I go through phases in my method of choosing. I won't leave the character creation screen until I have something I really like though... no matter how long it takes. Originally my toons were all based on variations of my children's names, then I moved on to variations of favorite book characters. I've used Rink Works (as mentioned previously) a lot, too. Get some great ideas there.
Usually characters or places from books, songs titles and the things in the natural world, scientific names for things often yield some awesome results! I usually try to think how the sound of the name goes with the class or if the origin of the name shares some traits / characteristics with the class/race i am rolling.
I'm not a huge roleplayer, but character names are so important. Let's see...
- I have used EQ's random name generator
- Sometimes random, cool-sounding names will just pop into my head
- Sometimes I'll use an alternate spelling of a name I see in a movie, book, or game, if it fits
- Squid.org is a great 3rd party random fantasy name generator
- Look up dictionaries of dwarven, elvish, etc. languages and come up with a cool-sounding name that also has a good meaning
- Ocassionally re-use names from past characters in other games, if it fits
- Sometimes I'll even steal names that my friends/family used in other games if I know they're not going to play that game lol
A good name should be relatively short and easy to spell so that people don't need to look at your name 20 times to figure out how to send you a tell. I can't emphasize that enough lol - it's a pet peeve of mine. I think short, simple names without a last name sound the most stoic and epic. Especially if I start playing a game before or soon after launch, I'll try to claim a more common name so that it's obvious I got in early :P I also am always extremely mindful of the potential nicknames that may arise. It's not a good name unless all the shortened versions of it also sound good. If I become exceptionally accomplished in a certain game (like DDO) I have also been known to retire that character's name to immortalize it and not risk bringing it shame by not filling those shoes in the next game. So yeah, like I said, names are important lol
I like to keep them to two syllables makes it easy in TS, or in game chat remembering spelling and all.
Xxar said:I have had the same two character names since these games where text based :)
I think im getting old :(
Right there with you Xxar :) (the old part) did play text-based briefly...but then got into the 2-D games and then 3-D Everquest. Names change for me with my mood, but I do have some made-up favorites that I used in EQ, Lotro, VG, and Warhammer and other games. They're written down, will see if they fit once release happens. :)
CanadinaXegony said:Xxar said:I have had the same two character names since these games where text based :)
I think im getting old :(
Right there with you Xxar :) (the old part) did play text-based briefly...but then got into the 2-D games and then 3-D Everquest. Names change for me with my mood, but I do have some made-up favorites that I used in EQ, Lotro, VG, and Warhammer and other games. They're written down, will see if they fit once release happens. :)
What 2D games did you play? I used to play a 2D MMO a long time ago called Tibia, it's even older than EQ1!
NEXTLEVL said:CanadinaXegony said:Xxar said:I have had the same two character names since these games where text based :)
I think im getting old :(
Right there with you Xxar :) (the old part) did play text-based briefly...but then got into the 2-D games and then 3-D Everquest. Names change for me with my mood, but I do have some made-up favorites that I used in EQ, Lotro, VG, and Warhammer and other games. They're written down, will see if they fit once release happens. :)
What 2D games did you play? I used to play a 2D MMO a long time ago called Tibia, it's even older than EQ1!
The Realm for one (Sierra Online)..did A LOT of roleplay in that game, betaed Meridian 59...but I was on dial-up, so if anyone attacked me my screen would freeze up and I would come back as a dead newbie, all my newbie clothes gone and the few coppers I had. lol Played D & D Pools of Radiance but that was an early rpg where you had to keep switching out the large floppies to play. I do remember belonging to a guild called "ExCaliber" during my brief stay in one of the text-based muds, have completely forgotten the name of it though.
I will create my main and alts, with associated names, at launch (or during beta, if we truly get to reserve our names). Mostly from EQ1, but (a few) from other MMOs.
Except for the one I used in LOTRO which, understandably, got the attention of the devs and forced a name change.
I rolled a Hobbit minstrel...original name was...Dyldo Floggins.....
:P
EQ1 was my first MMO and lauched my addiction!!!! I got the name from an old hockey movie and have kept (used) Ogee ever since. No matter what game I've played, I had at least one toon with his name. At this point in MMO my career, I "feel Ogee is apart of me" and get very possessive when it comes to getting this name! In the past I have had friends who were able to get into a newly launched game make a toon named Ogee for me so I can get him later once I can get logged on!!!!! They delete their toon, I quickly make me an Ogee.
Do i need a straight jacket or a padded room at this point for being so possessive about an MMO name?!?!?!?!? HEHE
Ogee
It depends alot on what I plan for the character.
