Guild Wars 2

I don’t particularly care what name someone chooses for their character, nor am I an RPer. It’s never been a game-breaker for me. I am curious though if others also feel that it takes away from their immersion somewhat when they’re out and about in Tyria in the company of Eir Stegalkin, Caithe and Rytlock Brimstone, when suddenly along come “Tastykake” and his buddy “Mustang GT.”

Why do we do this?

I found a big ol’ Norn named a variation of ‘The Incredible Hulk’.

Not my pic, but I think it’s him.

All my names fit the lore somehow. To each his own I guess.

Brilliant find Scum. I found Ironman a few weeks back. Soon we’ll have all the Avengers and they can replace Destinys Edge and the Dragons will soon be sorted out!

Scumbag Mawile.6384:

I found a big ol’ Norn named a variation of ‘The Incredible Hulk’.

Not my pic, but I think it’s him.

That’s pretty cool!

Been playing these kinds of games far too long to be bothered by that.

At least there’s some creativity there in recreating the Hulk It doesn’t fit the game, but that is cool in its own right.

I’m still waiting to see a recreation of Tastykake.

Mustang GT? My Camaro SS will smoke that name.

It only irritates me on “official” RP servers in various games. If it’s not an RP server, it’s more of a “look at that idiot!” and move on type of thing. My kids are well-trained though; they will announce stupid names they find so we can all have a good eyeroll.

It’s all about impatience; they want to play, they don’t want to see “name already in use” over and over and over again. It’s worse when there’s no name generator.

I will admit to having name prejudice, though. I just won’t waste my time with someone stupidly named. I’m sure I miss out on some nice but challenged folks through that.

Camaro Charr.2805:

Mustang GT? My Camaro SS will smoke that name.

haha, this is great… and fits my topic. Thanks for posting, Camaro Charr

LowestTruth.2635:

It only irritates me on “official” RP servers in various games. If it’s not an RP server, it’s more of a “look at that idiot!” and move on type of thing. My kids are well-trained though; they will announce stupid names they find so we can all have a good eyeroll.

It’s all about impatience; they want to play, they don’t want to see “name already in use” over and over and over again. It’s worse when there’s no name generator.

I will admit to having name prejudice, though. I just won’t waste my time with someone stupidly named. I’m sure I miss out on some nice but challenged folks through that.

Hmm, never thought of it that way. I always took some time to tweak my character at the creation screen, and that includes thinking of a name. I didn’t realize so many people just want to hit “Go.”

dinominator.9862:

Hmm, never thought of it that way. I always took some time to tweak my character at the creation screen, and that includes thinking of a name. I didn’t realize so many people just want to hit “Go.”

It’s most obvious when you’re trying to piddle around in something like DCUO — let me tell you, Superbatman135553737 starts to look pretty good as a name after you hear a cheery computer say “ERROR!” name-already-in-use fifty times.

Camaro Charr.2805:

Mustang GT? My Camaro SS will smoke that name.

This makes me want to create a character named Gulf Oil GT40 with a light blue and orange color scheme.

While I can’t say that I empathize with your original point, I will say that certain characteristics of names seem to reflect certain characteristics of the players that choose them. Generally negative characteristics.

Speaking of which, were you trying to write “Denominator” …? Or is there something I’m missing?

Hmmmm, even though I like more fantasy-like names better for my own characters I do not really mind more fun-like names. The thing with fun-names is that not everything that someone considers to be hillarious must be really funny for everyone else. I think especially with that kind of names you tell quite alot about your own sense of humor which does not have to be appreciated by everyone. On the other hand I like a fun name which I find funny way more than the 100th Legolas the Great or whatever.

Honestly, I still name my characters seriously and I probably always will, but I grew up on original EQ and there were a lot more people who enjoyed the serious aspect of RPG’s back then.

That being said I try not to pass judgement on people just because their name is DoritosTacoMania.

ProxyDamage.9826:

While I can’t say that I empathize with your original point, I will say that certain characteristics of names seem to reflect certain characteristics of the players that choose them. Generally negative characteristics.

Speaking of which, were you trying to write “Denominator” …? Or is there something I’m missing?

Well, let’s not go overboard. Forum handles are forum handles.

@Aeonblade, I never said anything about passing judgement! This is all just in good fun.

@ProxyDamage, yes it’s a play on denominator and my real name. An old carry-over from my Quake II days that I never bothered to change. Anywhoo, my in-game characters have full first and last names, where I think it’s appropriate for their race. I probably wouldn’t do that with a Sylvari or an Asura.

