RP guilds and poorly chosen char names

Currently, there is a discussion going on within Sin Belore about whether people with poorly chosen character names (that resemble NPC names) should be forced to namechange. According to some of our officers, names like that give us a bad reputation as a RP guild. I'm curious to see if you all really judge a guild by (accidentally or not) poorly chosen char names or that the actual RP is more important to you. Hence the poll. Feel free to discuss the matter below.

What? I don't understand what you mean.

Úthèr joined Chapter.

Is this acceptable or not?

Oh famous lore char chars. No.

Depends on what NPC really.
When I named my orc (first one) Marogg I just googled orc name, got a big list, took one on M. Later I found out there was an orc NPC with that name. Tbh, just made me like it more as in "Look, this is a COMMON orc name".

Had it been say that I had picked Hellscream... well, different thing all together.

It really does depend on well known the NPC in question is.

Whilst it is unreasonable to believe there are no Arthas's/Calia's out there. If Blzzard actually cared to mirror reality when applicable I'd place good bets the populatiy of those two names would have soared in Lordaeron after their births. I do think it's important to avoid such clear 'references' when choosing a character name. Especially if they're called Drizzt.That said, please don't judge me for my misfortune. Blizzard named an NPC after me and there's nothing I can do about it! D:

Overall I take everything I can into account when consideringa guilds reputatio. But as long as the name fits the setting it's very far down on my list of 'pet hates'.

Regards,
Genevieve (the hairdresser)

Do you think it makes a guild less believable as an RP guild, though, when one or two members have names like that?

Hm, I try not to blame the whole guild for it but it doesn't look good.

But then again.. Apparently there is an NPC named Jean Pierre.

I think it's fine to have names similar or even exactly like NPC names. My character's last name is exactly like an NPC's last name and only realized that two years later (which is amazing considering I was visiting that NPC for new spells every two levels :p...). Also, I personally wouldn't care if somebody's name was Tyrandé or whatever, but I know most people do.

Anyways, I role-play my character, so their guild tag, name, whatever, doesn't really matter because my character can't see it floating above their head.

I don't understand the poll [edit: nvm, had to read it 5 times ), but I am giving my opinion anyway:

I am against using major lore characters in names, unless they are modified enough to not resemble the original name. And accents or changing one wovel to another are not enough change, imo. Minor characters such as fishermans, farmers etc. are not an issue to me.

I am one of those people who sigh when they see people called Thráll or Kealthas ingame, and I sigh even harder if they are part of a roleplaying guild.

I don't like bad names like that but I won't judge someone on that alone.

I've met fantastic RPers with absolutely atrocious names, so I try to keep the names off the charts and just judge people on what they say and do instead.

Ataris wrote:I don't like bad names like that but I won't judge someone on that alone.

This and just this

If anyone comes up to me to rp, I'll be polite as a default and give them a chance, even if I've heard less than positive things about them, a first impression is that important after all.

But when I walk around, I will be more inclined to stop walking to hear what Maranea, Arastar and Lereon are discussing in the inn than for example Applepie, Arthass and Sasuke.

I know quite some good RPers with poorly chosen if not OOC names, people who are even from OOC guilds. Usually the situation is such, person starts the game, doesn't know that well what RP is and picks a non-RP/bad name.

After time he gets into it, and I know a few people who have name changed/asked a GM for help. I personally would not judge a person just by the name or the guild tag if he comes to me ICly in a proper manner.

It's shades of gray, really. As pointed out, "Arthäs" ought to induce facepalms. Alyssia or Marogg, not really. I believe in unique (or, at worst, extremely limited) names. Otherwise we'd be full of Jim&Jack-based lore.

Names had a meaning. Zul'jin is treated like a name, but it's in fact a title. "Kaitelyn", even if a damn princess of Stormwind was to be named that, would still be received as a -common- name that just so happened to be the name of said princess as well. "Arthas", "Jaina", "Malfurion" are unique names. No, I don't think many kids would be given those names because of the then prince's birth. On the contrary. That phenomenon hasn't occured even once, with the lore characters. Take a walk around all of Lordaeron and tell me how many Arthases and Uthers you see among NPC's. None. They are unique. Therefore, adopting the name should also be out of line.

If someone had named their char that, they can always rename or simply enough use a different fresh character with a fresh original name. It goes without saying that Hellraiser/Blackdeath/Megakiller are out of line in a rp guild regardless of claims of "seeing the mistake too late".

If you see a mistake, you fix it, you don't try to pass it through a loophole. If you try to pass it through a loophole, it hardly counts as "realising" the mistake, really. It's just air-talk to turn a blind eye.

Yes, I do include bad names in judging a RP guild. And guildleaders should always be responsible about who they are letting in, like that. I've heard guildleaders go "oh, but there was nothing I could do *shrug*" when the very decision of someone joining, rests in their hands alone. That's unacceptable for me. If guildleaders/officers shake off responsibilities like that, what's the point in having them at all? To have a comfy pillow under their ass and be all primadonna? Anyone thinking like that, should not be holding their position any more than a moderator that doesn't moderate or a police officer that stands and watches burglars. It annuls their very purpose of existence.

