Guild Wars 2

WHY are you calling your characters “toons” ?

Seriously guys, it`s the most annoying thing I have ever heard!

WHY? Where did this come from?

I have a feeling it`s mainly brits using it. Is that true?

Please explain it to me, maybe it won`t annoy me as much if I know why.

I think it comes from WoW, but I can’t be sure. never used it myself, and I’m a brit

I played wow, and yes they were called Toons. I don’t know why. It isn’t British. points up that guy HATES when they are called toons. I am TRYING to stop. Hard to do though. Not sure the origins of it though.

also calling them chars could in this game cause some confusion if you are not actually a charr :P

nah, difference in spelling (which some people forget admittedly).

Yes on some occasion I wanted to use short “char” but to avoid confusion used full “character”.

However this annoying “toon” thing is not just in this game, I was using Titan Quest forums awhile back and it was ALL they used.

My guess is it comes from Roger Rabbit. In that movie, the animated characters, the cartoons, are called toons in a noir slang sort of way. So since then, when playing an animated character (your MMO avatar), people have called them toons as well.

By the way, it’s a great movie and I recommend it highly.

I’ve been wondering the same for quite a while. Seems now I run into people who use it, with much more frequency than I did back in GW1. What’s the point of using the term, anyway? Characters don’t look like cartoons.

The first time I asked about it, the person who used the word called me a newb for not knowing.

I keep aaccidentally calling them "champs^ because I just got done playing that trashy league of legends game.

How is using the word “toon” more annoying than an all-caps forum name?

Seriously, if you get annoyed by a word commonly used in practically every MMO, you should wonder whether or not you’re too easily aggrevated.

Basically its just another way to say its a alt, another character you play, etc. I think it was just quicker for people to type then character.

I recall the word being used rampently back when I played Ultima Online though chiefly in Diablo 2 a lot undoubtedly because the characters were literally cartoons back then, and you can hardly call it character because that implies a degree of depth and individuality that didn’t exist when there was no difference between two people playing the same class. Likely from there it was carried over to WoW and dissemintated throughout the MMO population.

Like any slang or jargon terms evolve and carry over between areas of interaction and the slack gets picked up by people filling in the blanks. Like I twitch when poeple say in a general “Pst me” to request contact through private messages since that originally meant ‘Please Send Tell’, Tells being the private coorespondance in the early MMOs and most MUDs, but when carried over into the next gen of MMOs when private messages were ‘whispers’ new players assumed it was the onomonopia ‘psst’ like trying to subtly get someone’s attention. So I read it as Please Send Tell me.

But there’s no fixing it, because it’s not really broken. So long as the intended meaning is obvious, it’s just nitpicking over what jargon to use when everyone has a different gaming background.

Toons as far as I know came around with the animated characters that lives in Toontown, the town in Roger Rabbit.

Toon = Animated character, comes from the word cartoon.

I dont see why people have an issue with the word toon, since its nothing new and its a perfectly fitting word that can be used instead of char/character/avatar and so on.

nottsgman.8206:

nah, difference in spelling (which some people forget admittedly).

not to mention sometimes while typing you may have to get down quickly as a mob might unexpected attack you or something similar.

Or better yet, try to apply that “logic” when using a voice chat program like ts3, or vent etc

Using “toon” to describe characters really annoys me.

Donari.5237:

My guess is it comes from Roger Rabbit. In that movie, the animated characters, the cartoons, are called toons in a noir slang sort of way. So since then, when playing an animated character (your MMO avatar), people have called them toons as well.

By the way, it’s a great movie and I recommend it highly.

That movie was interesting when it came out but I really doubt it was THAT popular to spawn a whole new way to call avatars in MMOs. Dunno maybe it was in other countries but I don`t see it.

Wiki: Toon is a term popularized by the 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit; it commonly refers to characters appearing in cartoons.

… and …

Toon is a role-playing game in which the players take the roles of cartoon characters. It is subtitled The Cartoon Roleplaying Game. Toon was designed by Greg Costikyan and developed by Warren Spector, and first published in 1984 by Steve Jackson Games.

…

I don’t think anyone mentioned “roll a new toon”. “Roll” refers to rolling dice which was done when creating a character in Dungeons and Dragons game which gave random attributes.

BTW I was using the word toon when playing the first Diablo game so it isn’t a WoW thing.

because it is easier and faster to type Toon, then Avatar or Character. It is a decendent from WoW players yes as far as I know.

Why do people us things like:

Lol or Rofl? Because they are easier then typing laughing out loud, and Rolling on the floor laughing.

I’ve seen people use ‘toon’ in every single MMO I’ve ever played, which covers about thirteen years. It wasn’t just British people either, I’ve seen everyone use it: Oceanics, Americans, Australians, Russians, Europeans of all sorts.

It’s pretty common. If it truly annoys you, you’re in trouble.

They are all “toons”. As animated characters, they are “cartoons”….hence “toons”…

That said, cartoons may pre-date you. But you get the drift.

Never played an MMO that didn’t call them that.

My toon, my avatar, my character/char, my dude, all the same thing.
I saw it before wow. Not sure the origin but cartoon seems likely.

