Guild Wars 2

I have a pet peeve, not sure if it’s shared among others. Judging by the naming policy, it’s not against the rules… although I feel it should be in some way.

People who purposely name their character the letters i and l repeatedly because of how it looks in game. And then there’s players who name their characters Hahahahahahaha…

It’s an RPG, why can’t you just give your character an actual name.

There is a naming policy….

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/legal/guild-wars-2-naming-policy/

I really loved how GW1 forced you to have a two part name. It was as if every person had a first and last name and helped a little to reinforce a unique identity with each toon.

One word names, especially stupid ones you pointed out, feels wrong, like a verb or adjective slapped over someone’s head

Dusty Moon.4382:

There is a naming policy….

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/legal/guild-wars-2-naming-policy/

Perhaps you didn’t thoroughly read my post… I clearly said “Judging by the naming policy” which is an indication that I am aware of the policy.

Scientia.8924:

I really loved how GW1 forced you to have a two part name. It was as if every person had a first and last name and helped a little to reinforce a unique identity with each toon.

One word names, especially stupid ones you pointed out, feels wrong, like a verb or adjective slapped over someone’s head

I’m glad Guild Wars 2 doesn’t have that rule. I dislike last names myself.

Melanie.1240:

Scientia.8924:

I really loved how GW1 forced you to have a two part name. It was as if every person had a first and last name and helped a little to reinforce a unique identity with each toon.

One word names, especially stupid ones you pointed out, feels wrong, like a verb or adjective slapped over someone’s head

I’m glad Guild Wars 2 doesn’t have that rule. I dislike last names myself.

Moreso than disliking last names, some races (Asura & Sylvari) don’t have second names lorewise.

Scientia.8924:

I really loved how GW1 forced you to have a two part name. It was as if every person had a first and last name and helped a little to reinforce a unique identity with each toon.

One word names, especially stupid ones you pointed out, feels wrong, like a verb or adjective slapped over someone’s head

I don’t care for forced last names. NPCs tend to always refer to you by both names, which doesn’t happen with people you’re familiar with IRL. Even strangers don’t do it past a greeting.

Calys Teneb.7015:

Scientia.8924:

I really loved how GW1 forced you to have a two part name. It was as if every person had a first and last name and helped a little to reinforce a unique identity with each toon.

One word names, especially stupid ones you pointed out, feels wrong, like a verb or adjective slapped over someone’s head

I don’t care for forced last names. NPCs tend to always refer to you by both names, which doesn’t happen with people you’re familiar with IRL. Even strangers don’t do it past a greeting.

That reminds so much of the movie Demolition Man where people were always addressed by their full names. It frequently came to mind during GW1.

StinVec.3621:

Calys Teneb.7015:

Scientia.8924:

I really loved how GW1 forced you to have a two part name. It was as if every person had a first and last name and helped a little to reinforce a unique identity with each toon.

One word names, especially stupid ones you pointed out, feels wrong, like a verb or adjective slapped over someone’s head

I don’t care for forced last names. NPCs tend to always refer to you by both names, which doesn’t happen with people you’re familiar with IRL. Even strangers don’t do it past a greeting.

That reminds so much of the movie Demolition Man where people were always addressed by their full names. It frequently came to mind during GW1.

I don’t go by either of my names IRL, so it’s very strange to me when people address me by even my first.

I’ll tell my guild leader who named his charcter Ha Ha Haha Ha that you disapprove. I’m sure he’ll care, along with all the other people who make non actual names.

I’m so glad you can just right click portrait to report people in this game. Remember how annoying it was in GW1?

