Guild Wars 2

I have seen too many XXDr33zzad D0 Urd3nsXX over the years to give a kitten. Usually I avoid to team with them individually, because there seems to be a tendency for them to either be wanna be elitist jerks who fail miserabely or really clueless, probably kids. Don´t care if they are in a group I join.

Algreg.3629:

I have seen too many XXDr33zzad D0 Urd3nsXX over the years to give a kitten. Usually I avoid to team with them individually, because there seems to be a tendency for them to either be wanna be elitist jerks who fail miserabely or really clueless, probably kids. Don´t care if they are in a group I join.

They get points just for trying to name it after the best Mary Sue.

Scumbag Mawile.6384:

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.

Oh no! A random stranger on a random server might not pay attention to you because you have a third grade name! Man, that must mean I’m totally unpleasant and a right kitten! Hi, I’m kettle. Are you pot?

Can I be honest for a second? To me, it seems like there are lot of judgmental people playing this game. I mean, from some posts I get that feeling that some people think players who don’t choose a lore-friendly name are somehow inherently lazy, stupid, or both. That doesn’t necessarily have to be true – and besides, I (as the guy who named his marsh drake Fishbreath) am not exactly a highbrow humor guy -, but it sure seems that way. Like, some people going “Ugh, why would I mingle with these people?”. Sure, you can think that, ain’t nobody able to do something about that. Different folks, different strokes. But labeling other human beings as inherently lazy, uncreative or stupid just because they don’t hold the same standard in character naming isn’t exactly intellectual highrolling either.

Sorry for the rant, just had to get that off my chest.

Aequitas.6402:

But labeling other human beings as inherently lazy, uncreative or stupid just because they don’t hold the same standard in character naming isn’t exactly intellectual highrolling either.

I don’t think you’re entirely wrong, but I’ll be likewise honest. I am not going to write the player off as lazy, uncreative, or stupid. It does not make one person better than another person to have a lore-centric name. I am not better than Mr. Underwear Streak’s Player in any way, shape, or form.

That said, I’m running around a fantasy world with a fantasy character trying to get into the fantasy. I am totally not going to waste my limited time online interacting with Mr. Skidmark on the chance he might be a cool dude. I have no incentive. I could approach every encounter like a dewy-eyed optimist, or I can use all my incredible years of MMO experience that tells me someone with a silly name is probably going to, y’know. Act silly. I’m not playing to act silly. To each his own.

Edit: What I find REALLY funny is that I’ve never reported or blocked anyone based on a name, even on an RP server. I’m lazy that way. I’m not going to tell you that you’re wrong, or you’re irritating, or that you’re an idiot for having a name I find eye-rollingly stupid. Again, lazy. I am just going to pass by and ignore you. If you find THAT offensive, man. Don’t ever visit NY.

one of my names is Halfway to Narnia and i think it’s amazing. idc what RPers think about it tbh.

Aequitas.6402:

as the guy who named his marsh drake Fishbreath.

Actually, that makes you appear as rather creative and tongue in cheek as opposed to some examples given here.

LowestTruth.2635:

Edit: What I find REALLY funny is that I’ve never reported or blocked anyone based on a name, even on an RP server.

What, exactly, would you even report someone for? It’s not as if there are any official RP servers. What I find really funny, in a sad, pathetic way, is that people are actually reporting other people, simply because they don’t like their names. Offensive names are one thing, but to report someone on the basis of non-lore, or breaking immersion? Seriously?

whipplerama.3692:

LowestTruth.2635:

Edit: What I find REALLY funny is that I’ve never reported or blocked anyone based on a name, even on an RP server.

What, exactly, would you even report someone for? It’s not as if there are any official RP servers. What I find really funny, in a sad, pathetic way, is that people are actually reporting other people, simply because they don’t like their names. Offensive names are one thing, but to report someone on the basis of non-lore, or breaking immersion? Seriously?

Well, yeah, exactly. The only reason for reporting in this game is the usual racist or vulgar names. Right now I’m just amused because this isn’t even the usual so-what-if-I-break-your-immersion anti-ToS RP server crap, which I never cared about anyways. NOW it’s an accept-my-stupid-name or you’re a stupid snob! Like it matters what I think about your character.

-.o Not enough prejudice in the world..

..must create drama. Names in computer game related.

:)

LowestTruth.2635:

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.

Well, you know while you might only wish to be honest some people may find it actually insulting if you speak out that you find them “challenged”. I mean we got freedom of speech but sigh in that case you will have to accept that others speak out they find such an attitude “snobish”. Truth on both sides is not always doing the best.

