Would you settle for a close, but not exact name?

[FFFF]

So I've been hanging out in Excelsior lately soaking up the vibe of a very crowded server. I'm beginning to see a lot of names that use substitute characters, spaces or other tricks since they weren't able to get the first choice name. Examples (made up to protect the innocent):

 

B L O O D

Bl00d

B1ood

B.l.o.o.d.

 

You get the idea. Probably the only one I might personally go for is B.l.o.o.d. Maybe some sort of android or robot which uses an acronym intentionally? The others are not acceptable to me at all. I'd much rather have a hero named Blood Maven or Blood Baroness than some of the examples. However, there are other folks who are quite content or have higher tolerance for inexact names.

Edited January 11 by FFFF

[FupDup]

I try to use a thesaurus and/or character name generator to try to find things that are close enough to what I originally wanted. In one case I actually came up with a better name than my first idea because of trying to find an unreserved substitute. 

 

I definitely won't tolerate stuff like a 1 in place of an l or such anymore, though I admit I did use such tricks with two of my earliest characters here. 

Edited January 11 by FupDup

[SeraphimKensai]

If I'm not coming up with a unique word for a character name and using a compound word or phrase, I require each word to be spelled correctly.

[Techwright]

Why do you ask, FFFPH?  😉

 

For my part, I prefer to add another word rather than try any L33T speak.  It tends to bring out creativity.

 

Barnstormer failed, so I created Ace Barnstormer, and actually prefer it.

 

Ray Gun was taken, but Major Ray Gunn gave me inspiration for possibly my best rounded character in concept and story.

[Oubliette_Red]

If I find that a particular name is taken I may include/remove a space and find that it is available. Most occasions though, I will do as other do and hit the thesaurus.

 

Back on Legacy I attempted 'Black Ice' for an Ice controller, pretty straight forward but taken, so I opted for 'Sable Drift' which I found that I liked much better.

 

[Yomo Kimyata]

Sometimes I find an even better name.

[OmegaOne]

The whole "unique name" thing that COH has is one of my pet peeves with the game, even from day one almost 20 years ago. Who cares if someone who created a character 5 years ago and hasn't touched it since has the same character name? I'd rather see another character with the same name as one of mine than the "leet speak" derivatives.  I know the "character@account" method that other MMOs use is likely not something that could be brought to this game (current method probably baked into how the servers talk to each other) but one could dream.

 

That said with the sudden influx of new players, I wouldn't be surprised if that naming policy they have been threatening to implement is actually switched on soon.

Edited January 12 by OmegaOne

[Glacier Peak]

In the old days, you'd see character names like:

 

xxXxflameguyxXX

1fLAMEGUY

Flameguy_

F1am3gu7

 

I couldn't allow myself to do that. 

[Biff Pow]

Now would be a good time for veteran players to delete or rename some of their lesser used characters to free up names for the new players.

[Go0gleplex]

I use the synonym trick as well pretty often or translate to a different language than english (who says all the heroes/villains come from english speaking countries after all?).  I avoid the L33T stuff and things that would've given my grammar teacher a stroke. Ended up with some fairly good names too I'd like to think. 

[Glacier Peak]

😁

[Snarky]

how clothes?

[Coyotedancer]

When I moved my speed-farmer over to Excelsior, I had to...

I'd had the name Haroeris for him on Everlasting (my main server-) from the very early days, but found it taken on Ex a few months in, when I decided to migrate all of the "bird things". I wasn't willing to call Harry anything else, so he's been HAR0ERIS ever since. It was a concession I was willing to make, mostly because he's a soloing farmer. No one ever sees his cheater-name but me.

[High_Beam]

I am not a fan of the character replacement names (l33t speak, punctuation).  Like many have said, I just try something different.  Two word names give you more flexibility and I often use bastardized Latin or French and even German once in some names (Native English speaker here).  Also sometimes commonly accepted variations for words also help (i.e Phyre for Fire).  Spelled out Numbers are cool too.  Titles like Doctor or Offficer or Ranks also add flavor.  Also when you break out the big box of crayons (with the sharpener) different names for the same color really help.  I only got a few characters that got one word names (Runeslinger, Flattery and Tideway).

