Guild Wars 2

Sokia.3710:

Profession is what it was called in the first Guild Wars. So, some people still call classes “professions” even though in GW2 profession is the in-game terminology to describe crafting trades.

This is wrong.

A Mesmer is a profession.
A Chef is a discipline.

The original question was about the origin of the term, not about our personal feelings about it. Use “toon” or don’t use it, as you prefer, but let’s not pretend that any of us individually get to choose how language evolves.

If we did, then no one would be able to “prioritize the monetization of the cash shop for a B2P coop RPG,” because people have objected to half the words in that sentence, with cause. The game wouldn’t be called “Guild Wars 2” (because: no wars between guilds in either game), fire would burn wooden objects, and Meteor Storms would damage friend and foe alike.

tl;dr you don’t have to use a word in order to accept that the rest of the world does.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

The original question was about the origin of the term, not about our personal feelings about it. Use “toon” or don’t use it, as you prefer, but let’s not pretend that any of us individually get to choose how language evolves.

If we did, then no one would be able to “prioritize the monetization of the cash shop for a B2P coop RPG,” because people have objected to half the words in that sentence, with cause. The game wouldn’t be called “Guild Wars 2” (because: no wars between guilds in either game), fire would burn wooden objects, and Meteor Storms would damage friend and foe alike.

tl;dr you don’t have to use a word in order to accept that the rest of the world does.

Well, the OP did bring his feelings into it as well as ask about the origins of the word.

Holliness.7641:

I’ve never heard it before and it took me forever to figure out that it doesn’t mean “cartoon” and means “my character”.

But it sounds so stupid, how did it catch on? Does it come from something else??

Saying that it “sounds so stupid” does open the gates for comments about how others feel about the word and its usage.

I started back in ffxi…. maybe because its a Japanese MMO, I never saw the word toon used until GW2. The first time I saw it used, it made me cringe a little bit, and it still does to some degree. Its probably similar to “lol” for some people. I use it all the time because sarcasm comes across so rough in text, but I know a lot of guys my age think of it as teenie-bopper text speak. Its a matter of taste I guess.

I can’t believe you are still referring to your alternate personae as “characters.” It sounds so stupid and juvenile, and really demonstrates how you don’t take GW2 seriously enough. Spongebob Squarepants is a “character.” It’s very silly indeed to use such a word.

I’ll bet you’re still referring to GW2 as a “game,” as well — a mere child’s amusement! Don’t you know, it is now called a “collaborative virtual world”? Although, I don’t think even that term does it justice, as “virtual” suggests it is somehow inferior to the “real” world. The English language is tragically insufficient to express just how seriously I take all of this!

/s

The word “toon” sounds like a pejorative to me because the words I’d free associate with “toon” are pretty much all things I don’t want my character or character’s graphic representation to be in a computer game — funny looking, not serious, comic, etc. If I wanted to play a “toon”, I’d play a game like Wildstar.

Berk.8561:

The word “toon” sounds like a pejorative to me because the words I’d free associate with “toon” are pretty much all things I don’t want my character or character’s graphic representation to be in a computer game — funny looking, not serious, comic, etc. If I wanted to play a “toon”, I’d play a game like Wildstar.

….and my point is made….

I always wondered about this too. For those that have strong feelings about the difference between “character” and “toon,” do you often refer to your characters by their race/profession “my Norn Engineer” or by their name? I find that I prefer using “character” and usually, in my head at least, refer to all my characters by name. Could be because I come from table-top RPGs with a heavy emphasis on RP. I always laugh when I see people say “rolling a new toon” because I really doubt they know where that comes from.