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Role Playing (Games) Entertainment Games

Naming Your Character In RPGs? 229

Posted by simoniker from the petie-our-nom-de-choice dept.
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?
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Naming Your Character In RPGs? More

Naming Your Character In RPGs?

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  • So here we go. Before article gets /.ed... (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Feature: notes from FF Dog #1: on naming characters in videogames
    by tim rogers
    07092003

    One thing I've observed on any number of forums about videogames is that people can't stop arguing about what makes an "RPG" an "RPG." Some are clever enough to define the name of the genre: "RPG means 'Role-Playing Game' -- an RPG is a game where you play a role." Some people are quick to shoot this down, with much typing of words. Some people quote the significance of naming a character in a pen-and-paper RPG, and havin
    • 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

  • here's my list : (Score:5, Funny)

    by DrSkwid ( 118965 ) on Friday July 11, 2003 @07:45AM (#6413641) Journal
    Quake : cereal
    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'

    /tell Azbywnwefcxxyx-III I'll buy that cloak for 5g
    Azbywnwefcxxyx-III is not in game

    /tell Azbywnwefcxyxx-III I'll buy that cloak for 5g
    Azbywnwefcxyxx-III is not in game

    /say sod it, I'll go buy one from the vendor for 10g

    • A wise only RPGer will chose a short uncomplicated name

      Only a wise RPGer will chose a game where you can abbreviate.

      tell azby <foo> (or even "te azby <foo>" should be enough)

      (shameless plug) Such as this one! [acc.umu.se]
      • So should that tell go to azby, azbysyap, or Azbywnwefcxxyxx-III?

        You can abbreviate commands... abbreviating names is hopeless. Although a good game will allow for aliases.

        In Quake, UT, BF1942, and other FPS's I'm always Zathrus. In EQ I played Tularin (Ranger) and Llarn (Enchanter). The former made up from the top of my head, the latter was an attempt to do the same, but it's actually the name of a very early Rogue variant (which last time I searched I couldn't find).
        • Hmm...Zathrus. If I was on a UT server I would assume you were a bot. Unless you were kicking my ass, then I would assume you were some rogue bot...

          I always use 'Noodle of Death'. It works whether you win or lose. If I am sucking, people just see the 'Noodle' part...but when I am kicking ass, they wonder what a Death Noodle might look like...
    • It doesn't have to be short: as long as it is memorable and easy to spell.

      PrincessSophia [imdb.com] works fine for me, plus my girlfriend likes it...
    • Ahhh - I can't resist!

      HL / CS: Souperman
      Online games: Cerebus [geocities.com] (as in the Aardvark)
      RPGs (electronic): Bascule [amazon.com] (from Feersum Endjinn by Ian M Banks)
      RPGs (tabletop): Recent ones include Sir Cecil the Paladin, Milo the Halfling Bard (complete with squeeky voice and bad jokes - guaranteed to wind up those other players!), and Demo the iconoclastic Fighter/Cleric (Lots of DnD recently!)

    • Re:here's my list : (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Zathrus ( 232140 )
      My wife actually preferred having a slightly hard to type name in EQ... when you need to get a buff and you have 5 clerics to chose from, do you type "Magdylena" (her cleric) or "Iena" (another guild cleric)?

      She always liked not being the buff bitch.

      On the other hand, my enchanter's name (Llarn) was probably the easiest to type. Which is probably why I got driven nutty by buff requests while trying to help herd cats (aka helping to manage an uber guild).

      No, neither of us play anymore. So happy to be free

  • Short Welsh Names (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Y Ddraig Goch ( 596795 ) on Friday July 11, 2003 @07:57AM (#6413682)
    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.

    • Here's a short guide:

      • dd: sounds like 'th' - Myrddin is like "Merthin", not "Merlin."
      • ll: sounds like 'hl'
      • ch: sounds like 'k' as in "back," not "knife."
      • w: sounds like "oo" as in "swoon," when it appears that it is being used as a vowel. "mwneridd" sounds like "moonerith." Something like "Gwenhyvvar" sounds like "Guinevere."
      • y: takes the place of an 'i,' typically. ;-)

      I probably missed some, but those are the most common Celtic combinations.

