reasonably simple to implement, would instantly remove the naming problems, and would make the game feel more 'real'.
As usual with MMORPG problems, the naming dilema could be circumvented rather easily if developers put in a little thought. For example, why should I be able to see your name at all? Remove the daft hovering name over their heads and autolabel them 'player x' where x is a number which starts at 1 and increments for each new player you target or posts in chat. The labeling would reset with each zone or on logging off. Then also allow you to attach your own choice of name to any player - this could be a nickname, or the name they give when you ask them for their name. Every character would have an invisible serial number for the game to identify them by. This seems reasonably simple to implement, would instantly remove the naming problems, and would make the game feel more 'real'.
Because in some games (old SWG, EVE-Online and others) you build a rep within the community with your name.
In SWG we had a crafter in our guild that was known all across the server for his weapons. In EVE people become known for their actions all this requires a name
Because in some games (old SWG, EVE-Online and others) you build a rep within the community with your name. In SWG we had a crafter in our guild that was known all across the server for his weapons. In EVE people become known for their actions all this requires a name
There is nothing in my suggestion preventing him from having a name. All he needs to do is tell them his name when they ask.
Do you have a name in real life? How do people know what it is? Does it float over your head in gold letters?
Originally posted by Terminus-EstOriginally posted by Wacoede Because in some games (old SWG, EVE-Online and others) you build a rep within the community with your name. In SWG we had a crafter in our guild that was known all across the server for his weapons. In EVE people become known for their actions all this requires a name
There is nothing in my suggestion preventing him from having a name. All he needs to do is tell them his name when they ask.
Do you have a name in real life? How do people know what it is? Does it float over your head in gold letters?
It's valuable to see a name even though it may be unrealistic. People earn bad reputations and you would want to avoid grouping with them and not just rely on them being truthful about their identity. Also in a PvP environment, someone may be a notorious killer, so to identify them ahead of time could mean the difference between living or dying.
I am a big proponent of realism in MMOGs, but with an on/off switch, those who don't want to see names can remove them and it isn't a disadvantage to play alongside players who retain the feature.
Regardless, players who don't adopt the spirit of the game and try to create names that fit the genre, should either be forced to change their names or be banned. They need to get with the program and not ruin the experience for others.
In real life, you don't get a say in what your name is going to be. You're welcome to make people call you by any name you like. And, if the local authorities allow it, you can sometimes even change your actual name.
That's why the comparison with real names doesn't really work. There's no such authority in games and when there is, people rebel against it. Players feel their character's name should reflect their personality or (ab)use their name to make a statement.
Of course, you could be 'born' into an MMO with your name generated for you, perhaps dependant on lineage and the region you were born in. But picking a name is an attractive part of character creation for any RPG and just getting a name at birth is a bit more realism than most players will want to stomach.
Any democratic way you could devise of players allowing other players' names is doomed to fail for all sorts of reasons, which has you end up in the somewhat shady area of technological solutions to naming restrictions.
The only real reason to want to restrict naming in the first place is the sheer scale of MMO-type games. You're not only likely, but almost certain to get people in one game that are all across the spectrum. From rebellious teen-aged 1337 to mellow retired role players. In real life, these people aren't likely to end up in a single game or group, but the net is the great equalizer.
Whether that means there is a real need for regulation of names or just that it's just utopian to want to invent a system that nobody takes offense to ... I'm going with the latter.
Speaking as an old-school paper and pencil gamer, the trouble players have with creative names is nothing new.
As far as odd-ball names go, sometimes rather enjoy them....I find weird names (like the aforementioned moomookitty) as creative as something "genuine." And as for the leet-speak names and the "pwned you" this and "yomudda" that names....well, I like those names too, because it tells me right away I can avoid those people in play, and if the game forced them to use "normal" names then I wouldn't have any warning I was grouping with a brain-dead nimrod (or 12yo, same difference) until it was too late...
