Controversial WoW names...

[Signe]

The random name generator has been responsible for the names Terd, Vyrel, Sicotic and something that sounds just like "In Yer Arse" when you say it out loud.  Well, the last one was the result of a GM name change but I understand they use the generator when they change them.

The name generator is stupid, too.  Maybe I'll start selling appropriate MMOG names on eBay.

[stray]

I'd be happy to make more rp friendly names if I knew how...How do you people come up with some of that shit anyways?

CoH is a different story, but in most of these other games, I'm clueless. Name generators suck, and I usually find myself resorting to just a normal word. Would that be considered "d00dish" (sp -- "dewdish"?) as well?

[Krakrok]

Go onto some unmoderated internet game and chat with BuTTSuffA, BaLLzONChiNN, and CaptNtaiNT in their clan [+- $laP-DE-a$$ -+] and tell me these d00ds dont need a smackdown when they bring that garbage to WOW.

I didn't claim griefing people with stupid names was wrong. You et al. assumed that.

If someone wants to sit at the spawn point for new characters in CoH or WoW or whatever and petition every new character name they find offensive they can. And it is griefing. So what.

[Riggswolfe]

I think that's a bit of an overreaction.  CK is one of the oldest members of the guild, way back from UO days.  He kept that name from game to game.  Although I agree that the name is silly, he has never behaved as a d3wd, and I think it's a bit excessive to jump to conclusions.  While stupid names are certainly a good warning sign, I'll always give somebody credit if they prove they're intelligent.  Even the best players can choose dorky names, sometimes!

Name yourself something stupid you're automatically assumed to be someone not worthy of me spending time with. Sorry.

[Trippy]

I'd be happy to make more rp friendly names if I knew how...How do you people come up with some of that shit anyways?

Well there is the in game name generator though like Kail and others have said, the WoW one is pretty crappy. There are also "fantasy name generators" you can find on the Net though I don't like using those myself since the names those come up with are usually either gibberish (psuedo-random letters strung together), impossible to pronounce out loud (an issue with today's voice communcation), or very difficult to spell/type. So my current preference is to use names that are basically the opposite of the above:

[*]Short without any weird letter combos like capital "eyes" next to lower case "els" so that they are easy to type
[*]Recognizable as a name (not some random string of letters) but not a common American first name
[*]Easy to pronounce if you were to say them out loud[/list:u]So to find names these days I like to look through Internet baby name lists, especially ones that include non-American names until I find something I like that matches the above criteria. With the names from other languages/countries you can also try to find a name that translates into something appropriate for your character. This of course only works if you are playing on a server where that language isn't used on a regular basis, otherwise it looks kind of silly.

[Calantus]

I go with sounding out the names I make. First I start with a sylable that sounds alright for the start of a name, then try different sylables on the end of it until I find a combo that sounds like a name. Other times I take a word and modify/mangle it until it sounds alright (which will often make is sound nothing like the seed word). Calantus for instance came from a combo of celcius IIRC. Also non-prominent and indistinct names from fantasy books are often good too.

[Riggswolfe]

One method is to take a real life name and subtly change it usually be changing a couple of letters.

So Martin becomes Martyn.

[schild]

So Martin becomes Martyn.

Or Anthony becomes Anfernee.

Joke? HAHA? Anyone?

[Riggswolfe]

So Martin becomes Martyn.

Or Anthony becomes Anfernee.

Joke? HAHA? Anyone?

I liked you better when you were Kramer.

[schild]

So did I.

[Rasix]

So Martin becomes Martyn.

Or Anthony becomes Anfernee.

Joke? HAHA? Anyone?

You have become better at subtle racism (45).  (I know it's a joke, but i'm a liberal asshole. I can't resist!)

This topic is about played out. Anyone got anything interesting left to say?  

I'll try, my name I got from EQ's random name generator.  Before I was using variations on a second/third tier Dragonlance character.  It took me a long time to actually become creative enough to pick a name that wasn't instantly recognizable by 50% of the nerd population.

So, there's hope for the less creative among us.

