And now for something completely different... what if the character in the game actually names the gun?

The bad guy turns around, to see our hero. In his hands a ten barrelled, belt fed, laser guided, armor piercing, 150lb clump of glorious silver destruction with dual grenade launchers, short range missile launcher, real cowhide leather carrying strap (...and optional cup holder!).

Bad Guy: What... is... THAT?

Hero: This? This is SALLY.

It is true that names that correctly correspond to the purpose and properties of any item in a game will be percieved more intrigueing by the (human) mind.
Unless you have a childs or newbie mind that is.

If you absolutely have to invent something exceptional, always think about what a REAL life VIP would call it in times of war. (or such).

My names for some invented ones.

H&K HH-PA 40 : Heckler & Koch Hand Held - Particle Accelerator 40 mega watt.

Steyr UUG 60 : Steyr Uberladen Universal Gewehr 60 gigawatt (Bet this one stings alot).

FA-MPAR RPG5 : Full Auto - Multi Purpose Assault Rifle ,Rocket Propelled Grenade , 5.56 mm (<- this one actually exists today under another name)

CHILDREN LIKE THESE NAMES:
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Toe Jamming Bubblegum. (This would be the equal of a hand held grenade)
Ueck Ueck Thrower.
Poopshooter
Snotcatapult
Accelerated Fartfan.
Candy Snatcher.



I would like to see a CS type of game, where one side has children weaponry and the other side have grown up stuff.
Or better: Let it be a client side property.
The best of two worlds without anyone getting annoyed.

"Arn''s skull was cleaved by Hull''s SA-80 slug."
will look like this on children client:
"FartArn''s hair was entangled in SnotHull''s toejam bubblegum."
Or the newbie versions:
"[dEs]tHrEshEr was owned by A^t^t^A^CC''s rocket."

quote: Original post by Hull
Steyr UUG 60 : Steyr Uberladen Universal Gewehr 60 gigawatt (Bet this one stings alot).

the character you were looking for was Ü (Überladen), although it doesn´t really make sense.

usually gun names are rather simple, try to keep them short (nobody will want to remember a string of ten characers).

Some common formats are:

(manufacturer) (weapon type) (model number)
(manufacturer) (caliber) (weapon type)
(manufacturer) (weapon type) (year of introduction)

there are a few others around, but if you use formats which people are familiar with the players will have less trouble picking up the gun names and less trouble applying them.

a few examples:

Steyr AUG (Steyr Armee Universal Gewehr) or Stg 77 (same gun, first introduced in 1977), same with AK 47. An example for the first format would be the HK Mp5 (Heckler&Koch Machine Pistol no.5).
So basically it would seem like a good idea to keep the name to two clusters of characters/numbers.

Being from the Marine Corp, allow me to maturely answer your questions.

American weapons are named for their calibur, manufactorer, and/or serial number or year of birth.

German weapons are usually named for their capabilities (i.e., "panzerfausts" are "armor smashers" (roughly translated)).

Okay? So let''s stop arguing. Different countries name their weapons differently.

But when you get into calling things "Desert Eagle" and "Snooper", those are meerely nicnames.

A great way to implement all this would have the player be able to nickname it, but the weapon still holds it''s original title. (which renders the nickname pointless)

~Dwarf