I kinda looked for something on this, but didn't see it.
Will there be a naming policy to keep names from being wayoff base from the feel of the game? Like EQ did originally. I was watching the stream today and some of the names were really distracting. I know if people petitioned names being against the original policy, a GM or Sr. Guide had the ability to change it, if it was deemed inappropriate to the world and lore. Also, we couldn't use trademarked names, which was nice.
Anything in the works about that!? I hope?!
Check out this thread for a good bit of info on naming: https://www.pantheonmmo.com/content/forums/topic/3639
Here are a couple Aradune quotes from that thread that are relevant to your question:
Aradune said:...
3. Don't have anything official to say about enforcing fantasy sounding names yet... I was one of the champions of doing so back in early EQ, but it can, if implemented poorly, put a lot of load (read: costs) on the CS team. Currently I'm leaning towards it being as aspect of the server/realm ruleset. In other words, we certainly enforce names on RP servers, but on a regular server? Not so much (just nothing breaking copyright, or anything obscene, etc.). But like I said, it's a big decision and TBD at this point.
Aradune said:Nephele said:Feyshtey said:Questaar said:I’m hoping there aren’t names like “Pullz” or “Leetlooter” and names are something more fantasy oriented.
Agreed. Or even worse, the ogre name "Smashuface", or the rogue named "Pokeurass".
+1. I'm not militant about it, but non-immersive character names annoy me... and, I've been known to veto guild membership for characters with terrible/joke names just on general principles.
Don't get me wrong, every so often I'll see a joke-ish that's really clever and chuckle at it.... but yeah, having to play with that person on a regular basis? No thanks.
Veto guild membership. I love it. Great example of the community governing itself. Want to be taken seriously? Then don't name your character Dorkface.
Aredhel said:I was watching the stream today and some of the names were really distracting.
Distracting? Maybe you should adjust your priorities? Whats distracting for me are names that are unpronounceable and a pain in the ass to type, Areedhel? Eershedesae Sioliekyesy Etc.. Dont be a baby
I don't see any difference between the names quoted and names like Beowolf or Dullahan that we saw in the stream. They aren't original names. No different than the multiple forms of Drizzt that we see in every mmo. Drizzt, Beowolf, Dullahan, Dorkface, it's all the same to me...unoriginal.
I don't think you can regulate names unless they are profanity. That is obviously against the rules. Sure they might be stolen directly from somewhere else but that isn't a reason to regulate them.
One should also take into consideration that people from all around the world will be playing and may be giving their characters names from their own language. I have had names that meant something in my language, that have meant something completly different in someone elses, and vice versa.
What may be Lore breaking to some, might fit right in for others.
-sorte.
When it's something like Beowulf from ancient history, I think it kinda gets a pass, like it's public domain, but when it's something like Drizzt from current copyrighted fantasy it shouldn't be allowed.
I do not want to see all the characters from Lord of the Rings, etc in Pantheon. It obviously *is* distracting/jarring to immersion to see such iconic names from different lore wandering about, especially when it's a simple (and normal) thing to rule them out.
disposalist said:When it's something like Beowulf from ancient history, I think it kinda gets a pass, like it's public domain, but when it's something like Drizzt from current copyrighted fantasy it shouldn't be allowed.
I do not want to see all the characters from Lord of the Rings, etc in Pantheon. It obviously *is* distracting/jarring to immersion to see such iconic names from different lore wandering about, especially when it's a simple (and normal) thing to rule them out.
I'd prefer not to see lord of the rings names in Pantheon either, but I disagree that a name like Beowulf should get a pass and being named Gandalf doesn't get a pass.
There has to be a clearly defined naming policy. It can't be as wishy washy as that ^.
I honestly don't think even those more famous names should be limited. If it's jarring for someone to see names like Bilbo or Beowulf then it must be twice as jarring to see players running around with names like "Bighuge Bananasmasher" or any other combination of words made into a name (which aren't uncommon among players).
I'd much rather see the less creative players adopting famous names or variants of them than leaving them to put together random words "Fisty Shadowpunch."
philo said:disposalist said:When it's something like Beowulf from ancient history, I think it kinda gets a pass, like it's public domain, but when it's something like Drizzt from current copyrighted fantasy it shouldn't be allowed.
