Name My Game!!

[unheilig]

honesty.

sorry, I don't like Kayfabe, I don't care what it means.
Of course, its your baby, name it what you will.

but i assume this forum is to give opinions.
here's mine:
Kayfabe is an awful name.

Johnny-wrestling-fan/curious-gamer will be pushed away rather than attracted to the name. Why put an unneccesary roadblock between you and your target audience (no pun intended)?

If I see a listing for "kayfabe" (and I don't think you'll be publishing explanations in distribution listings, catalogs, etc.), I'll assume its something to do with anime or something. The WWF fan will not even register it, expecting things like "Raw Power!" or "Tournament of Slam!" or what not.

I just don't think the subject matter is well conveyed or well served by a name that's too "thinky".
(ya like that? "thinky"? I do, I'll be using that word a lot from now on...)

Love ya Matt, I'm just looking at this from a marketing standpoint.

Tom

[ This Message was edited by: unheilig on 2001-10-25 11:54 ]

[Matt Machell]

Ron Said:
Who cares if the title has been previously used?

and

Moose Said:
Both Matts should keep whatever name they like best. Agency 13 rocks, as does Kayfabe.

Hey, you guys are a great ego and confidence boost!

I suppose it's just natural to be wary of people deploying intercontinental ballistic lawyers.

Matt

_________________
http://www.realms.org.uk
Home of Lost Gods and Agency 13

[ This Message was edited by: Matt on 2001-10-25 12:06 ]

[JSDiamond]

Speaking strictly from a marketing perspective, I like Eloran's brainstorm of SHOOT as a title.  Because everyone who likes wrestling knows what that word means.  It mirrors what the game is about and it will tie-in with a good cover illustration.

Put it on the back cover too, with the definition and a short blurb about the game and bang, you've got a winner.

J

[unodiablo]

I gotta agree with Ron & Tom on this one.

I'm fairly into wrestling, watch it once a week, and catch most of the PPV's (it's good to have hacker friends :smile: ), tho I'm not a 'Smart'. And I never heard the word 'kayfabe' before your game.

If yer going to be spending real $$ printing it and selling it, you want to market it to the BIGGEST group possible. That means 'Lords of the Ring'. Fuck alla them lawyerly types by putting your tagline behind it, that way you distinguish yourself from other Lords of the Ring (videos, books, etc). What are they going to do anyways, sue you for the 800 copies you have left of the game?

The last thing you want to do is put out a game aimed soley at the Smartypants Wrestling-loving Narrativists. You'll sell like 12 copies. To the same people who playtested it and are already aware of it.

To paraphrase a Simpsons quote: We want a name that's witty, but is less witty every time you hear it. 'Kayfabe' is a name I'm embarrased to say out loud, it just sounds too fruity (no offense if you're into that kind of stuff). 'Lords of the Ring' is a pun my Mom would get.

My 2 cents...
Sean

[Matt Gwinn]

Damn, who would have thought my little thread about coming up with a name would hit three pages?

You've all made some pretty good points.  I'm gonna have to agree with those of you who think  Kayfabe is a little on the swishy side if you don't know what it means up front.

I think I'm gonna go with

Lords of the Ring: The Inside Wrestling RPG

But that posses another small problem.  I will need to replace all the kayfabe references with either

"Lords of the Ring" which is a bit long, or

"LOTR" which is a little too confusing considering the upcoming film.

,Matt

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Matt,

In the text, just call it Lords of the Ring the first time in a given section, and then just "Lords" for all subsequent times. That oughtta work.

Best,
Ron

[unheilig]

Ron beat me to it.

I second his post, verbatim.

cheers,
Tom

[Doc Midnight]

Eloran,

You may or may not need to change the name of your game, kayfabe is a common usage word in the wrestling business.

That other guy used it as the title of a book and essentially you'd be doing the same thing. He may have used it first but more importantly, more people may associate that word with his book than your game. It's a chance you'd be taking but...

The other thing that I found out is that Kayfabe is trademarked but not by the guy who wrote the book. It's by some yahoo out in NM who wants to be able to use it as for all sorts of computer related things. Trademarks are pretty broad as it related to describing what you want to do with them.

I am not a lawyer. I just grow them. get a real one if you really want to dig into this further.

I am a wrestling fan and game fan and if you are going to change your games name then pick something as cool as Kayfabe. By that I am saying that Kayfabe is instantly recognizable to wrestling fans as an insider term and this game seems to be all about that.

How about something simple like

HEAT

Doc Midnight

[Doc Midnight]

OKay, I'm one of those smarty pants, wrestling loving, narrativists out here and I'll make an argument for fruity names.

If your game is aimed at we smarts, and there are more of us out here than Sean knows, then using an insider term should be fine.

Lords of the Ring is a good name but I have this idea that that group of gamists with d20s grafted to their bodies, waiting for WotC to call them home for Logan's Run-esque reward, will just be disappointed when they discover that there's no critical hit system.

All those Blank of the Blank names are just a bit too 80's. Know your market and take a shot.

Doc Midnight