You've got the character creation screen in front of you. Class, stats, gender, cheekbone height, all those easy decisions made. But what do you call them? Do you reuse the same name in every game, put in the first goofy thing you think of, deliberately craft something suitable for the setting, or just use your own name?Our weekend question is: How do you name RPG characters? Here are our answers, plus a few from our forum.
THE PCG Q&A Find all previous editions of the PCG Q&A here. Some highlights: – What weather adds the most to a game? – Have you ever defeated a boss by exploiting a bug or a cheesy strat? – What was the best game on your school computers? You’ve got the character creation screen in front of you. Class, stats, gender, cheekbone height, all those easy decisions made. But what do you call them? Do you reuse the same name in every game, put in the first goofy thing you think of, deliberately craft something suitable for the setting, or just use your own name? Our weekend question is: How do you name RPG characters? Here are our answers, plus a few from our forum. Robin Valentine: If it’s the sort of RPG I’m looking to get really immersed in, it’s the sort of thing I’ll agonise over for ages. I don’t like using my own name—that just feels weird, surely the whole point is that this character isn’t me? And a joke name or even one that’s a bit goofy is just something I know I’ll regret 60 hours from now during some emotional dialogue scene. So I always end up racking my brains until I come up with something that feels appropriate to that world. At least years of playing tabletop RPGs has left me pretty quick on my feet when it comes to making up fantasy adventurer names. Inevitably though, after all that, the name shows up in a menu page you never look at and otherwise has no impact on the game whatsoever. Graeme Meredith: If the protagonist has a canonical name, I often feel compelled to use it… Not especially creative. But if the game’s a ‘pure RPG’, where the protagonist’s appearance and personality are entirely up to me, then I usually will go with ‘Graeme’. I think it’s a pretty yukky name (sorry other Graemes), but by using it, I can throw myself into the full-on fantasy of ‘this is me if I were born into this world’. Near the beginning of Fallout 3, a Mr. Handy butler robot completely destroyed my (Graeme’s) birthday cake. It’s a stock scene for anyone who’s played the game, but I decided that Graeme of the Wastelands would have a lifelong vendetta against all robots. Later in life, Graeme may not even know what sparked his technological discrimination, but he’s not changing his ways now. This is why naming a character can be such a massive hurdle, but by taking the easy route I’ve discovered a lot of sides to myself. (Image credit: BioWare) Lauren Morton: Like Graeme, I default to canonical (or quasi-canonical) names first if I can. For instance, I only ever play Dragon Age 2 as Garrett Hawke because that’s his name gosh dangit even you can technically choose a different one. Otherwise I’ll sometimes choose to name myself after a favorite character from another series or borrow a name from a current fiction project. If I’m just goofing around or it’s a silly game anyhow I’ll go with Cupcake for my usual gaming handle.
