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Explain your user name and avatar

Posted: January 22nd, 2019, 2:58 pm
by Suits
Could be a tasty little thread this, I’ve often wondered what the stories are behind user names and what people avatars are.

I’ll go first.

Mine is a teenage nickname based off my surname, which is Suters - Suits.

My avatar, is Roy one of the Kooplings, for no other reason than I thought he looks rad.

It’s the Mario 3 artwork, which I think looks best with its softer colouring.

Re: Explain your user name and avatar.

Posted: January 22nd, 2019, 3:22 pm
by duskvstweak
Dusk was my first D&D character, a rogue who liked to brood and bring chaos into the world. He died in a brothel fire.

Tweak was my second D&D character, a rogue who thought he was a swindler and liked to talk faster than he could think. He was magically exiled.

Avatar is my self-portrait done in RPG Maker VX Ace.

Re: Explain your user name and avatar.

Posted: January 22nd, 2019, 3:38 pm
by KSubzero1000
Well, I was 16 when Mortal Kombat Deception came out, and as such I thought Sub-Zero was the coolest (ahuhu) character ever, especially in this artwork:

Image

I've never clicked with the games themselves, but there is a certain appeal to the presentation and mythology of MK that I find hard to ignore, even now. It's pointless and juvenile, but also genuinely fun when the goofy ultra-violence and music kick in.

So I quickly settled on that when it was time to choose an Xbox Live gamertag. The rest of my nick... I'll let you guys figure this out. Anyway, the name stuck so I can't complain too much. Especially when I see the countless variations of "xXpsik0killa69Xx" that people are desperately trying to get rid of once they grow up a bit. :P

Owls are dope. I have owl-themed stationery and calendars and stuff. I find them.... relaxing and inspiring. If reincarnation is a thing (which I very much doubt), then I'd rather spend my future lives sleeping in a hollow tree by day and silently dive-bombing wood mice in a finnish forest by night rather than pulling my hair out over human politics, to be perfectly honest.


PS: Simon. You know what to do. You know how to do it. ;)

Re: Explain your user name and avatar.

Posted: January 22nd, 2019, 3:52 pm
by dezm0nd
I used to go by the name "Boggy", taken from Freezeezy Peak, obvs and then I ended up in a group with 3 other Darrens so I opted for Dez, as opposed to Darren, Daz or Dazza.

We then just started singing my name and ended up slapping a mond on the end, which became my original gamertag. Dezmond.

I went to recover it one day and forgot the credit card info attached to it, so I had to start over again, hence dezm0nd with a zero!

Re: Explain your user name and avatar

Posted: January 22nd, 2019, 5:51 pm
by Bakers_12
Baker is my surname and 12 is a number associated with bakers , boom username

Pic is from Spaced I like Spaced you sould like Spaced!

Re: Explain your user name and avatar

Posted: January 22nd, 2019, 6:47 pm
by KissMammal
KissMammal is a username that dates back to 2005-ish, and is an obscure reference to an old Charlie Brooker book called Unnovations.

My avatar is Sir Graham from the original King's Quest - probably my first big gaming obsession (we had the first 5 KQ games on our first home computer) and despite the Sierra adventure games being objectively pretty terrible, an early formative gaming experience for me.

Re: Explain your user name and avatar

Posted: January 22nd, 2019, 7:49 pm
by ratsoalbion
Bakers_12 wrote: January 22nd, 2019, 5:51 pm Baker is my surname and 12 is a number associated with bakers , boom username

Pic is from Spaced I like Spaced you sould like Spaced!
Hang on. I always thought it was a joke because a ‘baker’s dozen’ is in fact 13 (i.e. one spare in case of a misshapen cooking failure).

Re: Explain your user name and avatar

Posted: January 22nd, 2019, 8:17 pm
by Alex79
Mine is simple really. Many years ago I was out walking one day, and as I traversed a particularly tricky stretch of pavement, puddles on one side, dog poo on the other, I accidentally tripped. Choosing the lesser of two evils, I aimed myself for the puddle. As I hurtled towards the shallow pool of water at what felt like terminal velocity, I had the sudden realisation it was not the shallow puddle of water it first appeared to be. My arm hit the water and kept on going. Then my shoulder, waist and finally feet, all submerged in the infinite cold, black void. I had no choice but to keep on swimming.

This was no puddle.