Even though I agree that some names just are stupid and ugly and I wouldnt want to see them, I do think that (as long as the name isn’t offensive/etc) people can choose any name they wish. If it makes them happy, they should have that option. I don’t think it’s up to me to decide someone can’t be called Xxx SlayerSkull Xxx, or Asdf Fdsa .

eekzie.5640:

Even though I agree that some names just are stupid and ugly and I wouldnt want to see them, I do think that (as long as the name isn’t offensive/etc) people can choose any name they wish. If it makes them happy, they should have that option. I don’t think it’s up to me to decide someone can’t be called Xxx SlayerSkull Xxx, or Asdf Fdsa .

Quoted for truth. My character names tend to be either actual names or more title-ish names, like “The Storyteller,” or “The Young Coward.” Those are nice since they get a sense of personality across while still feeling like an in-world nickname or reputation.

There are a lot of nonsense names, but trying to restrict that is a bit like trying to convince everyone to use complete grammar, or to stop jumping up and down on the apple cart. Player freedom 1, world immersion 0, and that’s probably for the best in this case.

I do prefer names in MMOs to be “lore-appropriate”, but at the same time… It’s an MMO. I KNOW there’s going to be stupidly named characters on every corner. (Sometimes they’re even genuinely amusing, like the time 7 giant Norns all named “<Colour> Mustache” with a matching colour mustache showed up at Vigil Keep and were dancing at the bank. XD)

At the end of the day, if it’s genuinely offensive, report it. Otherwise, just ignore it and get on with your gaming.

I wanted to call my character and pet “Dev Y U No Love WvW”
But they didn’t allow it :/ I wonder why.

I get bothered a bit when I see copyrighted or celebrity names being used. Changing a single character to special character shouldn’t be done. Wish players would try to be a bit more mindful of immersion too. Luckily most are good with naming.

StinVec.3621:

Calys Teneb.7015:

Scientia.8924:

I really loved how GW1 forced you to have a two part name. It was as if every person had a first and last name and helped a little to reinforce a unique identity with each toon.

One word names, especially stupid ones you pointed out, feels wrong, like a verb or adjective slapped over someone’s head

I don’t care for forced last names. NPCs tend to always refer to you by both names, which doesn’t happen with people you’re familiar with IRL. Even strangers don’t do it past a greeting.

That reminds so much of the movie Demolition Man where people were always addressed by their full names. It frequently came to mind during GW1.

Hello John Spartan.

I totally want to do this to everyone at work tomorrow.

Allelya.6830:

It’s an RPG.

No, its and MMORPG.
That’s a huge difference and only share’s the RPG in the name.

Duran.3196:

Allelya.6830:

It’s an RPG.

No, its and MMORPG.
That’s a huge difference and only share’s the RPG in the name.

What would a MMORPG be without the RPG?
Empty.

What use is an empty MMO?

DeWolfe.2174:

I get bothered a bit when I see copyrighted or celebrity names being used. Changing a single character to special character shouldn’t be done. Wish players would try to be a bit more mindful of immersion too. Luckily most are good with naming.

These are actually against the rules and can (and should) be reported.

Garambola.2461:

DeWolfe.2174:

I get bothered a bit when I see copyrighted or celebrity names being used. Changing a single character to special character shouldn’t be done. Wish players would try to be a bit more mindful of immersion too. Luckily most are good with naming.

These are actually against the rules and can (and should) be reported.

I saw one character named after a very famous person, just one letter different. I reported it and was told it wasn’t against TOS.

There are thousands of famous names, I can’t see how that’s reportable. You can’t copyright a name,
You can copyright a brand.
__
I agree I also dislike seeing names like that OP, and I don’t care for immersion.
but I guess you’d also want the likes of “Tay’s ele” banned too? I regret not naming all my alts “Tays (whatever the class is)”.

I have a mesmer called “Dust mesmer” because it lives at the end of a jp, collecting dust.

While I agree that some names are just ridiculous or stupid and way way prefere names that at least seem like they could be somewhat lorefriendly.

But I am not ignorant… I know that people will always be making silly and imo stupid names and I will see them even within my guild and friends. Be it lag of imagination, having tried other good names that were already taken and then go f… it or just because they themselves think it is hilarious and “inventive”. Those kinda names will always exsist in any mmo.

