Instead of showing First name & first initial of my last name, it would be great to allow the use of nicknames. That way people could more easily find friends – e.g., I could use my Strava nickname, and then look for Strava friends’ nicknames on Zwift.
Someone suggested this a while back and I thought it a bad idea and would rather see real names. I especially dislike the advertising names or the “funny” names. Then today I rode and there was another C. Westhoff riding (at fist I thought it was a glitch and then remembered the android app lists first names and it was someone else) and thought some customization might be a good idea.
I think real names cut down on the griefers
I don’t have a strong objection to screen names, but the default of showing real names is useful on many levels. I’ve recognized some names of people I’ve ridden with on the road and it was pretty cool to make that connection in the virtual space. I suspect I’ll meet a few people at races or fondo events and tie in their name to someone I’ve virtually ridden with. It works nicely that way but if someone doesn’t want that sort of connection drawn I can respect that.
My thought is nicknames could be optional. Maybe shown italicized. If I want to use a nickname, I can. If I don’t, I don’t have to.
For the issue of griefers, maybe being able to use nicknames is something you have to earn. Only after some much time using Zwift can you unlock nicknames.
The use of real names adds a certain amount of credibility to the system, as well as accountability IMHO.