Goblin Squad Member
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(This topic was last discussed in depth in June 2012. Good time for a rehash since the alpha will start in a few months.)
Character names are an odd bird. I have a stable of character names I have used over the years, each having its own personality traits. I say "it" referring to the name only. Each of my characters also their own personality, and I can’t seem to deviate from that. If there is an area for it on my character sheet I will happily write a biography for each character I have in PFO. (Ryan and Co. Please put a page in the character sheet for a character biography.)
My characters all have suitable roleplaying names which have either been in tabletop campaigns from years past, other video games I have played, or current games I am playing. I have about 50 names I use for various occasions, depending on the situation...healers, paladins, priests, warriors. And yes, I even have a precious few I use for the dirty deeds category.
Keeping the above in mind, I was very happy to see every single person who tried Darkfall and joined the Goblin Squad clan had an excellent name selection, suitable for an RP scenario, non-vulgar, and it fit into the game world without redicule or banning. I was very proud of the PFO community’s name selection and am confident everyone who at least tried Darkfall will make a good name selection for Pathfinder Online when it roles out.
Sadly, many of the players in Darkfall, and countless other games, are not good character namers (in my opinion, but opinions vary). Ryan has said a few times name selection will be scrutinized and bad names will cause a name change, and truly egregious names that violate the spirit of the game, or violate the law in some way will be banned outright.
See blog entry “I Heard it Through the Grapevine” from September 12, 2012.
and blog thread for same HERE
Some thoughts
For whatever race you choose there are options to help you find your character name. There are baby name lists that have alphabetical name lists, male and female names, name origins, names based on nationality, ethnic heritage, or fantasy mythos. There are name generators for historical periods, fantasy names, fantasy race names, science fiction names, names from books, movies, themes and other game systems. There should be no problems picking a suitable name for your Pathfinder Online character that fits the world, or the part of Golarion your character comes from, or even the race you have chosen.
In the blog “I Heard it Through the Grapevine” Ryan says this:
“...we'll have a robust name generator. If you choose to use the name generator, the name you get will be automatically approved. And if we have to change a generated name because something causes us to re-evaluate it, we'll work with you to get you a new name that is as close to your old one as possible.”
And
“We're going to have a very tough policy on bad names. We reserve the right, at any time, for any reason, to make you choose a new name.“
Recently Ryan wrote “I don't want a group of people to name their characters incredibly offensive things, and deluge the chat channels with abusive language, poking at people until they snap from anger or frustration.”
All that is good. Here, I will make a suggestion to the community at large.
Choose your names carefully. The alpha is coming up soon, and if you have not done so already (I am sure most of the regular posters have) choose a good name, a non-offensive name, a name that fits with the world of Pathfinder Online. Names add a lot to the community, and they can take a lot away. Finally, try to avoid some of the pitfalls you and I see in many, many other games. Avoid naming your character for a known celebrity (we have Joe Pesci and Robert DeNiro running around in Darkfall), don’t use honorifics (King, Queen, Lord, Duke, Prince) as there may be some sort of event in game that applies a title or bestows an honor and those titles are otherwise earned through deeds. (There is an argument the title is “earned through blood” as part of the character’s biography, but is does not help immersion.) Generally, pick a name you want to live with for 10 years or more. Most of us here are hoping against hope PFO is around at least as long as WoW or EVE, and we want to have fun experiences that we can remember fondly. Our characters will be part of that personal gaming history.
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Goblin Squad Member
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A side note here, we only get one race change per character once the rest of the races past the inital three start roling out. Here's to hoping we get one free name change to go with that race change. Though "Alk Caskenflagon" makes a fine Dwarven name, it doesn't suit the quirky Pathfinder gnomes quite as well.
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Goblin Squad Member
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A side note here, we only get one race change per character once the rest of the races past the inital three start roling out. Here's to hoping we get one free name change to go with that race change. Though "Alk Caskenflagon" makes a fine Dwarven name, it doesn't suit the quirky Pathfinder gnomes quite as well.
I kinda doubt we get a name change. A sex change is more likely I'd think (sounds funny but I'm serious). So yeah this name thing could be a problem.
