Aliases

[Zetchryn]

Hello there! You may have seen me/Rhaya about as of late, but I also play/level another character. An Ishgardian woman, who goes by an alias while outside of Ishgard. This alias is also her display name, and is a slight nod to the moniker that I use throughout games (namely Zetchryn).

 

However, someone took offense to the fact that her display name was not her actual name, and instead felt that me doing that was taking the 'cheap and lazy' way out of things. So the question becomes... How likely would it be for characters (especially Ishgardians traveling) to use an alias, and does it make sense for the display name to be what she is commonly known as?

[Edda]

There are plenty of players whose display names are not their character's real name, just what they're widely known as. If it's like a one-time alias I can see why someone might be miffed, but if it's the name they introduce themselves as I think it's preferred to have that as the display name. Most people who do this list their real name in their search info.

 

If someone still gets pissed over that, wow. Cheap and lazy? Ignore that shit.

[Unnamed Mercenary]

I've RPed with plenty of people who had different IC names than the displayed name. And honestly, it's kinda silly if someone is getting mad about that because it's a clear case of metagaming in my book to be judged by the display name before an actual introduction has happened.

 

In my experience though, most people do tend to have their IC name as their display name. But that doesn't take into account nicknames or any other changes. It makes even less sense if you do introduce your character using an alias, which is your display name. It sounds...perfectly fine?

 

To answer the last question, while I don't think it's particularly common, an Ishgardian using an alias is likely no less rare than any other person using an alias. It's a matter of personal preference. I'd personally be interested in learning why such an alias is there.

[Roen]

I kind of LIKE the fact that your display name is the alias name rather than the real name.

 

I've known players who intentionally changed their display name to hide who was disguised underneath the mask/armor/etc.

 

In my opinion, it's opposite of lazy, to go through the trouble of disguising your display name as the person travels incognito.

 

I've also found that people can get upset over the silliest things. I'd just let it roll off and keep on playing!

[Syf]

I play with an alias as my display name. My character also introduces herself with an alias that's different from the displayed alias. It's just a clear cut case of meta gaming. It makes sense to hide names for characters that might get in trouble for their ethnicity or background. Also makes sense for people that engage in criminal activity to have an alias or a nickname to obfuscate their connections. As the others have mentioned, it's in poor taste to hate somebody over nicknames. Just remember that display names are often used in busier places to get the attention of the player or for easier communication.

[Swashbuckler]

Aye. Echo'ing the others in here, it's silly for people to get angry over names. I RP a character whose display name is not a name that they go by. It's their real birth name IC, though. Their preferred name is in their search info.

 

To add on to people getting angry over your alias not being what's on your nameplate, I've had people call said character by what's on their nameplate, completely ignoring the alias my character introduced themselves as.

 

So that irks me just a little bit.

[Unnamed Mercenary]

Aye. Echo'ing the others in here, it's silly for people to get angry over names. I RP a character whose display name is not a name that they go by. It's their real birth name IC, though. Their preferred name is in their search info.

 

To add on to people getting angry over your alias not being what's on your nameplate, I've had people call said character by what's on their nameplate, completely ignoring the alias my character introduced themselves as.

 

So that irks me just a little bit.

 

I've had stuff like that happen. It's turned into a horrible habit of having to explicitly state that when Franz introduces himself, he does not provide a surname.

 

Ther'es also situations where someone makes a character with whatever name they feel like before they decide that character is ever going to be used for RP. For a small history, I started 2.0 as a Miqo'te. PVE-only. Then I wanted to get into RP, but I wanted to RP as an Elezen. So I used a fantasia. Namechanges weren't available, so I had a Keeper of the Moon-sounding name on an Elezen. Then I made a character who explicitly had no name. (Unnamed Mercenary). ...but then I wanted that character to be my main so I used another fantasia (1.0 players got a couple). ...but a Miqo'te name really would not fit a character using a Highlander model. So I did that annoying double server transfer thing and forced a namechange to Franz Renatus, which is a name based on an ongoing personal plot. It's still not the character's real name by any means, but he only ever introduces himself as Franz. But a surname was still needed, so I put something there as an OOC hint, but it's never really be a "name" for a person.

 

Honestly, if I didn't use the nameplates as something to target and track text, I'd probably disable them in the game when RPing. If Franz doesn't know someone's name, it usually means I don't either.

[Nebbs]

With nameplates off how would I know?