Why do people do this?

Same reason I sometimes get someone wanting to play a fighter in D&D and name them “Leeroy Jenkins” or some semblance of that name. Or Legolas for elves, Dumbledore and Gandalf for wizards . . .

They either don’t care, don’t want to bother, or are straight up trolling. Sometimes they just want to play that character since they like it.

By the way, the thief in bright orange running around yelling “Believe it!”? Yeah I think I hate you just a little. Only a little, because you score points for pretty much behaving exactly as the character would.

LowestTruth is really making me want to create a character named Thuggin Mc Lyfe and devote an unhealthy amount of time to it ‘til I’m quite the skilled player with him/her.

Most of my names tend to use either dictionary words or unisex names, like my first name since I know both males and females whom are also named “Ari”. I always get a good chuckle when people refer to my character as a “he” only to see my character is a “she”, and vice-versa. The only exception would be my Charr, since I tend to give joke-like or contradictory names to any animal races I play in most MMOs (like giving a rather cutesy name to a rather bad kitten looking Charr). I guess it just helps me associate with that character more.

Besides that, it’s extremely rare that I would report someone for having an inappropriate name, regardless if I’m on an RP server or not. I guess it would have be extremely offending for me to do so … but even then, I have a relatively thick skin so it would take a lot to actually offend me.

RP-wise, I could see how it could be annoying, but at the end of the day, it’s just a name. Sometimes, you just have to think outside (but not too far outside) the box why a certain character is named such. The results could be kind of humorous.

My names have always tried to be good. Tobias Trueflight, Garah Emberbane, Eidra Frekkesdottir . . .

Except for Kizke, because I was archive-binging on Sluggy Freelance when I made him and I don’t think enough of Asura to actually give him a GOOD name.

I once found a character named “I kick Puppies”. I blocked that player… It was the only name I noticed I didn’t want to look at in chat. I have not seem other names that are “offensive” to me.

I’m getting bothered when I play on RP servers, but since there are no RP servers here I tend to just wonder what made a player pick that stupid name. Some names can be cute, but some are just flat out stupid.

It is afterall something that will stick with that character to the end, unless you get a chance to change it.

Personally I pick names that sound like names and fitting to the lore. What I did miss in GW2 was that sylvari dont use lastnames, so hes stuck with a lastname. I will probably change it when namechange goes live.

Will probably use my thiefs name on my mesmer, take the mesmers name as firstname on my necro and use the necros current first name as his lastname. The necro theme fits better with my mesmers name, since its one with quite a dark inspiration, mesmers just have a bit too many fluffy pink spells and butterflies. I used to use the mesmers name on my Witch Doctor in D3, so it would fit on a human necro.

Also when naming toons I tend to take inspiration from things I like, historical figures, bands, songs, myths and so on. Thats from where I draw my inspiration.

To elaborate on my point before, I do not specifically think you are stupid/lazy etc for having an alternate type name. I do not particularly like it, but meh.

It’s similar to someone wearing a stupid T-Shirt. I look at it and roll my eyes and move on. Would it be better if everyone dressed nicely? Sure. That ain’t going to happen, so whatever.

Mag Li.2581:

I once found a character named “I kick Puppies”. I blocked that player… It was the only name I noticed I didn’t want to look at in chat. I have not seem other names that are “offensive” to me.

Sometimes players pick names like that specifically to provoke an emotional response in PvP that will make an opponent fight less rationally. It’s not a half bad strategy if you care more about scoring victories than making friends. Of course, that does no good at all in WvW here since they’re just [Server] Invader…

For the most part I try to keep the names suitable to both race or profession. Thus my Mesmers name is Gordion Knot (sylvari), my thief is Sinister Shadowsong (sylvari), my engineer is an Asuran named Meta Lurgy, I have an Asuran ele who goes by the name of Flerious (which means fire), my Norn warrior is Bori Grimbattle my human necromancer is Locke Cursdylfe and a charr ranger by the name of Criswynwolf.

The only two that do not fit this scheme are my main and an Asuran thief that was created for fun. The wife and I made a pair of Asuran thieves and “borrowed” inspiration from Starwars and Spaceballs. They go by the names of Luke and Leia Lonestarr, Asuran twin thieves. The name of my main, Theftwind Lafinathu has been an online and offline name for my main character since the dawn of home computer gaming and before the internet when BBS and public dialports were the mainstay of online gaming.

