h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I don't think the people in Cutthroat Alley were doing anything *ahem* risque, they were just standing in the front room. They did mention a name as somebody who would send spies after them but I forgot it.

Oh, and I did RP it... with the response "Why would a Paladin, a follower of the Light, be spying on strangers?"

That sounds like the start to a fantastic joke that only RPG enthusiasts would understand.

>>Nine-thousand, thirty-six dollars! That's a lot, even IF we're talking about virtual money.>>

It isn't virtual - you can withdraw it from the game onto your RL credit card/bank account/whatever.

That's why I went all and when I spotted it!

I'm currently searching for a conversation thread at the entropiaforum where a player made a long and well-written posting - it was a father who had been playing for quite some time without ever depositing as much as a cent whereas his son, also a player, had deposited money more than once.

He made comparisons between the two ways of playing PE, and it was a good read. I wish I could find it again!

One of the more experienced PE-players posted a link to a cartoon in his EF journal - it's hilarious!

http://www.thenoobcomic.com/daily/strip001.html

Anyone play planetside? I have been playing for almost 2 years now. mmofps or massive multi-player online first person shooter. Right now you pay to play but they are planning on bringing in a free play system.
www.planetside.com

What's an example of a daft name? What are the naming conventions?

I haven't come across planetside before Life - had a quick look, and it looks as if it costs money to play like so many other games...

The actual rules for naming on WoW are: no offensive words, no numbers, no non-alphanumeric characters and no accents (the last one is rarely enforced which sometimes makes it difficult to communicate with people as in order to initiate private conversation you have to type in their name). The unwritten rule for naming on RP servers is that the name should be appropiate to a fantasy setting, again this is never enforced but it is encouraged.

Daft names which I have seen on RP servers include: Candyeyes, GothicAndy, and... I can't remember any others, but it's basically people who use their usual net handle (the only one I've seen which isn't daft is Fords, of h2g2 fame, for some reason it works as a fantasy name). Most of the people I know IRL who play WoW don't use the RP servers due to various excuses but I find it better that people have to stay in character as I like the extra level of immersion it offers.

In my group of WoWers we have the following:
Undead: Eviscaria
Undead: Ombremort
Undead: Davi
Undead: IPFreelike
Troll: Beldrop

Can you guess who has already had to change his name once, and will likely have to change his name again?

I try to put a little thought in to my names, though I have a Tauren warrior named Zteak (the Tauren race are basically giant bipedal cows).

But then 'Zteak' is perfectly fine because it looks like a standard fantasy name at first and has the advantage of being punny... I have to admit that I'm now severely tempted to start a Night Elf character called Tephlon.

In Entropia, there are surprisingly many players who use their RL name with added nick name. The registration fields look like this:

Firstname, Nickname, Lastname

Now, most of them have used a game setting that will only let you see their Nickname - but once you add them to your list of friends (if they give their permission) you'll see their full name.

How common is it in other games for people to use their RL names?

I know I'm not a normal statistics, but I never use my real name in online games.

I will no longer sub to SOE games, apart from keeping my first char subbed to SWG for a video someone is making, so I've not played Planetside.

Daft names are those that go against naming conventions. I removed a player from my SWG guild who was called Shishki Bob, obviously a play on shish kebab. It's just common sense really, would a mother in the Star Wars Universe name her child after a food item?

Caer, I would consider it far more likely. There is a whole race in the SW universe named after food after all... The Mon Calimari!

Lucas was not particularly creative when it came to the made up languages (poodoo anyone?) and names of races.

Considering the fact that the SW Universe is probably more populous and diverse than Earth, and the fact that I can easily imagine a human mother naming a child that....yes, yes I can imagine it in SW.

So I couldn't be a troll named Hemhorroid Lil?

Also, might their be a danger of people picking up naming conventions that are seen as "weird" to us, but are acceptible names in some older conventions?

Oh, and would a name like "Thomas The Rhymer" be a good name?

I would accept Thomas The Rhymer, if he was a poet. Actually the Shishki Bob episode had a bit of a story behind it so was perhaps not an entirely good example. I would accept what appears to be a non RP name if there was a good story to it, such as a nickname, and the player RPed it well. A brief reference in the SWG bio or FlagRSP in WOW is fair enough.

But I'm not a hard core RPer and don't impose my views on players or guild members. It's more important to me that the good name of a guild is upheld by kindness, helpfulness and good manners. I expect members to behave in a mature fashion and age bears little relevence to maturity, I've found. One of the best RPers I've come across turned out to be 14 and one of the most petulant and attention seeking was 45!

One of the most generous and helpful guys in my PE society (there is just one other female player that I'm aware of, besides me) is only 17.

I regularly point out to him that I don't want to take advantage of his kindness when he overpays me for stuff I sell to him, but he just shrugs it off saying he did well earlier that day in hunting or mining.