I see a lot of complaints about out of character names, name-squatting, floating names, and things like that. I wonder if it wouldn't be a bad idea to get rid of hard coded player names altogether.

Instead, players can assign other players an alias. If you see someone you want to remember for some reason, you can give them a "nickname", and for your purposes it will act just like their character name in other games. If you don't like the name a player uses themselves, you can give them another. Obviously you'd still need a "username" to log in, but that never needs to be displayed.

So this seems pretty straightforward, but then I got to wondering how far you could take it. Would the same thing apply to pets? Buildings? Items? After a certain point it could get ridiculous. But still, is there some major disadvantage of using this system for players that I'm overlooking?

I do like the idea, but a simpler fix would be too have names only displayed when you click on that person or NPC. That way your screen isn't filled with names all the time, but you get the information you need. (Also, it allows you too sneak around PKs, *Nordic online*)

Well, that only solves one of the common complaints with player names. There are others, some of which I mentioned in the OP.

Thats why players should have first and last names, as a quiet, but enforced rule.

So you could be Xainder Midcroft, and meet Xainder Mindfreak. It all works out happily~!

That's two of the three problems I mentioned in OP down, one to go.

But seriously, these ideas sound like viable alternatives, but the system I described solves the problems of name scarcity and inappropriate/immersion breaking names in one swoop without the need for extra moderation

Unfortunately, I only come with problems, not solutions (I always hate when that is all my post is). Part of your post sounded like players will have a self-given, official name, and part of it sounded like it would never be displayed or known. The same problems exist either way, but they are much more pronounced when there are no self-given names at all.

Common names that players can see are extremely important for community. Player's names are not only used when directly dealing with that player, but when discussing that player to other people. If the target player does not have a public name, how can you mention them to someone else who only knows them as another alias that you do not know? This could be for small, positive things, such as recommending them to a guild as a solid game member, or for more important things, such as reporting them to a GM for harassment.

I believe there are quite a few other problems with an idea such as this, but this is the most important that jumps out at me. Most games combat bad, abusive or copyright-infringing names by simply letting players report other player's names. Their name is then flagged for the GM to review and make a decision on. Yes, it is somewhat time consuming, but this is the normal way of handling it, rather than forcing the community to try to deal with a nameless-society. One idea I have had to try to reduce the number of GM complaints of names would be to put the first line of reaction in the player's hands. What I mean by this, is give the players a way to report names that are inappropriate, and have them enter a reason why at that time. Once a certain number of people have tagged a name as inappropriate (the amount would depend on the user-base size but it needs to be high enough so that a group of friends cannot abuse it to annoy someone), the player is automatically notified that they need to change their name or appeal, and they are shown a copy of the naming rules. I would wager that 9 times out of 10, the player knew the name could be a problem, or they could see in the rules where the violation was. However, if they still don't believe it is a problem, they could appeal, and only at that time is it flagged for a GM to make a decision. I think this could greatly cut down on the amount of GM work dealing with bad or abusive names. Punishment for abusing the reporting system would also need to be part of the equation.

What I was thinking is they have a username, but that's not necessarily their character's name. The character has no official name, although some players may choose an unofficial name.

You bring up a good point. In order for this to work, there would have to be some kind of "describe" command.

For example, if player A knows a character as "kimosabe" and player B knows him as "the lone ranger", player A can give a command like "/describe kimosabe" and player B will receive something like "Player A describes an individual who sounds like 'the lone ranger'"

If player B doesn't know this person, they could be given an opportunity to add them to their contact list based on the description, maybe giving them a different alias.

It could be made a little smoother. Maybe if player A types something like "Have you seen *kimosabe lately?" Player B will see "Player A says: Have you seen 'the lone ranger' lately?"

An added benefit that I didn't think would be that this would encourage players to communicate through in-game means.

I guess this would really only work in a game with relatively small, relatively static communities though. If you're dealing with new people all the time, it wouldn't be practical.

That kind of feels to me like cutting the grass with an atom bomb. It burdens players with the name conversions and the systems they will have to use to understand each other to fix a problem that may not even bother everyone. You have to keep in mind that mostly role-playing players are the ones who get upset over bad names. Your average MMORPG player has no problem with "Bigbuddsmokez", "Fraglord", "Pwn4leet" and things like that.

