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General: Naming Your MMO Baby
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
There's no question that most of us identify with our online MMO characters. To that end, the name we choose generally -means- something to us. In a new editorial today, we take a look at how and why we name our 'babies' as we do. Read on!
Starting a new MMORPG is one of my favorite things, because this is a time when you get to be really creative if you want to. After selecting your perfect look, deciding between those last two hair styles or armor pieces that will top off the image you want to project of your brand new superhero, spy, bounty hunter, elf, or giant feline, is naming your character. Do you use the random generators? Not care much and just take whatever’s available? Come up with a jokey moniker? Reuse the name you’ve been using since your MUD days in 1996? Or are you like me and invest time and thought into each character’s name based upon multiple factors?
Read more of Christina Gonzalez's Naming Your MMO Baby.
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Comments
Was your characters name Morgase?
I support Middlesboro FC (for sins in a past life), boro fans get nicknamed smoggies, as the only boro fan in my town I have been called Smog or Smoggy most of my life.
My mmo names are always, Smog, Smogg, Smoggy, Smoggles etc etc just my nicknames in RL really.
Sometimes use a random generator sometimes I sit and think about it. Depends on how up to the task I feel when creating a character. Sometimes I use words or portions of words from random things sitting on my computer desk.
It's a proven historical fact that beer saved humankind.
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.
Mine is Keller. When first and last name are present, Keller is the last name. Due to the nature of this name, I always pick a human race.
I am the same way when it comes to naming my chars. I have never and will never name my chars something like Pwner69 or LeeTNooBSlayeR. To me it shows a complete lack of intelligence and imo points to people that are still holding a grudge from when they found out santa wasnt real.
Why even play an RPG if you choose to name your chars with such a mindless lack of imagination? I have played MMORPGs since the days of UO and AC and have seen way to many names like that. In my experiance people that give so little thought to naming their chars and use names that basiclly fill that need to mark their own self worth, are the first ones to wipe a raid or group run, or not heal someone(the list goes on) all because they believe they are the better at whatever they do and it couldnt possibly be their fault for the failure.
Though I do personally love clever names and will always give pass and compliment to people that spend the time to come up with them. Gotta love a Ched Hur or Yoh Duh!
All Murlocs must die horrible, painful, bloody deaths!
lol. There is a lot of stupid in that reply.
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 want a mmorpg where people have gone through misery, have gone through school stuff and actually have had sex even. -sagil
I tend to do some research so that my name conforms to the lore. For example, in SWTOR and in SWG most of my characters had names based on Quechua or Aymara, the south american languages that Huttese was loosely based on.
"Never met a pack of humans that were any different. Look at the idiots that get elected every couple of years. You really consider those guys more mature than us? The only difference between us and them is, when they gank some noobs and take their stuff, the noobs actually die." - Madimorga
I only skimmed through this article, but wasn't this pretty much covered by Coyote last week?
What GI Joe? I NEED TO KNOW!!
or along the lines of my main, Eyesmokeganj
lol. To be perfectly honest, you are certainly the worst. Haha.
I wouldnt roll on an RP server with names like that so I dont see anything wrong with it.
Lifeline
I want a mmorpg where people have gone through misery, have gone through school stuff and actually have had sex even. -sagil
I take mine from writers, movies and artists, generally.
I have kind of offbeat tastes in books and movies, so I rarely find my names have been taken.
My main's first name came from a writer, my legacy name came from a character in a play, and my alt's name came from one of the first science fiction movies (well, the first that I know of, from 1924). Yeesh, that all sounds rather pretentious, but at least the names weren't taken!
Oddly, despite the above I don't really care about what anyone else calls their characters, just what I call my own. I only ever reported a name once and that name was 'Sucmabalz', and I mostly reported it for sheer idiocy.
Violence??!! No!!!!!!!!
To be honest, the roleplaying names are much easier for me to remember. I've seen so much "thug4life", "gankenstein, and "legolazz" that I can't tell the difference anymore.
i usualy use these:
http://rinkworks.com/namegen/
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/20010208b
http://www.seventhsanctum.com/index-name.php
sometimes, mostly in games i just try or not taking too serious, i use something with lot of 'X' and numbers in it for fun...
You should use Tupac in Star Wars so you can get in some epic nerd-ups-man-ship when someone calls you out for having an inappropriate name. (Tupac was named after an Inca king, Huttese is based on Inca languages)
"Never met a pack of humans that were any different. Look at the idiots that get elected every couple of years. You really consider those guys more mature than us? The only difference between us and them is, when they gank some noobs and take their stuff, the noobs actually die." - Madimorga
I have had so many names over the years. I usually try to come up with something clever that fits into the type of game I'm playing. I want it to fit the character also. My name on Tribes was SniperCSniperDo, My FFA PVP game characters are usually named Legion or Seppuku. I am Dontaze_Mebro on PS3 network. SO look me up, and do try to be a little creative. Remember names with numbers in them are for pedo's
"I am not in a server with Gankers...THEY ARE IN A SERVER WITH ME!!!"
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." Fix the spelling a bit to fit English and, as always happens with nicknames, it got shortened over time, to Sputt. I had already used it outside of games in the early 90s, but it didn't stick until I competed in Quake when it was new (so, late 96?).
Alt names are trickier. Usually I end up using a word in my native tongue, a word that has the quality of whatever I'm playing. A tank could be "the brick", a mesmer/enchanter could be "pretending". a fire mage could be "sizzle", etc.
Oh.. I do have a name that amuses me to no end, and it translates loosely to "honey", "darling" or "loved one". Whenever I log in and guild chat scrolls by as "Hi, Honey!" or "wb, Darling", it cracks me up. Positive reinforcement, right?
(mind you, I don't speak Russian and the translation she used for sputnik could be wrong - it doesn't matter any more)
Well, I too hate immersion-breaking names, but there is one awesome name in SWTOR I've seen - "Steakhouse." And all his/her characters are named different types of steak. I lol'd.
100% with author on immersion breaker names. I understand that some people couldn't care less how their characters named. But it still hurts the eye. Mos Quito and Steakhouse excluded, of course.
Clever and/or humorous is adorable. 