 

The only problem for me is I am RL no good with names, so I am lijeley to forget and misspel your chars name. In RL I get by without using people's names but in RP it is helpful to signal who I am talking.

 

So, not an issue other than confusing me.

 

On the flip side, I don't like the "I never said my name so how do you know it" game.

[K'nahli]

I kind of LIKE the fact that your display name is the alias name rather than the real name.

 

This is how I feel. If it's a long-term alias then it makes the most sense, ignoring the fact that its arguably less frustrating than seeing a name that may never have relevance to you to begin with. Plus it disguises over the fact you are using a different name at all, whereas if people know right off the bat, then they may be more inclined to have their characters behave more unconsciously skeptical.

[Zetchryn]

Indeed, the alias is what she introduces herself as. I'll keep in mind having her 'real name' in her search info though. I'm glad that there are others who do this though.

 

Yeah, it was weird since I had thought 'well if this is what my character will be known as/introduce herself as for the vast majority of people, then shouldn't it be my display name so it's easy for people to just look at and remember?' Perhaps the issue was that the name sounds very much NOT Ishgardian... (Which is the point of the alias).

[Michaux]

One of my alts is an Ishgardian exile, and she goes by the alias Leonie Daucourt. Her  birth name is Eve Renardier, but she hasn't used that name in twenty years, so her in-game nameplate is her alias. I figured that would be far less confusing to other RPers. It seems really odd that anyone would consider that laziness. How is it lazy to give your character the name that most other player characters would know them by?

[Ashe]

Yeah...

Ashe's last name in the game doesn't match his IC last name since he was adopted and I'm too lazy to name change him. His last name is kind of an alias of sorts...

People just take it as his last name...though if you read his wiki, it's obviously not?

Zeph's name is also an alias.

It makes me sad thinking about who would call him by his full name when he never reveals it to anyone.....

Someone in my FC also has a character whose display name is an alias/nickname.

 

I donno...you do you on this one?

[Leggerless]

OOC nameplate is different from the IC nameplate.

 

IC name is in search info.

 

I stopped caring after a certain point. Nowdays, I'll make a joke ICly if they call me by the OOC name and not the name I ICly use.

[Faye]

Using an alias could make sense for a lot of characters. There's nothing wrong with it. I'm not sure why anyone would really take offense to you naming your avatar based on your character's alias rather than her birth name, that's just kinda crazy, and craziness on that level isn't really an indicator that there may be many out there who feel the same as that person did. That being said, when I have a character who uses an alias, I still usually name the avatar their actual name. I don't know why; it just feels more accurate and authentic.

 

I can't blame anyone for shying away from that, though. Having your character's real name in your nameplate can be fuel for others to metagame, purposely or accidentally. I.E. My character Aelius Corinthius is a Garlean man who was undercover in Eorzea, using the name "Ael." Someone I was RPing with, noticing his nameplate, asked me OOC if he was a Garlean, and I said yes. From that moment, her character who was very trusting and clingy toward him suddenly became suspicious for no reason and questioned just about everything he said/did, no matter how mundane.

 

It wasn't uncommon that people would slip up and call my character "Aelius" IC, even though they did not actually know his name IC. This girl was around in one such instance of this happening, and after "learning" his name, her character immediately drew the connection he was Garlean (I understand in a way, but I also have seen plenty of characters who aren't Garleans with Latin names, even if that doesn't actually make sense canonically). Even after I--and the person who made the slip-up--explained that it was an OOC accident and the name "Aelius" would not have actually been said IC, she still went with it and refused to stop or retcon. My character was meant to be the antagonist of a big plotline, and even though he'd done nothing to out himself or cast major suspicion on himself, I almost had an entire plot-line that was a year in the making wrecked because someone was using metaknowledge and almost prematurely revealed to everyone else IC that my character was a Garlean.

 

That being said... I can't blame anyone for using their character's alias for their in-game name. It's something I may consider doing in the future to avoid any more issues like this. Your nameplate being different from your character's alias can at best lead others to accidentally call your character by their birth name IC, and at worst lead other characters to immediately become suspicious of your character (even though there's no way for them to know IC that it's only an alias). So, it just sounds kinda like this person was mad they weren't given the chance to metagame.

