Online Names

What’s in a name? Have you ever paid attention to player’s names when you play Quake/Unreal,Half Life etc online?  There’s usually quite a lot of information contained in a name, beyond the actual nomenclature.  So taking you on, with tongue gently pressed into cheek, a quick guide to Online Names:

Player/Unnamed.  Player or whatever the games default player name is.  Two possibilities here, a newbie who is so keen to get online he fails to notice the option to provide himself with a name and goes online with the default, good news for your frag-count.  The other option, seen almost as often as the newbie, is the Low Ping Bitch (LPB) - less common in these broadband days or else someone with something to hide or a cheater.  Maybe Sir Numbskull wants anonymity; perhaps he wants to practise some new jumps without reducing his rating at CLQ (where all your stats were stored in the early days of the online gaming boom).  Maybe he’s having a bad day and doesn’t want his mates to know.  More likely in this sad age of online cheating, he simply hides his real name so it is not tainted by his cheating ways.  This obviously makes him a sad bot-boy/wall hacking spawn of Satan in my book.

Killer/Deathxxx/Hellspawn etc.  May or may not contain an expletive (that’s swear word to this player type), but is usually has the Ninja Warrior ring to it.  One of my favourite kinds of players.  You can almost guarantee it a cocky teenager with spots, armed with what he considers a cool name and unlikely to have the skills to match.  At this hormone-ravaged age, the player MUST have a suitable (hard) sounding name.  Unfortunately for him, he lacks online gaming experience, and is therefore cannon fodder for veteran players.  Probably spends most of the game typing “I own Joooo…” in the mistaken belief that illiteracy is cool. Typing means stand still = death.

Any name with -=<*” a few letters i.e. FFS/CuD/US or variations on a theme.  This is a clan (team) player.  Clans can be small, local efforts, in geographically similar locations or vast international networks.  Clan players range from the very best, down to enthusiastic newbies (cannon fodder) in a 5-minute-old clan that has never played a match. I played a clan one that had several members who had to go to bed durign the match!  So, don’t be frightened simply by the fact that someone is a clan player.  You should be cautious, but you can size them up reasonably quickly and alter your tactics to suit.  Bear in mind on a good day of online gaming I get invited to join 2 or more clans on spec, if I’m that good, what is the likelihood that the same maxim is applied to a player having a 10 minute hot streak, who joins a clan and the return to a lower standard of play, or simply that the clan is a badly organised bunch of losers? 

Considering the number of crap clans that have cheaters in them, there is no guarantee of good play or players.  Sadly, the explosion in online gaming and the proliferation of Clans to match has not improved the situation and in the authors opinion there are fewer true & clean clans online today than 3 years ago.

Funny names.  Plenty of them out there, though few serious online gamers use amusing names.  You are then faced with either a newbie or someone trying to hide their identity.  Avoid Austin Powers like the plague, but beware of A Pink Fluffy Thing, who was a mean Action Quake 2 player!  On the whole, it’s safe to ignore them as the majority of players with amusing names suck.

One Word Names.  A dying breed, if they are good, invariably they are clan players using an alias.  The remainder are either solo and ex Clan players or simply don’t wish to be clanned.  Generally they remain few and far between today, but usually require you to keep an eye on them.

CONCLUSION

So, within seconds of entering the server of the game of your choice, you can size up players fairly rapidly and tune you tactics to suit.  The naming of the opposition usually clues you up to what you face quickly and should give you a good idea of what you are up against and even a slight edge. it also give you a pretty good idea of how to choose something suitable for yourself.