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Suggestion: Mandatory Surnames (or at least spaces). Thoughts?
Adlehyde
Member, Braver of Worlds, Kickstarter, Alpha One
As the hype for the game has been growing, I'm sure i'm not the only backer that's returning to the community to see how progress has been going. One thing that's been sticking with me when viewing the recent streams is that their character names are usually simple single names. The recent stream from Friday however, I noticed Steven's name now said StevenShariff and not say, Steven Shariff.
Something I enjoyed about FFXIV and ESO, is that in 14, you're required to choose a first and last name, and in ESO, you're allowed to use spaces. This allows you to be creative with your name without constantly being bombarded with "This name is already taken" messages.
We all know that feeling when you keep coming up with name ideas, and it keeps telling you that it's taken, so you keep coming up with alternatives that are further and further from what you wanted, until you just run out of ideas and start modifying the spelling of your name choices until something fits
Like, if a person wants to name their character Karion or something, but it's taken, and so they try Gideon, and then Farion, and so on and so forth, and after like 20 names give up and go back to Karion but keep modifying the spelling until finally the game accepts "Kaereeeonn" and you look like a moron.
At least in the video, he was able to make a name long enough to look like a good enough first/last name, but it would look quite a bit better if we are at least allowed a space or two, and maybe a hyphen.
Games like wow, bdo, archage, all are limited to one continuous string of letters, which makes character name diversity really suffer. Whereas FFXIV and ESO have a breadth of diverse character names. Sure even those games have their share of... weird ass names, but they aren't particularly difficult when it comes to choosing a name you're happy with for your character for the vast majority of people.
Thoughts?
Something I enjoyed about FFXIV and ESO, is that in 14, you're required to choose a first and last name, and in ESO, you're allowed to use spaces. This allows you to be creative with your name without constantly being bombarded with "This name is already taken" messages.
We all know that feeling when you keep coming up with name ideas, and it keeps telling you that it's taken, so you keep coming up with alternatives that are further and further from what you wanted, until you just run out of ideas and start modifying the spelling of your name choices until something fits
Like, if a person wants to name their character Karion or something, but it's taken, and so they try Gideon, and then Farion, and so on and so forth, and after like 20 names give up and go back to Karion but keep modifying the spelling until finally the game accepts "Kaereeeonn" and you look like a moron.
At least in the video, he was able to make a name long enough to look like a good enough first/last name, but it would look quite a bit better if we are at least allowed a space or two, and maybe a hyphen.
Games like wow, bdo, archage, all are limited to one continuous string of letters, which makes character name diversity really suffer. Whereas FFXIV and ESO have a breadth of diverse character names. Sure even those games have their share of... weird ass names, but they aren't particularly difficult when it comes to choosing a name you're happy with for your character for the vast majority of people.
Thoughts?
2
Comments
Big no to required surnames though. That’d be a hassle
If I can't just be Over1ander I don't want it.
Punctuation should be allowed and most likely will though.
I think this is just the best way to do it so everyone can have whatever name they want. People can even have rivalries or bonds with other people who share the same name.
U.S. East
As an example, Steven would make a character called "Steven Sharif", with the family name Sharif. Once he meets a new friend called Steve X, of the family X, he can invite Steve into his family, making him henceforth "Steve Sharif".
Or when "StevenSharif" creates a family, he calls it "Floorgang", so he is henceforth called "StevenSharif Floorgang", and all members of the family also have the " Floorgang" suffix. Less static, but obviously puts the importance of a unique first name back on the table.
I've even created a thread in the past that was bashed by the community BTW.
Have a character have a mandatory surname that has to be unique to your account (several characters on your account can share it, but other people can't take it). Then have a first-name that doesn't have to be server-unique at all.
In fact, allow alts on your account to have exactly the same name, if you want to.
Making surnames mandatory - 1000% no. A lot of people proudly go by a single-name gamer tag.
I just give up every time and make the person start a party finder party.
If I had more time, I would write a shorter post.
That's also a problem with single name games though. When you want to invite lsIldorrrrrrrGraetmerrrrrr, you better have a way to copy and paste, or it's going to take ages to figure out the cryptic writing.
Have to agree, completely.
It's not something I would make use of generally, but it's absolutely a good idea.
I'm strongly against it. It's a poor option for roleplay, I believe.
1. What about characters that don't have a last name? If I wanted to create, say, a bounty hunter known only by their vaguely menacing pseudonym, it would look somewhat silly if they had a last name attached by default.
2. In fantasy games different cultures often have different naming conventions. If my first character is an elf and I give them a proper Empyrean surname, there is a good chance it might look ridiculously out of place on a Vek alt.
@Nagash Just go for "Nagash the Necromancer" if they allow more then one Space.
I don't think mandatory family names in the way that Aisa brought up is in any way a good idea. Since that in and of itself would be restricted on creation in the same way any single name generation would be restricted, it would fall to the same problem. my FFXIV example due to the fact that each individual character is required to create two unique "names" so that the combination of these names greatly opens up the probability that either one is available, which makes it much easier for people to create a name they are happy with.
It seems like the best way to go would be punctuation afterall. That way someone who wants to name themselves just a single name can, and if someone wants a double name, they can too.
I would just go with Damokles Damokles.