Aequitas.6402:

Can I be honest for a second? To me, it seems like there are lot of judgmental people playing this game. I mean, from some posts I get that feeling that some people think players who don’t choose a lore-friendly name are somehow inherently lazy, stupid, or both. That doesn’t necessarily have to be true – and besides, I (as the guy who named his marsh drake Fishbreath) am not exactly a highbrow humor guy -, but it sure seems that way. Like, some people going “Ugh, why would I mingle with these people?”. Sure, you can think that, ain’t nobody able to do something about that. Different folks, different strokes. But labeling other human beings as inherently lazy, uncreative or stupid just because they don’t hold the same standard in character naming isn’t exactly intellectual highrolling either.

Sorry for the rant, just had to get that off my chest.

It is ok to rant. As I siad myself as well as you we can do nothing about.

You just have to see the other side of the coin a bit more.

This is an MMORPG. These games are meant to be played for years with the same character.

There is no way to change names at this time. I have not heard of any plans to do so myself, which does not mean it could or will happen in the future.

Just think on that. Do you really want to go around with a Norn male warrior at level 100 (I know it only goes to 80 at this time. Work with me) with the name “Tastykake” (I know this is most likely not a Norn male warrior, just work with the imagery).

Could you see some guy running around with legendary armor and weapons that looks totally awesome to you then you see the name “Tastykake” wouldn’t you say to yourself “you have to be kidding” or start laughing.

Odds are in favor you WILL never encounter this two or more year from now in this game. Or any other MMO that stay live for that long.

For one the player will mature. They will start to think differently. They will start begging Anet for a way to change names IF they continue to play.

I have been in MMOs for 20 years now. I have seen the silly names last a few months then are gone forever.

I call them how I see them and they most of the time deserve to be called for what they truly are.

sorry for my rant, but I was just giving you the view of someone who has been at this for two decades

Scumbag Mawile.6384:

LowestTruth is really making me want to create a character named Thuggin Mc Lyfe and devote an unhealthy amount of time to it ‘til I’m quite the skilled player with him/her.

You should totally do that, because it would… uh… well, it would do something.

Stupid names are your friend they help you clasify people you dont know.

I see a norn called Bjorn to Rock i figure ok a guy who thought a bit and has a sense of humor might be fun to group with
I see spongebob poopypants i know to find another group

Does that make me a snob lol i dont think so just carefull with my time, would i be ok with Mustang well it hard to change a car freak and some of them have been known to be almost normal.

What i am still waiting to see is a Charr called Oedipus

I think its fun to name them something original then have the npc refer to you seriouly as a silly name. " oh no.. the centars are attacking… only you…Mr fluffy pants, can save us. " as for the quality of names XxrippingixX or Anthromorphicous Slaughtertron III those names are just really long or dont really single you out. you realize it is a hassle tring to type out an invite to those characters. and then tring to chat with them in party. so. i try to keep my names simple but fun.

little old lady: because who wants to be killed by a little old lady,

My other characters reference transformers or are a mixture of Spanish and Japanese or from gw1.

I think the only name I ever really giggled at was in EQ2… the name was Dragon Fart. They Dragonheart movie had just been out at the time.

One person wisely said in another forum in another game, “at least it lets me know who to avoid.”

On ther other hand, some give me a laugh, others an eye roll, and at times I tell my mom, “someone named themselves <insert name here>”, and we’ll share a funny face at each other.

My charr Whispy Whiskers ^.^
Yea I’m kind of a name rebel, but I still got my other characters with simple names and old habit from gw1. I always put on the same surname on my characters except for this charr

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?

I’m with you on having some name characteristics that make me less likely to interact with folks, but I assume that certain spelling mistakes are plays on words that I’m not getting.

I can’t tell you how many people gave me a lecture on spelling when they came across my sonic blaster “Dewey Decibel” in CoH. I was kind of asking for it though, the crowd that knows about the Dewey decimal system tend to be sticklers for spelling and grammar.

With popular multiplayer games it is really difficult to find names that you’re happy with that aren’t already taken. I have a few that are almost always available that are (probably mangled) words from other languages. I scan the roller derby registry for ideas a lot. It can take me a really long time to create an alt, I understand why some folks get frustrated and end up with less than awesome names.

On the other hand, there are those names that tell you a lot about what the player behind the avatar thinks is cool that give me fair warning that we’re not going to get along.

Arcanorum Ignis.9218:

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

I don’t understand it either. It’s not my business what someone names their character, but when I see Toaster Oven or Ham Cheese or Bar Soap running around, I definitely don’t want to group with them or play the game with them.

