What is your favorite way a game has had you tell your name for the game to use? Do you prefer to just simply put your name or do you like a little story as a way to introduce you putting your name?
I put my name for more immersion so it feels like the characters are talking to me.
I think integrating the name telling with the story is better and more entertaining. I’ve played a couple games where they just flat out ask your name before everything starts and it’s… really jarring and makes it difficult to get into the story.
4 Likes
Well, on a current unnamed project, we might be doing things with a toe tag…
3 Likes
Going against the grain here, but I prefer straightforward choices, especially with names. I want to know what information I’m entering for my character. Immersion is less important for me than it is for a lot of other players, because immersing myself in the story is usually only too easy for me.
I understand the desire to be creative with name input. In some genres, it’s so easy that there’s really no reason not to do it. In some stories (I’m thinking of the WIP Philomela mainly, although this is also relevant to Eagle’s Heir, of which I’ve only played some of the demo) multiple names are relevant, and that makes things more interesting. If you have a character who has a nametag, a mailbox, or anything else on which their name would appear in writing… Well, that’s so simple and elegant it would be a shame not to exploit it.
Of course, if the MC reads their own name off an envelope in their mailbox, and then never receives mail again for the rest of the game, that’s a tiny bit of a shame. It’s one of those humanizing details, I think. It can also be a nice way to create multiple forms of address, if you’re interested in that. Seven Kingdoms (which is a visual novel, but whatever) has a nickname system. A character checking their mailbox could be a fun way to introduce that.
6 Likes
Actually, that would be a good way to include it. I mean, in ZE: Safe Haven, you are checking your email which is a modern take on it, but there is something a little more visceral with mail.
I know this is an aside but I always thought it would be interesting if in a Apocalypse game (like a zombie apocalypse) the player did come across a mail carrier, and found what was essentially a final letter from a loved one, family member, etc.
3 Likes
I agree with you Rosemary, being given a choice for a name is great but the character giving you the choice really makes the difference in experience. I remember the times I was given the name choice in Pokemon games (black and white), I looked forward to the story before the choice was available to me.
1 Like