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Blogging into Mordor: Finding the perfect name for your Elf
Looking to create an elf in the Lord of the Rings Online but not sure what to name it? Want to avoid naming it "Legolazs" or "Elronde"? Have you unfortunately already used one of these names but are looking to change it? You're in luck! This article will show you how to find a decent, lore-appropriate name for your elf. And if you are not playing LOTRO but are looking for a name for an elf in World of Warcraft or a similar game, this guide might be a handy tool. Since elves are a very popular race in LOTRO, and there are a lot of famous elves in the lore that many players wish to emulate, finding a decent name can be difficult. It is important to remember to follow the naming rules of the game, which means you cannot choose a name that is close in spelling or sound to any of the actual characters from the books (such as Legolas, Arwen, etc). If your name is too similar to one of these characters, it will be changed. A good way to make sure that you are not accidentally stealing a name from the books is to use it in a Google search or consult a book such as the Complete Guide to Middle Earth.
Blogging into Mordor: Finding the perfect name for your Man (or Woman)
Having the most available classes and arguably the best racial abilities in The Lord of the Rings Online, the Race of Man is also the most popular. So it can be hard to find a decent name for your human. Everyone wants to be a hero, for their character to be great and achieve fame and glory. But can you do this without naming your character "Aragorrn" or "Boromier"? You bet! This guide will take you through finding the perfect first name and surname for your man or woman. Unlike the other races, a member of the Race of Man's name relies heavily on its origin/nationality. A man from Dale's name is going to sound nothing like the name of a man from Bree. The conventions for both the first names and surnames are highly varied between each culture. This is mostly due to the fact that men live such short lives and live so far away from each other, and also due to war, which has separated members of the race greatly. The cultures of the four nationalities are so varied that if you want a lore-appropriate name for role-playing, you will have to choose the name first based on your character's chosen nationality. With the other races, this isn't as important.
Officers' Quarters: What's in a guild name?
Every Monday Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership.Naming your guild is a funny thing. You want it to stand out in some way, but, at the same time, you don't want to give it such a weird or offensive name that people are embarrassed to walk around with it above their heads. It can be an agonizing decision. I remember back in the days before my officers and I founded our guild, we exchanged dozens of messages trying to find the perfect name. So I can sympathize with the author of this week's e-mail, who discovered that her carefully chosen name had also been chosen by another guild with some eerily similar characteristics.Hello, Scott. I don't know if I have a conundrum, a mystery, or a coincidence. I find it kinda funny more than anything else, but wonder if I should feel some concern or do something about it-- More than a month ago, I split off from a friendly, pretty well-knit social guild to form my own of same. I had decent ideas about the sort of people I wanted together, and still have aims of trying to build a Kara team (I follow the casual raiding articles religiously). We're still very small, but we're out there, and we have a pretty notable guild name. It was also the only guild of that name across all servers -- I checked the Armory at that time. Just last night I happened to be trawling the armory, looking up some friends and their gear, and, of course, popped in my own guild name. Much to my surprise, I see a brand new guild (~10 members) on another Normal server with the same name, cross-factioned. Further, their guild tabard is nearly identical (save for a slightly different border; the colors and image are same), and their GL is the same class as I am, a Blood Elf to my Human.
Blogging into Mordor: Finding the perfect name for your Hobbit.
Looking for a name for your little halfling? Unwilling to settle for "Frodow" "Samwizze" or "Bihlbo"? Have you already named your character one of these but are looking to change it to something decent and lore-abiding? This guide will help you to find the perfect name for your hobbit and avoid the wrath incurred when you turn on your role-playing flag with the name "Kneestabberxx". You will also find tips on choosing a surname. If you've already named your hobbit but are looking to construct an interesting back-story, this guide might be useful to you as well! J. R. R. Tolkien gave each different race and culture in the game its own customs and naming systems. Looking at the names of different hobbits can tell you things about them -- where they might have been born, what family they might be a part of. This gives you the opportunity to give your character a back-story if you wish, though simply using this guide to choose a cool name is good as well. And there is nothing wrong with taking some of the names here and using them in other games! Always make sure to read the naming guidelines of whatever game you play so that you do not break any rules and face punishment. In The Lord of the Rings Online, using a name that is even close to a character from the lore (such as Frodo, Lobelia, or Pippin) is strictly against the rules. So if you want a name that sounds hobbity and not a violation of the rules, you have to get creative. Luckily, Tolkien himself was creative and named enough of these creatures to give us an idea of how to do it! Even after reading this guide remember that the best name is the one you enjoy seeing and think fits your character, no matter how much you play it. What you think of your hobbit's name is more important than what other people think as long as it doesn't violate the naming conditions of your game.
