[Loremaster]

I have a pet-peeve that I thought I would bring up in order to get feedback from mud admins so that perhaps I could understand.

Connecting to New Mud!

Choosing a name for your character is very important, choose something with a (fill in the blanks) theme.

By what name shall you be known?

*******

I am biased towards RP muds, so I guess the name thing doesn't matter to H&S players (or does it? no idea)

Even on cookie-cutter muds, a name is a prized bit of individuality. I like to choose names that are appropriate to theme, RACE, Skillset/Guild/Occupation.

V'kroth may be suitable for an Orc or barbarian race, but not an Elven healer.

So, my peeve is all the muds that ask for a name before the new player is even aware of what races/skillsets etc are available.

I do not run a mud, so I am only guessing that the name is used to create an account/datafile to store stats, gender, and initial information.

Is it really so hard to employ some kind of system where a player can choose their name at the end of the process?

Im not trying to slam admins or coders, it just seems that this should not be all that difficult, and wondered why muds don't do this.

I cannot recall the name of the mud, but recently I logged into one to see what it was like and the creation process was truly excellent. It guided me with questions about what kind of character (fighter, mage, etc); it spoke of the different races with one line descriptions of their relative strengths/weaknesses and help for further race info; the best part to me was that NAME was the last question!

The creation process gave me a brief glimpse of the mud's character possibilities (and the creativity of the coders who put this process together) and a feel for my character so that I could give it an appropriate name.

Looking forward to some informative response.

Toranga Leela's boyfriend.

[Santrilla]

I agree that such a system would be a good idea. Personally, I don't put that much thought into how my name relates to my character, although obviously I think carefully before picking an orc warrior called 'Cuddles'.

A significant amount of MUDs allow people to log on as 'guest', which gives the user an oppurtunity to explore the MUD prior to creating an account. Using this system, you could take a look at the races/classes/backgrounds/etc available, plan your character, then go and make one.

Also, sometimes MUDs list which races/classes are available on their websites. This can be a very useful feature in choosing a MUD and deciding what to do with your character.

Of course, the other option is to choose a race and class that will almost certainly be available- for example, elven mage or orc/troll/ogre barbarian- and that way you're pretty much guaranteed to get a character that fits your name

[Loremaster]

Originally Posted by (Santrilla @ Jan. 02 2003,11:19) Of course, the other option is to choose a race and class that will almost certainly be available-

I guess I could create a template character to log in with:

Notorious_ORC

The  monosyllabic  rhyme-spitting, grunt rapping, Bard:
fearless avenger of defenseless mobs, tweaker of dragon snouts (at least, in the stories he tells), and master of the iron kazoo, his cherished instrument of accompaniment.

I can RP a twink with him.  

[Santrilla]

Heh, whatever floats your boat...

Originally Posted by so I guess the name thing doesn't matter to H&S players (or does it? no idea)

Personally it's never made much of a difference to me. If I'm multiplaying, or using a multitude of characters at different times on the same MUD, I like to keep a common theme (eg. Pantilla, Santrilla, Grantrilla, etc), just to feed my obsessive-compulsive disorder. But other than that, names don't make a lot of difference if you're a pure H&Ser.

[Alajha]

Oh, I totally agree
I mean, you should be able to choose your gender, then your race, then your class, whatever, and THEN choose your name.
For me, however, I don't choose names based on race/class/whatever... I never have. I choose names based on aesthetic sensibilities. I mean, a characters' name means *everything*... Cassandra with a C has a totally different personality than Kassandra, with a K.

[CSmith_Fan]

Well, like suggested before, I'll go to a MUD's webpage and see what races are available. From there, I'll *try* for some racial name..something drowish if it's a drow, japanese if it's a kitsune, something either glutteral or Warhammer based if an orc (like Graak Skullsmasha..gotta love dem WH orcs. ).

 ...But...I find that some of the  MUDs out there either have annaly retentive rules-sticklers that say something like "Brakis isnt a human name. Go remake it" or worse..like "I'm sorry, Santiago is too close to Santrilla, so remake your character." Now that doesnt make sense at all, of course, it is at least a bit better than the ones that have no names rules at all (Yes, I want to be in  world where ShaggyDawg Da Bomb wizard is running around..<rolls eyes>).

[jornel]

You are correct in your assumption that on many muds the name is asked first because it is used as the name of the character file on the server which holds all the account details.

What is perhaps less widely known is that you can (again, on many muds) change your name prior to authorization.

On SMAUG muds you just type
 name potts
and your new name will become Potts

I imagine it is similar for ROM and Diku muds.

[Realedazed]

Most MUDs I try have a web site where they list races, class, etc. So I usually visit that before logging on to the game. That way I'm ready for character creation.