I'm supporting your officers that point out badly named members drag guild reputation down. They do so as much as ooc'ers would. And you'd kick ooc'ers, so.. do something about it, I'd say. It's not something to be basing 100% of one's jugement (after all, noone said ooc'ers are "horrible monsters" or anything, some may be golden souls that simply aren't into rp, it's not a crime. But never lose perspective and context. In a rp realm, ooc'ers don't belong, end of. No matter how nice they may be, noone's denying they might be nice, noone's undermining their personality. you can be the nicest guy in town, you still have no place in the women's showers, completely different things). However, it's not something to be ignored, either.

(mind you, it still depends on what names we're talking about. I'm typing under the understanding it's out of line names. Not in the level of "Marogg / omg i saw an npc called Marogg", that's really a non-issue. But in the level of "Arthas" or "Uther"... yeah... just no.)

Edit: Another example, to put it in perspective.. it's like building up a wall. Each places a brick. You can be the nicest guy of the Builders' Guild, but it really doesn't matter if your brick is hollow. If you "realise your mistake" but still insist on your hollow brick to be part of the wall, you are being irresponsible. The liability is inserted and (what's even worse) it paves the way for more to do the same. And guess what will happen to the wall once too many hollow bricks become part of it.

Thank you Nayan, it warms my heart to see that there are indeed others who see the naming issue like our officer team in Sin Belore does.

My curiosity wonders if anyone will pick option number 2.

I don't think that naming the character that caused the discussion is a good thing without him knowing about it. Sufficient to say that he had another character in the guild first, with a non-npc name, and joined with another char, that coincidentally had a similar name as a lore character. The latter is not intended to roleplay with (only to help leveling the guild), and the officer who invited him wasn't aware of the naming policy and doesn't agree on it.

My opinions that if it's a little bag merchant thats in the back alley of Orgrimmar in a shack then no worries, since lets be honest it's normal in real life for more than one person to have a name! But a big lore character i'm a bit against

*prods own name* When I first started playing, I was more of a... watcher. I didn't feel confident enough to RP, until I knew how. So when I got the jist of it after spying on some pirates at the Crossroads on a little belf mage called Zenneth, I immediately wanted a pirate. Now I was in an OOC guild at the time! So I made a little belf rogue called Morynth. But they were like, MORINTH is cooler. So I did that and joined the pirates with her! Soon after, Fang made a comment about blue people and killing people with mind sex! I had no idea what he was talking about. But then it turned out my lovely OOC guild changed the spelling of my name to a character in Mass Effect 2. :3 And for many months, I've considered that name change... XD

As for other characters! The odds of EVERY SINGLE LIVING BEING ON AZEROTH having a completely different name is... very slim. Some names will be very common within their race!
Even a name like Garrosh would be considered Orcish, and all the orcs are going to name their kids after their hero. But I'd still stab someone for impersonating the good ol' war chief.

Completely retarded names will irritate me a slight bit more. But until you RP with them, you'll never know if there was any logic behind the name or not. Maybe they were named in the same way as Thrall? I myself have a troll in my guild called Grampa. A fabulous RP'er, his Trolls name is what people refer to him as. "Grampa."

Some people also RP using their last names to create their character, if their first name is taken. If it's a common name, it's gonna look messy with a lot of special characters in it.

Just to clear things out, the name in question was indeed a major character in lore. Such as Kael'thas, Medivh, Illidan, or Nefarian are.
What made it worse is that it was a newly created low level alt, and the person in question was not new to roleplaying.

Medivh, my money is on him.

Morinth wrote:Even a name like Garrosh would be considered Orcish, and all the orcs are going to name their kids after their hero.

Even though I kind of understand not wanting 'famous' names in your roster, this passed my mind as well. In our world it is not all that strange to name a child after a celebrity you like, or maybe even after a princess. In Brazil there are a lot of people who name their kids Jesus even xD Ofcourse, it would be ridiculous for a sin'dorei to name their child Arthas, because they err... don't like him... But I think they could name their child Halduron or something.

Like I said, I do kind of understand a guild would not want someone named after a famous NPC, because the initial reaction will be: zomg, someone is trying to RP Kaelthas!!!1!! But if you think about it, it's not -that- strange right?

Pondering on the frequency of names would be easier if we knew the actual ingame populations.

The so-far population indicates it was not common practice, though.

And Nessra, about what you mentioned in your last post... I remember a guildie in the Devoted (a purely PvE guild, even, not an RP-oriented one. i don't make a separation, but some people do.) asking me to invite their alt for the same reason. The name was ooc. I told them I can't and won't do that because of the name. What struck me the most was that it was a ... lvl5. Still, instead of adopting a "Hmm, point there. Well, it's not really trouble, I can just delete the char and reroll it properly, it's only lvl5, it's 10 mins' old or so...", they chose to stand for it and insist on keeping the char as it is and get invited.

Ofc there was no invitation and when I informed the other two officers who were offline, we had absolute agreement on it. Said char never joined the guild. Imo, that is part of an officer's "job description" in rp realms. To protect and promote rp, not allow it to be overrun with alien elements, then shrug with a "nothing I can do" childish excuse, cause there is something you can do, you have some power over it. You can't ban all ooc names/behaviours, but you can not welcome them.

PS: Of some relevance, I've also recently left an rp guild I've been part of for years, because of said inability to enforce the policies (the straw that broke the camel's back, maybe, but still). It's not only about "how outsiders see it". It may well end up losing out on the inside, too. Some might play it down, to avoid drama, and just keep it in for a while before they leave for greener pastures. I'm more confronting. *shrug*