As usual with MMORPG problems, the naming dilema could be circumvented rather easily if developers put in a little thought. For example, why should I be able to see your name at all? Remove the daft hovering name over their heads and autolabel them 'player x' where x is a number which starts at 1 and increments for each new player you target or posts in chat. The labeling would reset with each zone or on logging off. Then also allow you to attach your own choice of name to any player - this could be a nickname, or the name they give when you ask them for their name. Every character would have an invisible serial number for the game to identify them by. This seems reasonably simple to implement, would instantly remove the naming problems, and would make the game feel more 'real'.
Because in some games (old SWG, EVE-Online and others) you build a rep within the community with your name.
In SWG we had a crafter in our guild that was known all across the server for his weapons. In EVE people become known for their actions all this requires a name
Not to mention, in RL you can identify a person by how they look....until we get virtual reality, MMO characters are often a bit too similar in appearance to be identified by site only, so it's a necessary circumvention in an MMO to help us recognize one another. Sure, the first time I see "Gonnagitusucka" I think, "dumb name." When I see him two weeks later, I'll say, "hey, there he goes again!" But with numbers, I might accidentally group with him...more than once.....>shudder<
People should remember that it was the introduction of filtering software on AOL, Prodigy, and the like in the chat rooms that brought about all this 13375p3@k. When they filtered out the bad words or topics that they did not want discussed it was then that they started coming up with diffrent ways to beat it leading to using numbers and punctuation to represent letters and it spread like wildfire.
If they come up with systems that filter leet out you will likely just lead to the next leet, and it will probably be worse.
I can't remember the name of it but one of the proposed MMOs that lost funding when their backers hit unexpected hard times. For the nationality of your character they would have a "Big List of Family Names" that would list all the names for all the races in that nation. As you picked the name A map of the nation with starting locals would appear. Coloured blobs would mark the areas that that surname was common. after you pick a blob you get an index of traditional and non-traditional names available to that surname in that area. Non traditional names were ones taken from other regions, other familys, or races.
After that you got to choose an apprenticeship to give you a title ("Hey Cartwright... bring that wheel over here!") and you could pick a nickname or wait for NPCs and PCs to give you one based on something you did or that happened to you. If as another player you disliked the nick you could blockit and just see the original name.
The other shame was that like EVE players were to make the lions share of the items in the world, but unlike EVE the quality could vary, you could at a certain level of quality add minor graphic tweaks to the item and all items you make would bear your name and mark.
Leet speak annoys me to no end. I don't know if it is becuase these leet kids try to be annoying or that i've just become so old.
My guilty pleasure. When I see a PVE player with a leet name and that player is having trouble I let him die. If the player is flagged for PVP and I know I can own him, I go out of my way to kill him.
D13 1337 k1D5 D13
Asheron's Call, Champions Online, Dark Age of Camelot, EVE Online, EverQuest, Lineage 2, Star Wars Galaxies and World of Warcraft.Waiting for SWTOR
Just becarefull how often you do it, because if you do it enough and some gm figures it out or you get reported when the leetspeek crowd realize you are targeting them becuase of their names, some MMOs will makr that as harrasment and take punitive actions on your accout holdings.
Of course you have to do something like brag about it in the wrong place or time for someone to catch on, but I have seen people get turffed from some games for it.
And btw most of the people I know who use leet in their names are atleast 20 something. They grew up in chatrooms and on IM.
They should have different types of RP servers... the regular "play acting" RP server and a few Immersive servers.. (the latter is the one I'd pick for my own taste).
I don't want to RP per say... sometime I do it jokingly... but what I really want is an environment that is untarnished by it's player base...
Comments
When I see a character that has a stupid name, one that obviously shows they made no attempt to fit the genre and consciously decided to be ignorant by blatently circumventing the naming policy, I want to first slap them several times, then punch them in the stomach, and while they are huddled over, kick out their kneecaps.
Great idea! I'll add it to The GAME feature list immediately!
Feel free to add it to 'The Game' feature list, it's already a part of the system for our MMO project, Citadel of Sorcery.
That is, without a doubt, the best answer to the naming problem that I have ever read.
