I admit I am not a big roleplayer, or a very good one at least, but while I stare at my 1st title I wonder, why only one?
But first my usual loosely associated tangent.
Names
The little Gnome lore I have read suggests that no Gnome worthy of his name his only a single name. They are all like Whoisit Whatshisname. Yet Blizz only allows us one name.
I do understand why, it’s hard enough interacting with toons with long, 1337, intentionally mispelt, unusual names or worst case special characters.
Speaking of intentionally misspelt names (yes another tangent), I am reminded of a guild I signed a charter for on day 1 of Aman’thul’s existence.
Dyslexics Untied
Ohhhh and what’s going on with all the guild charters shoved in my face lately, there is a reason my alts are unguilded, and the least you could do is ask. Ohhh well, community service I guess.
Anyway, back on track, I think there are some roleplaying mods out there that allow you to expand on your name (and back story etc) which is then visible to those also using the mod.
But here’s what I think Blizz should do. Add a fullname field into the character creation and character sheet. This should be changeable later, for those that want to get married or adopt orphan Gnomes.
Maintain the toon name as the primary point of reference, but maybe call it a nickname or preferred name.
So in my case it would be:
Nickname/preferred name: Gnomeaggedon
Full name: Gnomeaggedon Apocalypse Fizzybut
Imagine bumping into a long lost cousin, or the family reunions, or the inbred family only guilds!
Titles
Ok, moving on to titles. I remember a Paladin character I had in D&D whose name was something like:
Lord Geddon, knight of the realm, Waster of Goblins, Savior of Damsels, Protector of the meek, Dragon slaying master of all that is good and right.
Not only did I have an insane name like this, but I demanded that I was referred to by this name by the other players and the Dungeon Master.
Needless to say my name was generally spurned by the other players and my character gained a reputation for being a pompous insufferable pimple on the face of human existence – which was kind of my intention. I facilitated my mates roleplaying through the use of my name.
Now admittedly whenever I see “of the shattered sun” I think… Well I want to keep this blog G rated, so I will let you use your imagination.
But what I think would be cool is if you could combine them all, so imagine:
Ambassador Gnomeaggedon Apocalypse Fizzybut Jenkins, the Hallowed, of the Shattered Sun, Lord of the mounts, Keeper of Pets, Buyer of Gold, Ganker of Newbies, Father of Babygeddon, Loving Husband of Ambassador Zizzy Thumbsucker Fizzybut Jenkins, the Hallowed, of the Shattered Sun, blah, blah, blah
OK, so maybe you just choose one title to display above your head, but wouldn’t it be great on mouseover to see the complete title of a character?
Gnomer and Out!
Your title reminds me of some of the horrible ones I see floating around on fellow roleplayers. By the by, the mods you’re thinking about include FlagRSP, MyRP, and FlagRSP2 (my current favorite), as well as probably a handful of others. You can write your name, your surname, a title (or twenty), and typically give a brief description of your character. I typically avoid titles, though most of my characters have a surname.
A lot of roleplayers have argued that we should be able to list more than just our characters’ names. The NPCs can do it — why can’t we?
> The NPCs can do it — why can’t we?
For the same reason Blizzard only allowes A-Z in names (and not numbers, spaces, underscores etc.) – because people would abuse such a system to create strange, annoying, hard to refer to names.
Not that this doesn’t happen currently, but allowing spaces in names would make it even worse.
> but wouldn’t it be great on mouseover to see the complete title of a character?
If you could control it from the recieving end (e.g. limit the mouseover to show one title or none) then I could support such a system. Titles in WoW are mostly a show-off device: here are my achievements, this is what I did. I wouldn’t want my screen to fill with someone’s accomplishments if I don’t feel the need to see them.
Another option would be to limit 2-person names and multiple titles to RP servers (I think RPs would love that!
). But that would require much stricter checking of naming from Blizzard’s side and currently from what I heard there’s practically no such checks done by Blizzard.
I just cant help think they are making titles too easy as with everything else in game.
It was a challange when i got my Champion of Naruu but now anyone with some spare time who is 70 can get Of the Shattered Sun and for the record I HATE that title.
There was a time when having a title “Champion of Naruu”, “Hand of Adal”,”Justicar” etc etc meant you had achieved something quite special now all you have to do as a lvl 70 is go to a low level dungeoun and kill things loads of levels lower than you.
That is my biggest annoyance with the game everything is getting to god damn easy to get.
Those types of names remind me of the Old Testament of the Bible.
Moses, son of Abraham, son of Jacob, son of blah blah blah.
If gnomes had that, and included their full names, it would be a nightmare to typeset.
