I never bother to give my characters real names when I play RPGs. Usually I just use the default name (if there is one), or name them AAAAAAAAAAAA. Sometimes however, I have fun and give them more.... interesting names. Take these screenshots for example:
http://drahken.cjb.net/ikkismelly1.png
http://drahken.cjb.net/ikkismelly2.png

http://drahken.ifrance.com/drahken/bimboham1.png
http://drahken.ifrance.com/drahken/bimboham2.png

http://drahken.cjb.net/b-tch.png

There are only two games which could probably be classed as RPGs I played for longer than five minutes: Eye of the Beholder and Eye of the Beholder 2. In both, giving the characters names was always the most annoying task - I hate that! I always gave them the names of their character classes, that way, I didn't have to remember two things and their connections (name -> class).

Edited by Mr Creosote at 23:26 on July, 16th 2003

I play a lot of RPG and strategy games, although some of them are hard to decide whether they're strat or RPG. In games like EotB, I use the character images to remind me who's what. If he's wearing armor, he's a fighter. If he's wearing a robe, he's a mage. If he's wearing a white robe, he's a healer. If he's just wearing a hat, he's a thief.

Ha! Naming is the easiest part. I always name people after people I know. Oregon Trail is a blast to play that way. You can inject some real life personalites into it. (Eh, I never liked Fred much anyway, we won't stop just because HE has exhaustion)

I hate those 'real names', too - it's so cheesy!

Naming characters isn't that bad. The leader of the group (usually a knight or a palladin) is NetDanzr. The rest is people I know.

You guys could just use a random name generator, there are quite a few good ones around.
I usually just make them up.

:penguin:

Nice to see you, Johann

Yeah Johann, nice to see you back... guess we need a new pinguin-smiley then heh

Using a generator is too much effort. Most of the time I'm too lazy to do more than click on "A" a dozen times or so. The only time I give them a "real" name is when I'm in a mood to give them names like the screencaps I posted.
Giving them names of real people is extremely boring in most RPGs, who wants to play a game where the head badass knight is named Bob, or the level 99 archmage is named Joe? It can be fun in a game like Oregeon trail where "normal" names fit in (especially since oregon trail lets you kill off team members ), but for most RPGs.....

Bob and Joe? That's actually pretty weird names. Don't know any people who are called like that. That makes them perfect 'fantasy' names!

And just for your information: you shouldn't use that second server for .png images. It sends "application/octet-stream" as file header, not "image/png".

Edited by Mr Creosote at 21:46 on July, 17th 2003

I usually play half-elven (or the equivalent in the given setting) races and go with names like Eolfin The Fair (Bard), Arando the Sly (Thief), Mystra (Sorcerer), Der'Shon Dragonslayer (Paladin/warrior), Urg Kwikaks (Barbarian Half-Orc), ... If I don't have any inspiration I just look through some fantasy-books or reread passages of the Player's Handguide and by then I usually had an idea or 2 for a name... I also like to keep into account the alignment I'm planning to play... The more "good" I play, the nobler I try to sound in my head and the more sinister in the other direction...

That second server works for actually posting PNGs on a page, just not for linking them. Never knew exactly why it makes you download the image instead of displaying it though. I used it before I started using the other site.

How strange, I've never been in a situation where I had to come up with names for RPG characters.

I didn't play everquest ever but I think this is a great name for an erudite wizard, whatever it is...

http://ashenvendetta.irongut.100megs4.com/members/profile.php?charID=30

Edited by Burseg at 04:05 on August, 03rd 2003

Burseg, When you say "whatever it is" do you mean 'whatever an erudite wizard is" or "whatever Uvavu Eranu is" ?

Just incase its the uvavu bit your asking about it could stem from a UK TV programme. I dont know if they made up the name/words themselves or took it from something else but the words Uvavu and Eranu are in a comedy gameshow called >Shooting Stars<.

Contestants have to chose a subject to answer a question on, and if they pick a certain subject, Vic Reeves says Uvavu or Eranu in a stupid voice, or somthing along those lines.

Hehe, no I know what Evavu and Uranu mean and currently have those sounds in .wav format on my desktop

Thanks for the effort

Edited by Burseg at 03:28 on August, 04th 2003

And I thought our gameshow-hosts were idiots

Do the words have an actual meaning by themselves? Or are you just saying you know where they're from and when they're used? If there's some kind of inside joke involved, I don't get it (yet)...

So for the time being I'll have to agree with Pada1's post above; except that you'll never beat Jan Theys (not too sure about the spelling) when it comes to blatant game show host stupidity.

I concur