Most of my character names are one word. They don't often sound right with a second name. From Brad's earlier post, they plan to allow several people to share the same first name or last name, but be distinct on the combinations.
I would like an option to be distinct by NOT having a surname.
I could be Beefcake. You could be Beefcake Johnson.
But overall, I prefer all first names to be unique.
I really dont like the idea of having characters with the same 1st name on a server. If I want to mail 40 quality bags and have to type out Kilsin Tha'Trainmaker every time my fingers will fall off.
This reminds me of the early days of EQ when the results of a duel were still broadcast zonewide (and maybe serverwide...can someone verify?) People would make hilarious surnames just to make snarky, extremely public comments on the state of gameplay. I remember in particular one onoxious little halfling rogue with the surname "Verantsuxarse" who won and lost a lot of duels one afternoon before the GM's caught up with him. LOL
I also would prefer unique first names and surnames that are unlocked later on. Still, with the current plan, couldn't they just make it so the person who first chooses a particular first name and leaves surname blank gets to have no surname? I guess you'd never be able to have a surname that way, though.
Gragorie said:I really dont like the idea of having characters with the same 1st name on a server. If I want to mail 40 quality bags and have to type out Kilsin Tha'Trainmaker every time my fingers will fall off.
Hahaha I used to send them to Dravid and Revs guildies when I saved a bunch up :D
I think the benefits of forcing a surname on everyone outweighs the cons. The benefit being it allows people to join a server late and still get the name they want, which is near impossible in other MMOs.
If you allow people to have only first names in addition to those with both first and surnames, that wouldn't solve the problem they're trying to fix. Everyone wants the shortest version of their name possible. You'd still end up with a rush to reserve the firstname only names, and those who have a surname would be second tier.
"Oh you grouped with 'Beefcake Johnson'? That's not the real Beefcake."
My friend had a surname called crackdealer. He made the surname after he got KEI on his enchatner. Eventually he was forced into changing it to something else.
I like the idea of surnames, but not the way EQ implimented them. In essence it was like a title you earned at a certain level. I would much prefer you had a surname at character creation. The reason for this is to allow for a much larger amount of possible names. For instance once someone takes the name Chris on the server it can no longer be used by anyone else, but if you had a surname there could be a lot of different Chris's (for instance Chris Knight, Chris Chaotic, etc.). This opens up a lot more possabilities in terms of naming your character. Your aren't stuck with some pregenerated name you don't really like.
UnknownQuantity said:My friend had a surname called crackdealer. He made the surname after he got KEI on his enchatner. Eventually he was forced into changing it to something else.
I like the idea of surnames, but not the way EQ implimented them. In essence it was like a title you earned at a certain level. I would much prefer you had a surname at character creation. The reason for this is to allow for a much larger amount of possible names. For instance once someone takes the name Chris on the server it can no longer be used by anyone else, but if you had a surname there could be a lot of different Chris's (for instance Chris Knight, Chris Chaotic, etc.). This opens up a lot more possabilities in terms of naming your character. Your aren't stuck with some pregenerated name you don't really like.
I just worry that having a ton of characters with the same first name is going to affect how memorable characters are in the game. That's probably the thing I miss most about EverQuest: things standing out enough for me to remember them all these years later. I'm sure it will all work out in the end, though.
Shucklighter said:UnknownQuantity said:My friend had a surname called crackdealer. He made the surname after he got KEI on his enchatner. Eventually he was forced into changing it to something else.
I like the idea of surnames, but not the way EQ implimented them. In essence it was like a title you earned at a certain level. I would much prefer you had a surname at character creation. The reason for this is to allow for a much larger amount of possible names. For instance once someone takes the name Chris on the server it can no longer be used by anyone else, but if you had a surname there could be a lot of different Chris's (for instance Chris Knight, Chris Chaotic, etc.). This opens up a lot more possabilities in terms of naming your character. Your aren't stuck with some pregenerated name you don't really like.
I just worry that having a ton of characters with the same first name is going to affect how memorable characters are in the game. That's probably the thing I miss most about EverQuest: things standing out enough for me to remember them all these years later. I'm sure it will all work out in the end, though.
True, but you will likely find that good names are not available and you will be sitting there either trying to coming up with something not in use or hitting the generate name button. I remember some games where I hit the generate name button and still got around 10 names in a row that were already in use. The names it generated that weren't in use were often fairly terrible. If they could generate almost an infinite amount of good names for players to use then I wouldn't have a major issue with it, but I think it's more fun to have a character called something you enjoy yourself. Personally I like to start my characters with the name Chris as it's my real name (not very creative I'll admit) and add different surnames for each of them. The other option would be to have people choose a surname at character creation that applies to all their characters. Then they would have a different first name for each one, but the same last name. I personally prefer the first option though.
I've never had a problem coming up with names that I'm happy with in these types of games, though. Sometimes it takes a few minutes to hammer it out, but lately I find myself waiting forever for the game to release and so I have quite a few name possibilities stocked up by then anyway. I'm sure it will be fine the way they have it planned. If it's not, and it sucks in testing, they'll change it. No problem.
Quick question, and it may be premature (and I'm sorry for bumping such an old thread)... will special characters be permitted in surnames? I was really bothered when I logged back into EQ and couldn't reapply my surname to my character because it had the ` character in it (and it doesn't look right/make sense without it).
TIA
Pradah said:Quick question, and it may be premature (and I'm sorry for bumping such an old thread)... will special characters be permitted in surnames? I was really bothered when I logged back into EQ and couldn't reapply my surname to my character because it had the ` character in it (and it doesn't look right/make sense without it).
TIA
I could have sworn that special characters were indeed allowed in EQ - you just had to /petition for it.
My characters name was - and still is - Ketilron Sil'alra, and I don't recall having any trouble getting that ' in there.
This will never happen again, but in EQ you had to ask for a surname via a command and a GM/guide would come to you. It was incredible. There were entire RP ceremonies around this.
For me it depends on the system used. If your account/user/player name is somehow visible to others (as some games do) then surname is less important. If it's not then the surname will be very important - I've played lots of games where I struggle to find a single word name that hasn't been used without adding horrible spelling variations and/or throwing in non-alphanumeric characters.
The surname for leveling special feeling is fine, but I'd prefer the leve-awarded thing to be for titles instead, so that the fundamental name of your character is more flexible right from the start.
Just wanted to chime in and add that I also do not like surnames being required. A solution could be to allow one space in character names. This way, if the name you want is taken, you can add a surname; but if you don't want a surname, then you don't have to take one.
My personal reasoning for this is that I have a character name in mind that I have used for years. And that character has never had a surname, so adding one now would disconnect me from that character a bit.
Neverwinter forced all characters to have a surname that was unique for the account, as I recall.
FFXIV forced all characters to have two names at creation. So I always got any first name I wanted if I was willing to compromise on the surname. But there could be a lot of duplicate first names.
dorotea said:Neverwinter forced all characters to have a surname that was unique for the account, as I recall.
FFXIV forced all characters to have two names at creation. So I always got any first name I wanted if I was willing to compromise on the surname. But there could be a lot of duplicate first names.
I played neverwinter at launch and my characters had different last names... Never got into FFXIV. interesting.