      • More accurately, dd sounds like "the" (with a silent e, as in "lathe"), not "th" as in "bath." You need to vocalize slightly as you pronounce it.

        That kind of reminds me: Re-watching the season 1 "Angel" DVD's there was a great bit where the character Doyle had to read a spell that was in latin, but didn't know how to speak it. Angel, in a hurry to explain it, simply said "v sounds like w and say all the vowels." Not bad for a 1-second lesson in latin enunciation.

        Steering back on topic... When I play R

  • Real story. Very funny. (Score:5, Funny)

    by Mensa Babe ( 675349 ) on Friday July 11, 2003 @08:02AM (#6413718) Homepage Journal
    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.
    • I know, I know, do not feed the trolls.... right.

      You were really Ass-Hamed? What'd that feel like? I'd really be ashamed if I were ass-hamed.
    • What's vulgar about "ass"? I thought that was a kind of pack animal.
    • I remember that I was really asshamed that someone could see me while calling my wolf and I stopped playing for few days.

      Ahem. . . you mean ***hamed, don't you?

  • Back in the days... (Score:5, Funny)

    by grimani ( 215677 ) on Friday July 11, 2003 @08:07AM (#6413748)
    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!!!!!!!!

    • You need a better client mate. Any decent client, and your scenario turns to:
      Mnmnmnnnmnmnmnmmm has walked into room.
      > kill m[TAB]
      You annihilate mnmnmnnnmnmnmnmmm with your slash.
      You annihilate mnmnmnnnmnmnmnmmm with your crush.
      Mnmnmnnnmnmnmnmmm flees from the room!
      > scan
      North:
      Nothing special.
      South:
      Nothing special.
      East:
      Mnmnmnnnmnmnmnmmm is standing there.
      West:
      Nothing special.
      Up:
      Nothing special.
      Down:
      Nothing special.
      > e
      You walk east.
      A Plain Room.
      Mnmnmnnnmnmnmnmmm is standing here.
      > kill m[TAB]
      You a
      • You're spoiled.

        This was back in the days when Gopher and Usenet dominated and Mosaic was only some crappy app with a nasty color scheme.

        I played using a dialup that drops directly into telnet (not even a shell).

        Those were the days...
        qpqpqqqppqpqp was another favorite.
        • I remember playing LPMuds over a 300-baud dialup. Man, those were the days. Each line would take a second or so to print out. By the time you saw who was in a room, you were already PKed...

  • Big Numbered Scrabble Tiles (Score:5, Interesting)

    by robbway ( 200983 ) on Friday July 11, 2003 @08:12AM (#6413774) Journal
    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.
    • Not sure, but I believe that the apostrophes are supposed to emphasize that it's not a human pronouncable syllable. That's how the names worked in Eternal Darkness for GameCube.
      • In the trivia category, this site [infocom.com] expounds on Star Trek name origins. Not only does it sound like someone has too much time on their hands, the explanations sound, for the most part plausible and correct. It's actually a really good read!
    • Another convention is to use lots of [...] apostraphes (T'Den, Q'Sung).

      Oh, I'm so sick of apostrophes in character names. So damn sick. My goal in life is to make the most popular RPGs so I can design them so that all characters with apostrophes in their names immediately get eaten by the biggest dragon ever conceived.

  • My usuals (Score:3, Interesting)

    by RevRagnarok ( 583910 ) on Friday July 11, 2003 @08:12AM (#6413775) Homepage Journal
    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
    • Yep, as another ordained reverend, I use the rev. in all my RPG names, just because it looks cool... Especially in UT2k3, nothing better than being fragged by an ordained reverend, especially if you have some cool last-rights sort a speech bound.

      My favorite was one of my old screw-around characters on an old MUD, revhacknslash.
  • Huzzah! This will no doubt be a popular article, but I'd like to go ahead and nominate this article for the most worthless /. article of the year award.

    'Cause you know it's gonna be a slow news day. :)
  • In CRPGs, I usually play as "Morpheus", since that was my BBS handle back in the early 90's (yeah, before the Matrix). I think I originally picked this because of The Sandman comic from the late 80's/early 90's.

