The best name instead of Minetest is...

[TenPlus1]

Neither.

[ancientmariner]

You people are still at it?

Seems like it.

Just don't change the name

I second this. Is Minetest a terrible name? Yeah. But it is a very well-known name by now; probably one of the most recognized FOSS game brands, comparable to Wesnoth, STK and Xonotic.

The Minetest name is, without any doubt, the most recognized among FOSS voxel games.

Cheers,
bzt

Really? I don't think MT is on Wesnoth, 0ad level of awareness. I've never heard of the last 2, so not great examples. I would have thought OpenRA and SuperTux were bigger names. I think Veleron is bigger in the Voxel space, and their marketing is pretty reasonable:

https://www.youtube.com/@Veloren 6.94K subscribers

https://opencollective.com/veloren Total raised: $10,604.02 USD

They have put out videos that hit 39k views. Video's made by MT and the community don't go above 10k, and often not above 5k. (The two bigs ones weren't put out by the MT community or devs).

I knew about it long before I knew about MT. I would say brand affinity is a lot higher also.

It's really easy to reach the FOSS community. If you use Fosstodon, reddit open source subs, and YT, you can easily get a name change to them. The question is if you want MT to be a niche bit of software only used by FOSS addicts or something that the average person consider good or known.

I would say MT is already known by the FOSS community, and it just ain't that big. The question is whether MT wants to branch out and reach people that just wanna play a game, rather than those that wanna make 'em. Nothing says hobby project like only reaching devs :). I think most of the MT marketing that got it outside that space was luck and getting a couple of big YTers to actually cover it (and that was because of the functionality of the engine, and not the marketing). With that, I think this default experience is a massive priority and needed to be picked up months/years ago, not point pulling people in if they download MTG, play it for 10 mins and never use MT again because they think that is all there is. It is easier to retain customers, than get new ones.

[Nope!]

So it looks like we have these names so far:

KreiBloko,
PaliPoki,
NodeNicks,
EngineBlock,
OpVox,
FreeVoxel,
ItemNest,
Kubo,
Kubik,
ApertaCubum,
LibertasCubus,
CubiMachina,
64KCubed,
NotMineCraft,
VoxelCosmos,
Osgev,
Mine Test,
Test Your Mine,
Test Of Mines,
VoxelDoboz,
VoxelCrate,
WorldWonder,
NatureWonders,

Are you serious? None of these are good, not even one of them.

We need to start
1: Thinking of good names,

2: Just stop this silliness, or

3: Keep arguing. 'Cause that always helps... NOT.

[Wilderness]

A truly serious question: Why do you not like the name 'Minetest'? Please explain. I am sure that it is better than any of the ones that @Nope! just listed.

[runs]

As always, open source software projects look like "crazy chicken coops", everyone crowing their own tune.

On the other hand Adobe releases a version of their products EVERY YEAR with what their customers demand and excellence.

Minetest needs a dictator, I mean a Roman one, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_dictator, and to put some order in the cage of crickets that is Minetest.

[SuperStarSonic]

I have an idea, since most of the publicity comes from the content side of Minetest, why don't you make content, and then you can name it what you want? If you change the name of MT you will only make people angry, and it's too far to force the creators and devs to change MTG's name. Instead, you can build your own version of MTG that is named <whatever_you_want>.

You would also have to change domain names, Github listings, and much more that cannot be fixed by the simple minetest = name

[SuperStarSonic]

Minetest needs a dictator, I mean a Roman one, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_dictator, and to put some order in the cage of crickets that is Minetest.

No, if this were to happen it would firstly scare content creators, ruin community projects and opinion, and squash creativity. Not only that, but you would also cause many people to leave, and remember "one corrupts, two divides...".

[runs]

I have an idea, since most of the publicity comes from the content side of Minetest, why don't you make content, and then you can name it what you want? If you change the name of MT you will only make people angry, and it's too far to force the creators and devs to change MTG's name. Instead, you can build your own version of MTG that is named <whatever_you_want>.

You would also have to change domain names, Github listings, and much more that cannot be fixed by the simple minetest = name

No, just an angry minority, which usually causes the most commotion and uproar.

Ninety percent of the people want change.

