Naming Rules

[StingFeelsOnlyOnce]

Edit: When I made this thread I was pretty much thinking that last name will be at least an opinion in any case. Forced last name just means that you have to have a last name, and I don't support that.

MO is a game which I'm expecting to have sort of realistic feeling. A game where I'd almost feel like I was the person in the game, and not a guy moving a character trough the screen, if you know what I mean. I hope that the game will be something that'll cause feelings, and make me feel like it was almost like another life, where I'd for example, really be afraid if I'd be close to death... Where the blacksmith called Ip0wn3d urm0m makes the best weapons and his apperntice myk0ksgr8 is the best swordsman on the land...

What's your take on naming, do you think there should be a naming policy? In my opinion, the ridiculous names of the players, who you are supposed to deal with, simply mar the feeling of the game. In my opinion, the feeling stays much more authentic if I go to see blacksmith Ivor, instead of blacksmit L33th4x0r.

Also, what is your take on "forced last names" I myself don't like that, because I approve of use of aliases. Someone might want to be kown as Dragonheart or something (cliché, I know), instead of "revealing their true name" ... Or just using a simple firstname, without last names.

So my take on it would be the option 2

So... Post away.

(If someone says that "let them have their stupid names, that shows they are jerks" I'm going to strangle someone. It still mars the authenticy of the game for me!)

[Rhygar]

Originally Posted by StingFeelsOnlyOnce

(If someone says that "let them have their stupid names, that shows they are jerks" I'm going to strangle someone. It still mars the authenticy of the game for me!)

I definitely wouldn't say that. I am all for having a strict naming policy. Not even stupid combo names like "YourSnake" or something. A quick check for no basic violations. You start playing while the names can be reviewed afterwards with a request sent to you to change it if necessary.

Anyone that says they will not play a game because the naming policy is too strict is an idiot and a liar. If you are such a whiner that that would put you off then fine, piss off. Then you obviously didn't want to play the game anyway.

EDIT: Last names can be optional.

[Lachrymose]

i agree that i don't want to see retarded names like the ones you mentioned.. the problem is, depending on how large the server is, having numbers may be necessary, otherwise there just eventually won't be any names left to choose from, or at least it will be difficult to find a good name that isn't taken.

before you say "but WoW didn't use numbers in names and it has 8+ million players." keep in mind, WoW has several hundred servers, each of which probably has on average maybe 15k total characters (the largest servers have about 30k).

MO will be much larger than WoW, although i'm not sure how much larger. however, let's say that each server intends on having 10k players online at any given time (i just use 10k b/c this is the number darkfall aims for, and both games intend on large sieges and huge worlds). in order to maintain about 10k players, there needs to be maybe 50-60k total players assigned to that server. in fact, it could be more, since most players will probably have an alt, which could potentially double this number.. so MO could have 2-3x as many players per server as WoW (perhaps even more), and i definitely remember having to go through at least 5 names or so when creating an alt on WoW before i found a name that wasn't taken.

having numbers may be necessary, although i certainly wouldn't prefer it.

[StingFeelsOnlyOnce]

I'd like to note that you can arrange 6 letters in 300 000 000 ways using a 26 letter alphabet. Even if lot of them are something as clever as hhewqu there are plenty of ways to make a good name, after all, there are 17 000 ways to arrange 3 letters, 450 000 for 4, 11 000 000 for 5, and so forth... Ways to arrange a name of 8 letters or less there are like two hundred billion or more.

[Rhygar]

Originally Posted by Lachrymose

i agree that i don't want to see retarded names like the ones you mentioned.. the problem is, depending on how large the server is, having numbers may be necessary, otherwise there just eventually won't be any names left to choose from, or at least it will be difficult to find a good name that isn't taken.

before you say "but WoW didn't use numbers in names and it has 8+ million players." keep in mind, WoW has several hundred servers, each of which probably has on average maybe 15k total characters (the largest servers have about 30k).

MO will be much larger than WoW, although i'm not sure how much larger. however, let's say that each server intends on having 10k players online at any given time (i just use 10k b/c this is the number darkfall aims for, and both games intend on large sieges and huge worlds). in order to maintain about 10k players, there needs to be maybe 50-60k total players assigned to that server. in fact, it could be more, since most players will probably have an alt, which could potentially double this number.. so MO could have 2-3x as many players per server as WoW (perhaps even more), and i definitely remember having to go through at least 5 names or so when creating an alt on WoW before i found a name that wasn't taken.

having numbers may be necessary, although i certainly wouldn't prefer it.

