Do you say “toons”?

Sylvermynx

Toons, they are toons get over it Max!

Kanar wrote: »

Sylvermynx wrote: »

Kanar wrote: »

There's no good reason to call them "toons." Anyone with a background in tabletop RPGs (you know, the hobby from which video game RPGs are based) would call them "characters" or I abbreviate as "char" when writing.

"Toon" predates WoW so anyone guessing it comes from WoWs cartoon graphics is wrong. It probably comes from people were really enjoyed Disney and cartoons but never had any RPG background. I find the usage distasteful.

I've called "characters" toons since I DM'd AD&D back in the mid-70s - because that was just a good way to refer to "caricatures" of the sort in a fantasy game, sorry @Kanar. So, I'm not changing now, for sure!

How many times have you been to Disney world/land and how many Disney movies do you own?

Over the years, probably twenty times to the theme parks - not since 1984 though; and at one time or another I've owned every Disney movie ever published especially when daughter was young, though none left now. Thinking I need to buy some up again on bluray....

OFFL1MIT

I agree! I don’t say “toon” I say, “ “

Johnnies

ImmortalElf13

I agree! I don’t say “toon” I say, “ “

I'm an old school pen-and-paper role player so I stick with character. Though I've used Main and Alt on occasion.

phairdon

I agree! I don’t say “toon” I say, “ “

Characters.

Turelus

I agree! I don’t say “toon” I say, “ “

Characters and alts.

Armatesz

I rarely say toons, I mostly say "character". Which usually is me saying I am switching characters. A lot of people say either toons or characters.

Tannus15

I agree! I don’t say “toon” I say, “ “

I usually say something like "switching to my tank" or "getting a dps" rather than "swapping toons"

Neoealth

I agree! I don’t say “toon” I say, “ “

I just say character like most other people.

Horowonnoe

I hear ya, I say toons now because so many others are using it.

Just here to follow the crowd

Rex-Umbra

I agree! I don’t say “toon” I say, “ “

Characters or chars

Jaimeh

I use both 'characters' and 'toons'--depends on how lazy I feel when typing. But yes, get over it, Max!

D0PAMINE

Toons, they are toons get over it Max!

@max_only I say characters, toons, all of it. I don't really think about it until someone at work pointed out how annoying "toons" is lol. Now I do it to *** him off haha

DanteYoda

Toons, they are toons get over it Max!

Coming from many Asian free to play mmos i say toons a lot, they use the term there very much.

p00tx

I hear ya, I say toons now because so many others are using it.

I say "toons, but only because it seems to be the more easily understood term. We have a lot of WoW veterans, and I think they brought their lingo here (I assume anyway. I am newish to MMOs). I try to speak so my audience can understand me, rather than the other way around.

JamieAubrey

I agree! I don’t say “toon” I say, “ “

I say Char/Character or just simply switch, as I'll switch

phileunderx2

I agree! I don’t say “toon” I say, “ “

No because I don't like the term.

Pat1487

I agree! I don’t say “toon” I say, “ “

Its "character", "char" or "alt" for me, "char" is only in text though, in voice I'll never say "char". I cringe every time someone uses "toon" because I remember what it originally meant and how it became what it means today.

I've been playing MMOs since 1996 with The Realm Online and Ultima Online, way back then everyone used "character" (in realm/ultima) and "avatar" (only in ultima), this was shortened to "char" and "av" (I can't even remember seeing "avvie", if I saw someone use "avvie" I would've thought they were a weirdo, even back then). Roleplaying was much more common back then since most of the players had pen&paper RPG experience prior to playing these games, so people were usually pretty attached to their characters, it was a much different time from today, so when people made more than 1 character the other characters were a different type, usually not for RP, and usually not as attached to the player, so it was called an alternate character/avatar which was shortened to "alt" right away. "Character" quickly eclipsed "avatar" in usage, due to it being the term from pen&poaper RPGs, so most people used "char" and "alt", but then people started making a 3rd type of character, one that they were completely detached from, a character specifically made for scamming.

Back in The Realm Online there was no 2 way safety check trade system like we have in all games with player trading today, you needed a middle man (called "MP", middle person, for some reason) who was highly regarded as honest by the community in order to trade things with no risk of scam, both people would give their item to the MP and the MP would give the items to the right people and the trade would be successful, finding a good MP required asking around in trade chat and getting shady responses from random people, the whole trade system in that game was a nightmare. It was incredibly easy to scam people there because of this. At the same time people would make characters that they could sell to others for real money, both of these shady characters became known as "toons" since they weren't an "alt" and definitely not that persons "character". The name "toon" came from the characters in realm looking cartoonish and the fact that cartoons aren't real. Something you may have seen back then would be "This isn't my real character, it's my toon" or some variation of that when talking to someone (or being someone) that was trying to scam or sell their account (with that character) for real money.

