Every time a role-playing game invites me to choose my character's name, I scoff. It's trying to pull me into the fiction by personalizing my avatar. Ideally, I'm supposed to name the hero after myself, so when Commander Rus Shepard saves the universe, he's only one step removed from Rus McLaughlin. Except nobody in the entire Mass Effect franchise ever uses Shepard's given name, not even his lovers. It's like a drunken college hook-up. You get the feeling they're in such a hurry to score before the Budweiser wears off that nobody ever bothers to ask for those details.

Shepard? Shepard! Shepard. Shepard....

Text-only games kinda/sorta side-step the problem, spitting [insert name here] lines back at you a dozen times per conversation in a staggeringly impersonal way. Games with spoken dialogue can't even manage that courtesy. Small wonder I've taken to throwing in monikers like Bunnypuke, Phuket Ali, and Choki Spitt when given the opportunity. Immature? Sure. But it's not like the game really cares what name I use, so I feel perfectly justified in returning the disrespect.

Then I played Codemasters' Dirt 3. It takes a different approach. Specifically, it lets you choose how the game addresses you. I'll put this in context: A racing game just punked Mass Effect 2. My handlers in Dirt 3 call me "Rus," even if they spell it wrong in the menus...and friends, that changes everything.

Right at the beginning, your agent has you fill out a contract that includes a long list of names to choose from. It's not a perfect list, but it's pretty damn extensive. You also pick out a nickname (possible selections include T-Bag, McLovin', Fuzzy Nuts, and of course, Cheesemonger) for when you dent a car more than you drive it. From that moment on, everybody calls you by name. Your name.

It's a very cool touch. Picture the difference between someone you like clearly knowing who you are versus listening to them bluff their way through a five-minute conversation.

Just as important, Dirt 3 doesn't overdo the device. Despite all the banter going on between my three handlers, they don't spout off "RUS!" every few minutes just to prove they can. It's done sparingly, in a very organic way; "Hey, Rus, we got a new offer." Yes, that saves on voice recording, editing, and coding, but it's also smart writing. We just don't call people by their names too often when talking directly to them. It sounds strange if we do. Witness a lot of Mass Effect's "Shepard!" dialogue.

And frankly, developer BioWare better be all over this approach as we speak, or else Dirt 3 also just punked Mass Effect 3.

My other car is a snow plow, and I drift that bitch, too.

Unlike a racing game, characters and relationships anchor an RPG experience. You interact with people, make decisions on how to treat them, and enjoy benefits (or suffer consequences) based on your choices. They're built as personal journeys, and a good RPG makes things personal, but few things are more personal than your name. If Garrus, Tali, Thane, or anyone on my Mass Effect 2 team referred to me as "Rus," even once, that would've sealed the bond. It's such a simple thing, but it adds so much.

Dirt 3 didn't actually need this feature to succeed, but now that I've seen it, it's a must-have for any game that wants to make me a part of the story. Codemasters has shown the way. It's not a perfect system -- no fantasy or Vulcan names appear on their lists -- but until games incorporate text-to-voice subroutines, this represents a great solution, implemented in intelligent ways.

Now the games that actually need it just have to catch up.