Name Screening

Posted by Dione on 02/27

From: Rowane Saturday, February 24 2001, 03:43AM Just so everyone knows, its now a policy to clear your name through Dione first. That way no disagreeable names will ever grace Legend again. I myself feel that this isnt going far enough and would like to see everyone be renamed as number designations, like Player125, Player126, ect. Thankyou for your time in reading this append. :P

From: Nobody Saturday, February 24 2001, 07:48AM Hey, you forgot about ME! Personally, I don't think a flippant name made for a bit of fun does anybody any harm. Nothing and Something had been around as characters for a long time and played a meaningful role as characters, and Nothing was even promoted to LoP status, which suggests no harm was seen in their rather quirky names. I do think some people are going a bit overboard with the names. When a character does a social on chat every 30 secs just to make a point about their name I think its going a bit far, and people get tired of it. But I' hate to see names get screened with the strictness they are on some muds. I have plenty of characters with legendary or historical names, and in my experience these characters are sometimes harder to RP than characters wit nonsense names. At least I can console myself with the fact that I figure prominently in a Greek legend, even if I am just a nobody :) Nobody

From: Kae Saturday, February 24 2001, 07:59AM I'm actually with Dione on this -- but I also feel the need to point out a problem with doing so. Under the current code, duplicate names are not allowed. What does this mean? It means that if a mob has the name, you can't have it for a character. Why is this a problem? Because the more historic areas (and thus more mobs) we get, the less "real" names are available to players. -Kae

From: Fraegis Saturday, February 24 2001, 08:05AM just to throw in my opinion too...Names like Everyone/nobody etc etc etc doesn't bother me...The actions of Everyone bothers me, since he spams chat with socials. But hey, that is what gagchannel is for. Names like (in the past) Toiletslayer and similar ones should not be allowed, I would say. Also, kinda silly to allow fruits and kitchen utilities to be names of people. But silly doesn't mean it should be illegal. Fraegis

From: SkullKrusher Saturday, February 24 2001, 08:03AM I would actually agree with Kae and Dione. Belive it or not! Even tho i know my name isn't the greatest, it does have meaning to ME and my RP. And i think names like Nothing, Everyone and so on are not as bad as Dione lets on. Tho names like miass, naughtynurse, Iwan er Iwantolayu really need to be looked at. Maybe change rules to let imms decide if a name is acceptable and give the said player a chance to change it, maybe a imm command could do this i don't know.... I think they need to crack down on this, imho. And i understand that this even more limits the amount of names available. But most mobs have oddball names. its not like were going to end up with a mud full of mike, dan, sue names. sorry im just rambling now... -------------------------SK--------------------------

From: LadyAce Saturday, February 24 2001, 11:33AM I strongly oppose any name-screening provisions for the mud. I think these screening processes are unfriendly to newbies, frustrating to existing players, and not necessary. While we do end up with some dumb names, I think the solution to other people's "Non-RP" approach to the game is to respond with RP or ignore them. It's fairly easy for a builder to set up their mobs so that they can have the same names as a player, if and when it becomes a problem. The one change to the process that I'd like to see is a 'matching' routine, so that if I asked for the name "Joey" it could say "We already have players named "Joe" and "Jhoey" -- are you sure you want this name?" -LA

From: LadyAce Saturday, February 24 2001, 11:40AM Oh, and...forgot my other point :) Descriptions are required to be human and that leads to a pretty wide variety, many of them outside of the theme of Legend itself. I think that our desc restrictions make sense because they are something which the game applies to you (rather than which you choose yourself). People walking around with descriptions that made them look like washing machines or potato mashers would seem like a weird part of the game rather than another player. There's also the question of atmosphere, where I think the name objections come in -- I think it's a matter of balance, between what we want for the mud to be, and what people want from the mud. Ultimately, I think you can treat funky names as what they are...weird nicknames. Maybe they're from college, maybe they're a street name, maybe they're a curse from a vindictive mother. -LA

From: Jair Saturday, February 24 2001, 12:14PM Ok, just a quick question/clarification.... YOu do not allow non-human desc's, but if somebody comes in with a name that is a condiment, then this is ok? This just doesnt seem, oh I dont know, consistant? I dont completely agree that these names should be any different. We have Peanutbutter... I know when I see that name I dont think 'OOOh.. a cute nickname given to a friend' I think, why is the stuff that I put on my toast in the morning wandering around free... If someone wanted the description of : A jar full of tasty smashed peanuts and oil tempts you with its flavor. this would not be allowed... but having just the name Peanutbutter is.... No offense PB, but that is how i see it. Just want clarification, if I am wrong, it would not be the first time... -shrug- Jair

From: Boreas Saturday, February 24 2001, 12:27PM We have to understand that Legend is not going to be a mud full of hard-core RPers. We have many different types of players that like different aspects of the mud. Allowing oddball names is good in a sense, because it allows us to easily guess who will want to RP and who won't. I like LA's idea about matching names, but would it be able to distinguish between an active and well-known character name, and one that is sitting in archive and nobody has ever heard of?