    In pen and paper RPGs, I used to play as "Arcaidia", "Algernon", "Moebius"... Whatever comes to mind.

    Online I'm either chrish (my user ID at work when I started using IRC) or Taffer (a derogotory name from Thief: The Dark Project and Thief II: The Metal Age).

  • CarpelTunnelSyndrom (Score:5, Funny)

    by johnkoer ( 163434 ) <johnkoer&yahoo,com> on Friday July 11, 2003 @08:34AM (#6413882) Homepage Journal
    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.

  • Zelda (Score:4, Funny)

    by Antisthenes ( 579582 ) <frogisgod,13,abstract&spamgourmet,com> on Friday July 11, 2003 @08:35AM (#6413886)
    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..."
    • I think in the original Zelda for NES, if you named your character Zelda you could play the harder difficulty level (which to get otherwise you had to beat the game once)
  • I always use MrGrey if I can. This goes back to quake2 when I was invited to join the Reservior Dogs clan, and of course, no one was allowed to be MrBlack, and I surely didn't want to be MrPink. (come on, every adolescent teen joins a clan right?)

    So now when I play RPG's I stick with the name I had used for so long.

    Other names I use are
    Mithrandil (Hobbit/LOTR references)
    Liam (Just a good Irish name)
    Nimrod (Nimrod is Biblical, check out Genesis - he was a great hunter in the site of the Lord)

    The scary thi
    • >Mithrandil (Hobbit/LOTR references)

      Don't you mean Mithran dir ? (You're probably thinking of the -(n)dil ending in Elendil, Valandil, &c., unless you're mixing Quenya and Sindarin (-(n)dil is Quenya, Mithrandir is Sindarin)). Does Tolkien ever use Mithrandir in The Hobbit? I can't remember myself.

      >Nimrod (Nimrod is Biblical, check out Genesis - he was a great hunter in the site of the Lord) [Emphasis mine]

      Hmmm, do you remember if Genesis mentions the URL for the Lord's site?

  • DAoC (Score:1)

    by rylin ( 688457 )
    Recently, I started playing Dark Age of Camp-a-lot, and I immediately created a huge troll-bitch named Darl.
    For some reason though, i got mobbed by loads of angry wolves, and not a single bystander offered to help me out :(

  • Not mine, but funny (Score:5, Funny)

    by jvmatthe ( 116058 ) on Friday July 11, 2003 @08:41AM (#6413918) Homepage
    When I was Everquest Online Adventures [curmudgeongamer.com] 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.
  • The only thing I hate more than the person who named there guy BONG WALTER is those morons who take really obvious fantasy character names and respell them a bit to get past the filters.

    You would be amazed how many different ways you can spell Legolas...

    Oh well... back to playing my Troll Shaman.....
    DEEZ NUTS
    • I once encountered (in a MUD) a hobbit named "Biblo Baggins." Some random player kept anonymously chanting "Bilbo Baggins," and, naturally, it began to grate on "Biblo's" nerves after a little while...
  • I used to use the name Kaos, just looked cool and sounded cool. Then once i started getting into computers (oh say around 90 or 91) I picked up the name Xerxes. Xerxes was a persian King wo destroyed Greece and forced it into the golden age. By not completely destroying the greek people they rebuilt and The golden era of Greece was one of my favorite times. Therefore I use Xerxes most of the time now. Also (as asome little perverted 15 yr old pointed out to me one day whilst adventuring) it spells Sex
  • I try to use Kurgan or MacLeod depending if I'm feeling good or evil(usually Kurgan). Unfortunately I'm not the only one who's seen Highlander so I can't always use one of those.

  • Ultimate nerd (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Alizarin Erythrosin ( 457981 ) on Friday July 11, 2003 @09:07AM (#6414056)
    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.

    • My *other* name (not Slime-dogg) is "Molybedenum." I was a chemistry addict in high school, but all "Molybdenum" names were taken everywhere. Mine sounds better, and has a nicer connotation.

      If I need more character names than that, I replace the "l" with an "x," and get a nice Magic card reference in there too.

    • "Parenchyma Panasenko... that'd be a good name for a girl."

