Feedback talk:User/Messenger/List of possible names during Character Creation.

Yet you can't demand that no one makes a silly or stupid name. People should be able to do whatever they want. Having a goofy name isn't a matter of "I can't think of a good one", some people like it that way and forcing them to pick a serious name would break their immersion. Also, if you were to offer up sample names, where would they end? You could come up with billions of human sample names. And if you only came up with a few, those few would become a joke amongst players. The names would be the "Jane Does" of the game. If people don't have the brainpower to come up with a simple name, like "Sally Bowstring" or "Carl Mersons" then that's just pitiful on their part. Finding the perfect name, on the other hand, was never easy. I spent months developing my character's name, but now that I have it, I know that it's excellent. Weindrasi 14:42, 4 November 2011 (UTC)Weindrasi

Of course you can't demand that no one makes a silly or stupid name. I'm not doing that with this suggestion. At no point does my suggestion force a player to pick from a list of names and not use one they made up on their own, even if said name breaks immersion.

I'm just suggesting that the game provides a list upon character generation. I admit that I didn't specify a long list, but I certainly don't intend for a limited one with the same names being repeated over and over.

Providing a list is subtle encouragement for players to pick or create names that fit the world. By no means does it take away the capability of a player to name his own toon- but it will still help maintain the atmosphere and world-building of the game where it can quietly influence a player to make names that fit the setting of GW2. --Messenger 10:46, 6 November 2011 (UTC)

I think this is actually a pretty good suggestion. Some form of this should be included somewhere for people that want to properly name their characters. If not in GW2, then maybe there should be a page (EDIT: this page would, of course, be on the GW2 wiki) with lists of sample names for each race and maybe a short analysis of them so that people can appropriately name their characters if they so desire. Any moderately intelligent human should be able to analyze a list of names and then extrapolate the data to form names for their own characters (i.e. it isn't too hard to see Vekk, Blimm, Sokka, Jezza, and Renn, and then come up with a name like "Zokk", which is a much more Asura-appropriate name than "Bubble Basher"). If there were just like 30 names that cycled through and displayed 10 names at a time, most people would avoid them, but a few people might copy them down exactly. Oh dear, now there are 30 people with the sample names. On a side note, I have noticed that people that don't have serious names usually don't play seriously, and then stop playing fairly soon; whereas people with more serious/appropriate names tend to take the game a little more seriously, and it is more enjoyable for everybody. :) Kormon Balser 22:21, 6 November 2011 (UTC)

Well, that's all true. Alright you have me. Carried out right, yes, the sample names could indeed be helpful in the game. Weindrasi 09:36, 7 November 2011 (UTC)Weindrasi

they have this feature in eve online, i believe most people just use it as a source of inspiration, especially since presumably (in eve+gw2) you can only have one of every name, so there can't be 30 people running 'round with the same one Ealias 16:00, 17 December 2011 (UTC)

Eh, I don't see this as being worth any time and effort to put this in. Even what little time such a thing might need, that's time that can go else where. And, quite frankly, it will not make much if any impact on the names people choose. We will still see a lot of Xx Names Xx and names based off of whatever anime is popular.--Will Greyhawk 23:45, 4 January 2012 (UTC)

ANET!!! If you do this I swear to god I will never play GW or buy GW2 or the next book, Sea of Sorrows, I will start an internet slander campain, and I will learn how to spell campain.-- Necro Shea Mo 05:16, 15 January 2012 (UTC)

Thats a pretty strong reaction to a suggestion that Anet isn't even likely paying attention to. Why the anger?--Will Greyhawk 20:55, 17 January 2012 (UTC)

"... a suggestion that Anet isn't even likely paying attention to." Thanks a lot, Will. Makes you wonder why we even put suggestions here to begin with. --Messenger 13:37, 18 January 2012 (UTC)

Because (please take little or no offense) this would crimp people's creativity, destroy any semblance of uniqueness with names, destroy hundreds of backstorys already made, and require anet to make a huge fuggin' list of names that I'll probably dislike (no offense to anet, but my chars' names are perfect as they are).-- Necro Shea Mo 12:33, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

My initial reaction is a bit strong, though. I'd still buy the game, and I've put in too much time on this wiki to say "screw this!" now... :P-- Necro Shea Mo 12:33, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

Why would it crimp people's creativity and whatnot? It only offers a list of names. It doesn't force you to use any of them. --Messenger 04:21, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

(Indent reset) Indeed, a good suggestion, as stated by Messenger, it is only a proposal for players who would like to flow with the game lore/atmosphere and fit into the mood but are not either lore-informed or inspired.

To content everyone, unlike the character apperance (which comes with a not-so-random appearance), the name box should remain blank by default, but with the welcome addition of a random generator button on the side : taking into account race, gender and some biography choices (character's origin, lineage, history, etc.).

Speaking about biography, in case of GW1's inheritance, the name box should be pre-filled with your famous ancestor's name (the HoM is the way to reserve a character's name after all). Accompanied with a reminder message that it can still be modified (I'll take some NPC examples about that : Logan Thackeray and Queen Jennah). --  Leonim _{[talk·contribs]} 10:05, 20 April 2012 (UTC)