Toon

Tuerai

What game did some of you play that you refer to your characters as "toons"?

Reading it just rubs me the wrong way, and I want to know what community it came from.

Cepeza

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toon

Toon is a term popularized by the 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit; it commonly refers to distinguish characters appearing in cartoons from regular humans. Related to this usage are:

Toon (role-playing game), a role-playing game published by Steve Jackson Games in which the players take the parts of cartoon characters

Toontown Online, a 2003 online computer role-playing game

ElSlayer

Reading "rub" rubs me the wrong way.

Oh, by the way, I would like to hear some answers to your question too...

Shimond

I've never used the term myself as it doesn't make any sense to me, though it doesn't really bother me when others do it. I started hearing it first in WOW, I think. In UO and DAOC if it was ever brought up it was "character" or "avatar".

KerinKor

It's easier to type 'toon' than 'character'., but yeah, some snobbish forums look down on its use, forums for Square Enix's FFIX and FFXIV are prime examples of that.

Orchish

I always assumed it came from games like WoW because the characters look like cartoons.

Knovah

( lays back on couch)

I blame my mother.. I guess it started back in the early 90's. I grew up on Nintendo and playing Mario and kid Icarus ( something about running around as an eggplant just hooked me at a very early age)..My brothers are a bit older than I , but they had a saga and moved into the nintendo . They always played something and I was right beside them getting in the way. ( once I found out Metroid was a female I was sucked in)

My mom would always come in and yelled at us for playing video games and she called Mario a cartoon... so I guess I was predisposed at an early age ..


in all seriousness

I use it sometimes it slips out... I know I used it back in WAR and all the time in WOW ( they always looked cartoony to me or very animated) ...and I am sure I have used it in others. I, on occasion will still call it a toon.

Kyosji

I use the term just for the sole reason to rub you the wrong way

Na. A toon is just short lingo for an animated character. All of our avatars are technically animated characters, so it fits.

Tuerai

KerinKor wrote: »

It's easier to type 'toon' than 'character'.

I've always used "char" for short. (pronounced as care)

Lazarus_Long

I have no idea where I picked it up. It's been a long road to ESO for some of us and for almost as long as I can remember character, toon, and avatar have been synonyms. I don't think it was before EQ1 and was very common by the time GW1 came out.

Trouvo

Ive been using "toon" since SWG myself, since that was one of my first mmo's...it was common vernacular on there...and has just stuck with me ever since

Saihung423

It all began back in '78. I was only 4 but I loved watching the old Popeye cartoons. Later that love of toons would see me become a huge Woody Woodpecker fan. There just weren't enough shows that gave us redheads love. His laugh, his insanity, what was not to love about Woody.

I've enjoyed many toons over the years. Thundercats, Transformers, and now I love the more mature ones that mostly comprise the anime genre....Legend of El Hazard, etc.

I would say that someone calling it a "toon" is not an insult to the game or characters. Though some might act as if it were, it really isn't.

Does it then matter what mmo I played before this one, or which initiated the classing of characters as toons?

Probably WoW, to be perfectly honest. Because the art is a bit reminiscent of a cartoon.

Don't take it so seriously, toon or character, it is still all just a game.

rawne1980b16_ESO

It started in the 80's.

WoW DID NOT start it.

Toon was a roleplaying game by Steve Jackson made in 1984 ... many years before WoW.

Why do I sound irate I hear absolutely no one ask....

Because people seem to think everything started with WoW.

It's annoying.

The only thing WoW ever started was people saying WoW started something.

disexistencenub19_ESO

I think I first heard it in CoH, and then again all the time when I played WoW. I will on occasion slip up and use it, but I usually refer to mine as characters.

psychounz

I hate the term, myself XD

I started RPing on mu*s forever ago as well as playing muds and they were never referred to as... I don't even want to type it XD

Characters. Chars. Alts. That's basically what I grew up calling them (I feel so old typing that...)

Shimond

rawne1980b16_ESO wrote: »

It started in the 80's.

WoW DID NOT start it.

Toon was a roleplaying game by Steve Jackson made in 1984 ... many years before WoW.

