Titles & You: A Public Service Announcement

Titles aren't anything new, they're not innovative in the genre, and their actual space in the game takes place as two-dimensional letters that float -- often invisibly -- over your head or the heads of others. Just words. Yet they've really connected with players in a way that makes them the sleeper smash feature of the game -- a collectible system of fluff (for fluff it is) that players can use to show off, to broadcast their abilities or moods, or to amuse and delight others. Forget the Tome's "Bragging Rights", titles are the best way to make someone whisper you, "Where did you GET that? What did you have to DO?"

I've not gone mad over collecting every single title out there, but I am certainly pleased when I cross an accomplishment line and am granted with one, or find a world object or place that thrusts a title into my face. So far I've collected 79 titles (I know, anemic compared to some of you) -- and here are my top ten favorites:

10. "The Main Course" -- I found this after clicking on a wooden frame near some vultures in Badlands, and have been wearing this title for a good two levels now. Nothing says "Come and eat me!" as this title does.

9. "The Above Average" -- This was for getting B grades on PQs, and I love the slight self-depreciation of wearing this over my head. I'm not average, I'm not superior, I'm just above average. A "B" student in the game of WAR.

8. "The Pirate" -- An easy, early title to attain, this is a direct appeal to the Long John Silver in all of us. Arrr matey! Walk the gangplank! Every name is better with "the Pirate" after it!

7. "The Snob" -- Sometimes you just want strangers to hate you for no good reason, and I've found that this title accomplishes that perfectly.

6. "AHHHHHHH" -- It's not that you died, but how you died in this case: jumping off cliffs, over and over and over again. For the guy or gal looking to rid themselves of a fear of heights, this title is proof of their accomplishment.

5. "The Chosen One" -- Frodo? Potter? Skywalker? Ninnies, compared to you! You're the Chosen One, after all!

4. "Ow My Eye" -- I like to think that this is your characters revenge for being prodded with that sharp, pointy, bruise-inducing cursor time and again.

3. "Death Defier" -- Death and me like to play a little game of tag now and then. When he's it, I'm toast.

2. "The Infected" -- Have too many friends and well-wishers clinging to you like a happy-go-lucky entourage? Slap this title on you, and soon you'll enjoy all the peace in the world.

1. "Foe of the Cannibal" -- Cannibals. We all hate them. Now, share your hatred of consuming a fellow human being's flesh by wearing this trendy moniker! It's sort of like those colored bracelets nobody but you cares about, except that it's cannibaltastic!

What are yours? What title tag are you currently wearing?