I agree there are only so many names until you run out of good ones, but it is not that difficult to solve that. Add last names into the mix and you greatly increase the number of name combinations available. So you will have duplicate first names and unique last names. Many family members/friends in real life will enjoy sharing the same last name.

[yXXe]

My vote goes to option 2. Last names are great because that means there's so many more options for what you can name your character. And hopefully, only letters will be allowed.

[Gungrave]

Last name is 101% needed as option, but forced, hardly.
And naming policy wont stop usage of idiotic names in various languages, and tbh i prefer to see someone named Ip0wn3d urm0m rather than Eba4aNaMaiki. Cos in the second case this guy wont be just regular moron, but moron from my own country..

[Joszek]

I'd like to see no numbers inside names, as well as no xXipwnUXx or other le3t ][,/\ etc signs in front, and at the end of name.
I'd like sometimes to talk to a player, but seeing his abracadabra nick successfully keeps me off from doing this.

Umm... shouldn't be the guild name forced automatically as a 2nd part of player's nick ?

[Rhygar]

Originally Posted by Gungrave

Last name is 101% needed as option, but forced, hardly.
And naming policy wont stop usage of idiotic names in various languages, and tbh i prefer to see someone named Ip0wn3d urm0m rather than Eba4aNaMaiki. Cos in the second case this guy wont be just regular moron, but moron from my own country..

A purely automated one will not.

I have no idea what that means, but I am sure you will see people try to make idiotic names like that whether you allow numbers or not. I also say that all names should be screened after character creation for acceptability. If you see a name like that that is offensive in another language, which was not identified, then report it.

And definitely not forced last names. However, if your favourite name is already taken then you can just add a last name and be able to use it.

[StingFeelsOnlyOnce]

Yes, last names should certainly be an option in my opinion as well.

if they aren't, well, I could resort to using Firstname_Lastname.

[Kalafax]

I'd like for last names to be forced or optional dont care either way, but I'd like to have an option so that you can choose to not show your last name if you dont wish to. And as for running out of names, yea, that is pretty much never going to happen if you have accual names, not like Thereaper and crap like that, but accual names.

[Vanth]

I would prefer it if you never ever saw anyone's name. If you want to know their name, ask them. If they reply with "Ipwnu", well, that is their problem.

[Rhygar]

Originally Posted by Vanth

I would prefer it if you never ever saw anyone's name. If you want to know their name, ask them. If they reply with "Ipwnu", well, that is their problem.

I would like a system where you have to click an introduce command to "know" some other character's name. This has been mentioned several times on other threads I think.

[G.I. Joe]

If i kill and loot whoever....WHO CARES WHAT THEIR NAME IS!

[Rathius]

I'd say give us a decent size of name box and allow spaces and ` characters. That would help, but a report feature, as handy as it would be, I haven't notice work too well in past games.

[Lachrymose]

Originally Posted by StingFeelsOnlyOnce

I'd like to note that you can arrange 6 letters in 300 000 000 ways using a 26 letter alphabet. Even if lot of them are something as clever as hhewqu there are plenty of ways to make a good name, after all, there are 17 000 ways to arrange 3 letters, 450 000 for 4, 11 000 000 for 5, and so forth... Ways to arrange a name of 8 letters or less there are like two hundred billion or more.

haha... i suppose you're right, but i said "good" names.. i sure don't want my character named xxqqrxz

[StingFeelsOnlyOnce]

Originally Posted by Lachrymose

haha... i suppose you're right, but i said "good" names.. i sure don't want my character named xxqqrxz

Yes, but to think of it, you can use words from different languages and stuff like that. There are surely over few million words that'll sound nice. After all, if there is 200 billion ways to arrange those letters, it'll mean that if one of 100 thousand sounds good, it'll still be 2 000 000 names. Or, you can add a last name, and then even if there was only 20 000 good sounding names, and 20 000 good sounding last names. It'll still be 400 000 000 ways to combine them.

And G.I. Joe, as I said in the first post, it stil mars the game even if just slightly for lot of people, so it's not just 'their problem' Thought from your comment I would guess that means you don't care anything about anyone elses gaming experience, except your own. (On that note, in mortal online you cannot carry very heavy loads, only about twice what you can in reality, so 'looting everyone' might get tedious.) I could ask, what is there so good in names like that you would like to allow them?

