names
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Breakfast Topic: Themed names
Emy on WoW Ladies LJ is asking about +hit gear, but I'm actually more interested in the second question posted: How many among you have named all your characters the same way? I'm not a theme-namer -- most of my characters are named after whatever popped in to my head when I created them, creative or otherwise. But some players like to give all their characters the same suffix or prefix on their names, or name them all after something in common (Emy names her characters after stones, so "Garnett", "Ameythyst," and so on.I've always thought that we should have some way of tracking which player owns which character, either within the guild interface, or within the game at large -- though people probably have privacy concerns about that, it's interesting to me to see people playing different alts and how they act differently. But theme names are one way of showing that characters are all part of a larger group, without actually revealing those ties to anyone not in the know. It's a cool idea -- almost makes me wish I'd put a little more thought into my characters when starting out.So: do you have a theme behind the names of your characters? Did you plan it out or did it just happen? And is it clear (they all have the same root) or is the theme known only to you? What, if any, are the ties between the names of your different characters?
Organizing names for the pet name generator
Faeldray of Petaholics Anonymous is working on a pet name generator, but first, she needs your help. It's going to be based on her character name generator (called PANDA, an acronym that's too awesome to spell out), which is really more of a collection of great names rather than an actual generator -- it consists of a database of different names categorized by race and gender, so you choose your race and gender, hit a button, and then you've got a bunch of great character names to choose from.The pet generator will do the same kind of thing, but Fael's not sure how to organize it -- either she's thinking she'll do categories of silly and serious names for each type of pet family, or categories based on what kind of background the name has (as in, fantasy names, silly names, names from myths, etc). Or it sounds like she's open to other ideas. Personally, I'm partial to the idea of seperating names by pet families, and the silly or serious thing seems as good a distinction as any (though most of my pet names tend to be pretty silly anyway).So head over to her site and vote, or put up a comment with your thoughts on the subject. Can't wait to see the generator![via Mania]
Just say no to bad guild names
There you are, poised at the ready. The guild you've created is almost complete! You've gathered a few friends for potential guild-mates. You've discussed the general focus of the guild. Now all you need is a name! You've come up with a few, but for some reason, your friends keep rejecting your suggestions concerning LOLcats, Prince Caspian or the latest song by the Jonas Brothers. What gives?!Well, according to a recent blog post by Syp over at the Waaagh! blog, you're just doing it wrong. Not to worry though, because Syp compiled a comprehensive list of what to avoid while considering a guild name or tag. Even if you've already created your perfect guild and you're just curious about the effectiveness of your name, check out the blog post. Chances are, you did it wrong.[Thanks Syp!]
Naming your AoC characters
So there you are, sitting at the AoC character creation screen. You've just installed the game, created your perfect character that you will be playing for the next few months or years, but now you stare blankly at the little box with the blinking cursor asking for your character name. Argh!Fret no more, my Hyborian friends. There is an easy way to create the perfect name for your AoC character without resorting to something like Chuknorissrulez or Ipwndurface. A simple, easy-to-use web-based name generator has been created around the infrastructure of the GE Name program. With proper permissions in place already, this generator can prove to be a valuable tool for those not as familiar with the Conan lore, yet eager to get started in the game.
The 10 Commandments of Altitis
The Waaagh blog, despite technically being about some other dirty little game, keeps churning out some pretty good posts. The latest is Syp's 10 Commandments of Altitis. I'm a recent convert to altitis myself. I pretty much stuck with one character on all my previous MMOs, with maybe one extra alt I played once a month. However, on WoW, I've been bit hard. With 3 70s, 2 60s, and 61, and various random characters in the 20-60 range, I know how the alt game goes. A lot of the commandments are things that I myself have discovered and follow unknowingly in my day to day play, but Syp lays them out in an understandable and easy to follow format. Some of my favorite points, in no certain order: 6. Go Off the Beaten Path. Seriously, just because you really want to reach level 70 ASAP does not mean that doing the STV grind for the 7th time is the awesome thing to do. I mean, I guess if your only goal is to get to 70, that's doable, but for me, trying out new quests and new zones, or at least quests and zones I haven't done in a while, is one of the joys of an alt. 9. Alts can cause Burnout. This is definitely true if you think you can get away with doing dailies every day on all of your 70s. As much as you want the exalted SSO necklaces for your Hunter, your Warlock, and your Druid, don't try to grind up the rep for all of them all at once, every day. That way lies madness. I have found that focusing on one at a time, or at least alternating days, is a much better way to go about it. 3. Alts deserve real names too. Honestly, you aren't clever for naming your Druid Lolferal. Sorry. But all of the points are nice and handy, so if you're a fellow altitis sufferer, or even if you just want to catch the bug, go check the article out. It's a fun read.