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Goblinworks Game Designer
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From an implementation side, some things to keep in mind about how we might structure names:
- A Guild Wars 2 style name field where you can have a max of X characters including spaces allows you a lot of creative freedom. Assuming the name fits within the character limit, you can have a one, two, three, or even more-word name, as is your preference. There are two downsides. One is that the one-word names tend to get snapped up quickly and become status symbols (e.g., there can only be one "John" on the server, and everyone else who wants to be John has to have a last name). The second is that it's next to impossible for us to individually token the portions of your name (e.g., NPCs can never refer to you by just your last name, you'll always see your full name in every system-generated reference).
- A Firstname Lastname system allows less creativity (you can't have one word or three+ word names). But it allows us to token them individually (an NPC can refer to you by just your first or last name). It also opens up some interesting space where we can track "families" by last name, and possibly reserve access to prominent in-setting surnames for special access. It also keeps people on even footing; nobody has a one-word name as a status symbol.
- On either of these, there's a question of capitalization. The simplest option is to require first letter of each name is capitalized, subsequent letters are lowercased. This makes it harder to create "Xxx Drizzt xxX" or "TsAePxE" but it has the downside of also preventing "Jamis McDougal" and "Simone de la Cort."
- Finally, there's a question of symbols. We're probably not going to allow numerals at all, or unpronounceable ASCII options, but there are two other classes of symbols. The first is accented characters that are common in other languages but not used in American English; these are obviously important to a lot of cultures' naming practices, but make it really hard for people in countries that don't regularly use those characters to type your name (including to report you to the GMs). The second is joining characters like a dash or apostrophe. I know our very own Nihimon wants an apostrophe for his last name, but creating rules that don't just see them used weirdly (e.g., "D-r-i-z-z-t") might be nontrivial and unintuitive for users. They also interact with the previous point; if we're enforcing capitalization, do we treat them as a space (and you have to capitalize after them) or not (in which case you can't capitalize after them)?
I don't think we've made any firm decisions on the structural naming rules, but those are points that are under consideration (and that might not be a complete list of everyone's concerns, just the ones I can think of). Clearly in any scenario, we can force people to change egregious names once they're reported or otherwise noticed, but it's probably easier on our end to eliminate the worst abuses through up-front rules.
So use those as a jumping off point for discussion :) .
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Goblin Squad Member
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I'd go with ,
First and Last name option, but with an optional 3rd and or 4th spot for Middle name(s),
The First name does not allow spaces, but the Last and optional Middle names allow for spaces,
First letter capitalization in First name, and open capitalization for Last and optional Middle names.
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Goblin Squad Member
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I wonder if it feasible to map the different keyboard letters in a coherent manner, so if a character is named Ävena Õats, I could still message him by typing Avena Oats. Or report him.
I'd think that for figuring unique names such characters and upper/lower case variations could all be treated as equivalents. So if the Avena Oats name was already in use, I couldn't name a character Ävena Õats, nor could I use aVena Oats.
I wouldn't mind a limit of perhaps 3 caps per name. I prefer the first and last name option.
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Goblin Squad Member
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I have a greater concern that our forum names may find their way into the game, by other people, and possibly legitimately so.
I'd venture a guess that Stephen Cheney is not an uncommon name. David Copperfield, the Wizard, would not be all that inappropriate for a medieval based name.
The question is, will real names or variations of them
also be banned? What about people who have unique ways of spelling names or non English names that we might find objectionable?
I can't speak for Germans, but have there been any babies named Adolf since 1945?
For the record, "Bluddwolf" is a nickname and spelled the way that it is because Bloodwolf is usually taken.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Let it be known that Lifedragn will not be a character name in PFO. If you see it there, doubt it immediately!
That being said, a generous name length would allow me to place First name and intended Family name in for my characters. Both first and last name are lengthy... 'Arnaeus Moonglow' for example.
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Goblin Squad Member
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I should also like to point out, while I would follow a reasonable naming policy for my own characters, it does not break my immersion if others do not.
Just as chat channel banter has never been a real sticking point for me. I rarely if ever pay attention to Global Chat, unless I'm doing something very boring and I feel like having a bit of crass entertainment.