[Paradox]

A'rklonn's name is like that. He's a character I move from game to game, and I do change the lore behind him to match games I'm in at times, but I always keep his name. This version of him, his actual real name is shrouded by him in the belief that names give power. As a magus, this is a pretty common thing. Not only that, his family name, Sargonnai, is a corruption of his *actual* Ishgardian born name. He changed it when he removed himself from his family and claimed the name for himself, by altering it. His first name on his nameplate is just one I've always used for him, but he has a real first name that's lore-compliant that's nothing like it, so it basically is an alias. And that's how he introduces himself. I think there's maybe three or four people in game that know his real last name, and only his wife knows his real first name.

 

If people get upset that your nameplate isn't your character's real name, ask them why it matters since it's not like their character would know anyway. As long as it's not like. zzCloudxStrifezz or something like that, I don't see what their problem would be.

[Valence]

Using nameplates ICly sounds silly to me, to begin with. It's a clear cut case of OOC/IC bleedover.

 

Nameplates are only useful as an OOC memo, and should be kept as such.

 

No...?

[Faye]

Using nameplates ICly sounds silly to me, to begin with. It's a clear cut case of OOC/IC bleedover.

 

Nameplates are only useful as an OOC memo, and should be kept as such.

 

No...?

 

Usually, it's accidental. I don't think anyone otherwise actually uses them IC, but there are people who will see that the name your character gave doesn't match the nameplate and their character will immediate become suspicious where they would not have been otherwise, which is indeed a case of bleedover.

[Teadrinker]

However, someone took offense to the fact that her display name was not her actual name, and instead felt that me doing that was taking the 'cheap and lazy' way out of things. So the question becomes... How likely would it be for characters (especially Ishgardians traveling) to use an alias, and does it make sense for the display name to be what she is commonly known as?

 

Ignore this person.

 

It's honestly not even worth dealing with.

[Coatleque]

You could really mess some people up by having a display name of "Common Err". But that would force conversation, and the need for someone to RP and get to know your character.

 

I'm one of those players who's name does not match what is shown. In fact, Crofte has gone by 3 alias now in the line of duty - only one is her true name and all of three of four people know it.

[Caspar]

That upsets people...? I thought it was petty to hold it against players for not sheling out for a name change when they go from pve to rp, but that's an entirely new level.

 

I should name my next chracter Rude Hero or Mysterious Stranger, something like that.

[Zhavi]

I'm so confused about what she meant by 'cheap and lazy.' How...?

[Zetchryn]

(I feel it should be noted that her faceplate is, in fact, her alias. It is not her real name. Her real name is only given out through RP. Thus the fact that it's her faceplate is there to remind you of the name she gives out)

[Paradox]

Mysterious Stranger

 

My KOTOR 1 feels. All of them. I always picked that alias when I fought in the duel arenas.

 

On topic though, a nameplate is basically a way for people to friend you and invite you to parties. While it can be your legitimate character name, it doesn't have to be and if someone wants to bitch when it isn't, it's their right to bitch, sure, but it's not their right to metagame their reactions with OOC knowledge by acting one way then acting another or the like because your alias doesn't match your name or vice versa. My final diagnosis and remedy on the one who caused a stir over another person's alias/nameplate choice: Severe case of butthurt with a mild case of metagaming. I'm perscribing a bottle of 30 days of fuck 'em.

 

/illegible doctor's signature.

[FallenFedora]

As someone whom RP's through use of an alias - never once in any case to date ICly using my display name (Stroud's name by birth) I can identify with cases of confusion through long term RP, wherein I have to sometimes correct people by stating that he has not given his actual name... Though I haven't run into any issues of this resulting in negative altercations, I wouldn't be surprised to see it.

 

I don't see an Ishgardian with an alias as being any more or less common than anyone else working with one - some mercs would prefer a 'handle' to their given name anyway, I'm sure, so maybe a little more common than less. *shrug*

[Mia Moui]

I thought about having Mia Moui use an alias as before the Calamity, her family were known outlaws.  But having a chunk of Dalamud crash onto her family's home was punishment enough, in her estimation.  Only locals in her home village would know her anyway and she's not been back after discovering the loss of her family and their land.

 

I usually presume that the name floating over someone's head is either their name or a moniker of some sort.  Momodi mentions the tendency for adventurer's to come up with crazy names when they sign for adventuring in the level 1 Close to Home MSQ.  But I don't use any name IC until they tell me what it is.

 

Yesterday, while I was killing time in Gridania, someone came up to me surprised to see another Moui.  This was all OOC but we intend to RP in the near future.  I'll have to conspire a scene that involve her overhearing Mia's name or vise versa.

 

For a canon name, I've only seen one Moui besides the NPC in New Gridania.