[Seed22]

I wouldnt do it personally. Just easier to come up with a new name. But I don’t judge those who do, I’ve teamed with players who have leet speak who play better than those with extravagant names

[Carnifax]

The only time I have is with Modul-8, my Time / Sonic Troll DJ / 90s raver. But that's a deliberate throwback / homage to 90s UK Rave bands like Altern-8.

 

Weirdly the only time I got stick for it was when I moved him to Everlasting for a bit. Someone gave out to me for the "leet speak name" (even though it predates leet by 15 years or so) 

 

Kids these days. No appreciation for classical music. 

 

 

[ZemX]

17 minutes ago, Carnifax said:

Kids these days. No appreciation for classical music. 

 

Or movies.  Has no one given you grief for Bullitt Time thinking it was just a "Bullet Time was taken" name?

[Carnifax]

1 minute ago, ZemX said:

 

Or movies.  Has no one given you grief for Bullitt Time thinking it was just a "Bullet Time was taken" name?

Weirdly, no. 

 

But you're right, that's where I nicked it from for my DP/ Kin. Seemed apt although he looks more like Paul Newman playing a villainous Victorian slum landlord. 

[Cyrickain13]

I enjoy the Role play aspect and making clever names that are unique....

 

I have Barely Legal, Full Fisting, Double Tapp some very cool unique characters with unique name...

 

White Skull my main villain.... I am sure that there are lots his copycats out there. 

 

Imagine being mistook for a lame villain like Whit3 $kull ....

[Zhym]

I've only done that once.  It was a name I had back one of the Live servers but someone had already taken by the time I got to Homecoming.  So instead of Canned Heat (fire blaster police robot, of course), I named him Canned.Heat. Otherwise, if I have a character concept and the name is taken, I just choose a different name.  If the name I wanted was a wordplay or concept name, the fact that it's taken just means that my concept wasn't as original as I thought it was.

 

I did realize after I'd created one character that there were other characters with similar names. In fact, at one point I think Tomcat, Tom Cat, and Tom-Cat were all on the server at the same time.  I have no idea why we didn't team up.

Edited January 12 by Zhym

[lemming]

Yea, it's fun when you run into characters with similar names.   I think Tara Watt on Excel has run into her similar names the most.

 

I've dropped spaces on a couple names.   And used a Z instead of a S.    Or K for C.   Though for Keyboard Kat, I wanted the alliteration.

 

There are a few names I check on occasion to see if they are now available.

[pawstruck]

Any good artist will tell you that limitations foster creativity rather than extinguish it.

[Techwright]

I'll add a small comment about L33T: there are players with Freakshow characters.  Though I don't use L33T, I find it highly acceptable to use a name like Fr3@k3r with those characters, and would do it myself, should I ever be so inclined to build a Freakshow character.

Edited January 13 by Techwright

[Yomo Kimyata]

20 hours ago, Yomo Kimyata said:

Sometimes I find an even better name.

 

Case Study:

 

A while back, I wanted to make a themed SG named the Defcon Five.  It was to be a quintet of female special agents whose primary purpose was to protect the U.S. and the world from nuclear disaster.  Now, there are five levels of DEFCON, and each one has a code name associated with it (From least serious to most serious they are: 5: Fade Out; 4: Double Take; 3: Round House; 2: Fast Pace; 1: Cocked Pistol).  As you can imagine, most/all of these code names had already been snatched up, and names like DEFCON Two were not available across all five members, so I kludged together names for each of them like DC5 Fade Out, and made power sets that made sense and had a pretty good backstory for both the individual members and the group as a whole.  But, the names sucked, and I was never really able to play them out so they are all languishing in their early 20s and I consider it a defunct project.  So that is a sad story.

 

However, I also decided they needed a nemesis, and so I created a cyborg monster from a post-apocalyptic future whose sole goal is to bring nuclear holocaust to our present.  The clear name for this unstoppable beast would have been DEFCON Zero, which was taken.  However, DEFCON Zer0 added just a bit of flavor, in a post-apocalyptic/steampunky way, and I ended up creating variations of that character with that name across a few shards.  They are all awesome and terrifying and fit the name perfectly.  And that is a happy story.

[Skyhawke]

Waaaaaaay back in closed beta, I tried to get Skyhawk and then Skyhawke as names, both were taken (Skyhawk was my original Hero Machine <remember that?> design) and ended up putting the hyphen in and Sky-Hawke was born. I have zero issue putting a hyphen in to get a name. If I can't do that, I come up with another name until one takes.