Poll: Custom names within Video Games

[Fleetfiend]

It honestly depends on the game. In most RPGs I leave it as the default, because if I don't it leads to confusion for me later on when talking about the character. I remember one time I named Freya "Xena" in a playthrough of FFIX, and after a while I totally forgot her real name and had no idea who "Freya" was. Since those are the "actual" names of the characters, I tend to leave them where they are.

But with Mass Effect, or other games where the character and/or experience are my customized experience, I tend to either give them my name or make a fun one up. However, I really hate it when people give their characters "witty" names. I have a friend who named his Khajit in Skyrim "Pussay" and they though it was the funnies thing ever. Meh.

Capcha: topsy turvy

 

[New Frontiersman]

I usually use my own name because I like to insert myself into the game. Sometimes if I'm starting a second file or a new character I'll use a different name, but most of the time I just use my own name.

 

[soren7550]

I tend to go for a mix of all three. For most games I'll put in my game. When it allows me to come up with something "witty" I put it in e.g. I called my guy in Dragon Age 2 Toma so that his name was Toma Hawke. But in certain games, like most Legend Of Zelda games, it seems wrong to call it anything other than Link

I'm pretty much the same.

 

[Samantha Burt]

If the name isn't referenced, I will usually just go with Sam or Samantha. But in text-based games, like Pokémon, I will usually try to make it humourous. I found naming my character in Platinum "boring" to be pretty funny.

 

[General BrEeZy]

I named a Link "F*** Me" just for giggles in Ocarina of Time.
I also named a male shepard in Mass Effect "NeilPatrik" to be a womanizer. slept with 3 different chicks throughout the whole trilogy! lol!
a-bang-bang-bangity-bang!!

 

[Lugbzurg]

In Ocarina of Time, I just used my own name. At least, the first time. That's what it told me to do, so, that's what I did. I had no idea at the time that it was going to replace Link's name with my own. That kind of annoyed me.

In Fire Emblem (7), I also used my own name, and it actually brings you into the game as a character. It just felt so awesome seeing these characters become more and more fleshed out and actually start addressing you and speaking with you. Not as breaking the fourth wall, but, because you're supposed to be their strategist. After all, you start the game waking up from being unconscious and Lyn just found you lying out somewhere.

Then, there's the case of games where they just tell you to input three initials. I used to use my own back in the day, but, in recent years, I've just gone with "LUG" for obvious reasons. Even more obvious is when, in other games (like Generations Arena), I simply go as "Lugbzurg".

 

[hazabaza1]

Generally just my name (Jack)
Sounds decent and stops me looking at the character creator for five hours going DUUUUUUUUUH thinking of a name.
Thank christ I rarely play as females.

 

[Vault101]

usually Im pretty uncreative since it doesnt really affect things

my first shepard was "sally" because I thourght it was such a silly non thretaning name...hilarious (then I called her Fem, then settled on Jennifer)

In dark souls I wanted to name my charachter "Arkangel"

however due to having some difficulty with the PS3 keyboard thing I got "Arkangej"..I thourght it seemed fantasyish enough to so I kept it (and use it for fantsy games)

In fallout New Vegas I names my Courier Shepard..then promptly forgot about it

then later when she said "the name's Shepard" I was like "wait..WHHHAAAAA- oh thats right"

 

[DustyDrB]

I stay with Link in The Legend of Zelda games. Because...it's Link. Feels weird to call him anything else.

In other games, I usually pick a letter and just make it up as I go. There's no plan. Sometimes I have to start over because what I end up with is horrendously stupid ("OK..B...r..." "Bronanah? Egads, no!").

 

[Reep]

If they ever say your name in speech, i usually put something like fagballs in, but if i ever try to represent myself as the character, i do my own name.

 

[Nalgas D. Lemur]

Also, playing the Legend of Zelda as "Ganon" never gets old.

That reminds me of the time my roommate named every single renamable/summonable/whateverable character in FF8 Seifer, so it was Seifer and his team of Seifers chasing after the evil Seifer. That made the plot at least twice as nonsensical as it normally is.

 

[Goofguy]

Wow, never thought of 'fagballs' as particularly witty...

If it's only a first name I'm choosing (à la Hawke or Shepard) then I'll usually use my own, otherwise I pick one of my many nicknames.

 

[Flailing Escapist]

I actually have an entire "canon" universe in my games with custom character names. Like now I'm playing Skyrim and I named my (female, redhead-with-glassy eyes) "Theresa", like from Fable. As putting her in Skyrim like it's inbetween Fable 1 and 2 so she's a badass but not that much of a badass yet and she's blind so she probably doesn't know the difference. That's also why she needs me to play the game, so I can "see" for her. haha

- I also once named Link "Fenris" so whats his face kidnaps him later and brings him to Kirkwall.

- I named the Courier in Fallout: New Vegas "Roland" once. Roland from The Dark Tower Series because I believe Roland is a couple hundred or a couple thousand years old, I gave him gunslinger perks and I figured Benny is the "man in black" who convinces Roland to let him live until Roland eventually releases who that was and gives chase again (sometime after Hoover Dam).

- Once I played through Fallout 3 and named the character "Max".

- I've played through Oblivion with a wizard named "Gandolf".

- I also named my Shepard "Issac" after Dead Space came out.

-and in KotOR I always named my character "(something) Skywalker" every time.

 

[217not237]

Ever since Graham and Paul's first Let's Play, I name every character "a tool."

 

[BehattedWanderer]

I play Zelda games as Link, usually, though Yahtzee made me choke when he mentioned "Fuck Me" as a name, and I've heard the idea occasionally since, and I look forward to playing another Zelda game with that as the name. Possibly as a drinking game, possibly not.

Any other time, I tend to stick with a handful of sensible sounding names, and work from those.

I named a Link "F*** Me" just for giggles in Ocarina of Time.
I also named a male shepard in Mass Effect "NeilPatrik" to be a womanizer. slept with 3 different chicks throughout the whole trilogy! lol!
a-bang-bang-bangity-bang!!

I said a bang-bang-bangity-bang!

 

[Starik20X6]

I enter my own name 99% of the time. It just feels more personal to have the characters talk to me and not just my in-game avatar. Given the option my character will also look like me. The only time I've not used my own name was for Chrono Trigger.

 

[Terminate421]

I name myself as myself unless it doesn't fit

Such as in Skyrim, I named my Argonian Glaukos

I also name all my Pokemon after a character who I feel is there personality. Garrus Vakarian (Or just Garrus is all I could fit) is my Haxorus by the way.

 

[Razoack]

Wow, never thought of 'fagballs' as particularly witty...

I guess sarcasm didn't translate over the internet relatively well, but its more the fact a name closer to

However, I really hate it when people give their characters "witty" names. I have a friend who named his Khajit in Skyrim "Pussay" and they though it was the funnies thing ever. Meh.

 

[Akytalusia]

for characters with preestablished identities i'll leave the default names. they're themselves, and i'm just following them through thier adventure.
for blank slate characters, i'll use my own name. they're now my avatar.

 

[Strazdas]

Strazdas, always strazdas