If I will use it for a lot of things I'll do a general name I usually give myself in games.
If I plan on trolling or on not using it for anything directly game related, ill have a random dumb sounding name like "beaverbiscuit" (look for beavers on the pvp server)
If I really like my character and plan to use it seriously, I'll usually pick one from a group of my favorite characters/character names I've encountered in fantasy. For this reason I would very much like it if Pantheon used character codes (like SS numbers) to identify us instead of our names (so multiple people can have the same name).
Some names I may consider in Pantheon for (more) serious characters, depending on what seems to fit them after building:
Mattrim, Egwene, Min, Moiraine, Ishamael, Asmodean, Lanfear, Sammael, Semmirhage, Mesaana, Loup, Phedre, Catnis, Mephisto, Andarial, Belial, Spike, Saitama, Erza, Momo, Kaneki, Rize, Rikku, Sun-Ken, Eikichi, GlaDOS (female gnome), Arthas, Magtheridon, Illidan, Gromm, Sylvanas, Kratos, Artanis, Selendis, Kerrigan, Nova, Zeratul, Tassadar, Alarak, Tyrion, Tywin, and Arya.
I choose names that I consider real names. Things a mother might actually give a child in the universe I am playing in. I choose names that do not make me think of anything in the "real world" i.e. a fantasy mother could happen to think "Hillary Clinton" or "Donald Trump" was a good name by pure coincidence but I won't use it. If I use a name from a book it is a not very well known book and the reference will not be obvious e.g. no Moiraine or Paksennarian but maybe a Simon Tregarth or Koris of Gorm (how many of you read Witch World after all - 1962 fantasy by Andre Norton). If I am playing a race with naming conventions/lore as is often the case in LOTRO for example I try to be consistent with them. I have been a roleplayer since the D&D original box came out (well before the name changed to AD&D) and my names reflect it.
Well way way back when Everquest was first released and the user interface was very primitive - had to type the person's name in full when speaking to them since there was no automatic reply there also was not any names floating above people's heads - you had to target them to get their name. I was on vacation when the game was actually rolled out and in order to catch up I started in Kelethin since everything could be done without zoning (back then 1200 baud modems were the cat's meow) so not zoning was very adfvantageous. My friend had a dwarf cleric and he said he'd keep me alive. Well I died often and quite easily. I was frustrated and said "Why aren't you keeping me alive?" And he said "there's too much of you running around you all look the same and I can't tell which one is you."
So I re-rolled a female wood elf (I play in first person so who cares). Being the only female running around made it very easy for him to target me. Remember this was way before the whole female wood elf begging crapola started to go on. Of course people playing (back then) saw a female run by and assumed I was female in real life (probably also assumed I looked like that). Never going to roll a female ever again (and in this day and age I don't need to since user interfaces are vastly improved).
But that is a long preamble into how I choose my name...
So, I assumed everyone playing was a guy, just like me, and was a two-finger typist. And since having a weird typed out name was not very conducive to chat since a mispelled name wouldn't amount to anything, I closed my eyes and slammed my fingers down, alternating hands, and came up with a four letter name. I adjusted the position of the fingers so that vowels would be in their proper place and the letter "Y" became a substitute for the letter "I". Also, remember, this was way before that became a fashionable thing to do. So my name was basically four letters, alternating hands, designed for a two-finger typist male gamer to be able to type out with ease and without danger of being mispelled. And that's it.
Too bad, I quite liked the name but since I will never roll a female again the name has been permanently retired.
However, since then I fancy four letter names - they aren't created in the same manner, but I tend to go with four-letter names.
Well. when I started playing EQ 1 I watched a movie that just came out called boogie nights and mark walbergs character was dirk digler. I used my rl nickname and combined the two to opedilger. And it just so happens that later on in the game my main weapon for a while was a 2h shovel that summoned food lmao. So a shovel that digs and my name "digler". Went well together. Hence Forth opedigler the human monk was born. Then I named my pet iksar shaman opeling. I have since changed my name to Shasta for all the games games that I play.
There were two Pool of Radiance games, totally unrelated. The first goes back quite a ways - involved some of the Dungeons and Dragons locales such as Phlan where the town clerk sent you to the graveyard to kill "formerly living entities". I still remember that phrase. I guess by now the second goes back quite a ways too - wasn't nearly as good. Come to think of it I guess I go back quite a ways. Certainly to the text based games and the days of inability to save because you loaded from a tape recorder. Always single-player games though later on I dabbled in MUDs like Yserbius. Then skipped EQ in favor of AC and then DAOC - probably a mistake in retrospect though DAOC was a very good game even for a carebear.