This version of "toon" loosely stuck around into diablo 2 (2000-2001) where scamming was also pretty common but "scammer" started overtaking "toon" in popularity (even among the scammers previously using "toon") and when ToonTown Online came out the definition of "toon" changed as players who never played an MMO until ToonTown didn't know about the negative connotations "toon" had (and also ToonTown used "toon" directly to mean character), most of the people who played ultima and realm who knew the original "toon" went on to play Dark of of Camelot (or just continued playing ultima) so the ToonTown players never really knew "toon" as anything other than meaning your character. Then WoW came along and really popularized the new "toon" as even more people playing an MMO for the first time played that and saw "toon" being used often in all of the other places. From that point forward more people started calling characters "toons" instead of "chars" and the original meaning of "toon" was either never know to those that play today, or forgotten

TLDR
"Character", "alt" and "toon" were originally 3 different types of character until ToonTown Online came out and changed the definition of "toon" to be interchangeable with "character" and WoW came out to popularize that new definition.


These are the original definitions between 1996 and 2000/2001:

• "Character" (aka "char") - Your main character that you are attached to/play the most.
• "Alt" - Alternate characters that you are still attached to but don't play as often, or only play for crafting/farming/pvp...
• "Toon" - A character made to sell to another player or scam other players that you feel completely detached from

The name "toon" came from the characters in The Realm Online looking cartoonish and the fact that cartoons aren't real. Something you may have seen back then would be "This isn't my real character, it's my toon" or some variation of that when talking to someone (or being someone) that was trying to scam or sell their account (with that character) for real money.

I hope you enjoyed this short history lesson from the memory of some random guy on the internet.

Shazanti

I agree! I don’t say “toon” I say, “ “

I might hate it with a fiery passion, but I would never tell someone they shouldn't say 'toon'. They can't see me grimacing on my end of the monitor, but as it doesn't affect me other than that, that's as far as it goes. There's only one game that the 'toon' thing didn't bother me in, and that was City of Heroes/Villains, but I would have probably had the same reaction in any superhero game, since they are all actually cartoon-based, so the word felt more valid (to me) there.

For me, they're my characters, or just: 'my rogue', 'my crafter', 'my main', 'my <insert descriptor>', or, simply, their name.

Mudcrabber wrote: »

I say "characters", but I'm also the kind that uses complete sentences and full punctuation when I send messages on my phone.

<swoon> Someone after my own heart!

WhiteCoatSyndrome

I agree! I don’t say “toon” I say, “ “

I usually say 'char'. 'Main' and 'alt' (or 'bank alt' as appropriate :P) are also common, as is referring to the character by class name ('my Nightblade' 'my Sorc'). Never 'toon'; I've not been into many MMOs prior to ESO and I could never figure out how the term came to be in common usage.

kadochka

I agree! I don’t say “toon” I say, “ “

Characters.
But call them what you will..

idk

Toons, they are toons get over it Max!

LiquidPony wrote: »

I say “character” or “avatar” or “avvie” or “alt” or “dude”.

Wow. You have a problem with "toon" but you have the nerve to say "avvie"? Avvie? Forrealz bruh?

This is a very good point. I do not think I will call my toons avvie.

GreenhaloX

Do you say, "Oh my God," or "Oh my gosh?" Just being humorously silly as this thread is (no offense.) Ha ha

Aurie

My characters are not aggravated hairs on an elephant's butt. So 'dude' is out.

'Avatar' is the picture next to my forum name.

'Avvie'.....just cringe.

So, 'character', 'alt', and the occasional 'toon'.

But never my *class* as they are almost all sorcerers.

.

magikarper

I agree! I don’t say “toon” I say, “ “

I agree that "toon" is WoW-speak, and "character" feels right in a TES/ESO game. I'm level 18 on my first character, so he's not a dude yet...just a run-of-the-mill adventurer.

I instantly took your post to be a lighthearted, fun thread. It seems a bit more tense around here since Murkmire went live.

Kram8ion

Toons, they are toons get over it Max!

But I’m singular as in toon

Ajaxduo

I agree! I don’t say “toon” I say, “ “

People call their alts toons? WutFace.

code65536

I hear ya, I say toons now because so many others are using it.

ESO is my first (and still only) MMO, so I started calling my characters... well, characters.

But enough people around me used "toons" (which I understand comes from the lingo of another MMO) that it's rubbed off on me and now I call them toons too. And characters. Kinda use them both equally these days.

FakeFox

I agree! I don’t say “toon” I say, “ “

"Twink" is the way to go.

DaveMoeDee

I agree! I don’t say “toon” I say, “ “

While I appreciate having a single syllable word for 'character,' I don't see them as cartoons, so the word sounds silly to me.

ArchMikem

I agree! I don’t say “toon” I say, “ “

I call things what they are. These things are characters.