HeroOfTime2938June 20th, 2008 by Brittany
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I like to try to get to know my competition. Get into their heads, figure out their personalities–size up the competition if you will. It’s an important pre-game ritual. I’ll look over gamercards, avatars, character choices, and most importantly, their names. Sometimes, I find genuinely creative and interesting names.
But most of the time, I’m not so lucky. Honestly, I’m just baffled by the amount of gamers who choose to create their online identities from the wide world of TV, cartoon, movie, or game characters. It’s not really bad enough they have to use someone else’s name, either; they’re always coupled with numbers at the end or inane mispellings. I like to call these types of handles lamertags. Be forewarned, you are about to embark on a hellish descent into comformity and banality that only exists in the minds of individuals such as “InuyashaLuver453″ and “MarcusFenix89345″.
Your online identity should ideally be an extension of who you are. After all, most times it’s the only way your competitors will be able to identify you or address you should you choose to keep your real name to yourself. It may not seem important when taken at face value, but when you think about it, it’s a lot like naming a pet, or a child. Why would you name your dog “Fido973″ or your daughter “Yuna?” You wouldn’t–or at least, I hope you wouldn’t. You want their name to hold some kind of meaning. After all, you’re the parent, and children are indeed precious to their parents. A gaming handle should be your “precious child”.
Think of this–you start out playing casually after choosing a ridiculous name for yourself. By a stroke of luck or through simply playing every day, you blossom into a skilled player who is constantly being invited to new clans, offered sponsorships, and gaining general notoriety. If that happens, do you really want the gaming community to know you as “HeroOfTime2938?”
What about the 2937 other heroes of time? Most importantly, what about the original? Sure, you might become popular and a formidable opponent, but you’re always going to have a mediocre and uninspiring name. You might not even be remembered because it’s so lackluster. What’s more, potential prospects might overlook you simply because of your name. True, that’s unfair, but why should they be expected to remember a string of numbers and obscure anime character’s name?
Most of the time, especially with Xbox Live, you’re going to be stuck with the name that you choose for a very long time, unless you decide to pay the 800 MS points to change it or create a new account. If you take any kind of pride in who you are as a gamer, your handle should reflect it as much. Do you really feel like you’re hot stuff strutting around as Kagome from InuYasha just because you found her attractive at one point?
Does it make you feel much more formidable if you share a name with Sephiroth? It does? Well, it shouldn’t. It should make you feel like a lazy, unoriginal sheep that follows every miserable trend that arises. Do you like being a carbon copy of someone else, or the 209th version of that same someone? I just can’t quite get my head around why you want such a thing. I mean, come on. It doesn’t even look good when you take a few steps back and take it all in.
Are you still unconvinced?
Do you really want to create a horrible, unoriginal lamertag so you can fit in with your good friends and 90% of online gamers? It’s quite simple. There are only a few rules you have to follow. Are you ready then? Keep reading.
1. First off, name off some of your absolute favorite fictional characters. Make sure they’re either extremely popular and well-known. Choosing anything else will get you nowhere. A couple great ideas are Cloud Strife, Master Chief, Lara Croft, Squall Leonhart, or any of the characters you have seen on TV, in a movie, or found in a book recently. A great book to use for name ideas is Twilight, as vampires are cool and funny. Everyone should be a vampire. Edward Cullen dazzles.
2. If you don’t know of any characters you’d like to use, then get creative. Do you like sports? How about the Cincinnati Reds? Sports names are a good choice, such as MetsFan or something to that effect. You don’t have to take your time! The faster you come up with a name, the faster you are going to be having fun with your friends!
3. Next, after you have chosen your character or sports team, let’s register them. You’re going to want to open a new account with your choice. For the sake of teaching, I’m going to go with “Tifa Lockhart”. That’s a good choice right? If you enter it, and it’s taken, that’s fine. There should be an option that pops up if her name has already been used. I mean, she’s just so cool right? That’s okay. You can change the spelling. Try “TifaLockart” or “xTifaLockheartx”. That looks cool, to add Xs. They’re like, so emo and dramatic. If those are taken as well, add a few numbers to the end. I bet those won’t be taken! You should have something that looks like this now: “TifaLockart93743.”
3. The only thing left to do is sit back, relax, and sign-on to whatever game you’re going to play! Laugh at losers with names like “Syrillia” or “Dreaming Azalea.” They’re obviously stupid because their name isn’t something popular. Everyone knows who Tifa is. Pshh.
There you have it. Go and have fun with your new, unoriginal lamertag. I’m sure everyone is going to have great fun playing with a carbon copy of a character in one of the most popular RPG titles ever.
No, seriously. Please, people, for the love of the game, be original.
And tell me the worst name you’ve ever seen in a match.
June 20th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
Amen, sistah.
My X360 Gamertag is Jullinar, by the way.
