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Naming Your Character In RPGs?
Thanks to InsertCredit for their feature discussing the player-inputted choice for character names in videogames. They discuss some of the joys of DIY character naming ("Some people will buy an RPG, only to name the characters after their favorite profane words"), as well some more unlikely pleasures ("I became obsessed with buying used Final Fantasy VI cartridges for 100 yen at a certain game shop in Akihabara, just to see what all the characters had been named.") Taking a lead from this distinctly unconventional article, what names have Slashdot Games readers entered for characters in their favorite RPGs, and why?
Quake : cereal
/tell Azbywnwefcxxyx-III I'll buy that cloak for 5g
/tell Azbywnwefcxyxx-III I'll buy that cloak for 5g
/say sod it, I'll go buy one from the vendor for 10g
Half-life : King.Robo
Everquest : Cmunthen Alnawyer
DAOC : Urt Vert, Rong, Ryte
SWG : Bennt, '-'
A wise only RPGer will chose a short uncomplicated name
Azbywnwefcxxyxx-III Auctions 'Cloak of Thorns for sale'
Azbywnwefcxxyx-III is not in game
Azbywnwefcxyxx-III is not in game
There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
usually work the best for me. The Welsh alphabet uses the same 26 characters as english but the pronounciation and the dipthongs are more complex. Also all the dd's, ll's, and y's male the names properly fantasy like. However lately in games that I have several scenarios, I've taken to naming my characters after their class. It's easier to keep things straight.
Meddle thou not in the affairs of Dragons, for thou art crunchy and with most anything.
The only proprietary MMPOLRPG I have played was Ultima Online a year or two ago. My heroine had a greek version of my real name, but when I tamed a wolf, I named my beast "Assassin." Then, after clicking on my wolf I kept seeing "******in!" or something like that and I had no idea why. After few hours of playing I kept wondering why on Earth my other wolfs, namely Killer and Murderer, had no such problem with their names whatsoever, only to realise that Ultima Online was censoring vulgar language... I remember that I was really asshamed that someone could see me while calling my wolf and I stopped playing for few days.
Karma: Positive (probably because of superiour intellect)
of PKilling MUDS...
my favorite has got to be mnmnmnnnmnmnmnmmm.
[hh:mm:ss] mnmnmnnnmnmnmnmmm has walked into room.
> kill mnmnmnnnmnmnmnm
[hh:mm:ss] player is not in room!
> kill mnmnmmmnnmnmnmm
[hh:mm:ss] player is not in room!
> kill mnmmnm
[hh:mm:ss] mnmnmnnnmnmnmnmmm D - E - S - T - R - O - Y - S you with his backstab.
you are dead!
>FUCK!!!!!!!!
I've noticed that Star Trek and a lot of fantasy and sci-fi stories use names with a lot of the 5-thru-10 point scrabble tiles. X's (Xannix), Z's (Zai), and Q's (Qui Quon) are for aliens. K's (Krakus) and J's (Jaran) are for ethnic names. It's so formulamatic it's funny.
Another convention is to use lots of vowels (Bea Ai), lots of consonants (Kwllk), or apostraphes (T'Den, Q'Sung).
I invent names quickly with as little thought as possible, a lot of times following the sterotypes above. It's not great, but it works.
It's probably cheaper to collect monickers in chat rooms than buying Final Fantasy cartridges, though.
I didn't think you cared, but since you asked... ;)
;)
Anything online that is long enough to actually fit, I use 'RevRagnarok' (gee, look around this post). That's just become my online alter ego. http://www.revragnarok.com/ explains the reasons - basically, Ragnarok is just such an interesting story, etc, and I am also a legally ordained minister. Many of my friends now refer to me as "Rev" in Real Life(TM) and even at work (which can get embarassing).
For some of the console games, just "Ragnarok" fits. Or some shorter form. Then when they say (in games like FF8) that we need to get to the Ragnarok I think "But I'm right here ppl..."
RevR or even RR is used sometimes, like when I am very limited. Just, contrary to my evil friend's obsession, never 'Rag' or 'RevRag'!
Some previous ones:
absorto (in middle school a spanish->english dictionary said it meant 'mentally lost')
X-Phile (loved that show early on)
- RR
I should put something clever here. Maybe someday.
I named my DAOC char "CarpelTunnelSyndrom". I know it's spelled wrong, but I was drunk when I made the character, so lay off :). The reason I named him that is because the way DAOC displays kills. Whenever a I kill another player in combat a broadcast message is sent saying:
"XXX was killed by CarpelTunnelSyndrom."
Everyone gets a laugh on that one.
Johnkoerner.com
My younger brother named Link 'Zelda' when he played Ocarina of Time, just so that he could see the princess say "Zelda... that name sounds familiar..."
When I was Everquest Online Adventures there was this guy running around shouting "CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?"
His name, of course, was Verizon.
I just called my game Schnark. No good reason...just liked it.
Curmudgeon Gamer: Not happy
In high school I was looking through my chemistry book and came up with Alizarin Erythrosin. It's the name of 2 pH indicators. It just sounded so good together I've used it ever since.
Can't get much more nerdy then that.
There are only 10 kinds of people in this world... those who understand binary and those who don't
Just Google for "RPG Name Generator" and you'll be set. Yeah, it's the lazy way out but I'm tired of sitting at the computer trying to think of some creative name. Let the generator do it for me (it's often more creative than I ever could be with names) and let me get to playing. I do name the main character myself however. The only game I can think of that you were forced to be really creative was with the pen and paper RPG Paranoia. In fact, a while back I was talking with Greg Costikyan about it and we agreed it was one of the best features of the game.
Back int the day when FFIV came stateside as FFII, i thought it'd be amusing to name all the characters after Star Trek:TOS characters.. esp since the airship was named enterprise. surpringly, then names -sorta- worked.. cecil : Kirk Kain : Spock Rydia : Uhura Rosa : Carol Tellah: Sybok(sp?) Palom : David Porom : Savik Yang : Sulu Edge : Checkov Cid : Scotty (oh yeah, that was obvious :P )
FuSoYa: Bones
I cannot remember what i would name Edward since i'd usually forget to name him before he'd get crippled.
The best one I've ever come across is fantasy name generator.
In Ultima VIII it was quite refreshing to name your character God.
"Hello God, it's been so long since we've spoken..."
When I'd wasted hours and hours in Bard's Tale II on my old Apple ][c only to have all 7 characters die of a poison trap, I'd go back to the beginning to blow some frustration by trying to get the silliest party combination I could think of out and fighting.
The best I ever came up with was a party of seven dwarves. They were Deadly, that bunch. They were the Seven Deadly Dwarves. Lusty, Slothful, Gluttonous...the whole crew.
Of course, you can't get past the second dungeon with a full party...but it was fun anyway.
The Humblest Mollusk on the Net
Apparently, Mensa people don't have site references ever... A potential one Origins of Assassin
Atlas Shrugged : Thematic Story
Rule # 1 - pick something you can remember
Rule # 2 - pick something your team can remember
Rule # 3 - Rule # 1 is not necessarily equal to Rule # 2
Rule # 4 - Rule # 1 is not necessarily greater than Rule # 2
Rule # 5 - See Rule # 1
HDGary secures my bank