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Goblinworks Game Designer
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I'd rather see good arguments for and against the various options rather than just making it a vote. Seeing that X% of people wanted something doesn't tell us why they did. Having you guys make sure we understand all the ramifications of decisions that we may not have thought of otherwise is crowdforging.
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Goblin Squad Member
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•On either of these, there's a question of capitalization. The simplest option is to require first letter of each name is capitalized, subsequent letters are lowercased. This makes it harder to create "Xxx Drizzt xxX" or "TsAePxE" but it has the downside of also preventing "Jamis McDougal" and "Simone de la Cort."
•Finally, there's a question of symbols. We're probably not going to allow numerals at all, or unpronounceable ASCII options, but there are two other classes of symbols. The first is accented characters that are common in other languages but not used in American English; these are obviously important to a lot of cultures' naming practices, but make it really hard for people in countries that don't regularly use those characters to type
You could limit the amount of symbols / capital letters in a name. I don't see many legitimate names requiring more than one - or ' and absolutely any needing more than two.
I also don't see many legitimate names needing more than two capital letters between spaces.
So that wouldn't block James McDougals and Rand Al'Thor but it would block "TsAePxE". "Xxx Drizzt xxX" might get away with it if you allow three of the same letter in a row / allow three names.
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Goblin Squad Member
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I'd rather see good arguments for and against the various options rather than just making it a vote. Seeing that X% of people wanted something doesn't tell us why they did. Having you guys make sure we understand all the ramifications of decisions that we may not have thought of otherwise is crowdforging.
Can you put up the official Pathfinder Online for the River Kingdoms Regional Bird or Flower? I want to vote for something.
So your choices for naming conventions look like this:
Option A) Old McDonald Had A Farm 1)Only one toon named "Old" 2) NPCs would say "Hello Old McDonald Had A Farm!"
Option B) Old McDonald 1) Many characters named "Old" 2) NPCs would say "Thank you Mr. McDonald!"
(In both of these examples the D in McDonald would be subject to the additional capital letter rule if implemented.
Option C1) Öldê McDonãld 1)Hard to report 2) Culturally important for many players
Option c2) Old Mac-Donald 1)Allows for a lot of variety (like the orc in Elder Scrolls games or married name joint names (If Old McDonald Had A Farm married Judy E-I-E-I-O, she would be Judy McDonald Had A Farm-E-I-E-I-O) 2) He does not have a farm
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Goblin Squad Member
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Another reason that I don't think is much valid for disallowing more freedom in naming is to report bad behavior. 99/100 the bad behavior causes them to be in your chat/combat/trade window. A screen shot is the best thing to do no matter if the name Boog Fingerdigger or Bög FinGer'DigGúr.
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Goblin Squad Member
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I'd rather see good arguments for and against the various options rather than just making it a vote. Seeing that X% of people wanted something doesn't tell us why they did. Having you guys make sure we understand all the ramifications of decisions that we may not have thought of otherwise is crowdforging.
In order for us to understand the ramifications for what you may not have thought of, we would have to know what you have thought of first.
I reasonably would like to see options such as: Two names ( First and Surname); One Name and a Place of Origin (ie Conan of Cimmeria); First Name + Professional Title (ie Rowan Coppersmith); or First Name + Nickname + Surname (ie Ezreq "Bluddwolf" Blodvaerd).
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Goblin Squad Member
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...who cares what NPC's say in PFO?
I agree with Avari3: don't let worries about how NPC-text will appear, since we're much more likely to be addressing or referring to one another vs how often we'll talk to them.
Only one "John" will appear, yes, but how many folks will be willing to settle for that and thus worry about not getting it? It'd also only become a status symbol if we the players assign status to it; if future joiners are anything like the lovely rowdy crowd you've gathered so far, we won't assign status to...pretty much anything, actually.
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Goblin Squad Member
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I do like the Regional Trait names (Fandiss the Frostborne) or names that show the locality (Fanndis of the Five Kings). If I am a stone cutter it would be appropriate to take the name Fanndis Stonecutter. Or a heritage name such as Fanndis, daughter of Fenrael.
