What etiquette rules do we assume is common in the community?

[Lanefan]

7. No meme names.

This one makes me sad. Some of the best character names we've ever had are memes, puns, or similar; one of the best of which was Sir Kalvin of Hobbes.

 

[Lanefan]

For me, joke names usually go against our first rule, which is treating other players, including the DM, with respect. Joke names often (and especially at school) indicate an attitude that the game is being treated as a joke, that the player isn't serious about engaging in a cooperative storytelling game. Alternatively, a joke or meme name might indicate that they don't really understand what a TTRPG is. Or, it might signal embarrassment, that they don't want to be seen as taking this ridiculous pastime too seriously, so are trying to salvage some cool.

In the first instance: no. My games are far from deadly serious, but if you are going to treat the game itself as a joke then this is not the right activity for you, because that attitude is deadly to the entire campaign and will wreck it for everyone else.

Disagree hard. If a player takes the game seriously enough to show up on time every week ready to rock, that's good enough for me. It's a fun pastime, not serious business.

My issue has sometimes been with players who take the game too seriously, and let it spill over into real life be it through overreacting to a character death or other Bad In-Game Event or through in-game arguments spilling over and becoming real-life arguments, etc. Far more annoying than someone who slaps a joke name on a character.

 

[Lanefan]

Here in England, the player who doesn't drink alcohol during the game is the one likely to get the weird looks.

Canada, ditto.

 

[S'mon]

Canada, ditto.

Conversely, IME American players tend to swear at the table more than Brits do, especially male Americans. I generally prefer no IRL swearing during a D&D game. Happy to swear at the pub afterwards.

 

[Dioltach]

For me, joke names usually go against our first rule, which is treating other players, including the DM, with respect. Joke names often (and especially at school) indicate an attitude that the game is being treated as a joke, that the player isn't serious about engaging in a cooperative storytelling game. Alternatively, a joke or meme name might indicate that they don't really understand what a TTRPG is.

I've been playing for nearly 40 years. Never once has it devolved into a "cooperative storytelling game". We roll dice and pretend to kill elves. If a player wants a character with a joke name, so what?

 

[BookTenTiger]

I've been playing for nearly 40 years. Never once has it devolved into a "cooperative storytelling game". We roll dice and pretend to kill elves. If a player wants a character with a joke name, so what?

Come on man, you only need to know of Critical Roll to know that cooperative story telling is an extremely common and popular mode of play.

 

[Cordwainer Fish]

I'm looking to be amazed. I want The Mote in God's Eye, and The Many-Colored Land, and A Deepness in the Sky. I want V'ger and the Ringworld. And I'm not going to get that with Beavis and Butthead chuckling next to me.

 

[Dioltach]

Come on man, you only need to know of Critical Roll to know that cooperative story telling is an extremely common and popular mode of play.

Sure. But it's not my groups' mode. That doesn't mean that we "don't really understand what a TTRPG is."

 

[Faolyn]

I've been playing for nearly 40 years. Never once has it devolved into a "cooperative storytelling game". We roll dice and pretend to kill elves. If a player wants a character with a joke name, so what?

I wouldn't consider cooperative storytelling to be a devolution. It's a different way of playing, and one many, many people like--and joke names can break the mood easily. If you enjoy just killing monsters and taking their stuff and nothing deeper, that's fine, but it's not better than other types of gaming.

 

[Jd Smith1]

If I encounter a meme, joke, or funny name, I just boot the player. He is not at the right table. To be fair, the vetting process usually eliminates that issue; I can only recall booting one player for that.

I've got one player who pretty much always gives his character one of two names.

That wouldn't bother me. I have a current player who plays the same character in every campaign. He writes a different backstory for each one, but when actual play begins, it's the same exact PC (in terms of development, personality, love of killing short people/midgets, etc).