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.
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]
Anarchy Online dev makes every NPC feel special
Content Designer/Writer for Anarchy Online -- Nina "Aythem" Sund -- has a new developer journal post up, covering NPCs within the world of Rubi-Ka. We really like that NPCs have personalized names taken mostly from the people working on AO, but also from other interesting places. One recent NPC was named "Heath Bridges" after Heath Ledger in light of his untimely death. It definitely gives players a good idea bout how much effort people put into the games they enjoy.Of course there are always times when it isnt as easy to create names for her NPCs. Such as the case of Andre Bottle, given the first name of a coder and the last name of, well, a bottle. They can't all be winners, but then again Andre Bottle sure sounds like a nice guy to us. Our favorite name is Scott Free, which is of course a play on words in the form of a name. Yeah -- that kind of humor works on us here at Massively, but only because we're incredibly humorful in nature.
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?
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?
Got a bad reputation in World of Warcraft? Change your name for 10 bucks
Blizzard is issuing new World of Warcraft character I.D. name tags for a whopping 10 dollars on select servers. If it's bad, you know really bad -- your named drag through the mud sort of deal over random guild's cyber scandal -- you can transfer right away and get a name change! Behind every name is a story, you couldn't help the formula, it went (anonymity + online gaming = instant jacktard). You did the math wrong and very bad things happened. You tore your last guild asunder, made a few people shrivel up in a corner and shed tears, and caused people to lose brain cells spewing Chuck Norris jokes in Barrens chat. There, there, it happens to best and worst of us. That's not it -- fate is cruel -- you are the worst Paladin on your server because you didn't realize classes had talents until level 70 and life just plain sucks. You need a little identity switch-a-roo if you ever want get into a guild group or even find a guild for that matter. If you are like me and had no idea what you were thinking when naming a character, you probably want to change your naming etymology around from "trollbawlerinas" to something more sophisticated and fantastical like "paincakes." Oh, and if you have trouble thinking up a name check out this lovely gallery for a few ideas over at our other blog, WoW Insider. Yes, I know that there are practical and legitimate reasons why a player should have the ability to change their character names and I support Blizzard's decision to allow it. The Warden will beat down the hackers and Blizzard's Game Masters have all sorts of crazy tools at their disposal to track and penalize dastardly profiteering gold farmers -- make ban hammer go faster. Some players might want to change their character name if some weirdo is harassing them because you know stalking is bad. Official announcement and list of server test-beds after the jump:
What's in a name?
Last night over guild chat the subject of naming our characters arose. Someone asked exactly how we chose our character names. It's a pretty personal question, at least it is for me. Being a writer pretty much all my life, my player character names are mostly names from my writing. There are also those characters that have been created out of jokes, or as representations of their jobs like Donations. I've built character names out of thin air as well, mostly because I love character creation beyond all other things. Most of my characters' names are fantasy in nature since being a fantasy writer I tend to be a stickler on that sort of thing. But some of my characters have looser based names. My priest is named Mandie, for obvious reasons. My paladin I've called Vashlyra, which is a combination of my dogs' names. I once even had a gnome rogue named Runnt. Perhaps that is part of why I love creating new characters so much. I get to give them a name, and infuse them with personality and back story. Every new character is a chance to rewrite the story, and each name is so important to me. But I am just one player in millions. I know my guild mates choose names differently. We have one player whose characters are all named variations of the same word. We have another who picks all his names from the random name generator. And yes, we are a guild populated mostly by alts, if you must know, so there are plenty of characters to name. On the other hand, I have seen many, many names that I cannot stand. I have actually found a correlation between horrible players and those who named their characters by picking a cool word they like and tacking on the letter X at the end (CipherX, you know who you are.) On our server I have run into Linksys, Pallyman and my personal favorite Ooitsahamster. I have even seen some I cannot believe haven't been reported. Now while I am more of a name snob, I can see why people choose to have fun with their character's names. What I cannot see is playing a character with a ridiculous name until 70. How do you choose your character names? Is it something tied to characters you have always played, or do you close your eyes and hit 'random?' What makes you connect with a name, or do you have no connection to it at all?
