Hmm that explains something a friend of mine did.  ( technically her daughter but still a friend )

Tue Nov 15 2022 11:30:31 AM EST from IGnatius T Foobar

SCA folks in particular will often even have their legal name changed to the name of their personna ... if they can manage to leave the sword in their car while entering the DMV :)

Got a friend, he is a cool enough guy. He was Brian when we were growing up. Now he is Darian. 

Yup. And for SCA, he is actually pretty grounded. 

You get it in all cultures. Comics, FRP gaming, gun culture, car culture. The thought-police gatekeepers. It is what *always* turns me off to communities. 

I suppose there must be some of that in Citadelphia and BBSing too... but it is far more manageable than a lot of other subcultures. 

Tue Nov 15 2022 11:30:31 EST from IGnatius T Foobar

Yeah. We had a campus chapter back in the day, so it was mostly students plus a few people from the community who were pretty cool. Eventually we got tired of the SCA people and just split off and ran our own club.

And one of the reasons we got tired of the "real" SCA was because it was full of authenticity police. I don't care what the loudmouth Duke thinks; if we're having fun I'm going to take a few photos of the event. So go shove a cloven fruit up your ass, Angus.

You get this kind of thing all over the place, though, especially in any scene that includes some cosplay. Whether it's SCA or kigurumi or furries or even people who live in MMO games ... their personna becomes their whole life and they don't want anything to do with their "mundane" identity anymore.
SCA folks in particular will often even have their legal name changed to the name of their personna ... if they can manage to leave the sword in their car while entering the DMV :)

I guess i cant say much  about it really. I went by my bbs/stage name for decades in daily life. Many people i considered close friends didnt even know i had a real name and just assumed it was ziggy and that my parents were weirdos ( not a common name but not unheard of ).

One time i was at a buddy's house i had known since middle school ( perhaps 15 years at that point ) and he made some comment about me by my real name. His mother: "who is that" .  We had a good laugh at that one.

Didn't help we had 2 people with the same name in my circles, so it was just easier to use my 'pretend' name.

Finally stopped using it at some point in the 90s as it DID become more common..  

Tue Nov 15 2022 09:05:33 PM EST from ParanoidDelusions

I suppose there must be some of that in Citadelphia and BBSing too... but it is far more manageable than a lot of other subcultures. 

 

That is different. I've known a Gotex, Uno, Beaner, Peanut, Cabbage... nicknames that kind of replace your regular name. I got everyone calling my nephew "Buttdart" when he was a kid, to the point where when he was an adult he had to warn a couple of people, "I don't go by that anymore..." 



When I was dating, twice dudes came up to me as I was standing with my girlfriend and said, "Metallica, dude, I haven't seen you in so long..." 

The SCA non-mundane name is a different level. It is like their actual name becomes a "deadname" to them, like that person they were is gone. Darian may have legally changed his name. 


Changing your known, given name is weird. I knew a Bishop who later became a Fleming. I didn't get that, either. 

I miss those days.

Far simpler world back then.

Sat Nov 19 2022 03:10:08 PM EST from IGnatius T Foobar

Right ... I was introduced to a few people as Iggy and for a while they thought that was my real name. That was during a time when the diaspora from dialup BBS (dialupspora?) was a source of friends in meatspace for a lot of us.

My wife and kids don't have names. I address them as honey-bear, dude, and girlie.

My wife did find it very weird the couple of times we ran into people who called me "Metallica". 

She got used to weird people calling me strange things, though. 

Sat Nov 19 2022 16:53:26 EST from Nurb432

I miss those days.

Far simpler world back then.

Sat Nov 19 2022 03:10:08 PM EST from IGnatius T Foobar

Right ... I was introduced to a few people as Iggy and for a while they thought that was my real name. That was during a time when the diaspora from dialup BBS (dialupspora?) was a source of friends in meatspace for a lot of us.

My wife and kids don't have names. I address them as honey-bear, dude, and girlie.