Costume Character names

[Rudra]

1 hour ago, GM Impervium said:

Just chiming in here to lend a bit of a technical perspective:

Names CAN be changed mid-game. I've done it to myself several times when doing RP events. However, the command to do so currently requires GM-level access (as it can be done to anyone, all I did was point the command at myself).

Even if we freed up this command for people to use on just themselves, there would still be the issue of reserving names. Even if you hot-swapped, it could cause a bit of confusion about what names are currently available (Imagine someone making a character "AwesomeDude" while someone else is renaming themselves that and the reservation feature doesn't work?)

Also, as a GM, I'd find my job a bit tougher if people kept renaming themselves. I could imagine a few sneaky jerks trying to get away with stuff (luckily, most people are diligent enough to record global names when reporting others for misbehavior).

But here's a maybe-workable idea: Badge Titles. It's already possible use a macro to set your badge title to correspond with a costume change. Granted, badge titles are in smaller text and oftentimes may not have the names you want, plus you'd have to collect them all first... but maybe that's something you can work with?

Players get access to the GM-level name change command, and the game goes nuts. Let the Name Wars begin!

 

*Player A renames player B's character because wants that name*

*Player A renames self to desired name*

*Player B renames player A to something rude*

*Player B reclaims original name*

*Player A renames Player B's character something vulgar*

*Player A finds out cannot rename to desired name because Player C grabbed it*

*Player A renames Player C to....*

 

Yep... fun to be had by all. Glad that is a GM-level command and we won't ever have it.

[GM Impervium]

Well, that's why I said "Just on themselves" =P

The amount of hilarity that would ensue with everyone renaming each other would be something to see, but it'd also get old pretty quick too, I imagine 😃

[Rudra]

Yeah, I was trying for comically stupid. Guess I just got the stupid part. Sorry. 😄

[TraumaTrain]

Name your dude Sathadubis.

[Luminara]

16 hours ago, Rudra said:

Hades was both god and Underworld.

 

In the original Greek mythology, Hades was no more a place than Zeus, or Poseidon, or Hephaestus.  After Greek culture had blended with other cultures, such as the Roman Empire (which incorporated other religions quite readily), and monotheism began to spread (which also incorporated aspects of various religions), Hades was redefined.  But the concept of Hades as a location didn't originally exist in Greek mythology any more than the concept of Zeus being Mount Olympus, or Athena being Athens.  That simply wasn't how the ancient Greeks envisioned their pantheon.  Their gods resided in places, they were not places in and of themselves.

[Rudra]

The original Greek mythology was not a pantheon. It became a pantheon as the various cults absorbed or annihilated each other, incorporating what they needed or wanted as they went. In that the abodes of the gods and titans had no names at the outset is correct. The names were attributed later. (By the way, Zeus was never considered to be Mt. Olympus any more than Athena was considered to be Athens. Athens took her name in her honor hoping for her patronage. [Edit: Though according to the myth it was named in her honor because she gave them something useful where her rival Poseidon did not.] Zeus was simply the ruler of Mt. Olympus.) The exception to that rule being Tartarus, which was not the realm of the dead where Hades came to rule at the end of the titanomachy, but was the realm of the imprisoned within the realm of the dead. And where the titan Tartarus was believed to either be imprisoned himself or asleep. (And then argued about possibly being the realm of the imprisoned himself.) Reading through the evolutions of Greco-Roman mythology, which did have their differences other than just names, is pretty nuts. (The Romans may have adopted the Greek belief system, but they modified it to suit their own needs/views.)

 

Anyway, I really wish you lived somewhere nearby. Sounds like we could have a grand discussion on mythology. Before we wander too much further into the mists of ancient religious roots and beliefs, I'm ending my part in this derailment. I figure you'll make another post on the subject, I'll read it, and without response we can both move on and let this thread get back to debating having separate names for each costume slot. My apologies for having incited this derailment. (It was definitely fun though.)

Edited March 8, 2022 by Rudra

[TheZag]

Names can be 20 characters long and counting all the letters numbers and some of the special characters you can use in a name is more then 40 potential choices but ill just use 40 characters for this example.

 

40 characters in 20 slots is      40^{^}20    which equals 109,951,162,777,600,000,000,000,000,000,000  potential naming possibilities

 

Alot of that will just be gibberish but lets just over estimate and say that 1 in 1 trillion combinations actually contains a name.  That leaves us with 109,951,162,777,600,000,000 names.  And go a step further and say that only 1 in 1 trillion names is actually a good name.  Then we have 109,951,162 names that are potentially good names left on a server.  Nearly 110 million 'good' names are out there and people say everything is taken.  I dont think character slots should have their own names but there is plenty out there for everyone to get good names for all their toons if they want to.

 

And that was just for names that use the full 20 characters.  You have all the names that are shorter than 20 as well.  You cant over estimate and divide by trillions as the names get shorter but there are already millions available just from full length names and that just increases as you add in shorter names.

 

 

[JasperStone]

Create a bind for each costume that has your character shout I AM <insert name here>

[srmalloy]

3 hours ago, JasperStone said:

Create a bind for each costume that has your character shout I AM <insert name here>

We've already got imitators for 'CHAIN LETTER MAN' (or something like that) on Excelsior we don't need to have it metastasizing....    😁

[PeregrineFalcon]

On 3/8/2022 at 5:58 PM, TheZag said:

Names can be 20 characters long and counting all the letters numbers and some of the special characters you can use in a name is more then 40 potential choices but ill just use 40 characters for this example.

