How Voidpets are Named | Voidpet Blog

Why Are Voidpet Names So Inconsistent?

(Spoiler alert: they're not.)

A question I get a lot is: "Why can't the Voidpets just be named consistently?"

Why aren't they all nouns like Sadness, Anxiety, Anger? Or all adjectives like Sad, Anxious, Angry? Is it random? Messy? An accident to be fixed?

Well, no. It's not random. There are rules—but they're subtle. And if you're the kind of person who loves scratching that grammar-and-design itch, here's the logic behind the names.

FOUNDATIONAL PREMISE

Voidpets aren't just emotions brought to life. They are mental constructs derived from emotional language. That means they can be named after any psychologically meaningful linguistic unit. Therefore...

Rule #1: Shortest Word Wins (Usually)

Shorter names = cleaner UI, better branding. We're designing for tiny screens and even tinier attention spans. Everything, even monster names, has to be efficient. Shorter strings and fewer syllables have a higher chance of being read, remembered, and recognized.
It's 2025. We're building mobile games and marketing on TikTok.
Every beat counts.

Rule #2: Parts of Speech = Base Hierarchy

1. Nouns are ideal.

2. Adjectives are secondary.

3. Deverbal nominalizations like “-ment” and “-nce” are acceptable

4. “-ness” nouns are avoided.

5. “-ed” past participles are a last resort.

So yes, parts of speech matter to us. But they're not the only factor.
(...will refer to this as PoS ranking for brevity hereafter.)

Rule #3: Final evaluation

The final name is decided by weighing part-of-speech ranking against string length, syllabic length, rhythmic "mouth feel", and language nuance.

Behind each Voidpet name:

#0: Envy

Envy wins easily over 'Envious' or even 'Enviousness'. There's no competition here.

#1: Anxious

"Anxious" and "Anxiety" are close, but Anxious squeezes the win on syllabic length. Anxiety gets docked for invoking a clinical condition, which leans towards pathology over mindfulness. Voidpet is about introspection and naming emotions, not about giving players tools for self diagnosis.

#2: Sad

"Sad" wins over "Sadness" because even though adjectives are secondary to nouns, the 7/3 length ratio is severe. Also "Sad" is a punchy, short name that shares phonetics with common nicknames like "Sid," "Brad," "Chad" - and an uncanny name that makes you do a double take.

#3: Anger

"Anger" beats "Angry" because when all else is equal, nouns outrank adjectives.

#4: Pain

Pain is a straightforward feeling. "Painful" describes the stimulus more than what someone is feeling, so it's not considered.

#5: Spite

Here, "Spiteful" is slightly more accurate as an emotional state, but "Spite" outranks as a short noun. Spite is still very much something people can feel, so it wins.

#6: Lonely

"Loneliness" is a noun, "Lonely" is an adjective. But "Lonely" outranks on both string and syllabic length by a wide margin, and sounds like a cute name. It's phonetically comparable to "Lenny" and "Stanley." Here, the adjective wins.

#7: Paranoia

"Paranoid" is slightly more compact syllabically. However, "Paranoia" wins on PoS ranking and has a more unique mouthfeel to it. For the same reason "-ed" participles are avoided for rhythmic reasons, "d" is a final letter that risks getting lost in auditory communication, and should be used sparingly.

#9: Sanctimony

"Easy win over "Sanctimonious."

#10: Abandonment

A tough one that was doomed to be on the clunky side. The "-ment" deverbal noun outranks the "-ed" participle, "Abandoned", despite pushing our max string length to 11 characters.

#11: Jealous

"Jealousy" outranks in PoS as a noun, but loses points for the extra syllable. "Jealous" closes the win for a tighter similarity to "Alice" and "Wallace" as popular names.

#12: Gluttony

"Gluttony" wins as the shortest noun. You could argue that sin is a behavior, not a feeling, and that "feeling gluttonous" is a more valid emotional state. But iconic brevity is still king, and "Gluttony" rhyming with "Anthony" and "Tiffany" makes it too punchy to ignore.

#13: Pride

"Pride" is preferable to "Proud" on PoS ranking. It's short and iconic, so no contest.

#14: Lust

"Lustful" doesn't hold a candle in either brevity or PoS ranking. Again, no contest.

#15: Sloth

Another archaic sin word that is more about a behavior than a feeling. But again, more punchy, thought-provoking, and iconic than a clunky, literal description of fatigue.

#16: Wrath

Another iconic banger. A single-syllable noun that makes you stop to consider the line beetween emotion and behavior. The devil has a good marketing team.

#17: Greed

"Greedy" was a viable contender, but noun-hood and brevity come first. It's such a potent, monosyllabic word, the "d" ending really doesn't subtract anything here.

#18: Estrangement

Ah yes. The 12-character monstrosity that is a deverbal "-ment" noun. As much as this one's given me design headaches, it was an emotion I felt drawn to exploring at the time—particularly, as a more nuanced word for loneliness. Here, I decided it was important to make room for complexity. It pushes my principles, but still technically follows the rules.

#19: Nostalgia

Like Paranoia–a unique, poetic noun with a better mouthfeel than its adjective counterpart, "Nostalgic."

#20: Judgement

This one really needs the "-ment" suffix to stand as an emotion. A fair case, given it's only two syllables and 9 letters. And yes, I used the British spelling—judgement with an extra “e.” Even though it’s longer (and longer words usually lose in Voidpet naming), this one made the cut. Why? Because “judgment” in American English leans legal, absolute, and final. It evokes courtrooms and condemnation. But “judgement” leans toward philosophy, English literature, and personal discernment. Less damnation, more tastefulness.

