User Name and Avatars: Origin Stories
- Thread starter Snarf Zagyg
- Start date
GuardianLurker
Adventurer
Like so many, my username comes from some old characters.
In my case, from a pair of Hunters I played on the old Hunter Mailing list back during the late 90's: Guardian256, and Lurker225 (a Defender and a Witness).
The avatar is the logo/decal on my favorite gamer t-shirt. It's a little hard to make out, but the dice from the standard set are in the circles, with the d20 in the middle.
In my case, from a pair of Hunters I played on the old Hunter Mailing list back during the late 90's: Guardian256, and Lurker225 (a Defender and a Witness).
The avatar is the logo/decal on my favorite gamer t-shirt. It's a little hard to make out, but the dice from the standard set are in the circles, with the d20 in the middle.
MarkB
Legend
My name is just, well, my name.
My avatar, on the other hand, dates back to the old WotC forums, back in the 3.5e days. I'd won a forum competition, I think it was a Halloween-themed creature-building contest, and the prize was a custom avatar and slogan.
I took inspiration from those "Here Be Dragons" notations on old nautical charts, and decided to do a modernised version, inspired by the wildlife signs seen on Australian highways.
So, I built my own version in Photoshop, with a more draconic theme, and had it set as my forum avatar along with the slogan "Here Be Dragons next 100km". When I joined ENworld, the slogan was left behind but the avatar came along.
My avatar, on the other hand, dates back to the old WotC forums, back in the 3.5e days. I'd won a forum competition, I think it was a Halloween-themed creature-building contest, and the prize was a custom avatar and slogan.
I took inspiration from those "Here Be Dragons" notations on old nautical charts, and decided to do a modernised version, inspired by the wildlife signs seen on Australian highways.
So, I built my own version in Photoshop, with a more draconic theme, and had it set as my forum avatar along with the slogan "Here Be Dragons next 100km". When I joined ENworld, the slogan was left behind but the avatar came along.
el-remmen
Moderator Emeritus
My original name on here was Nemmerle - you know, the Archmage of Roke who basically gave his life to save one very foolish and talented young student named Sparrowhawk/Ged when the latter cast a spell he shouldn't have (and if you don't know, turn off your computer and go read some Ursula K. LeGuin - or keep your computer on and order a copy of A Wizard of Earthsea - but whatever you do don't watch the literally whitewashed and terrible animated version).
But I guess back when I joined the boards in 2000 enough people were unfamiliar with the name that, for some reason, I kept getting misgendered - which is not that big a deal for me but decided I didn't want to even unintentionally mislead anyone. So when the boards went through one of its many iterations, I chose to change it to THE reverse and emphasis on the "EL" (given my latino-american roots). And so I became "el-remmen" (I think capitalized names look weird as handles - not sure why I included the hyphen).
The funny thing is people who remember me from the before times still sometimes refer to me as "Nemm."
As for my avatar. In the early days I also developed a reputation as a Bullywug lover (not gonna deny it) because my earliest thread to get a lot of attention was soon after the release of 3E's Monsters of Faerun in 2001, which included the 3E stats for them, which I entitled "BULLYWUGS GOT THE SHAFT!" (yes, all caps, sorry 24+ years later) because they did not have what I considered (and still consider) a defining trait - the hop attack! (something they still don't have). So I fixed it then (now lost to the ether) and have fixed it now.
Anyway, a friend on the boards, whose handle I have forgotten, in part b/c he moved on from the boards pretty early on and in other part b/c we became real life friends and so soon moved on to addressing each other by our real names and often jamming on guitar together - you might also know him as the man who as the one-man band called "Ettin" put out a song called "Eric Noah is my Half-Fiend Love Child" - drew me the avatar: a bullywug playing guitar and when I switched my handle, he edited it change the "NEMMERLE" to "EL-REMMEN."
We have unfortunately been out of touch maybe 15 years now.
Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking with it.
But I guess back when I joined the boards in 2000 enough people were unfamiliar with the name that, for some reason, I kept getting misgendered - which is not that big a deal for me but decided I didn't want to even unintentionally mislead anyone. So when the boards went through one of its many iterations, I chose to change it to THE reverse and emphasis on the "EL" (given my latino-american roots). And so I became "el-remmen" (I think capitalized names look weird as handles - not sure why I included the hyphen).
The funny thing is people who remember me from the before times still sometimes refer to me as "Nemm."
As for my avatar. In the early days I also developed a reputation as a Bullywug lover (not gonna deny it) because my earliest thread to get a lot of attention was soon after the release of 3E's Monsters of Faerun in 2001, which included the 3E stats for them, which I entitled "BULLYWUGS GOT THE SHAFT!" (yes, all caps, sorry 24+ years later) because they did not have what I considered (and still consider) a defining trait - the hop attack! (something they still don't have). So I fixed it then (now lost to the ether) and have fixed it now.