And to the guy who had someone call him a Mexican Jew Lizard (which made me laugh hysterically when I read it): Some people like to string together words that they feel represent bad things in nonsensical ways when they get angry. It's like their already low IQ takes a nosedive when the rage hits, and they can't even swear like a semi-intelligent person. I have been called somethings online that didn't really offend me so much as make me laugh until I cried. Son of Jesus Nerf-f***er is one of the more memorable ones. Son of Jesus? Huh? Nerf-F***er? Is that really supposed to offend me? It's especially funny when other start laughing at them for their nonsense too. You can't really type something like that in general chat and expect nobody to laugh at you for it.
Agent_X7 AKA J Star
[/URL]
Notice: The views expressed in this post are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of MMORPG.com or its management.
Generally overall, names don't bother me ingame
BUT...
There was one name I was discusted with in World of Warcraft.. They had named their character: HoneySnatch.. Now, that just grossed me out to all end!! How that got past the name filter is beyond me
I am NOT a prude by any means, but good Lord.. give me a break here!!!
"Huntress"
I'm in favor of using whatever names aren't racial/sexual/religious. I thought the Vanguard forced naming rules sucked and it put a bitter taste in my mouth even in early beta. To log in one day and find 4 of my 5 characters arbitrarily renamed (with no explanations either) was ridiculous. One of the names I understood. It was a test character (this was beta after all) but it had only been logged in once and that was three weeks prior but I just hadn't bothered to delete it yet. But then again, there were plenty of choices there that have been recognized as being poor on a broader scale.
As usual with MMORPG problems, the naming dilema could be circumvented rather easily if developers put in a little thought.
For example, why should I be able to see your name at all? Remove the daft hovering name over their heads and autolabel them 'player x' where x is a number which starts at 1 and increments for each new player you target or posts in chat. The labeling would reset with each zone or on logging off. Then also allow you to attach your own choice of name to any player - this could be a nickname, or the name they give when you ask them for their name. Every character would have an invisible serial number for the game to identify them by.
This seems reasonably simple to implement, would instantly remove the naming problems, and would make the game feel more 'real'.
Because in some games (old SWG, EVE-Online and others) you build a rep within the community with your name.
In SWG we had a crafter in our guild that was known all across the server for his weapons. In EVE people become known for their actions all this requires a name
There is nothing in my suggestion preventing him from having a name. All he needs to do is tell them his name when they ask.
Do you have a name in real life? How do people know what it is? Does it float over your head in gold letters?
There is nothing in my suggestion preventing him from having a name. All he needs to do is tell them his name when they ask.
Do you have a name in real life? How do people know what it is? Does it float over your head in gold letters?
It's valuable to see a name even though it may be unrealistic. People earn bad reputations and you would want to avoid grouping with them and not just rely on them being truthful about their identity. Also in a PvP environment, someone may be a notorious killer, so to identify them ahead of time could mean the difference between living or dying.
I am a big proponent of realism in MMOGs, but with an on/off switch, those who don't want to see names can remove them and it isn't a disadvantage to play alongside players who retain the feature.
Regardless, players who don't adopt the spirit of the game and try to create names that fit the genre, should either be forced to change their names or be banned. They need to get with the program and not ruin the experience for others.
In real life, you don't get a say in what your name is going to be. You're welcome to make people call you by any name you like. And, if the local authorities allow it, you can sometimes even change your actual name.
That's why the comparison with real names doesn't really work. There's no such authority in games and when there is, people rebel against it. Players feel their character's name should reflect their personality or (ab)use their name to make a statement.
Of course, you could be 'born' into an MMO with your name generated for you, perhaps dependant on lineage and the region you were born in. But picking a name is an attractive part of character creation for any RPG and just getting a name at birth is a bit more realism than most players will want to stomach.
Any democratic way you could devise of players allowing other players' names is doomed to fail for all sorts of reasons, which has you end up in the somewhat shady area of technological solutions to naming restrictions.
