I have a name for each type of MMO genre, if I can't take it I make up an new one and pester the person who has my name. You know the sort of thing, /tell, stalking, spreading lies about them. Once they have given up I take my prize and just flaunt that name.
That takes up about a months gaming, then I actually start getting into the game and seeing if I want to play it.
I often use some Finnish words so that Finnish speakers will identify me and can speak Finnish together with me.
There's a story behind it: In WoW vanilla I played duo from about level 10 to level 30 with another Finn, both speaking English all the time, until we realized we're both from Finland and could just speak our native language. After that experience I started using Finnish words as my name in MMOs.
I've found a great appreciation for games that allow ascii characters so I can replace the vowels in my favorite names. I'll use the same name 7 or 8 times in the same game when they allow this.
I guess in my mind, I'm just creating an alternate interpretation of the same character.
I find names I like. I actually keep a list of 5 male/female names I like and also have names that are not gender specific. If they are taken, I find other ways to spell them.
I usually research meanings of names based on my character concept, character history, and the sound of it.
For example... my husband and I are going to be playing in a Vampire by Gaslight V20 game very soon. I went online and researched names, and it didn't take too long. Given that the character is supposed to be a Noble women with the title of Baroness and the daughter of the 4th Baron North in English who had 14 children, plus common names of the time period, and the meaning behind the name, I chose Baroness Hannah North. It is the lowest title available and gives her the ability to be a Lady in Waiting to the Queen in the 1680s, and allowing her to develop excellent social skills to play the game. Given that she would be roughly 20 years old at the time of her embrace, and thus right around Ancilla at the time the game takes place, since we would be playing under the time of Prince Mithras (though he's been in torpor the last 60 years), it places me in an excellent position to play a proper game of thrones. It should be a great deal of fun.
For online games, I form a much more vague concept of what I want the character to stand for, and google names based on that. Usually in the realm of strength, knowledge, wisdom, beauty, etc. Sometimes based on how they look, the location they were born, etc.
But I will never just pull something out of my behind and go with it. I take pride in my characters, no matter where they come from.
If your favorite name is taken, add one X at a time until it works.
Over the years of playing online games, i made up a nice collection of names that i like. Naming a character in a new game is never a problem to me and it never happened that even one of them was taken.
Either use your imagination or go with XxXLeg0lazXxX.
Totally depends on my mood along with traditional names I've used for decades. My three main characters in the MMO I currently play are Bardolo, Silver Spork and Walks with Thunder... see what I mean?
"Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community ... but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots”
― Umberto Eco
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?” ― CD PROJEKT RED
Got 4 standard names, 1 male, 3 female. Also got a standard surname for those games requiring one. Gathered them over the last +/- 15 years and back when I was really playing MMOs the hardcore way I would write entire background stories on them, even switching mains became en essay of its own once with full name explanation etc.
Those days are gone, the names are still here, my 17+ year old guild knows me by these names, even in RL. They are my history, they are me, the same goes for my guildmates of which I have met many in RL and have buried one too.
/Cheers, Lahnmir
'the only way he could nail it any better is if he used a cross.'
Kyleran on yours sincerely
'But there are many. You can play them entirely solo, and even offline. Also, you are wrong by default.'
Ikcin in response to yours sincerely debating whether or not single-player offline MMOs exist...
'This does not apply just to ED but SC or any other game. What they will get is Rebirth/X4, likely prettier but equally underwhelming and pointless.
It is incredibly difficult to design some meaningfull leg content that would fit a space ship game - simply because it is not a leg game.
It is just huge resource waste....'
Gdemami absolutely not being an armchair developer
I try to use a play on words that also describe what the character is. It's usually something with a double meaning that ties in from something else. I also try to make them funny.
For example, a Gnome Rogue called Sackeyhack. Or a Druid called Rogueybear
Easy. They've to fit both the character and the setting. If I can't find a nice name over at behindthename(I often take apart a name and combine root words), I'll find it by googling(such as Twi'Lek or Zabrak names / words). I even went so far as to create a true Sith name(yes, in their Dark Language). If there isn't any obvious inspiration, I'll just review a bunch of NPC names, find the common denominator and work from there(such as Khajiit names for example). I will not use silly names tho.
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what
it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience
because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in
the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you
playing an MMORPG?"