Astral Projections.7320:

I saw one character named after a very famous person, just one letter different. I reported it and was told it wasn’t against TOS.

They are probably more concerned about names from other franchises that are protected, like for instance names from Star Wars characters.

I’ve called my rangers jaguar Eddie Furphy.

I apologise for nothing!

Taygus.4571:

There are thousands of famous names, I can’t see how that’s reportable. You can’t copyright a name,
You can copyright a brand.
__
I agree I also dislike seeing names like that OP, and I don’t care for immersion.
but I guess you’d also want the likes of “Tay’s ele” banned too? I regret not naming all my alts “Tays (whatever the class is)”.

I have a mesmer called “Dust mesmer” because it lives at the end of a jp, collecting dust.

No, name’s like that don’t bother me. It’s the ones where they either name themselves a character from another game/movie (this isn’t WoW, Skyrim, LoTR, Harry Potter, etc), this is Guild Wars.
Then there’s really distasteful names that are predominately on females and are a sexual innuendo. i.e. something pertaining to being sexy, hot, kinky, wet, etc.

Astral Projections.7320:

I’ll tell my guild leader who named his charcter Ha Ha Haha Ha that you disapprove. I’m sure he’ll care, along with all the other people who make non actual names.

You don’t need to troll or be negative. I was sharing a pet peeve. This is where we discuss Guild Wars 2, not where we smart off to other players because we disagree with them.

I’m with you OP and i can’t understand why anyone would make their character name something stupid or idiotic.

The ones that annoy me the most are the names that are trying to be funny but just aren’t. It just reminds of some guy down the pub cracking jokes, but he is the only person who finds them funny whilst every looks at him and says “what an idiot”

As long as it’s within the terms of service anyone can name their character anything they like. Whether it’s lore appropriate or not, silly, or referencing something else or not even a name at all, it’s their character and it’s up to them.

Although I am always suspicious of characters called things like Ilililililil or random jumbles of letters because without the right click > report function (which lots of people still don’t know about) it’s an effective way of making them hard to report and therefore more likely to be used by botters, gold sellers and other people who know it’s only a matter of time until they’re caught and banned.

Personally what I call my characters varies. For permanent characters I usually aim for lore appropriate, but I’m flexible. For example my norn engineer is called Ilex Hedera when actually the English version (Holly Ivy) would be more in keeping with norn names and simply Holly or something like Holly Ivysdottir would be even better. But I’d used the name in GW1, liked it and wanted to reuse it and I had a norn in need of a name.

For temporary characters it’s whatever I feel like. It could be lore appropriate, it could be a name I’ve used before or something I made up on the spot, it could be something I think is fun (like my huge charr mesmer Mr Pinkay). On one occasion it was ‘Allnamestaken’.

Taygus.4571:

There are thousands of famous names, I can’t see how that’s reportable. You can’t copyright a name,
You can copyright a brand.

But some names are also brands. Various musicians throughout history (or at least since the 20s when the concept of copyrighting music really took off) have had to perform under a stage name because they shared their real name with an existing artist who was already using it.

But I’m pretty sure it’s only against the rules of GW2 so that Arenanet can’t be held responsible (and sued) if the copyright holder takes issue with someone using their name/intellectual property (in the case of fictional characters).

To use another music analogy it’s like how most venues have a rule that says no mosh pits allowed on site. They never actually try to enforce it, it’s there so that if you get your arm broken in a mosh pit you can’t try and sue the venue – you were breaking their code of conduct and they are therefore not responsible for the outcome.

If anyone ever got Taylor Swiftclaw banned I’d be very disappointed. I’ve run into her a few times in game and the name always makes me smile. (Especially because it’s both a reference to a real person and lore appropriate.)

