Wouldn't it be great to have character titles that aren't arbitrary? I'm thinking of Civilization, where all your efforts come to a score, and a title like "the terrible," conqueror, or wise or magnanimous. I think depth could be added to a MMORPG by giving titles to characters based on actions they make in the game. Someone might want to be a player-killer but not want to face being called "the cannibal" or something like that. So its a way of rewarding behavior that is redeeming in the public eye. But until there is a kind of AI program that knows the names for all kinds of situations as they happen in the game, it will be impossible to establish these titles. A game with titles for killing already exists of course, with Quake III and the like, although I don't know if they transfer to multiplayer. Granted character classes and levels already sort of take the place of titles, and it might be simple to give titles as a reward for specific quests. But I would like to see a game that could rank intelligent actions, which might require some sort of schema of testing as an ongoing process somehow incorporated into the gameplay... As though to say "among a certain number of skills, this is where the character is most proficient, and he or she is this level of a character, so therefore" and then there would be a title as a reward for the characters accomplishments so far. Please tell me if there is a game that already does this sort of thing. It seems to me as though it could always use some tweaking and improvement, so its a good thing to keep on the agenda...

I think that the ability to do this certainly exists because I've seen it in many games. Go back to the N64 GoldenEye. It ranked you on a lot of different things, depending on how you played, what weapons you preferred, etc.

It sounds to me more like what you're concerned about is that you don't like the title a game might give you. Killing other players might earn you the title of "The Cannibal" as you said, but you might not like this title. That's more of a creative choice that the designers chose. Some may think they're funny, others may find them offensive. But this is like any other creative aspect of the game, like spoken dialogue or signs on the side of the road.

COH gives you the option, after a certain level, to add a superheroic adjective (from a prescribed list) to your name. So you'd become the Dashing SuperX, or the Extraordinary Serpentia, et al.

Ultima Online also has a title system in place that is based on your actions and skill levels.

I implemeted a title system for a space invaders-ish game, and I used a kinda compound system;

You had a base rank, based on cumulate score throughout your career:

0 - Newbie
100 - Trainee
300 - Rookie
500 - Lieutant
700 - Lieutant Commander etc.

Then, I added a prefix based on the highest score achieved:

100 (and rank < Rookie) - Fortunate
300 (and rank < Lieutant Commander) - Lucky
500 - Auspicious, etc

A tag based on how many times you've played:

5 (and rank < Lieutant Commander) - Persistant
10 (and rank < Lieutant Commander + 2000 pts) - Stubborn
etc

And finally, a skill marker based on the maximum level reached:

<4 - Mediocre
4 - Average
7 - Skilled
etc

And it was all compounded together to make a cool-sounding title.

The game can be downloaded here.

EDIT: Oh - and *my* rank was Strategist Admiral (Expert). If you *ever* manage to beat that (or hack the data file... or use a hex viewer) then PM me with your rank (not play count awards) and I'll give you a cookie or a +10 rating...