The only real reason to want to restrict naming in the first place is the sheer scale of MMO-type games. You're not only likely, but almost certain to get people in one game that are all across the spectrum. From rebellious teen-aged 1337 to mellow retired role players. In real life, these people aren't likely to end up in a single game or group, but the net is the great equalizer.
Whether that means there is a real need for regulation of names or just that it's just utopian to want to invent a system that nobody takes offense to ... I'm going with the latter.
Greetings,
Grismar.
Speaking as an old-school paper and pencil gamer, the trouble players have with creative names is nothing new.
As far as odd-ball names go, sometimes rather enjoy them....I find weird names (like the aforementioned moomookitty) as creative as something "genuine." And as for the leet-speak names and the "pwned you" this and "yomudda" that names....well, I like those names too, because it tells me right away I can avoid those people in play, and if the game forced them to use "normal" names then I wouldn't have any warning I was grouping with a brain-dead nimrod (or 12yo, same difference) until it was too late...
Current MMOs: Rift, GW2, Defiance
Blog: http://realmsofchirak.blogspot.com (old school tabletop gaming and more)
Because in some games (old SWG, EVE-Online and others) you build a rep within the community with your name.
In SWG we had a crafter in our guild that was known all across the server for his weapons. In EVE people become known for their actions all this requires a name
Not to mention, in RL you can identify a person by how they look....until we get virtual reality, MMO characters are often a bit too similar in appearance to be identified by site only, so it's a necessary circumvention in an MMO to help us recognize one another. Sure, the first time I see "Gonnagitusucka" I think, "dumb name." When I see him two weeks later, I'll say, "hey, there he goes again!" But with numbers, I might accidentally group with him...more than once.....>shudder<
Current MMOs: Rift, GW2, Defiance
Blog: http://realmsofchirak.blogspot.com (old school tabletop gaming and more)
People should remember that it was the introduction of filtering software on AOL, Prodigy, and the like in the chat rooms that brought about all this 13375p3@k. When they filtered out the bad words or topics that they did not want discussed it was then that they started coming up with diffrent ways to beat it leading to using numbers and punctuation to represent letters and it spread like wildfire.
If they come up with systems that filter leet out you will likely just lead to the next leet, and it will probably be worse.
I can't remember the name of it but one of the proposed MMOs that lost funding when their backers hit unexpected hard times. For the nationality of your character they would have a "Big List of Family Names" that would list all the names for all the races in that nation. As you picked the name A map of the nation with starting locals would appear. Coloured blobs would mark the areas that that surname was common. after you pick a blob you get an index of traditional and non-traditional names available to that surname in that area. Non traditional names were ones taken from other regions, other familys, or races.
After that you got to choose an apprenticeship to give you a title ("Hey Cartwright... bring that wheel over here!") and you could pick a nickname or wait for NPCs and PCs to give you one based on something you did or that happened to you. If as another player you disliked the nick you could blockit and just see the original name.
The other shame was that like EVE players were to make the lions share of the items in the world, but unlike EVE the quality could vary, you could at a certain level of quality add minor graphic tweaks to the item and all items you make would bear your name and mark.
Leet speak annoys me to no end. I don't know if it is becuase these leet kids try to be annoying or that i've just become so old.
My guilty pleasure. When I see a PVE player with a leet name and that player is having trouble I let him die. If the player is flagged for PVP and I know I can own him, I go out of my way to kill him.
D13 1337 k1D5 D13
Asheron's Call, Champions Online, Dark Age of Camelot, EVE Online, EverQuest, Lineage 2, Star Wars Galaxies and World of Warcraft.Waiting for SWTOR
Of course you have to do something like brag about it in the wrong place or time for someone to catch on, but I have seen people get turffed from some games for it.
And btw most of the people I know who use leet in their names are atleast 20 something. They grew up in chatrooms and on IM.
They should have different types of RP servers... the regular "play acting" RP server and a few Immersive servers.. (the latter is the one I'd pick for my own taste).
I don't want to RP per say... sometime I do it jokingly... but what I really want is an environment that is untarnished by it's player base...