Character naming "cheat"

An alternative I used once was to stick a Roman II at the end. I then retconned a reference to a WW II version of my character being the original, so this contemporary one was the second in line. This is more legible than a period and gives an in character reason for the II being there.
Usually I'll try to come up with an alternative name, but sometimes the name is just right on many levels and you dont want to change it.

This made it feel kind of like a Official Handboook of the Marvel Universe entry, where they used roman numeral suffixes to distinguish between the various green Goblins or whatever hero or villain mantle changes user over time.

If it were me I wouldn't do it.

While I might like a character concept, I find that if I don't like the name the character has then ultimately I won't play him.

I've actually spent literally hours trying to come up with a name that I liked that was open in the game.

The only exception to the "no added characters to make a name work" rule for me is to hyphenate the name, like..

Steel-Dragon
Bronze-Tiger
Strike-Force

Etc. and that is only because the use of hyphens in that manner in superhero names is long established (re. Spider-Man).

Another thing you could do is send a tell to their global {/getglobalname <insert character name here>} and ask politely whether they still play that character and, if not, would they be willing to relinquish the name. Odds are not in your favor, but it's still an option.

An open letter to NCsoft

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Just in case no one else suggested it... find out the global name of whoever is using the name on Virtue and send them a message. A global tell is a better idea than an email, since most people only bother to check their email to mash the Spam Button until it's empty these days. Mention that you're interested in the name, and check if the character they've got is a currently played alt. This has worked for me a couple times now, where the players in question had made the character and then quickly gotten bored with the idea or the powers, and were all too willing to delete them and free up the name.

On the other hand, it still hasn't worked for getting the original Eisenzahn off of his server of origin and over to Virtue with all my other alts, but 2 out of 3 still isn't bad (even if the 3rd is the only one I really care about).

It makes telling people your name kinda difficult, and looks kinda silly.

I don't really know. To me adding a piece of punctuation to the end of one's name sort of reminds me of the Runescape'ish SuperWarrior123 type of names. You know, the names that end in a string of numbers because the original was taken...

I don't care if you have an . or an - at the end of your name. I don't care if you're not a creative person. I don't care if you didn't look for another name. To me it shows that someone got there before you did. Don't worry about what others may think of your . or -. If your're fine with it that's all that matters. Personally I wouldn't put a . or - at the end of any name cause I don't like the way it looks. But if you want to do it then go for it.

[QUOTE=Shred_Monkey;2069239]... you'll probably regret using the 'cheat' and seeing the name on the screen will remind you of it every time you play.[QUOTE]

Yes.

My first character was -Torment. Played him. Bonded to him. Could never get over that darn hyphen. Delete.

Really, some of my most satisfying names have come out of trying to work my character concept against the seemingly impossible wall of already taken names. But you can do it! It can take hours. It can take days. But something will come to you!

Don't do the period... it will "-Torment" you!