Hello everyone! I've been RPing for awhile and I finally just convinced my friend to RP as well. They've been on Balmung for ages but they've never RPed, they were only on the server for PvE. They play a miqo'te and unfortunately their character's name doesn't fit the miqo'te naming conventions. They have a Hyur-like name (it's not even completely Hyur at that, it sounds like something you'd see on an elf from World of Warcraft or Lord of the Rings). However, they have NO desire to change their name. They use this name in all of their mmos, all their friends know them by it and they just like it.Â
I found a few ways for them to still be a miqo'te with that name, but after reading these forms and what I see in game/in rp, I just see a lot of people making fun of miqo'te with Hyur/Elezen/Etc names. I'm really happy they decided to start RPing but I don't want my friend to feel discouraged or not have fun because they have name doesn't work for their race.
I suggested they have a backstory where they're adopted by a Hyur or Elezen family, or maybe their family moved into a city and named their child something that would fit in better. I'm starting to wonder if that's a bad idea now? Because I saw a few comments on the RP discussion mocking miqo'te who are adopted so I'm thinking I should just try to help them find another way to explain their name, or perhaps go by something else IC entirely (which they also don't want to do).
They could do it that way, or there's a couple others things off the top of my head that they could use too.
1. That's their OOC name. Make an IC one? Stick it in search info (and maybe one day when we get that addon system... /shot )
2. Perhaps they simply decided to go by an alias or a new name? Maybe they have a traditional clan/tribe name and decided to ditch it?
Rule one of rp: there will always be haters.
It doesn't matter whether you stick like glue to the conventions or lore or whatever -- someone will always find something to make fun of or dislike in your rp, your writing, your whatever. Learn early how to use it for your benefit or ignore it.
THAT SAID. The conventions only apply if your character is from a totally traditional group. I had Zhi be raised by her ma in Limsa as a bastard with her surname being her job. Her ma was estranged from her parents, so Zhi never took on the family name, and is three generations removed from tribal keepers.
I mean, have you ever gone up to someone who looks like a certain ethnicity and asked why their name doesn't match what you think it should? Parents name their kids wild things all the time, not to mention some kids hate their names and change it. Your character doesn't need to be raised by hyurs to wind up with a hyur name. Plus, it opens up all sorts of rp possibilities (I haven't personally seen a character so ashamed of his/her heritage that he or she changed it to match a "better" race, but oh lawdy that would be a fun one).
We've had a convergence of societies and cultures over the last few decades in Eorzea. Â It could be something as simple as their parents decided he deserved better then the Miqo'te stereotypes that a traditional name would have given and decided to break the mold, just like they're doing. Â Maybe start a new thing.
They make get some flack for it ICly, because it's not a standard name. Â But that's kind of to be expected a bit. Â People in the real world get similar flack for odd names as well, even if it doesn't happen that frequently in polite conversation.
Also, a second thought: like, unless it's super formal conversation related to work, I don't ever give people my last name in greetings (and I've yet to see any social conventions in game that dictates that characters universally give their full name as an expectation, either). Hell, most of the time it's my nickname, which people don't even know what it stands for half the time, or guess wrong. Several of my characters give nicknames or aliases, and it was never a big deal icly. So, I mean, that could also be used as a means of deflection, too.
To be fair, my character (Miqo'te Sunseeker) left his Tribe and adopted a new name, not just as a mark of his departure and his disdain for the culture of the Tribes, but also to try and fit in better with other people. Miqo'te names aren't necessarily easy to pronounce after all. It also has the added benefit of protecting anyone from his tribe he might have wanted to protect should he make any enemies.
Name your character whatever you want. Just explain it in the backstory.Â
Unless you have a distractingly OOC name like 'Play-Doh' or something it really shouldn't matter.
(05-31-2017, 09:52 PM)Teadrinker Wrote: [ -> ]Name your character whatever you want. Just explain it in the backstory.Â
Unless you have a distractingly OOC name like 'Play-Doh' or something it really shouldn't matter.
Pretty much this. It can even be a point of character and plot if/when it inevitably comes up.
I was in a trial recently with someone named Tronald Dump. XD