New Name Generator

[Volki]

I heard that the name generator would produce different names based on the race of the character being created. However, I decided to play around with it, and I noticed no difference between any of the races. All of the names were equally as bad and unpronounceable. Most were full of repetitions, some had innuendo of some sort, and all of them were aesthetically displeasing.

So, I propose something like the advanced interface from this: http://www.rinkworks.com/namegen/ It's quick to get the hang of, so play around with it a bit if you don't understand at first how it works.

There could be templates for each race and sex. Someone playing a Kran would not end up with the same name as someone playing a Lemur. Ylian female names and Ylian male names would not be the same. There would be some order to the way characters are named. You might be able to tell someone's race and sex by the name alone.

[cdmoreland]

Much easier to tell their race and sex by looking at them. 

[Volki]

...Not sure if joking or completely missing the point.

[LigH]

As far as I remember, the PS name generator does have different probabilities for syllables per race and gender.

[Volki]

Test it and tell me what you see. (Hint: you won't notice a difference.)

[LigH]

Wrong memory, you are right: data/phonics.xml contains different probabilities for family and male/female first names. Nothing race specific.

But there was some kind of documentation which letters or "syllables" are more probable for specific races. I found a little in some of the race settings documents on the website.

[Lumi]

Nice idea Sarras. I don't think that there is yet any "official" convention about the races names. Out of the one more or less created by the players, example: Nolthrir with short names, Klyros with "Q" or "K" names...
For dwarfs it´s another story since they are well know for their peculiar "nickname".

The difficulty will be for everyone to agree on "What is a typicall enkidukai name" for example.

But having a better name generator should help a newcomer in getting used of PS lore i guess :-o

[LigH]

Fortunately, there are already several languages in the PSWiki, contributed by linguistically interested fans. So it might be possible to derive some rules from them.

[tman]

The difficulty will be for everyone to agree on "What is a typicall enkidukai name" for example.

Agreed.  BUT, we have a lot of data from the devs on this already.  Just like at the list of NPC names.  Some of the differences aren't so obvious, but I think if you look at the list of enkis vs kran vs ylian, etc., there are some noticeable differences.

Also, it should be noted that players don't have to follow these conventions.  It's just like real life.  Different nationalities and ethnicities have different naming conventions, but there are no hard rules.

[Lumi]

Yes of course tman, the name generator should be there to give a "tips" somehow and nothing more.
Thought, unless the newcomer is used to RP like a boss, he probably have no idea in which world he's going and what are the required things.
When i started i had no idea about "creating a character", "thinking of a background" and i just entered a name i liked out of nowhere. Actually back then, i created a fenki called Helendil which is more of a dermorian name kind of.

LigH you are right, the wiki should help building a "convention" about the names aswell as the list of NPC (thought even there it's not always obvious)

Can we, or should we start to think about it here or do we just wait for the Devs to do it all ?