It just automatically makes me think it’s an immature kid behind the character incapable of coming up with a ‘real’ character name. The worst ones are the misspelled ones, they had to have that awful name so bad they had to misspell it Toasterrr Ovven or Bar Sooapp. Ugh!

Totally biased I know, but that’s the way it is.

Scumbag Mawile.6384:

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.

Sorry, but this is still human society, and people get their strongest impressions based on the things they experience first (appearance, apparent demeanor, initial interactions). In an RPG, the name is one of the aspects is the name. The awesome thing about an RPG is that you get to shape how people will react to you, by crafting those things to get the reaction you want. If you’re bothered by how people are reacting to your choices, you’re welcome to change them. But don’t expect people not to react to the image you present… Although from the semi-contentious tone of your responses, it seems like that you’re getting exactly the response you want.

I have Xenophria, Rajed Alsadin, and Milandrian. Xenophria’s a norn, the others are human.

But my boyfriend has a human thief name Imathiefyo and a Sylvari named Imatreeyo.

A clever or funny name is something I enjoy seeing. Besides after trying to get the exact name you want for 30 minutes (using all the variations you can think of) I have just thrown out a name so I could play.
I like getting the occasional smile or laugh from seeing a funny name. I guess I’m just a casual player at heart. But to those who are true RP’ers, there is always the role of the town fool, joker, drunk, attention-lover, etc.
Real life is stranger than fiction sometimes. I went to elementary school with someone whose last name was the short form of ‘Richard’. Guess what his father’s name was…
The kid’s grandparents thought they were being funny. At least that trait ran true in the family because they were all practical jokers.
EDIT: And Harry was our youth soccer coach growing up. The whole family was a blast to be around. As kids we always felt weird saying his name in the proper form so we just called him by his first name.

I’m not really that much of a “name rebel” and to be honest I don’t care if people are such. If they play well with me then I stick around or even add folks to my friends list.

I do tend to name my characters within the suggestions I found in the strategy guide, but more for my sake since I like taking my time creating characters.

I’m not a hardcore RP’er, in fact the only thing I really care about at times is how my character looks and their name. I think my tolerance comes from the fact I read a lot of old books with bad pun names like ‘Ty Wu Non’ and ‘Ni Ten Doh’

The only names I hate are ones that are annoying to type when trying to /join or /invite. Because the right-click menu only shows “Report” 98% of the time I want to party with someone…

It’s tough to strike the balance between taking your name too seriously, and not seriously enough. The worst is when you come up with that perfect name, and then you go to create the character and the name is taken! When “Tagus” was taken at launch, I totally freaked out and came up with a horrible name… and leveled the character to 80 before accepting the fact that I failed miserably.

Speaking of… when’s that name changer coming out again?

There are no name rebels. I see just as many “Spruce Willis” names as I do “Lady Jessica Hightower” names.

Little Old Lady.3742:

I think its fun to name them something original then have the npc refer to you seriouly as a silly name. " oh no.. the centars are attacking… only you…Mr fluffy pants, can save us.

That made me lol

I tend to choose realistic names for my characters. My Sylvari are named using various Latin names for plants, or derivatives of the Latin names. For example, one of my girls is named Betula Pendulae, which is a variant on the Latin name for “little-leaf linden tree”.

I tend to have fun with my Ranger pet names, above anything else. For example:

Spider: Skitter
Black Jaguar: Sleek
Eagle: Nobility
White Owl: Wisdom
Shark: Chompy (really need a new one, ever since I discovered the pirate puzzle in LA)
Armored Fish: Gauntlet
Fern Hound: Canteloupe

And so on. Nothing really mind-blowing, I am just slightly whimsical with my pets

I have a terrific Asura name ready to roll… which I would absolutely use, if I didn’t find the Asurans to be so insufferably egotistical.

Valinerya.6713:

I have a terrific Asura name ready to roll… which I would absolutely use, if I didn’t find the Asurans to be so insufferably egotistical.