June 20th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
I am Alnora everywhere. Well, anywhere online in any of its forms. Danielle in real life, Alnora in that other life I have. You know, mild-mannered reporter by day, a prostitute by night. Sure being Alnora *everywhere* seems a little boring, but it is me now. It IS my online personality, because you’re lying if you say some of your real life traits and tendencies aren’t a little exaggerated in the interweb. I like my name. I’m glad I found it and I like knowing I can use it for many years.. Not like, saaaay, xgothic_munkyx I had when I was 14. Granted I was a little more optimistic then…
June 20th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
I always try to make mine some sort of play on words, a double meaning, a pun perhaps. And no numbers, ugh. But a lot of mine are still not completely original.
June 21st, 2008 at 2:21 am
I used to be Selphie everywhere, which was fine, until other people started taking it. Then I tried Sefie. This was in 1999, or 2000, mind you. Eventually I went to Monique because everything was taken, or had several numbers.
I still have several Heartilly/Tilmitt accounts I never use, but hey, no numbers at least…!
I like in MMORPGs naming myself after a cool character, but that’s a lot diff than a handle. Sort of, anyway.
June 21st, 2008 at 4:53 am
One of the very first characters I ever had in Everquest I named Nevar. I named her there because I have a fondness for Raven’s I think they are really incredible birds and I like the traits associated with them. And since Raven was taken, Nevar is the word spelled backwards and I thought it sounded kind of cool.
However, I had several people point out, during my EQ career that the name Nevar was apparently the name of a character in a fantasy film. I didn’t name my character after that character, it was just something someone else had chosen to name their film character.
So my point is…. don’t assume that someone named Twilight is named after anyone else. It could be someone who just thinks Twilight is neat. However, I do see your point in standing out, so picking a name like Raven would be back, since that’s likely to be a common name.
I don’t game in the same environment, but I still like unique names. The problem is just what Monique was saying, that if you have a cool name, it’s not going to be long before someone else takes it for the next game they play.
June 21st, 2008 at 8:53 am
I was crushed when I Armoryed my WoW character and found that my name wasn’t unique to me.
Sigh. I *do* have 1 high-level character that has a unique name.
(& no I won’t say what it is. Neener).
June 21st, 2008 at 9:26 am
I know someone who called their daughter Aerith.
*ahem*
I’ve always been InterfaceLeader (or Suzie, which is my REAL name). Most of the time it isn’t taken, but it was on AIM. I was so upset, I nearly cried. So I ended up InterfaceLeadr23. Which, well, does actually suck.
On MMO’s though, I have stuff like: Julep, Aniseed, and Anise. Random spices and drinks, basically. I hate just making up a random collection of sounds, so it has to actually MEAN something.
June 21st, 2008 at 10:25 am
It always takes me ten years to name my characters. I hate having something that sounds really played out. I don’t really have a name I use everywhere, though if I could if would be Ofelia, but it’s usually already taken. Oh, well. I love when people just stick extra letters in there to get the name they want, like Tiiiffa. A+
June 21st, 2008 at 11:24 am
Muhah. good blog.
I hate the gangsta420 ’s or the 1337gamer ’s or the IDIDURMOM’s etc. etc.
they are sooooo lame. I think Pothead Tags are seriously played out over xbox live the worst. Hello… if smoking pot is the only thing that defines you… you are a loser!
My GT is FleshandRedLace. I was listening to the song “Melt with You” by Modern English and there’s a line that says “It was always mesh and lace”. Well. .. . i always thought when i was singing along with the song that it would be better “It was always flesh and lace” which sounds WAY sexier. SO i was FleshandLace for a while, i just kinda added the “Red” to avoid a stalker.
Now, i am by far NOT the sexiest chick on xboxlive, but i have been complimented many times on have a super sexy gamertag. LMAO. give them little boy nerds sumthing to think about!
June 21st, 2008 at 9:44 pm
@Monique This probably means nothing, I used to know a Selphie/Sefie, and I found the link for this at the website/forum we both went to…you’re not her, are you?
Well, obviously Liz is my real name, but I use my email handle in a lot of places, I made it up a while ago. I absolutely hate unoriginal names, but I can stand it to an extent as long as there are no NUMBERS. Ugh, I remember I had a number name once and never again, I vowed to never to it.
Originality is awesome! You’ll never be confused for someone else.
June 21st, 2008 at 10:49 pm
Hell, I named myself Agracuta on the net back when using Mplayer (SHUT UP IM NOT OLD) for the EXACT reason of not having gay ass numbers next to my shit. Been using it ever since. It’s great because I never have to worry about if my name is taken.
I forget how old I was, I think i was like 10 or 11 or some bullshit.
Anyways, yeah the gayest name Ive seen was CloudStrife304238945234895023 (Im exaggerating but it was a string of random numbers)
June 22nd, 2008 at 12:29 am
I have serious OCD when it comes to names.
In WoW, I will reroll a toon 30 hours in because of their name.
On forums, I constantly create new accounts, losing any credit or rep just because I can’t stand my handle.
I just can never be happy with the same old name for long periods of time.
I like creating made up names mostly..