All those would fit the genre and location, and are Dwarvish, but they might not meet the naming standards, which would be a pity.
Not sure what is involved in having more than one naming convention....but I can see headaches if more than one is used.
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Goblin Squad Member
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I'd rather see good arguments for and against the various options rather than just making it a vote. Seeing that X% of people wanted something doesn't tell us why they did. Having you guys make sure we understand all the ramifications of decisions that we may not have thought of otherwise is crowdforging.
I like the free-form naming as it allows for the most creativity. It may spawn the most name reports, but someone who can be Nicholas of the Emerald Wood is very flavorful.
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Goblin Squad Member
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There needs to be a way to have three+ word names. Without that there would be no way to name a character "of X" "Van X". Or any Chinese or Roman inspired name for that matter. There are just so many names that require more than one space that not including it would sharply decrease the ability to make varied and interesting names.
Another minor thing that I would like is the ability to start a surname with a lower-case letter. This allows "of X" names as well as d'X as a last name.
I would be very disappionted if I could not use the names Gustav Von Keren, Gaius Vergillius Varrax or Belisarius d'Vostrozha. All of which are perfectly reasonable, setting appropriate names.
So the best would be to just have Firstname Lastname with no restrictions on characters usable in each field. Accented letters optional. Then couple this with some kind of GM oversight to weed out ridiculous things even if slightly after the fact.
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Goblin Squad Member
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I kinda doubt we get a name change. A sex change is more likely I'd think (sounds funny but I'm serious). So yeah this name thing could be a problem.
I would be a bit disappointed without a free name change, but I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't pay for the name change once gnome comes around.
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Goblin Squad Member
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I kinda doubt we get a name change. A sex change is more likely I'd think (sounds funny but I'm serious). So yeah this name thing could be a problem.I would be a bit disappointed without a free name change, but I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't pay for the name change once gnome comes around.
I'd pay for them too. It's something we want concrete answers on before day 1. For now I am happy with the assurance of the free race change.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Names have power, but all powers need boundaries. The rules I suggest below are intended to cover the observations and concerns of the posters above, but may be overly complicated for actual use.
1) Each character shall have a Full Name. Full Names shall consist of at least 2 and no more than 3 capitalized main words.
2) Full Names may contain at most 3 capital letters.
3) A Full Name must begin with a capitalized main word.
(e.g., These limitations would mean that the Full Name "Old McDonald" would have three capitals but only two words, however, "de Old McDonald" and "Old Man McDonald" are not valid Full Names.)
4) Connective words/symbols within Full Names may be used to show relationship between capitalized main words, however, no more than two may be used in a full name. Symbols may not be used as words and must not begin the name. Only connective words/symbols from the approved list may be used in a name. No numeric characters may be used in Full names or First or Last Names.
(Initially "the", "of", "de", "la", and " ' ". If others are to be allowed they need to be provided by GW)
5) Titles or professions are allowed, but must be counted within the 3 capitalized main words maximum. Role names used in PFO are not allowed to be used in a name.
(e.g., "Mac the Rouge" is not a valid Full name, but "Mac the Thief" might be. "Harold Sloth the Coppersmith" would be a valid Full Name. However, "Mack O'knife of the Streets" is not valid because it contains 3 connective words/symbols.)
6) Full Names must have a declared First and Last Name. First and Last Names may be the same capitalized main word within a Full Name. When full names are required in PFO, the full name will be used, not First Name Last Name.
(e.g., If a characters full name is "Gorn of the Bloodstones", and First and Last Names are both "Gorn", PFO will use "Gorn of the Bloodstones" as a Full Name, not "Gorn Gorn". "Harold Sloth the Coppersmith" is a valid Full Name and could have Harold as First Name and Sloth as Last Name.)
6) Accented characters are allowed in words used in a Full Names, but the unaccented characters will appear in any text generated by NPCs, or within chat. Accented characters are not distinct from unaccented characters in determining whether words are equivalent.
(e.g., Ä = A, Õ = O, etc. "Ävena Õats" would appear when PFO generates the name back to the player, but Avena Oats would appear in someone else's chat window when Ävena Õats chats with them.)
