So question for those who have been playing on PC:

Is your family name better though of as a surname or an account name?  What I mean by that is do people usually choose a "last name" sounding name like "Durathos" or "Brundlefoot"...or do people often roll with "BallonGore06" or "WeAreLegion"?

I assume it doesn't matter and is more of a personal preference thing...just trying to nail mine down now so I can not spend any time on that.

I'm getting a sneaky suspicion that "family name" is a mis-translation of "account name", am I wrong?

Thanks!

i was wondering this as well, i found a post in the pc forum that says its like a surname and appears above your character as well as the characters name, it is also the only name that shows on properties owned as they are shared by all the characters in the 'family' there are other things as well, apparently the friends list is sorted by family name with the character name in parenthesis

34 minutes ago, WeAreLegion said:

So question for those who have been playing on PC:

 

Is your family name better though of as a surname or an account name?  What I mean by that is do people usually choose a "last name" sounding name like "Durathos" or "Brundlefoot"...or do people often roll with "BallonGore06" or "WeAreLegion"?

I assume it doesn't matter and is more of a personal preference thing...just trying to nail mine down now so I can not spend any time on that.

I'm getting a sneaky suspicion that "family name" is a mis-translation of "account name", am I wrong?

Thanks!

Family name is what all your characters will play under. People will know it's you, even if you're on an alt by the family name. It appears above your character name. So you could do it like a last name, EX: Smith, then have your character name as John, so top to bottom is Smith John. Or you could have your main name you like to be called as the family name, then pick whatever random name you like on your character to fit rp, or whatever else.

Tl;dr: Yeah, it's preference.

 Cool, thanks for the replies. 

 I guess my real question is: would it be too weird or out of place to utilize a traditional “Handle” like the ones you see here in the chat room or even gamer tags?

I treat it as a surname, it's just more inmersive this way. I tend to notice that on console it's usually treated like an account name. 

12 hours ago, WeAreLegion said:

 Cool, thanks for the replies. 

 

 I guess my real question is: would it be too weird or out of place to utilize a traditional “Handle” like the ones you see here in the chat room or even gamer tags?

Yeah gt, or forum name would work fine. Most won't notice your family name, it'll likely be utilized by your guildmates so they know when you're on an alt.

Lol

Seems the opinions are split between “gamer tag” and “surname”. I’ve been trying to create a surname version of my online handle...but thanks regardless!  I feel better equipped for this small, yet big, part of starting my BD adventure! ?

The problem with a "family name" is what if you have an elf and a giant?  It's unlikely they'd have the same sort of surname.  

I've spent the better part of an afternoon digging into this subject, researching lore and cultures, and I'm frustrated.  Trying to find a family name that won't seem entirely inappropriate to whatever alts I conjure later on is daunting.  I can't even get in to try this game out before making this decision, which is fairly weighty, in terms of character story, etc.  Gah.