[runs]

I have an idea, since most of the publicity comes from the content side of Minetest, why don't you make content, and then you can name it what you want? If you change the name of MT you will only make people angry, and it's too far to force the creators and devs to change MTG's name. Instead, you can build your own version of MTG that is named <whatever_you_want>.

You would also have to change domain names, Github listings, and much more that cannot be fixed by the simple minetest = name

No can do, I would like my SAMZ game to be packaged alone, with no mention of the engine, and only one server.

But it is not possible. Minetest is not an engine, like Unity, whoever says yes is lying, it's a showcase, for the moment.

MINETEST IS A GAMING PLATFORM

[SuperStarSonic]

No, just an angry minority, which usually causes the most commotion and uproar.

Ninety percent of the people want change.

Sorry, I think this has already been proven wrong.

[SuperStarSonic]

No, just an angry minority, which usually causes the most commotion and uproar.

Ninety percent of the people want change.

Sorry, I think this has already been proven wrong.

You seem to be the only one really pushing for change.

[Astrobe]

The Minetest name is, without any doubt, the most recognized among FOSS voxel games.

Cheers,
bzt

Really? I don't think MT is on Wesnoth, 0ad level of awareness. I've never heard of the last 2, so not great examples. I would have thought OpenRA and SuperTux were bigger names. I think Veleron is bigger in the Voxel space, and their marketing is pretty reasonable:

And FlightGear and Oolite and StuntRally and Zero-K... Depends on the genre you prefer. Big names in the FOSS community (you often find them in "top X open source games" lists), but mostly unknown by the average Steam user.

[SuperStarSonic]

But it is not possible. Minetest is not an engine, like Unity, whoever says yes is lying, it's a showcase, for the moment.
MINETEST IS A GAMING PLATFORM

No, I believe Minetest is a gaming community, but it is also an engine under active development. There is nothing stopping you from making your own things named how you like, but don't try to change others' content.

[SuperStarSonic]

And FlightGear and Oolite and StuntRally and Zero-K... Depends on the genre you prefer. Big names in the FOSS community (you often find them in "top X open source games" lists), but mostly unknown by the average Steam user.

Even 0AD is moddable and works off of a game engine made by the same team.

[Wilderness]

Ninety percent of the people want change.

Even if that were true, I have not seen people doing anything about it, all I have seen are crazy names, not anything that is even a slightly good name.

Part of the reason that all of these names are bad is that they are based on a language that I don't know a most likely very few others know, not to mention that they either don't sound good, they don't 'roll off the tongue' and some of them don't 'explain' the game.

By the way, why do you dislike the name 'Minetest'?

[Nope!]

If you want change people, then act, make a good name.

[rubenwardy]

Really? I don't think MT is on Wesnoth, 0ad level of awareness. I've never heard of the last 2, so not great examples. I would have thought OpenRA and SuperTux were bigger names.

Minetest is more popular than SuperTuxKart, SuperTux, and OpenRA. It's about the same as 0ad

I think Veleron is bigger in the Voxel space, and their marketing is pretty reasonable:

https://www.youtube.com/@Veloren 6.94K subscribers

https://opencollective.com/veloren Total raised: $10,604.02 USD

They have put out videos that hit 39k views. Video's made by MT and the community don't go above 10k, and often not above 5k. (The two bigs ones weren't put out by the MT community or devs).

Minetest and Veloren are actually pretty close now in the last 12 months. Minetest was much more popular than Veloren before that. We don't have an open collective but if we did from the start we would have raised more than that. Veloren is very good at the marketing side of things, the name definitely helps for that

[rubenwardy]

Also, not sure if any one has mentioned it in this thread so far but the official thread to suggest names is here: https://github.com/minetest/minetest/issues/13510

[v-rob]

The reason this topic was brought up in the first place is not "Minetest is a terrible name", but "Minetest is a name that people unfamiliar with it mistake for Minecraft". I can count on one hand the number of people unfamiliar with Minetest who didn't think I was talking about Minecraft when I tried to show them Minetest, a mod for it, or anything else. After they grasp that Minetest is distinct from Minecraft, it quickly devolves into "So Minetest is a clone of Minecraft, right?" "Yeah, but Minecraft can make mods too" "Minecraft does XYZ better". It's extraordinarily annoying.

I have no problem with the name Minetest myself. It's not particularly creative or anything, sure, but it does the job, and it definitely has recognition. To people already in the Minetest community, the name is fine, and there's certainly affection for the name that has been used for the past ~13 years, even if it is lackluster. Renaming benefits the newcomers, not the old hands.