      Where did I go to high school ?
  • I choose the Hotshots part duex naming convention. Advil Midol Prozac You name it ! :)

  • Take the easy way out (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Torgo's Pizza ( 547926 ) on Friday July 11, 2003 @09:32AM (#6414196) Homepage Journal
    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.

    • Help those who are lazier than you! (maybe even yourself at a later time.. ). Provide a link!

      Shameless Plug: IGS Games [igsgames.com]

      Yeah, it's the lazy way out but I'm tired of sitting at the computer trying to think of some creative name.
    • I don't know where I learned this techique, but it seems to work well.

      1. Type randomly on the keyboard

      Example: asdiugbisdnmi;jqwefasdf

      2. Crop out about 3-6 letters out of the middle, avoiding vowels.

      Example: gbsdn

      3. Insert random vowels whereever necessary to make the word pronounceable.

      Example: Gobsidon

      4. Make any minor adjustments.

      Example: Gobsidion

      5. If unhappy, return to step 1 and try again.

      Heh. Gobsidion sounds kinda cool actually...
  • Diablo2X:
    Bowazon: Pincherz
    Paladin: Stabyte
    Werebear: Krunchin
    ThrowBarb: Great_Throwdini

    SWG:
    Female Wookie Medic: Ykkoni
  • 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 c
    • WHAT?! Where's the spoiler alert?!?!
      Edward gets WHAT?!
      Man, I just got edward, he's like, the best player ever, and you are telling me he gets kicked out?! AND SOON?!

      Sigh,
      I hate people who ruin video games, next thing you'll tell me is that tifa, maybe even aeris, is gonna die or something.
  • In all my games, people are named shady or something like that*. Back in 1997, I was watching an episode of Sanford and Son. Grady, one of the characters on the show referred to himself as 'ShadyGrady.' Since then, I have referred to myself as ShadyRudy in all the games I play, AIM, Yahoo Messenger, etc.
    *So you see, it has nothing to do with Marshall Mathers III.
  • Most of the time, when I'm making a character in DAoC, I'll try to make it culture specific. My Midgard characters I steal names from sagas. Hibernian I look for Irish names, or names from Celtic mythology. British/Scottish/Arab names for my Albion characters.

    Then sometimes I'll get a bug up my ass and name a character with speed boost "Delivery" and give a last name as whatever race it is. My bonedancer (summons skeleton pets) I called "Dry Bones".

    I may not always make it "appropriate", but I try to
  • The MMPORG planetarion requires you to name your planet, name the ruler of the planet (and if you want to succeed you'll also need an irc nick). You are referred to in-game as 'ruler' of 'planet'.

    If you don't want people taking revenge for things you did in the last round, each round you need to think up a new pair of names every 2-3 months when a new round starts.

    In the past, I've been:
    Andy_R of Just a Planet
    The Ambassador of The Embassy (claiming diplomatic immunity whenever I attacked!)
    Mr K of X$X (sho
  • I just pick syllables I like at random and go with it. I came up with this handle (Kalak) years ago this way and have kept it as a result. Plus it's a nice palindrome. Lanar is another one I came up with that I can remember.

    I never liked coming up with names anyway, so this way I can use the syllables as building blocks and come up with something that might sound original. Makes for nice throw away names, which is why I can't remember them a few years later. For all I know I've been using the same one

  • Best name generator around (Score:4, Interesting)

    by farphel ( 169973 ) on Friday July 11, 2003 @10:12AM (#6414504) Homepage
    The best one I've ever come across is fantasy name generator [rinkworks.com].
  • i like to use the names of the wu-tang clan.

    there's nothing better than seeing that ghostface killa just did 120 HP of damage, or that ol dirty (or big baby jesus, or dirt mcgirt) just bought a new gun.
  • In Ultima VIII it was quite refreshing to name your character God.
    "Hello God, it's been so long since we've spoken..."
  • Its actually the name of a chainsaw, but has that rpg feel.
  • For Multi-player games, my name goes between
    CashCarSTAR (tSP song)
    DarkPaladin (my original)
    Karmakin (Newest one and my current fav)

    For single-player games, I never change names if the name is set, with one exception. In Chrono Trigger, I rename Frog to Glenn to clear up some sillyness, as well as so I can actually have a character with my own name. (And such a GOOD character, in every way)

    When I need to create names, I use generic names, in order to facilitate easy gameplay. In Wizadry for the SNES, for e
  • I just do dumb stuff (well, maybe not)..

