Character Name = Player Competence??

I mainly run with henchies, except recently on some mission where a fully functional human brain behind the character is quite beneficial. So I have little experience with PUGs.

For those who uses PUGs often, do you guys see any correlation between the character's name and the players "competence"? I know there are some exceptions, but in general? When forming PUGs and/or helping someone, I tend to not respond to those named "Mr Buff Warrior", "I Pwnd U", and such. What about you guys?

I tend to think when I see names such as those to think that the person who created the charactor has a lack of imagination or their just plain lazy and dont really care to take the time to come up with a name, I on the other hand never create a charactor unless the name sounds good and would generaly used in a setting such as GW.

I tend to agree, its never cut in stone but names like you suggested, along with movie/other game character names dont draw me to grouping with people.

You also hear about monks, many are excellent teammates while many seem to have something wedged deep where the sun don't shine. I find the ones with elitist attitudes tend to have names like 'supermonk' or 'powerhealer' or something else that references how good a Monk they think they are. Sad.

Actually I couldn't coment on the the competence of characters with such names. I never group with them so I just don't know.
I think there is a correlation between player name and maturity though. Any juvenile behavior or offensive conversation in the all channel that I see almost always comes from someone with such a name.

I agree...while it's certainly not a hard-and-fast rule set in stone, I would personally be more apt to invite someone into my group or guild who had more of a "normal" name for the context of the game.

I'm not real into the roleplaying aspect, but I would rather see a character named "Ulric Druss", "Serbitar Rek", or "Sarrick Veys" than someone named "1 pwn3d ur M0m".

While there are always notable exceptions, I tend to be leery of characters with bragging-type words in their names: Uber, super, evil, Satan, and those sorts of things. Many of the worst groups I have ended up in had more than one character with a name like that.

--Nokomis

Different people like different levels of RP. I wouldn't assume that someone's clever name implied stupidity. I might think it implies a lack of character and wouldn't invite them but some offensive people are very good at games.

I find those "real names" boring and over-rated. Albiet I do have a Ranger with a "real name", I enjoy playing my Elementalist Mana The Mage and my new Mesmer Countering You more.

About picking groups, since more often then not I'm looking for a group then leading one, I rarely pay attention to the names.

I Agree.
But now let me explain my BAD names for a reason:
Offing Ollj (running off for loot)
Orbing Ollj (the circling necro)
Owning Ollj (just a good PvP mesmer)
Stupid Paladin (quess the class)

im nick EVERYWERE on the internet is "Ollj", and it works because i get remembered by strangers troughout different games
GW does not allow single names (really good) so i simply wanted a verb-prefix because its fun to reat "... reserved for offing ollj"

The prefixes should still be remembered trough all characters (easier for clanmates), so i choosed alliteration verbs with 6 characters:
O**ing in a grossword solver gave me many funny verbs for guild wars

"Stupid paladin"
was never meant to live long (because hes just one in a million of uncreative builds, i just have to play them once to see their strength and weaknesses.)
He will get replaced by a Healer called "il Ollj il" and than ahgain by a Ranger "outing ollj" (that will ROLE play a gay ranger )
I want to cally my monk "il Ollj il" to prohibit newbies to invite me

Its funny how many stupid kids hardly try to take the nick "stupid paladin" serious when they blame me for loosing; "hey your name really suits you".

Question:
What do you think about "il" and "x" prefixes AND suffixes or just spaces between each letter to get a single word as name?

most of the time, i group with people that is higher level and are willing to help out, never have i group with people with bad name like "IownzU"..

No correlation. I've played with people with stupid ass names who performed great while people with names like "Elementalist Beast' have been idiots.

Player competence/name chart:
95% of "I PWN U ALL" < bad RPG names "Legolas ArrowDeath" << Good RPG name "Beata Riverstone" < 5% of "I HEAL U DEAD"

edit: "Elemtalist Beast" goes under bloody stupid names tho...

edit: thx ollj now I know who not to group with - from that "other thread"

I do tend to play favorites a little with names. When I'm forming a group, if there's a choice between someone with a terrible name and someone with a good name, I definitely favor the "better" named character.

I've grouped with good players with silly, funny names, and I've grouped with players with good, fantasy type names that were bad.
Personally, I have two characters one with a normal name and one with a silly, funny name. It's really hard to tell if someone is a good player just from their name. They might have a funny name just for giggles.

But there's a difference between silly funny names and plain stupid and unimaginative. "Iownjoo" type names are not silly nor funny. And a "good" name doesn't have to a be roleplaying type name.

That's true, and I fully understand that and I always put that under consideration. I don't really expect someone with a "bad" name to be an immature, jerk of a player, but I would definetly be more suspicious unless proven otherwise.

I, myself, take quite a bit of time coming up with names for my characters. I want my names to be (somewhat) unique and sound good, considering I'll be playing the character for many hours and seeing his/her name all the time.

I don't think the argument is that players who pick "funny" or "silly" names are stupid.

I think the point is that these players get passed over more often on average in favor of a more "RP-type" named character when groups are being formed.

Not saying that it's right or a "100% correct" rule...it's more of a stereotype.

all i gotta say is i'm never going to party with someone named Wonder Tits or something like that

my GW name is a modified name of my real name.

LOL!