Some people just like fun or goofy names. For example I am no good at playing Guardian so he is named Mr. Dies A Lot. I don’t get a lot of love when I PUG dungeons. LOL

Allelya.6830:

Astral Projections.7320:

I’ll tell my guild leader who named his charcter Ha Ha Haha Ha that you disapprove. I’m sure he’ll care, along with all the other people who make non actual names.

You don’t need to troll or be negative. I was sharing a pet peeve. This is where we discuss Guild Wars 2, not where we smart off to other players because we disagree with them.

Imo starting a thread where you inform large numbers of people that the character names they chose should be against TOS and are a pet peeve of your is a negative post.

Its kind if funny that the chat filter is so sensitive but the name filter is not. I’ve seen some hilariously vulgar names – but to be fair they weren’t in English or were too phonetic to catch.

Redenaz.8631:

Quoted for truth. My character names tend to be either actual names or more title-ish names, like “The Storyteller,” or “The Young Coward.” Those are nice since they get a sense of personality across while still feeling like an in-world nickname or reputation.

There are a lot of nonsense names, but trying to restrict that is a bit like trying to convince everyone to use complete grammar, or to stop jumping up and down on the apple cart. Player freedom 1, world immersion 0, and that’s probably for the best in this case.

Ah, the never ending debate on whether anyone cares about grammar.

I agree with you about the freedom to choose whatever name you (general you, not you specifically) like. Just understand too, that if I come across a nonsense name or lazy grammar, I will judge the player. It could be anything from declining their guild application, to passing them over for party invites. Freedom works both ways.

I named my character Omar Aschi Popp Ill. because I wan’ted him to be the direct descendant of me from GW1.

Then once I say my name in chat, I saw just how obvious it was my name was ill as in sick. Now I’m sick, with rage. Why can’t I have multiple caps?

Also, kitten that guy who took the name Graven.

OP sounds like a kitten roleplayer.

Before you get all angry, I am (also) one of these kitten roleplayers. Well, less so about roleplaying, but definitely kitten. I used to go on TC for RPers just because they didn’t have eyesore armor or character names. The megaserver ruined all of that, so now I see people like “aojfgwep” (gross exaggeration) running around.

Again, they existed long before megaservers… I just didn’t have to ever read their disgustingly poor character name.

Reisinger.4203:

Again, they existed long before megaservers… I just didn’t have to ever read their disgustingly poor character name.

Turn player names off. In the real world, people don’t walk around with nametags above their heads. You have to engage them in conversation, and then ask their name. I always turn off player names in any MMO.

i don’t really give much thought to my character names, since the quality and style of the personal story’s dialogue doesn’t give much leeway for roleplaying, since i can’t take it seriously. so i just put random nice sounding syllables together or just name them after some obscure reference.

Reisinger.4203:

OP sounds like a kitten roleplayer.

Before you get all angry, I am (also) one of these kitten roleplayers. Well, less so about roleplaying, but definitely kitten. I used to go on TC for RPers just because they didn’t have eyesore armor or character names. The megaserver ruined all of that, so now I see people like “aojfgwep” (gross exaggeration) running around.

Again, they existed long before megaservers… I just didn’t have to ever read their disgustingly poor character name.

No, I am not a “insert vulgar word you used here” RolePlayer. I’m just a casual PvE player. I started this post to see if others shared the same pet peeve as I do, irritation at players that think being childish is still oh so cool and popular. There are MMOs out there that have a ToU against naming your character jibberish, sentences, and the like.

This is an RPG, where you are taking on the role of the hero. Your name is known for doing heroic deeds. I can’t take a player seriously ( esp in a dungeon ) if their name is more suited for someone playing CoD.

Fhi.1840:

Reisinger.4203:

Again, they existed long before megaservers… I just didn’t have to ever read their disgustingly poor character name.

Turn player names off. In the real world, people don’t walk around with nametags above their heads. You have to engage them in conversation, and then ask their name. I always turn off player names in any MMO.