All the following Full Names are valid under the above rules: Mack the Knife, Mack of the Knives, Mack O'knife of London, Mack the Butcher of London, Mac McKnife, Mack de la Flint Knife, Mac Flintknife, Harad Navar of Katapesh.
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Goblin Squad Member
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My character will not be Lam. Lam de Cork was a character I played when Pathfinder was first published and that character 'died' years ago, but is linked to my pathfinder account.
I like @RHMG Animator idea of two names (for all), separated by white space (space or tab but not punctuation). Middle name(s) is/are optional and has/have no in game (machine), but may be part of role play.
All names must be game appropriate.
I prefer the first is single string, led by capital, no white space, no punctuation
The last name can have internal white space, no punctuation, in which case the last string is capitalized, eg de CORK, von Karman, of the Durbervilles ( note this does not fit Tess of the d'urbervilles, but it is a compromise). The capitalized part of last name is prime name. First name modifies that, if needed
Players can use the terminal Last name with or without the modifiers. If that is unique that is sufficient. If not unique, then first will be used. The game (NPC will always use full last name).
so Tess of the Durbervilles:
- Can be Durbervilles, if there are no more Durbervilles
- Otherwise Tess Durbervilles will work.
There can not be more than 1 Tess Durbervilles even if the other would choose Tess von Durbervilles or Tess de Durbervilles; but Tess de Urbervilles (Tess Urbervilles) is a different name.
Tess of the Durbervilles will always work
Tess de Durbervilles will fail to find Tess of the Durbervilles but UI may suggest (if dev agree to add feature) suggest other Tess's or other Durbervilles's.
middle name can be a set of strings, all with initialed by capitals, separated by white space,
She could also be Tess Mistress of the Durbervilles or whatever other in game appropriate middle names, yet Tess Durbervilles would still identifier and teh game (NPC) would call her Tess of the Durbervilles
Too complicated. Then just Tess Durbervilles.
IN no way am I saying Tess is appropriate or not, but I needed an example.
Lam
I'd really like SOME control over ridiculously immersion-breaking names. I don't want to walk around and see names like "PewPew KillzUWithSpells" ... Or "UberEpicElite Pwnsauze" ... "DoinUrMom" (these types of names are inevitable when there's little regulation).
Personally, I like both first and last name, and with allowed dashes and apostrophes, but with limits, so that you don't see someone named "-''''''''''X1-"
Maybe allow a maximum of 2 apostrophes and/or dashes per name, or 1 per 3-4 characters, something of the like.
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Goblin Squad Member
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For every allowance or rule in creating a name you invite problems and the potential for abuse.
Keep naming as simple as possible. It might upset some players that their uber-creative name isn't allowed in game, but they'll get over it pretty fast. I'd rather have one person complain in the forums that their name wasn't allowed than have 100 players confused or upset about an uber-creative name.
A name with the option of a surname should be the only choice. One capital letter required at the beginning of each name followed by at least one lower case letter. That would allow for a minimum name length of two letters. No symbols, spaces, dashes, apostrophes or diacritics should be possible. There is no rule or precedence that dictates a fantasy name needs to deviate from this formula.
It would be fool proof to implement on the character creation screen. If you only used the 'Q' button it would look like this: Qqqqqqqqqqqq Qqqqqqqqqqqq. The minimum name would be Qq or Qq Qq if they choose to have a surname.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Keep naming as simple as possible. It might upset some players that their uber-creative name isn't allowed in game, but they'll get over it pretty fast. I'd rather have one person complain in the forums that their name wasn't allowed than have 100 players confused or upset about an uber-creative name.
Wow, that's a terrible idea. Why don't you give the community enough credit to believe that most players would at least try to make a setting appropriate name. Because I think that especially in EE people will somehow resist the temptation to make stupid names. And if they do this game is going to be moderated to within an inch of it's live by DMs anyway so I think you will be able to survive seeing a non-setting appropriate name for long enough to report it. Seriously.