Why are you calling them character when you’re not roleplaying/acting them?
Why are you calling them avatar when they’re not a representation of yourself?

All words we use for those little fake 3D people are only marginally accurate. And all of them are as old as MMOs. Just because you never heard them before doesn’t mean they weren’t around since your Dad watched the assassination of Lord British.

Toon doesn’t bother me but everyone in here using kitten to describe things turns me off a bit. Not sure where that comes from but it seems strange to me. I have used toon forever in every MMO I have played. No big deal.

What does kitten mean and why is that used so much in GW2, curious to understand that one.

beachkite.2054:

Toon doesn’t bother me but everyone in here using kitten to describe things turns me off a bit. Not sure where that comes from but it seems strange to me. I have used toon forever in every MMO I have played. No big deal.

What does kitten mean and why is that used so much in GW2, curious to understand that one.

It’s the forum word filter. All swear words are automatically replaced with kitten.

toons bugs me too. almost as much as the more proper name, avatar (thanks to one ultra-kitteny movie).

characters. maybe i’m just a traditionalist with a literary background.

OP this isn’t worth raging over just get over it isn’t worth it trust me you will live longer if you stop stressing over petty things

They were referred to as “toons” in City of Heroes also.

I have been using the word “toon” since Ultima Online… and that came out in 97 I think… which from your short temper makes me think the word is older than you..

Yes it’s a holdover from some very very old games and just a replacement word for avatar or character, ect. The reason a lot of people might have a problem with it is just about no one in GW1 ever used that terminology, idk if it was to separate from the WoW crowd (most likely because those two games have been rivals for years), or just random chance, but either way very few people used it in GW1. So those of you who regularly use it, exercise some patience, believe it or not, not every single game created uses the same vernacular, and those of you who hate the word or never heard it used, use some patience, because it is a very old, very rooted into the culture word that most likely won’t go away anytime soon.

Toon has been used in every mmo i’ve played, get used to it, people aren’t going to change cause u don’t like it :\

So we can`t change stupid things just because they`re old?

We have so much customization now, it`s properly appropriate to call them characters.
Toon is stupid, mostly because it sounds detaching, all you toon defenders should just admit that.

Toon is easiest to say and easiest to type.

drifter.8453:

because it is easier and faster to type Toon, then Avatar or Character. It is a decendent from WoW players yes as far as I know.

Why do people us things like:

Lol or Rofl? Because they are easier then typing laughing out loud, and Rolling on the floor laughing.

you can type class just as fast though and class makes a lot more sense too.

Adine.2184:

drifter.8453:

because it is easier and faster to type Toon, then Avatar or Character. It is a decendent from WoW players yes as far as I know.

Why do people us things like:

Lol or Rofl? Because they are easier then typing laughing out loud, and Rolling on the floor laughing.

you can type class just as fast though and class makes a lot more sense too.

ehh how does class make more sense (and in fact toon is 4 letters, class is 5, so toon is faster), beside that class refer to the “type” of character (ie guardian, ranger, mesmer etc) where toon is your specific character

Out of interest if we do not say toon what else can we say? I have said character or char sometimes, I haven’t had a problem with any confusion between char and charr so far. I have also said “char type” which worked.

I’m glad I’m not the only one who hates the word toon. I’m not sure why but it really gets on my nerves.

First time I encountered it was in GW1. I’ve been playing for about 6 years now and it’s only the last few years I’ve seen it, but I assume it’s been around longer than that because no one seemed surprised by it. Come to think of it that was around the time I left my old guild too, so maybe it’s just that I was talking to a different group of people.

I don’t remember seeing it in Ultima Online, but that could be me remembering wrong, I haven’t played that game in about 10 years.

And for the record I always say character, or char for short. Yes it could be confused with charr, but there’s a lot of english words which are very similar to other words and people manage most of the time so I think they can handle another one.

RoRo.8270:

OP this isn’t worth raging over just get over it isn’t worth it trust me you will live longer if you stop stressing over petty things

In all honesty this is pretty good advice for this particular subject. I’ve been playing games for a very long time, as I’m sure many people here have. I’ve never once called anything I’ve played a “toon”, and I doubt I will ever care to. It doesn’t appeal to me. But if others find it easier or want to call them that, then that’s fine. They aren’t hurting me by doing it.

Hi guys,

Toon is short for platoon, and was used in the book Ender’s Game. The book published in 1985, but the short story it was based on was published 1977. Good book btw. Not sure how it crossed over exactly into MMOs. Nor am I sure whether the term toon was used before then.

I know the term was used long time ago for the likes of multiplayer games like Quake, etc.

If the OP is anything like me it’s not something you can just choose to forget about.

It’s not like I scour chat channels for people saying ‘toon’ and then rant to myself about it. It’s just a passing, minor irritation, but one that can build up over time to a bigger thing almost without me being aware of it. Like people saying “for all intensive purposes”, or someone whisting out of tune. The first time you might not even think about it. The next few times you might just shrug it off, but eventually when it keeps on happening you want to say something.

My characters are toons. It types up faster and has an obvious meaning.