Character naming guide from Waaagh!
Okay, so technically Waaagh! is a Warhammer Online blog, but we'll forgive Syp this time, if only because S/he writes a pretty good article about choosing your character's name. The first part of it is, to me at least, good common sense. Don't choose a name you'll regret or a name that looks overly bad to other people. Naming after real life celebrities can get a bit tired. Naming your character "something naughty" is probably just going to make most people think you haven't cleared puberty yet. And yeah, it might be funny to call your character Rickroll NOW, but when Rickrolling is the next "All Your Base", everyone on the internet is going to point and laugh at you for being old and busted. The second part has some excellent ways to comb for new names, some of which many veterans already know, but it's a good compilation, and gave me a few ideas for my next name search. I can confirm to anyone who doubts it that Syp's Rule of Three really is true. I have known only 1 or 2 people who have been able to avoid having their name reduced to a 3 or 4 letter nickname that is used almost constantly in place of the whole thing. You can't avoid it, so sometimes it's not that bad to go with the flow and plan your name around it. Same thing with the similar names across characters thing. It works pretty well, if you like the idea, but woe to you if you accidentally take someone's naming scheme and join their guild or group of friends! If you're having trouble thinking of a new name, or plan to roll a character at some point in the future, give the article a read. It's pretty keen.
Guildwatch: That's rediculous
Yes, we know the headline is spelled wrong -- that's the joke. (So feel free to make fun of anyone who points out the misspelling in the comments; they're fair game.) In the meantime, the more "rediculous" the guild names, the better for us. Why would you want to name your guild Sentinels of Azeroth when you could name it something like Dont Be That Guy?In the meantime, click the link below to see all the drama, downed, and recruiting news we got from across the realms this week. And don't forget to send your tips (especially drama -- let us know if you see anything either on your realm's forums or on your guild's forums) to wowguildwatch@gmail.com. Because not sending your tips to Guildwatch is pretty rediculous, if you ask us.
Crazy names for guild ranks
Corrosiveaffy on WoW LJ wants to know if there are any good ideas out there for guild ranks, and I can tell her that there are tons. There's the standard "rookie," "officer," "raider," and "veteran," but it seems like some guild ranks are even more creative than the guilds they're named after. I've seen all kinds of stuff, from "larva," "pupae" and "queen," to the old "padawan," "jedi" and "master" mentioned in the comments. One guild I was in way back just had two ranks: most people were "peons," and the GM was the only "king."Usually it's funniest when they tie into the guild's name somehow -- I like the example of "The Nouns of Adjective" from the LJ comments, where the GM is called the "Pope of Punctuation." I know there are some more excellent ones out there, but whenever people fish around for them, they seem a little hard to come by. What are some of the best guild rank names you've seen?
Texting generation carrying spelling habits to birth certificates?
It's bad enough when exams have to cater to horrific spellers due to their SMS-based vocabulary, but we're doing everything we can to make ourselves believe this latest report simply isn't true. Reportedly, a social analyst in Australia somehow believes that the wide range in spellings in a few popular names is due in large part to the fact that we spend way too much time as a whole conjugating and hyphenating in order to get text-based messages across. Said analyst was even quoted as saying that "the use of a 'y' instead of an 'i' has hit epidemic proportions, as has the use of 'k' over 'c'." Realistically, we're not about to believe the SMS craze is actually affecting children's names en masse, but please, do your next born a favor and give him / her the vowels they deserve.[Via textually]
Wii Warm Up: The Wii 2.0
We already talked about when we thought the next Nintendo console would show up, but we didn't really discuss what to call it. So, why not do that now? We gather that some minimalists might be satisfied by "Wii 2," but does anyone else have any better ideas?Any takers for "Zardoz?"