Better reserve that name… it took me an hour or so of tinkering to get a variation of the name I wanted that wasn’t already taken!

my husband’s theory is that some people look around on their desk and pop a name for the first thing they see … “hm. think i’ll name this one donut-hole.” that said? we will probably pounce on “funny” or “stupid” names in gchat … shake our heads, question it, then move on. we are a very insular, small guild, and we don’t mass-recruit, but i will say that if we see someone names “XFearMeX” looking for a guild, we won’t respond to them. the name indicates that 1) they’re likely highly pvp/competition oriented and 2) due to that, they likely won’t fit in with us.

tbh? that’s about as far as the whole “elitism” over names goes, for us. otherwise? we just kinda giggle at some of them. but i’ve seen some GOOD ones. “Humberto Necro” is my current favorite ;-)

I use names from people that I think struck really important to me in the past/(or presently) and then mix it up

Alex Shepherd (Silent Hill)
Cole McGrath (infamous)
Zak (Ghost Adventures)
Ellis (left 4 dead 2)
Lockhart (a dancer in real life)

And I name my characters like “Alex Cole” or “Zak Cole” and “Lockhart Ellis”

But I don’t mind “stupid names.”

I remember while waiting for Fort Aspenwood (in gw1) I would see a lot of characters with humorous names since they were mostly disposable PvP characters like a monk named “I cannot heal ur idiocy” or something like that. Gave me some giggles

Take a drink every time you see a toon named after a Game of Thrones character.

I also take the stance that if someone has a stupid or silly name, I simply just avoid grouping or interacting with them. It takes very little effort to find a non-real world name to use. If someone can’t even be bothered to do that, well that is telling.

It’s similar to people who post on forums and misspell the title and every other word. They can’t even be bothered to preview it? Of course, I’m not referring to the occasional typo.

Plus, in this game, all of your characters can have the same first name, and just use a different last name. There is no reason to use X’s.

I play these games to escape the real world; not have it thrown back in my face constantly. Players going out of their way to try sound as out of place as possible are not what I consider positive folks. They are trying to break others’ immersion; that is their intent. At the very least; they simply don’t care about other people. I wouldn’t want to associate with that type either.

Names I know from real life, most having seen birth certificates:
Chris Cross
Lemonjello (pronounced Lee-manj-ge-lo)
Orangejello (pronounced On-ge-lo)
Human Klumpp
Human Klumpp Jr
Delicious Peters
Female (pronounced Fem-mall-lee)
Prince of Wales (“of” being the middle name)
A baby named with 26 consokittenand an “i” in the middle, when asked how to pronounce it, the mother said, something like “Kid”, and asked how she got that from all those letters, she said the rest were silent. Poor kid.

These are real life names, so I guess in a game, you can have some odd ones, too.

Behold Jimi Hendrix. Not going to type the real name… something like…. hex… and drain… yeah.

I named my ‘main’ after, Sid Sycle’ a necro I had in GW1, I figure they are related in someway.

My Asura Thief, Dixxie Turpin, is named after a highway man from england.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/kitten_Turpin -(edit) in this link replace the Kitten with the popular nickname for Richard that starts with a ‘D’. For example – the ‘Blank’ Van kitten show. -(edit) And replace the Kitten in that last sentance with a word for a small dam found in Denmark.

Other then that some of my names are taken from porn stars. Jayla Oso, my norn guardian is named after Jayna Oso.

You can google her since I don’t want to link it!

(edit) So funny that I can name a porn star, Jayna Oso, but not a popular nickname for Richard or a small dam in denmark!

Syndi Sycle.8593:

I named my ‘main’ after, Sid Sycle’ a necro I had in GW1, I figure they are related in someway.

My Asura Thief, Dixxie Turpin, is named after a highway man from england.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/kitten_Turpin

LOL I think the forum software replaced the name in your link with “kitten.” That’s hillarious. It’s a valid English name (short form of Richard)

Camaro Charr.2805:

Mustang GT? My Camaro SS will smoke that name.

This makes me want to make a character named Ford Pinto.

Said character would be an Engineer, for obvious reasons.

Mag Li.2581:

I once found a character named “I kick Puppies”. I blocked that player… It was the only name I noticed I didn’t want to look at in chat. I have not seem other names that are “offensive” to me.

That’s sick, demented, and horribly offensive. I’ll be adding him/her/it to my friends list immediately.

I think some are being to judgemental of ppls names, i’d rather judge someone on their skill then their name.

I saw a Sylvari named Half Man Half Salad and got a chuckle, funny names are good if they’re actually funny.

I have a HOT mesmer named I Eye Candy I, mainly because i didn’t want a bunch of 14 year old kids hitting on me, and the real Eye Candy was taken (of course). I figured the name Eye Candy implies that there’s a guy playing the character, & if im looking at a computer screen 4+ hours a day might aswell have something good to look at. It seemed a fitting name to me

It’s still better here than in other MMOs (of which I’ve only played one other).

Yeah, I’ve seen some silly ones but prefer them over the “JeffWarrior” or “IPWNURMUMLOLZ” type names I used to see all the time.