In this genre of gaming, there are people who will do things to annoy you intentionally, so I try not to do their work for them and just ignore or adjust to things that seem odd to me.

I call my avatars “toons” and have no plan on changing that. I certainly would need to get my head checked if I started referring to them as people.

the word “toon” is not that bad, it’s easy to type and comprehend.

i find people using the word “scrub” or saying “u mad bro?” far more annoying.

also people that use “ur” or “your” instead of “you’re”, or “rouge” instead of “rogue”.

and kudos to Thord for mentioning the pnp-rpg, Toon, i used to play this in the 80’s.

Danikat.8537:

If the OP is anything like me it’s not something you can just choose to forget about.

It’s not like I scour chat channels for people saying ‘toon’ and then rant to myself about it. It’s just a passing, minor irritation, but one that can build up over time to a bigger thing almost without me being aware of it. Like people saying “for all intensive purposes”, or someone whisting out of tune. The first time you might not even think about it. The next few times you might just shrug it off, but eventually when it keeps on happening you want to say something.

well good luck, you just set out on an impossible journey, if you think you can get the entire GW2 (and any other MMO’s you may play in the future) to not ever refer to their characters, as “toons”
So yeah the only thing you cant really do it just live with it, ppl ain’t gonna change it just because you don’t like that particular word

Nobody used “toon” back in MUDs.
I recall already hearing “toon” back in The Realm and Meridian 59 though, which would be in around 1995 and your characters really did look like cartoons.

Personally, I think “char” sounds really weird to say. I either say “toon” or “character”.

Dark.6083:

Nobody used “toon” back in MUDs.

I distinctly remember people using the word “toon” in some of the MUDs I played, although I continued to play them awhile after graphical MMOs became popular. It might have just been spillover from those.

I never heard the term “toon” used in MUDs. I’m sure it’s short for “cartoon” in reference to a graphical character on the computer screen.

It was coined by those folk who just can’t stand to be conventional – those who insist on calling wizards “wizzies”, rangers “ranjas”, shaman “shammies” and the like.

Didn’t anyone inform you that it’s lame not to refer to things by some made-up pop-culture term?

Bluestone.7106:

Toon is easiest to say and easiest to type.

The path of least resistance has appealed to lesser mortals since the dawn of history. Just saying.

I think “toon” sounds off in GW2 partially because the art-style is not particularly cartoon-like, but also because my gaming background is predominantly D&D where all of my characters have a storied background and personality, even if it’s just imagined rather than roleplayed fully.

I think it grates most highly on roleplayers for whom their characters genuinely are characters.

KICKER.3874:

So we can`t change stupid things just because they`re old?

We have so much customization now, it`s properly appropriate to call them characters.
Toon is stupid, mostly because it sounds detaching, all you toon defenders should just admit that.

Using ‘toon’ may be to your own personal dislike but to others there is nothing wrong with the term. I use ‘toon’ sometimes and would thank you not to dictate which terms I should use or what I should admit. Please try to be more thoughtful of others and have less of an offending tone when you post.

I have used many terms over many years for computer generated animated characters and never pressumed to tell anyone that the term I use is right where theirs is wrong. That’s just me though.

I will agree with the notion that someone else posted about the characters (debatable discription) we control in GW2 not being cartoons – a cartoon is a form of two-dimensional illustrated visual art – the term ‘cartoon’ shortened to ‘toon’ for 2D or 3D characters is still used by many though and I see no reason why not.

As for me using the term ‘toon’ in relation to almost any computer game character that the player controls, this goes back many years – even to before ‘Roger Rabbit’. Back then, we where just starting to see really good looking animated (2D or 3D) computer game characters and I remember myself and friends shortening ‘cartoon’ to ‘toon’ then.

About the Brits using ‘toon’; Bit of a give away in my forum name – I am British and live in the North East of England. I rarely see the term ‘toon’ (as per this thread) used outside of computer gamimg ‘circles’ and rarely offline! Living where I do though I do often hear things like “I’m ganin’ doon toon” – “I’m going down town” – or “Toon army! Toon army!” – a football (no not Amerin football – the game referred to as soccer) chant relating to (Newcastle-Upon-Tyne) Newcastle United Football Club (NUFC) where the ‘army’ is the (mostly loyal) fan base. This comes from the Geordie word ‘toon’ commonly used for ‘town’ and has nothing to do with computer games.

Additional (hardly relevant to this thread) stuff: Though many in the UK and around the world seem to think that ‘Geordie’ is a name for both any one living (or at least born) in the NE of England and ‘Geordie’ is the regional dialect of the NE of England, ‘Geordie’ actually relates to the Tyneside area and the more ‘correct’ catchment area is the city of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne.

This is an entertaining thread.

I personally dislike the word “toon” myself as it does not carry a logical implication and is therefore self-defeating. It has to be explained to newbies, so as it turns out you end up typing a lot more than if you had just said “character” to begin with. For that reason I do use “char” as shorthand because just about everyone with at least a double digit IQ can figure out what it stands for and never needs to be explained.

(Plus “char” is the keyword for character in the C language so part of it is habit too.)