What's in a name?: naming practices in online video games

Recent research suggests that participation in online video games allows players to create an "idealized self" through their characters, that is, a character perceived to be more attractive or interesting than the player. However, our research indicates that players use carefully created character names to develop a persistent, pragmatic identity to maintain social relationships across games and related sites, and to express their personalities by incorporating elements of popular culture, literary references, and aspects of their own personal histories. Identity in gaming is thus more complex than identification with the physical representation of the character.