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Player Names and eSports

Robin64

Robin64

Member
As many know, this weekend was Blizzcon, and a huge part of that was the eSports scene. They had worldwide finals for several games, and everyone was very excited.

So I had a look, but just I couldn't get past the horrific names. her0 vs FanTaSy, ByuL vs Classic, INnoVation vs Zest, PartinG vs sOs, the list goes on. It just reminds me of 90s forum style naming, everyone trying to be leet and whatnot.

Are you guys happy with the way players are named in eSports leagues? In a world where eSports are becoming (and indeed are) professional events, this aspect just feels so unprofessional.

Other sports have nicknames, sure, but everyone knows them by their real name first and then later they adopt something like "The Fridge". And even then, they're never listed on rosters by their nickname.

I really do think this is a barrier to becoming even more mainstream. (Though I may be totally wrong!)
 
It's fine.

eSports are different than traditional sports because we actually play the game and have a name within the world. Even if I told you my name were Michael, you'd still call me Quonny because that's what I am here. Also, in-game and on your screen is their ID, not their name. Many sports have the player's last name on the back of the jersey.

I mean, stupid names are stupid. her0? What'd the matter, you couldn't get the super unique name "hero" and made the "o" a "0"? Those are dumb, but what can you do: they're teenagers.
 
Some of these players have usernames that are waaaaaaaaaay easier to say than their actual names. Plus some of them just make me chuckle.
 
At some point I think they will switch over to full-names.

I know a big problem with "gamertags" right now for competitive games is similar names across games. For example right now in CoD one of the top players goes by "Karma" but during the Halo 2-3 days there was a top player going by Karma as well. When I heard that "Karma" was winning events in CoD I thought it was the same person.
 
Let them call themselves whatever they want to be called. E-Sports is enough bullshit as is and there is no need to further seek validation with the whole "but look at what real sports are doing" thing.
 
I think it's important we not forget the roots of eSports and competitive gaming. You bring up the 90's, but when did people start playing Deathmatch in Quake and Doom competitively?

I think it's less to do with people trying to be l33t in 2015, but just carrying on the tradition of your gamer handle from those that came before them.
 
I believe the primary reasons are

A) People obviously go by handles rather than real names at the "amateur" level (ie online laddering,) so it kinda makes sense to continue that at the pro level rather than suddenly switch to real names

B) Major eSports tournaments are usually watched and played in by people all over the world, and it's easier for someone to pronounce and remember a simple handle like Boxer or Stephano than a foreign name
 
I think quite a few of those names might stem from things like Xbox Live where gamertags are unique, so people do things like swap 'o' for '0' and other things just to get their preferred names. Then when they go to the eSports scene, they just keep it the same for continuity's sake.
 
I don't have a problem with it. It's mostly irrelevant at the top but handles are important to create separation from some of the silliness on the internet. While it's not standard for every competitor other sports have nicknames that fans use in place of a full name either to shorten it down, jokes, or a term of endearment sometiems referring to a shared understanding of history. The handles people use online are simply the competitor taking part in it not unlike how in mma fighters have their nickname kind of as their middle name or title e.g. Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua, or The Korean Zombie, Chang Sung Jung. Branding and marketing also figures in it. Shogun Rua sounds better on merch and designs can thematically follow the nickname; and nicknames are definitely more memorable than real names in a lot of cases
 
I don't see how using real names would benefit eSports in any way. It's eSports, not normal sports. I have no idea who Patrik Lindberg is, but I instantly know who f0rest is.
 
Considering you have to have a handle or gamertag or whatever to get into these games to begin with and that it is nonsensical to make it your real name, I think it's fine. It's a part of gaming and I don't think we should discard it just because.

I watch a lot of CSGO tournaments and they always use the format First Name, nickname, Last Name to introduce the players, which I think is appropriate. In-game they are always referred to by their nickname. It's quicker and more memorable, especially when you're watching a euro tournament and you can't understand or pronounce most of the player's names lol.
 
It's fine for the most part, it just needs a little regulation. Stop names changing frequently and don't let them include obscenities. Players should not be allowed names like fckingmad or mynuts. It sounds ridiculous.
 
xfl_hehateme_400x400.jpg
 
It's funny when you see Japanese fighting game names and a lot of them are just the player's first name, or a combination of their first and last name, or maybe their name is just one completely tame word like "Milk."
 
belucheez said:
At some point I think they will switch over to full-names.