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Goblin Squad Member
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It is likely that the only real defense of appropriate naming will be necessarily reactive, subjective evaluation by a GW moderator. There could be extensive lists of what isn't allowed but those lists will never cover every objectionable case. If this is accepted it frees the naming rules that have to be coded. Instead, extend user interface tools so that if the players see what we consider an infraction we can right click the target, or their name if it appears in chat, and select to flag that character for evaluation. A list of a limited number of appropriate infraction types can be selected, possibly providing a dialog in which we can provide details. Then the CSR or GM will more easily evaluate the case. This measure would then cover many kinds of possible infraction, reduce the labor involved, and increase efficiency. I recommend, however, that behavior problems should require monitoring (observation/verification) by the GM in order to counter the tendency for unjust vigilantism.
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Goblin Squad Member
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I hope the GMs have better things to do then to run around fixing names, unless they are truly offensive.
To be honest I would probably laugh when seeing names like: Meow Mix or Flirtatious Filomina
Let us not take the game too seriously. Trust me, OE crowd won't. GMs will be busy, hopefully, fixing glitches and bugs and curbing truly disruptive behaviors.
I'd hate to be the one trapped inside a wall, with a rat chomping on my butt, while a GM is off changing Batt Man's name.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Later on I can see name changes being a paid service from the cash shop. It would be a pain for names to change, but it the player were willing to pay for the time it would take for the appropriate databases to be updated, it would be more cash for Goblinworks. The new name would have to fit the current naming convention still.
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Goblin Squad Member
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1. I can live without special characters. Allowing accents will accomodate for french, spanish, swedish alphabets while still preventing arabic, cyrillic and chinese ones... If you can't make everybody happy, just go less headaches. I'm french speaking and I can tell you it's very common to not have access to accents, it's really not a big deal (at least for me).
2. Surnames like McDonald, O'Brian, D'Artagnan or De Maisonneuve can be achieved with simple prefix rules. Prefix need to be capitalized, can include apostrophe and optionally a trailing space. So the system would end up being "Name" + "Optional surname prefix" + "Surname".
This would still allow "Marty" + "Mc" + "Fly" and "Drizzt" + "Do'" + "Urden" so I guess GW validation will be needed whatever the system...
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Goblin Squad Member
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I'll list the reason I went with what I said.
//*************************************************
The reason for first and last name is to stop single name characters,
and it'll allow for NPCs to address you with the character's last name.
The optional 3rd and or 4th spot for middle names is to add RP and to cover the possibility that a first and last name combo are used and allow another a chance to have the same first and last names, but have to make a middle name that is unique.
This system will allow "John Doe", "John Smith", but not "Haseo" or "Sora" given the two name part.
The Optional part will allow many Players to have the first name "John," and the last name "Doe," but each has to have a unique middle name, though one will be allowed to be null, so we could have "John Doe", "John David Doe", "John Adam Doe" all on the same server.
//*************************************************
This would force a more proper first and optional middle names for the character,
so a first or middle name of "Atoli" is valid while a first or middle name of "Xxx Drizzt xxX" or "Im-Drizzt-Clone" is invalid.
With the last names allowing spaces and hyphens you could get the last names "Azura", "De Azura" or "De-Azura" which are valid.
//*************************************************
Again this forces a more proper first and optional middle names like above.
With the last names having open Capitalisation last names like "Le Smith" and "McDonald" are valid.
//*************************************************
This naming convention forces at least a few solid degrees of proper character naming for any character,
though someone could still go with a first name of "Lahacker" or "Xxxurdenxxx".
The last name is open for loads of creativity given this convention, where those who think they are elite for using a 1337 last name can, but have to deal with proper and speakable language for a first name.
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Goblin Squad Member
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...setting appropriate names.
Seeing this gave me a thought: we're lucky enough to be awaiting a game from one of the most-prolific game publishers. How about looking for a naming system for PFO that'll accommodate all the names Paizo's deemed appropriate in their published works?
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Goblin Squad Member
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I'd rather see good arguments for and against the various options rather than just making it a vote. Seeing that X% of people wanted something doesn't tell us why they did. Having you guys make sure we understand all the ramifications of decisions that we may not have thought of otherwise is crowdforging.
