I notice that most mods have credits in the readme, but all the real names are kept secret, and "user names" or something are given, instead. But, pretty much every mod's readme holds giving credit where credit is due as top priority. As an artist and a writer, and now a modder, I [Dana Nova Darko] think it makes more sense to credit people's actual names. If I do a project I'm proud of, I want my name attached.

On a side note, if you remember, games like Ultima II were credited to "Lord British and Bobbitt," which mirrors today's modding credit standards.

So, I'm making a large mod that uses modders resources, and when it comes to crediting people, it seems somehow empty to have a list of user names next to the actual names of some professional talent that contributed. But that's all I've got.

So, I wonder how the culture of crediting "handles" in mods (and in fan-dubbing) came about. Do people just not take their work seriously? What do you guys think?

Actually, the culture is one of posting on discussion boards and releasing mods/resources under usernames - crediting those names in other mods is just a product of that. The internet has a long tradition of this. As for me, my name isn't necessarily "secret", and it certainly isn't that I don't take my work seriously, but I have gone as "tronvillain" for pretty much as long as I have been online. I am tronvillain, so crediting "tronvillain" is crediting me.

Wait, is your REAL NAME Dana Nova Darko?

Dana Nova Darko...that is too awesome NOT too be made up, also the thing is a lot of the modders prefer to not have their real name out on the internet.

For me it's a privacy thing. I like to keep my various activities on the Internet in separate spheres, out of the umbrella of my real identity.

Same here. While the majority of people here are all good fellows, there are some real creepers too. I don't want some crazy axe murder showing up at my door because I wouldn't make him a model.

I use my user name all over the place, even then it is still hard to link me to different places unless you know exactly what you are looking for. I dont particularly care if people know my name, but for the MW community, I keep it secret for fun.

Well I can see why, if my name was that great, I would want to use it everywhere as well. I agree with above though, that name is too good not to be made up, or you have kickass parents. I may have to go with kickass parents or name change though based on the fact you have a website.


Oh, and for crying out loud people, no one is going to show up at your house unless you give out your address or phone number. With the exception of the above apparently, there is usually more than one person who has your name. I know there are like 50 of me in my state.

What a fun topic - I hardly know where to start.

When you know someone's real name, you own him.

If the credit for the mod is really about celebrating oneself then why would I use my real name when the people I am trying to impress (the Morrowind community) know me as Cyrano? Do I really want some nobody named Bill getting credit for all of my work?

In any case I enjoy a certain amount of cover because my name is rather common. As of last check there are three of me in the telephone book for my town alone.

The reason that I do not reveal my real name is not that I do not want members of this community to know my true identity, but rather I do not want my real world friends and colleagues to know my alter ego. Remember, when you know a person's alter ego, you own him.

Since you do not know my real name you are forced to wonder just how much of what I wrote is actually true.

I wonder why I do not have an avatar...

Through the magic of Google and Facebook, if you have a name and a country, it isn't terribly difficult to track someone down.

I don't really care that anyone who comes across my mods knows who really put them together, mainly because they're not popular. I mean, I've never done anything that stayed in the "Top Morrowind Mods" list on PES for any length of time. I'm not famous in the Morrowind modding community like Vurt, Vality, Darknut, or Trainwiz. If this were otherwise, I might feel like awareness of my real name is a bit more warranted. I would feel a stronger connection to the community than I do now.

That said, there's a good chance that I would come to regret sharing such information with a great number of people who cared to know it. So perhaps it's better that I stick to being Tonal Architect, regardless of how famous I do or do not become.

Tarius:

No, there is just me. Well, there might be another person with the same name somewhere in the world, but I would be at least a little surprised. *chuckle* Google certainly doesn't turn them up. There aren't that many people with my surname, and even fewer with my given name, so there isn't much chance of overlap. Oddly enough, my given name is a more common surname than my given name.

I am Westly ; Westly am I
In all the art that I cobble I am always myself

I come from a comics background, webcomics specifically, and we all generally used our real names and in fact, often made efforts to further the brand. None of us are really afraid of someone showing up at our houses. When I worked retail, yes, I kept my last name secret from customers. And yesh, that's my real name. My last name changed when i got married and my middle name changed when I got divorced, lol... or somewhere along those lines. I don't really spend much time on forums.... I have several facebook pages and I'm active on the morrowind page over there, so I'm coming from a totally different angle. I really appreciate y'all adding your input, and taking the time to educate me about your community.

Given that a large number of my online activities are of questionable legality, I make it a point to keep my online and offline personas separate.

Yeah, I don't think you need the cops showing up at your door and finding the basemant full of Swedish redheads. Little awkward.

I know very few people that actually call me by my real name. For some reason, I have several nicknames which people call me by. So using 'spiffyman' on the forums seems natural to me as it is just another nickname.

I would so take that last name if I were to marry you. My current last name is memorable to most people, but not that cool.

You put your address on facebook? Oh, also, I dont use facebook. I sometimes I feel like I should simply because you are only able to do certain things on the net if you have one.

Wow, double.

If one of you somehow found out my real name and then used it to credit me in a mod I would probably strangle you.

As someone who frequently needs to credit people for their work, I find that MOST (any modder I have needed to credit besides the Illuminated Order guys) people don't even leave their real names to be credited. If you want people to credit your real name, you'll want to explicitly say so in the readme and you should probably just start using your real name as your name on message boards and mod sites so as to reduce confusion.

I would definitely look at it from a forum-goer mentality, particularly because I am a staff member at one site and a Site Administrator at another. People can react very badly to things that happen online and I don't need that in my real life. When I have supposedly advlt gamers getting angry at what we do and do not allow on our forum turning around and attempting to ruin every fun thing I do online under this username, I can only imagine what they would do if they knew my real name.

Of course people you see often within a online community aren't even the ones you need to worry about, no matter how obnoxious they can be. There are literally thousands of people who simply lurk, reading posts and downloading mods, who never actually say anything at all. After a while, they start to feel like they know you and maybe believe that you're friends, when they've never even posted a comment.

The upshot of it all is that games are games and real life is real life. I like them separate, not just in spite of the fact I met my husband on a gaming forum, but because of it. We love to play and mod games together, but when the computers are off, the games stay off; we don't need people who can't tell the difference between role play and reality showing up on our doorstep demanding to know why Jasmine doesn't have a same six romance questline.

cause i don't want them adding me on facebook...?

also, my real name is even worse than wollibeebee. Ellis, really parents? Really?

also, if people like vurt called themselves (lets say vurts name is Davetta) Davetta in his readme and mods, no one on this forum would know who vurt was.

Or they hate your guts. I've encountered a number of people in other online communities who spent 99% of their time lurking and spent the other 1% hurling insults my way for reasons I could not fathom. This is annoying, although I must admit, it's not even half as irritating as the people who act friendly to your face but secretly despise you. I can take people not liking me. It's a fact of life that you'll make an enemy at some point. I learned to understand and accept that a long time ago. But I can't stand not knowing that the person I'm communicating with hate my guts. There are few things that make me want to punch someone in the face more than that.


I haven't had to deal with this problem, but I've seen it a lot over the years. A gander through some of the fan art and mod collections for various games such as Elder Scrolls can often reveal a great deal about the serious issues some gamers have. The focus on sixy women in ES mods certainly speaks volumes.

Awww!!! That's awesome! I met my beloved in WoW almost 5 years ago, too. People think it's nerdy but IMO gaming with someone or being part of a community like this is a great way to get to know/meet new people. And if sparks happen, added bonus.

Wait, you mean Piratelord isn't my real name?

I'm sooo confused.

Hello my names Bob and i like potato