“Wimzig Wintersprug, son of Zimzug Wintersprug, student of Slerk Switchstaple, close friend of Vern Violetgem, assistant of Niels Slimesprocket, squash partner of Petey Ballsmasher, former roommate of Lonestar Darkhelmet.”
In previous games I’ve played the last name was a second field and not attached to the first name you selected. You didn’t have to spell out a full name to send them a whisper, it was just the first name like it’s handled now. Just the last name displayed and it was an optional addition. I even had games that allowed the changing of last names (for gold) to RP things like weddings where your name usually would change. It was great and I’m for the addition of last names. I don’t think it is difficult or would hamper communication of anything if done properly.
I played LOTRO for a while and I thought titles were fun. It was an achievement based thing as well and it was great figuring out what you wanted to complete to get your character the best title for ther personality. You also had the option to hide others titles if they annoyed you. It was fun and added to my character being able to walk around as Goldy of the Shire or Goldy, Champion Pie Eater (I was a hobbit).
There are certain titles that are harder to get like Champion of the Naaru. Just because someone else has a title, does that hamper your achievement to get the more difficult one? I think it’s still a badge of honor to have completed it and it is still recognized as a difficult achievement. I don’t believe allowing others to wear other titles depleats your accomplishment in the least.
In previous games I’ve played the last name was a second field and not attached to the first name you selected. You didn’t have to spell out a full name to send them a whisper, it was just the first name like it’s handled now. Just the last name displayed and it was an optional addition. I even had games that allowed the changing of last names (for gold) to RP things like weddings where your name usually would change. It was great and I’m for the addition of last names. I don’t think it is difficult or would hamper communication of anything if done properly.
I played LOTRO for a while and I thought titles were fun. It was an achievement based thing as well and it was great figuring out what you wanted to complete to get your character the best title for ther personality. You also had the option to hide others titles if they annoyed you. It was fun and added to my character being able to walk around as Goldy of the Shire or Goldy, Champion Pie Eater (I was a hobbit).
There are certain titles that are harder to get like Champion of the Naaru. Just because someone else has a title, does that hamper your achievement to get the more difficult one? I think it’s still a badge of honor to have completed it and it is still recognized as a difficult achievement. I don’t believe allowing others to wear other titles depleats your accomplishment in the least.
i just want a last name. : (
I must admit that every time I see another member of the Jenkins family running around right now, I feel very cheap…
I wish I had one of the harder ones… but the SSO one still makes me retch more than Jenkins
I’ve got an old school PvP title (and not a wussy enlisted one, either — Knight-Captain), Ambassador, Champion of the Naaru, Hand of A’dal, Jenkins, of the Shattered Sun and I feel like I’m missing one there.
And you know what? The ones you have to earn are the lamest. “Justicar” isn’t even a word (it’s meant to be “Justiciar”). In four years, if you try to explain why “Hand of A’dal” meant something, you’ll sound completely nitwitted.
“Whose hand? And what were your duties, exactly, as his hand?”
The SSO title is a souvenir from a world event, just like everyone wearing the SSO tabards (including a lot of people who hate on the title, ironically). (And, oh yes, I wear a Tabard of Achiever, so spare me your welfare tabards!) I picked it up for that reason — I didn’t get “Scarab Lord,” nor did most people, so I have no souvenir from that event, not even a tabard.
The Jenkins achievement didn’t really merit a title, but Blizzard is throwing everyone a bone here. Once Northrend has been out for a few months, half of the server will be “Champion of the Frozen Wastes,” and pretty much everyone will have unlocked “Seeker,” “Explorer,” and if my guild is any indication, “Loremaster.” There will be a few rare titles — I’ll be one of the few with “The Exalted,” and both “Battlemaster” and “Arena Master” will mean something when you see them — but “Jenkins” is meant to be a reward for something most people wouldn’t do otherwise, like a T-shirt for playing a carnival game.
If you don’t like the titles, I’m pretty sure you can turn them off in the Interface.
And I second the suggestion about grabbing flagRSP2.
I think just being able to get a prefix and a suffix would be nice, e.g. (this is a terrible idea) a PvP prefix and a PvE suffix, like say Challenger Hobbitpants, Champion of the Naaru.
How about Gnomeaggedon the Delicious. Granted, doesn’t mean to much to me being a vegetarian. Granted I bet gnome meat is nice and tender allowing for my flat, grass grinding teeth to cut through.
Ahhh yeah.. Well of course us Gnomes don’t mind a good steak.. so maybe a bit of “Jagerbombz the tough, stringy, yet surprisingly tasty”
Always bringing a smile to my face…