Even though I'm an Anglophone and an Anglophile, I'd prefer the naming conventions not be Anglocentric.
I'd also prefer the naming system allow duplicates, and I expect that a lot of the code you write to solve the problems of creating names would also be applicable to solving the problems of duplicate names. But I'm pretty sure that horse is still dead, so moving on...
I suggest [Prefix] <Name> [Suffix]. [Prefix] and [Suffix] are optional, and allow unlimited spaces, dashes, apostrophes, capitalization, etc. <Name> is required with no spaces, but otherwise allows unlimited dashes, apostrophes, capitalization, etc.
When the system displays it, the entire name should be highlighted, with <Name> having a different highlight than [Prefix] and [Suffix]. When a user types the name, they should be able to type only the unaccented versions of the letters, and they should be able to omit any punctuation. Some kind of dialog should pop up with all the names that match. On a side note, there should be an easy way to assign Nicknames to characters, so you only have to get that popup dialog once when assigning the Nickname.
In order to combat really inappropriate names, expose all new character names on the web and allow those of us so inclined to review and flag them. Eventually, you'll be able to rely on the more trustworthy reviewers. Of course, we'd have to log in with our PFO credentials to do this, and there would have to be some pretty clear guidelines we could reference. Ideally, we'd be able to flag the name for violating a particular guidelines.
In short, use the system-enforced rules to make it easy to identify a unique player and let the player-base be responsible for policing the appropriateness of the names.
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Goblin Squad Member
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What do people have against one word names? Only half of the most iconic fantasy names (Merlin, Gandalf, Beowulf, Conan, etc.) didn't have last names. A player should be able to choose single word names.
Again, who cares what the NPC calls you? It's PFO!
Easy, the answer is fairness.
Certain one word names are very popular, and would be a status symbol of being the first to nab it. Hence if you force a second name, it levels the playing field some.and NPCs addressing you with the last name adds to the realism of the game world for those who RP.
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Goblin Squad Member
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I think using something like Firstname Secondname (username) would allow the largest number of names. The username could be hidden in most cases, except those where there was a conflict, like in sending /tells. First and Second name could be subject to whatever rules, while username is the name on the account and could have numerals and characters.
If one word names aren't allowed, then the chat system can recognize one word names as nicknames. I could set Jazz to be the nickname for Jazzlvraz Tweedledeedee, then just use /tell Jazz (message), rather than having to type out a full name. If one word names are allowed, then nicknames would too often conflict with them.
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Goblin Squad Member
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What do people have against one word names? Only half of the most iconic fantasy names (Merlin, Gandalf, Beowulf, Conan, etc.) didn't have last names. A player should be able to choose single word names.
Again, who cares what the NPC calls you? It's PFO!
Easy, the answer is fairness.
Certain one word names are very popular, and would be a status symbol of being the first to nab it. Hence if you force a second name, it levels the playing field some.and NPCs addressing you with the last name adds to the realism of the game world for those who RP.
RP? You think what the NPC calls me is more important than being able to give my character the name I want for when I RP with actual RP'ers? I don't think too many RP'ers would agree with that.
I really, really don't see what the deal is with status symbol names. No matter what the naming conventions are, players who get in first will get status symbol names. I don't see how we break the game cuz somebody gets to be John.
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Goblin Squad Member
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The problem with the nicknames is that there could be huge overlap pending on how they are dished out,
if it's done by the player character himself it's a problem, say we have 20 players with the first name John, but 5 of those use John as a nickname will cause confict,
if the nickname is generated by an friend and put in to the global database to be used by all the character's friends same problem.
The only way nicknames would work is if the nicknames generated are shortcuts by the character's friends.
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Goblin Squad Member
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I was imagining nicknames working clientside, player by player. When I type "/t John hi", the client first checks my list of nicknames for people. It recognizes John as the nickname I've set for Johnny Appleseed, and so it can determine that I'm not sending a blank message to some guy called John Hi. Someone else's nickname for Johnny Appleseed might be "Apples". Johnny Appleseed doesn't set his own nickname; the servers don't need to deconflict. The message goes from my client to the server as /t Johnny Appleseed hi.