I do not want to see all the characters from Lord of the Rings, etc in Pantheon. It obviously *is* distracting/jarring to immersion to see such iconic names from different lore wandering about, especially when it's a simple (and normal) thing to rule them out.
I'd prefer not to see lord of the rings names in Pantheon either, but I disagree that a name like Beowulf should get a pass and being named Gandalf doesn't get a pass.
There has to be a clearly defined naming policy. It can't be as wishy washy as that ^.
Well, I'd certainly prefer all 'real' fantasy names be banned rather than none, but Beowulf in some countries is not much different than, say, Hector, no? Hector, as we know, is Greek mythology, but is an an uncommon, but not unusual first name in Britain and other countries.
Beowulf was an almost unknown 1,000 year-old epic poem about a Scandanavian mythical hero and would have bothered no one in a US role playing game until there was a film of it with Angelina Jolie.
Other difficult ones would be names like Wolverine, which, of course, is a ferocious little mammal, but also currently one of the most famous cinema superheroes of all time.
It would be harsh if you had, for example, been playing female barabarians called Wolverine (after the mammal) since playing D&D in 1982, but because Marvel saw fit to make the Wolverine superhero a household name, you can no longer use it.
(Actually, she stopped using it because people kept expecting her to have sideburns and smoke cigars, but you get my point, I'm sure).
Anyway, yeah, I rather lose Hector and Beowulf than allow Aragorn, Strider and Gandalf.
Iksar said:I honestly don't think even those more famous names should be limited. If it's jarring for someone to see names like Bilbo or Beowulf then it must be twice as jarring to see players running around with names like "Bighuge Bananasmasher" or any other combination of words made into a name (which aren't uncommon among players).I'd much rather see the less creative players adopting famous names or variants of them than leaving them to put together random words "Fisty Shadowpunch."
I'd much rather see Fisty Shadowpunch than Aaaragorn, Arragorn, Arrowgorn, etc, etc, etc.
You could imagine an adventurer getting that nickname...
...though I'm not looking forward to Stabby McStabface, Punchy McPunchface, Slashy McSlashface, Firey McFireface, Healy McHealface, Tanky McTankface, Memey McMemeface, Edgy McEdgeface, ...
disposalist said:When it's something like Beowulf from ancient history, I think it kinda gets a pass, like it's public domain, but when it's something like Drizzt from current copyrighted fantasy it shouldn't be allowed.
Well, I'd certainly prefer all 'real' fantasy names be banned rather than none, but Beowulf in some countries is not much different than, say, Hector, no? Hector, as we know, is Greek mythology, but is an an uncommon, but not unusual first name in Britain and other countries.
Beowulf was an almost unknown 1,000 year-old epic poem about a Scandanavian mythical hero and would have bothered no one in a US role playing game until there was a film of it with Angelina Jolie.
Other difficult ones would be names like Wolverine, which, of course, is a ferocious little mammal, but also currently one of the most famous cinema superheroes of all time.
It would be harsh if you had, for example, been playing female barabarians called Wolverine (after the mammal) since playing D&D in 1982, but because Marvel saw fit to make the Wolverine superhero a household name, you can no longer use it.
(Actually, she stopped using it because people kept expecting her to have sideburns and smoke cigars, but you get my point, I'm sure).
Anyway, yeah, I rather lose Hector and Beowulf than allow Aragorn, Strider and Gandalf.
I'm not sure I agree with all of your hypotheticals dispo but...what it comes down to is having a naming policy that is clearly defined it seems to me.
Do you have a proposal for a clearly defined naming policy? How would that be worded?
I still feel like the only way to handle name exclusions is if a name contains some form of profanity. But maybe I'm wrong and there is a better way? I'd be interested in hearing other possible naming policy ideas.
I'd definitely prefer not to see certain names, but I can't think of a way that it could be regulated fairly.
philo said:disposalist said:When it's something like Beowulf from ancient history, I think it kinda gets a pass, like it's public domain, but when it's something like Drizzt from current copyrighted fantasy it shouldn't be allowed.
Well, I'd certainly prefer all 'real' fantasy names be banned rather than none, but Beowulf in some countries is not much different than, say, Hector, no? Hector, as we know, is Greek mythology, but is an an uncommon, but not unusual first name in Britain and other countries.
