What's In a Username? the Power of Gamer Tags

An anonymous reader writes "Are pro gamers good because they're good, or just because their usernames make you think they are? New scientific research suggests it may actually be a little bit of both. What's most interesting about this isn't what it says about current players, but how up and coming gamers will choose their own handles in future, both to intimidate opponents — and pull in the audiences that help subsidize their budding careers."

Comments

Re:Well heck

[s0nicfreak]

It could have all been different with one strategically placed "h"...

I need a handle, man

[TheRealMindChild]

UltraLaser... DoctorDoom...

Re:I need a handle, man

[Dutch Gun]

Whenever I see a name like DarkFyre, SoulRe4ver, or some other ridiculously angsty and pretentious name, you can bet it's a 12-15 yr old boy who thinks that name he came up with is the coolest thing ever. Bonus points if he's created a logo with black, red, and flames of any sort. I have fun imagining how embarrassed he'll be of that handle a few years from now.

I mean, admit it. When you were 13 you thought "DarkFyre" was a pretty awesome name too, right?

I had intimidation factor on my side before

[GoodNewsJimDotCom]

Back when I was first to 1500 wins in Warcraft3 and #1 in 1v1, 2v2, 3v3, and 99% win rate in 3v3, I would have people be awed at me when they come into the game. They would just be happy to play against a big name in the game and express it like a kid who meets his favorite sports player or a famous person. They'd say things like,"Man, you're going to win, but its nice to even get a chance to play you." So my name had intimidation factor to it, but I earned that intimidation factor by first being actually good and having a great record. If you play Starcraft2 and you spend more than a few seconds making your screen name, you're doing it wrong :P

That said, I like this screen name more than my ol' gamer tag. If people go visit my website, they can be well on their way to eternal life, and my Bro Jesus will have cool things to say to me when we finally meet.

Re:I had intimidation factor on my side before

[Giant Electronic Bra]

I had the most fun with StarCraft back when it FIRST came online. I crafted a small map with an island in the center and a ring of land around it, and one bridge onto the island. One guy started at the outside, opposite from the bridge, and the other started on the island. The funny thing was you could equally well win with any race from either starting position, but you had to know EXACTLY what to do right off, even the most minuscule deviation from the optimum (and not 100% obvious) build pattern would spell certain doom. It was incredibly fun to pick off the really highly rated players. 95% of them would figure it out after the first inevitable loss, but of course I would always blithely agree to reverse positions and beat them again with the equally tricky strategy for the other starting position. It took a LOT of tweaking to get that map perfect, but I think I must have been around 90:1 win:loss ratio on it. Not that this means I was really THAT good, not at all, lol. I bet that map is still floating around somewhere.

Pure Evil

[user32.ExitWindowsEx]

If you want your gamer tag to have real power, choose well...like this guy did.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

It may not be good power but it has power.

Ian Banks

[Todd Knarr]

Whenever I see one of those overblown handles that seem designed to intimidate and impress people, my first thought is that the player isn't good enough to do it on his own merits. I prefer names along the lines of how Ian Banks' Culture ships named themselves. To borrow a comment. "Let's see you explain to your admiralty that your fleet was wiped out by the Bureaucracy and the Red Tape, and when you tried to disengage you found yourself trapped by the Complete Lack of Morale and the High Command's Total Incompetency.".

Re:play their game by their rules

[telchine]

Sometimes I go by the handle "a vehicle". Then when I kill someone, their screen says "you were killed by a vehicle". OMG how funny is that???!?!!!???!!! Sometimes even after the 100th time, I'm still falling off my chair, it's friggin' hilarious. I'm like the funniest dude in Halo with my supreme original sharp humor! OMG how 1337 am I?!?!!!!!

Re:play their game by their rules

[Anonymous Coward]

My friend and I used to go on Christian Halo servers (no swearing allowed, but ultraviolence A-OK!) as "Jesus" and "Judas". He would then TK me for the obviously ban-inducing "Jesus betrayed Judas".

For lulz we would occasionally turn the tables and claim we were spreading the Gospel.

Re:1337 names == cheaters

[meta-monkey]

While GMing a game of Pathfinder (basically D&D 3.5 rules just not called "D&D") I told the players their enemy was a ranger named "XxHE4DSH0TZxX." They were not amused.

Re:Well heck

[RenderSeven]

'BotNet' always gets a response, especially if you play like a bot for a minute or two. You either get treated like a badly written 'bot and everyone swarms in for an easy kill, or treat you like an omniscient 'bot and get avoided. Either way, it can be used to your advantage. If nothing else you get some extra shots off while the other team is busily reporting you to the moderators.

Oh well!

[Sniperkilla]

I wish Slashdot had a "change username" feature...