Gamer nicknames, most of us have one. We try to pick one that expresses who we are, what we’re like, and that hasn’t been taken already. Thing is, whenever we see a nickname online, we don’t have the opportunity to ask the person about their nickname’s backstory and we sort of have to piece it together ourselves. We at IGN Africa all have gaming nicknames, so I’ve taken it upon myself to review and try to understand them. Take note: besides asking what their name is and for permission, the other writers have told me NOTHING about their names. I’m going to take them completely out of context and see what we come up with. Tancrid’s parents must be precognitive, because when naming their child they gave him a handy name that can easily be shortened to a cool nickname: Tank. It sounds cool, and can be shouted in a panic because it's only got one syllable. It doesn’t surprise me that he’d use it for gaming, and the possibilities are endless. The_Tank, Bl00d_Tank, Tank_t0p, Killer-T@nk.
If he played World of Warcraft, he’d fit a role perfectly. Pictured: Tancrid Muller in his Final Form. So when he needed a Playstation Network name, he made the smart choice and went with... What kind of name is that? It sounds like a slot-machine from the Warhammer 40K universe. I can see a Space Marine playing it, trying to win three Emporers in a row for the jackpot, but ending up with three ‘WAAARGS!” in a row. Which triggers an Ork invasion. It wouldn’t be a good slot-machine game. As our resident PC gamer, it’s Melcolm’s name that most frequently interrupts my DayZ games with a pop-up window. I was once sniped from that pop-up blindspot. Don’t know how the other player did it, but these bandits are getting enterprising. Melcolm’s name is "-Nerf-Deus_Morituro". The first word is Nerf and, if I remember my French classes, that sounds like the French number "9". Next word is Deus, which sounds a bit like deuce (and not day-us, nope. Deuce makes me think of the number "2".
OK, so far we have "92". Well, that makes me think of a Doritos flavour as invented by a dyslexic ad-executive. So there you have it. Our PC gamer calls himself “92 Mispelled Doritos”, and I don’t want to go down the rabbit hole of why. Like this, but 92 of them. Tarryn is the editor, the dictator, the mad queen of the Iron Throne (or plush office chair, I’ve never seen her office) and she leads us writing peons with an iron fist. Just kidding, she’s nicer than that, but we’ve learned not to mess with her. If it was made of pens and had cats, it would be perfect for her. Her nickname is Azimuth (pronounced A-Z-Müth or Azzie-muth, I’m not sure). Now, the only other Azimuth I know is a cat alien from the Ratchet and Clank: Future series, but they’re probably unrelated. However, thinking back to my grade ten geography class, I’m reminded of an "Azimuthal map". This map was invented by Sir Gordon H. Map and it was useful for showing relatively correct shape and scale in a small area.
What do maps have to do with Tarryn? But the drafting of maps is called cartography, and if you accidently called it cryptography it would be a malapropism. And if there’s one person who needs to watch out for malapropism it would be an editor. She also goes by the handle of "Nxtrms", and I call it a handle because you can't handle saying it while intoxicated. There are just too many consonants and not enough vowels. It's like pouring too little milk on Weetbix, only without the default fibre benefit. So what does it mean? She challenged me to work it out, so I'll give it my best. It could mean "In Extremes" by way of removing the vowels. Is that it, Tarryn? [Soooo close. - Ed] No, that's too simple. It must be an acronym. So, using the highest functions of my brain, I'd say it means: "Nocturnal Xylophone Testee Recruiting More Suckers". [Actually, no, but I think I prefer this. - Ed] In the spirit of fairness, I won’t be writing this. So let me hand you over to my split personality.
I don’t get let out very often, so I’ll make good use of the opportunity. Matthew’s first nickname is his go-to approach with handles: Matt. It’s short, quickly typed, and gives a handy metaphor for his online performance!I hope you get the subtlety. On PSN he goes by “Ensiform”, which is a really dumb-sounding word that my spell check refuses to acknowledge. Turns out it means “Sword-like”. Are you trying to compensate for something? Interesting thing about that name: it’s spelled grammatically correctly. Yep, capital first letter and no numbers or symbols, meaning Matt is the only person in the Playstation gaming world to use that name. Don’t be envious, if you saw one person out of millions bashing their head against a tree, would you think they’re unique and creative? His final nickname is what he uses in forums, writing, games where possible and the DayZ mod (ZA5 servers, troll him for me). Because he’s abrasive and full of hot air! And that’s enough of Dark Matt for now.
So readers, what are your gaming nicknames? Post a comment with only the nickname, then leave it up to me or Dark Matt to puzzle out what it means. And if you're wondering why there are ponies in the cover image: me too. And fellow writers, for the love of Newell please correct me on what I’ve said. Comment below and tell us the real story behind your nicknames. Dark Matt doesn't have a Twitter account, but you can follow regular Matthew right here. If you follow, it might keep Dark Matt in his cage a little longer.Gaijin 4koma (Japanese: 外人四こま, “4-frame foreigners”) is a series of four-paned comics based on two photographs of reporters reacting to Nintendo’s announcement of new titles at the E3 conference in 2003 and 2004 respectively. The multi-pane set up is typically used to express one’s disappointment and excitement over two separate things, in similar vein to the “at first I was like X, but then I was like Y” snowclone. The photograph of four IGN reporters (Matt Casamassina, Craig Harris, Chadd Chamers, Peer Schneider) looking rather disinterested was originally taken during Nintendo’s conference at E3 2003 Expo, where Nintendo’s CEO introduced “Pacman vs.” for GameCube.
The photograph of the same men looking excited was taken one year later during Nintendo’s conference at E3 2004 Expo, where they announced the release of a new Zelda title. Originally posted on IGN board, these two photographs were incorporated into the Yonkoma comic-strip format on /ghard/ (Game Hardware) board in 2channel, where it was dubbed “Gaijin 4koma” or “4-frame foreigners” in Japanese. According to the archived threads, the comic strips became popular on 2channel as early as in June 2004. Yonkoma (4コマ漫画) manga refers to vertically-oriented comic strips featuring four panels of equal size. The format has been used across various Japanese publications including manga magazines, newspaper comics and more recently in web comics. First introduced in 1902 by the Japanese artist Rakuten Kitazawa, Yonkoma strips typically follow a structure known as Kishotenketsu: The multi-pane series was soon picked up by English-speaking visitors on 2channel and brought into 4chan and other Japanese-affiliated communities, where it became known as the “Reaction Guys” series.