The "What's a good name for this?" thread

Eh, I think it works well enough. It may sound like that, but it makes one hell of a Meaningful Name.

I need a name for a small city of sorts set in an obscure post apoc earth. It's located on a large hill near the ocean and the weather is usually pretty nice, though the housing on the lower ground consists of huts and sort of works it's way up in advancement with the top of the hill as a sort of futuristic castle.I'm looking for something simple to call it, but it'd be nice if the name had some sort of relation to robotics because of reasons.

EDIT: Decided to name it Capek after Karel Čapek.

edited 23rd Sep '14 12:02:39 PM by coheed

What would be a good Georgian-era slang for information brokers (preferably derogatory in its usage)?

Snitch has been in use since late 18th century, so that's an option if your past 1770 or so. But if you're doing earlier Georgian (if we're talking about the same one) I'm not sure.

Perhaps "rat" or "weasel"

What's a good name for a wizard who has dream-based magic?

What kind of magic does he do with dreams?

He can alter people's dreams, enter them, and even alter reality to follow dream logic.

Would Morpheus be too obvious?

In this setting, every possible activity (from pizza delivery to Kaiju containment) is given a point system and a leaderboard of the top-scoring participants in that activity. This improves work ethic in all fields, but also ups the pressure in various ways.

Title?

...probably.

Wait, is this a personal name? I had assumed we were talking about a name for the type of magician.

That is a fantastic premise. :D I might need to look it up, but I think the name for applying interactive entertainment principles to other areas of life is called "ludification"...?

edited 25th Sep '14 4:09:56 PM by Noaqiyeum

Thank you! Should I provide a small list of tropes?

Also, I've seen the concept referred to as "ludification" and "gameification" before.

edited 25th Sep '14 4:12:41 PM by Inceptiond

Yes, it's a personal name. I was considering Nemo.

edited 25th Sep '14 4:19:05 PM by BiggerBen

Title or concept name?

Concept. May make a good title, or at least have a place in a Tag Line.

edited 25th Sep '14 4:23:36 PM by Inceptiond

Tropes could be helpful, but I think just knowing more about themes/characters/plots you're focusing on would be better...

Still thinking. Operant and respondent conditioning is another element you could reference... so far the only actual title I can come up with is something like "Skinner Society" or "Skinner Planet". :P Could work for a dystopia...

Edit: Hee - you could call it "ludicrous". :P

edited 25th Sep '14 4:47:06 PM by Noaqiyeum

It's not a dystopia.

Sample Tropes:
Badass Normal
Mundane Made Awesome
Serious Business
"Stop Having Fun" Guys
"Well Done, Son" Guy

Theme: One should not take everything completely seriously.

edited 25th Sep '14 4:51:28 PM by Inceptiond

I like the sound of "Everyday Games" myself.

Would Nemo work?

Are you using it as a reference to Twenty Thousand Leagues Underthe Sea? Because that might work if you use the right wording for his magic. But Nemo is Latin for nobody, which was relevant for that story, but may not work in yours.

edited 25th Sep '14 6:59:10 PM by kingandcommoner

Little Nemo

"Sandman". Or, for an oblique Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy or Smiley's People reference, "Karla".

(Of course, anyone familiar with espionage literature would perk up at the name "Karla"; in this case, it refers to the nickname people gave him in Smiley's People: they called him Sandman because anyone who got too close to him went to sleep, permanently.)

Maerd? (kidding. mostly.)

Ah yes, forgot about that one.

Would him being a villain influence what his name would be?

Does he use it mainly to cause nightmares? If yes maybe Maron from the proto-germanic word for (night-)mare.

edited 26th Sep '14 3:22:28 AM by Kiefen