And if people in real life did have their name displayed all the time you’d quickly realise that ridiculous names are not restricted to fictional characters.

My old job involved teaching groups of school children, typically around the age of 11 or 12 and some of the names they were stuck with were…kind of incredible. Like a girl whose first name is Princess Angel. In real life. Her friends called her Marie and I got the impression she was counting down the days until she could change it.

Danikat.8537:

Fhi.1840:

Reisinger.4203:

Again, they existed long before megaservers… I just didn’t have to ever read their disgustingly poor character name.

Turn player names off. In the real world, people don’t walk around with nametags above their heads. You have to engage them in conversation, and then ask their name. I always turn off player names in any MMO.

And if people in real life did have their name displayed all the time you’d quickly realise that ridiculous names are not restricted to fictional characters.

My old job involved teaching groups of school children, typically around the age of 11 or 12 and some of the names they were stuck with were…kind of incredible. Like a girl whose first name is Princess Angel. In real life. Her friends called her Marie and I got the impression she was counting down the days until she could change it.

I encountered one child whose name I can’t even put on the forum. Let’s just say it was a phonetic spelling of a female sexual body part.

Fhi.1840:

Ah, the never ending debate on whether anyone cares about grammar.

I agree with you about the freedom to choose whatever name you (general you, not you specifically) like. Just understand too, that if I come across a nonsense name or lazy grammar, I will judge the player. It could be anything from declining their guild application, to passing them over for party invites. Freedom works both ways.

A terrible character name is a flag that says “don’t res me.” Either that or it says “res me when I’m AFK so all my armor breaks.” =P

Though, I will admit to having pun-themed names here and there, most of that comes from not knowing the naming conventions at start. I’ve restarted a character for lore-appropriate reasons, and I’ve even pondered getting a name change contract or two.

Not that I’m enamored with Sylvari/Asura naming conventions, as I find them lame, tired, and difficult to find unique ones in a sea of other players.

It makes me glad that FF14 has an option to reduce names to initials, so I don’t have to see the dumb ones.

Maybe ANet could follow up with an option akin to how people show up in WvW, but in reverse. There could be a display checkbox that makes all non-party, non-guild people show up as “[Server] Ally” instead.

Danikat.8537:

Fhi.1840:

Reisinger.4203:

Again, they existed long before megaservers… I just didn’t have to ever read their disgustingly poor character name.

Turn player names off. In the real world, people don’t walk around with nametags above their heads. You have to engage them in conversation, and then ask their name. I always turn off player names in any MMO.

And if people in real life did have their name displayed all the time you’d quickly realise that ridiculous names are not restricted to fictional characters.

My old job involved teaching groups of school children, typically around the age of 11 or 12 and some of the names they were stuck with were…kind of incredible. Like a girl whose first name is Princess Angel. In real life. Her friends called her Marie and I got the impression she was counting down the days until she could change it.

Wow. I didn’t know this was happening. I mean, I seen a news article about a kid who’s parents were from a different country, but they came here and the child was born here and they named him Kush. I felt it was tasteless considering what that word means here in the U.S.

Thanks for the insight.

DeWolfe.2174:

Wish players would try to be a bit more mindful of immersion too. Luckily most are good with naming.

You know lots of people care absolutely zilch about immersion or lore? As long as no one has offensive names….

An easy fix for this would be to turn off name tags for friendlies and only leave it on for enemies. It’s more aesthetically pleasing in general I think.

Danikat.8537:

And if people in real life did have their name displayed all the time you’d quickly realise that ridiculous names are not restricted to fictional characters.

My old job involved teaching groups of school children, typically around the age of 11 or 12 and some of the names they were stuck with were…kind of incredible. Like a girl whose first name is Princess Angel. In real life. Her friends called her Marie and I got the impression she was counting down the days until she could change it.

