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Question: Appropriate In-Game Name

Discussion in 'Rules & Admin List' started by TJ, Jun 1, 2012.

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  1. TJ

    TJ MG Donor

    *Prepare for a long story* :P This question only needs to be answered by the admins, as they are the ones who regulate the servers (ie. ban & kick). I will start off with the story behind my question:

    A few days ago, I was playing on the servers with |MG| LordCoder. I happen to like his nickname. Therefore, I changed my name to LordCoder as well. Please note, I did not put the |MG| tag because I am well aware about the rules about impersonating an admin by wearing the |MG| tag. Now I know before I continue, some of you admins might be thinking that by choosing the same nickname without the |MG| tag, I am still impersonating an admin. If that is your opinion, then I would say that I see that as BS. For example, there could be another Erik that one day joins and decides to use his first name as his nickname. Or someone who enjoys cocaine enough to use that as his nickname. Or another Luke. Or another fan of Chocobos. I think you get my point. The way you know that the person is an admin is by the |MG| tag. Anyway, as I'm playing with the nickname LordCoder, the admin LordCoder asks me to change my name. I reply by asking him why, as it is not a name against the rules nor is it offensive. Now please also be mindful that Raised (an admin with much more experience as admin on MG) was also playing on the server and did not say anything to me about my name. LordCoder then tells me that it might cause confusion because people will think I'm an admin. This once again brings me to the point I already made: if someone is stupid/gullible enough to think that I'm an admin even without the MG tag, then that's not my problem. Many admins don't play with the tag because they don't want others to know they are admins. But I don't think that should mean that no one else can use that same name. Now after his constant requests, I eventually changed it because it clearly seemed to irritate him a lot (I really don't know why, it's just a nickname) and he threatened a couple of times to kick me. Also, I am aware of the rules about ignoring admins, so I didn't want to deal with all of that at the time.

    Now here's my question(s): Is my choice of the nickname LordCoder something that an admin can kick me for? If so, please explain to me how I am breaking the rules by choosing that as a nickname? What if I wanted to change my name to Chocobo or Zero or Cocaine? Can I get kicked for that too?

    I just want to know so that if a situation like this occurs again, I can point to this thread. LordCoder, I have nothing against you, but I really think it's a little stupid to get upset about me using your nickname. I was on the server with you so its not like a player will get confused. Clearly the real LordCoder is the one wearing the |MG| tag.

    PS. This isn't meant to be a flame thread (as calmly as I wrote this post, please do the same. no drama please)
     
  2. Personally, I think it goes more based on the uniqueness of the name. Each name should be treated differently, just like each situation is treated differently. Erik is a pretty common name, so finding someone with that name isn't too shocking. Luke is also another common name, so I would have no problem with someone having that name. However, LordCoder is a pretty unique name. Using that nickname knowingly can confuse players who visit MG frequently. Having the |MG| tag or not is not the problem here.

    However, I don't usually play online, so I'll leave this thread for other admins to decide. This post is just my opinion and nothing more.
     
  3. TJ

    TJ MG Donor

    Thanks for your opinion. BTW, He told me that "Lord Koder" or even "LordCoder (not an admin)" was ok... Frankly, despite how unique the name is, I still don't see how it's against the rules. I'm a unique player and it would be obvious that I'm not LordCoder the admin (for example, I don't rush). But for the sake of being even more unique, what if I level down to 99 since those who visit MG frequently know that the admin LordCoder is 210? What if i make my join message "I am not an admin"? What if I put the GOD tag after my name or spell it using symbols? Like I said, no flaming. I'm not upset. I'm just not the type of person to kiss ass and do whatever a person tells me too without good reason. I would love to know how many admins here (besides LordCoder obviously) would get butt-hurt over me using their nickname on the same server with them.
     
  4. avilroad

    avilroad MG Donor

    When I was trial one guy was using name avrilroad lol.I didn't mind
    Again, I've seen so much times players with name like dragon,zero,paul,even nova.They have to change their names too then
     
  5. Nova

    Nova Senior Member

    Why would you want to voluntarily use someone else's nickname even when he's online ?
    I don't really understand the motive of this "cool nickname" because if you like it then you'd want it for yourself no? If you play an MMORPG there's no such thing as duplicate nicknames...

