Frances Posted August 31, 2014 Share Posted August 31, 2014 While we have a rule against reference/pop culture names for human players, I noticed that we don't for synthetics. While I never gave this much thought until now, I suddenly realized that I don't see exactly why we don't have such a rule, when imo we should for the same reason we do for all other players, with little to no downsides. Having every other AI be a SHODAN or a HAL 9000 frankly gets old, and so does having borgs pretending to be Robocob, especially when these are almost always the mark of poor roleplayers, not good ones that can execute the references in a satisfying way. Passing a rule on AI/borg names would at the least encourage people to come up with more creative synthetics personalities, as well as curb down on some of the poor roleplay we've seen. The only argument I can think of against it is that it could discourage people from playing AI, a position which is already rarely player - to that, I'll retort that most players who are genuinely interested in playing AI are already invested in either the game aspects of the role (in which case your AI's name matters very little), or have their own original AI personalities. For the few that are actually intent on playing whatever AI from pop culture there is, it isn't excessively difficult to create an expy character, and simply change your AI's name, at least. So I suppose, let's hear your thoughts. A rule on AI/Borg names, do we want it? Link to comment
Dea Tacita Posted August 31, 2014 Share Posted August 31, 2014 The reason skull gave me when I inquired about this a month or so ago was essentially. "Software is basically named anything." Which is pretty true honestly, but I do think we need to enforce this on borgs too. It annoys me Link to comment
Frances Posted August 31, 2014 Author Share Posted August 31, 2014 The reason skull gave me when I inquired about this a month or so ago was essentially. "Software is basically named anything." Which is pretty true honestly, but I do think we need to enforce this on borgs too. It annoys me I would argue that from an IC perspective, I highly doubt that the most advanced AIs of the universe would all be named after murderous, semi-psychotic fictional AIs from late 1900s movies. It's more of an OOC/roleplay concern, but even IC-wise, I can see some strong arguments against it. Link to comment
Blue Posted August 31, 2014 Share Posted August 31, 2014 They should not be allowed. The reason we don't allow them for humans is because they do not promote creativity, destroy immersions, and do not foster any kind of originality. I'd rather have "X5643CVB-Mark IV" than another Hal 9000. As for the argument of discouraging players from playing AI, I don't believe so. I cannot imagine a person who thinks "I can't name my AI after a movie or game character. I don't want to play". Every time I see a borg or an AI with a referenced name, I always expect poor or less than decent roleplay. And I'm never surprised. Synthetics should fall under the umbrella of this rule. Link to comment
canon35 Posted September 1, 2014 Share Posted September 1, 2014 Okay, if we do enact this rule of no cyborg names from popular culture would names from mythology be disallowed?(I.E Odin, Sorbek, Metatron.) Link to comment
Blue Posted September 1, 2014 Share Posted September 1, 2014 Okay, if we do enact this rule of no cyborg names from popular culture would names from mythology be disallowed?(I.E Odin, Sorbek, Metatron.) Mythology and historical names should be allowed. That's the only type of reference I would approve of. Link to comment
Frances Posted September 1, 2014 Author Share Posted September 1, 2014 Okay, if we do enact this rule of no cyborg names from popular culture would names from mythology be disallowed?(I.E Odin, Sorbek, Metatron.) Mythology and historical names should be allowed. That's the only type of reference I would approve of. In my opinion, the rule should forbid direct references to other robots/AIs. While AI-Hitler would end up with a jobban for obvious reasons, an AI copying the personality of Descartes or simply named after a mythological figure doesn't seem to pose a problem from a RP sense. It's the HAL9000/etc we're trying to get rid of. Link to comment
Tenenza Posted September 2, 2014 Share Posted September 2, 2014 There are AI/borg names that aren't psychotic, and I feel that there could defintely be a story in an AI or Borg trying to live up to the name of their famous ancestor (Of course, they would still be flat as fuck if that was all there was to their personality.) . But as for the HAL9000s and whatnot, I don't think those really add much to their character, or inspire much creativity, even if they are the antag. Also, how Famous is Famous? Would AM or BOSS count? Link to comment