From: Sallah Saturday, February 24 2001, 12:31PM Since names like "Joey" and other matching names aren't really the issue we seem to be dealing with, I don't see what that would solve. I think what the complaint rests on is stupid and completely OOC names like the ones people mentioned: PeanutButter, Abcdefghijkl, and so on. I have to agree that these names are pretty disruptive and I would like to see them less often. I understand that a name approval process is bulky, places demands on immorts and can be frustrating to newbies, but frankly, I think that is less annoying than the glut of ridiculous and unimaginitive names we've seen lately. I see the idea behind not liking name approval, but I think as long as people can have names based on butt jokes, food items and portions of the alphabet, the RP environment on Legend will always be subpar. Sallah

From: Nepon Saturday, February 24 2001, 12:37PM how about we just let the imms make a pre-set list of acceptable names that characters can choose and each one has its own enforced rp? i realize that some of these things are annoying to RP'ers but lets face it LegendMud is one of the most popular muds around (and we all play here) because these types of restrictions do not exist. here a player can be whatever they want to be and that is what makes it fun. if someone wants to be a sandwich let them it doesnt hurt you any. now some names are inappropriate for this "family" mud (iwantolayou for example) but other than that a name restriction or RP restriction would be just another negative to make this mud like all the others, i mean while we're at it why not add a newbie school? people play here for the freedom take that away and people will no longer play here. And if thats what you want, (legend all to yourself) then make your own mud and dont allow anyone to play there. then make your own mud and dont allow anyone to play there. -my 2 cents

From: Ea! Saturday, February 24 2001, 02:07PM Okay, so here's a question: If names like "PeanutButter" seem like a RP problem, why not find the character and ask them (in character) how they got such an odd name? It seems like a good opportunity to try to bring more people into RP. While many players won't have an in character reason planned out before hand, my experience is that many will make up an RP reason on the spot and will stick to it. Asking one simple question may help a non-RPer become an RPer. -Ea!

From: Akai_Hayate Saturday, February 24 2001, 05:33PM Just a quickie... Was it good for you to? was great for me, now then. First you start with names like ButtLicker, then you move onto names with _ or other symbols then you move onto names like hayate, or akai, or tasuki and pretty soon, I wont be able to get a cool foreign name cause you people think its wierd! punks!

From: Chaykin Saturday, February 24 2001, 05:37PM Why do people always think that every time a certain number of players have an issue with something, it's a slippery slope? Someone complains that they don't like hearing sexually explicit language on channels and somebody else always comments, "Sure, first you don't want us mentioning sexually explicit stuff, then you don't want us talking about sex, then you want everyone to be the same gender. Where will it end??" A few people voice concerns about silly charnames, and Akai comes along saying it will lead to people having a problem with foreign names. What?? That wasn't the point of this thread at all. Who ever said anything about foreign names? Akai, your name isn't even remotely the same thing as what these people are taking issue with. They're called boundaries, people. Just because a few people don't like one sort of name, doesn't mean they will sooner or later have a problem with EVERY sort of name. Jeez. Chay and co.

From: Dun Sunday, February 25 2001, 08:03AM Easy Chaykin..

From: LadyAce Sunday, February 25 2001, 12:24PM I don't see it as inconsistent. I guess when I see messages like Peanutbutter is standing here. or "Peanutbutter says, 'Hello.'" I think it's someone named Peanutbutter. Kinda weird as names go, then again there are some pretty weird ones IRL. Another element which we _May_ be running into here is a cultural one. In some countries, names for babies must be chosen from an official list determined by the country. I know this is true for some places in Europe and lately I heard it is true in Japan as well. So to some people, naming rules may have a different connotation culturally. Just a thought... -LA

From: LadyAce Sunday, February 25 2001, 12:29PM I see Legend as a place for all kinds of people, with all kinds of interests and approaches. While I do think that it would be great if everyone liked everything the game has to offer, that's not at all realistic. Ultimately, the question of names comes down to a live and let live attitude -- essential for anyone wants to get along in a place which is very committed to diversity. If the losses outweigh the gains to you, there are many MUDs and MUSHes which are focused more directly on various areas of interest. As for why my 'name-proximity' idea comes into play at all in this discussion .... we screen names based solely on uniqueness and obscenity. It would help people pick good names if they got more feedback on their name choices. -LA

From: Dnegel Monday, February 26 2001, 12:19AM Nobody: actually in Greek myth it was "Noman" the same people that reworded the Bible for modern english ie. thou shalt not = you should not Personally I once had a character called "Ashwipe" who was going to be a 'blader' -ala in line skating- type character similar to that skateboarder guy and Rufus or Choc came along and wizlocked me for an indecent character name. As far as name limitation, I see no reason why it should be hardcoded into the mud. I'm sure Imm discresion err.. discression is the better part of valor.

From: Default Tuesday, February 27 2001, 06:53AM Aside from disagreeing with the idea of name screening on principle, I don't think it's necessary. I think this run of names like Everyone and No_one will pass... it's a phase due to the addition of socials on chat. It's funny for a little while, but eventually the players will tire of playing those characters and only the most dedicated will remain. In addition, I think that once the joke names that were only created to spew on chat for a bit fade away, we'll get to know the ones that are left and not think their names so strange. I for one started this character because of the addition of targeted deaths... I thought it would be cool to see "BlahBlah is sent to the grave by Default". Obviously that is not enough to sustain interest in building a char to level 50, so there had to be something more. And now I think most of you know me and don't think about where the name came from... I'm just me. Default. That POV was brought to you by default. And now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

From: Default Tuesday, February 27 2001, 07:03AM Besides, what about Stick, and Shine? should they not have been allowed?