I know a big problem with "gamertags" right now for competitive games is similar names across games. For example right now in CoD one of the top players goes by "Karma" but during the Halo 2-3 days there was a top player going by Karma as well. When I heard that "Karma" was winning events in CoD I thought it was the same person.
Click to expand...

Yeah, reminds me of how MarineKing used to go by the handle of Boxer, which he started using because it was the same handle as one of the biggest SC players of all time, which created confusion when he started doing well in the GSL.

Being stuck using a handle as a professional that you picked when you had no idea you'd be using it in a professional context isn't even limited to eSports- Jeff Kaplan started at Blizzard as one of the hardcore Everquest players they hired to work on WoW, and posted on the forums using the first half of his EQ name of "Tigole Bitties." Gonna guess he'd have picked something different if he knew that people would still know him by that name over a decade later.
 
PIE Black History Month
PIE Notorious S.M.U.G
PIE I AM WARHOG
PIE Bryheem Key's Father
PIE Black Santa
PIE SmugConLaPava
PIE T U R K E Y B O Y S

and many more alternate names of good old Smug
 
There's one thing with eSports that infuriates me to no end for some reason.

In CS:GO, the players' Steam avatars are displayed at all times in the caster view. Most players use their team logo. But way too many use some random bullshit avatar, usually some meme shit. It's absolutely unprofessional in my eyes.
 
Robin64 said:
I really do think this is a barrier to becoming even more mainstream. (Though I may be totally wrong!)
Click to expand...

I agree 100%.

Gamers ask why esport isn't taken as seriously as other sports. That's because Zlatan doesn't call himself n00bpwnerXz. Also, tennis players don't say "I raped that guy" when they win. Esport is immature because the players are immature.
 
NIN90 said:
There's one thing with eSports that infuriates me to no end for some reason.

In CS:GO, the players' Steam avatars are displayed at all times in the caster view. Most players use their team logo. But way too many use some random bullshit avatar, usually some meme shit. It's absolutely unprofessional in my eyes.
Click to expand...

In the more professional and well-known tournaments there are usually profile shots of each player for the avatars and if not, team logos. I haven't seen steam avatars in awhile, but I don't usually watch the smaller stuff simply because I don't have the time.
 
Obrek said:
In the more professional and well-known tournaments there are usually profile shots of each player for the avatars and if not, team logos. I haven't seen steam avatars in awhile, but I don't usually watch the smaller stuff simply because I don't have the time.
Click to expand...
Yeah this issue is usually restricted to the online matches as opposed to the big LAN events.
 
I think it's fine. Some are worse than others. I follow Dota and Street Fighter pretty close and they aren't terrible. StarCraft always had some crazy names.
 
There's some Smash player with the name Dr Pee Pee. When Melee started making its way onto the tourney scene that shit made me cringe hard.

...but he may have changed it at some point.
I don't really care to watch competitive Melee but 4 is OK every once in a while.
 
It's something pretty unique to esports, and I hope it sticks around. To me it's just a part of it really, helps add personality to the players and lets the community come up with funny things for different players.

For instance a Dota 2 player is called RTZ, or Arteezy. And his name let people come up with the term "to easy for arteezy". Small stuff like that I enjoy personally.
 
I think it's cool. Kinda emphasizes the divide in the lives of these people. At events you can be her0 or FanTaSy, but then at home, doing mundane life stuff, you can be Jason or Emily. "Wife", the Smash player, talks about this a little in the Melee documentary. He also touches on it in his book.

Also, here's a piece by Klepek on ridiculous names.
 
Robin64 said:
I really do think this is a barrier to becoming even more mainstream. (Though I may be totally wrong!)
Click to expand...

So if we call him Janusz Pogorzelski instead of Snax then Virtus Pro will be on the same level as the Dallas Cowboys, New York Yankees, Los Angeles Lakers, FC Barcelona, etc.?

It's a lot easier to call these players by their online name. Calling him ScreaM is a lot easier than Adil Benrlitom, or calling him flamie as opposed to Egor Vasilyev.

lol @ this thread. Got one dude furious that people use memes as their profile picture. I think it's time we put an end to PC gaming. This is so offensive it shouldn't be allowed anymore

[insert i don't know how much you know about X, but I'm an expert meme]
 
Fitts said:
There's some Smash player with the name Dr Pee Pee. When Melee started making its way onto the tourney scene that shit made me cringe hard.

...but he may have changed it at some point.
I don't really care to watch competitive Melee but 4 is OK every once in a while.
Click to expand...
He's still around and is one of the five Melee gods. He goes by PPMD now so the immaturity is a little hidden. In the smash documentary he admits he kind of regrets the name a bit.
 