    I agree with Luke that alot depends on the uniqueness of the name but don't you think using the same nick as LordCoder is going a bit far ? It's original but not that unique given not many people come up with it and it has no special characters... It's a bit disrespectful yowards the player you are "stealing" the nickname from... Be it LC or anyone.

    If he is uncomfortable with it, he would ask you so there's really no point in refusing either... And him being an admin goves him the right to take action against you for ignoring him and possibly impersonating because it's a known fact not all adminswear the tag.

    Avil I know there's a NOVA in MoF and at some point a Nova, but i've never seen anyone with my very nickname lol
     
  6. TJ

    TJ MG Donor

    Thanks for giving your opinion. I chose to voluntarily use his nickname because I wanted to. I don't see why that's a problem. I really hope that if someone changed their name to yours, you wouldn't get all butthurt the way LC did. You can't convince me that I'm impersonating an admin because it's clear that a person is admin if they wear the |MG| tag. Without the tag, I don't know if you're admin or not. If I change my name to Marvel, does that mean I'm pretending to be him? No, I'm simply using that name as a nickname. Besides that, he was on the same server at the time. What dummy would think that the LordCoder without the admin tag is an admin? So far, I still don't see a definite reason why I'm not allowed to use the name. I have no problem with changing it when he asks me to, but if its against the rules completely, then you should add it to the "rulebook".
     
  7. Nova

    Nova Senior Member

    TJ,

    No, no sarcasm and I was serious.

    Why does everything have to be in the rules for people to not do it? Do you really think you can you just do everything you want even if it disturbs others or makes them uncomfortable, insult them or in smokke's case, tell a stupid joke and think it's fine even when it's repulsive and offends others? You'll end up like MMJ...

    Maybe l4d2 is a just game, but MG is a community with people and alot of adults. If you don't want to show them any respect, then expect none in return. That's how the world is, be it by the air you breathe or the pixels you see. Like I said previously, LordCoder isn't that unique because it has no styling, but it's not a common nickname either. It's nothing like Erik that's a name, or Cocaine that's a noun (and not even close to the admin's name that has style) in about every single dictionary in the world. It goes the same for nova, to which I don't mind or care because I chose my nickname myself and added style, if there is someone with my exact nick, then obviously he took it from me and as unique I'd want to be on here, I'd kindly ask him to remove it. Yesterday I saw you talking to someone that took your guild tag, to me that's just the same situation as this. Why did you ask him to remove it? Maybe he just wanted it in his name because it looked cool, it doesn't mean he's in the guild, and regulars know he isn't, your guild members know he isn't. He was taking your guild's identity, wasn't he?

    Moreover, it's not a question about being allowed to use the name or not, it all comes down to why you use it. I do believe the majority of gamers understand that you don't just take somebody else's nickname because you like it. The person we know as LordCoder is himself, and the one and only we know. It's not that pleasant to see someone take his name, and it's even less pleasant for him seeing his own nick duplicated on the server, even when he is there.

    About the ignoring the admin. There are limits and you can't just generalize like that. This is one situation and again like Luke said, we deal with this kind of problem individually. You chose to take an admin's nickname knowing full well it would put you in a delicate situation (you are smart enough to know that), also knowing that not all admins use tags either so an admin's primary identity is their nickname and not the MG tag (right?). A nickname is a player's identity. The MG tag is only the seal of authentication that we're an admin and -work- for this community.

    Now since I can also see deleted posts, I'll also mention the ".,.,.,.,.," name. Yes that's a name we should kick and if LordCoder didn't know about the rule, he will be whipped and tortured accordingly, but then again what's the problem? If the players start complaining admins are becoming more and more indulgent, then I don't know what the world is coming to! :S People complain admins moderate too much and are too abusive, and now they're not doing enough lol
     
  8. TJ

    TJ MG Donor

    OMG there's just too much to really reply to it all. Bottom line, ok, I won't use his nickname again. I just wanted to know if it was against the rules. Clearly it's not, but for the sake of LordCoder's sanity, I won't use it.
     
  9. Nova

    Nova Senior Member

    Sorry lol :P

    It's just a delicate situation and defining the limits on which it may pass into breaking rules or not isn't easy. All we ask is that our players respect each other, respect the admins and vice versa. I'm sure there are people who won't mind this kind of thing, but if it offends someone then please consider the person's point of view.