I prefer names sounding like names. At the same time, there are some funny names that make me smile, and I enjoy those as well. Most people in my guild have “normal” or “fantasy” names for their different characters, and no brand names etc.
Stupid names irritate me, and I have to admit, I’m kind of prejudiced concerning “ImbaZerkWar666” type of names.

I never will understand why people choose stupid names for their characters in ROLE-PLAYING games… Kids these days, lazy with no imagination.

I try to veer away from making “joke” characters who look stupid and have names like “Poopy Farts,” but if others want to go that route then whatever. It’s a game, and it’s their toon — call it what you want. It’s not going to affect me.

As for trying to stick with the “lore” though — I don’t see how possible that is, if you’re new to the game. I got GW2 on day one, so when I first rolled my main I didn’t know what sort of name would be “appropriate” to Tyria, or for my race.

If you’re into RP, great — but to me, it’s just the opposite extreme of naming your toon “Poopy Farts”, and about as useful to me.

Just yesterday I saw Eir Stegalkin — I mean, somebody made a female norn that looks exactly like Eir Stegalkin, and somehow named her that. In a way, that’s more in keeping with the lore than anything — unless ArenaNet writes your name for you, you aren’t part of the lore.

ProxyDamage.9826:

While I can’t say that I empathize with your original point, I will say that certain characteristics of names seem to reflect certain characteristics of the players that choose them. Generally negative characteristics.

I agree with this. I play on the Unofficial RP server, so I prefer lore based names, but I don’t particularly care who I play with name wise if I’m just running around and not RPing.

Certain names still make me cringe, though. For example, I’ve played with characters named Snugglybear, Trick Trickster, and Snackpacks and had a great time. Conversely, I’ve played with characters named ‘dethscythe’ and ‘lorddragon’ before and had a terrible time. I also tend to shy away from anyone with any iteration of Drizzt or Sephiroth, though I’ve actually been seeing a lot less of that lately.

ProxyDamage.9826:

Speaking of which, were you trying to write “Denominator” …? Or is there something I’m missing?

I thought it was a mixture of “Dino” and “Dominator,” but I could just be thinking optimistically.

Guys i’m talking about character names, not account names. An account name is something that you can take with you from game to game and have for years on end. A character name, IMO, tends to be a little more tailored to the game.

Names that don’t fit the lore only bother me if I see them in my RP groups. If they’re just wandering around Tyria, even if they cross my field of view while I’m somewhere out of the way RPing, I don’t care. My actual character has no way to see that the Norn standing next to him is “Goku666” or whatever. If they deliberately intrude on the scene disruptively, then I’m bothered… but no more so than when other RPers barge in uninvited, honestly.

In GW1, members of our alliance would pass the time in outposts linking funny names in team. Sometimes, I miss the ability to link names, “I’m following Pixel Pixie.”

LowestTruth.2635:

It only irritates me on “official” RP servers in various games. If it’s not an RP server, it’s more of a “look at that idiot!” and move on type of thing. My kids are well-trained though; they will announce stupid names they find so we can all have a good eyeroll.

It’s all about impatience; they want to play, they don’t want to see “name already in use” over and over and over again. It’s worse when there’s no name generator.

I will admit to having name prejudice, though. I just won’t waste my time with someone stupidly named. I’m sure I miss out on some nice but challenged folks through that.

I’ve had characters in other MMOs named Sammich, Icybeer, Gnomefoot…

Hell, my Thief’s named Scumbag Mawile.

Guess I’m degenerate filth, an idiot at best.

You know what bothers me more than silly names? Pointless elitism.

Scumbag Mawile.6384:

Hell, my Thief’s named Scumbag Mawile.

That sounds like a perfectly good RP name to me. Not all shady criminal types get to pick their own nicknames.

Scumbag Mawile.6384:

LowestTruth.2635:

It only irritates me on “official” RP servers in various games. If it’s not an RP server, it’s more of a “look at that idiot!” and move on type of thing. My kids are well-trained though; they will announce stupid names they find so we can all have a good eyeroll.

It’s all about impatience; they want to play, they don’t want to see “name already in use” over and over and over again. It’s worse when there’s no name generator.

I will admit to having name prejudice, though. I just won’t waste my time with someone stupidly named. I’m sure I miss out on some nice but challenged folks through that.

I’ve had characters in other MMOs named Sammich, Icybeer, Gnomefoot…

Hell, my Thief’s named Scumbag Mawile.

Guess I’m degenerate filth, an idiot at best.

You know what bothers me more than silly names? Pointless elitism.

You don’t care if what irritates me irritates me, and I don’t care if what irritates you irritates you. That’s how it works.

I too have always wondered why people give their characters names that aren’t really suitable as actual names for a person. There is a lot of leeway for that though of course if you include nicknames.

