43 replies to this topic

[Markus Kurita]

Hi all.

This topic may or may not have been brought up before but I haven’t seen any major discussions of it. If I’m wrong, please point me in the right direction!

So, today while doing a forum search for my screenname, I was shocked to find myself mentioned in the Russian forums! Lol. I do not know Russian, and haven’t visited those forums. Ever. Well until now. A quick use of Google Translate let me see that our friends from Moscow have an ongoing list of names of “Battletech VIPs” they’ve killed. IE Anastasia Kerensky, etc… My name was on the list (Hmph. One death. How terrible. ;-) but what interested me was a number of the players were complaining that we as players should not be allowed to use canon names.

A part of me says that makes sense. You don’t want some sucky noob in, say, TOR to be able to name himself Luke Skywalker. Here, it probably doesn’t make sense to have someone named Takashi Kurita or Victor Steiner-Davion or whatever. Because you want this game to connect to the canon and be considered valid.

And yet the other part of me says, well, SOMEBODY has to have those names! For this to be part of the real Battletech universe, I mean…for example, Takashi Kurita is alive, right now, in game time. Even if it’s a dev that uses that screenname, the name should exist, and should participate in the community at least. That, to me, seems the best way to help validate this game’s canonicity (as much as anything in a MMOG can be canon).

What do you guys think about this?

Likewise, I don’t see anything wrong with using house/family/clan names as long as it’s not a main character. I’m 99% certain there was never a character named Markus Kurita. EDIT: I did just discover there’s a ‘Marcus’ (with the C) Kurita. Oops. I wasn’t aware of that. Either way, my character uses the K. Different guy :-) So, I see no reason that I can’t make my own. Likewise somebody with the name “Magnusson” or so on. Kerensky might be a stretch…but yeah. Thoughts?

[dal10]

This topic has been brought up many times, but you would have to look quite a few pages back to find them. hell there is a Galen Cox on here. I personally think current canon names should be off limits, but meh, what can you do about it.

[Paladin Brewer]

I also think Canon names should be off limits. I don't want to see Theodore Kurita flaming people on the forums, ever.

[dal10]

I could compromise if the name amaris is 100% permabanned. that name is a death sentence in lore.

[SwordofLight]

I dont think its that huge a deal - I mean, ok, judging by the screen names, Kerenski really got around - but that may also be like Count Polaski. If you're an American of Polish ancestry, you claim to be related somewhere. Or the Oh-ficial witch of Salem, Lauri Cabot - who was not born a Cabot, but because thats a Mayflowery New England blueblood name, she took it.

We know we're not fighting Cranston Snord, or Wolf's Dragoons, or Takashi Kurita for that matter. What, OMG, if I kill Prince_Davion I win the war for House Kurita? No. You just fragged some guy with that name. Wow, I just totally defeated SwordofLight! Yeah? And if I was actually Sword of Light, I wouldnt be in this clunky Dragon with a measly little AC/5, so dont strain yourself patting your own back.

And I think a name like SwordofLight has more elan than somehting like KILLER236456852157 - it is an indication that I at least have some knowledge of the core game, some investiture in the metagame - its not just a pooter game with big robits, grrr arg. Plus, when SwordofLight meets Prince_Davion on the field of battle, it gives an opportunity for both players to trashtalk in game - which to me is far more interesting than the cheap your Mom is an AC/20 sorts of jokes. Die, honorless Davion scum! Shut your lying hole, Lizard! or you know, whatever. These factions are decades old, and playing them in-game is part of the draw for MWO.

-Don

[Raul Phillipi Sanchez III]

I agree with the use of canon names not being used, but it is a well known fact that just because someone famous has a surname like Smith, all other Smiths shouldn't be unaccounted for. Right? Maybe just stay away from the main names. Kurita, Davion and such eh?

[Kdogg788]

Well you can't possibly account for EVERY name in the Battletech canon. We'd be here for the next year weeding out canon names. It doesn't make sense however to use names like Kurita and Davion freely. If the devs decide to fix them, it's fine with me, but if they don't change them (unless it's an obvious one), I at least know that I'm not going into battle against Hanse Davion, and it's just some random player taking that name. What a way to put pressure on yourself eh, taking a name like that?

-k

[Markus Kurita]

First...sorry, I didnt know this had been brought up much before. My bad.
Second...the reality is that the devs arent going to allow any of hs to BE Victor Davion. I think they should, should assign the top players legendary personas, but they arent for the time being at least. So that said I think the core canon names should be off-limits. However I see nothing wrong with creating your own character with a house name...although definitely, if Id known earlier there was a Marcus Kurita I would have picked a different name...spelling change or no.

