What I dislike the most
By
Adeon Hawkwood,
Posted on: 2012-06-12 15:26 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
Not much can be done about that. The reason you can't use any name you want is because someone else has taken that name and they don't want two different characters running around with the same name. I know, I hate it when someone takes a good name that I wanted to use, but what can I do?
to 
TO THE END!Villains are those who dedicate their lives to causing mayhem. Villians are people from the planet Villia!
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Be creative.|
Originally Posted by cursedsorcerer
but what can I do? |
Use a Thesaurus.
Be creative.
Use a foreign language.
Be creative.
If the game spit out 20 dollar bills people would complain that they weren't sequentially numbered. If they were sequentially numbered people would complain that they weren't random enough.
Black Pebble is my new hero.
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I agree with you. But you're going to get a number of responses:|
Originally Posted by Power_NA
So, I decided to try a dark controller... Now, I am waiting to find a good name. I hate that part sooo very much. I think we should have what ever name we want. I don't want to sit around for 30 minutes to 1 hour lol. So any chance of the name limit being lifted? I woulld like this game ALOT more. I am ok with doing old missions, since at least I am playing. But this I am staring at my outfit trying get a name.
I also don't want to do this dfaadfads Someone Slap Me So I guess I will do a name and put a period at the end of it :P |
a) I like names like "This Is A Dark Troller LOL", so the naming system is perfect.
b) I like names like "Susan Walker", so the naming system is perfect.
c) I like using words from an obscure South Pacific Islander language that only three people with internet access int he world even know, so the naming system is perfect.
d) If the name "Darkness Rising" is taken, I just go down the list until I get to "Darkness Rising 312", so the naming system is perfect.
e) You can just add your account name after it already, like .traska, so the naming system is perfect.
f) There's nothing wrong with the naming system, so the naming system is perfect.
g) It's not going to happen, so don't even bother posting this.
h) I've got mine, so the naming system is perfect.
i) You suck at naming (and I am awesome at naming), so the naming system is perfect.
The thing is, I like four-color superhero names. And there's a limited pool of them to go around. (Don't believe me? Try making someone with a fire themed name that sounds even vaguely superheroish. Good luck!) Personally, I'd like to see a system where you can choose an "@accountname" name, or go without and use the more limited pool, knowing your name will be unique. Everybody wins!
EDIT: Forgot to include H.
EDIT 2: Adding I as well.
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There's nothing creative about using a name like "Florid Uvula" for a fire blaster. It's just word salad. And just why would my born-in-America, only-speaks-English, thick-as-a-brick Brute have a name like "Douleur brutale"? It's a kludge at best.
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Originally Posted by Texas Justice
Be creative.
Use a Thesaurus. Be creative. Use a foreign language. Be creative. |
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Just gonna throw that out there that you could, perhaps, use another option like the be creative one?
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Originally Posted by Traska
There's nothing creative about using a name like "Florid Uvula" for a fire blaster. It's just word salad. And just why would my born-in-America, only-speaks-English, thick-as-a-brick Brute have a name like "Douleur brutale"? It's a kludge at best.
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In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo.
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"Florid Uvula" was the Be Creative one. That's vague enough that I don't have another example for that.
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Originally Posted by MisterMagpie
Just gonna throw that out there that you could, perhaps, use another option like the be creative one?
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The secret to getting the name you want in this environment isn't to "be creative", but rather to have the good fortune to be first.
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Originally Posted by Texas Justice
Be creative.
Use a Thesaurus. Be creative. Use a foreign language. Be creative. |
Goodbye may seem forever
Farewell is like the end
But in my heart's the memory
And there you'll always be
-- The Fox and the Hound
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Feuern Sie Werfer isn't word salad, it's German.|
Originally Posted by Traska
There's nothing creative about using a name like "Florid Uvula" for a fire blaster. It's just word salad. And just why would my born-in-America, only-speaks-English, thick-as-a-brick Brute have a name like "Douleur brutale"? It's a kludge at best.
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Vider Le Lanceur isn't word salad, it's French.
Licenziare Il Lanciatore isn't word salad, it's Italian.
Surely you don't consider those obscure languages that no one knows.
Very few people born in America have a family tree that didn't originate from somewhere else in the world.
Why wouldn't someone want to honor a revered ancestor by naming them self in the language that ancestor spoke? Perhaps that ancestor was a hero as well and the brute is carrying on the family hero tradition and honoring that name. Perhaps it's for some other reason.
