Improving Naming in WoW

[oplawlz]

Names are fine. This would be a tremendous waste of resources.

[Shuji V2]

We have titles for this. It's fine as it is right now.

[ercarp]

I think surnames would be a great addition to naming considering almost every name you can think of has already been used by someone else. However, I can already see grumpy raid leaders not inviting certain people because their names "have more than one word".

[Nurvus]

I do think WoW's naming system is perfect.
So ugly to look at xXx_052NinjaAssassin_xXx

"_" and numbers aren't part of my suggestion.
And you clearly didn't read the restrictions I proposed.

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We have titles for this. It's fine as it is right now.

Sure, because your full name is Cook Shuji or Shuji the Patient.
The closest that comes to a proper name would be Shuji Jenkins. Because we're all part of his family, whether we like it or not.

[Gimlix]

"_" and numbers aren't part of my suggestion.
And you clearly didn't read the restrictions I proposed.

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Sure, because your full name is Cook Shuji or Shuji the Patient.
The closest that comes to a proper name would be Shuji Jenkins. Because we're all part of his family, whether we like it or not.

Yes i did, even 1 space bar is to much. You will get weird names.

[Nurvus]

Yes i did, even 1 space bar is to much. You will get weird names.

You already get weird names.
Except right now many don't even look like names.
Plus, the "report name" is there for a reason.

Blizzard can add even more restrictions to names if they add a space.
Currently if they added restrictions they'd risk screwing the least imaginative players really hard.

But as someone suggested, surnames (and therefore spaces) might be something only available as an achievement, with a limit per account, and you would be able to use your unlocked surnames on any of your characters.

So you could unlock Surnames, pick Bladescream as a surname - becoming exclusive for your account - and use it on any of your Orcs.

[Krekal]

This could work: you send a request to create (name here) to their service, and then they only let you do that on that realm and account.

No silly names, but I dont think they will do it. No profit in having thousands of name unlock requests for free.

Also: Titles could be awkward..

[derpkitteh]

yes, i would love this.

[Gimlix]

You already get weird names.
Except right now many don't even look like names.
Plus, the "report name" is there for a reason.

Blizzard can add even more restrictions to names if they add a space.
Currently if they added restrictions they'd risk screwing the least imaginative players really hard.

But as someone suggested, surnames (and therefore spaces) might be something only available as an achievement, with a limit per account, and you would be able to use your unlocked surnames on any of your characters.

So you could unlock Surnames, pick Bladescream as a surname - becoming exclusive for your account - and use it on any of your Orcs.

Dont want it to become asian kinda games, they have those name rules.

[derpkitteh]

Dont want it to become asian kinda games, they have those name rules.

it's not asian, it's adding more immersion.

[Lodreh]

I kind of like the SW: TOR Legacy system where you can have a Legacy name and choose if you want to display it or not. Seems far simpler and actually useful for a lot of account wide content. Maybe even tie the Legacy to your BNet handle.

[saucywench]

I would prefer to have a full name for one thing it makes finding a usable name easier but I don't see them adding that to the game.

Names would be way too long especially if Blizz keeps the server names at the end. Having first names only adds to the feeling of uniqueness, having 1000's of toons named Illidan Fillintheblank is annoying.

[Valkrysa]

I would say keep default names the way they are now but allow additional name parts to be a separate input box. That way the additional parts can be a separate field in the database and it wouldn't impact currently working systems. When a user wants to whisper another user they continue to use the "first name" that all characters already have and that have the existing rules. The surname would be just for display purposes and so in addition to not impacting whispers it also wouldn't effect things like invites and kicks.

[Gimlix]

it's not asian, it's adding more immersion.

lol, immersion... really?

[Linri]

I'm fine with how names are now, there is enough Legolas' out there with special characters in their names already

[Nurvus]

I'm fine with how names are now, there is enough Legolas' out there with special characters in their names already

If you read my full suggestion, you'll realize it actually restrict silly names a lot.

Currently Blizzard can't implement too many restrictions otherwise people risk running out of names when creating a new character.

But if hifens, apostrophes and possibly spaces are implemented, players will have so many more name combinations at their disposal that implementing proper restrictions becomes plausible.

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I would say keep default names the way they are now but allow additional name parts to be a separate input box. That way the additional parts can be a separate field in the database and it wouldn't impact currently working systems. When a user wants to whisper another user they continue to use the "first name" that all characters already have and that have the existing rules. The surname would be just for display purposes and so in addition to not impacting whispers it also wouldn't effect things like invites and kicks.

