While reading accounts of E2 get-togethers, I noticed that at the point when noders meet one another for the first time they often wonder:
Do I call this person by their E2 handle, or by their name?. When
Roninspoon and I met, I hailed him as such without a second thought. But as he was visibly
uncomfortable with this, I immediately switched to his real name. (I later found out this was because the lovely young lady on his arm was deeply suspicious of this
Everything stuff and he was trying to keep the gathering as
normal as possible.)
But generally, unless they call themselves something really cumbersome, I like calling people by their nicks. It's a habit I picked up during the lunchtime games at my old job, when I and my co-workers would log into the game server as Lobo, Madness, Denrage, Feldar, and of course Quizro. Some of these were actual real-life nicknames which the participants had gotten back in the day, while others were new identities created for online gaming.
This somehow spilled over into the real world; when we'd pass in the hallway we'd holler, "MADNESS!" "QUIZ-ROOOOO!". At our weekly meetings, our boss would call on "Lobo, the Lone Wolf" to give his report on a project. It made me feel like we were in a really geeky street gang.
So I answer to both "Wade" and "Quizro" with equal alacrity. But I certainly understand if someone doesn't want to constantly be greeted as "Cow of Doom".