That's not a kludge. It's called a back story. Or part of an Origin story.
If the game spit out 20 dollar bills people would complain that they weren't sequentially numbered. If they were sequentially numbered people would complain that they weren't random enough.
Black Pebble is my new hero.
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Again, only speaks English and is thick as a brick (which is a valid character concept), why would they have a name in a language they likely can't pronounce?|
Originally Posted by Texas Justice
Feuern Sie Werfer isn't word salad, it's German.
Vider Le Lanceur isn't word salad, it's French. Licenziare Il Lanciatore isn't word salad, it's Italian. Surely you don't consider those obscure languages that no one knows. Very few people born in America have a family tree that didn't originate from somewhere else in the world. Why wouldn't someone want to honor a revered ancestor by naming them self in the language that ancestor spoke? Perhaps that ancestor was a hero as well and the brute is carrying on the family hero tradition and honoring that name. Perhaps it's for some other reason. That's not a kludge. It's called a back story. Or part of an Origin story. |
And yes, when you have a character concept already in mind (I very, VERY rarely start off with the design and then think of an origin story, it's usually that I think of an origin story and the name comes to me), then it's very much a kludge to have to change your character concept to fit a name you don't want in the least.
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Even word salad occasionally has dressing.
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Originally Posted by Texas Justice
Feuern Sie Werfer isn't word salad, it's German.
Vider Le Lanceur isn't word salad, it's French. Licenziare Il Lanciatore isn't word salad, it's Italian. |
Goodbye may seem forever
Farewell is like the end
But in my heart's the memory
And there you'll always be
-- The Fox and the Hound
I've never had trouble finding an appropriate name for any of my characters, and not because I resorted to word salad.
This is one of those situations where people who look for solutions find them, and those who reflexively blame others for their own shortcomings don't.
The Nethergoat Archive: all my memories, all my characters, all my thoughts on CoH...eventually.
My City Was Gone
Your failures of imagination are hardly failures of the naming system.
The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is a natural manure. -Thomas Jefferson
Read the Patriot newsletter. It's right, it's free.
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If you have to change your origin story to match a name, that isn't being creative that compromising to a sucky name system.
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Originally Posted by Texas Justice
Feuern Sie Werfer isn't word salad, it's German.
Vider Le Lanceur isn't word salad, it's French. Licenziare Il Lanciatore isn't word salad, it's Italian. Surely you don't consider those obscure languages that no one knows. Very few people born in America have a family tree that didn't originate from somewhere else in the world. Why wouldn't someone want to honor a revered ancestor by naming them self in the language that ancestor spoke? Perhaps that ancestor was a hero as well and the brute is carrying on the family hero tradition and honoring that name. Perhaps it's for some other reason. That's not a kludge. It's called a back story. Or part of an Origin story. |
Brawling Cactus from a distant planet.
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Actually, it is the very definition of being creative.
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Originally Posted by CactusBrawler
If you have to change your origin story to match a name, that isn't being creative.....
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The Nethergoat Archive: all my memories, all my characters, all my thoughts on CoH...eventually.
My City Was Gone
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Originally Posted by Traska
Again, only speaks English and is thick as a brick (which is a valid character concept), why would they have a name in a language they likely can't pronounce?
And yes, when you have a character concept already in mind (I very, VERY rarely start off with the design and then think of an origin story, it's usually that I think of an origin story and the name comes to me), then it's very much a kludge to have to change your character concept to fit a name you don't want in the least. |
I gave a few examples of why someone that only speaks English might use a name that isn't English. Here's a few more.
Maybe before they decided on a name they used their powers helping someone that spoke German and they called them Flammenwerfer and they liked the sound of it.
Perhaps they saw a design on a Football helmet and heard it called a Fleur de Lis and liked the sound of it so decided to use that for their name.
They were watching ESPN and they were showing footage of an earthquake in Mexico during a soccer match. The Mexican announcers referred to a Terremoto and it had a nice ring to it.
It all falls back to one thing:
Be creative.
If the game spit out 20 dollar bills people would complain that they weren't sequentially numbered. If they were sequentially numbered people would complain that they weren't random enough.
Black Pebble is my new hero.
Ah, yes. I forgot I:
i) You suck at naming (and I am awesome at naming), so the naming system is perfect.
