Inappropriate character names

[Externals]

Well, maybe this should be required in the character setup. It would be wise to do so. Making a background description of your character leading to his last name would be nice

[keder]

Originally posted by Gronomist
Those things (burntleaf, coalshard, etc) aren\'t names. They\'re nicknames that you find cool. What people are encouraged to do here, is find a NAME for their character. Like John or Bruno or Smith. We don\'t want Star Trek people running around or LOTR people. They have their names (and they\'re trademarked and copyrighted, by the way), and we at PS have our names. And again, if you have problems finding a name,  use the ingame random name generator. It\'s there for a reason.

many cultures based their names on something from their past. probably one of the most easily recognizable examples would be from the movie \"dances with wolves\" all of the names of those in the tribe were words or phrases that had some meaning.

if suitable meaning is associated, why would you deny such a name?

--- keder maloy

[keder]

Originally posted by Moogie
... snip ...
Names like Burntleaf are fine, providing you post a suitable history of your character in the RP section of these forums, that details how and why your character came to be named \"Burntleaf\" instead of a \'normal\' name.
... snip ...

is there anything ingame to provide this, or will all who choose such a name be then forced to also register on yet another page?

--- keder maloy

[Externals]

Simple, just make a background story about your name if theres any conflict with GM\'s. Period.

[Seytra]

Originally posted by Externals
Simple, just make a background story about your name if theres any conflict with GM\'s. Period.

However, the story must be believable and realistic. An interstellar traveller (or worse things) would surely stick my craw when it is first used, but if ten people use it, this is just ridiculous.

As for the names with meaning: Yes, some yultures did / do, but they only do it if
1) the person is somehow associated with the event (i.e., backstory requirement)
or
2) the event is not recent or
3) the item has had, for some reason, been part of the family for a long time (smith, for example) -> backstory

Taking words from english isn\'t always OK even then, because

1) english contains a lot of words which would never be present in medieval times. Don\'t call yourself \"Nerd Transistor\", for example.

2) most, if not all, of these names that consist of english words are in fact nicknames from chatrooms or FPS games, where the name refers to the player / user instead of to a fictional character living in a fictional world. Therefore, they are constructed to sound cool (depending on perspective, that is), but aren\'t suitable for a medieval fantasy RPG.

Hence, while Coalshard might be alright, Burntleaf sounds more like a ShadowRun pseudonym to me, but might be acceptable if the background is alright.

However, I don\'t know where this \"dwarves have strange lastnames\" thing comes from... after all, dwarves in PS aren\'t required to be like dwarves in other games, as elves aren\'t like other elves as well... does PS silently accept a stereotypical view of these races / species, or do I just miss some explicit information?

Anyway, it is my opinion that the naming rules should be stricter than they are now, in that no common words should be allowed (at least not as the whole (first/last)name, like \"Strawberry\"), but I\'m obviously somewhat alone with this.

@ keder technically, you can edit your ingame description to feature your backstory, but I wouldn\'t advise that, because these are things everyone can see and is AFAICS meant to be some sort of visual description like what you\'ll get when overlooking someone IRL. IMO it would be better to post on this forum, because this will be less susceptible to data loss and also more readily attainable for everyone.

[Externals]

Seytra, I completly agree with you but you also have to remember that you want your name to be a cool, old, and fun name to have for your character as well. Of course your not going to have \"strawberry\" as your name but burntleaf actually sounds like something you would use in a game like this.

[keder]

Originally posted by Seytra
... snip ...
@ keder technically, you can edit your ingame description to feature your backstory, but I wouldn\'t advise that, because these are things everyone can see and is AFAICS meant to be some sort of visual description like what you\'ll get when overlooking someone IRL. IMO it would be better to post on this forum, because this will be less susceptible to data loss and also more readily attainable for everyone.

placing it here doesn\'t necessarily make it more accessible... i had to ... adjust ...  the company firewall to get here, though the game itself is not blocked. anyone who is in the game can get to some kind of description that is ingame, however, they may not be able to get here to look up someone\'s history... it isn\'t everyone who can ... make adjustments ... to a corporate firewall.

i do understand the backup concerns, though i have always made a habit of retaining my own copies of data posted to remote servers. (btw, copy/paste would be a nice thing to allow in some areas, hint hint)

--- keder maloy

[Seytra]

@ keder In terms of accessibility I am not referring to the questionable use of corporate networks for gaming purposes.

What I am referring to is the fact that the information ingame is available only if you are online, and also only to those who happen to be close to your char ingame.
On this boards, the information will be browsable anytime, even if you decide to abandon the char or leave PS.
Also, when the account / char is deleted, the information will be gone, whereas it won\'t on the forums.
It is a fact that people who lose interest in a game will not bother to save anything, because they, well, lost interest. Others, though, who either liked the stories or are somehow connected to them, might need / wish to refer to it for years to come, and a personal copy will not be the best way to preserve it.

@ Externals: I want my name to
1) sound nice to me
2) fit the race and origin of my char
3) fit the setting of the game
4) fit the expected environment of my char
5) be not limiting to my chars development, whatever it may be

Therefore, in a game like ShadowRun, a char name I would choose might be Janet Mulligan or Jonathan Sondwood, while their pseudonyms (street names) might be Burntleaf or NetRider.
Since the SR society the char will be in will use the street name as primary way to address the char, that would be it\'s \"name\". The PS society, on the contrary, uses the real name of a person as primary means to address them, so that\'s the \"name\". Thus, a PS name must be something that your PS parent(s) could reasonably have given you, whereas the SR \"name\" could be anything constructed to sound \"cool\".

It is very possible to create a fantasy name that you think sounds \"cool\". Just as with pseudonyms like BurntLeaf, everyone who gets to know it will individually decide whether they think it\'s cool or not.

[Under the moon]

Originally scrawled by Efflixi Aduro
Yah but guess what, there weren\'t many Justin\'s or Ashley\'s in midevil times.

There weren\'t many Hatchnets, Efflixis, or Moogies either.

Originally scrawled by Seytra
However, the story must be believable and realistic. An interstellar traveller (or worse things) would surely stick my craw when it is first used, but if ten people use it, this is just ridiculous.

Better not say that around Monketh. Your libel to end up in the brig.

What I do sometimes, is to start with a name, and tweak it a little. Others, I just stat throwing syllables together until I hit something that sounds vaguely like a name, then tweak it until it does. Sometimes I\'ll end up with fifty variations of the same name.

Other times, a name just pops into my head. Like Jakkar, Burgas, Lowen, or Jhayda. (All characters from my story.)

[Externals]

Well you make a very good point. You definetly dont want messed up names in PS. That justs blows it for everyone.

[Seytra]

Originally posted by Under the moon

Originally scrawled by Efflixi Aduro
Yah but guess what, there weren\'t many Justin\'s or Ashley\'s in midevil times.

There weren\'t many Hatchnets, Efflixis, or Moogies either.

Aye, and, AMOF, I have some trouble with certain names of some oldbies.

Originally posted by Under the moon

Originally scrawled by Seytra
However, the story must be believable and realistic. An interstellar traveller (or worse things) would surely stick my craw when it is first used, but if ten people use it, this is just ridiculous.

Better not say that around Monketh. Your libel to end up in the brig.

Well, well... I didn\'t know about him yet, but he wouldn\'t be the only one featuring such an extremely... far-fetched and improbable \"backstory\". :rolleyes:
And no, I will not accept the usual pointless \"It\'s fantasy! And it\'s a game!\" stereotype answers.

[Keyaz]

you know what you could do.
Read what Moogie said, and deal with it that way.
nuff said