Beowulf was an almost unknown 1,000 year-old epic poem about a Scandanavian mythical hero and would have bothered no one in a US role playing game until there was a film of it with Angelina Jolie.
Other difficult ones would be names like Wolverine, which, of course, is a ferocious little mammal, but also currently one of the most famous cinema superheroes of all time.
It would be harsh if you had, for example, been playing female barabarians called Wolverine (after the mammal) since playing D&D in 1982, but because Marvel saw fit to make the Wolverine superhero a household name, you can no longer use it.
(Actually, she stopped using it because people kept expecting her to have sideburns and smoke cigars, but you get my point, I'm sure).
Anyway, yeah, I rather lose Hector and Beowulf than allow Aragorn, Strider and Gandalf.
I'm not sure I agree with all of your hypotheticals dispo but...what it comes down to is having a naming policy that is clearly defined it seems to me.
Do you have a proposal for a clearly defined naming policy? How would that be worded?
I still feel like the only way to handle name exclusions is if a name contains some form of profanity. But maybe I'm wrong and there is a better way? I'd be interested in hearing other possible naming policy ideas.
I'd definitely prefer not to see certain names, but I can't think of a way that it could be regulated fairly.
Previous games I think have done it well simply restricting anything offensive, including profanity of course, and anything that is covered by current legal intellectual property, which means all the Gandalfs, Aragorns, Conans and probably Wolverines, but perhaps not the Hectors and Beowulfs, since I doubt that the recent Beowulf film or any films using ancient Greek mythology were able to claim the IP over ancient RL mythology.
It's pretty common sense and straight forward, I think, to just not allow anything from the lore of other fictional universes when you want to maintain the immersive feel of your own.
I had to laugh at a related comment I read in another thread recently (I think by Kilsin even!) when he said he loved some of the unique names of players he'd known. One in the list was Fistandantilus... I guess he never read the Dragonlance books, else he'd know that was anything but 'unique'. To me, in game, it would be a real 'eye roller' to see someone called Fistandantilus. Like, yeah, maybe the Dungeons and Dragons gods transported the greatest Black Robe mage from the ancient history of the Dragonlance/Krynn universe into Terminus as a level one wizard! What great role-playing!
disposalist said:
Pt's pretty common sense and straight forward, I think, to just not allow anything from the lore of other fictional universes when you want to maintain the immersive feel of your own.
=====
That would become a problem very quickly, since most names have been used somewhere in fiction by someone at some point. I'm assuming what you meant is that you would like to see popular fantasy fiction universe that you are familiar with not blending into this game? (Trying to figure out whether the concern is D&D / LOTR, Narnia, etc. or if you meant that literally.)
Personally, I have no concern over whether someone uses those or not. Odds are high I'm not going to end up partying with the Gandalf of the server anyway. I will agree that it can be silly if someone deliberately takes a 'loaded' name like that and, for instance, makes Gandalf a warrior, but if they manage to grab the name fair and square its theirs to use.
The thing is, different names are going to mean different things to different people. My thoughts on a Micheal, Brenda, or Jason--or on a Natalliyah, Jabari or Arogrim--will likely be completely different than another player's. And for the record, Arogrim started life in Lord of the Rings Online: my bf wanted something that sounded similar but wasn't a butchered version of one of the character names.
Thousands of people are going to end up playing this game. Not all of them are going to be authors or creative writers. When someone deliberately makes a name that is some kind of hate speech or slur, I don't want a GM to be busy correcting someone's name because it's Gandalf TheGreen or something.
My pet peeves are stuff that has numbers in it, eg. Gandalf25, or stuff that's an absoilute jumble, like Afwqrt. But I don't necessarily want those blocked--I just figure the first guy's bad at names and the second is probably some kinda bot that I'm best to stay away from.
It might be rare to be in a party with Gandalf, but if Gaandalf, Gandaalf, Gandalff, Glandalf, Grandalf, Ghandalf, etc, etc is allowed you'll be in a party with one of them or their friends Bilbo, Billbo, Biilbo, Bilboo, Aragorn, Aaragorn, Arragorn, etc, etc every day multiple times.
