Or any game that forces you to name the main character, without a default placeholder? Do you input your real name, or do you use your Internet handle? Or do you make up a new name depending on the game? Maybe you browse the internet or the manual to try to find the “official” name used by the publisher? Does it depend on the genre of the game?
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If there’s no default I’m always Socks
Default or the actual character’s name. Otherwise, it’s my real first name.
raskulous if there’s room, if not, rask.
I go with the actual name if there is one and have a couple of set names that I use depending on the character type if not. Was a time that it would take me hours or days to think of a name and customize a character, but luckily I’ve settled on a few standards. But now with surnames being a growing thing I’m struggling again. :c
Bort.
I almost always use my real name.
Dave or Dad. lol!
It’s either a Transformer (Galvatron,Unicron) or a character from FFII (Kain,Cecil,Rydia)
Default name. If there is no default then I get anxious and search online for what to name them.
Peltz
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Charlie Tunoku
I would put weird names on all the rentals. Shoutouts to all the variations of my man SqueezyNut on SNES carts at Houston area Blockbuster and Hollywood Videos.
I’m pretty sure Beavis and Butthead fundamentally changed me.
Lol! Myself, it’s usually “Ater”, which was what I always saved my games as on PC: one time I accidentally mis-typed my real name, and that’s what came out, and it’s stuck. If I need to name multiple characters, one will usually be “BT”, like my online handle. Likewise, my gamertag on every system is “AterBT”, because compounding nicknames is fun.
My real name. I had to use my screen name in one of the Dragon Quest games, because it won’t let you use my name for story reasons.
Actually I’m using different names depending on the genre.
In your typical young-lad-saving-the-world jRPG, I would use my real name. But in more involved western RPGs, like Baldur’s Gate or Fallout, I would try to invent a name that would fit the character I’m making. Which means I would spend a considerable amount of time in the character creation tool trying to figure a good name.
I feel like the stereotypically bland, never-speaking character is designed as a placeholder for the player to inhabit: I’m the young boy who’s about to save the world. Of course as I grow older, I feel less and less represented by this mute archetype.
But when I create a character, I’m creating someone who isn’t me. I’m creating a character that I will guide through the game, but isn’t meant to be me. I’m watching him trying his best with the skills I deigned to give him. Even though I’m guiding his actions, it’s a role I’m playing. He’s not me.
Thinking about it, I would be really annoyed at those Japanese RPGs if I were a woman. I would probably have the same behaviour with those games as I have with western RPGs.
I never felt this way.
The only time I’ve felt like I’ve “inhabited” my character was in the Zelda games. There, I’d put my first name as the name.
Then, BotW happened, and I couldn’t do that anymore. It didn’t really bother me at all. I just carried on as usual and never felt any less immersed.
And playing as females in JRPGs (Chrono Trigger, FF6, and FF9 come to mind) never struck me as odd or difficult to enjoy.
I normally use my online username cause it’s got a good story behind it lol
I stumbled on to this username playing Smash Melee with my friends using a mod to attempt to allow you to use tags more than 8 characters by creating two regular 4 character tags and combining them. I tried to make my tag Zimbabwe but I combined the tags in the wrong order and then I was Abwezimb. Then a day after that I went to play again with my friends and the last two characters had just dissapeared. At the end of all that I was Abwezi and I try to use that tag about as often as I can cause I loved the way it kind of just fell in my lap lmao.
Not difficult to enjoy, but in a different frame of mind. I have no problem creating and playing women in Western RPGs either, but then I’m playing a role, not playing a fantastic version of myself. And I don’t name them after me. How you felt about Zelda, I feel about a broader collection of games. Though less and less. I haven’t played BOTW but I would probably fee the same as you do now. However, I would definitely have used my name had it been out when I was a kid.
It has to be noted that in Chrono Trigger and FF6, the women are sidekicks of the male hero. I’m currently playing Secret of Mana, which prompted this thread. I’ve thought about what to name my character, and went for my real name, but used the canon names for the other two characters. But as the story progressed the game played more and more as a team RPG instead of a hero with sidekicks, and I found myself mostly playing the sprite. Now I’m playing a team of characters where one guy has the same name as me, but I don’t feel any connection with him any more.
[edit] I have to add that I much prefer western RPGs like Baldur’s Gate to any Final Fantasies. Being able to create any fantastic character and playing them instead of playing your surrogate mute is definitely part of it.