Why do I sound irate I hear absolutely no one ask....

Because people seem to think everything started with WoW.

It's annoying.

The only thing WoW ever started was people saying WoW started something.

Well you should be proud that so many Steve Jackson fans played WOW, I guess. Says something about their tastes, apparently :P

S1D3FX

rawne1980b16_ESO wrote: »

Because people seem to think everything started with WoW.

It's annoying.

The only thing WoW ever started was people saying WoW started something.

False. WoW did start the downfall of humanity. If your kitchen slave makes you a sandwich...step away from the computer and eat the damn thing. Then ask why there is no beer in your hand.

*Edit: The image has been removed*

Trouvo

S1D3FX wrote: »

rawne1980b16_ESO wrote: »

Because people seem to think everything started with WoW.

It's annoying.

The only thing WoW ever started was people saying WoW started something.

False. WoW did start the downfall of humanity. If your kitchen slave makes you a sandwich...step away from the computer and eat the damn thing. Then ask why there is no beer in your hand.

thats what he said.... "Wow started (blank)", but i do agree with you lol, i would more so argue technology is to blame but w/e lol

ClaudiaMay

It's just something I picked up along the way, not sure from where or whom. Been playing MMOs since Classic EQ, so someone, somewhere, must have said it enough that I picked it up.

Usually I refer to my characters by name, or by "character". But, sometimes I don't want to write "character" two or three times in the same sentence/paragraph. That's where toon is applicable for me. And it's shorter

Gedalya

I've never seen Toon used in this context.

demendred

Toon always sounded like a childish word. I always used alt, which I think I got from an old mud game, or Wyvern.

Drachenfier

Only reference to 'toon' for characters that I've ever seen is WoW players mostly. I hate 'toon', and 'peeps'. I insta ban people from my world when they use these terms.

jircris11

I use the term toon quite often, it is an old habit from UO and even EQ and EQ2 role-play servers. The ones you hear use the word are most likely RPers and there is no reason to get "upset" over it honestly. its like Soda and pop two words same damn thing lol

Chili

Here is a good read (2nd comment, 1st answer) http://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/77192/what-is-the-source-for-calling-your-characters-toons

devolutedub17_ESO

As a 3D animator we called them toons, cause well, they were animated cartoon characters, so it made sense to call them toons.

Knovah

Chili wrote: »

Here is a good read (2nd comment, 1st answer) http://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/77192/what-is-the-source-for-calling-your-characters-toons

Good read thanks for link..i like the psykhe behind it.

elvigy01

Some people take words way too seriously. I'm not even sure where I got the term but I use toon a lot simply because it's easier to type and say. One syllable as opposed to character or avatar which are three each.

Also, alt, imho, means something different altogether. An alt is any character that is not your main (usually your highest level toon). A toon can be your main or an alt but an alt can't be your main (though it might become your main, lol).

Tarwin

Well my "toons" and "Alts" have discussed and they don't like being called Mules either as they don't bray and in this game can't carry much

devolutedub17_ESO

gamebouncerb16_ESO wrote: »

Well my "toons" and "Alts" have discussed and they don't like being called Mules either as they don't bray and in this game can't carry much

Are you cetain they aren't 'mules'? Perhaps the Dominion authorities will need to search them for moonsugar.

RylukShouja

gamebouncerb16_ESO wrote: »

Well my "toons" and "Alts" have discussed and they don't like being called Mules either as they don't bray and in this game can't carry much

Mine bray. But that could just be a self-defense mechanism to drown out the incessant threatening to call the guards and assurances that our goods are safe...especially from the banker.

On-topic, I hear the term "toons" regularly, and while it doesn't bother me, it just sounds too goofy for me to use myself. I use char or character, or alt/main, depending on the context.

Salsadoom

IMO Toons applies to games where you are playing something that purposefully doesn't look real. AKA cartoonish. When used to describe something meant to look real it rubs me the wrong way.

I would imagine the divide is how seriously the player takes what he is playing, an unscientific guess would be that RPers and casuals will tend toward using character over toon.

To me, a character is something that has had time and effort invested into it.