Naming rules?

Relmyna

What are the rules for naming characters? Are there any? I'm already running into people with names like xxAwesomesaucexx. Are those allowed?

thejadefalcon

Sadly, yes. There's no rule that you have to actually have a proper name for your character.

Laerrus

However players are encouraged to report offensive and copyrighted names.

Besides the fact that "Harry Potter" does not belong in the world of Nirn, I can see why ZM and Bethesda are doing this, it is to protect themselves and their subscribers from legal troubles.

Relmyna

So is there a point to reporting people with names like alksdjhgfoasuidfoahsd? And yes, I've seen a couple of those.

LOVE

You'll see regular ol' gamer names, TES lore-friendly names, AOL usernames (lol), ridiculous names, name parkers, and maybe a mix of all.

Who's to say Xxawesomesaucexx isn't the next emperor. All hail, Xxawesomesaucexx! x)

Laerrus

Elokin6 wrote: »

So is there a point to reporting people with names like alksdjhgfoasuidfoahsd? And yes, I've seen a couple of those.

Sounds like a name a gold seller would use. >.<

Aye, I think someone could find it offensive especially considering it would make interaction with that player a real pain.

Have a look at rule number 1 below, text found on Reddit. (originally by ghoxen)

"I posted this earlier on the official forums, but it hit the post limit.

With the Early Acess close on the horizon, plenty of players are preparing for the launch name zerg. However, before you reserve a bunch of interesting but non-creative names, it's important to understand the rules surrounding character names. Why? If you don't follow the rules, you may only get to enjoy that precious name for a few hours before someone reports you and a GM forces you into a name change. By that time a lot other interesting names would have been reserved by other players.

The full rules can be found in ESO's Code of Conduct (https://account.elderscrollsonline.com/code-of-conduct).

I have summarised the relevant key points in regards to character name:

1. No offensive names. This includes anything ethnically defamatory, sexually graphic, hateful, excretory or anything else Zenimax considers offensive. This rule is mostly self-explanatory, but it'd cover names such as "XxxxXxXtrolololXxXxX".
2. No name that discriminates Age, Race, Disability, Sexual Orientation, National Origin, Pregnancy or Gender.
3. No name that defames or impersonates another player, an employee of ZeniMax, or any property of ZeniMax. E.g. no "TES GM", "Tiber Septim" or any name that impersonates another player's account name.
4. No name that contains or refers to copyrighted characters. E.g. "Harry Potter", "Drizzt Do'Urden", "Mario", "Link" etc.
5. No name that contains or refers to popular characters/names. I believe this mostly refers to any previously copyrighted work now in the public domain. E.g. "Dracula", "United States".
6. No name that contains or refers to modern era serial killers, individuals or groups who have committed crimes against humanity in the past. E.g. "***".
7. No name that is simply inappropriate content (1-6) masked via misspellings, phonetic spellings, homonyms, word combinations, or alternative spellings. E.g. "Hairy Pottar", "Draculo", "Dr'izz't Do Ur Den" etc.

One thing of note is that 4-6 only explicitly apply to "account name", but it has been an extremely common practice for similar rules to apply to character name as well in virtually all other MMOs.

While the rules may seem restrictive at first, even compared to some other MMOs, it's important to remember that you can use "a maximum of four hyphens, apostrophes, or spaces in total". There is a lot of room to make a creative name that fits well with TES lore. Create sensible names, or lose your character names and be forced to re-name your characters long after the initial advantageous Early Access launch.

Some Clarification:
It's not about whether your name breaks any of the rules theoretically or practically, it's about whether someone will report your name. Even if your name breaks ALL the rules, if nobody reports you, you will most likely get to keep the game until you catch a GM's attention. This means some names which may theoretically break the rules may not get reported anyway, and it should be safe to use those names. It's also important to remember the intention of the rules, which is to prevent offense to other players and prevent legal problems.

"Name change" refers to GM action rather than a player's option. Usually how this works is: GM removes your old name and puts a temporary name on your character like "%31Name%", and when you try to access the character you must enter a new name for the character before you can play him/her.

ADD: Another thing of note is that nothing in the rules said anything about immersion-breaking names. A name like "Refrigerator Airplane" or "I lost my horse" may not be prohibited by any of the rules, but ultimately the discretion rests with the GM due to Rule 1 ("anything else Zenimax considers offensive")."

BlackOmega

LOVE wrote: »

You'll see regular ol' gamer names, TES lore-friendly names, AOL usernames (lol), ridiculous names, name parkers, and maybe a mix of all.

Who's to say Xxawesomesaucexx isn't the next emperor. All hail, Xxawesomesaucexx! x)

All hail our new Emperor!

Joking aside, I once was Alpha testing a game that actually had to send out an e-mail to it's Testers about offensive names... Specifically one tester who thought it would be amusing to name his character 'MomBeaterPrime'. (I kid you not!)

Just report them and hopefully something is done about them. Some are amusing, don't get me wrong, but some are just stupid and people are trying to see how far they can go.

In the end, just have fun

Laerrus

Fixed

Relmyna

I really hope that they make a RP megaserver or something for those of us who are bothered by the immersion breaking names and stuff.

Enigma1985

I know it's a bit of an older topic but I feel it's important to keep this on the front page. I myself know a couple people who have wondered what the naming rules are and if Zeni enforces them.

