How much do you think about names, tags and handles?
take christening in video games seriously. I have two reasons. First, names reflect something about us and pique or inspire others. Second, but for great effort, once we choose a name for a character or handle, we're stuck with it.
My Xbox Live gamertag, East India Tea, can be traced all the way back to Battle.net — I played terran in Starcraft, and wanted autocratic magnificence. What better name than one invoking the company that once ruled India? In World of Warcraft, a game encouraging players to create a whole cast of heroes, I've plucked luminaries from history and legend, and have created portmanteaus out of two different languages.
Tags and toons aren't exactly as consequential as a child, a street or a ship-of-the-line. But whenever I play online, my attention is drawn to how people want themselves identified. Some monikers are clever; others cryptic; still more, to my peculiarly visceral annoyance, are so glib or coarse that I wonder if the player considered nominal ergonomics and realized that an offhand remark would remain with him day after day. Then I acknowledge the instance of "420" in the name and rule that out.
How much do you think about names, tags and handles — what sources do you use? Are you, really, someone who'll just pull it out of a hat?
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