A Girl Has No Name

[amber91]

This just occurred to me...and maybe this has already been discussed or thought of in the past...

But what if, we completely removed the PC names displayed above everyone's head?

Not sure how you would script or code it, and maybe some of the mechanics are hardcoded, but here are some possible ideas:

- for all PCs, rename them to " " (blank), sort of like the way disguises work, but it'll just be blank

- for all PCs, rename them to "A Man" or "A Woman" or "A Person" respectively, or use a system of nouns and adjectives instead of a name

- store the character name somewhere else, maybe in the description (hidden?) or an item/scroll, like a birth/ID certificate

Just one of the most immersion/RP breaking pet peeves I have is seeing everyone's name, and everyone seeing my name, and all the issues that come from pretending we don't.

Just thinking aloud!

[Valefort]

You can use the disguise system to change your name to "A man".

[Akroma666]

You can use the disguise system to change your name to "A man".

I was told by DMs a while back this was not allowed as it does not comply with the server name rules.

[Blackman D]

Technically probably problematic, too much stuff depends on names. Systems all over the game.

thats actually not true, things depend on resref which is a serial code like ID function, there is actually nothing that calls by name and its already possible to block out names or parts of names you want hidden but can still use to identify something using { }

so you can have "Man{local}" "Man{guard}" "Man{thief}" and they will all appear as just "Man" in game and only DMs will be able to see the omitted with the choser

the problem would be local issues, if some dude is a quest giver for example and they are not working then there would be no way for anyone to accurately report NPCs

and then player wise if you have someone doing something stupid like killing anyone who enters the farmlands... people cant report the name if there is no tag

so plenty possible, just not exactly practical to do so server wide

[Valefort]

You can use the disguise system to change your name to "A man".

I was told by DMs a while back this was not allowed as it does not comply with the server name rules.

Well I hope that will be clarified because I don't understand how it is against the rules. That said you can put a random name and be fine.

[Blackman D]

probably a reporting issue

[Nemni]

In games like this it is hard to recognize someone by facial features, since there are only a limited amount of them available. But in real life it's not hard to recognize a person that you have met a few times. So unless the person is truly hiding their face/body/posture, the nameplate just serves as a stand in for what your char would have realistically known if the world was real, imo.

[Wandering_Woodsman]

I have occasionally used the disguise kit to rename my ranger to 'a hooded figure'.

Naturally, a few folks have said this is both for and againt the rules here, though I'm uncertain as to exactly how this is questionable. As it stands, we already deliberately ignore the "HEY MY NAME IS JACK/JILL!" over everyone's head as it is. This simply removes that from showin' up, which was my inspiration for doing so.

On the flipside, I have noticed when doing so that when you log in at the next server reset, the name on the list, instead of your character, is "a hooded figure".

So, this could, in theory, cause some sort of duplication effect perhaps if the same 'name' is used by multiple players via the disguise kit. But, I'm no expert on how the system works, so I could be blowin' smoke.

drops a couple coins on the table

[dedude]

thats actually not true, things depend on resref which is a serial code like ID function, there is actually nothing that calls by name

That is very much not true for player characters.

[Rasael]

Don't tells depend on names?

[Blackman D]

wouldnt call a spell a item with a visible name that can be ignored tho... but if we are talking about scrolls, wands and potions then its back to the resref...

[Akroma666]

I was told because even the disguise names must follow the server rules. This was back when I wanted to referred to "The Storm" so I disguised myself as such.. was told it did not meet the server rules for a name and was considered a title. Double whammy disappointment.

[Zanniej]

I like the suggestion very much, and believe I actually suggested a similar thing once. Concerning the naming rules, it's in the server rules as following:

– Naming Rules
– Please do not use famous names (like "Robin Hood" or "Drizzt Do'Urden") for your character. Do not put any titles in your name or biography that you did not earn. You are not a king, noble, general, baron, etc. unless the DMs grant your PC that title. And finally, please use a name rather than a description (no "Big Man" or "Larry the Wizard") for your character. This will always be decided at DM discretion and a character in violation of this rule may log in to find the character with a new name.

You could always suggest a change to those rules, perhaps for the disguise system only. However, that's up to you

I always thought it to be great fun to have to rely on your own memory to remember characters, instead of by the name above their head, so hiding those tags would be pretty awesome in my opinion.

[dedude]

I'm not good at remembering pixels, they all look alike

[Deathgrowl]

I get where you're coming from, but with the models of NWN2 being relatively similar, you will end up in situations with characters your character has known for ages and you go "who are you?" just because they've changed clothes.

That would be immersion breaking as well.

If it's in the description, you have to examine everyone, every time you meet someone. That interrupts the flow of the RP. I'm also not sure if people would actually be consistent in putting their names in their description - and if it is somehow scripted to enforce it, I can see it potentially causing problems for their actual description.

Maybe you can get an UI override somewhere if you yourself would like to have nameplates removed?