As I frantically kicked my legs, pushing myself forward with all my might, my head suddenly and unexpectedly breached the other side of the vortex. I gasped for air as I took in my surroundings. I was in a world that looked like no other. Magnificent beasts of all shapes and sizes roamed the land. Elephantine shaped creatures the size of cruise liners, with deafening roars. I stumbled along the dry, dusty track I'd emerged on to, and glanced around looking for cover.

I heard a noise in the sky, and almost as soon as I'd spotted it in the distance, a ship no longer than a 1998 Renault Laguna was upon me. The door opened. "Get in".

We flew, or drove, or flew for what seemed like an eternity before coming to a stop outside a grand structure, not dissimilar to the school I attended as a small boy, only bigger. Much, much bigger. The figure next to me, until this point shrouded in a black robe unhooded his face and turned to me. "Get out".

We walked, this mysterious man (man?) and I along dark corridors. Everything looked familiar, but different. Every time I almost remembered why, it was like the thought was being sucked out of my brain by a memory pump. We entered a large, I mean huge room, all white, and empty. Empty apart from a single figure stood, waiting for me. He had in his hand a clipboard and a pen. A green marker. I remember thinking at the time, who writes in green?

He asked me, "Name?".

"Alex".

"Year of birth"

"79. 1979".

"And where do you live? In what country do you live? Did you live?"

"Erm, England. Hang on, did I live..?"

"We'll put that down as UK. OK, your name from here on in is Alex79uk"

And it's just kind of stuck. I won't bore you with how I made my escape and got back home.

Re: Explain your user name and avatar

Posted: January 22nd, 2019, 8:21 pm
by Simonsloth
PSN Id:Fatboyslothsime
Xbox gametag: Simonsloth

My username/gamer tag is a hangover from my teenage years.

I used to be a relatively sporty lad in my teens and had my sights set on stardom only to acquire a knee injury which shattered my dreams. I used to eat a lot which was offset by my physical activity so I was pretty skinny. Once I got the injury I hobbled home from school on crutches and slobbed out on the sofa. Inevitably the skinny whippersnapper became podgy and lazy so my brother affectionately called me fatboy or sloth. Like any brother the name stuck even if it wasn’t exactly relevant anymore.

Knees recovered, the podge returns every Christmas and my football career never took off.

I signed up to PSN during the PS2 era with socom and the dodgy stick on the back internet adapter. I had the pick of all the names available and I stupidly chose fatboyslothsime. I could have had my actual name Simon! My surname was taken as an ID already bizarrely. Simonsloth is the more mature variation!

I’ve thought about changing it as it seems juvenile and I’m a grown up “proper” professional. One day I might. I asked my son and he has suggested a host of dinosaur names which I might choose one day.

Funnily enough my American account is ToddRivers - Matt Berry’s character in Garth Marenghi’s darkplace. Which I much prefer but then everyone would call me Todd.

I don’t have an avatar because I can’t get it on here using my phone so presently I am avatar-less. It makes me a bit of a enigma right? Or lazy? Like a sloth maybe?

Re: Explain your user name and avatar

Posted: January 22nd, 2019, 8:22 pm
by Simonsloth
Alex you’re a genius

Re: Explain your user name and avatar

Posted: January 22nd, 2019, 9:17 pm
by Senorb123
Senorb123 I pronounced my last name incorrectly as a child. I said borales instead of the correct morales. So my family called me borales from then on thus the b the senor is cause I'm mexican. The avatar is cause I was given it upon signing up for the site and I've kept it cause I love shrooms

Re: Explain your user name and avatar

Posted: January 22nd, 2019, 9:18 pm
by Senorb123
Senorb123 I pronounced my last name incorrectly as a child. I said borales instead of the correct morales. So my family called me borales from then on thus the b the senor is cause I'm mexican. The avatar is cause I was given it upon signing up for the site and I've kept it cause I love shrooms

Re: Explain your user name and avatar

Posted: January 22nd, 2019, 10:21 pm
by DomsBeard
Being a beard owner since I was able to grow one I had a running joke with myself that it any videogame/tv show or movie character going through a tough time grew a beard as that apparently means bad things are happening to you. Gears 3 was the last straw and I wanted a new psn name and forum name so Domsbeard was born

Re: Explain your user name and avatar

Posted: January 22nd, 2019, 10:42 pm
by Chopper
Senorb123 wrote: January 22nd, 2019, 9:18 pm So my family called me borales from then on
That seems unnecessarily cruel :lol:

A few years back, I was a big fan of the Native Expansion mod for the original Mount & Blade. After some extreme forum drama, the original creator abandoned ship, and for want of something better to do with it, she handed the mod code and assets off to a couple of doofuses who'd been hanging around the forum, mainly myself and Smallbrainfield, who did the original artwork for my avatar and which I have murdered by squeezing it into 100x100 pixels:

Image

We took over the running of the subforum and the mod itself, with me doing the coding and him doing the models and textures. As part of the 'lore' for the mod, we churned out a fair bit of fanfic to provide background etc. My avatar is Lord Grife of the Dark Knights, a philandering commander of a powerful faction that invade the land after a set number of in-game days. Modesty forbids me linking the fanfic in question :P :oops:

Shortly after that, the sequel to Mount & Blade was released, and I ported the whole thing over, which was a big effort that took me seven or eight months, I think. Last time I checked, that version had about 160K downloads, so it was probably worth it.

Note: today's tinypic.com bot check text is umbrella corporation :)

Re: Explain your user name and avatar

Posted: January 23rd, 2019, 1:12 am
by Senorb123
Chopper wrote: January 22nd, 2019, 10:42 pm
Senorb123 wrote: January 22nd, 2019, 9:18 pm So my family called me borales from then on
That seems unnecessarily cruel :lol:

Ah I've been called worse

Re: Explain your user name and avatar

Posted: January 23rd, 2019, 5:47 am
by MajorGamer
A long time ago I was using the name Nightmare because I enjoyed him the most in Soul Calibur 2. After some shenanigans with Starcraft clans, I needed to make a new name. In trying to think of a more unique name (you can stop laughing) that wasn't game specific, this is what I came up with. I play a lot of games, thus MajorGamer. Never thought of the army rank at the time which has came up a few times over the years.

The avatar is Giygas, the final boss of Earthbound. That is the game that got me into RPGs, ironically enough. Others have surpassed it for me but for being the one that got me into the genre, it will always be special.

Re: Explain your user name and avatar

Posted: January 23rd, 2019, 8:55 am
by Bakers_12
ratsoalbion wrote: January 22nd, 2019, 7:49 pm
Bakers_12 wrote: January 22nd, 2019, 5:51 pm Baker is my surname and 12 is a number associated with bakers , boom username

Pic is from Spaced I like Spaced you sould like Spaced!
Hang on. I always thought it was a joke because a ‘baker’s dozen’ is in fact 13 (i.e. one spare in case of a misshapen cooking failure).
If it was Bakers_13 it would be bakers bakers dozen!

Re: Explain your user name and avatar

Posted: January 31st, 2019, 12:49 pm
by hamster_with_9lives
You know that hamsters are... the most dying pets. So I just wanted them to live a bit longer at least in my nickname.
Ahaha, what about game 'Immortal Hamster' where you can play as a hamster and avoid death? I would play such a thing!

Re: Explain your user name and avatar

Posted: February 1st, 2019, 5:20 pm
by countstex
Oh. ok then.

Well my first name being Steve, and growing up in the time of the arcades (the 1970s for the less well educated!) I would shorten this to STE for the high score tables that were the fashion at the time. However now and again a machine would come along that for some reason would allow 4 letters. Not wanting to waste this incredible advance in gaming technology I took to plonking an X on the end, after trying STEJ for a while, my surname being Jones, but said out loud that became "Stedge" which didn't sound as cool as Stex.. which had the advantage of looking like Sex if you read it too fast. Most amusing to 8 year old me!

(Quick aside, anyone who used BBSs back in the day I actually ran my own under that username (STEJ), called it The Exiled Wookie.. ah memories!)

Latter I would mix it up with other things, and for most of my university days it became JabbaStex, due to my ample size. However upon meeting my future wife on the interwebs back in 1998 (via ICQ.. most of you won't have a clue what that is!) and her being of Danish origins she had the idea that everyone in England were royal in some way, or at least lived on an estate so I become Count Stex to posh it up a bit! And it kind of stuck that way ever since. Plus the idea that some still read it as Count Sex still gives me a chuckle at the age of 44.

As for the avatar, well that's a pic of myself I took as a Backer of Double Fine's "Massive Chalice". It's my best impression of Brad Muir's infectious open mouthed grin. :D

Re: Explain your user name and avatar

Posted: February 2nd, 2019, 4:01 pm
by Suits
countstex wrote: February 1st, 2019, 5:20 pm ......Double Fine's "Massive Chalice".....
Ha, I’ve not heard, or thought of that game for a long time.

I very much enjoyed it, until it incomprehensibly hard at a point.