A name is the only thing a player really owns.
It is a minor part of what the player really owns. The majority is the character. I'm not talking about stats, I'm talking about background, personality and the RP that that character participated in.
That is the treasure of a RPer, not a name.
Just imagine that you would delete your character and create a new, different one, but using the same name. Would the name have any meaning at all? Obviously not.
Many are named for something that they love
And that justifies exactly what? If anything, it means that people are unable to see the difference between a forum login and an RP character, but it clearly doesn't mean the name somehow becomes acceptable just because they like it. That's very similar to the non-argument of "In every game, I am called "1337pwnz0r", so obviously in PS I can be called that, too, no?".
and every single person that they know in the game, is attached to them by that name only, and nothing else.
To change a name is a very serious and extreme thing to do.
Not just emotionallly, but it can also severely cripple relationships with other players.
On another thread I posted the following, which fits neatly here:
Regarding the players being very protective about their identities: I think that that is fully understandable, and fully acceptable. The name you have represents you. It is all that distinguishes you from everyone else at a simple glance. So the name "is" you.
This must, however, not be mistaken as an argument for allowing unsuited names. It is not. An unsuited name is chosen and changed way before you ever get known, hence that name is not your identity yet. The identity comes as you interact with the other players. (Example name used for likelyhood of being known) When the forum software received the confirmation for registration of the name "Karyuu", it was nothing but one out of a bazillion people who have created a board account on that system. It could just as easily have been any other name, or changed into something else. Only with interaction comes identity. "One makes a name for oneself" does not refer to the keying in of some letters, it refers to linking a combination of letters, which by itself is meaningless, to an individual, a personality, an identity.
A case that likely is recalled by some is the transition of "FESFES" to "Efflixi Aduro" (and all the others who did similar things). Leaving all name quality and other issues aside, this one shows pretty well how meaningless the actual name is, provided it is reasonably dissimilar to other names. Works just like the association of an alt with a main char's player.
Therefore, a namechange, even after already having gotten well-known within the community, has almost neglegible effects.
Additionally, unintentionally choosing a bad name cannot mean that it doesn't need to be changed. First, how can one be sure that the intent
truly wasn't there? Players can, and do, lie, especially when trying to get away with things they intentionally did. Second, even if that was possible, it wouldn't help the situation at all. So someone had never, ever heard of, say, Hitler, and named their char "Hitler", because of the sound or whatever. Clearly the intent wasn't there, but does that mean that it has
any less effect on the other players? Obviously, the very same effect is still created. Even if it was possible to make sure that every player that gets to see that name knows that the intent was different, they would
still be reminded of the particular Hitler who made that name an insult.
Therefore, clearly, intent can only mean the difference between a ban or a mere namechange, never can it result in no namechange.
But just because you recognize it, or can find it iin google, does not mean it needs to go.
That's why the naming policy says
popular culture. Clearly, something that appears in some book that has sold 20 copies doesn't constitute "popular culture". However, just because
you don't know of the name, that doesn't automatically mean that it's
not popular culture, as it may easily come from a subculture that you don't interact with (might be or have been a football player or whatnot, provided that you aren't into football). If something even has an entry on wikipedia, or generates 100+ hits on google (all referring to the same thing, obviously) then that's a pretty good sign of "popular culture" FAICT.
And if a name really bothers you, then say so.
If a name really bothers me, I /petition it, because asking people, even extra-nicely, gets you a "I might if I ever feel like it", at best, and most often a "Are you a GM? No? Thoght so, so shut up!". And I might say that this refers to not only names, and if it were different, there'd be no need for GMs.
hmm, no, I think I'll report any unsuitable name I come across, they should all be changed and banned from re use no matter what way they break the policy
Indeed. It is impossible to know for how long that character will remain active in PS, and also is it not certain that it will ever be spotted by a GM, or at least it may be quite a while. And the longer it goes undetected, the more (IMNSHO completely unwarranted) whining will come from the player when it gets changed, so better be as swift as possible.
perhaps it is because when I was much younger I practiced reading upside down as well as backwards. I wasn't really looking for this when I saw it,
I was already beginning to wonder if except myself only those who reverse their names are able to spot them. I'm hardly looking for reversed meanings, but often it smashes me in the face the first time seeing the name, and many other times they have a very distinct ring to them. Drah Eroc, for example,
would have triggered a reversal with me, maybe not the first or second time I see it, but eventually. AFAIR it happens with annoying and likable players alike, at least for me. And it
has happened several times, and it's very disappointing, and once it's happened, it's hard to ignore.
I did start this thread with you in mind as I was a little miffed at you beating me to all the gladiolas and me not getting an attack in even just standing and waiting for the guy to spawn.
As for my running rampant around the arena (particularly between the gladiators), my char has a couple of valid reasons (besides his obvious greed). But I can't really divulge too much info there. 
And talking of annoyance/irritation.. I should probably also admit that I run up to people camping on spawn points and initiate an attack before they do (not too often though)... I do it once.. and then tend to leave that person alone for at least 5-10 mins. To my knowledge this is within the rules as the monster/gladiator/rogue/etc still has 100% energy when I start to attack and so technically... not a steal. - But if anyone knows otherwise.. please correct me.
You are quite right.
Technically it isn't stealing. The player policy even explicitely says so. However, to me, it still borders very close on bug exploitation, because it essentially is the imperfections of the game mechanics, which aren't intended to exist, but do due to technical limitations, that you use to your advantage.
Some people claim that this is valid RP. I wholeheartedly disagree, and the reason is bilbous's quote above. Imagine his char being an
exact copy of yours. Then, even if we were to accept the fighting system and the ingame stats as RP, he would necessarily have a precisely 50% chance of getting the first hit. But he doesn't, not even close. The reason is obvious: RL differences, something that must
never have
any impact in RP. Maybe his computer is slower? His internet connection is slower, less stable or his location is further from the server than yours? Maybe he is just not as well accustomed to the I/O devices of a computer as you are, or hasn't fine-tuned his set-up for one-click killing? Then there's a wide range of differences between human beings that make for even more complications here. So obviously none of that is part of his character, but you force it into PS nontheless. So while it is
technically not stealing and in full accordance with the rules, it is still as OOC as it can ever get, and an exploit, and therefore morally wrong, and also against the
spirit of the player policy.
Regarding the first paragraph of your quote: be sure to reevaluate if you are really RPing, and not just using RPing a greedy character as a cop-out for OOC greed, as is so very common. Realistically, there is no place where you can just stand and wait, then an animal appears out of thin air, waiting for someone to slay it, then another one, exactly like the previous, and so on, for all eternity. This, too, is merely game mechanics. If this was a
real arena, there would be some way of maintaining a queue of who gets to fight when. The rules say that noone owns a spawn. That is, I think, a hint at exactly this: you are expected to share, and it should not be required for anyone to write scripts just to get to fight
one out of five rogues. IC greed can justify only so much, OOC fairness and courtesy are still paramount.
