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[Xoanon]

The Name Game: What Pilot Name Trends Do We See In MechWarrior Tactics?

When MechWarrior Tactics was announced back in February we encouraged fans and the casually curious to ‘Register Your Commander Name Now’, and many did, a great many! Cut to an overwhelming response of reservations later and we see interesting trends appearing, it is basically a data-miner’s dream come true. We sampled 1,500 of the most common names to determine the most used word in pilot names, check out the results below.

• Wolf - 20.5%
• Cat - 10.9%
• Ace - 10.2%
• Lord - 9.8%
• Star - 9.7%

So why is ‘Wolf’ one of the most popular? Bone up on your BattleTech history with a little BattleTech 101:

When the board game first published, The Wolf's Dragoons were an elite mercenary unit with a mysterious beginning, which ultimately were used in almost every major storyline throughout BattleTech's history, cementing them as one of the biggest fan favorite mercenary units. When the Clan Invasion occurred, it was revealed that the Wolf's Dragoons were an "advanced recon" sent by Clan Wolf to gather information on the Succession Wars...so it not only gave fans a reason to like Clan Wolf the best, but ultimately Clan Wolf became one of the favorite of all the Clans.

Those two elements are the reason Wolf is used so often (and, of course, wolves are just cool).

We asked our Infinite Game Publishing staff what their common usernames were and why they were selected:

FluffyBunny: Because they are cute, and anybody getting killed by a bunny is a big looser. Also I’m fluffy after the shower.
RiderFan: Because I love the RoughRiders
Slayermom: I created this name a long time ago as I love slaying people in games J and that I am a mommy. The idea also originated by watching Buffy the vampire slayer.
Vox Potentia: Latin for Voice of Power. I was riffing off of Vox Populi (Voice of the People). And the image of 18m death machine performing a roaring charge amuses me
AcidBadger: Because Badger was taken, and I'm a huge acid music fan… and the AcidBadger in my mind is more hardcore than the most hardcore of all badgers, the HoneyBadger (also taken)
Zerotheblackmage: because it’s the online handle that I’ve used since I was 16.

So what's in a name? Tell us why your Pilot name is what it is, and the deep dark secret behind it!

[Enaris]

Heh, mine is just an odd one. It's an old RP character (from a free form thing) that I used long long ago. For some unknown reason, I decided to use it as my username in WoT a year or so ago, and when I migrated over here, figured I'd stay with it. Certainly not BT related in the least.

[JPArbiter]

JPArbiter is born from multiplayer starcraft. I loved the Protoss Arbiter unit, and JP are my initials. the handle has become universal for me, being on Xbox live, and even what I call myself on my battletech oriented podcast Arbitration

[Blackfire1]

Blackfire1: Callsign since Silent death and the origonal MPBT:Solaris. All hail the days of Gamestorm.

[RoundTop]

Mine came from a Wing Commander novel (End Run/Fleet Action). It was one of the pilot's callsigns. And it made sense with my (half) british background.

[Gonzo]

Gonzo. Because ... well.. Gonzo.

[Gendou]

It's my first name.

[MACCOUL]

Mine is a variant of the mythical Irish hero, Fionn mac Cumhaill.

[Desyth]

I was gonna go for a Wolf surname, 'cause, well, Clan Wolf forever!!



But presently, its a name from pretty much every online game I've ever played...ever.


**Edit: No embedded vids, apparently.

[StygSec]

StygSec is sort for Stygian Securities.

An evil corporation that I came up with for a pen and paper game that I ran a year back (Mutants and Masterminds). Then I applied it to other games, like I tried out a game of Cyberpunk my character's handle was StygSec which still meant the same, but not quite.

The origin of the name was when I was coming up with new fronts for guilds, clans, and other alliances within games. Stygian Securities comes from my favorite word Stygian which means infernal or hellish. Granted I do get asked and told that I ripped the word from Conan to which I did not as a person who has only seen Conan the Barbarian once it did not receive a good review from me.

Stygian Security or Stygian Securities is more of a clan name than a handle.

Also my use of the; semicolon is vague. I still do not know how to utilize it.

[SlackBadger]

SlackBadger was wondering who AcidBadger was.

[Mystery]

Mystery because its my real life nickname since middle school normally MrE though. almost went with my old call sign of Darkstar but those were days long ago at the battletech centers

[Sesshomaru]

Blackfire1: Callsign since Silent death and the origonal MPBT:Solaris. All hail the days of Gamestorm.

Gamestorm oh man that takes me back... I used 2 love playing mechwarrior on there...
As for me through the years i've changed my callsigns but the last 2-3years i've been riding with what I am now Sesshomaru = Killing Perfection... Maybe you'll see me in combat, or maybe it will be 2 late ^__^

[DogSolitude]

Mine originated years ago from the need for a quick screen name I could remember for a website. I was reading William Gibson's Mona Lisa Overdrive at the time, and Dog Solitude was one of the locations in the book. Over time, I've continued using it just for uniformity, so I don't have to remember multiple user names in different places. It's evolved to the point where some people refer to me as "Dog" in real life. Woof woof!

[Modred189]

I am Modred189 everywhere. Literally everywhere. Esentially, it stems from the name of King Arthur's half brother, Mordred, who killed him with Excalibur. 189 was a suffix from my days in undergrad, and I was into modding my computer cases a little then, and my favorite color is red so... Modred189.

But yea, that tag goes back to the days of CS1.2 and Quake. I'm Modred189 on every gaming service, forum etc. So yea. It's less my Commander name and more like my online nom de plum.

[DogSolitude]

AcidBadger: Because Badger was taken, and I'm a huge acid music fan… and the AcidBadger in my mind is more hardcore than the most hardcore of all badgers, the HoneyBadger (also taken)

Question is, does AcidBadger care?

[CyHawk]

My came about because I wanted something easy to remember and it relates to where I am from. I live in Iowa and the major universities are Iowa and Iowa State, with their mascots being the Hawkeyes and Cyclones. So, there comes CyHawk, since I am a Hawkeye living in Cyclone country.

[Xentax]

Pretty much my main online name. First time I played Rogue (the actual Rogue, not just "Roguelike" ), I made up the name and been using it ever since. At various times it's represented a sneaky rogue, a mighty WoT Borderlander, a pilot, a Master of Orion...and of course a MechWarrior or 3.

[Mater]

Mine came from a Wing Commander novel (End Run/Fleet Action). It was one of the pilot's callsigns. And it made sense with my (half) british background.

I like you

When I was a kid my mother got us a dog, she asked me to name her… well I could not talk that well at 2 so I called her Mater (I also called my mother Mater , :S )… she was the loyalist dog I ever had (unlike the lazy dog I have now .. I mean he does not even chase squalls :S ) I have gone by that handle sense I was able to label a character … it just my way of remembering the past

I also go by mater(rex) if mater is not available (the Rex is because the dog I have now my son named so there)

Mater is what Mater dose …

[Damberville]

Damberville is actually the last name of a old D&D character of mine from 2nd Edition. Severon D'Amberville, a wandering warrior who is never sure where he is going to end up. But I been using the nicks Severon, Damberville and Arkidda so very long now.. at least since the mid-90s.