DS Daily: Register your name
This morning, our friend and colleague Alisha is off gifting the world with the very latest DS Fanboy: a new consumer with nearly endless need for training, and for whom every control scheme is novel. In other words, a baby infant. We'd like to extend premature (as of writing time) congratulations! The impending baby got us thinking about video games, as we desperately try to make things do. Specifically, game-related baby names. Everyone reading this blog is a huge nerd, and nerds do things like naming things after game characters. What's your hard drive's volume label? What's your cat's name? We wonder if there's anyone out there bold enough, or disinterested enough in the kid's well-being, to have given their offspring a game character name, or to plan to do so in the future. Any baby Luigis out there? Otacon? Marth? Diddy? Agent Chieftain? Lolo? Phoenix? How about a Samus? Zangief? Vic Viper? Pyramid Head? Gas-O? Corn? Waiter Skeleton? Heat Man? Two-P?Somebody please name a kid Zangief.
Blizzard cracks down on Arena pet naming exploit
Jagoex over at Warlock Therapy dropped us a note that Blizzard says they'll crack down on Arena fighting Hunters who name their pets after their Arena partners. Apparently some of the higher end Arena players will create macros to target certain opponents in the Arena (though I'm not sure if this is just because they constantly face the same people or because they create the macros quick while waiting for the match to start). And if a sneaky Arena Hunter names his or her pet the same name as the priest on their team, the macro will target the closest target with that name (usually the pet).Blizzard says no dice to that-- though Jago isn't clear how they'll enforce it (and we're not, either), they say that if they find a Hunter naming his pet the same thing as an Arena team member, the pet's name will be forcibly changed. Of course, using macros in the first place is pretty wily-- I could see an argument that if you choose to use macros, then you also choose to realize that they might not work all the time. But Blizzard has spoken, thus it shall be.
Name that pet
Picking a pet's name is always one of the decisions I like best in WoW. It's creative and interesting, and if done right, it can bring lots of smiles to you and your friends. Naming your own character is also fun of course, but even in light of the name-changing feature, it still feels so permanent to me. With your pets, you can name more than one, and there's always the possibility that in the future you'll get to find some new and incredibly awesome pet and get to think of a name for that one too. Excellent pet namers even have special synergy between their hunter and pet names -- a creative feat which is at once challenging and simple.Mania's Arcania has an interesting little feature: in addition to all her other hunter and pet information, she's started a sort of "contest" called "Name That Pet," where hunters can submit pics of their pets for public inspection, and we all get to help them think of names for them. The latest pet in the series presents an great opportunity for hunter-pet name synergy: an owl tamed by the tauren Hawkspirit. In her blog, Hawkspirit's player shows how her owl finally reached 70, but still doesn't have a name, and Mania is here to help her out.If you're interested in pet names, check it out and apply your naming genus.
Don't name the baby Thrall
WoW is a phenomenon that extends beyond the virtual world and into our everyday lives. An excellent example of this is Bunnypasta's recent forum post. She asked players for suggestions of WoW-related names for her as-yet unborn bundle of joy.This isn't the first time I have heard of something like this. In fact, one of my former guildies recently had a child, and gave the little girl the middle name of his best-friend's character. Now I'm not sure that carrying around the name of a rogue will influence her personality, come to think of it.
Where did you get your WoW name?
Ippy on LJ has been thinking names of late. He asked for people to tell him how they came up with the names for their characters. Coming up with a character name is always a challenge for me. It's not that I don't have ideas, it's just that for the most part, when I start a new alt, they are a blank slate on that character selection screen, and I find it hard to pigeon-hole someone I barely know with a name that might only allow them to play a certain way or take certain talents.As it turns out, there are all kinds of places that players get their names, from mythology to foreign languages to household pets. I currently tend to use two different types of naming conventions. I have those boring character names I have been toting from game to game with me over the years, and I have the "I should so name a druid Roflmeow" inspiration moments. Yes, I can be silly too on occasion.In any case, I extend this question to you, the reader. Where do you glean your inspiration for naming your characters? Or are you the brave type to choose names from the randomizer and have done with?
