I wonder how the ESO dev teams come up with the names of things?
Veinblood1965
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Maelstrom arena? Rawalkia? Auridon? Pretty cool sounding names imo. Any thoughts?
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VaranisArano✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭A lot of stuff is from TES Arena.
Like the major cities on Auridon: Vulkhel Guard, Skywatch, and Firsthold are all from Arena.Edited by VaranisArano on April 20, 2021 5:38PM8 -
wenchmore420b14_ESO✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭Most of the names and cities are from TES Arena from 1994. Julien LaFey and Ted Petterson are the "GodFathers" of our TES lore and design.
But some names have very unique origins, like Akatosh, was named after a Daggerfall beta tester whose forum name was "also known as the old Smaug himself".
Hope this helps a little.
Huzzah!
Edited by wenchmore420b14_ESO on April 20, 2021 5:41PMDrakon Koryn~Oryndill, Rogue~Mage,- CP ~Doesn't matter any more
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Enemy-of-Coldharbour✭✭✭✭✭
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Langdon64✭✭✭✭Shrike's Aerie is named after a creature in the Hyperion novels by Dan Simmons. Pretty cool!4
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SidraWillowsky✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭This isn't the ESO devs (I don't know how much they've actually come up with on their own that wasn't related to existing TES stuff, which makes sense since they need to make sure that ESO doesn't contradict older canon if possible), Michael Kirkbride, who was heavily involved in TES III, said that Vivec was partly inspired by the Hindu God Shiva's androgynous form, Ardhanarishvara
Edited by SidraWillowsky on April 21, 2021 3:50AM3 -
Veinblood1965✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭Pretty cool answers everyone I did not know there was lore prior to ESO other than Skyrim.1 -
Khrogo✭✭✭Yes, I have wondered that too. Some of the names just make me laugh:
West Gash (I did a double-take when I arrived at the wayshrine for the first time)
Fungal Grotto
Eton Nir Grotto
Llothan’s Burning Crutch
Does there seem to be a theme here or do I need to take an ink-blot test?2 -
Danikat✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭I suspect the names come from all sorts of things, ranging from deep-dives into the etymology of real-world place names, to things the developers just think sound cool or appropriate or references to things.
I'm not sure about any TES examples but I know sometimes video game place names can come about almost by accident. One famous example is the Dragon Age series where the world is called Thedas. That started out as a placeholder - they called it 'The Dragon Age Setting' or The D.A.S for short, and then the name stuck and by the time they needed to change it they didn't want to.Veinblood1965 wrote: »Pretty cool answers everyone I did not know there was lore prior to ESO other than Skyrim.
You know how Skyrim is also called The Elder Scrolls V? That V is a Roman numeral 5, meaning there were 4 other games before that.
Arena was the 1st and included locations all around Tamriel, including many of the cities and areas which are in ESO.
Daggerfall was 2nd and was set in and around the Illiac Bay - High Rock, Hammerfell and what's currently Wrothgar.
Morrowind was the 3rd and set on the island of Vvardenfell, like the ESO Morrowind expansion.
Oblivion with 4th and set in Cyrodiil.
Then of course Skyrim set in, well, Skyrim.
Arena established a lot of the lore, like most of the races and the broad history of Tamriel but each game has added or changed some things. For example in Arena orcs only appeared as enemies, basically just large goblins. Daggerfall introduced the idea that they have a sophisticated culture and language, comparable to other playable races and made them one of the factions you could side with, then Morrowind made them a playable race for the first time and added a lot of detail on their origins and then Oblivion and Skyrim continued to build on that.
There's been several spin-off games as well set in different parts of the world and while the games themselves haven't always been well received the additions they made to the lore have tended to stick.PC EU player | She/her/hers | PAWS (Positively Against Wrip-off Stuff) - Say No to Crown Crates!
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Mythreindeer✭✭✭✭✭NPC names are done with a consonant string generator and vowels are then added randomly.
j/k and my apologies to the naming dev 0 -
Veinblood1965✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭Mythreindeer wrote: »NPC names are done with a consonant string generator and vowels are then added randomly. j/k and my apologies to the naming dev
If it was me I'd pick cool sounding words I see and string them together, like your statement and add something game related. I'd name a new set of armor the "Consonant String Apothecary" set0 -
wenchmore420b14_ESO✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭Veinblood1965 wrote: »Pretty cool answers everyone I did not know there was lore prior to ESO other than Skyrim.
Just to throw this out there, there are 10 TES games not counting ESO that all share their lore.
Here is a list with release date and in game dates. Huzzah!3E399 – TES I: Arena ~(1994) ~ {712 years after ESO}
3E405 – TES II: Daggerfall ~(1996) ~ {718 years after ESO}
3E 398- TES Legends: Battlespire ~(1997) ~ {711 years after ESO}
2E864 – TES Legends: Redguard ~(1998) ~ {281 years after ESO}
3E427 – TES III: Morrowind ~(2002) ~ {740 years after ESO}
?E ???- TES Travels:Stormhold ~(2003)
3E 397- TES Legends: Shadowkey ~(2004) ~ {710 years after ESO}
?E ???- TES Travels: Dawnstar ~(2004)
3E433 – TES IV: Oblivion ~(2006) ~{746 years after ESO}
4E201 – TES V: Skyrim ~(2011) ~{948 years after ESO}
Also, just FYI, ZoS is in constant communication with Bethesda over areas of lore, names, etc.Edited by wenchmore420b14_ESO on April 21, 2021 2:46PMDrakon Koryn~Oryndill, Rogue~Mage,- CP ~Doesn't matter any more
NA / PC Beta Member since Nov 2013
GM~Conclave-of-Shadows, EP Social Guild, ~Proud member of: The Wandering Merchants, Phoenix Rising, Imperial Trade Union & Celestials of Nirn
Sister Guilds with: Coroner's Report, Children of Skyrim, Sunshine Daydream, Tamriel Fisheries, Knights Arcanum and more
"Not All Who Wander are Lost"
#MOREHOUSINGSLOTS“When the people that can make the company more successful are sales and marketing people, they end up running the companies. The product people get driven out of the decision making forums, and the companies forget what it means to make great products.”
