I really was looking into this year's upcoming content roadmap, and I could not, for the life of me, discern what roleplay options could entail later in the year. Though while thinking on it, there was something that had come up in my mind. There was ideas on these forums (and even the art book!) for naming your ship and what have you, but I feel like naming your own pirate has been overlooked. (Not entirely, it has come up once or twice!)
Yes, I'm aware that your name is pretty firmly connected to your Xbox Live name online, and there's a bit more to it than just "allowing people to type their own names" but there is a current feature in the game which randomly generates a pirate name for you, if I recall correctly, which has a set of "presets" it files through to name you.
I think that if you really want to roleplay your Pirate, why not be able to name them? I'm not thinking very specifically a "type your name here" kind of situation, because you'd basically just get the same effect as Xbox Live names, and you'd have to find some form of censor system to make sure people aren't abusing the ability to do so. But, what if there was something, as seen in a lot of kid-friendly MMO's, like ToonTown, Amazing World, etc. where there's a set of three boxes, which have preset adjectives and names built into them. With the option, of course, to leave a blank, and it just doesn't put that part of the name in.
First box could be something like a title, like, "Captain" or "Swabby" or "Magus" or "Hoarder" or...... you get the drill.
Second box could be something like an adjective or nickname, like, "Snaggletooth" or "Jibberin'" or "Hearty" or "Spooky" or .... you know.
Third box would be reserved for your Pirate's name. "Jane, Jack, Harold, Jimothy, Patrick, Devon, Kate" etc.
This is obviously an imperfect system, and could probably be iterated on, but I think it would be cool to run into other players in the heat of battle, locked with swords against "Powdermonkey Gerald" or "Captain 'Crazy Eyes' Dave" or something to that effect, versus .... "HaloCoolGuy43" or "JumbleOfGiraffes777" Hahaha.
It would add something to the game, I think. And even though it'd be optional, and you'd still come across Xbox tags, I think it would really add to the memory of some of your finest experiences on the sea, and open up more roleplay opportunities to get into your character or meet others.