Anyway, a friend on the boards, whose handle I have forgotten, in part b/c he moved on from the boards pretty early on and in other part b/c we became real life friends and so soon moved on to addressing each other by our real names and often jamming on guitar together - you might also know him as the man who as the one-man band called "Ettin" put out a song called "Eric Noah is my Half-Fiend Love Child" - drew me the avatar: a bullywug playing guitar and when I switched my handle, he edited it change the "NEMMERLE" to "EL-REMMEN."
We have unfortunately been out of touch maybe 15 years now.
Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking with it.
Meech17
WotC President Runner-Up.
I wonder if me sharing my username origin over in the Pineapple thread inspired you to look up that old thread 
Like I said over there.. It's a bastardization of my own actual name, Mitch. Some friends and I were real dorks in school, and had this habit of elongating words, and playing around with where we'd put the emphasis. It was usually naughty words that would get caught in the profanity censors here, but it was also often names, or just other common words. DuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuDDDe!.
Mitch turned into Miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitch... Turned into MiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiETCH... Turned into MeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeCH
Pretty much from that time on my go to handle online has always been Meech.. Sometimes MrMeech. Often Meech17 if Meech isn't available, or if I just type it by habit without checking if regular ol Meech is taken.
As for the Avatar, it was a commission I had made of a cartoon version of myself back around 2012. I was trying my hand at Video Game Let's Plays which was awfully popular back then. A wonderful artist who goes by Nines made it for me, along with a banner for my YouTube Profile.
x.com <-- Their twitter profile if you're interested in their work.. They haven't been active in a few years. I hope they're doing well.. I rather like their art.
Like I said over there.. It's a bastardization of my own actual name, Mitch. Some friends and I were real dorks in school, and had this habit of elongating words, and playing around with where we'd put the emphasis. It was usually naughty words that would get caught in the profanity censors here, but it was also often names, or just other common words. DuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuDDDe!.
Mitch turned into Miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitch... Turned into MiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiETCH... Turned into MeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeCH
Pretty much from that time on my go to handle online has always been Meech.. Sometimes MrMeech. Often Meech17 if Meech isn't available, or if I just type it by habit without checking if regular ol Meech is taken.
As for the Avatar, it was a commission I had made of a cartoon version of myself back around 2012. I was trying my hand at Video Game Let's Plays which was awfully popular back then. A wonderful artist who goes by Nines made it for me, along with a banner for my YouTube Profile.
x.com <-- Their twitter profile if you're interested in their work.. They haven't been active in a few years. I hope they're doing well.. I rather like their art.
Warpiglet-7
Lord of the depths
what a delightful thread!
I have often looked at names and thought wtf is that about?!
Warpiglet…I think warpig is cool and injected a little silliness with the “let.” Many angry folks on Xbox live are familiar with it!
As for the avatar…it was a photo of an Fallschirmjäger and I added an angry pig face with a crude paint program 18 years ago! Used to enjoy the occasional tactical infantry game which sometimes had paratroopers of this sort. I no kidding just found the original picture typing this…
Have used it lots of places
I have often looked at names and thought wtf is that about?!
Warpiglet…I think warpig is cool and injected a little silliness with the “let.” Many angry folks on Xbox live are familiar with it!
As for the avatar…it was a photo of an Fallschirmjäger and I added an angry pig face with a crude paint program 18 years ago! Used to enjoy the occasional tactical infantry game which sometimes had paratroopers of this sort. I no kidding just found the original picture typing this…
Have used it lots of places
Meech17
WotC President Runner-Up.
el-remmen
Moderator Emeritus
It was wild to re-read and a little sad b/c many of those people aren't with us anymore and a handful really aren't with us anymore.
It was nearly as wild to hover over people's handles and see when they were last active and notice they were still around a lot more recently than I'd imagined.
There is also a 16 year jump between a couple of posts in that thread!
It did make me realize that the person who drew my avatar also drew Pirate Cat's.
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DrunkonDuty
he/him
Back when I joined ENWorld I definitely drank too much. In my defence, my job sucked. A lot.
I wanted the name to be some sort of play on "DnD." I was sitting at my desk and still pretty tipsy from the night before when inspiration struck. I thought it was very funny. Did I mention I was still drunk?
My avatar is me sitting in the Green Dragon in Hobbiton. We were on our pre-wedding honeymoon.
I wanted the name to be some sort of play on "DnD." I was sitting at my desk and still pretty tipsy from the night before when inspiration struck. I thought it was very funny. Did I mention I was still drunk?
My avatar is me sitting in the Green Dragon in Hobbiton. We were on our pre-wedding honeymoon.
Bedrockgames
I post in the voice of Christopher Walken
Mine is pretty straight forward. The handle is just my publishing name and my avatar is Eddie because I like Iron Maiden and the aesthetics of their mascot
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