What's in a Name? or, the story of Alt...

After a spectacular crash last week, I realized the importance of having an alt. I did have another account I could use, my first SL account, that I abandoned after using for 1 day, because I realized I didn't want to use that first name. Using it, I was able to find Doomsday's ghost, fill the coordinates out for LL, and establish that I could still access SL.

So, I knew I needed a proper alt, with a personality and inventory all of his own. Yeah, and I'd make him male, a tribute to my late beloved grandfather (there just aren't enough older avatars in SL).

Now to get an appropriate name for him. Using namewatch, I chose a great available last name. But, I couldn't get it. I tried refreshing the account creation page (using the one for ITSE, that uses the drop-down list style) many times over, clearing cookies, trying different machines.... Eventually, I gave up and picked a different last name from the list. Brought the av to life at Caledon. (Aside: Wow, what a GREAT orientation they have there!!). During this name search I discovered the perfect last name for my partner. That night we, again, after many refreshes, managed to get the name. So, he has a very happy alt.

Then the name I originally wanted for my alt came up. I grabbed it right away.

So now I have 3 alts, two with with similar names, and my partner has an alt that he will probably make his primary. That's a lot of accounts.

So, finally! here's the questions...

Do most people have an active alt? Does splitting your time between different names/personalities diffuse the experience too much or make it more fun?

Have you created alts just to get great names?

Should I bother canceling accounts I don't want? That 1st account came in handy the other day (and she looked lovely in her texture hair and Gwens' Sparkly Dress I must say...).

Is creating alts like making your own imaginary friends??

Personally, I don't see what the fixation is with having a certain name. I have trouble keeping up with Ashe, let alone another avatar with it's set of friends, problems, etc...

Just my opinion

My alt was created only to be a member of my land group. He is almost totally inactive except for occasionally testing something. I picked his name as a joke to play off of Amara's alt. But I have never let Zeus meet Hera. He is too much a troublemaker when I do let him out of the dungeon.

I think the majority of content creators have at least one alt, for permissions testing procedures, if nothing else. Most land owners or group owners eventually find it is worthwhile to create an alt to be the second person in a land group, so the group can't dissolve for lack of sufficient members.

I have several alts, and all of them log in at least once a week.

Ceera Murakami is my most active account - my first and primary avatar. She owns my land, my business interests, and is my main money-handling account.

There are three other "Ceera's", created to get different surnames.

One was created so I could have a surname that matched my Partner in SL. We both created alts with "Kitsune" as a surname, and Partnered each other under those accounts. I use "Ceera Kitsune" as my "I want to play, not work" account, and to anchor any of my groups as the required second member. She's almost an exact clone of Ceera Murakami, has all of my original accounts most often-used avatar forms, and much of the same wardrobe. But she will never have all of my original no-copy stuff duplicated, so for some things she can never replace my main avatar. Our SL Daughter also created her first account with the Kitsune surname, and my SL Brother created an alt with the Kitsune surname, so we could all be a family with the same surname.

Another alt was created when "Ninetails" became a possible surname. My Partner is a nine-tailed Kitsune, and obtained the name to make sure no one else took her given name with the "Ninetails" surname, lest anyone confuse the two. I also created an alt with that surname, for though Ceera has but three tails now, she would eventually also have nine, and by that point the "Ninetails" surname would long have been inaccessible. My SL Daughter also obtained an alt with her given name and the Ninetails surname, but my brother didn't bother. We don't use the "Ninetails" accounts much now. They are "reserved for future use", since the surname would in all probability no longer be available when we might want it, later.

Some other alts were created because I liked a particular name combination, and was able to get it, or because I wanted a fresh roleplaying character that was "not Ceera".

I also have several alts created as permissions testing alts, for checking permissions on content that I create, and for checking land access permissions. Most of these also see at least some use as roleplaying alts, when I need castle guards or maids or other "Non-player characters" in a roleplaying scenario.

Certain names are just cool to have.

Just Imagine if "Ashe1" became a surname! How cool would that be!

i have usable alts for different reasons. i have a blonde (me), a brunette and a redhead, all with a different skin and a different "theme", thus creating a distinct visual personality for each. oh, and i have a male. all for photographing my clothes.

any other alts otherwise created do not go inworld. no reason.

edited to add: i forgot i have some camping alts. i just don't hardly camp anymore so i forgot about them.

I have an alt that I use on a semi-regular basis. I chose a male alt because of Gor. I was asked to do some photo work in a Gor sim, and having a male avatar wandering around taking pictures, interacting, and telling Gor men what to do was a lot more suitable for the sim rather than having this cute little redhead giving orders. *grin*

Log him in under a 2nd client and he comes in handy for testing couples poses. He's also a good weapons test target. Got a MystiTool or something similar and want to see what all the goofy things do? Fire up your alt in a new client and begin playing with the tools.

As was mentioned, he also serves the purpose of making sure my groups always have 2 members, me and him.

