What I dislike the most

Grade A reason, right there, why NOT to do something.

If Champions, aka 'The Other, Cruddier Super Hero MMO' did something, that's probably an indicator to stay the hell away. Not always, but probably.

Originally Posted by Zwillinger GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.

Originally Posted by Captain_Photon NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.

^ This, pretty much

It should come as no surprise when a name like, say 'Laser Boy' is taken. Because it's simple, it might well be catchy and it's also predictable.

Yes, sometimes it can be annoying and frustrating, which makes it even more satisfying when you get a name that works for the character and is free.

Originally Posted by Zwillinger GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.

Originally Posted by Captain_Photon NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.

Yeah, because "Fire Arrow@Dancing Squid" looks so four colour and superheroic when i see them run by me. (Edit: How did they pronounce "@" back in the four colour days anyway?)

Or... you hide the "@Dancing Squid" from view and then when you type the name to invite the "Fire Arrow" you wanted it goes out to four different "Fire Arrow" characters.

"No problem, just make it invite whatever "Fire Arrow" is in the zone at the time."

Excellent suggestion. The Fire Arrow(@Dancing Squid) that you wanted to invite already hopped a tram to Skyway while you were typing. Luckily Fire Arrow(@My Teeth Are Sharp) and Fire Arrow(@Herpaderp) are still in zone to get your invite.

See? Global naming is simple and easy, especially all the coding to implement it into the current game structure. Takes just a jiffy. (No, it really doesn't.)

Hmm, I see it as the opposite. "32,547 agree that would be a great name for a superhero! It'd be perfect if it weren't taken!"

I don't mean to pick on you personally, Bill, you's good people, but since you stuck your neck out, I'd argue though that while half of those my as work as "game names" but...maybe a little less impressive as "super hero names".

And I think that's the core problem. I have little trouble thinking up names per se. I have a hell of a time thinking up names that fit my criteria for a "good name" given the theme of the game. Namely, any time I try to name my characters, unless I have a specific concept reason to ignore it, I ask myself, "Could I see this on a comic book cover blurb?" If the name would fit into a phrase like:

INTRODUCING NAME HERE!!!
...BUT IS HE FRIEND OR FOE?!

...it's essentially a failure in my book. And yes, I myself have a big list of failures, too, I'll grant. But when I jump on teams, I tend to see most others failing the criteria, too.

That said, I'm partially just Devil's Advocate-ing. I do generally come up with something eventually, even if it takes me an extra hour on the character creation screen, and I think the commonly suggested Name@GlobalName would be generally even more immersion breaking. Though if it were done with the option to hide everything but the character name...well, I just can't argue against it if only because I don't see a disadvantage, per se (other than "development time could be better spent elsewhere", I guess).

The thing is, I have never run into anyone with the name I actually want. And I mean never. They're never on at the same time I am. I'm willing to bet that if there were ten Fire Arrows on a server, the odds than any two of them would be playing simultaneously would be pretty low.

Frankly, most superhero/supervillain/comic book names are not all that impressive as superhero/supervillain/comic book names.

Three words. Paste Pot Pete.

See my Guides and Tutorials

Then fix the search function. Enhance it. Don't make a ****y search function and invite feature an excuse...if the idea is bad, point out why the *idea* is bad, not how ****y game features make the idea less likely.

As for the transfer token answer, yeah, I just remember when we first got freedom and the server transfers were first issued, I holded off for a while thinking I can use them just for the very purpose of changing character names. I never got a 2nd the next coming month which made me believe the free ones didn't stack so I've been using them to transfer characters over to new servers either with a bigger population or where the name I want is available. So I've been using them *halfway* as expressed.

Black Tom Cassidy is a supernatural/mutant villain and Black Tom, is his costumed name, Thomas Samuel Eamon Cassidy is his 'real' name.

Jean Grey had I belive the super heroine name Marvel Girl, as well as Phionix.

Luke Cage, has the name Power Man.

Nick Fury isn't a super hero he's a spy.

And that means none of them are in comics? All of those names are "genre" appropriate as far as I can tell.

Because he or she is following in his or her parents footsteps and that was the name they used when they were a super hero/villain, and they weren't born in America, nor did they speak only English, nor were they thick as a brick.

Just because YOU choose to limit yourself by placing severe restrictions on the names YOU choose doesn't mean there is a problem with the games unique naming feature.

Oh and by the way just in case you weren't aware of it, over 80% of the English language is comprised of words that have been taken from other languages.

Interesting challenge. Ok, here's literally the first ten names off the top of my head:

Gigaburner (available)
Radiant Wave (taken)
Hyperplasma (available)
(The) Ignitioner (available)
Hyperflame (taken)
Hyperflames (available)
Arc Burst (taken)
Blitzfire (taken)
Blitzflame (available)
Lord Inferno (taken)

I think these are pretty solid fire based names that don't involve foreign languages or obscure references. They are actually pretty plain by my standards, but I aimed in that direction. I think a 50% hit rate is pretty good considering I ran this test on Freedom.

Seriously: Gigaburner is available on Freedom? That kinda surprised me to be honest.


Also, Florid Uvula is more appropriate for a Sonic Blast character rather than a fire-based one, to be honest.

Originally Posted by PapaSlade Rangle's right....this is fun.

I had better luck than you did Arcanaville. Here's the frst ten names I came up with on Freedom and they were all available.

Deep Friar (Deep as in Philsophical, Friar as in monk/burning pun) (available)
J G Petrol (Jellied Gasoline) (available)
Napalm Avenger (available)
Phlogistinator (available)
Khan Flagration (available)
Blaze Incandescence (available)
Pyro Luminosity (available)
Midnite Immolator (available)
Dusk Inferno (available)
Eternal SoulFyre (available)

Just as an FYI, I checked all but Vigilance and Zukunft.

Thick As A Brick was available on all servers except for Freedom and Protector.

Heh. I thought he was saying his brute wasn't very bright. My bad.

Sometimes people earn a name/have it bestowed upon them. I believe Superman is such an example.

So someone gave your character a nickname and it stuck.

Sometimes people get their name from the organization they join.

Green Lantern for example.

I'm fairly sure that is EXACTLY what was being said.

However, that name is still available on all of the (formerly) English speaking servers except Freedom and Protector.

I suspect someone may have been testing that name on Protector when I checked but I can't be sure.

Another example would be Full Metal Alchemist - the state alchemists are given names relating to how others in the Government see them.

The Flame alchemist was potent with fire. The titular character had prosthetic limbs made of steel.

It has nothing to do with search functions, just that if you saw someone run by with a popular name and the global wasn't visible because you find it ugly and immersion-breaking you'd have no idea who you were trying to invite. That's not a search function issue at all. The same problem would apply to sending a tell. Either the global name is constantly visible, which is ugly if you just want the non global part of the name, or regardless of search functions you'll have a hard time locating the owner of a popular name. (Or maybe there's an SG running around where everyone has the same hero name.) Your comment about the search function was somewhat tangential to my actual post, but if someone desperately wants charactername@globalname because they can then get their desired four colour name, then i fail to see how having @WantNao attached to it evokes the four colour vibe. And if you don't have the @whatever visible sending tells, invites, etcetera to the correct character becomes somewhat problematic. Search function has no relevance in that case.

Well, i suppose a search function using an expert system designed around anticipating social behaviors that constantly monitors all player interactions and player brain activity so that it knows exactly which player any other player is looking for at any given time would be the best solution. That sort of search function would of course have applications in other areas than MMOs. Probably be pretty easy to sell.

Okay, that's funny.