When I entered my characters data last week in Pokémon Omega Ruby I got to thinking that I always use the same character name: it’s always YvoCaro and if that doesn’t fit, it’s YvoCar.
My on-screen name
A name I made up for my first Animal Crossing town way back then, pasting two parts (my own name and my daughter’s name) together. At the beginning of my gaming life I only played Animal Crossing, and by the time I moved on to other games, the name had stuck. So, YvoCaro is always my little alter ego. Saves myself a lot of hard thinking too!
Nowadays after playing numerous games I am applying the same rule to other things that have to be named in games. A town or farm is called Sendaria, and only if you are a David Eddings fan you will recognize the name. It was the country where Garion spent his childhood years together with his aunt
Names for my pets
If I have a dog in the game, it’s always Scotty, named after my own faithful pet. So in Harvest Moon or Rune Factory games, where a dog companion is good company for a hard working farmer, Scotty is always at my side.
A cat is always Mittens (I don’t own a cat in real life, or rather, no cat owns me). The Harvest Moon games especially are great for giving names, as every farm animal has to have a name too. So I have a whole range of names for the Chickens. Most of the time I’ll keep four of them, and I dutifully feed them and pick them up every day to give them a reason to love me.
I’ll call them Josephine, Charlotte, Desiree and Chicky (I know, the last one doesn’t deserve a prize for originality). Somehow giving such lengthy and lovely names to such a humble bird appeals to my sense of humor.
My first cow is always called Bertha, which is a name that is jokingly used in my country when you talk about the country life and farming. And my first sheep is always named after a former colleague: she may not like it, but her last name was the same as Sheep in Dutch (shhht, don’t tell her!). So that’s why I always use her name! And should I be so lucky as to have a horse, I’ll call it Shadow(fax) after Gandalf’s noble steed. Even if it’s black or brown and not white!
So, when I named my starter Pokémon last week I called it Josephine: don’t you agree that Torchic looks just like a chicken? I guess I am a creature of habit. I’m curious, do you have such a range of names too?
Unless I’m feeling silly my avatars generally all have the same name… maybe a slight tweak for different genders.
Judging by the reactions I got, most people use the same name! Slight tweak for different gender, good one! Though nowadays we can choose to play as boy or girl in almost every game. Good thing too!
Well, sometimes throwing people off with my big black man named Amy can be fun too.
Lol, especially when Streetpass is involved eh?
I think in most games now it usually picks up your profile name or else that’s what I enter, but for special characters that I will be playing with for extra extended periods of time I still think long and hard about what their personas will be. Games like Animal Crossing, Fantasy Life or The Old Republic, as it helps to push me into fanfic mode!
So, for special games you pick out a new names and think long and hard about it? And you don’t use the same name again for future games? It does make a game even more special!
Yep. I can waste an hour or more on that first screen that says ‘enter name’ lol. Then when you name your town and pet too.. And I love customising a characters appearance. I took forever going through the options for Fantasy Life! Blue hair? Red, yellow, purple? It’s very important! And sometimes the names and characters become legandary in the history of your personal gaming. It becomes more memorable (or else I just take it too seriously ;] )
Lol, I did that too when I first started up City Folk on my Wii. I remember I even stopped the game and stepped away from it to think about the name of my town because I knew it would be with me for a long time. But nowadays I play so many games that I use the same names.
If I’m a male character–Blue. A female character, generally Rita or Molly. I also always name my first cow Bertha. Horse is always Kuiper, named for the Kuiper Belt. Ducks I like using Phyllis or Flo. Point being, yea I’m definitely a creature of habit too. Oh yea, and in Pokémon, I always name my Jigglypuff (ever since I were like 7 years old) Namorita, after the marvel character ;P
Yep, you’re a creature of habit alright ( in games, that is!) we must be getting the same cow in the games, haha!
Your Jigglypuff gets a very chic name, I like it!