Sure, not everyone is a creative writer, but if you're going to put as little thought into something as to pick Gandalf, you may as well just go with whatever the randomly assigned name is and it's not hard for VR to provide even a lore-based automatic name generator.
With some common sense involved it's not tough to see that Arogrim isn't too offensive. Sure it sounds like Aragorn and Skorgrim had an evil offspring, but because it's not an obviously and intentionally ripped-off and spoofed name it'd be fine to both automatic system and convention enforcing GMs.
In the situation you describe, you would hardly have been upset if it were disallowed? And actually LOTRO is one game where you are given specific guidelines and guidance on naming, because the LOTRO 'feel' is very important to a lot of the players.
Avoiding anything from "Somewhere in fiction" would be harsh, yeah, but it wouldn't be too draconian to avoid well-known characters in fantasy and sci fi.
To be fair, none of this is a big deal, but here we are discussing it hehe.
I'm sure they will avoid numbers and symbols and whatnot, otherwise I'm going to use 0==|>Gandalf69<|==0 hehe!
For what it is worth - very little - my primary dislike isn't the large number of names obviously taken from other games/books/media often with one letter changed, bad as those are. It is names that obviously refer to real world people/things. I cringe when I see the hundreds of versions of Gandalf but I shudder when I see Donaldtrump or Hillaryclinton or Bigmachamburger or the like.
Some things you can do with a good name filter. You can prevent the game from accepting hundreds or thousands of names but you can't get all the obvious variations on them.
Anyone bothered enough may be well advised to play on a roleplaying server with a stricter naming policy. Assuming, of course, that there is a RP server and it has a stricter policy and that policy is enforced.
I often play on RP servers whether I intend to RP or not. Mostly because the names aren't as awful.
disposalist said:Iksar said:I honestly don't think even those more famous names should be limited. If it's jarring for someone to see names like Bilbo or Beowulf then it must be twice as jarring to see players running around with names like "Bighuge Bananasmasher" or any other combination of words made into a name (which aren't uncommon among players).I'd much rather see the less creative players adopting famous names or variants of them than leaving them to put together random words "Fisty Shadowpunch."
I'd much rather see Fisty Shadowpunch than Aaaragorn, Arragorn, Arrowgorn, etc, etc, etc.
You could imagine an adventurer getting that nickname...
...though I'm not looking forward to Stabby McStabface, Punchy McPunchface, Slashy McSlashface, Firey McFireface, Healy McHealface, Tanky McTankface, Memey McMemeface, Edgy McEdgeface, ...
You know we'll be seeing a bunch of those...and all the copycat names (from movies, books, tv shows) because people can't be bothered to come up with a name on their own. (oh my brain it hurtz canz think of a name myself...:P)
Just have a peek at the pvp servers when they're up.. for a good laugh. I invent my own names, and when in doubt will play around with the random name generator, get an idea from there ...add an ending or mix it up so it resembles something I want.
What bothers me (a little) is those names that broadcast your class, as if the people around you can't figure out that you are a cleric, a wizard, an enchanter and so on. Hopefully any racist, homophobic and other such names are refused, and that person has to come up with something that doesn't offend.
Cana
quote: My pet peeves are stuff that has numbers in it, eg. Gandalf25, or stuff that's an absoilute jumble, like Afwqrt. But I don't necessarily want those blocked--I just figure the first guy's bad at names and the second is probably some kinda bot that I'm best to stay away from.
A lot of botter names look like that..lots of numbers or letters jumbled together. So keep an eye out for those, I even message them sometimes to see if they talk or they don't. :P Then I keep an eye out..if they are doing the same actions over and over...following a pattern, time to alert the GMs.
BeaverBiscuit said:Hey as long as I can't name myself BeaverBiscuit on an RP server, I'm happy with the naming policy.
Do that on an RP server and you'll have to regale everyone you meet with the story of how you got that name in Terminus. And it better be a good one. And long.
Yes, I know, that's what she said.
I don't know what the issue with fleww or renelephant are honestly. I can understand if you have an issue with healme, but cmon lol.
I really think you're nitpicking here. There are people in my hometown named orangejello and lemonjello. A name is only immersion breaking if you allow it to be.
Also let's be serious, how many players have you come across named after a LoTR character that was actually good. These things tend to take care of themselves.