Yesika talks about the uniquely video game experience of NPCs not acknowledging your character’s first name.
The best part about role-playing video games is the fact that you can create your own character. You can choose how they talk, dress, fight, and interact.
Sometimes, the only thing missing is hearing NPCs call your character by name. I mean after deciding almost 90% of what the character is all about, hearing them say your character’s name would be the cherry on top.
Other people tend to rationalize the limitation by working it into their head canon. Perhaps, some traumatizing event gave your character trust issues so he/she doesn’t give our their name easily.
Sadly, it’s not possible because of developer limitations. If they did, the budget would explode since they would have to record all the dialogue for each possible name or conversations would risk sounding like Siri.
Isn’t it kind of weird how even your most loyal followers and love interest call you by your last name or title?
Imagine if people did that in real life. This deserves a video spoof from Machinima or College Humor.
So, here are just some of the impersonal names role-playing video games have given our characters to make things a whole lot easier.
101 (Fallout 3)
Shepard (Mass Effect)
Yeahp, even your LI doesn’t know your first name.
Arisen (Dragon’s Dogma)
Dragonborn/ Dovahkiin (Skyrim)
Hawke (Dragon Age 2)
Exile (KOTOR II)
Boss (Saint’s Row)
Chicken Chaser (One of many purchasable titles in Fable)
I’m sure that there are many more, but these are what came up at the top of my head. However, there are some games that make it possible for NPCs to address your character’s first and last name.
One example of this is the recent NBA games and they do it quite well. The games pretty much have an audio database of common first and last names players might use.
I initially thought that it would sound weird since they would just be inserting these names into pre-recorded conversations. It would pretty much sound like Siri like I previously mentioned.
However, I was wrong because it flows quite well in the court commentary. It didn’t sound awkward or misplaced at all.
Why can’t they do it with RPG games? Well, if you’re familiar with the genre then most of the names are far from common. It would be so hard to predict what roman or other outlandish name you decided to give your character.
In the end, we have to be content with our character’s first name being sort of equivalent of “He who shall not be named” until the world develops a highly intuitive and intelligent A.I.
12 comments
Actually, it also depends on the character’s role. For instance, Shepard. Well, I can’t really picture them using the first name anyhow. People who play a military-based character often use their last name before their first name–even for woman. Think of Castle or Haven, for example.
I actually think that Mass Effect has the right idea: choose the first name, but use the last name when NPCs have spoken dialog.
To be honest, I kind of preferred when games weren’t voiced. Budgets don’t stretch enough to have individual voice actors for the hundreds of NPCs in a game like Oblivion and sometimes hearing the same voice out of fifteen different people is worse than not hearing it at all. I’m in the minority, though, I know that. What I’d rather see is a compromise: voice really important NPCs. Don’t voice unimportant ones. And for the love of all that is holy, if all they’re going to do is spout the same lines of dialog as everyone else, you don’t need to voice that.
I feel like the last name idea that Mass Effect uses works until you started getting closer to your other party mates, especially the one you romanticized. Just my $.02
Yeah, that’s the reason why I included it in this list. It’s also fine for townspeople to call you Dragonborn or the Arisen, but how about the people you are close to or romantically linked to like Michael said.
I can see that. It’s really about the best solution, though, other than the Impersonal Greeting or limiting the names you can use. Not that there’s anything wrong with shouting “DRAGONBORN!” in bed, though I have to admit that I’d laugh. Hard. It kind of reminds me of Chosen One. From Kung-Pao. Not really the sexiest thing. Still curse my husband for ever making me watch that movie. My stomach hurt for days. DAYS.
This is the best solution currently available*
I can agree with that statement, I disagree that it’s the definitive best solution, I’m sure developers will find a way to improve this with new technology.
I’m actually looking forward to seeing what other solutions they come up with.
and yet I still spend way too much time trying to come up with good character names. At one point in Saints Row 4, Kensington teases the Boss when she says she knows their real name. The Boss quickly changes the subject.
It’s better when characters can use your last name like Shepard or Hawke instead of a title like Warden or Arisen.
Dude, you should never purchase the title of Chicken Chaser. That shit has got to be earned by chasing the hell out of some chickens.
Having common names wouldn’t work in something like The Elder Scrolls. The Dragonborn simply cannot be named Jake Thomas. He needs to be Gragnar the Mighty or Splendificus or something suitably ridiculous that the player comes up with. I’ve really come to hate silent protagonists, though. They can call me Shepard or Hawke all day so long as I get to hear my character actually converse and not just stand there like a dope selecting text while everyone else is full of personality.
Really like the idea of using the name database they have in NBA 2k, that would be pretty cool, and I don’t think it would be that hard to implement. Then again, I don’t make games so I don’t really know.
would it be better for game makers to choose a first name for the player’s custom built character? Something gender neutral like Sam? Or a name for each gender or race (elf, dwarf, human, etc)? The only places the custom names are used are saved file names, fan fiction and fan art. Would it make it harder for players to create a unique personality / game experience/ story for each character?
Well, I personally wouldn’t care if they chose the first name for me as long as I have complete control on the other aspects of the character.