It doesn’t usually bother me (unless it is a crude or insulting name), I just see it as an indicator that they view their characters differently than I do. I am not a RP’er, but like to imagine my characters as actual, well, characters, like you’d see in a book or a movie (or a video game!). I imagine that most people that name their characters things like “Iam Acutie” or “Chicken Salad” do not, and instead see them more as a toy or a pet that they play with. But that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it is just a matter of perspective and priorities IMHO.

RetiredBard.5294:

Camaro Charr.2805:

Mustang GT? My Camaro SS will smoke that name.

This makes me want to create a character named Gulf Oil GT40 with a light blue and orange color scheme.

Now I want to make a female character, call her “Shelby” (or Carrol, the full Carrol Shelby might be a touch obvious) and find some armour that I can colour like racing stripes – see who picks up on it.

Any suggestions for armour that might work?

Alterantively – make a male named Lee and go bright orange with a Red/Blue Helmet.

You pay your $60, you can name your toons whatever you want.

This is the first game I’ve ever named all my toons with RP style names. But I’ve always put some thought into them in the past, making them sound either cool or profession/race appropriate or clever, etc.

If I see a clever name, I’ll pm you to let you know I like it. But some people just choose the dumbest names. I see a Youmadbromeme and I groan. I see a female Mesmer named Mary Houdini and I give em a wink. Ya know?

I’m guilty of not thinking of the lore when picking a character name. I always try to come up with something at least with a ‘normal’ touch to it. Make it pronounceable and readable.
I am guilty of having a character named ‘count mishap’ I really couldn’t be bothered at that moment to come up with a better name. Once we get name-change available I might change it to something better.

I couldn’t really care less about people having ‘goofy’ names though I try to stay away from it myself

Well the names of my character make sense lore wise (or at least I think they do). That’s just the easiest way to name them to me. It’s harder to come up with a silly name.
I get a lot of names from random name generators or the books I happen to be reading at the time. I don’t RP in a game but I do give them personalty and back-story when I’m bored so I prefer they have an actual name.

However people naming characters silly or lore breaking things really doesn’t bother me at all. Some of them are clever or funny.

One thing I noticed is the majority of the time when I find someone with a first and last name they were Guild Wars 1 players. The ones that really drive me crazy are the XxX names because they couldnt get the name they wanted pwnzer becomes XxpwnzerxX ech….

Moxy.1594:

One thing I noticed is the majority of the time when I find someone with a first and last name they were Guild Wars 1 players. The ones that really drive me crazy are the XxX names because they couldnt get the name they wanted pwnzer becomes XxpwnzerxX ech….

This. This makes me gag. I Report and Block anyone I see with an X appearing at either or both ends of their name on sight.

And I also notice a lot more people from GW1 do have relatively sensible names, compared to their WoW-immigrant counterparts.

Not knowing the lore is no excuse either. It takes less than a minute to Google search ‘GW2 race naming conventions’.

Moxy.1594:

One thing I noticed is the majority of the time when I find someone with a first and last name they were Guild Wars 1 players. The ones that really drive me crazy are the XxX names because they couldnt get the name they wanted pwnzer becomes XxpwnzerxX ech….

LOL Add my +1. I hate this with a passion.

I Report and Block anyone I see with an X appearing at either or both ends of their name on sight..

Wtf… Is that a really a reason to report someone? Seems idiotic to me. Having 1 letter x at either end of a name doesn’t make it spam

dinominator.9862:

Guys i’m talking about character names, not account names. An account name is something that you can take with you from game to game and have for years on end. A character name, IMO, tends to be a little more tailored to the game.

LowestTruth.2635:

Well, let’s not go overboard. Forum handles are forum handles.

A name is a name. There is no difference.

dinominator.9862:

@ProxyDamage, yes it’s a play on denominator and my real name. An old carry-over from my Quake II days that I never bothered to change. Anywhoo, my in-game characters have full first and last names, where I think it’s appropriate for their race. I probably wouldn’t do that with a Sylvari or an Asura.

Fair enough. I honestly can’t stand when people typo their own names. I can understand when they’re really obscure references and such, but when it’s simple stuff… “Vincemt”, “Alocard”, “Narotu!”, etc…

ProxyDamage.9826:

Fair enough. I honestly can’t stand when people typo their own names. I can understand when they’re really obscure references and such, but when it’s simple stuff… “Vincemt”, “Alocard”, “Narotu!”, etc…

People do this because the name they want was already chosen. A ‘typo’ will be invisible to most people who read names quickly.

Arcanorum Ignis.9218:

Moxy.1594:

One thing I noticed is the majority of the time when I find someone with a first and last name they were Guild Wars 1 players. The ones that really drive me crazy are the XxX names because they couldnt get the name they wanted pwnzer becomes XxpwnzerxX ech….

