Monday 14 May 2012

The birth of a moniker


I am often asked where the username Rakuli comes from and why I use it everywhere online. 


The second question can be easily answered: I like to have one username everywhere as it makes it far easier to remember what to type into login forms.


The first question is a little bit more involved ...
___________



Luke was a little bit unsure about the whole the whole thing really. All the reports he had heard from his friends were positive but somehow he could not muster the enthusiasm everyone else was showing. He had eventually agreed though -- reluctantly, but he had agreed.

So, there he stood outside his friend’s place on a cool Saturday afternoon. He had been to the supermarket and everything he had purchased -- from a list he was given -- was in the plastic bag he held in his hand. To be safe, Luke checked the contents one more time.

- Corn chips
- Bag of lollies (sweets, candies, etc.)
- Ample supply of caffeinated beverages
- Notebook
- Pen

All there and accounted for. With a deep breath he walked up to door and knocked.

Luke’s friend Ben answered the door and ushered Luke inside to a table in the living room. Around the table sat six people; two more of Luke’s friends and four lads who Luke had yet to met.

“Luke,” said Ben. “I’d like you to meet Rolf Hammersmith, he’s a berserker dwarf.”

Luke nodded a greeting toward Rolf before Ben said “And these two fine gentlemen are Rimulus Browonli, a paladin ranger and Kramer Nutcracker, an elf fighter,” gesturing at two more of the unknowns seated at the table.

“Finally,” Ben continued “This is Tulsa, he will be our Dungeon Master for today.”

“Hi guys,” Luke said with a shy smile. “So. Table top Dungeons & Dragons huh? Hopefully I don’t hold you guys back and take too long to figure it out.” Luke’s eyes glanced worriedly at the array of dice on the table.

“You’ll be fine, it’s going to be great fun,” said Tulsa. “First thing you need to do is create your character. Name, race and class.”

Luke spent a little while being educated on the various ups and downs of each race and class. When he was done, he sat down to play.

“I am Rakuli Shaka, half-elf archer.” Luke said tentatively.

Tulsa rolled the dice…
___

Many years later, Luke sat down at his brother's computer. He was excited that he finally had a chance to use the internet; he had the house to himself so nobody would need to use the phone and interrupt his browsing.

He was planning to set himself up with an email address and possibly enjoy some of the “Instant messaging” his friends were sp33k1ng about.

Luke waited a few minutes while Windows 2000 tried to establish a dial-up connection and then loaded Netscape Navigator. The program opened to Yahoo’s webpage. Luke congratulated himself on finding what he was looking for so quickly and began to sign up for a free Yahoo email address.

“The username Luke has already been taken. Perhaps you would like to use Luke_au, luke15627 or 1Luke?”

“I don’t want those names,” Luke said to himself.

He sat at the computer for a while, face locked in deep thought, before he started typing again. Eventually the monitor said.

“Thank you registering with Yahoo Mail! From now on, your username will be Rakuli.

3 comments:

  1. I won't lie, I think the name is pretty strange. :P However, now that I understand where it comes from, it gives me a different perspective.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, it's pretty strange. I honestly can't remember why I when with "Rakuli" on that day. I know I had recently been watching the Shaka Zulu series so I can attribute "Shaka" to that.

      I kind of enjoy it as it's unique, always available on web services and it makes it very easy to Google myself.

      Delete