Today, children, we will be discussing (well, I will be dictating) something we all are familiar with: Names, Online personas, Your Alias, Handle, Nick, whatever you call it. When you first played a game online, you sat there for maybe 5 minutes before settling on a name you like. Don't deny it, we all did it. Whatever you settled on, whether you went with the masses and called yourself Bob, or named yourself after your hero, or even (god forbid) came up with something original and cool, will stick by you possibly forever. Its what people get to know you as. Its part of you.

Now, this is where the problem lies. You log into your favourite gaming server, only to be surrounded by people called "Your mom", and his friends such as "Big Gay Bob", "LOL!" (this one is usually couple with a cheat or 2) and "Natalie Portman's Furry Triangle". Why is maturity so rare today? Why must the whole of the online community be full of 12 year old children that get a kick out of spamming the server with "Pwned" and "[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[-HEADSHOT-]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]" every time they decide to take a break from TK'ing and actually kill a defenceless n00b once in a while?

Ok, that out the way, lets move onto the next category. Names with symbols. Why is "|<!LL@" cooler than "Killer"? If they are going to have such an unoriginal name, they're going to have it. Its no use trying to hide it behind a whole host of strange symbols, it still says the same thing. Contrary to popular belief, symbols do NOT make your name look cool. Imagination makes your name look cool.

And so I move on to my next point: Clan Names. What is it with clan names these days? Its like someone decided to make a random generator that consists of adjective, adjective, and then one of the following: "Killers" "Assassins" "Hitmen" "Ninjas" "Crew" and "Killers" again, you know, just for the heck of it. After all, to be original is such a pain in the ass.

Next up is Names from other games. You've all seen a Squall running around in CS, you've all seen a Lara Croft running around in UT. Stealing names from other games is not only lame, its stupid. Squall? Shooting terrorists? Get a fricking life, guy. Its like calling Roseanne sexy… the two words just do not fit in the same sentence together.

All I ask is for some originality. Is that so hard? Do the world a favour and grow up/get an imagination.

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Dark Flame