[Lachrymose]

Originally Posted by StingFeelsOnlyOnce

Yes, but to think of it, you can use words from different languages and stuff like that. There are surely over few million words that'll sound nice. After all, if there is 200 billion ways to arrange those letters, it'll mean that if one of 100 thousand sounds good, it'll still be 2 000 000 names. Or, you can add a last name, and then even if there was only 20 000 good sounding names, and 20 000 good sounding last names. It'll still be 400 000 000 ways to combine them.

And G.I. Joe, as I said in the first post, it stil mars the game even if just slightly for lot of people, so it's not just 'their problem' Thought from your comment I would guess that means you don't care anything about anyone elses gaming experience, except your own. (On that note, in mortal online you cannot carry very heavy loads, only about twice what you can in reality, so 'looting everyone' might get tedious.) I could ask, what is there so good in names like that you would like to allow them?

well, anyways i'd definitely prefer not to see any l33t names... no numbers or underscores...

what about special characters? like accented vowels, etc? how about japanese/chinese characters, or alphabets from other languages?

personally, i think anything else would be fine, the only thing i don't want to see is the numbers or underscores (or ~!@#$%^&, etc), but i also think people should be able to find a good name without having to try 100 different name before they find one that isn't taken. if other alphabets and "special characters" are allowed, then that should provide plenty for people to work with.

[Rhygar]

Originally Posted by Rathius

I'd say give us a decent size of name box and allow spaces and ` characters. That would help, but a report feature, as handy as it would be, I haven't notice work too well in past games.

Ah I also forget about the ' character in names. I actually like then in a surname but games rarely allow them.

[LightsabeR]

Originally Posted by Lachrymose

if other alphabets and "special characters" are allowed, then that should provide plenty for people to work with.

Well that creates a problem. Say you wish to send a message to someone, while using an ENG keyboard, but the guy's name is Öäõü. Sure you could suggest that then you could use Oaou, but what if there already is some other guy with that exact name as well?

On the topic of naming rules - numbers and symbols are a no-no for me. I would like to see some limitations on words you can use as well, but that's gonna be rather complicated if they would include non-English words.

[la griffe]

This is RPG, names should be forced to something right with the lore.

No L33t Noob5or f..... names !

[Victor]

Just don't show names... problem solved.

[StingFeelsOnlyOnce]

I don't feel it'd be necessary to watch it for other languages than english. After all, probably half of the players will be english... And then the rest will distribute along countless other languages (I would guess there will be lot of Swedish people tho')

Anyway, my point it, if at most 10% of people is talking some certain language, other than english, and 10% of them put something silly in their language as their names, it's only 0.5% of all player base. and that 10% of player base will only affect the people who speak that given language, and only those of them that care about it.

I'm just saying that it's not so bad. In my case, probably 1% of player base will be finnish at most, and probablt 5% of them decide to put some silly name, so it's like 0.05 percent of all players for me, so I'd probably never even meet them.

Originally Posted by Victor

Just don't show names... problem solved.

No it's not.

Sting: Ok, so, what's your name, so I'll be able to contact you later, I have to finish this one task first
Unknown: Oh, my name is Urmumsucksmyballs
Sting: *facepalms* Go away...

[LightsabeR]

Originally Posted by StingFeelsOnlyOnce

Sting: Ok, so, what's your name, so I'll be able to contact you later, I have to finish this one task first
Unknown: Oh, my name is Urmumsucksmyballs
Sting: *facepalms* Go away...

Yes it is solved.

After he says it, you chop his head off. Same as in real life.

[StingFeelsOnlyOnce]

Originally Posted by LightsabeR

Yes it is solved.

After he says it, you chop his head off. Same as in real life.

You forget something here, I'm your friendly neightbourhood dragon, I want no harm to other people. Well, I ocassionally eat them, but I only eat goodlooking and tasty people, and person with such name can't be goodlooking, nor tasty. People with those names contain too much fat, and last time they managed to drag their ass off the computer chair to get a damn shower it was in 2005.

So, I'l probably not be mighty playerkiller in game... Well, of course if you try to attack me or my friends I slice you to pieces, but other than that, I'll just chill around having fun. Eating pretty ladies and stuff.

(Disclaimer: I know I won't be dragon in game)