Breakfast Topic: Do character naming schemes help you or confuse you?
by Michelle Key 
Feb 19th 2011 at 8:00AM
With the coming of Cataclysm, class mechanics changed, preferences changed -- and in many cases, main characters changed, leaving guildmates wondering, "What do I call him now?" Thankfully, some forward-thinking types already have naming schemes in place to ease the transition. Several members of my guild use the same three-letter prefix for every character name to eliminate confusion, while others use a full word preceded or followed by a class-specific descriptive term. We have an officer who uses some combination of the same few letters, making his characters easy to identify, and one tank even uses a food-related theme.
Of course, even this does not completely eliminate the confusion, except in cases where the same prefix is used. We still have folks being called by the names of characters they have not played in a year or more. For those without the forethought to create a theme, members are often left checking guild notes to discover who they are talking to. As one of those forethought-lacking players myself, I often wish I could go back in time and find a way to connect my character names and make things a little more obvious.
Do you know someone with a great naming scheme, or do you have one yourself? How did you choose? If you don't have a gimmick, how do you handling telling friends and guildies what to call you when decide to make a change?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Guest Posts
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 8)
Xantenise Feb 19th 2011 8:12AM
I used to know a Raman- on my old server. Ramanir, Ramanae, Ramanor. Haven't played with him for years, good fella.
On another old server I had a Xan- theme, which only has one survivor. (My rogue's name, the current Xantenise.) Xanthi, Xanthara, Xanelle, that kind of thing.
These days I don't have a name theme. Though, like people you mention, I'm still addressed by the name of my warlock that I rarely play and haven't played often in over two years, Dusty. But since I'm not in a guild anymore and only play with a friend or two it's never been an issue.
That, and on an RP server, it's harder to get away with OOC name themes.
Blae Feb 19th 2011 9:15AM
I so wish that was true of RP servers these days. While I'm not an RPer really, I'm tired of seeing "Bloodk" or "Ipwnurmom." There is simply no enforcement of RP rules anymore. Even trademarked/copyrighted names are fine to use now.
If you put the name of your class or race in your name, you're just an idiot.
Xantenise Feb 19th 2011 9:29AM
@Blae Especially if they're a "rouge."
Kylenne Feb 19th 2011 9:40AM
@Blae: If you're tired of seeing those kinds of names, report them. It's really that simple. Blizzard rightly or wrongly leaves it up to the community to police itself. I constantly spammed tickets about names like that when I was still on my old server. Yeah, it gets tiring, but you have to take the initiative with things like that.
Hih Feb 19th 2011 10:49AM
@Blae: Blizzard doesn't proactively police character names. If you see a name that goes against the rules, *IT IS UP TO YOU* to report it. You can even see when the name then gets changed by adding them to your friends list. Sometimes they choose another "questionable" name and so you just report it again.
Almoderate Feb 19th 2011 3:40PM
I tend to go with a Doctor Who theme for many of my toons. It eliminates names that are too similar while still keeping with a theme so that guildies know it's me. Plus it's nerdy cool!
jfofla Feb 19th 2011 3:52PM
Funny,
On my RP server you will be reported in a heartbeat for a non RP name and Blizzard will flag you.
My bank alt was flagged five times until I finally took a name that could not be questioned.
I have also seen name reporting used as an attack against a player that offended someone
cyanea85 Feb 19th 2011 8:17AM
I never much liked naming themes. I'm not an RPer and am not on an RP server, but I feel like each of my characters has a personality sorta, and one name copied across all characters doesn't really fit.
That said, out of sheer happenstance, all but two of my characters have ended up with names ending in -a. Purely by coincidence.
Eladonra Feb 19th 2011 10:41AM
I chose the name Deheune for my mage - Celtic for divine one. When I decided to try a warlock a year later, I ended up with another gnome because they are my favorites. She ended up with identical features to the mage.....so her name is Evildeheune. Trust me - their appearances and names may be similar, but they have VERY different personalities. Evil stole gold from her twin to power level engineering and start a bomb making enterprise.
Tim Feb 19th 2011 11:10AM
I feel the same way although I created a Druid with the explicit purpose that someone would nickname him Dru which happened. His name is Druinn. But I feel all my toons have a "life" all their own and try to find bad ass names. Like: Jozadak, Omrikahn, Barsidious, and Deucalion just to name a few. At least they sound bad ass to me :)
Aanye Feb 19th 2011 11:21AM
I feel the same way. I have a different reason behind each of my tion names. Some are from name lists/generators for their respective races; some are pop culture references, albeit not too obvious. But they're all different for each tion.
Oh, not true--my Draenei pally/DK combo are named to a theme: Johrel and Zadh, respectively.
Shadowwind Feb 19th 2011 2:17PM
I tried using a theme for a short time (Shadow somewhere in the name), but it fell by the wayside as my toons started developing their own personalities. These days, if I have a theme, it's merely that most of my toons' names are first name/last name. For example, when I server-transferred my hunter, Nepthys was taken. So I slapped Suncry on the end and bam!, done! When Shadowcry was already taken, I added part of her first name, Allyssa, and suddenly she had a name that was easy to remember, characteristic of my 'naming scheme', AND worked well on a RP front!
DevnJonette Feb 19th 2011 8:20AM
Devn, Devnjonnette, Devnjoel, variations that let people call me DJ
Swifteye Feb 19th 2011 8:22AM
All of my toons have "song" in the name... most of them are "_____song"s, though a couple are "Song____".
My first two toons (Songbreeze and Clearsong) were both named for characters in books, and the fact that they shared a "song" was mere coincidence. But I ended up just going with it, both to avoid confusion and because having a convention makes naming easier, quite frankly... coming up with tons of different, creative names can be tough when you're a total altoholic!
We have several other people in the guild who also use conventions (one guy is always Zar_____, one girl names all her toons after in-game herbs, etc.), and I do appreciate that it makes it easier to know who you're dealing with at a glance.
Quasi Feb 19th 2011 8:22AM
Does anyone else get this little twinge in the darkened corners of their mind that drives them to murder someone in half when they see players with their roll in their name? When I see Johnnytank or legolasdps in my group, the only purpose I see that name serving is as a warning: This player needs a steady reminder of what they are doing, in the form of a billboard above their own head.
This issue is only compounded by the fact that blizzard has made available to us, all the alt key codes. 9000 handy lists of which can be found with a simple google search. Meaning Conantankzors and Testicleheals could have just as easily been, Cónan (still lame) or namechange001(cause people report you for naming yourself Testicles).
Which I guess brings up instinct to stab #3, the "I'm so clever cause my name breaks the rules, but not in a way the filter can catch!" names, but hey at least this article isn't pushing that.
Kylenne Feb 19th 2011 9:23AM
It's not just you, trust me. It's one of my major nerdrage buttons.
Rocksanne Feb 19th 2011 9:24AM
Nothing boils my blood faster than seeing a rogue with "rouge" in their name.
Akastyn Feb 19th 2011 9:40AM
I hate that too, especially when their class is part of their name I mean WTF..
Neirin Feb 19th 2011 10:25AM
I was just in a regular dungeon while leveling my alt about an hour ago and actually had a tank named Johnnytank. That's a little freaky.
Adoisin Feb 19th 2011 10:36AM
I find it amusing when they decide to respec, so the name no longer names sense. Like if Johnnytank the paladin respecs to heals.