The idea is to make it easy for players to remember if they know someone's name, or what they think someones name is by allowing players to designate a "label/nickname/alias/callsign" to another character that always appears beside that character's actual name.
By default this label/nickname/alias/callsign would be something like [UNKNOWN] to represent that your character has not decided what to call the other character - doesn't know their name. A command would be used to assign a label/nickname/alias/callsign to another character something like "designate NAME LABEL".
Now for some examples to make this more clear.
This is how character "Bob" would see character Masher by default:
Fuller Street
Walking along the dank, dim street the stench of rotting matter and exhaust from the street overpowers your sense of smell. In the southern direction resides a sort of open air market, hinting at where the smell is coming from. People mill about the street, either trying to look cooler than cool, or trying to blend into the shadows and pass unseen. The oppressive noises of the city ebb and flow as traffic increases and decreases. An array of LEDs blinks and changes colors on the cyberware prices sign on the clinic wall. A MediResQ Ambulance is parked here. Signs from the clinic and floodlights fight the darkness. The walls have been daubed with colorful graffiti. You pull your clothing closer, shielding yourself from the chill of the dense fog and crisp night air.
You see a male corpse.
A small crowd seems to have formed around an Eternalist street preacher giving a sermon on the benefits of death and rebirth. Gangers wearing snake colors watch on with cold expressions on their faces, though occasionally one can be seen nodding his head in agreement with the preacher. Masher [UNKNOWN] is standing here. You see crowds of people to the south.
The street continues east. There is a market to the south, a clinic to the north and an intersection to the west.
A hulking guy wearing a bright yellow top who smells clean (Masher [UNKNOWN]) heads east down the street.
A hulking guy wearing a bright yellow top who smells clean (Masher [UNKNOWN]) walks in from the east.
Masher [UNKNOWN] (hulking guy wearing a bright yellow top)
Big and brawny. Masher is bald. Masher looks mean, like he want's to hit something.
He is wearing a bright bright top. Clinging to his legs is a pair of tight fitting blue jeans, almost fashionably frayed and worn at the cuffs. He wears a grubby pair of black boots on his feet.
Masher is holding nothing.
Masher is in excellent condition.
Supposing Bob talks to Masher and is told that Masher's name is James he could then "designate Masher James" and furute interactions would look like this for Bob (and only for Bob):
Fuller Street
Walking along the dank, dim street the stench of rotting matter and exhaust from the street overpowers your sense of smell. In the southern direction resides a sort of open air market, hinting at where the smell is coming from. People mill about the street, either trying to look cooler than cool, or trying to blend into the shadows and pass unseen. The oppressive noises of the city ebb and flow as traffic increases and decreases. An array of LEDs blinks and changes colors on the cyberware prices sign on the clinic wall. A MediResQ Ambulance is parked here. Signs from the clinic and floodlights fight the darkness. The walls have been daubed with colorful graffiti. You pull your clothing closer, shielding yourself from the chill of the dense fog and crisp night air.
You see a male corpse.
A small crowd seems to have formed around an Eternalist street preacher giving a sermon on the benefits of death and rebirth. Gangers wearing snake colors watch on with cold expressions on their faces, though occasionally one can be seen nodding his head in agreement with the preacher. Masher [James] is standing here. You see crowds of people to the south.
The street continues east. There is a market to the south, a clinic to the north and an intersection to the west.
A hulking guy wearing a bright yellow top who smells clean (Masher [James]) heads east down the street.
A hulking guy wearing a bright yellow top who smells clean (Masher [James]) walks in from the east.
Masher [James] (hulking guy wearing a bright yellow top)
Big and brawny. Masher is bald. Masher looks mean, like he want's to hit something.
He is wearing a bright bright top. Clinging to his legs is a pair of tight fitting blue jeans, almost fashionably frayed and worn at the cuffs. He wears a grubby pair of black boots on his feet.
Masher is holding nothing.
Masher is in excellent condition.
Other characters would either see 'Masher [UNKNOWN] or Masher [WHATEVER_LABEL THEY GAVE MASHER].
Command wise, nothing would change. You still type "look NAME" or "grapple NAME" or whatever. Ideally you would see the same NAME [LABEL] on cameras and the like.