    The only RPG's i've played in memorable history were the Baldur's Gate series, and the original SSI Gold Box AD&D titles.. and in every one of those, I named my characters by their classes. The fighter was called "Fighter", the Cleric/Fighter/Mage was called "CFMU" .. that way I didn't have to constantly look at the info sheets to figure out who the hell I was controlling with a party of 7 indistinct icons.

  • In FF3/6, I renamed my characters to less obnoxious, not-all-caps versions of their names. Reading about LOCKE and CELES and TERRA really got on my nerves.
  • Not so much with RPGs but with FPS like Quake III and Bond on the GC or Perfect Dark on N64 we had a habit of changing names often. Usually something to either poke fun at our opponents, or to be totally insensitive regarding a recent tragedy.

    For example - during one game of Bond multiplayer we had Alliyah, Dale Ernhardt, and Enis Cosby all running around. It's pretty funny, in a very sick way, to read "You just killed Dale Ernhardt"

    In Quake at the office I have most recently been Nate-Sucks, Steve's A Fa
  • In the superb MMORPG Neocron [neocron.com] I'm, perhaps rather unsurprisingly, "Skinfitz". I like consistency for things like nicks and it's always interesting when you get people asking "hey are you the same xxx from yyy?".

    I think my fav nicknames from Neocron at the moment are there is a guy called "anima" and a female char called "anima's sex toy". (Mind you I am in a clan with someone called "clitoris" and someone else called "Fur lined mixing bowl" but there you go.)

    Actually I got mentioned in the Neocron month [neocron.de]
  • 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
  • ...I know at least three people that independently named Barret Wallace of FFVII "Frogman." It remains one of the great unsolved mysteries of life, even today,
  • ...was in a Team Fortress Classic game of Dustbowl a bout a year ago.

    Hello I'm Johnny Cash

    Still the best ever.
  • my dogs. They are Aspen and Tahoe. The other name I liked to use is Yossarian. In Everquest, when I got a last name for Yossarian, I used "RunYoYoRun". I had a few comments on Yossarian, particularly from people who had read the book (Catch-22). However, I got the strangest comments playing Tahoe.
    Some guy: "Where do you live"
    Me: (after some thought) "I come from the fair forest of Kelethin".

    Some guy: "No really, where do you live? See, I live on the lake and was wondering if you were a neighbor."
    Me:
  • This is a geeky topic, but I'm contributing so I can't complain.

    Around Ultima 1 or 2 I thought up a main character name that ended up sticking around for the rest of my gaming days. It became my on screen personality, and even though every game had seperate characters, themes and storylines, my same guy lived through all the Role Playing adventures available.
    Around Final Fantasy 1 I realized I needed some supporting characters to journey with my main character, so I decided on some satisfying names to com
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • 1. Diablo II Expansion, sorceress named "of_Something".
    2. In old AD&D stuff, the name of whatever class they were ("FIGHTER", "CLERIC", etc.)
    3. In Quake 1, "a hairy old man" was fun when using the Thunderbolt (I'll let you do the math).

    As for Final Fantasy 3/6, I've heard of at least one person who named everyone "Kupo". Not quite as good as calling everyone "Kefka", though.
  • I use my real name because I couldn't come up with anything remotely as offbeat as my given name. Perhaps my parents thought they were playing the child-rearing RPG? I know my father thought of my mother's mother as a "boss monster".

    Bonus odd but true story:

    I played Zelda on the SNES in the early nineties and as I said above, I used my real name. When I was done, I sold the game to a video game store. A few years ago I got nostalgic so I went to a used game store and bought a used copy of Zelda to repl

  • Unless you already know what you want, you basically need something thats interesting to tell a story about. Just randomly throw some right-sounding syllables together, and then add some random details.