And finally, if I need to get some work done in-world and don't want to be bothered, he's handy to log in with as he's not on anybody's friend lists but mine. He allows me to work completely undisturbed, unless someone I know happens to wander in and see me there and knows he's my alt.

Ah, I see by yours...quite cute

I do have a handful of alts now.

One is X7 Mubble, which is purely functional and belongs to my groups as a safety net. As I've said on here before, it is just a black ball that can fly, it has no personality and no social life.

I don't morph my main avatar, I just change clothes or hairstyle like happens in RL. So I have a couple of spare alts that get used for playing about with shapes or for possible use as characters in SL snapshot cartoons. Again, they don't do much in SL and they certainly don't visit my favourite clubs so people can be sure that none of the characters at places I go to are alts of me.

In the last few months I have deleted a couple of alts, one to make way for X7 Mubble and the other was just surplus to requiremets.

I do watch these alts carefully because I'm aware that one of them might learn how to build stuff. I want to be the one that does the building, I want to get the credit, it's my name that should be up in lights, not theirs!

I'm usually the one used for crash recovery. I don't show up very often and it took Immy forever and a day to give me her gestures. But, I'm good for keeping things going when the grid gets rough. (^_^)y

Yeah, Yeah... I got the cooler name though... And... I almost ALWAYS look exactly like Immy. So MLEAH!!!

(^_^)

Oh, will the both of you pipe down... I'm the bloody main here, and, you're just spares... Don't MAKE me lock you both back in the basement again. (=_=)y

You know what? Mellow out... All of you. Just because I forgot my password back when I tried to get back into SL after a year doesn't mean you can go and run the show. I made you, and I can take you out just as quickly.

HA!! But you never posted on the forum before... So your join date is all futzed up! Nyaa~ =^-^=

OMG, how do you keep track of them all? All cute, though

I use alts to start arguments with myself when the forums are getting a bit boring . . .

Pep (I bet you are now expecting an alt to pop up and say "No you don't" aren't you)

Well...???? Where is he/she?

One thing to be sure of when making an alt. NEVER - EVER - EVER repeat the first initial... They make for great ways to push lucky chairs along for something you reeeeealy wanna get. =^-^=

You little dufus. What do you think I did?

Prior to http://slnamewatch.com/ I would come up with a first name then search through what ever names were available and pick something easy to remember and wasn’t too over the top. One of my more recent alts actually has my RL name, well its pronounced the same, just replace a few letters but its really my name, so of course I had to jump on it. Now though I do put much more thought into the names of a new account simply because I’ve seen some incredibly imaginative names and it makes for interesting conversation.
All my accounts I keep active, In fact I spent a good portion of my Saturday logging them on for the Mysti Tools update …. grrrr, but its good to take them out from time to time and let them breath some fresh pixel air.

I'm not sure what the deal is, but I found that I often got a different list of last names for the same first name. However, with my primary choice for first name, the last name I wanted never appeared, after over a dozen tries. I tried a different first name, and after a few tries, the desired last name appeared.

I doubt my choice of first name actually mattered; I doubt it was in use. (It didn't have a hit for ingame Find People.)

Earlier, I saw a post with a similar question about last names, and someone said that if you pick a first name, you see all the last names where that first name is available. This is not true. You see a subset of that list, and it does vary.

I created an alt with a vague plan of exploring a somewhat different facet of my personality ... my original account, this one, Madhu, developed a fairly fixed personality very quickly, but my alt languished as Madhu was busy with the cafe and I didn't have time to think about the other character.

When I finally got around to developing my alt, infusing her with life, I found that she sang to me in a way Madhu never did, as much as I loved my little blue bartender avatar. My alt is literally my Second Life, a life I long for but can't have right now in RL, and I find that I need her in a way I never anticipated. She's the expression of a vital part of me that is necessarily suppressed in RL. She is my id.

If it weren't for the cafe, my alt would have taken over completely ... Madhu would be on indefinite hiatus.

It’s funny to me how peoples perceptions of alts can very too. Some loath them and consider them to be a form of deception. And others, like my self, think of them as an opportunity to explorer various personas we could never imagine attempting in RL.

It does seem that, at least now, they have a few random lists of the available last names. Even if your name is not taken, and the name you want seems available, you may have to refresh many times, or come back later, to get the surname you want. I guess this is so not everybody rezzing around the same time all end up with the same batch of names. Also, perhaps to randomize it enough so people can't name squat (does that even happen, people trading in "good" names?? - like they do with domain names?)

The ITSE portal (an Educational Region) has it's own account fields and presents you with a much longer list of available names than the SL one does. But, there are more than one list of open names.

I have been creating a lot of content; structures, textures and clothing so, again, an alt seems pretty necessary now. It was weird sitting on MY couch on MY land as an alt who had no rights to anything. So, time to figure out groups now, too.

Um, yes to all of the above?

I do not do it to game anyone and I do not go to the same places, as another name; it's more a chilltime thing.