This might be the best place to ask

So why don't we have like an olympics/world gaming cup, teams from around the world competing across different genres, fighting,racing,fps..etc.

I guess it's not big enough yet?

Or some thing similar to the NFL/superbowl atleast for the US , teams from each state.
Then we could have fantasy leagues too
 
One of my favorites is "Happy".


Edit:
Archpath1 said:
This might be the best place to ask

So why don't we have like an olympics/world gaming cup, teams from around the world competing across different genres, fighting,racing,fps..etc.

I guess it's not big enough yet?

Or some thing similar to the NFL/superbowl atleast for the US , teams from each state.
Then we could have fantasy leagues too
Click to expand...

We had one before. WCG or World Cyber Games. Not sure what happened with that.
 
Robin64 said:
As many know, this weekend was Blizzcon, and a huge part of that was the eSports scene. They had worldwide finals for several games, and everyone was very excited.

So I had a look, but just I couldn't get past the horrific names. her0 vs FanTaSy, ByuL vs Classic, INnoVation vs Zest, PartinG vs sOs, the list goes on. It just reminds me of 90s forum style naming, everyone trying to be leet and whatnot.

Are you guys happy with the way players are named in eSports leagues? In a world where eSports are becoming (and indeed are) professional events, this aspect just feels so unprofessional.

Other sports have nicknames, sure, but everyone knows them by their real name first and then later they adopt something like "The Fridge". And even then, they're never listed on rosters by their nickname.

I really do think this is a barrier to becoming even more mainstream. (Though I may be totally wrong!)
Click to expand...
You couldn't be more wrong. eSport players have these nicknames to create unique identities and in doing so make it easier to remember their names instead of having to know their full name to identify them, this comes into play big time when you have international players some of their real names are really hard to pronounce or remember. You have to remember sport is generally national save a few, using full names within the same culture and naming conventions makes it easy for the crowd to know who they are. Also when it comes to branding its easier to advertise etc as well. Most high end eSports always show First 'Nick' Lastname on score cards etc anyway.

On the whole reminds you have the 90's forum style, I'd just like to point out your name is Robin64 you couldnt get more 90's.
 
CryptiK said:
On the whole reminds you have the 90's forum style, I'd just like to point out your name is Robin64 you couldnt get more 90's.
Click to expand...

Correct, and that's a legacy thing, but I would not use it if I became a professional at anything, let alone eSports.
 
Omega said:
So if we call him Janusz Pogorzelski instead of Snax then Virtus Pro will be on the same level as the Dallas Cowboys, New York Yankees, Los Angeles Lakers, FC Barcelona, etc.?

It's a lot easier to call these players by their online name. Calling him ScreaM is a lot easier than Adil Benrlitom, or calling him flamie as opposed to Egor Vasilyev.

lol @ this thread. Got one dude furious that people use memes as their profile picture. I think it's time we put an end to PC gaming. This is so offensive it shouldn't be allowed anymore

[insert i don't know how much you know about X, but I'm an expert meme]
Click to expand...
Oh give me a break. They want this game to be a professional thing but then they go ahead and have a fucking spoodermon pic representing them. It's like they want to have their cake and eat it.
 
Archpath1 said:
Or some thing similar to the NFL/superbowl atleast for the US , teams from each state.
Then we could have fantasy leagues too
Click to expand...

Competitive gaming isn't big in America. Ironically even though this is the biggest region for games, playing games is still treated as a thing for children. I'm guessing all those 10 years old are working part time jobs and buying all this stuff themselves
 
NIN90 said:
Oh give me a break. They want this game to be a professional thing but then they go ahead and have a fucking spoodermon pic representing them. It's like they want to have their cake and eat it.
Click to expand...
They can do what ever they want. You have to remember the target audience for these people. They are there to entertain and having a spoodermon pic has nothing to do with how professional they are. There is no one attitude to being "Professional" you must understand that.
 
tootsi666 said:
I don't see how using real names would benefit eSports in any way. It's eSports, not normal sports. I have no idea who Patrik Lindberg is, but I instantly know who f0rest is.
Click to expand...

Well yeah, because he only goes by his nickname. If he used his real name you'd know it.
 
NIN90 said:
Oh give me a break. They want this game to be a professional thing but then they go ahead and have a fucking spoodermon pic representing them. It's like they want to have their cake and eat it.
Click to expand...

So being a professional should be serious at all times? Why don't you give them a break? They're entertainers as well, they can be silly if the want to.
 
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