The iProduct
E-Commerce News asks what has one letter done to gadgetry? Adding an "i" to the start of your product name instantly identifies it as being intended for, or associated with, the iPod. Howard Kim of iLuv deliberately added an i to his company's product line while Tim V. Kolton of V-Moda headphones i-avoided. He didn't want to get lost in the crowd. Seems to me that if a single letter sends a powerful sales message to potential customers you'd be silly not to i your product. What do you think?
Breakfast Topic: What's in a name?
Players on each realm are required to have unique character names -- which can be an annoyance if you didn't create on the day the realm opened. Whenever a new realm is launched, common and popular names are quickly used up, and at some point naming becomes an annoyance. (Even more of an annoyance when people attempt to take a name they want by inserting special characters -- I've yet to figure out how to invite some of them to groups.) For my part, my most often played characters are "Lizzy" (uncreative, I know, but I created soon after the realm launched and grabbed it), "Blush" (which seemed to me the perfect name for an undead rogue), "Raawr" (a druid, and the only spelling I could find that worked), and "Coraline" (a book character whose name never seems to be taken). So what's your character name -- and how did you pick it? Do you have some uncommon standbys that are usually free? Do you abuse the random name generator until you find something you like? Do you just hit random keys on your keyboard?
Nokia to switch up naming scheme, follow Moto's lead
5200, 6136, E70, N70, N73. We lost track of what's what in Nokia's soup of numbers and letters about twenty or thirty phones ago; maybe our jaded minds can't handle the constant onslaught of new devices anymore -- or perhaps we're just getting old -- but it sounds like help is mercifully on the way. After watching brands like Motorola's RAZR and LG's Chocolate dominate pockets and purses for the last couples years, our favorite Finnish phone manufacturer has dropped hints that it, too, will be switching from numbers to names for at least some of its future products. Ironically, the news comes just as HTC is going the other direction with its naming scheme, moving from names to numbers -- but with monikers like "TyTN" plaguing their stable, we're thinking that was the right move. No word on what kinds of words might pop up in the Nokia lineup, but our vote goes to names of Finnish cities (who wouldn't want a Nokia Oulu?).
Apple Support doc: Mac maintenance Quick Assist
Apple has released a "Mac Maintenance Quick Assist" support document that is more or less a 10-step guide aimed at beginners for taking care of their Mac, both inside and out. These steps include good, basic practices such as using relevant names for files instead of "DSC_00001.jpg," while also recommending that you occasionally clean your Mac (duh).I was surprised to see a few tips make this list, however. The first: Check for viruses. "Macs don't get anywhere near the amount of viruses that Windows PCs are prone to, but that doesn't mean that they can't get infected," reads tip #8. I guess the guys who wrote this article didn't get the memo from the team who made the "Macs don't get viruses" TV commercials. The other odd tips deal with Mac maintenance stuff, like repairing permissions and defragging your hard drive. I was under the impression that, since Panther, Mac OS X defragged itself. On the permissions topic, there has been a lot of chatter over the last couple of months about whether repairing permissions is actually useful. Just check out the pseudo-series John Gruber had on the topic.All in all, I think I was actually a little frightened by evidence of even cheesier one-liners making their way into Apple's support docs: "As a Mac user, you won't have to do windows, but you will need to do some housekeeping!" Yuk yuk.
Nintendo invokes good names to defend a bad one [update 1]
Since announcing that they'd be renaming their new console from "Revolution" to "Wee," Nintendo's been busy explaining the name to press, often invoking other household names in the process. Here are some representative quotes: Perrin Kaplan to MTV News: "Many top companies have successfully used names or phrases that might seem odd at first blush: Virgin for an airline, Caterpillar for construction equipment, Yahoo! for Internet services, Naked for juice, Prius for a car, Napster for a Web site." Perrin Kaplan to IGN: "You think about Google being an unusual name. You think about Virgin Airlines. Amazon. Napster. All those. I think it's as unique as those. They aren't just unique, but loved names for places that we all know." Perrin Kaplan to CNN: "I'm sure people felt the same way when Google was named – or the iPod. Napster. Yahoo. There's a whole host of unusual names that have become a part of everyday conversation and I think they're viewed now as unique." Next, after the "continue" link, we unpack and unravel the defense:
On marketing, and a thanks to Apple's department
While chatting with my brother this afternoon about (what else) this whole Boot Camp thing and its ramifications, he brought up a great point concerning Apple's marketing and a good choice they made with this new software:They didn't call it "iBoot."Bonus points for not calling it "iBooty" either. Thanks guys.