This is actually reasonable, but only as a replacement for spaces.
I can see it involving a box for first and a box for last name, but you can only fill one of them.
Example:
Your character is called Valkrysa.
Somewhere in your UI there would be [___________] Valkrysa [____________] .
If you decide Valkrysa is your first name, just fill in the second box with the desired last name.
If you decide Valkrysa is your last name, just fill in the first box with the desired first name.
In either case, Valkrysa remains unique where it comes to whispers, etc, and the name used when NPCs address you.

However, hifens and apostrophes should be added nonetheless in order to allow players to access all the naming conventions available in the Warcraft universe.

[Valkrysa]

This is actually reasonable, but only as a replacement for spaces.
I can see it involving a box for first and a box for last name, but you can only fill one of them.
Example:
Your character is called Valkrysa.
Somewhere in your UI there would be [___________] Valkrysa [____________] .
If you decide Valkrysa is your first name, just fill in the second box with the desired last name.
If you decide Valkrysa is your last name, just fill in the first box with the desired first name.
In either case, Valkrysa remains unique where it comes to whispers, etc, and the name used when NPCs address you.

However, hifens and apostrophes should be added nonetheless in order to allow players to access all the naming conventions available in the Warcraft universe.

That sounds pretty good, your "system name" doesn't necessarily have to be your first name, just one of them. Then your "style name" could come before, or after, or both; whatever the game designers feel works best. In any case when people whisper me they have no trouble because in the system there would be some hint that "Valkrysa" is the "system name".

[Seranthor]

Every NPC and his uncle has a full name.
Even Garrison Followers do.

Note: The concept of full name depends on many variables.
Trolls (Vol'jin) usually have a single name.
Blood Elves (Valeera Sanguinar), Night Elves (Tyrande Whisperwind) and Dwarves (Magni Bronzebeard) usually have a first and last name. Orcs, are more ambivalent. Some (Garrosh/Grommash Hellscream and Varok/Dranosh Saurfang) have first and last name while others (Gul'dan and Ner'zhul) have a single name.
Draenei usually have a single name accompanied of their status/job (Exarch, Spiritbinder, Artificer, etc).

But our character - the "Commander" - isn't worthy of a proper name...
No apostrophes, no first and last name, no hifens... no choice.

DISCLAIMER: You would not be forced to have more than one name.

Will Blizzard ever allow us to include spaces ( ), apostrophe (') and/or hifens (-) in our names, with appropriate restrictions?
I'd assume at least the restrictions below would be necessary to enforce reasonable credibility:
- Max 2x spaces ( ).
- Max 1x hifen (-)
- Max 1x apostrophe (').
- Max 3 total among any combination of space, hifen and/or comma.
- Min 3 characters before and after each space ( ).
- Each name can only have one instance of 3 isolated characters ("Man Uscript" is okay, but "Man Usc Ript" is not).
- You can have upper case after each space ( ), but it is not enforced as long as there is another space afterwards ("Victor von Doom" okay, "Victor vondoom" not okay).
- (thanks to Polarthief) You would be limited to 2 Capitals per word, and must have at least 1 lower case between each upper case (McDonald and MacDonald, but no MC Hammer).

Extras:
- You might be able to determine what part of your name NPCs use to adress you (can even be all of it).
- As a new restriction, perhaps all similar characters (a, à, á, ã, â, etc) are considered the same for purposes of checking whether a name is taken (Legolas = Lëgólàs).

Examples of Names made possible:
Vol'jin
Greven Il-Vec
Dranosh Saurfang
Victor von Doom

You cannot make Ar th as or Art has.
And although you could make Art'has and Art-hasn't, it would actually be less obnoxious than names like "Arthaslol".

EDIT: What about programming issues?
The only issue I see is when dealing with whispers and macros.

My solution is this:
- When manually typing an action such as "/w" you are now required to press space ( ) twice after the name to let the game know the name has ended and the message/etc has begun.
The second space is "eaten" by the script.
- Macros could require names to be enveloped in (" ").

I would be Greven... /chuckle.

[SteveRocks]

I voted no because I like the naming system just fine the way it is.

In an ideal world your idea is not terrible and I would not hate it. Unfortunately, even with the restrictions you propose, people will abuse it. Not only that, but I worry that the developers would try to pass this naming thing off as one of their new main features of the next expansion which would be incredibly lame.