When you are asked to name the MC or other characters, what do you use?

Jonboy80

Jonboy80

Active Member
Dec 8, 2017
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For male MCs, I use my real name, Jonathan. Thankfully, it fits the RPGM eight character limit as I hate the shorthand "Jon" (odd, considering my username, I know). For other male characters that can be named, I go with the default given, unless it's mine. Then I just come up with a random guy's name. If he has female family members (such as Summertime Saga), I tend to give them a "J' name like Jade, Jennifer, Joanna or Judith to keep with theme.

For females, I lean towards music inspired names. My goto for a female MC is Harmony. If the she has female family members (such as Blossoming Love), they will get a music name as well. Usually, I go with Aida, Aria, Cadence, Carol, Celeste, Lyra or Viola. And while Melody is also a lovely name I fell out of using it after playing the VN of the same name as I associate it with that character too much.
 
Bev_

Bev_

Member
Nov 17, 2018
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775
For male MCs I only use my 'online name' :p Because I'd feel weird using my real name, even though I like to immerse myself into the character, that isn't something I'd be comfortable doing.
Additionally my name (or overall names in my language) aren't really compatible with english, they feel a little awkward with it.

For Female MCs I don't care that much, I'm using either suggested name or the one that atm. pops into my head.

And I never rename secondary characters, I hate when there aren't any 'canon' names I can use and I have to come up with my own. I just don't want to associate those characters (form the get-go) with something I already know, and I consider canon names superior since the author was writing with them in mind :)
 
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Jofur

Jofur

Member
May 22, 2018
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If it has a default, usually that. Cole have often been my goto when I get stuck on what to name characters. I think it's the default name in Summertime Saga, and it's just the first name that pops up when my mind goes blank.

I dislike giving characters my own name, too much of a disconnect for usually since the characters look and act nothing like me. Not to mention I have a very Scandinavian name which just looks funny since most games either take place in America or in a fantasy world.

Bev_ said:
And I never rename secondary characters, I hate when there aren't any 'canon' names I can use and I have to come up with my own. I just don't want to associate those characters (form the get-go) with something I already know, and I consider canon names superior since the author was writing with them in mind
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I really appreciate the option however. There is nothing more awkward than playing a porn game where a main female character has the same name as your mother. Straight up had to stop playing.
 
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Pretentious Goblin

Pretentious Goblin

Devoted Member
Nov 3, 2017
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Usually I go with PG. I don't normally play the types of games where female characters are nameable, but I like Lydia, Lucia, Phoebe, Melina and Melanie among others.
 
G

Gojii

Well-Known Member
Oct 29, 2019
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Depends on the context of the game. If I plan on getting immersed into the game (the premise and content aligns with what I'm into) probably some variation of nicknames I've had. Using my own personal name feels odd especially if the content gets "heated." You always know its YOU if the nickname is used, and you otherwise have a possibly common name otherwise. But sometimes I go with the standard names. It's really a "feel" thing than something I always do.
 
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169134

169134

Newbie
Feb 10, 2021
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I usually use John, and if a surname is needed, Doe. I'm not attracted to the idea of using my real name for immersion, because I don't feel the games are immersive.
 
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freedom.call

freedom.call

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Mar 8, 2018
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I never use my own name, it just doesn't feel right to be running around chasing women using my real name. So I'm using someone elses real name, Dick. :)
 
N

NanasBananas

Member
Game Developer
Dec 29, 2018
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If a default name is provided, I will use that except in rare cases where I find I'm really not vibing with it. If the default name is something like Jhon though, I will rollback and change it to John. I don't mind being some generic John, but I will not be misspelled, thank you.

If no default name is provided I'll just put whatever common name comes to mind - John, James, Jack, Jeff, Tom, Sam, Adam, Bob, Carl, Kyle, Kevin... I do try to pick a name that seems to fit the character. For example in Ataegina there are three paths, good, evil and neutral. So I made three saves with three differently named MCs -
I named my good MC Telis, because that sounded like a pure, innocent, kinda light-blue tinted fantasy name to me.
I named my evil MC Jiro, because I thought that name had something darker to it...
And I named my neutral MC Phil, because hey, it's Phil.

I have had cases where I named my character something silly and it stuck. For example, I am no longer capable of playing Corruption of Champions if my character is not named Biff. I tried starting a new game with a different name once, it just didn't feel right...
 
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jdw6

Member
Nov 30, 2019
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NanasBananas said:
Jhon
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Apparently that's a legit spelling of Hebrew origin... who knew.
You must be registered to see the links

(And, yeah, I've often thought it was just a careless typo when seen before. Got curious this time, tho'.)

As for names, I've let the dev of a game know at least once that I didn't like being forced to choose a name, to which he said he'd fix in next ver & gave the default name.

To me, with few exceptions I lean more towards VNs, which are novels, not games. I seriously doubt Mark Twain would've been popular if he wrote "[your real name here]" instead of "Tom Sawyer". (Beyond that... eep, getting too ranty, sorry... it's just utter laziness on the VN's author's part.)

I've found a couple VNs accepted blank (empty string... just hit enter at the prompt) and it then used a default name, but most I just quit, delete, & move on.

There's one that's got a heavy Japanese-type feel to it. I'm an middle-aged white-guy who grew up in small-town America, WTF do *I* know about that culture's names?!? Sheesh! Putting "Max" or "John" or any other stereotypical name just feels wrong. I think for that I went to a similar "baby name" site, found a list of culturally correct names & just randomly picked a short one.

^^^ that go to site of list of names & randomly pick one is basically a great way to keep variety in your games w/o worrying brain cells away. :)
 
N

NanasBananas

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Game Developer
Dec 29, 2018
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jdw6 said:
Apparently that's a legit spelling of Hebrew origin... who knew.
You must be registered to see the links
Click to expand...
Huh, well I'll be darned... (I'm probably gonna keep changing it to John, though)

jdw6 said:
There's one that's got a heavy Japanese-type feel to it. I'm an middle-aged white-guy who grew up in small-town America, WTF do *I* know about that culture's names?!? Sheesh! Putting "Max" or "John" or any other stereotypical name just feels wrong. I think for that I went to a similar "baby name" site, found a list of culturally correct names & just randomly picked a short one.
Click to expand...
Oh yeah, I've done that too...
 
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D

DontCareWhatYouCallMe

Member
May 14, 2020
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Always Alex for the male name, not even close to my real name, dunno why really. If I need to enter a last name and there is no default I go with Smith usually. With 1 exception, kinda, in the game sorcerer the default is Alexander, which was close enough and somehow fit the model better. For everyone but the mc I always keep their names.

A slight pain is that Alex can be used as a male and female name (where I live I've met multiple male Alex's but none female so that might be more in English speaking countries) so sometimes I don't know who someone is talking to :p
 
VentureZapatist

VentureZapatist

Newbie
Nov 23, 2017
72
63
I try using names that would fit well with the rest of the game. That usually means rotating between a few of the more common ones. When I can set the surname I try to be more creative.
 
dusty stu

dusty stu

Well-Known Member
Jan 24, 2018
1,735
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Meaning Less said:
Most times I just leave the default names otherwise anything that makes the dialogues funnier.

A few examples:
"My name is Snowflake, and I live together with my Insecurities";
"This is my mommy and im her motherfucker";
"My name is Alpha Male but everyone calls me Cuck, this is my girlfriend Town whore.
Click to expand...
this
 
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