What’s in the name?

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Now there’s millions and millions of usernames in this world. You see them all the time especially in online gaming and forums and there’s always some you remember more than others. Probably from regular appearances, the type of interaction, perhaps even making you laugh or angry. Or even the names themselves can be memorable, creative names, normal names, offensive to just being made up of numbers. What goes on in someone’s mind during the time that they’re creating their profile?

I’m sure that we’ve all gone through a few names before settling to what we go by today. I’ve realised that my previous usernames, are almost like chapters of my life as a gamer. Each of which bring back particular gaming memories:

KungFuMissy – A name I often used offline and on save files. At the time I was heavily watching World Cinema and Hollywood movies that featured martial arts. Obvious right? Pretty cute when I recall this name being used for my alter-ego when creating female fighters in Def Jam Vendetta (PS2), WWF Smackdown 2: Know Your Role (PS1), Shaolin (PS1) and others.

Kikassgal – To put simply, I couldn’t fit ‘KungFuMissy’ when creating a username for Command and Conquer: Red Alert 2 (damn Westwood!). So it was shortened to ‘Kikassgal’. I guess I was demanding to express being a violent lady of the warring world, ocassionaly spamming the F12 taunt key as well and getting told off for it by friends through XFire.

RazmatazzShaz – When I used to walk to school with a friend, we’d always stop by the local ‘Spar’ shop around the corner and buy sweets. There was a fizzy sour sweet called ‘Razmatazz’ (which tasted awful) and hence I placed a rhyming name ‘RazmatazzShaz’. Although it was goddamn confusing everytime I needed to spell this out for exchanging gamer handle contacts over speech. ‘No it’s two Z’s at the end of Razmatazz’… also I soon felt that the name was too long to pronounce over and over.

It’s kind of funny how some of us do call others by their gamer names instead of their real names. Or even to think of how a name can have an influence on them. In my early days of Xbox 360 gaming, my gamertag was born as ‘TinyShaz’. I met a new friend through Gears of War 1, who also had ‘T1ny’ as part of their username. So when two tinys entered the room, naturally they paired up and there was no end to the banter and laughter of the duo. There are some who actually call me ‘Tiny’ instead of ‘Shaz’ and to be honest, I’ve gotten so used to it online that it still works to grab my attention in the real world.

I feel there’s something to the names and I’ve heard many stories about them. Although the usernames are intended for the virtual environment, they have cropped up in our daily lives. However there’s a sudden disconnection or feeling a little lost when suddenly I log in to an account and lots of people change their names.

A name that brings memories, nobody forgets the tiny one!
A name that brings memories, nobody forgets the tiny one!

I finally settled with my perfect gamer handle, ‘TinyShaz’. The name is short and simple, plus this sums me up as a person too. (It’s no joke, I seriously created that name putting my height and nickname together!)

Luckily this name is not often thought of by other online users, (as vain as it was) I proved this to myself through a quick Google search. The internet search engine then displays a chuck load of evidence showing where I had been taking my username; appearing under Ready Up, other gaming media websites, forums and profiles, etc. Having gotten used to being able to create accounts and be the original keeper of this name on most places I’ve gone to, I’ve become so attached to this name, I would flinch or feel somewhat envious if I came face to face with another who shares the name or if I couldn’t create an account with it. “Go get a different name, TinyShaz is my name!”

A friendly name which I abuse the power of its innocent sound online. Plus it suits me well don’t you think?


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One response to “What’s in the name?”

  1. MrCuddleswick avatar
    MrCuddleswick

    Suits you just a bit yeah!

    A similar thing happens when I google “MrCuddleswick”…..one day it’ll be porn…..one day

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