Name that "Toon"Follow

Wondering that myself for some reason I think it goes back to eq but thats just a guess?

Anyone?

While i'm not sure how old the term "toon" is I do agree that it seems to be making more of an appearance on the scene of MMO's. I always new them as "characters" or "avatars", but when I played City Of Heroes for a month it was called "toon" all the time.

However I think it dates back to the EQ1, and UO days. I like the term better though, I have to admit it fits.

don't hit me.

I've always refered to my character as my "Avatar" I belive that term came from the (UO)UltimaOnline.

Anyone that refers to characters as such deserves to bit dropped in a big vat of dip.

dip?

your siggy link needs some lovin, i mean, get your act together you toon ;)

I must admit, I refer to my online avatars as "toons". I feel this helps differentiate the in-game character from my RL identity. This allows me to keep the experience I have while playing firmly in the "its only a game" mentality. I find that I have more fun by limiting my emotional attachment to the on-screen avatar. For example, I find that missing an AH auction bid, missing out on nice loot rolls to someone who puts greed before need or dying 6 times in a row just trying to go from one town to another doesn't make me break my keyboard in frustration. I can enjoy the game more from the standpoint as like I enjoy a really good book or movie.
That being said, I was introduced to the term back during the OB of EQ1 when a friend got me into the game and started my addiction to MMORPGs. When I asked my friend where he came up with the term, he said he first heard it used by one of the original devs for EQ1 in relation to when the graphics program was much less robust and the avatars were very "cartoony looking" and had funny effects, such as hair floating above the head or arms that elongated to reach the ground when there was a bug. Anyway that is my 2cp

I was going to point that out but then saw your post...

Personally, I think that the term itself comes from somewhere else, but thats what probably made it stick.

I never refer to my characters as "toons", and while I don't loathe people that do, I find it to be a childish term.



Hopefully never.



One thing about this game is that it does have some "cartoony" graphics. However if you want cartoony, go get a cell-shaded game like Legend of Zelda, The Wind Waker.

My eyes, they burn!





Also, I find it hard to think that calling a char a toon would help seperate them from people... A friend of mine calls his chars toons and he tossed his keyboard at the wall one time when he kept dieing doing some HNM in FFXI. Think it was kirin or something... This was just about 1yr ago, he had some family in japan and they sent him the japanese version... but I degress.

Char is a completely acceptable abbreviation for character and will not insight the rage that using the word "toon" can. Now you don't have an excuse lol.

I thought I was alone in my toon-hating but I find solace in the fact that someone else would also feel so strongly as to use the word loathe.

I'm usually a tree-hugging hippy when it comes to accepting diversity and whatnot, but these characters are not cartoons nor do they really resemble cartoons. The only saving grace is that it always reminds me of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, which was a pretty sweet movie.