    Since its harder to think of random stuff than stuff that somehow makes sense, try a free online name generator [igsgames.com]

  • I usually chose a name that goes contrary to all the other names in the game.

    I played Half-life, CounterStrike and America's Army for a while, and everyone was named something like "31337 r0x0rs" "Ass kicker" "Snipe at night" "-=-Army=-=Ranger-=-"

    So I chose "Gigglesworth". This offended many players, because I didn't chose some violent ass-kicking name. I often got told something like Ass Kicker says: "Gigglesworth??!? WTF kind of 'name is that? Your gay".'

    However, the best players were the one's who did
  • I named my save game file "Mortar", only to find in horror that this because my "name" in the game, and all villagers, NPCs, etc, addressed me as "Mortar", and not "Link" as I would have vastly, vastly preferred.

    When my wife started her save game using her (feminine) name, only to find that her character would be addressed by this name, she was fairly upset with me for not warning her!

    Note to RPG developers: when allowing us to pick a name, let us know it will be used as our name in the game!
  • Newbifier
    Stafoo (pronounced version of 'stfu')

    It's fun PKing people while on a character with a retarded name... It seems to piss people off 10x as much.
  • The first PC game I ever got into was Diablo 2, where I spent hours bulking up a Paladin named [H]olyGeekboy. (Note the 'leet [H], to symbolize my patronage of a cool hardware enthusiast website. [hardocp.com]

    For some reason, it suck, and so now I am [H]olyGeekboy in Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Quake 3, and Unreal Tournament 2003. It makes no sense for those games, but it's still kind of unique, like all those soccer moms in California who spell seemingly normal names with q's and apostrophes all over the place. :)
  • If I am being serious, I tend towards names from other sources (mythology, movies)

    Lief (as in Lief Erikson) or Rhetoric are my favorites for male characters, and Arachne is my favorite for female characters. Monsterous characters get named "Speaker to Animals" (on those rare occasians it fits) or "Oberon" (my cat's name) Wizards I always name Yzap, because that is the most wizardly 4 letter name my friend and I could come up with when we played Final Fantasy 1 for the first time all those years ago. . Ro

  • well... (Score:2)

    by Polo ( 30659 ) *
    uh, "Player" ??

    (or what was the default nethack player name... was it nick danger or something?)
  • /.'ers like to talk about themselves, and I am no different, so here we go...

    In Diablo2,
    Weredruid: Frank, as in Frank the Wereguy from HoL
    Barbarian: Porkchop
    Claw Assasin: Wolverina (vs. my freinds bear druid, Sabertooth)
    And, Jereth the necromancer.

    In UT2k3 I'm either Rev. Omestes (as in the obscure Orphic myth), or Anthroporraistes. Both of which are other names for Dionysus, which was one of my old BBS handles. I was also Zagreus in several muds, as well as Werewolf and Sadim: the God of Decay(Midas ba
  • Back in the earlier FF days, I used to take character names from good fantasy books or books I was reading at the time.

    Of course, with modern online games, this has become pretty much impossible - all those names are taken before you can even log on. I tried a few things but none stuck.

    Until last year when Warcraft III was released. I'd shortly before bought my One Ring [noblecollection.com] and cooked up an elvish (Quenya) moniker, "Cormacolinde" (it means "Ring Bearer"). I used that name, and started playing a lot. I liked

  • We originally started using what we referred to as "bar codes" in clan matches.

    IlIlIlIl
    IllIllII
    IIllIlIl
    llIllIlI .. and then when we wanted to make our "identities" known, we would use one of the following:

    [WeIsCHRIS] Christopher Walken
    [WeIsCHRIS] Christopher Reeve
    [WeIsCHRIS] Christopher Robin
    [WeIsCHRIS] Christopher Lowell
    [WeIsCHRIS] Christopher Lloyd .. etc. Any Christopher. Then I would say

    "I'm Christopher Reeve, not walkin' (Walken)."
    And Walken would reply, "I'm Christopher Walken, not robbin' (Robin
  • Princess: "Oh, I like pie, I love you"

    End Boss: "I'll kill you! I LIKE PIE!"

    Guy: "Quick, I Like Pie, get the magic ingredients!"

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