Another problem with the above system are players that use voice chat systems such as Ventrillo and Team Speak, or for players who know each other in real life and attempt to discuss other players out of the game. A system that converts player's aliases mentioned by another player into the alias they understand would break down in this situation. If using voice chat, how could you give directions to each player? They may not even know what name you know them as.

It just seems extremely complicated to fix a fairly small problem. I feel like the best solution is the one most widely in use, which is to have a solid naming policy and correct issues that players in the community find inappropriate.

Well, like I said I consider the discouragement of out-of-game communication to be an advantage. I realize that most players would probably feel otherwise though.

I would think that after a time, people would come to an agreement on what to call each other. After all, we do in real life. I've seen message boards where some people are known by nicknames, real names, or character names that are different from their username on the board. I would think that when teaming up for a raid or whatever, everyone would agree on a standard system of call signs, adjusting their contact list to match.

I think you do a good job of pointing out the drawbacks of this system, but I think they aren't insurmountable. I think this has a lot of subtle social benefits. It encourages people to talk and share information, and it encourages people to maintain relationships with the same people.

It would also open up the possibility for disguise skills, which I haven't seen since UO. Obviously GMs could see through the disguise and know the player's real identity when their false one is reported. I realize the abuse potential is a whole 'nother can of worms.

Like I said, this probably needs a certain type of game to work. In most cases, it seems like the traditional system is sufficient.

As jackolantern said, this would mostly be of interest to roleplayers. Now as someone with a keen interest in building for roleplayers, I do regard names as an important issue. It’s not just the retarded names that cause a problem. Floating names in general are problematic. Firstly, people will sometimes metagame the floaty name and know your name before you tell them. Secondly, there is no real disguise skill possible when the floaty name gives you away (remember the metagaming part).

I think the real difficulties come down to UI usability and recognition rules. Let me explain. Let’s suppose that by default, the floaty text above my character is suppressed.

If I introduce myself as bob to another character and bump into that character again, it is reasonable for that player to see “Bob” floating above my character.
If I’m wearing a mask, it is not reasonable for him to see “Bob”. If I remove the mask, he should recognize me.
What about if I’m wearing a mask, but I’m also wearing distinctive clothing? That guy is the mask is probably Bob.
What about if that character tells a third character my name? When I first met my wife, I did not know her name and asked a friend. She did not tell me her name, but I certain knew it.
What about nicknames and aliases? How many people do you know by nicknames or short forms and were surprised to find out their real, full names? I have an old friend whom I call “Mike”, but his wife calls him “Michael”. I have a cousin named “Elizabeth”, whom I’ve always known as “Betsy”, but whom in other circles is known as “Liz”. (oh the things you learn on Facebook)


So how do names get passed around? There should be a way of tagging a character with an alias somehow, as well as a way of passing that alias around.

I think we're pretty much on the same page here. Good to hear I'm not the only one who thinks it might be important.


I think it might get somewhat complicated if things change every time you change clothes. I was thinking more of an abstracted disguise skill, one that lets you create a new identity. If you normally know someone as "Bruce Wayne" but he disguises himself, you can't see that he's the same person as "Bruce Wayne", but you could give his disguised identity the alias "Batman".

Like I said, one player can describe another to another, and if that player doesn't already have the person being described on his/her contact list, they can add him based on the description.


I'm hoping with this system it will happen the same way as in real life: through introductions. When you meet someone, you tell them the name you prefer. When someone else brings you to meet someone, they tell you the name they know him by.

I think this is the most realistic system I can think of. The alias system is necessary simply because mmorpg characters aren't distinctive enough to be recognized via their physical appearance or the sound of their voice. The alias system is a way of abstracting that.

Mud I made you had to introduce yourself to a player before he/she seen your name. Otherwise you would get a short descriptive sentence about the player (female elf with blonde hair and blue eyes). Depending on the game you are making (a heavier RP element and PVP element make this beneficial) while a casual PVE game will probably make your players hate you.

Also, had cloaks people could wear to hide their armor as hades so it couldn't be identified easily. Still could see the helmet and weapons though.

Lastly they could pull the hood up on their cloak to be completely anonymous to everyone.

Sounds pretty close to what I was talking about. But how did you deal with reporting rules violations of hooded characters to GMs? Did the issue just not come up?

For a MUD with a smaller population, it would probably not be that hard for a GM just to review the game logs with location and time info from the reporting player.

I'm mulling over how I'd do a full blown alias/disguise system using Memotica. Give me a day or two to ponder.