[Riggswolfe]

So Martin becomes Martyn.

Or Anthony becomes Anfernee.

Joke? HAHA? Anyone?

You have become better at subtle racism (45).  

My original suggestion came from some Dungeon Master talking about how he named lots of NPCs. He found it easier to make small changes to real world names than to try to make totally new names.

[blindy]

The random name generator has been responsible for the names Terd, Vyrel, Sicotic and something that sounds just like "In Yer Arse" when you say it out loud.  Well, the last one was the result of a GM name change but I understand they use the generator when they change them.

In DAOC when I was creating my druid I couldn't think of a name, so I hit the the random name button a few times until it generated one I settled on: Fuabag.  I kept that name because it could be interpreted as an insult, and that amused me.  And then I added the last name "Anurlildawgto".  I don't know if anyone ever reported me, but certainly I never heard from any GMs or had my name changed.  So, I guess using the random name generator doesn't necessarily prevent questionable names.

[Mesozoic]

If someone wants to sit at the spawn point for new characters in CoH or WoW or whatever and petition every new character name they find offensive they can. And it is griefing. So what.

How is it griefing?  In a perfect world, wouldn't every name be looked at by a real live CSR to nix names that violate the policy?  You still seem to think that the petitioner has some kind of power over names.  All they can do is ask that a CSR do his job.

You might say that its a waste of the CSR's time, but in a crunch the CSR can let name petitions go to concentrate on more critical issues.

[kaid]

I myself like planetsides way of dealing with it. If I am driving my tank and I get accidentally blinded by somebody with 6 x's in their name I tend to run over them.

I would never intentionally run over a teammate but I have a rare medical condition where if your name has more than 4 x's in your name I tend to get blury vision and swerve all over in your direction.


kaid

[stray]

Are you arguing that Planetside has to have some kind of "lore" to keep up with too? I mean, I don't really care for "4 x's" in a name either, but really, what's the "correct" way to name a character there?

[WayAbvPar]

In a manner that suggests there is a slight chance that you aren't a drooling imbecile?

[kaid]

My only naming guideline in planetside is don't blind me with weird capitalization or multiple x's. If I do get blinded by a name like there is a good chance I may swerve and "accidentally" run that person down.

kaid

[Murgos]

Are you arguing that Planetside has to have some kind of "lore" to keep up with too? I mean, I don't really care for "4 x's" in a name either, but really, what's the "correct" way to name a character there?

Apparently, the 'correct' way to name your character in planetside is in the way in which you are least likely to get run over by a tank.

Sounds like a fairly intuitive system to me,

[Strazos]

Is it really so difficult to come up with a good name? I know some games, like EQ, have random name generators...

Is it some coincidence that usually....the more stupid the name, the more stupid the player?

[ahoythematey]

My policy on naming my characters is pretty simple:  I generally want every individual that I encounter in an MMO to die in real life, so I typically treat them like shit.  I center my character names around the general concepts of anger, bitterness, and deception, since I hate the players, their presence is a lingering annoyance, and I pretty much lie to them whenever asked a specific question.

As an aside, somebody in my friends list had their named changed from Lagolas(and we doubt the person reporting it even got the humor) to something stupid and unmemorable.  Another apparently had their name, Travisty, reported, which seems particularly odd to me since it is basically their real name with two extra letters tacked on the end to make it "witty", if you will, and yet when they submitted Travesty as the new name it fucking flies.  What the fuck?

Oh, and every differently spelled version of LotR characters we report now, not because our thin veil of IMMERSION!!!!!!111 is broken by it, but because we are through leaving well enough alone after all the assholery we've experienced in these few months of bullshit in this generally deteriorating shithole of a game.

[murdoc]

My policy on naming my characters is pretty simple:  I generally want every individual that I encounter in an MMO to die in real life, so I typically treat them like shit.  I center my character names around the general concepts of anger, bitterness, and deception, since I hate the players, their presence is a lingering annoyance, and I pretty much lie to them whenever asked a specific question.

