It would be nice to set a nickname or an alias to a character. For example, my character’s name is “Eyesopener” but it’s way too long, so everybody calls him eyes. What if i could set a nickname, so that people could use a command such as "message eyes = " instead of a long "message eyesopener = "? Would also work for address and other targeted commands… And what about displaying Eyesopener “Eyes” The nightwing in the lists and character sheets?
So this is not a bad idea - MUCKs have always had an alias command.
One counterargument against prioritizing this is Mucklet’s good tab completion functionality. If I’m messaging you I can hit ‘eye’ and it just works.
I feel like Tab auto-fill largely fills this functionality admittedly.
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I did already ask this a while ago here [Feature] Attach nickname to character profile but it never when anywhere. Glad to see that there are others that would use this feature too.
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i think this could possibly help with the issue of multiple characters with the same first name being in the same room.
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My character Stormy has a nickname. I put it between apostrophes in the last name, so “Stormy ‘Amaideach’ MacQuarie.” People only need to remember to put something like that in, or check if someone else has the same first name. I think it’s a really good idea! 
Like Sapphire MacQuarie and Sapphire Megaflare, amirite?
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Like my Character Asher Vulpara, and the other Asher’s for another example.
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I agree that this is a good idea.
But I am not sure who should own the nick. I see two options (actually three, but let’s keep it simple):
- Nicks managed by character owners
- Nicks managed by other players
If it is the character owner that creates the nick (option 1), then the nick is basically just another version of the first name, and will have the same conflict issues.
If it is other players that creates it (option 2), that means I get to choose to use Eyes as a nick. It will only be displayed as Eyes for me, and it will only be useful when I type my commands:
nickname Eyesopener The nightwing = Eyes
whisper Eyes = Hi there!
Edit. And we can also have tab completion prioritize nicknames, as those are usually the ones that you want to address. That means, you could in theory also nickname someone to the same name:
nickname Asher Vulpara = Asher
… so that this Asher becomes the one that I prioritize when speaking to.
Additionally, nicked names may be displayed with a slightly different color than the usual character-blue, so that you know this is a “friend”.
Maybe we can store and edit nicks in our Watch for list?
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I like all these ideas, heheh. I think option 1 may fall into the formatting I had talked about here [Feature] make surnames optional - #8 by Xetem, and probably other places too. But option 2 does sound like a lovely idea, especially the separate color and tab priority for nicknamed names.
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I feel: when it comes to nicknames, the assignment and visibility of that nickname should be client side and specific to the user assigning that nickname and nobody else. Similar to a note.
More than anything we need a feature like this to not result in name squatting where a player assigns their own nicknames and ends up occupying any high value or inappropriate nicknames they can wrangle.
Basically just allowing a user to assign an alias but instead of a command, its for a character name and visibility of that name specifically for that user’s individual client of that specified character.
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