Personally I myself don't tolerate offensive/sexually explicit names and I can't stand trademarked named. Nothing more annoying than running into an unoriginal tool that had to name their wizard Gandalf, someone who thinks it's cool to name their badass character Sephiroth or even worse someone that goes that extra mile and wants to name their character Tiber Septim ~_~()

KerinKor

Elokin6 wrote: »

So is there a point to reporting people with names like alksdjhgfoasuidfoahsd? And yes, I've seen a couple of those.

No point at all, if you're simply reporting the name as clearly that isn't breaching any rules, which as others have said are there to prevent obscene/racist/copyrighted/etc names.

Auric_ESO

I've reported 73 offensive names so far. Hope to be at 100 by the end of the month. Current most hated "chunkybuttjuice".

KerinKor

Auric_ESO wrote: »

I've reported 73 offensive names so far. Hope to be at 100 by the end of the month. Current most hated "chunkybuttjuice".

Given ZOS refuse to provide the option to display nameplates I really don't understand your crusade here. Sure, report obscene, racist and other patently anti-social names but plain old-fashioned vulgarity, really?

Yes, that name is pretty vulgar but it I actually find that helpful, I can put that player in my ignore list as a record of someone I never want to have to play with.

Noswell

Laerrus wrote: »

2. No name that discriminates Pregnancy.

I guess this means I have to rename old Babybumpchump.

Catches_the_Sun

LOVE wrote: »

You'll see regular ol' gamer names, TES lore-friendly names, AOL usernames (lol), ridiculous names, name parkers, and maybe a mix of all.

Who's to say Xxawesomesaucexx isn't the next emperor. All hail, Xxawesomesaucexx! x)

Along with offensive sexually explicit names...of which my wife & I both reported a month ago and saw in-game again tonight.

AngryNord

Enigma1985 wrote: »

someone that goes that extra mile and wants to name their character Tiber Septim ~_~()

Honestly, there should be an in-game mechanism to prevent anyone calling themselves Tiber Septim.
Personally I think I've seen at least four different Dovahkiin... Also I've ran into Garamon Majere, Obi-wan Kenobi and at least three varieties of Legolas

Niliu

Elokin6 wrote: »

So is there a point to reporting people with names like alksdjhgfoasuidfoahsd? And yes, I've seen a couple of those.

Well those are bots, so yes, report.

yiasemi

I had an Argonian DK called Too-Long-Didn't-Read to try all-out 2H mayhem with no thought to the finer details of life. I thought that's what Argonians did, adopt foreign names that were apt for their outlook or actions in life. Got a fair bit of abuse and went back to NBs. I guess Ms or Mr AwesomeSauce is a keen provisioner, and chunkybuttjuice needs other hobbies.

Tavore1138

If people want to name themselves after non legally protected characters from their favourite fictions because they want to RP that character then what's the problem? Personally it makes me smile when I meet a character name that comes from a book I have enjoyed especially if it is not a headline character.

I do see a logic to stopping names that a too lore relevant or genuinely offensive though...

Auric_ESO

Stupid or silly names I leave alone. Racist disgusting or any name with *** in it is what I bring to zos attention. I don't follow up or anything. I just give zos a chance to apply thier judgement. However I don't think I've seen even one of the people still there after a week or two

Fairydragon3

yiasemi wrote: »

I had an Argonian DK called Too-Long-Didn't-Read to try all-out 2H mayhem with no thought to the finer details of life. I thought that's what Argonians did, adopt foreign names that were apt for their outlook or actions in life. Got a fair bit of abuse and went back to NBs. I guess Ms or Mr AwesomeSauce is a keen provisioner, and chunkybuttjuice needs other hobbies.

what the hell are you talking about, was that even english, are you on the hist?

Cously

Emperor Dig Bick

Tavore1138

Joolio wrote: »

Emperor Dig Bick

Anyone using that probably needs our pity...

Auric_ESO

I'd report it

AngryNord

Strangely enough I haven't seen any Lannisters in ESO yet.... Although one of my alts caught a quick glimpse of Khal Drogo on Stros M'Kai...

Fairydragon3

AngryNord wrote: »

Strangely enough I haven't seen any Lannisters in ESO yet.... Although one of my alts caught a quick glimpse of Khal Drogo on Stros M'Kai...

I saw the Kingslayer and a Jamie Lannister, I myself tried to get Hodor

Tavore1138

Seen Arya & Danaerys around, at least two variations on Rand plus loads of less obvious ones from less well known books.

Censorious

Saw somebody calling themselves Jesus or Jezus or some spelling variant - thought about reporting it and let it pass. Not my problem.

Fairydragon3

Censorious wrote: »

Saw somebody calling themselves Jesus or Jezus or some spelling variant - thought about reporting it and let it pass. Not my problem.

Jesus, is a real name however, even if it is also used for the name of a religious figure. Mohammad is the most common name in the world, next to McLovin

Cously

I think names are okay. Who cares what Jesus was named for? He was a symbol, a messiah or whatever, they could called him David or some other hebrewish name, so Jesus is just a name, not offensive at all. GOT names really nice, I myself will have a Targaryen character some day, at least it's a bit lore fit considering a fantasy enviroment. Even *** I think would pass, since is a name right? It's not the name's fault some psycho was named after him. Now things that mentions *** or other *** should be reported. I did try get King of *** but was taken.

Fairydragon3

***.........***.......*** *** *** *** ***......nope not working.......JK i did thsoe *** myself But come on....it's ***. THe Germans are so touchy about the *** stuff, I'm sure that was implemented just to appease their country's rules. Cant slander or use anything ***. I'm pretty interested in getting a german copy of Wolfenstien