_Steve Jobs (The Lost Interview)3 -
Kadraeus✭✭✭✭SidraWillowsky wrote: »This isn't the ESO devs (I don't know how much they've actually come up with on their own that wasn't related to existing TES stuff, which makes sense since they need to make sure that ESO doesn't contradict older canon if possible), Michael Kirkbride, who was heavily involved in TES III, said that Vivec was partly inspired by the Hindu God Shiva's androgynous form, Ardhanarishvara
ESO has added a ton of stuff to the lore from what I know, so there's definitely a lot of new names. UESP shows a ton of stuff that's only referenced in ESO
Such as:
Wuyuvus (aka wuyu uwu)
The Symphony of Blades
Mournful Aegis (I love these things)
The Iron Wheel
No Shira Citadel
Abah's Landing
Clockwork Factotum
etc.
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Jaimeh✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭Veinblood1965 wrote: »Maelstrom arena? Rawalkia? Auridon? Pretty cool sounding names imo. Any thoughts?
I have a theory for how they come up with Dwemer ruin and Ashlander names: they just keysmash on the keyboard and voila!
Seriously though, I personally love some of the names in the game: Naril Nagaia, Sakatalan, Shimmerene, Balfiera... 1 -
DMuehlhausen✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭The Dev team didn't. The Lore team does. However, a lot of the names are used from the previous games. Skyrim, Oblivion, Morrowind, Daggerfall and Arena.
So almost all the names and locales are already in place. Anything new though there is the writing/lore team comes up with and the Dev team just codes it.1 -
Lugaldu✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭I can tell you that the names of the Daedric Ruins were inspired by names of Assyrian rulers and gods of the 2nd and 1st millennium BC. Some ruins have names as Ashunartes, Addadshashanammu or Ashurnabitashpi - that reminds of names as Ashurhaddon, Adadnirari or Ashurbanipal. Ashur was the highest god of the Assyrian Empire and also Adad was an important god in Mesopotamia that can be traced back in the 3rd millennium BC.3 -
nukk3r✭✭✭✭✭
✭Veinblood1965 wrote: »Maelstrom arena? Rawalkia? Auridon? Pretty cool sounding names imo. Any thoughts?
I have a theory for how they come up with Dwemer ruin and Ashlander names: they just keysmash on the keyboard and voila! Seriously though, I personally love some of the names in the game: Naril Nagaia, Sakatalan, Shimmerene, Balfiera...
Dwemer and Ashlander names are inspired by Mesopotamian cultures.DMuehlhausen wrote: »The Dev team didn't. The Lore team does. However, a lot of the names are used from the previous games. Skyrim, Oblivion, Morrowind, Daggerfall and Arena.
So almost all the names and locales are already in place. Anything new though there is the writing/lore team comes up with and the Dev team just codes it.
A developer in gamedev isn't exclusively a programmer, anyone who works directly on a game is a developer.2 -
Chips_Ahoy✭✭✭✭✭I like names but some are difficult to pronounce, or if they are misread they sound strange.
I remember once playing with a friend and he told me this by discrod:
could you give me some gold?
of course, where are you?
[snip] march.
reaper's march?
I don't know how to pronounce it, just tp to me and give me the gold.
[Edit for inappropriate comment.]Edited by ZOS_GregoryV on April 21, 2021 10:21PM2 -
UntilValhalla13✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭I just wish the person who comes up with dungeon/trial titles would remove the word BANE from their vocabulary.2 -
SidraWillowsky✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭SidraWillowsky wrote: »This isn't the ESO devs (I don't know how much they've actually come up with on their own that wasn't related to existing TES stuff, which makes sense since they need to make sure that ESO doesn't contradict older canon if possible), Michael Kirkbride, who was heavily involved in TES III, said that Vivec was partly inspired by the Hindu God Shiva's androgynous form, Ardhanarishvara
ESO has added a ton of stuff to the lore from what I know, so there's definitely a lot of new names. UESP shows a ton of stuff that's only referenced in ESO
Such as:
Wuyuvus (aka wuyu uwu)
The Symphony of Blades
Mournful Aegis (I love these things)
The Iron Wheel
No Shira Citadel
Abah's Landing
Clockwork Factotum
etc.
Right! I didn't mean for that to come off as critical. I was just trying to say that it's *usually* based somewhat on some existing TES lore, so it's worth it to go back and look that up too. Clockwork Factotums are a creation of Sotha Sil, who showed up (kind of) in TES III, etc. If you just look at ESO, you're going to miss some really cool stuff.
ESO has definitely added a lot of awesome stuff with lore (I love Mournful Aegis too!). I think they've done an absolutely fantastic job with it.2 -
SammyKhajit✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭This one wants to know who creates the stolen goods’ names and descriptions.
“chicken mud crab thing” remains top favourite names.1