The name I’m currently using for everything is Nime, although I’m getting a bit tired of it and starting to name things Adenna. Nime was taken on XBL anyways and I’m Nime 13.. I can’t stand numbers myself but it was taken and 13 isn’t as bad as 3874.. as cliched as it is - 13 is my favorite number..
In the past I’ve used Xero_Zero_0, Shadek, and Xecks..
June 22nd, 2008 at 12:42 am
Forgot to add worst names..
One thing I hate even more than mispellings or random numbers is special characters…
We know you think you’re cool because your name is Lövé and every other variation of the name has been in use for ten years but you managed to get a ’simple’ name.. but that’s not true..
Online, I don’t want to have to open up Character Map or copy and paste your name every time I want to look you up.. especially in online games.. I don’t want to have to learn the alt-commands for your name to add you to my group..
It’s just so needlessly bothersome.
June 22nd, 2008 at 6:20 am
What Nime said. If I can’t get Selphie or Sefie in a game I just come up with another name. I don’t give a damn if it’s unoriginal or not since I can’t be assed to actually come up with some totally random imaginary name for my online persona. I’ve never really thought badly of people naming their character/online handles Kasumi/Selphie/Rinoa whatever popular game character name. Sure it makes you less original but sometimes people pick a name of a character they love for other reasons than they’ve got big breasts. I see people named Sefie or Selphie and I think “what made that person pick that character name out of all of them?” Perhaps there’s something they identify themselves with the character, or perhaps they just thought Selphie is such a smokin’ hot bitch. Uhh, whatever. It doesn’t really make me think of it twice.
I generally don’t like gamer handles that are several words clumped together, simply because I prefer to use names instead of words as whatever handle I might have at the cost of risking my originality. I tend to pick characters that I have a special fondness for or I somehow feel that they have some traits that are similar to mine or something I admire. If somebody finds that lame, then it’s their problem. I just want a name that doesn’t give a headache to people typing it and it’s easy to remember, for which Sefie is perfect.
Thought I do admit FleshandRedLace does sound pretty sexy.
June 22nd, 2008 at 9:42 am
Haha YOU’RE the Selphie I know -points up- Hey
June 22nd, 2008 at 7:05 pm
This was a good article. Hope the next one is funny and interesting too.
June 23rd, 2008 at 5:19 am
My pet peeve in WoW is the complete lack of imagination most people have when it comes to naming their characters.
There are tthe obvious hundred variations of Legolas or Aragorn, which I don’t think we will ever escape from (and lets face it, people like to name their characters after their heroes), but those don’t make me angry, no.
What does is all those thousands (millions?) of people who can’t think beyond their character’s class, race and sex.
So we get all these types of names: Pallyhealer, UndeadLock, ElfDrood, Huntergirl, Ihealzyou, Icemage, Shammie, Shadowgnome, OrcRouge (rogue of course), etc etc.
To cap it all, people then have to put their country of origin into their names as well (no doubt you dont get these on the US servers), like Hunterguydk, Locksterpl and so on. Arrgh!
June 25th, 2008 at 10:19 am
I am “Izzibeth” just about everywhere (I am pretty much the only one on the internet… put it in Google and I will be the one who pops up about 95% of the time). My friend came up with that name and I loved it.
Right now on TF2 I am “Night Man, I think I love you” but I usually switch that name fairly often (cuz I get bored).
I always thought I was the only one with this “unoriginal username” pet peeve! Ever since AOL or Prodigy were the only programs people used to go online… it’s always annoyed me. Particularly the FFVII ones.
June 26th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
The worst I saw on the 360 was HaloJedi117. Seriously.
And I myself cycle through a few different names. My gamertag is CaptainSidekick, which I wish had a space, but it was the maximum character limit at the time I got it.
June 28th, 2008 at 7:01 am
Ha! i did google Izzibeth. and did get you.
Win! you are validated!
June 29th, 2008 at 8:51 pm
I hated XBox Live as I wanted to use my handle, Dizturbd, but it was unavailable. I wasn’t feeling very creative that day, so just stuck 3 6’s at the end of it.
I resent my Gamertag.
June 30th, 2008 at 8:51 am
Nice Blog! Hardlink trade
http://freebrowsergame.blogspot.com/
July 5th, 2008 at 1:52 am
AH HA Richard Cranium FTW!!
And no one better steel it
July 5th, 2008 at 5:17 am
i totally know where you are coming from my gamer tag Nyne took me forever to think of its simple yet mostly untaken by the popular cyber world
in truth i plan on naming my second son Nyne if i should have one
im letting my wife name the first
before it was kenji from the bloody roar series
it was a good read keep it up^^
July 12th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
RiotMonster - everywhere I go.. You can google that and find me easily. =P
Although I had to 1337 up my XBL because somehow there was a mistake and I have like 4 XBL handles.. XD
August 2nd, 2008 at 5:41 pm
Bahahaha I still laugh at this.. this is my top favorite article here I think
XD I recommended it to my work friend to read