"Mod Images" stance on in game MMO user names.

MMO screen shots with user names in it is in no way against the rules but in my opinion it is sort of a shameless way of self promotion  ones character or ones clan in some cases. Now I'm sure that most people who upload screenshots from MMOs with user names in them do not do it to promote themselves but just to make the screenshots galleries more diverse and attractive however even unwillingly they are promotion them selves.

I guess this is one of those things that have to be discussed for the better being and the clarity of modding images of Giant Bomb.

My stance: Screenshots of MMO's should not include player names unless it are names of NPCs.

I suppose it would depend on the game. If it is possible to take a screenshot of the same thing without a username, it shouldn't have a username, but if the only way to take a screenshot of that part of the game is to have a username on it, they should be allowed.

Self promotion? "This mo'fucka has a guild in GIANT BOMB SCREENSHOTS! I WANT TO JOIN NOW, SHIT!"

Seriously. I don't see what it has to do with self-promotion at all. I say let them go.

And as for character-specific images of armor and such (should that be brought up or be included in what you're talking about): again, I don't see any problem with uploading a screenshot of some armor or something. It's up to the player to decide whether or not to edit their name out. If they want to leave it in (laziness, whatever) then that's fine.

Usually the spot where a player's name is would be on the side. When taking screenshots, people should be able to leave their names out.

This is actually a good question because I plan on taking screenshots from a game I am playing where there is no default name given to the character. Should I just leave out the party's names? No HP/MP status or attack choices would be shown either.

"Usually the spot where a player's name is would be on the side. When taking screenshots, people should be able to leave their names out."

"Self promotion? "This mo'fucka has a guild in GIANT BOMB SCREENSHOTS! I WANT TO JOIN NOW, SHIT!"

Seriously. I don't see what it has to do with self-promotion at all. I say let them go.

And as for character-specific images of armor and such (should that be brought up or be included in what you're talking about): again, I don't see any problem with uploading a screenshot of some armor or something. It's up to the player to decide whether or not to edit their name out. If they want to leave it in (laziness, whatever) then that's fine."

"brukaoru said:

"Usually the spot where a player's name is would be on the side. When taking screenshots, people should be able to leave their names out."

Have you ever taken a screenshot? :-/"

"I once encountered a image of 8 wow players 4 knee led on the front row and 4 standing behind them, all from the same clan, and other than those 8 you saw nothing.
Hence showing 8 times the clan name. filling the whole screen.
This one was pretty extreme i admit."

It's a guild picture. It doesn't say the server, it doesn't say the guild's location, it doesn't say they are recruiting, it doesn't say if it's PVP or PVE, it doesn't say anything. It's just a guild picture. The only person who would think that was self promotion is someone who doesn't know anything about WoW.

looks like a bad wesbite banner

I don't really know what you're talking about, it is beneficial. I mean, this guy looks like an AWESOME blacksmith in Ragnarok.

"

No one cares.

Pick your battles

Your publicizing em more than anyone lol.

"

"In the case of World of Warcraft you can turn out all the on screen names and info."

"If there is an option to disable information like that in a game, then yes, they should turn it off if the person taking screenshots knows about it."

I think it's fine.  After all, MMO's are as much about players and guilds as they are about NPC's.  Obvious abuse should be handled on a case by case basis.

"The fact that the game doesn't play like that, it's foolish. You'd be turning off the whole UI, and not presenting the game as it really is."

If you're playing an MMO, you can expect to see usernames. If they can be turned off, go ahead and take a few shots like that just to show off that feature, but most screenshots should show the game as it would normally look during normal gameplay.

I think someone just wanted to whine because they don't get to go on raids.  L2playclass!!!

"Self promotion? "This mo'fucka has a guild in GIANT BOMB SCREENSHOTS! I WANT TO JOIN NOW, SHIT!"

Seriously. I don't see what it has to do with self-promotion at all. I say let them go.

And as for character-specific images of armor and such (should that be brought up or be included in what you're talking about): again, I don't see any problem with uploading a screenshot of some armor or something. It's up to the player to decide whether or not to edit their name out. If they want to leave it in (laziness, whatever) then that's fine."

"If you're playing an MMO, you can expect to see usernames. If they can be turned off, go ahead and take a few shots like that just to show off that feature, but most screenshots should show the game as it would normally look during normal gameplay."

"LordAndrew said:

"If you're playing an MMO, you can expect to see usernames. If they can be turned off, go ahead and take a few shots like that just to show off that feature, but most screenshots should show the game as it would normally look during normal gameplay."

I agree with this (and the others who said something similar). As an "image mod regular" I'm not going to disapprove images because of usernames showing (unless I received orders "from above" to do so). Any cases of "blatant self-promotion" should be dealt with after the image is approved, if at all, I think (I'm inclined towards not dealing with them at all...). It may not even be obvious when we see the image in the mod tool that it is self-promotion (I at least wouldn't know as I'm not familiar with clans/MMOs and stuff).

I sort of remember one image with so many usernames that you could barely see anything, but those images are rare, at least from what I've seen. If it looks really bad it could get disapproved due to that reason. (I hope the police car doesn't get me, too! ^_^)"

To someone like me who has had quite a bit of MMO experience... I say it looks like the game is more alive and active. While I do enjoy artistic images, they don't really say much other then about the game setting and graphics. If I load up the game and see it as barren as the screenshots then I would just not feel like sticking around. 

"

No one cares.

Pick your battles

Your publicizing em more than anyone lol.

"

I dont think its a big deal at the moment. Although when I took shots for singleplayer games I sometimes like to show off my character name if its creative ;)