My "shortcomings" include a vivid imagination where the character virtually writes itself. Thus, having a character concept in mind, going to make said character, and finding out that because the game is eight years old and therefore the name is taken, that I can't name the character is something of a wet blanket on the entire process.
A name is important. If The Flash had been named "Runs Really Fast Man", or if Cyclops had been named "Laser Eyes Man", who here would take them seriously? A superhero name is more than what other people call you... it's insight into the character. Thing, Superman, Juggernaut. All three have immense strength, but all three are utterly different characters. The Thing is unsophisticated, Superman is more than just a pile of muscle, and the Juggernaut is unstoppable.
A name is part of the core character concept. Change the name, change the concept.
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It's the very definition of being destructive: tearing down what you've built and building something different. Which is usually inferior due to being hastily slapdashed together.
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Originally Posted by Nethergoat
Actually, it is the very definition of being creative.
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or, just come up with another good name.|
Originally Posted by Traska
A name is part of the core character concept. Change the name, change the concept.
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*shrug*
The Nethergoat Archive: all my memories, all my characters, all my thoughts on CoH...eventually.
My City Was Gone
One more thing: Before this goes any further, can we please pledge to break the cycle of how these threads usually go?
A: "I think that we should have a more open naming system."
B: "You suck."
A: "No, I just think that with the age of the game, we should take into account that the perfect name is no longer sitting out there."
B: "That's because you're stupid, unimaginative, and you suck."
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If you've already imagined a character complete with name, and the system prevents you from having that name, the failure isn't with the imagination. And the person who got that name before you doesn't have a better imagination, they just had the good fortune to get the name first.
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Originally Posted by Riley_Delacroix
Your failures of imagination are hardly failures of the naming system.
|
Goodbye may seem forever
Farewell is like the end
But in my heart's the memory
And there you'll always be
-- The Fox and the Hound
Quote:
A name is part of the core character concept. Change the name, change the character.|
Originally Posted by Nethergoat
or, just come up with another good name.
*shrug* |
Coming up with "another good name" is changing the character concept. No amount of pithy dismissiveness can change that.
"I found this name and it sounds cool, even though I don't know what it means" is a valid origin story for making up a superhero name.
The best thing to do is use a random name generator to help you come up with inspiration if you're stuck, even if you don't get a name directly from it.
But honestly? Unwillingness to adapt in general is the fault of the creator, and not of the name system.
My names are pretty simple. My costumes are pretty simple.
All but 3 of my characters have Texas in the name. 1 of those is a joke character that I've just never deleted. 1 of those is a themed character created for a server invasion that people liked so I remade him on my home server.
All but 4 of my characters have the same Red, White and Blue color scheme going on. 1 is the joke character. 1 is the themed character. 2 just added an additional color as their main coloring (Black on my villain main, Green on my Plant/Thorn Dom) in addition to the Red, White and Blue.
All but 1 of my characters use the same chest detail. The themed character. The joke character even has that same chest detail.
Have I always gotten my first choice of names? Nope. But I didn't have to change anything else about the character to make a slightly different name fit.
While the naming system isn't perfect, it's easy to work with if you follow one simple rule:
Be creative.
If the game spit out 20 dollar bills people would complain that they weren't sequentially numbered. If they were sequentially numbered people would complain that they weren't random enough.
Black Pebble is my new hero.
Quote:
If they could manage both, I'd be for it. Names, simple and iconic can help people connect and grow into die-hard fans of the game, even at this stage. If that can help support people connecting with the character and the community then it's worth checking out, in my opinion.
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Originally Posted by Traska
The thing is, I like four-color superhero names. And there's a limited pool of them to go around. (Don't believe me? Try making someone with a fire themed name that sounds even vaguely superheroish. Good luck!) Personally, I'd like to see a system where you can choose an "@accountname" name, or go without and use the more limited pool, knowing your name will be unique. Everybody wins!
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The Paladin
Steel Canyon, Virtue
Exalted
@Paladin
So, I decided to try a dark controller... Now, I am waiting to find a good name. I hate that part sooo very much. I think we should have what ever name we want. I don't want to sit around for 30 minutes to 1 hour lol. So any chance of the name limit being lifted? I woulld like this game ALOT more. I am ok with doing old missions, since at least I am playing. But this I am staring at my outfit trying get a name.
I also don't want to do this
dfaadfads
Someone Slap Me
So I guess I will do a name and put a period at the end of it :P