#21: Salty

Enter the meme Voidpets—where we really start to see the value of these naming conventions. Salty doesn’t land as a noun. Try “Saltiness” and you lose all the edge. This is a perfect case where forcing noun-consistency (like “Sadness, Anger, Anxiety”) would strip a character of what makes it memorable.

#22: Sadge

Another win for adjectives (and slang). Why include meme pets at all? Because they're the perfect example of how we use language as our primary vehicle for emotional expression. A made-up word still represents something humans feel, and if anything, is even more poignant because it recently evolved to meet the moment.

#23: Down Bad

The only two-word Voidpet to date. The third in its trio of slang adjectives. Why the exception? Because no one word quite captures this specific flavor of internet-native emotional chaos. "Obsessed" feels clinical, perhaps predatory. "Infatuation" is archaic, dramatic. Neither are a silly dog with heart eyes and zero dignity.

#24: Cringe

In slang, Cringe is both an adjective and a noun. One can experience cringe, just as one's actions can be described as cringe. Sure, there's also "Cringiness" and "Cringeworthy," but they're not the same.

#25: Grumpy

"Grumpiness?" You already know why that's not gonna fly.

#26: Curious

Curious was incredibly close to being named "Curiosity." But I liked way "I'm feeling curious" stood as a self assertion, rather than curosity being a trait you notice in others. Also the jump from three to five syllables felt rather severe. Here, Curious won for brevity and emotional resonance.

#27: Glee

Short and sweet. Monosyllabic noun. Clearly an emotion. Easy.

#28: Rejection

Our first "-tion" noun. "Rejected" was off the table as a clunky past participle. "-tion" works here—clean, noun-form, and emotionally rich. These words often signal more complex emotions because they began as state descriptors. Is rejection a feeling or something that happens to you? I think both. It's internalized, imagined, relived—all fair game for a Voidpet.

#29: Desperate

"Desperation" was a viable contender, but got axed for the extra syllable. Also, "Desperate" neatly mirrors "Down Bad" as a two-syllable adjective with alliteration, and I wanted to establish the two dogs as a thematic pair.

#30: Defiance

The "-nce" suffix is fun one. Here, its a clean way to glean an emotional impact from a verb. "Defiant" could have worked, but as an adjective, it loses on PoS ranking. Phonetically, they both have name-like potential: "Bryant", vs. "Lance"—but the extra letter in "Defiance" was a small price to pay for a more pronounced final syllable.

#31: Merry

"Merry" won for brevity and rhythm. "Merriness" loses charm and stumbles with extra letters and syllables. "Merry" is cute and clean, and fits right in with common names like "Larry", "Cherry," and "Mary".

#32: Apathy

"Apathy" beats "Apathetic" on brevity and PoS rank. Another simple one.

#33: Disdain

"Disdain" has no competition from "Disdainful" or "Disdainfulness."

#34: Panic

"Panic" is clean. "Panicky", "Panicked", and "Panic-stricken"? Never on the table.

#35: Resistance

Like Defiance, Resistance is a verb-derived "-nce" noun. "Resistance" is clean, short, and has a nice mouthfeel. Where "Resistant" ekes out a one-letter advantage, it's not enough to justify lower PoS ranking.

#36: Determination

"Determination" is longer than "Determined", but the PoS rule docks participles more than an increase from 10-12 characters (only 20% more). The name is going to be long either way, so we go for the more iconic noun.

#37: Wonder

Wonder stands alone as a simple noun you can feel. No need to overcomplicate with alternatives like... "Wondrousness"?

#38: Mischief

Mischief is a noun, and a short one at that. Sure, it's about the antics and shenangigans themselves rather than just the feeling, but who says your eyes can't simply light up with the feeling of mischief? No need for the 8 to 11 letters with "Mischievous".

#39: Persistence

We like "-nce" nouns.

#40: Ambition

PoS rank beats "Ambitious."

#41: Conviction

"-tion" nouns always beat "-ed" participles.

#42: Joy

Easy win. We don' mess with the "-ful" suffix if the base is already an emotion noun."

#43: Wistful

This was trickier. There’s no clean noun form—“Wist” is archaic and obscure, and “Wistfulness” is clunky. Here, the "-ful" adjective outranks the "-ness" nominalization on PoS, and dominates on brevity.

#44: Scorn

Like Joy—no need for the "-ful" suffix if the base already works.

#45: Diligence

Like Defiance, Persistence, and Resistance— "-nce" nouns beat "nt" adjectives on PoS rank.

#46: Patience

Same as Diligence.

So... are Voidpet names consistent?

I guess ultimately that's for you to decide. They do follow a system—just not a simplistic one. What may seem random from the outside is, in fact, the result of competing constraints—linguistic precision, semantic function, phonetic clarity, visual identity, and systemic scalability. The framework isn't built for easy parsing. It’s built for internal coherence. What’s accessible to the player isn't always an easy decision for the designer. And while it might not be obvious at first glance, the structure reveals itself in how it holds under pressure.

Structure doesn’t mean simplicity. Consistency doesn’t mean uniformity. Maybe it looks murky, but there's still an algorithm.

Want more?

If you enjoyed reading these design notes, you might like this other post about Patience vs. Wrath. Here, I talk a bit more about the reasoning behind the seven sins and virtues as emotions, and go into detail about the character designs.

Patience vs. Wrath