It turns out I was one of the winners in a contest to name an NPC in Flying Labs' just-released swashbuckling MMO, Pirates of the Burning Sea, the game our own Nick Breckon described as "Sid Meier crossed with World of Warcraft."

Rather than simply submit the first name that came to my mind, I decided to open up the creative floodgates of the Shack community. Go ahead and post your ideas in the comments--something Shack-themed would be appropriate, but be warned that offensive or explicit names are unlikely to be accepted by publisher Sony Online Entertainment. Here are the guidelines that were sent to me:

All we need from you is a first name and a last name. Please avoid obvious puns or pop-culture references–-they need to be legitimate first and last names. We will use gradually introduce these names as new characters are added to the game so it may be a few months before they turn up. When they do arrive, they may be villains or heroes or just helpful townsfolk, but they’ll all have a virtual life in the Caribbean of 1720.

I reserve the right to pick the winner however the hell I want. Arrrr.