I dare say that your example is an extreme minority. Sure there are a lot of unfortunate names out there, whether chosen by parents or adopted by a clueless foreigner (i.e myself when I first moved), but downright dumb names are very rare.

I think OP is referring to dumb names. Tell me that a Tyrian parent would name their child Plantyhose. Or Bacon McOink. Or a thief named Check Yo Pockets.

I just started this game again after playing only a few hours when I was originally gifted this game about 2 years ago. While making my character, I found that most of my usual semi-unique names were already taken. After being unable to find a unique name I tried some silly ones. I found that even names like “Melissa Etheridge”, “Kesha” for example were already taken.

I ended up settling on TheSausageBearer for my warrior.

OP, I couldn’t agree more. I am not a roleplayer either but I hate seeing people with names like “K I L L E R,” “X Dragon X,” “Waaaaaaaaaaaamy,” etc… I don’t think the rules need to be super strict and I don’t think players should be forced to have a first and a last name if they don’t want to but I do think there should have been more… structure? Restrictions? Well… just less of all that crap! No more than two names, a letter should not be repeated more than twice in a row. Instantly way better IMO. Thanks goodness they don’t allow numbers in the names…

Allelya.6830:

Reisinger.4203:

OP sounds like a kitten roleplayer.

Before you get all angry, I am (also) one of these kitten roleplayers. Well, less so about roleplaying, but definitely kitten. I used to go on TC for RPers just because they didn’t have eyesore armor or character names. The megaserver ruined all of that, so now I see people like “aojfgwep” (gross exaggeration) running around.

Again, they existed long before megaservers… I just didn’t have to ever read their disgustingly poor character name.

No, I am not a “insert vulgar word you used here” RolePlayer. I’m just a casual PvE player. I started this post to see if others shared the same pet peeve as I do, irritation at players that think being childish is still oh so cool and popular. There are MMOs out there that have a ToU against naming your character jibberish, sentences, and the like.

This is an RPG, where you are taking on the role of the hero. Your name is known for doing heroic deeds. I can’t take a player seriously ( esp in a dungeon ) if their name is more suited for someone playing CoD.

You see, you are missing the point. You are a regular person doing heroic deeds in GW2 (unless you are a Norn and that is their societal norm).

Gw1 was known for that too. A.Net has a very strict naming convention and more so than other games. Just report the name and move on, all you can do.

Allelya.6830:

This is an RPG, where you are taking on the role of the hero. Your name is known for doing heroic deeds. I can’t take a player seriously ( esp in a dungeon ) if their name is more suited for someone playing CoD.

Except I’m not a hero. I’ve never done the personal story. At best I’m a member of a ragtag militia fighting other ragtag militias, and I occasionally practice my fighting skills in the mists.

I don’t play this game for the immersion, because to me personally, the story is a bit silly. And that-being, you have to realize this is an mmo you are sharing with thousands of other people, so not everyone is going to play the way you want, and I think anet would prefer to leave the options open and annoy a few people than to restrict the game in a way that could possibly hurt the population fairly badly.

also, my names are all variants of the name Feyris from steins;gate (e.g. my ranger is Feyris Nyo, whilst my guardian is Feyris Hyaa (also note since it’s technically not the correct spelling, it doesn’t infringe on using a character name from a copyrighted product, like Faris would be doing)) Technically speaking, that doesn’t fit in the lore of the game (even though it isn’t an eyesore imo). Yet it’s the name I’ve gone by for the past year or two now in real life and online.

Might I add that new players and some veterans alike, do not know anything about the lore and therefore couldn’t abide by the “correct” naming conventions?

And how come the word silverfang is offensive but silverclaw is perfeclty fine?.

I liked the Given and Surname in Guild Wars and I repeated in Guild Wars 2 with Lore appropriate names and such.
I would like an option for the selection of a nickname, or if you prefer being called by your first or last name with some characters.
The nickname doesn’t have to be unique, like your character’s name, but in dialogue it could be used appropriately by NPCs.