Lessick Posted September 2, 2014 Share Posted September 2, 2014 There are AI/borg names that aren't psychotic, and I feel that there could defintely be a story in an AI or Borg trying to live up to the name of their famous ancestor (Of course, they would still be flat as fuck if that was all there was to their personality.) . But as for the HAL9000s and whatnot, I don't think those really add much to their character, or inspire much creativity, even if they are the antag. Also, how Famous is Famous? Would AM or BOSS count? Since we don't have a like button yet, ^this. I've seen some stolen-name AI done in a way that wasn't cringe- or eyeroll-worthy, but they're few and far between. But the more famous the name, the more likelihood of them being crap seems to be. So yeah, how famous is famous? Is this gonna be a ban on all robot-referential names, or just the popular badguys? Link to comment
Frances Posted September 2, 2014 Author Share Posted September 2, 2014 There are AI/borg names that aren't psychotic, and I feel that there could defintely be a story in an AI or Borg trying to live up to the name of their famous ancestor (Of course, they would still be flat as fuck if that was all there was to their personality.) . But as for the HAL9000s and whatnot, I don't think those really add much to their character, or inspire much creativity, even if they are the antag. Also, how Famous is Famous? Would AM or BOSS count? Since we don't have a like button yet, ^this. I've seen some stolen-name AI done in a way that wasn't cringe- or eyeroll-worthy, but they're few and far between. But the more famous the name, the more likelihood of them being crap seems to be. So yeah, how famous is famous? Is this gonna be a ban on all robot-referential names, or just the popular badguys? If people can actually roleplay an AI well enough to make it remarkable, then it's not because of the name, IMO. Same argument could be taken to people roleplaying very well fictional (or real) characters - it happens, but it's still immersion-breaking. It's really a simple matter of changing the name. Anything widely recognizable would have to be changed? I'd argue that IHNMAIMS is sorta famous (especially among a culture group whose main interest is sci-fi), but I'm for having the rule be enforced only when the names are really jarring, with the less obvious/problematic cases being ignored. Link to comment
Guest Posted September 4, 2014 Share Posted September 4, 2014 Why not start poking players about their AI/borg name and explain to them that it's not creative and/or is breaking immersion? I don't really see the need for a rule disallowing reference names for AI's/borgs. It could fall under poor role play. It's also not exactly a major problem we face and most players tend to disregard the name and just call for "AI" or "Borg". Link to comment
Frances Posted September 4, 2014 Author Share Posted September 4, 2014 Why not start poking players about their AI/borg name and explain to them that it's not creative and/or is breaking immersion? I don't really see the need for a rule disallowing reference names for AI's/borgs. It could fall under poor role play. It's also not exactly a major problem we face and most players tend to disregard the name and just call for "AI" or "Borg". So why not make it a rule, if we're going to PM people about it anyway? The "no pop culture/reference" names falls under poor roleplay too, but has its own rule, since it's such a frequent occurence. I think bad AI/Borg names should get the same treatment. Also, players disregarding the name doesn't mean you don't see it every time the AI speaks. Link to comment
Erik Tiber Posted September 4, 2014 Share Posted September 4, 2014 Why not start poking players about their AI/borg name and explain to them that it's not creative and/or is breaking immersion? I don't really see the need for a rule disallowing reference names for AI's/borgs. It could fall under poor role play. It's also not exactly a major problem we face and most players tend to disregard the name and just call for "AI" or "Borg". So why not make it a rule, if we're going to PM people about it anyway? The "no pop culture/reference" names falls under poor roleplay too, but has its own rule, since it's such a frequent occurence. I think bad AI/Borg names should get the same treatment. Also, players disregarding the name doesn't mean you don't see it every time the AI speaks. I gotta second this, if the mods expect people to not go with cliche'd names, then it is helpful if they clearly state their expectations. Link to comment
Rusty Shackleford Posted September 5, 2014 Share Posted September 5, 2014 I'd say give the person a warning on a first offense, and give them a random ass name as a punishment. Link to comment
duck Posted September 5, 2014 Share Posted September 5, 2014 Should be noted that most of these pop culturey names are all in the random AI name list that they suggest for you. yes. If this gets implemented, someone should remove it. I think it's in the config, which is not uploaded to our code, so. askskull. Link to comment
Guest Menown Posted September 6, 2014 Share Posted September 6, 2014 Should be noted that most of these pop culturey names are all in the random AI name list that they suggest for you. yes. If this gets implemented, someone should remove it. I think it's in the config, which is not uploaded to our code, so. askskull. This is correct. Most of the pop culture names are in the preset list of names. Link to comment
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