Drawing by Albrecht Durer, 1528
Image courtesy ArtToday.com

The Name Game

It's so easy. People do it all the time. Things get a little hot for one reason or another, either deservedly or not. So a person takes the easy way out. She "vanishes" from the chat scene. Only she's not really gone; she just changed her name. There's no telling who she is now.

Oops, let this one back-track a bit. When she got her first computer, about 2 and a half years ago, she began to explore the different worlds open to her. she ventured into the chat environment, both in chat rooms and through various private messaging systems. she chatted in the women's room and the science fiction room, for the most part, and made a few friends. she discovered ICQ, and an interesting little feature called "random chat."

Then, a girl ventured into adult chat rooms for the first time. Oh, what a wonderful playground was there! she found all sorts of opportunities to play in ways that she would never dream of doing off line. she created another name for herself. The room that she most liked to play in was the public orgy room, but she did a fair amount of exploring in the other rooms as well.

After a time, this one discovered the D/s rooms and began to play there. Playing is all it was, at first, as she really had no understanding of the lifestyle apart from the caricature that is portrayed in the popular media. she created two names, a Mistress name and a subbie name, not knowing yet whether she was a dominant or a submissive. However, as she came to better understand the lifestyle and her own nature, she found herself rarely using her submissive persona. she collared a sub, and began to be respected in the community.

Then a girl met a strong Master and began to get closer to Him. When He went to Gor, she accompanied Him, as His slave. Again, at first she was only playing a slave. But the more time she spent at His feet, the more she came to understand that THIS was her true nature. she no longer wanted to be in control, she surrendered herself completely and felt truly complete, for the first time in her life.

During the time that this one has been a slave, she has worn several names. There was the name that her first Master gave her when they first entered Gor together. Then there was the name He gave her when He freed her for a time and made her His FC. When He enslaved her again, He gave her a different name. One night, as a punishment, He changed her name to "bubbles." a girl has worn three other names, given to her by successive Owners.

For all the names that this one has worn since she has been in Gor, she has only once chosen one for herself. The night her first Master released her, she was heartsick and terrified. she kept the name He had given her, but removed His initials. Then, she went to beg a collar and a new name from a Master that she knew would take her and help her heal.

Right after this one was released, before she begged that second collar, she sat alone and pondered what she should do. she considered moving to a different chat forum, and starting all over there. But that would mean she would have to give up all her friends; this one is also very shy among strangers. It would have been very hard for her to do this. she also considered changing her name, and returning to chat anonymously. There again, she would have had to give up all ties to the life she knew and loved, and she could not do that.

So, a girl screwed up her courage and re-entered chat in the place she had known for the past year. she changed her name upon the command of her new Master, but she made it clear who she was and who she used to be. Yes, there were many who criticized her and who talked about her behind her back. They watched her every move, just waiting for her to make some mistake. One person waited four months for just the right opportunity to strike out at her.

But this one feels that she became a stronger person for facing up to her mistakes, and admitting them openly. she didn't run from her detractors, she faced them and showed them that she was indeed a good slave. she made her peace with some who had ridiculed her in the past. she found forgiveness, and she was able in turn to forgive. Had she run and hidden behind another name, these opportunities would have been lost to her.

this one has heard of people who have played the Name Game, for various reasons and with varying consequences. she has seen slaves who came into chat with multiple names, each name bearing a different collar. When their duplicity was eventually revealed people got hurt, Free and slave alike. But what happened in most of these cases? The girl simply changed her name yet again and moved on.

a girl has also known of people who play the switch. They are either confused about their own nature, or they enjoy decieving others. They have both a slave name and a Free name, or in the case of one person that this one heard about, several slave names and several Free names--all at the same time. Why? Is the intent to be cruel and to decieve others, or is it motivated by a confusion as to a sense of self?

arani knows of one slave who created a second name with the sole intention of spying on people. the girl would sit in a chat room and observe, taking notes. Then she would go off and tell her tales, causing nothing but hurt for others. This girl later admitted to arani that what she had done was wrong, and only caused more problems for her than it solved.

This phenomenon is not limited to slaves. Just this morning, arani learned of a Master who has several different slaves collared, each one under a different name, and each one ignorant of the other. One girl found out about His duplicity, and was very deeply hurt by it. Yes, one could argue that it is well within His rights as a Master to own more than one slave. But why not be open about it? What does He have to fear from a mere slave, that He cannot come out and admit to her that He owns a chain? Probably because He has told each one that she is the only slave He will ever have, to better ensure her submission. this one has seen it time and again.

There is yet another scenario that arani has seen played out over and over again. A person takes a dislike to someone, or thinks they have wronged her in some way. So she takes another name, and does one of a number of things. She might openly insult the other person, or do things to make her look bad. But hey, she's not the same person, so she can't be blamed for what this uncouth stranger does, can she? Or she might work to gain the other person's confidence, thereby getting around having to deal with any consequences of previous actions, and use prior knowledge to work behind the scenes to hurt that person. arani has seen this played out over and over again, and has been hurt many times in this way herself.

Or, there is still another side to this tale. arani has seen, many times, a person take a name that is so similar to that of another that the differences might not be easily detected. It's so easy to substitute an upper-case I for a lower-case L, or a 0 for a O, or to add an underscore or an extra letter, or transpose two letters, and voila, you're a clone! Now you can fool people into thinking you're someone else, and do unspeakable things in that person's name, hence making them look bad. What fun!

Yes, there are occasionally very valid reasons for taking another name. arani has another name that she uses when she goes into vanilla rooms, or into areas where there are children. Only a couple of weeks ago, she played gin with a 12-year-old. It would not have been good for that child to pull up a girl's profile and read about her life in Gor. This is common sense.

arani has heard of an instance in which a Master ordered His slave to create three separate personas, each one very different. This was done as a training tool, to teach the girl to embrace different aspects of her own personality. But, more important, He did it because it pleased Him to do so. And the girl learned from the experience, or so this one was told.

What it all boils down to is why a person changes names. Is it done to protect, or is it done to decieve or to hide? Well, in this slave's humble opinion, the latter is wrong--very wrong. Gor is not a game. It is a lifestyle, and the people here have very real feelings. Oh, that's right. Slaves are beasts, and are to be treated like the animals they are. Well, that beast who is at your feet has feelings, and to ignore them as insignificant is to abuse her. Yes, the Master's feelings and needs come first. But if a slave's feelings are not acknowledged in some way, then she dies. But that is another story.

The point that arani is trying to make here is this. Before you change your name, before you take on a different identity, give careful thought as to why you are doing it. If you are hiding from something, either out of shyness or shame, even if you have done no wrong, then wouldn't it be best to face those fears, to show people how strong you are, that you're not what they think you are? If you are skulking around, living a double life, then shame on you. You deserve to be deceived just as you deceive others. If you're playing a game, then please take your 12-sided dice and go somewhere else to do it.

arani hopes that her words have caused her reader to think, and that they have not been displeasing. she wishes all a good day and much happiness in life.

© arani_CsA, 10/16/2000

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