This. This makes me gag. I Report and Block anyone I see with an X appearing at either or both ends of their name on sight.

And I also notice a lot more people from GW1 do have relatively sensible names, compared to their WoW-immigrant counterparts.

Not knowing the lore is no excuse either. It takes less than a minute to Google search ‘GW2 race naming conventions’.

You report people with X’s in their name? Wow, ease up a bit. Maybe sit a couple plays out champ

Arcanorum Ignis.9218:

Moxy.1594:

One thing I noticed is the majority of the time when I find someone with a first and last name they were Guild Wars 1 players. The ones that really drive me crazy are the XxX names because they couldnt get the name they wanted pwnzer becomes XxpwnzerxX ech….

This. This makes me gag. I Report and Block anyone I see with an X appearing at either or both ends of their name on sight.

And I also notice a lot more people from GW1 do have relatively sensible names, compared to their WoW-immigrant counterparts.

Not knowing the lore is no excuse either. It takes less than a minute to Google search ‘GW2 race naming conventions’.

You are wasting the support team’s valuable time by reporting things that are in no way a violation of any rules. Block whoever you like, but don’t swamp the support team with frivolous reports about your pet peeves..

Hold the phone, don’t report people with X’s in their name. Sometimes we only use 1-2 avatars for in game names… and our alt’s may use X Hexin X … just saying that’s my mes (5th character, other 4 are 80, and hes levelling up)

I use Hexin – <<< look … and have it already on another character. So I really want a name that people who I play with call me by in TS or vent. I don’t think it needs to be reported.

EDIT : Adding… this is one of my gw1 names I brought over. So holds some ground to me and my friends/community.

I think people need to suck it up and develop a sense of humor. Goofy names can be fun, why so serious?

That said, I’ll never pick a serious character name, but I like to chill just below the radar with obscure medical condition names like Tenesmus or Fistula In Ano. Now that’s classy!

I name all my toons Folk, I’ve done it for years. If it’s taken I just add a letter behind it. If I make an alt, same thing. I spned much more time personalizing my toons looks rather than name.

Depends, really. Sometimes I’m in the mood for ‘serious’ characters, roleplaying and all that stuff, and other times I just pick my usual screenname (Kazitron) or variations of it, and just go wild with pet names. So yeah, if you see a ranger named Zatrikon with his trusty pets Fishbreath and Popsicle Steve, pop a hello if you want.

Personally, I really dislike all the non real names out there. It really breaks the immersion of the game. I also think of people by their character names, so it is even more weird to think of “Oh hey look, Mustang GT just came online!” It’s not as bad with things like “The Incredible Hulk just came online”, but I really prefer real names. I’d much rather see someone named Doug.

It bothers me for about a second after I read it, but then I don’t think of it again. For my part, I give all my characters names that fit the lore or genre. I don’t RP but I do like creating characters that have a bit of depth, or at least depth that I perceive. If I were to name them something goofy, I would lose interest in them pretty quickly.

dinominator.9862:

I don’t particularly care what name someone chooses for their character, nor am I an RPer. It’s never been a game-breaker for me. I am curious though if others also feel that it takes away from their immersion somewhat when they’re out and about in Tyria in the company of Eir Stegalkin, Caithe and Rytlock Brimstone, when suddenly along come “Tastykake” and his buddy “Mustang GT.”

Why do we do this?

1) laziness
2) they think they are “funny”
3) they don’t give a dang
4) they have no real imagination

just to name a few reasons why they do this.

Even if you don’t RP. I agree with you that making silly immature names like this tells me they have no real interest in playing the game.
When I see folks like this I do my best to get away from them since most likely they will do something usually by accident to get me killed.

Unfortunately they fall withing acceptable naming practices so there is really nothing we can do about it.

Unlike Six-Tee-Nine which I ran into the other day and reported immediately

After years of serious RP, I have characters that have died, I can say that yes I am a name rebel. I think my Charr warrior name Kitty Boo Boo Stomp is fitting. I’m hilarious!!!

ITT: Massive oversensitivity and discrimination over something as meaningless as a name.

I prefer silly names to the fortieth necro named something along the lines of Morphis the Insane, Sylvari named something with plants in it, etc. Do I block people with those names, even if they’re cringe-worthy? Nope. That’s equal to writing someone off as worthless because they have a cat named Fluffy.

My next character’s name? Based Quag. Sorry to say, dears, but RP is for RP servers, and people may name their characters whatever the hell they want. Being an insufferable little snob and snubbing strangers because of their character name just marks you as an unpleasant person I don’t want to associate with.

Except in this case, there’s a reason not to like you.