Comments on: The power of naming

By: Longasc

Longasc — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 16:36:19 +0000

I re-rolled my Warlock after her Imp’s name suddenly turned out to be “Zifnip”. I was happy that my next try got “Geltog”, her Voidwalker was “Hukgore” and her Succubus “Kalthea” (-> nice name IMO). The Felhunter was a letdown, there is nothing to love about “Phuufun” IMO. “Jhuughun” for the Felguard was barely acceptable either, but they all have pretty bad names, so well.

I hoped that Inscription would offer Warlocks a way to buy a scroll to summon a demon of their choice.

I see no reason why only hunters are allowed to give their pets inane names.

By: Tesh

Tesh — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 16:27:57 +0000

Agreed, the sense of ownership is significant, and I think, a big part of giving players a stake in the game. It’s also huge for role playing.

Indeed, I spend a fair bit of time figuring out a good name for any characters I whip up. I also carefully consider the names for my Hunter pets. I can tell better stories with better names.

By: Tesh

Tesh — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 16:25:04 +0000

Hmm… would a demon flaunt its “real name” out there for every non-Warlock to see? If anything, Warlocks should be able to “give” their demons their “true name” and have the name that everyone else sees be their “world name” or some such. Give a sense of secrecy and ownership all at the same time.

By: spinks

spinks — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 15:48:54 +0000

I like the preposition typoes naming scheme, that’s brilliantly off-beat

Sadly, whatever people name their pets is going to pale compared to whatever they name their actual characters. One of the things I liked about LOTRO is that they were fairly good about policing names on the RP server. It’s surprising how much difference that made to immersion.

By: spinks

spinks — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 15:46:41 +0000

Naming in games is really interesting, because as a player, it gives you a kind of sense of ownership. I mean, it has to be significant that just about every computer RPG ever starts by asking what you want to name your character, right?

I mean, you’re right, it is more choices. But it seems to really affect how we feel about things that we are able to name.

By: Tesh

Tesh — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 15:33:07 +0000

Naming is another choice. If you give players that power, even if it doesn’t really *do* anything, it’s another gift. That’s a good thing.

By: spinks

spinks — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 11:45:28 +0000

I’m torn between something literary like Thunderchild, or something Iain Banks-esque

By: Syrana

Syrana — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 21:05:59 +0000

I like naming things. I wish I could name my demons, but know that the power lies within knowing their real name…

As for mounts, some of names. I have too many to really name them all, but some do have names… same with mini-pets.

By: Kiryn

Kiryn — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 17:14:50 +0000

I’d probably have a lot more fun with minipets in WoW if I could name them. I was quite disappointed when I found out that the pet naming scroll from inscription only worked on hunter pets. I had been getting excited that they’d finally let us name our minipets.

By: evizaer

evizaer — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 16:13:15 +0000

I think it’s fun to name things. Unfortunately, people do a terrible job of it most often. If players can shape the lore of the world, seeing that a ravager named “icanhazbuffs” was responsible for killing off a population of centaurs is, well, kind of immersion breaking.

I’ve had some fun with naming recently. I started a Night Elf Hunter in WoW named Between and her pet is named With. I also have a Dwarf Rogue I used to reserve the name Beneath. I’m on a preposition kick. My other two characters are named prepositions with typeos: Abotu and Arondu.