what's the purpose of display names?

[Call911]

it suck and is very unfair to new users

what is it's purpose? : (

 

I hate it lol, when i am around others they call me Call.

they call me a newbie also, all cause i have resident as a last name . And they can still see my user name this suck :(

 

Purpose of display Names /;

[Luc Starsider]

The purpose as stated by LL was that display names gave people the freedom to express themselves with names as well as all the other things.

Personally, I don't care for them. I don't want to see them, I don't want to use them and I don't want, basically, anything to do with display names. I want to see peoples user/account names and nothing else.

- Luc -

[Peewee Musytari]

Before display names we all had first and last names, the last names we picked off of a list and were only available for short periods of time, so it was a pretty cool system because you could tell from the names more or less when people joined without even looking at their profile. The problem was that, because you cannot change the name you register with, people that regretted their name choice or wanted to get partnered and have the same last name as their spouse, had no way of doing this. It also took quite a long time to pick a name in the first place, because you had to keep trying to find a combo that wasn`t already taken.

So LL brought in Display names, to allow people to keep changing their names, but still keeping the username they registered with the same (not a terrible idea) but they also took the opportunity to get rid of the last name list (really terrible idea).

I assume the idea was that it would be a simple single word login & then you had your chosen display name, so everyone would be happy. The reality is that it is just as hard to find a name that isn`t already taken & people end up with names like gjykf82764 not realising that that people will try to call them that & most people don`t want to get used to calling others by display names because they can change every week.  There is also now no way to tell from the last name the approximate age of anyone so all "Residents" will forever be newbies.

Eventually the new names will outnumber the old ones & people will forget the old system, but I think it does suck for those that are the pioneers of the new system.

[Ry0ta Exonar]

So you don't like your user name Call911? You can create another account of your choice anytime. You can't have first / last name format name like older residents, though.

Purpose of display names? Maybe it was partly for simplification of registration process so that new players don't give up completing the process halfway and also there was a strong request by roleplayers who want to use their role name.

 

http://community.secondlife.com/t5/English-Knowledge-Base/Display-names-FAQ/ta-p/700175#Section_.2.5

 

[Darkie Minotaur]

everyone can tell you're a noob by looking at your profile

[Rolig Loon]

I don't truly blame you, Call. I know that some people welcomed the Display Names idea when LL introduced it last fall, but it has made SL a confusing place.  I have Display Names turned off in my viewer because I need to know who I am talking with.  As a merchant, I can only be sure of a customer's identity if I refer to a username, not a Display name.  That's the way all transactions are reported.  Also, as a member of a social community, I can't be sure if I am speaking to the same visitor to our area from week to week unless I can refer to a single, unchanging name -- the username.  That's especially true since I can't count on recognizing a person by her appearance -- she could be a short blonde one week and a 8m tall blue dragon the next time I see her.

It's this way in RL too, if you think about it.  You can have a nickname that your close friends and family use all the time, but when you go to apply for a loan, renew your driver's license,  or collect Social Security benefits, you need to give your REAL name.  That's the legal name that the world knows and will trust. 

[Marigold Devin]

---

Call911 wrote:

it suck and is very unfair to new users

what is it's purpose? : (

 

I hate it lol, when i am around others they call me Call.

they call me a newbie also, all cause i have resident as a last name . And they can still see my user name this suck

 

Purpose of display Names /;

---

If it is any consolation, some of my dearest friends still call me n00b sometimes, and my "born" date in SL is November 2007. 

I am with Luc, I do not have a purpose for Display Names, and can happily live without them.

However, for people who enjoy roleplaying in Second Life, they can make up some smashing names, such as Commander Peabrain, or Frankie The Stein.  Or there are the people who like to take on their SL partner's name - like I could be Ms Marigold Darkstone. 

 

 

[Redd Spot]

Peewee has it right in terms of LL rationale and a good use for display names, but the real reason was that pple would come to open accounts and probably get frustrated creating an ID (i.e. searching the list etc) and would abandon the signup process.

Having said that. the real problem with Display Names is that people are using all kinds of cool fonts and if you are in clubs you cannot figure out who to vote for incontests because people are chatting with display names like Missy the Hostess and on the contests board they are someting ridiculous like 109343jendor Resident.

LL should make it so that, you can creat a login ID, and THEN make a first name / last name choice of some sort, or at least MAKE IT OPTIONAL to have a hardcoded lastname other than the most RIDICULOUS of all ... "Resident"

IN many places the displaynames are impossible to read and really made a mess of reading the chats.

Don't like it at all, except like Peewee says, getting partnered or whatnot

[Peewee Musytari]

@ Redd, I agree, the solution for one problem has become an even bigger problem than the original one. *sigh*