Over the past 2 years I've collected names and kept them in a notepad, i try all those names, if by some strange magic all of them are taken, i type in random letters and add things in between until it sounds appealing.
depends on type of game ofc,if space based or present i fire up the star wars universe star chart you simply get hundreds if not thousands of cool names,if rpg type i use old actor names.
I have 2-3 names that I came up with back in the 90's for AD&D table-top that are almost guaranteed to not be taken and if they are it's are easy to make variations on them.
SWG was the first MMO I ever played and the random name generator provided pretty coherent but unlikely names. I adopted most of the ones they gave me and have almost never had a problem getting them in games I play. It's a good thing too. The rare occasion someone lifted my 'main' name, I refused to play that game.
Most of my main names are from my old p&p D&D days. If you had a decent DM, you would quickly find yourself dead with a name like Boogehubes or Darrell. As a result, I rarely have issues with others taking my names.
One, comes from the SWG name generator. For the most part, it did a pretty good job at generating names, so I kept it. Others I just make up based on how I want the character to be. I wouldn't name an Amazon Warrior Arwyn, for example. She would need a good, strong name, like Xena.
Comments
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shawn_Kemp
I have a name for each type of MMO genre, if I can't take it I make up an new one and pester the person who has my name. You know the sort of thing, /tell, stalking, spreading lies about them. Once they have given up I take my prize and just flaunt that name.
That takes up about a months gaming, then I actually start getting into the game and seeing if I want to play it.
There's a story behind it: In WoW vanilla I played duo from about level 10 to level 30 with another Finn, both speaking English all the time, until we realized we're both from Finland and could just speak our native language. After that experience I started using Finnish words as my name in MMOs.
So Beefus Hardcheese would be a male warrior in a silly game, stolen from MST3K.
Ashbeard is of course Dwarven, in a fairly serious game stolen from Tolkein.
After that I just throw syllables together until I like the sound.
I guess in my mind, I'm just creating an alternate interpretation of the same character.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
For example... my husband and I are going to be playing in a Vampire by Gaslight V20 game very soon. I went online and researched names, and it didn't take too long. Given that the character is supposed to be a Noble women with the title of Baroness and the daughter of the 4th Baron North in English who had 14 children, plus common names of the time period, and the meaning behind the name, I chose Baroness Hannah North. It is the lowest title available and gives her the ability to be a Lady in Waiting to the Queen in the 1680s, and allowing her to develop excellent social skills to play the game. Given that she would be roughly 20 years old at the time of her embrace, and thus right around Ancilla at the time the game takes place, since we would be playing under the time of Prince Mithras (though he's been in torpor the last 60 years), it places me in an excellent position to play a proper game of thrones. It should be a great deal of fun.
For online games, I form a much more vague concept of what I want the character to stand for, and google names based on that. Usually in the realm of strength, knowledge, wisdom, beauty, etc. Sometimes based on how they look, the location they were born, etc.
But I will never just pull something out of my behind and go with it. I take pride in my characters, no matter where they come from.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
Those days are gone, the names are still here, my 17+ year old guild knows me by these names, even in RL. They are my history, they are me, the same goes for my guildmates of which I have met many in RL and have buried one too.
/Cheers,
Lahnmir
Kyleran on yours sincerely
'But there are many. You can play them entirely solo, and even offline. Also, you are wrong by default.'
Ikcin in response to yours sincerely debating whether or not single-player offline MMOs exist...
'This does not apply just to ED but SC or any other game. What they will get is Rebirth/X4, likely prettier but equally underwhelming and pointless.
It is incredibly difficult to design some meaningfull leg content that would fit a space ship game - simply because it is not a leg game.
It is just huge resource waste....'
Gdemami absolutely not being an armchair developer
It's hit and miss: You might have trouble getting Tasslehoff, but might not. Drizzt is (always please) right out.
For example, a Gnome Rogue called Sackeyhack. Or a Druid called Rogueybear
Other than Gorwe that is! hahaha
Epic Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAigCvelkhQ&list=PLo9FRw1AkDuQLEz7Gvvaz3ideB2NpFtT1
https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos?&sort=-downloads&page=1
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you playing an MMORPG?"
One, comes from the SWG name generator. For the most part, it did a pretty good job at generating names, so I kept it. Others I just make up based on how I want the character to be. I wouldn't name an Amazon Warrior Arwyn, for example. She would need a good, strong name, like Xena.