For reference, I think nearly all of the suggestions, both here and in the GitHub topic, are pretty awful. I would definitely prefer to keep the current name to most of them.

[ancientmariner]

Minetest is more popular than SuperTuxKart, SuperTux, and OpenRA. It's about the same as 0ad

Minetest and Veloren are actually pretty close now in the last 12 months. Minetest was much more popular than Veloren before that. We don't have an open collective but if we did from the start we would have raised more than that. Veloren is very good at the marketing side of things, the name definitely helps for that

Points taken. Cannot argue with cold hard data.

Veloren has really been killing it recently. I think Minetest has so much potential, so my points are definitely intended to ensure MT can reach it's potential. An engine that is flexible for many types of games, and a platform with so many options (especially in the future), will tick boxes for more people who aren't invested in the adventure style game that is Veloren.

Thanks for the link. That poll had slipped me by and it's great that it's being considered.

[Wilderness]

Hey v-rob, I do agree with you but I also have not seen any good names come up. I've been trying to say this all along. I said this before: 'Minetest is good, but if you don't like it then please choose a good name. Something that describes the game, something that is good-sounding, something that is easy to remember.'

[ShadMOrdre]

I would like to frame this entire discussion in the context of this one thought sequence.

A pixel is a representation of a point in 2d space. It became a new word.

A voxel is a representation of a point in 3d space. It became a new word.

Minetest is a new paradigm altogether. It is not a MC clone, it is not a game, it is not a game engine.

It is a programmable voxel engine. To that I propose the new word

Proxel = Programmable Voxel

Or, at the very least, something that most accurately describes this concept.

Much like nobody searches the web anymore, they "Google" it, Proxel could become a new word in itself, directly referring to what we now know as Minetest.

The Lua API provides so much power to the voxel, the engine moves the voxel from static 3D space into 4D space. Voxels can change, and they can act.

Thoughts on this concept are welcome.


Shad

[Nope!]

It looks like 'Proxel' may be taken by companies and or products or whatever. But I really do like that you are thinking of names now, honestly, I think it may be the best one so far.
Thanks.

[Astrobe]

I have no problem with the name Minetest myself. It's not particularly creative or anything, sure, but it does the job, and it definitely has recognition. To people already in the Minetest community, the name is fine, and there's certainly affection for the name that has been used for the past ~13 years, even if it is lackluster. Renaming benefits the newcomers, not the old hands.

Strange. You say it does the job after having noted twice that it is too close to MC so it generates a lot of confusion. For the anecdote, I myself sometime correct Twitch broadcasters that pick by mistake "Minetest" instead of "Minecraft" as the game they are broadcasting. Not to mention web search results; you don't have to scroll down to find some Minecraft. I wouldn't say the name does a good job.

Also, I would argue that the veterans here do not matter wrt this issue. They already know MT, what it is, what it can do, inside and out. What matters (as you both note and overlook) is the perception the name generates for newcomers. The name combined with the fact that MT is technically behind MC gives the false impression that it is still in Beta, or that it is a toy project. C55 picked this name because he wanted to see if he could do it; and at this time MT was exactly that: beta software and a toy project. Not anymore.

[Kilarin]

Why do you not like the name 'Minetest'? Please explain

As has been pointed out by many others, when I introduce new people to "MineTest", they do NOT, on average, see the "Test" part as indicating a challenge. They immediately assume that this is a MineCraft clone that is still in the testing stage.

If you were looking for an open source version of MarioCart, and you saw a program called "MarioTest" what would your assumptions be?

MineTest isn't appealing. The "Test" part of the name doesn't add anything useful, and is generally perceived as a negative. There is nothing about the name that I would miss, were the name changed.

That said. Who cares? The name is only a very minor hurdle to get over. And at this point, changing the name would result in a significant amount of confusion, and a major loss of brand recognition. The forums would have to change. The website would have to change. The subreddit would have to change. Or, if they didn't, even more confusion would result. People who went online looking for "MineTest" because they had played it before, would hit a major hiccup when they found the name had changed. People who saw a video about MineTest on YouTube would then get very confused when they went looking for it.

I dislike the name. But I consider it to be only a minor issue, and WAY to late to change it.