    It's more a question of moral than anything else, imo
     
  10. LordCoder

    LordCoder Game Server Moderator

    Hello,

    The details provided by TJ in his 1st post are entirely accurate, and they happened the day before yesterday. My assumption was it was just a "1 day thing" and to let it happen as long as just my exact nickname wasn't used (without the MG tag).

    Yesterday, it happened again, and immediately as I joined TJ changed his nickname to LordCoder, and after a while he applied some variations. At that point, seeing that this situation was repeting, I decided to take this point directly to the Admins section.


    Basically the feedback is: If him or anyone else decides to go ahead with this behavior, I'll ask once to change the name to something not related with my nick, failure to comply will result in a short ban, which will be gradually extended should this keep happening in the future.


    I agree with that Luke said above, and I also reckon that there might be a need to update some of the rules; but the bottomline is that besides of the rules the players also have respect the admin's judgement (we might err, but we are there for something). There are areas which might not be entirely covered by the rules, or there could be grey areas; this doesn't mean that they should be exploited, or that if someone does that then nothing would happen to him/her.

    And even if someone still wants to be totally attached to the actual rules, maybe should check this one:

    "
    Category 2: Minor offenses

    Inappropriate nicknames. Nicknames like ;; .. || -- are not allowed. We like to know who we're playing with so try to be more original when it comes to picking a decent nick. Please also remember that extra-ordinarily long names and annoying names are not allowed. If an admin (or any players) deems your name unreasonable, please change it.

    "

    So the accumulation of minor offenses is also reason good enough for disciplinary actions.


    Regards,
     
  11. TJ

    TJ MG Donor

    Sorry dude, you're already late to the party. The problem was solved 3 posts ago. Thanks for participating though.
     
  12. Nova

    Nova Senior Member

    I'll close this now that it's cleared up.
     
  13. Cocaine

    Cocaine Head Administrator

    I would love to see playing Coop with Cocaine 1-16 ..... :P
     
  14. Kitties

    Kitties Head Administrator

    Personally, I think everyone being named "Kitties" would be pretty awesome :D
     
  15. Stefeman

    Stefeman Head Administrator Staff Member

    The whole issue is so simple, so i dont know why we even had to discuss about this?

    If you intentionally choose a name that resembles any regular player or admin and you play with that name, it's quite obvious that the people wont like it and you get reported and therefore kicked or banned..

    If you used nova's or joerve's name in game, while they are on the server they would probably kick or ban you instantly lol.. So would i if you happened to use my name..

    And what's this about? http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/3531/32763661.jpg If you keep impersonating other players/admins in game by either choosing their name and talking crap or just playing with their name, you will simply get warned/kicked/banned lol.

    That's all there is..
     
  16. Mr Zombie

    Mr Zombie Senior Member

    I will add some thing to the rules to cover this and other gray areas.

    Thread :closed_2:
     
  17. TJ

    TJ MG Donor

    I could have sworn I made it clear that I did not think it was a problem. Even the other admin on the server at the time, Raised, did not say anything to me about it. I have seen many people (even admins for example: http://mgftw.com/stats/pr/hlstats.php?mode=playerinfo&player=814 ) do various things similar to what I've done and no one has ever made a big deal about it except LordCoder. So you're wrong about it being quite obvious; many people (except people who are bothered easily by petty things) really wouldn't care at all. And I'm not impersonating a player/admin by changing my name to "LordCoder's Alter Ego". I've never seen any admin or player with that name. Bottom line, I already said I won't change my name to LordCoder (or even include his name in my nickname) again because clearly he's sensitive to things like that.
     
  18. Raised in Hell

    Raised in Hell Senior Member

    I personally don't mind if someone uses my name IF:

    1) I know who the person is and will not misuse my name by rushing, TK or Votekick abuse etc
    2) I am on the server as well so people know whos real and whos not because someone might think my fake is me and start complaining against me when i wouldnt have a clue what the situation is/was

    Like i said, it depends on whos using my name, so if TJ uses my name, i wont have any problem because ive known him for a while and i know he will not misuse my name but it also depends on people coz some people dont like their name being copied.
     
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