I prefer not to borrow any monikers from fiction, but the influence on role playing is very strong. More from novels than films as the written word stirs my imagination greatly. From Andre Norton to Roger Zelazny I will happily appropriate bits and pieces of their creations to form an amalgam that suits the character I wish to portray.
I have occasionally used a name from a book for an alt. But my mains are always a unique name. Something that there won't be 25 versions of on every server shard. Roleplaying the character is all about the character himself, and the lore of the gameworld.
For me, fiction has influenced character personas to the extent that classic fantasy archetypes provide an easy foundation on which to build. After experiencing the world of a new mmorpg and diving into the lore the character always evolves into something more, something different.
I have found that books have a greater influence on me than I first thought.
The early days with D&D/AD&D game me the notion that mage/wizard and 'staff wielding' were synonymous. Even Tolkein reinfoces this for the most part. And so I was greatly accepting of the idea.
However ...
... more modern fantasy writers (not to mention more recent P'n'P games such as Rolemaster) seemed to have moved away from this, with their mage/wizard heroes using swords (or even rod and wands) instead. Something I now see as a more reasonable 'norm'. This, clearly derived from fiction I have read!
Will Pantheon allow my Summoner to use a Longsword instead of a Staff?
Sure, I would be happy to accept that 90% of enchanted Longswords will no doubt have been made for, and hence have enchantments for, melee types ... but can I look for that rare 10% which were made for magic using customers? Or perhaps even get a crafter to enchant one specifically for me?
Evoras, does not, however, see himself dual wielding Staff + Longsword!
For everyone born late 80s and before, I'm sure LoTR and D&D had a significant impact on them as it did for me (even the old Dragonlance book series had it's part). Namely Drizzt Do'Urden and the nature of chaotic good in his book series (it seems one of the elven factions in Pantheon embrace chaotic good). If this post is strictly asking for RP, then no, I have never gone that far in an MMO based on fictional characters I enjoy. I honestly wouldnt act too differnetly on an RP server than I would on a normal one (unless we are required to "act" fake on RP servers in some way). I would say the do influence my character creation and class selection process however. Reading about lore and starting areas of certain races I don't vibe with like Skar are even enough to turn me away from ever playing that race.
Rich storylines can motivate people to explore and obviously become more immersed in the world at hand. One piece of feedback I can say about EQ VG and most mmos to date, is they failed at making us truly WANT to save an NPC, go find an NPC, or whatnot (outside of loot reward). It's always motivated by a quest or item, not just the sheer ability of wanting to save someone like in real life/lore. It would truly be something if by polished story telling or perhaps by a method already mentioned by devs (make valuable/rare vendor die, be captured or moved to an area or random dungeon and in order for players to have the npc for certain items quests prestiege/defense of a town, we must go find or save him to return the luxuries or whatnot to the city or village). Or maybe it'll give a perma buff for the day or something to people of that region, or vast faction increase for a short time to allow special things to happen similar to the politics mini game perhaps aimed to do in VG. I think there is a lot that can be accomplished there to make us WANT to connect to, save, or locate famous/legendary NPCs in the world to ultimately just immerse us even further. It would be so cool for people to talk about the gods and VIP npcs of pantheon they way they do Gandalf, Sauron etc. EQ did a better job at this than others, slowly leading us along in the story until we fight the gods themselves, but we could do better.
I don't borrow names from movies/books/single-player games (or at least I try not to, but sometimes I find that I've done it by accident.) I like to be original.
I might occasionally base a loose character concept off something from a movie/book/game, but I usually try to make it as unique as I can :) I was doing tabletop roleplaying before I discovered MUDs (and still am!), so I've always had an overactive imagination I guess :)
No, I find it cheap and lacking all creativity to copy stuff from established fiction. ( no offense to anyone, just my opinion, nothing personal.)
I have an absolute love of archery, so I will usually main a class that uses it as a main weapon type.
If thats not a thing, then I just find something with lore or playstyle that sounds appealing.
I make up my own names and back stories for any RP.
