So X-Com: Enemy Unknown comes out tomorrow, and I have already pre-loaded all 12 gigs of it. The reviews are out everywhere that review copies were available, and many former podcasts guests have weighed in with their glowing impressions. Evan Lahti at PCGamer. Dan Stapleton at Gamespy. Rowan Kaiser at GameRanx.

And, of course, my good friend Rob Zacny collaborates with Joe Robinson in a non-review on one of my new favorite sites, PC GamesN.

So if I hate this game, I now have a kill list.

Speaking of kill lists, one of the most remarked on and celebrated features of XCom (old and new) is the ability to name your squad mates. This is not only a great way to see your friends die and tell funny stories about how you killed them, but also a useful mnemonic, since it is easier to remember that you made Julian your heavy or that Bruce is laid up with alien fever than to keep track of Bob Smithov.

This was a thing in the previous month’s fresh hotness, FTL: Faster Than Light. Since I had friends that donated to the Kickstarter, there was always a chance Bruce Geryk would be on my ship anyway. But you could name your starting crew members whatever you pleased, and I did this for a while before I realized that the skill building in the game was kind of unimportant so remembering who was who became less important.

The chance to name your characters is pretty standard in role playing games, of course. In an RPG that me make my entire party, I would often name every character after friends. If I was feeling especially fantasy fancy, I might Tolkienize them first. And choosing the race that suited that person’s name became an important task as well. But I’d also name them after groups I liked – I’d name them after Arthurian characters, or historical contemporaries, or actual Tolkien characters. The evolution of these characters would be guided by the names and my understanding of “What would Merlin choose?” as much as game practicalities.

Yeah, it took me forever to finish Icewind Dale.

I never, however, name my children in Crusader Kings 2. If that means a long run of Vladimirs on the throne, then so be it. For some reason my brain rebels at the idea of naming my next king after a podcast colleague, or marrying off my daughter, Dana Scully, to the prince of Kiev. It doesn’t fit the story in my head to have my friends or fictional characters engage in history like that. If I could name my Civil War generals in a game, I doubt I’d be doing that either.

Now, I’m no historical fidelity purist. In RPGs, I have sent Caesar, Pompey and Cicero through dungeons and had Trudeau, Mulroney and Pearson take down evil wizards.

Still, there are clearly limits to what I will name and when I will name. A squad based WW2 wargame? Take that machine nest, Sgt. Chick. A Total War type game? Sticking with the defaults. I never even name the cities in Civilization anything other than what pops up.

The act of naming can be a powerful tool, and I am sure it speaks to us in different ways. Clearly, I am more interested in naming people and locations in those games that give me some control over my friends and family, but also sees them develop. I sometimes wish Phantom Leader let me name my pilots. More importantly, I want my friends and family to be the center of attention, something less relevant in a game like Crusader Kings 2 or a Total War game where even as the characters gain attributes, they remain subject to the whims and forces of history. I’m not really pushing Queen Nicole around, I’m propping up a monarchy that will live on long after she dies.

Four hours till XCom. Until then, I have to finish video of a game that does let me name my entire crew and I hope Jenn gets out of sick bay soon. We need her on the bridge.