But I would a thousand times over prefer to fight a sucky Anastasia Kerensky then an obnoxiously skilled "BlUeFaG$888x27463". Because names like that are hideous and lame.

[Kdogg788]

If you want, you can submit a ticket and change your first name to something where you know there isn't a conflict or change the whole thing to something different. We've already had at least two members of our unit that I can think of that have changed their names without issue.

-k

[dal10]

For a definitive thought on this. I don't mind davions or steiners or liaos, though I would prefer if they were hyphenated with another name. but there should be no Victor Steiner-Davion, Kai Allard-Liao, Phelan Kell/Wolf/Ward. just ban people from using current canon names. you know what I mean?

[Sealawyer]

If you were playing superhuman game it would look silly for some player to have the name Superman or Captain America. For this reason alone I am against canon names. They should only be used by the game and only to move the story along. If I were to move up the house chain to command it during community warfare, I still would not want a canon name. I would want my own name more for the immersion effect then anything else. Why would I want to be Theodore Kurita when I can be me getting personally thanked by the son of the Coordinator.

Overall, I really don't care, it's a game use what you want. But the big names should be left alone. No one should have a name that is going to be used to move the story along.

[Darius Otsdarva]

Well it is just a game.

I do agree that certain key canon names should be off limits, but we do see a lot of players sporting bloodnames.

Perhaps that will change when the clans invade. I think a name should just be whatever a player prefers it to be (within reason of course). I wrote mine to reflect my interests in giant robots. It's not say that I'm directly related to Maximilian Thermidor or any Lynx.

It would be a little disheartening to see a player sporting the name Theodore Kurita being a complete fool on the forums.

[Lord Ikka]

I'm against direct canon names- Theodore Kurita, or any of the named characters. I don't think that Bloodnames are exactly a bad thing, but I can't tell whether or not there would be any sort of way to earn the name.

[Gardvord val Orden]

offlimit, names and units !

[Kyone Akashi]

What Ikka-san said.

A name means much. It hints at a certain status and background within the setting not yet earned. Surely "tapping" this reputation must be intentional by the player, why else would he do it? However, simply being the one who happened to register it first is not a valid claim. And in a way, I feel like Sealawyer too - with a unique, fresh name not yet connected to anything in the canon, you can build your own story. "Tabula rasa" - a blank slate.

/bow

[Kdogg788]

I don't know much about clans since they happened after my experience with battletech, but I highly doubt the meta game will officially incorporate clan blood names.

-k

[Kyone Akashi]

Hmmh, it would be a fun idea, though. For later, when the Clans are actually coming into the game and if they end up being a playable faction.

We know that Community Warfare will allow players to earn "Loyalty Points" in order to attain membership in more elite regiments or rising in rank within the faction. It has been said that there will even be requirements to purchase some rare 'mechs and equipment.

Of course it would be silly if a Clan player could jump from blood name to blood name in the same way that we rise in rank, but expanding on the aforementioned concept, I could imagine a system which attempts to track a player's skill via a mechanic similar to the one for matchmaking (the one we wish would incorporate skill) over a prolonged time, attempting to gauge that player's potential. After several months, the game would then offer him to purchase a blood name for Loyalty Points - with the selection of blood names being dependent on the "skill range" of the player as determined by the matchmaker. Needless to say, this would be a one-time choice.

Well, not that this would be of any concern to myself, but it is rather interesting to think about all the different ways on how players could earn this or that in MWO.

[Watson]

The problem is that someone saw a player with a big name, such as "Kai Allard Liao" we have a chance of being killed by his own teammates. Just because it really is not Kai Allard Liao and no reason to disgrace the name. Not to mention the fact that for opposing team, the player with this nickname is the primary target. Besides various Kai Allard too much, as every species of Aidan Pryde. In my opinion, it is bad taste to make such a terrible nickname.

P.S. I apologize for the Google translator.

[Hikaru Shigeru]

Well, this may seem a little bit unrelated at first, but I'm participating in chat roleplaying since 10 years, some are based upon Star Wars, some upon Super Robot Taisen and we NEVER use known names from these universes. It just doesn't feel right. No game master and no player was ever allowed to take well-known characters. It just doesn't feel right. You never, really never know if you are depicting that character in the right way. Isn't it waaaay more fun to play your own character and create your own character (even in a game which has no roleplaying)?

Just my 2 c-bills.

[dal10]

there is plenty of roleplaying here, it is just not game mechanics.