Good thing you're subscribing to a MMORPG. Why the fuck do you even play the game? Just curious, because to me any person who hates WoW and other players this much, yet still pays a subscription fee every month is a bigger fucking moron than any Night Elf hunter named Gandelf.

I can actually kind of understand the hatred for the way some people name their characters. I can understand why some people appeal every name that disturbes their sensitive gaming experience. But to hate something this much, yet still pay for it simply boggles my mind.

[ahoythematey]

Years of dealing with the sorts that populate Blizzard games and MMOs have made me this way.  I guess my best answer to why I pay that fee every month is, "because I'm broken?"

My honest answer, however, is simply that I enjoy a great deal of the game, but every aspect that I like seems to be under assault by catasses who should've stayed in Everquest or FF XI, by name-nazis who should fucking stick with LARPing and Pen and Paper if other players names are that significant to them, and by the dev team itself, which seems inept at their best and deliberately self-destructive at their worst.

[murdoc]

Well, that was a much more civil answer than I expected and I can actually understand your reasoning. I've also found that there seems to be a small percentage of people I will add to my friends list in games like this that aren't part of my small circle of rl friends. I think it 2+ years of DAoC I only added 3 people to my friends list that I didn't know beforehand.

[Righ]

 Folks on the WoW forums were wailing about an NPC called "Black Slayer", crying racial offense by proxy. I taunted:

You should all go and get upset about a proper offensive name. I offer you a chance to "Plugger Spazzring" optionally with a "Ribbly Screwspigot" for extra pleasure.

[Riggswolfe]

I saw that post. Ironically, the OP was only joking and trying to make an ironic point. However, it seems alot of people, particularly the "I'm a minority so I'm automatically a victim" crowd took it very seriously.

[Paelos]

I don't care what color you are on the other end of your computer in an MMOG. Leave that racial bullshit in the real world. Here, you're still a dirty night elf.

[WayAbvPar]

Just curious, because to me any person who hates WoW and other players this much, yet still pays a subscription fee every month is a bigger fucking moron than any Night Elf hunter named Gandelf.

Hey now- let's not go THAT far. It is obvious that no one is a bigger moron than Gandelf. Or deserves to die in a more horrific manner. Over and over.

[murdoc]

I feel a little bit of shame when I admit that I laughed when a NE named Gandelf ran by.

[penfold]

Ill use adjectives (Sharper the rogue), or real world items.

or trademarked brands (Coproxamol)

or drug references (jackherrer,silverhaze, redrizla)

or popular curry dishes (Prawnkorma, Keemanan, Saagaloo)

or british swearwords and insults (Bollox the trol)

It all depends on if i know the naming policy will be enforced, and how strictly. Not been petitioned yet, so guess been lucky enough not to have bumped into anyone to anal.

[WayAbvPar]

For the record, I petitioned my first name the other day -some fuckstick called his character Aqualung. I might have let it go, but he WOULD NOT STFU in the General channel (I had the misfortune of having to travel through the Barrens, which is seemingly where all the stupid congregates on the Horde side.

[Righ]

If he had called himself "Thick as a Brick" I'd have had more respect. He probably has Locomotive Breath. Etc.

[Signe]

I could murder a curry right now.

[Sky]

Doesn't he know that the frilly panties run in Lineage 2, not WoW?

[Morfiend]

To try and revive this thread in to some thing worth reading...

I think the whole idiot names as good warning of idiot players doesnt apply so much in WoW. I think this is due to the fact the game has brought a lot of first time MMOG players, and they dont know any better. They have mostly played FPS shooters and stuff like that, where silly names are totally accetable.

Example. Some of the really cool guys in my guild, have some of the silliest names. We actually, made them group with us a bunch of times before letting them join, and ran them through more strict application proccess, just due to their names. A few examples.

In the guild we call them the food squad, cause for some reasion a bunch of them named themselves after food.

Tenderloin
Doublemeat
Pasta
Potatosocks

I was very lery about having people in my guild with these names, but now Im glad I did, cause all four of these guys became great members.