character-names posts

Square Enix: FFXI players may be able to keep their names in FFXIV

by James Egan Aug 31st 2009 at 4:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Final Fantasy XI, Interviews, New titles, Final Fantasy XIV

Good news for Final Fantasy XI players looking to make the jump into Final Fantasy XIV in 2010 -- you may be able to keep your existing FFXI character names in the upcoming title. At least, you will if Square Enix Producer Hiromichi Tanaka has his way. Tanaka and FFXIV Producer Sage Sundi were interviewed by the PlayStation Blog's Chris Morell at GamesCom 2009, when they were asked if name transfers between the Final Fantasy MMOs will be possible.

Tanaka said, "It hasn't been confirmed yet, but we would like to give incentives to the players. First of all, FFXI has 32 worlds, and they may have the same name across different worlds [...]. However, when we have FFXIV, we still don't know how many worlds there's going to be yet, but players might have the same name if they all move to the same world, so there may be conflicts."

Square Enix's solution, if implemented, is to have a surname system where players can keep their original name but pair it with something else unique in a surname. While the ability to import character names into FFXIV isn't confirmed, it's still good news that Square Enix is considering offering this to their long-time fans in Final Fantasy XI.

[Via Joystiq]

Tags: character-names, chris-morrell, fantasy, ffxi, ffxiv, final-fantasy-xi, final-fantasy-xiv, gamescom-2009, hiromichi-tanaka, interviews, names, new-titles, playstation-blog, producer, sage-sundi, square-enix

The Daily Grind: How do you pick character names?

by Lesley Smith Jun 3rd 2009 at 8:00AM

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Aion, The Daily Grind

With the Aion EU beta coming up this weekend, it's time to think about names and what I'm going to call my Elyos avatar. Names are important, right? I recently became an auntie and the name of my newborn niece will shape her as a person, the same can be said for our toons. Of course some are obvious, every server will have its Legolas (and variants thereof). Sometimes names are more descriptive, like Banker for your level 2 druid who never leaves the mailbox and occasionally they are puns. For example, my level 4 Paladin is named 'Hikari' which is a Japanese word meaning 'light'. Quite apt eh? Meanwhile, Eshte and Auryn are minor characters in a series of novels I'm trying to write. As for Serisa, well it sounded good at the time and now I answer to it as much as I do to my own name!

So, constant readers, tell me how do you pick your names? Do you pick ones that match your toon's faction? Do you take inspiration from novels or computer games? Do you use the internet to pick a suitable moniker or do you just create one which sounds right? Are they puns or do they mean something specific to you?

Tags: aion, aion-beta, aion-the-tower-of-eternity, character-creation, character-names, characters, choosing-names, the-daily-grind

Naming your AoC characters

by Shawn Schuster May 14th 2008 at 6:30PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Age of Conan, Forums, Game mechanics, New titles

So there you are, sitting at the AoC character creation screen. You've just installed the game, created your perfect character that you will be playing for the next few months or years, but now you stare blankly at the little box with the blinking cursor asking for your character name. Argh!

Fret no more, my Hyborian friends. There is an easy way to create the perfect name for your AoC character without resorting to something like Chuknorissrulez or Ipwndurface. A simple, easy-to-use web-based name generator has been created around the infrastructure of the GE Name program. With proper permissions in place already, this generator can prove to be a valuable tool for those not as familiar with the Conan lore, yet eager to get started in the game.

Tags: age-of-conan, aoc, character-creation, character-names, funcom, name-generation, names

The Daily Grind: What's in a name?

by Krystalle Voecks Dec 3rd 2007 at 8:00AM

Filed under: Culture, Opinion, The Daily Grind

We recently talked over some of the games we are playing amongst the team, and we found that everyone's take on names was quite varied. Some of our staff like to go for authenticity in regards to whatever character archetype they're making, and thus won't start characters until they have the perfect name. Others of the staff like making up silly names, and jump in with wild abandon. Some of the rest of us take names we've either used before, or names we've picked up along the way -- from popular culture, books, even history.

For me, personally, I tend to be fond of names gleaned from books and history, with a particular leaning towards Egyptian names or cyberpunk novels. I have friends that I know who have carried the same names from game to game. On the other hand, there are those poor folks who use the most common elements in gaming/pop culture and name themselves one of the "new-player-alert" names, such as Sephiroth, Drizzt, Gimlii, or Legolas -- or any variants thereof.

How about you? What's your favorite character's name, and where did you take the inspiration for it? Have you ever refused to group with someone due to an overused or goofy name (such as "Dethrouge" on a rogue) or have you found yourself complimenting people on using cool names? Is naming really that important to you, or do you just kind of smack whatever on your character so you can get into the game?

Tags: character-names, drizzt, featured, gimlii, historical-names, legolas, naming-conventions, new-player-alert-names, sephiroth, the-daily-grind

Got a bad reputation in World of Warcraft? Change your name for 10 bucks

by Matt Warner Oct 26th 2007 at 6:00PM

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy

Blizzard is issuing new World of Warcraft character I.D. name tags for a whopping 10 dollars on select servers. If it's bad, you know really bad -- your named drag through the mud sort of deal over random guild's cyber scandal -- you can transfer right away and get a name change! Behind every name is a story, you couldn't help the formula, it went (anonymity + online gaming = instant jacktard). You did the math wrong and very bad things happened. You tore your last guild asunder, made a few people shrivel up in a corner and shed tears, and caused people to lose brain cells spewing Chuck Norris jokes in Barrens chat. There, there, it happens to best and worst of us. That's not it -- fate is cruel -- you are the worst Paladin on your server because you didn't realize classes had talents until level 70 and life just plain sucks. You need a little identity switch-a-roo if you ever want get into a guild group or even find a guild for that matter.

If you are like me and had no idea what you were thinking when naming a character, you probably want to change your naming etymology around from "trollbawlerinas" to something more sophisticated and fantastical like "paincakes." Oh, and if you have trouble thinking up a name check out this lovely gallery for a few ideas over at our other blog, WoW Insider. Yes, I know that there are practical and legitimate reasons why a player should have the ability to change their character names and I support Blizzard's decision to allow it. The Warden will beat down the hackers and Blizzard's Game Masters have all sorts of crazy tools at their disposal to track and penalize dastardly profiteering gold farmers -- make ban hammer go faster. Some players might want to change their character name if some weirdo is harassing them because you know stalking is bad. Official announcement and list of server test-beds after the jump:

Tags: blizzard, character-names, mmog-names, name, name-generation, naming, naming-help, whats-in-a-name, world-of-warcraft, world-of-warcraft-names, wow-name-changes