I have only used one name from another game, and that was during the years I played the gothic titles. (great game) Other then that most of my character names either have my real name in it in a different language or I make them up based on a land feature like my current screen name for this website. Think of a mountain when you see my name. The name signifies a meaning that ties in with tanking or healing at least in my mind.
For RP purposes my story comes from events that occur to me in game.
Questing was always a fun thing for me in RPGs. Finding clues, following them, finding great treasure, fantastic spells, magical weapons! So Quester was first which morphed quickly to Questaar as it seemed more of a fantasy character origin name. So Questaar has been my character since 1972. Damn, I'm old.
A mix of characters created over the years in different settings such as D&D or other MMORPGS. Inspired also a bit by history, literature and other video games.
Ludek was a druid I created for a Pathfinder game. Beoulve is the family name of Ramza in Final Fantasy Tactics, which is my favorite game. So Ludek Beoulve was born as the unknown little brother to Ramza.
My first character was a White Mage in FFXI named Alcuin (historical figure partly responsible for modern school systems).
Then in EQ2 I was Malachie, same as a character in The Name of the Rose by Humberto Eco.
Vanguard saw Mayfair, a name borrowed from a character in Shining Force CD.
Sometimes I like to use the random name generator online and see what it comes up with.
Kilsin said: Do movies and books influence your characters in games, whether it be naming them, taking on a persona or roleplaying them? #PRF
As far as naming them? Nope. My name came from a random name generator, and won't be the name (not even close) that I use in game, to keep a strict separation from forums vs. in-game, and personal privacy. I've tread the path before when I released a legal pet mod for Warhammer Online. I was pestered constantly in-game, because my forum name matched my in-game character name. Won't make that mistake again.
Personally, I don't take on a persona, I just play my role, and based on in-game mechanics, not based on books or lore that are always a fictional approximation of in-game mechanics.
Roleplaying is rare for me, but I'm willing to indulge from time to time. Typically, in my experience, in-game mechanics don't really reward or encourage Roleplaying, so it always feels forced and artificial.
Normally I would prefer to have just one character, but the current crafting design seems to indicate multiple characters will be required, so that's sort of unfortunate. It tends to create the Ragnarrtank, Ragnarrcaster, Ragnarrporter, Ragnarrhealz, Ragnarrmule, Ragnarrmulex, Ragnarmuley, Ragnarrmulez type of naming convention, which I despise with the fury of a thousand burning suns. :)
When I was a wee lad, I'd try to write a fantasy novel. Never worked out, and Duck Hunt was more fun, but I was able to get some names out of it. Pretty much every name I use on MMO's are from characters in those early attempts.
Ketilron - always the rogue/assassin type
Tralyan - always some warrior/tanky type
Varyos - always some melee type
Alyr - always some ranger type
But then a couple I totally stole from video games I played as a kid.
Firos - completely stolen and revised from Lavos in Chrono Trigger, and always a wizard type.
Vayguin - a not very popular game called Brigandine. Usually as a paladin in game.
Don't steal my names!
Kilsin said:Do movies and books influence your characters in games, whether it be naming them, taking on a persona or roleplaying them? #PRF
For me, comming up with names usually involves using the generation tool that is in most games. I keep hitting the random button till something apealing comes up or something almost cool, then I change it to my liking.
As far as persona, most of my characters are...hungry lol. In EQ2, I have a conjy with a love of frog legs. All new recruits were warned if they happend to be frogloks. In FFXIV my fave food in the world is BBQ'd Lalafels.
I had a dwarf in DDO that I named Ginarrbrik after the dwarf in the Narnia series. But I quickly got tired of people calling me "Gina," so I changed it to Nikibrik, which is an intentional misspelling of another dwarf in the Narnia series. I played that character way more than any other character in any MMO I've ever played, but oddly enough, that was the only time I've borrowed inspiration from other lore. All of my other toon names are original. To me, it kinda feels like lazy/cheating/copout to borrow someone else's idea for a name. I think it's much more interesting to be creative. With Niki, even though part of me sometimes wishes I had come up with a different name totally on my own, at least I took a lesser known character and changed the spelling a little bit :P Eh, I was young lol. Regardless, that was by far my favorite character I've ever played and he eventually became a world-class healer, so the name just stuck.