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[Seriphyn]

Hullo,

I am just curious as to people's receptiveness to using RL names, like cities and historical figures, in RP? I thought of this when I noticed 'Samarkand Financial' of the Khanid Kingdom, which was a Persian city conquered by the Mongols IIRC (alluding to Persian influences for the Amarr and Mongol influences for the Khanid I'm guessing). There is also the Gallente(?) character of 'Berlin Ansacre' in the Stranded series on the DUST website.

I ask because I am beginning to use British and Celtic nomenclature in my own RP, because the Gallente as the "Western" faction will surely have more than just la Francais. I sort of see it as equivalent as people using overt Japanese names for the Caldari; however, because this is far from home, it is less recognizable, even if there have been no corruptions to the original word. Because English is closer to home, I was wondering if people would consider it harder to "get away with it". An example is Seriphyn naming his warships after "mythical Gallente knights"; Bedivere for an Algos, Launcelot for a Talos, Isolde for a Nemesis ('cause Tristan is the t1 version), Pendragon for a Kronos, Excalibur for a Megathron. I felt a little dirty and very abashed after mentioning that IC in the Summit. But at the same time I get the feeling no one would bat an eye at using names of, say, famous figures from a more obscure mythos.

Thanks for any thoughts.

[Samira Kernher]

Inspired names are good (Ardishapur for example is named after two Persian kings). I think you should try and keep things low key, but if the name fits the culture/language, nothing wrong with it IMO. /shrug

[Lyn Farel]

Good question. But then CCP does it with their own ship names anyway... Especially minmatar ones.

[Samira Kernher]

Good question. But then CCP does it with their own ship names anyway... Especially minmatar ones.

This is very true.

[Saede Riordan]

Inspired names are good (Ardishapur for example is named after two Persian kings). I think you should try and keep things low key, but if the name fits the culture/language, nothing wrong with it IMO. /shrug

this.

Riordan is an Irish surname.

[Andreus Ixiris]

Andreus and other people arguing with Ammatar often need to use the phrase "Stockholm Syndrome," so I don't really have all that much room to complain.

[Morwen Lagann]

You can refer to Stockholm without calling it that, though - I've done it on the IGS with Morwen once or twice. "Capture-bonding" is the term I used.

[BloodBird]

CCP does this with impunity, as we all know.

Caldari players do this with impunity as well.

When I played Jesmine, all her ships were named after various females from a small handful of shows or anime that utilized 'western' names like Clare, Helene, Natalie, Flora, Priscilla, Teresa, Nola, Clarice and so on and so forth. Her explenation was that all of these were known names to have belonged to famous Amarrian women throughout the 7k or so years the Empire has existed, some were even saints.

Hell my MAIN utilizes names from anime that are more well known (such as naming every single Megathron I've ever owned Ayanami Rei) and no-one have given a shit so far - the IC explanation is even that all these ships are named after various fictional toons in animated shows found in the Fed: Yeah, to me anime is canon because a society of trillions in a libertarian "make whatever you want however you want" society would eventually make their own versions of it. Oh and, the Jin-Mei officially came up with the idea, so it's canon from CCP's eyes as well.

In short, I see no real issue here, anything you want to name your ships or toons or whatever can be justified and explained away in a variety of ways. Do as you please.

[Vincent Pryce]

All my thrashers are named after Thrash-metal bands. My 150mm AC thrashers are usually Angel Kreators and my arty ones Angel Testaments.

And people have said before CCP does it with impunity, majority of Gallente ships are named after pagan gods and primordials ( Phobos, Deimos, Nyx, Erebus) and spirits and some are latin words like Vexor which is the conjugation of vexo - shake, jolt, annoy, harass.

In closing, if you use RL terms, words or names for you ships no one can really give you shit for it.

[Makkal]

I'm fine with a ship named Pendragon but would find one named Obama fourth-wall breaking.

[Nmaro Makari]

In my opinion:

Using words in the academic sense, Andreus mentioned Stockholm Syndrome, other things, scientific terms, sociological terms, etc, totally fair game because of the impossibility of using anything else.

To use actual people's names, or place names as in, you use the name in association with that person/place specifically and personally and not with the idea/event associated with the place or with that person (ref. Kreditbanken robbery in Stockholm, where Stockholm Syndrome takes its popular name) breaks the fourth wall.

Helpful diagram:
"I was recently at Stockholm" Not Acceptable
"I think Andreus is suffering from severe Stockholm Syndrome" Acceptable

Or

"I am familiar with the works of Machiavelli" Not Acceptable
"Silas Vitalia recently poisoned her rivals at a banquet, bit Machiavellian of her to be honest" Acceptable

However, one thing I believe is broadly acceptable is angrams and combinations.

Say you're making an alt, Gallente, and want a fancy-pants name. But you don't want to spend an hour reading Homer's Odyssey/Old Maori Legends/The Tale of the 47 Ronin, so you just pick two names familliar to you and combine:

"Stanislaw Olbricht" - First word taken from Stanislaw Lem, sci-fi writer most famous for the novel "Solaris", and second word taken from General Friedrich Olbricht, leading figure in the July 1944 plot to assassinate Hitler.

Also using cultural language or terms in names is generally acceptable.

[Shintoko Akahoshi]

I've always just made an assumption that there was a sort of cultural translation happening: We already assume that our characters are speaking interstellar Gallentean or Napaani or whatever, despite the fact that we're actually communicating in English. Why not assume that when we see "Ashurbanipal", it's actually referring to some ancient king from one of our races history in the cluster?

[Havohej]

There's enough of the real world's history/culture in the game and its PF to give me the sense that many terms and references have survived in the various languages despite their origins being completely forgotten - the distinction between mention of Machiavelli and use of the adjective Machiavellian (posted above) being a perfect example.

Seems legit to me.

[Aria Jenneth]

I now feel much better about naming Aria's home region Silla (pronounced "Shilla," it's the name of an ancient Korean kingdom), and much less like I ought to change it.

[Esna Pitoojee]

The general delineation I make is:

Using names derived from RL things, outside of other context: Usually cool.

Using names of RL things, in the context of their RL usage: Usually not cool.