 

40 characters in 20 slots is      40^{^}20    which equals 109,951,162,777,600,000,000,000,000,000,000  potential naming possibilities

 

Alot of that will just be gibberish but lets just over estimate and say that 1 in 1 trillion combinations actually contains a name.  That leaves us with 109,951,162,777,600,000,000 names.  And go a step further and say that only 1 in 1 trillion names is actually a good name.  Then we have 109,951,162 names that are potentially good names left on a server.  Nearly 110 million 'good' names are out there and people say everything is taken.  I dont think character slots should have their own names but there is plenty out there for everyone to get good names for all their toons if they want to.

 

And that was just for names that use the full 20 characters.  You have all the names that are shorter than 20 as well.  You cant over estimate and divide by trillions as the names get shorter but there are already millions available just from full length names and that just increases as you add in shorter names.

I understand what you're saying, but you're using a false premise.

 

"Good names" can't be based on a subset of the number of available characters that form words, it has to be based on a subset of words that are considered "good names", or combinations that are "good."

 

Now you can argue all day long about which words are "good" and which ones aren't, but since there's only about 1 million words in the English language, the subset of "good names", that are also appropriate for comic book super heroes, is going to be considerably smaller than your 110 million estimate.

 

But it should still be in the millions. So basically I'm bored at work today, and nitpicking.

[Rudra]

4 hours ago, JasperStone said:

Create a bind for each costume that has your character shout I AM <insert name here>

*in loud booming voice* I. Am. OZ!!

[TheZag]

1 hour ago, PeregrineFalcon said:

I understand what you're saying, but you're using a false premise.

 

"Good names" can't be based on a subset of the number of available characters that form words, it has to be based on a subset of words that are considered "good names", or combinations that are "good."

 

Now you can argue all day long about which words are "good" and which ones aren't, but since there's only about 1 million words in the English language, the subset of "good names", that are also appropriate for comic book super heroes, is going to be considerably smaller than your 110 million estimate.

 

But it should still be in the millions. So basically I'm bored at work today, and nitpicking.

 

It would be lower after omitting similar names as well.  But after dividing the total of possible combinations by a trillion twice,  i was comfortable enough with what was left. 

 

I was mostly just saying there are plenty of names if people try.  Im lazy though,  my characters are TheZag,  TheZag-one,  TheZag-two and so on. 

 

 

Edited March 11, 2022 by TheZag

[Rudra]

But there are only like 20 or 30 good names. *dons defecation deflection device*

 

 

 

🤪😄

[Troo]

troo

[JasperStone]

On 3/11/2022 at 11:36 AM, srmalloy said:

We've already got imitators for 'CHAIN LETTER MAN' (or something like that) on Excelsior we don't need to have it metastasizing....    😁

I am on Indom ....details?

[srmalloy]

8 hours ago, JasperStone said:

I am on Indom ....details?

The appearance of "I AM CHAINMAIL MAN!" repeatedly in help and general chat, and sometimes in broadcast while the 1200 PST ship raid is assembling... and the appearance of CHAINMAIL GIRL since then...

 

[Ghost]

12 hours ago, srmalloy said:

The appearance of "I AM CHAINMAIL MAN!" repeatedly in help and general chat, and sometimes in broadcast while the 1200 PST ship raid is assembling... and the appearance of CHAINMAIL GIRL since then...

 

He’s still around?

I put that fool on ignore a while ago

[Dragotect]

On 3/6/2022 at 10:25 AM, josephgudgeon said:

Is there anyway you can make it so I can have a Different name for each costume slot of the same character ? I have a Character who needs his name to change when he changes costumes.  Thank you for your time.

The only realistic reason for this is RP purposes for in and out of character (and maybe using aliases for a spy character or something).

If you're RPing, it's already assumed (unless stated OOC or IC) that secret identities are just that, secret. Out of costume, you aren't Giganator, in costume you aren't Carlos Carlosson. Honestly, even the psychic RPers (who would have a reason to know both) typically try to keep to this rule unless they're pricks who meta game.

The only other reason-annoying and selfish-would be because you want to reserve 'x' amount of names by making one character instead of 'x' carbon copy characters. You have your SS/Invuln tanker, why do you need to make 9 more just by another name?

And yes, not all the good names are taken (as someone said up above, and because I usually find something good enough), but that doesn't mean there aren't thousands, possibly tens of thousands, of good names taken that just flat out aren't being actively used or even used at all beyond level 5 (I go through and purge characters for this reason, since I know I have altitis). Your suggestion, to make sure someone doesn't snipe your 'y' name while going around as 'x' instead of 'y', just isn't feasible so long as they cannot figure out how to detach the character name from the account name.

[RogerWilco]

On 3/7/2022 at 4:06 PM, Greycat said:

 

Didn't happen on live. Unlikely to happen.

 

Well, there are names that I used on live, that are not available now.

I wish we had some name trading system, or if people don't play a character for a year or so, their name gets released.

 

In that sense, I like the system that Star Trek Online uses, where you can have overlapping character names.

[Rudra]

Did you have to include the individual's global name when you sent that character a message? "/t Crimson Crusader@flounderingfish, ".