A new round of funny guild names
Adam on the WoW LJ pulled some funny guild names from the new Wowhead forums, and while I was pretty sure that funny guild names had become the oldest joke in the WoW humor book (c'mon, who hasn't heard of a guild called "Riders of Lohan" or "Gnomeland Security" by now?), there are actually some new good ones here.RPness is RisingThe Coming of ArwangThrobbing GronnFat Kids Are Hard To KidnapGET OFF MY LAWNShe Said She was Lvl 18Dont Daze Me BroSome of them just tend towards a more offensive taste (I've excluded a few from the list that aren't super appropriate, but there are a few still on there that might rub those with strong sensibilities the wrong way), but there is an interesting trend here-- not only are there new Outland references, but there are new references to pop culture floating around.And that's super interesting to me-- funny guild names as indicators of cultural trends. So I guess it's about time we took another look-- in the past few months since we last listed funny guild names, what new ones have you heard? Are there any that have come about recently, due to either new WoW content, or real-world happenings?
Two weeks of paid name changes
It's been a couple weeks now since the paid name change service was initially offered and I've noticed a few people in my guild that have taken advantage of it. While it's certainly personal preference, a lot of the changed names seem worse to me than the old ones. Some of them were obviously chosen for comic value, since they're reminiscent of the guy in the picture over here.Regardless of my opinions about the specific names, everyone I've talked to has said that the service was quick and easy. I also haven't heard any horror stories regarding sociopathic players changing their names to wreak more havoc upon unsuspecting victims under a new moniker. From my limited experience, it seems like an overall positive change to the game.Have you paid to change your name? What was your old one and what's your new one? Was your experience with the service a good one?
Jesus Christ spotted in Tabula Rasa
Razor over at Razorwire experienced a surprising theophany in the world of Tabula Rasa. "I was playing Tabula Rasa last night," he said, "when a figure wearing battle armor and carrying a chain gun ran past me and my avatar provided the appropriate double-take for me. The character's name was Jesus Christ."Yes, Jesus Christ in Tabula Rasa. Obviously, Jesus Christ wasn't really playing Tabula Rasa (well, we assume he wasn't, anyway), but whether the use of the name amuses you, offends you, or both, it brings up some interesting questions about Tabula Rasa's naming policy -- questions Razor asks in his post. Give it a read. It's not super in-depth, but he points out that because Tabula Rasa is not a fantasy world like World of Warcraft or The Lord of the Rings Online, it uses a different naming policy. That policy opens the door to abuses that would have been nipped in the bud far earlier in those other titles.According to Razor there is unfortunately no way to report the name because the game's GM help features are still disabled.
Behind the name could be fungi
Character names in World of Warcraft are very personal, even if you started out trying to be nonchalant. For some players, their character names are the only handle they will ever be known by with their Azerothian friends. I for one am about 75% certain that I would answer to my main's nickname "IRL".For many, this naming decision, which used to be permanent, and now is potentially too changeable, is a way to express one's interests outside of gaming. Although staying within the boundaries of Blizzard's naming policy requires some extra creativity, the effort is worth it in the end. Mythological figures is a very popular choice, and our very own Elizabeth Wachowski chooses medical terminology when naming her toons. Amanda Rivera has varying logic behind her character names, although by times she takes inspiration from her own works as a writer.Names can work to bring characters with similar, even obscure, interests together in WoW. Any of you who have ever encountered a character and done a double take, realizing that their name is some obscure 18th Century poet or minor figure in Romanian history, will be able to identify with Jeremy Bruno of The Voltage Gate. Jeremy has recently become quite interested in WoW characters named after an organism's genus name. He has begun to feature such characters, along with photographic representations of the actual organism and tidbits of interesting facts. As he points out, these organisms are important enough to people to name their characters, which they might have for years, after them; and he wants to help honor them. If you have such a toon, shoot him a message, because he's accepting reader submissions. We're all interested to see what types of animals, bacteria, plants, and fungi will turn up on our realms.Do you have a theme or an interest that is reflected in the names of your characters? Have you ever stumbled across a character with such an obscure name that you were taken aback?
Forum Post of the Day: Worst NPC names
We've talked about your favorite NPCs before, but I really like this idea by Benfea: what's the worst NPC name in the game? There are lots of votes for Nutral, the "neutral" flight master in Shattrath, and Haris Pilton probably takes second place for sure. Someone (an MVP!) said Captain Placeholder, but that's crazy talk-- Captain Placeholder is one of the best NPCs ever!Personally, I never liked the names of the auctioneers in Ironforge-- Redmuse confused me at first, and Lympkin sounds like some kind of disease. And Fandral Staghelm is not only a jerk of the highest order, but his name sounds dumb, too. Who names their kid Fandral?What's the worst NPC name you've seen in the game?
