Because it's Nintendo!  DUH!!

And yet somehow they can share the same name without civilization collapsing in on itself.  Will wonders never cease?

These are some of the names of people I played with in my latest Halo: Reach matches.  When I mean latest, I mean a few days ago last 10 matches:

PuNiCh3rT 

Loto Carmesi XP

xIIIxAndyxIIIx

PhYsCo SeRgEoN

pritchettboy

kan O grahamz

Now I could go on for a very long time at the completely moronic and uneducated names I go through on a daily basis.  Most of which can't be pronounced or understood without having to really think about them for a very long time.  In the case of "andy" there are a lot with the "x" and "l"in front as I guess it is a sign of a clan or something.  Really I don't know or I don't care.  Yet you have the nerve to sit up here when people actually have the ability to name the tag whatever they want without worry if it is taken and say that ruins an online community.  No it's names like that, that seriously piss me off because they make no sense and provide little motivation to actually communicate with such names.  

Now I know you play a lot of online games (probably nowhere near as much as me) but anyone who does should no by now how awful most of the names are on there.  There is no originality which is why most have numbers, most are trying to be stupid and funny, and a lot are just plain annoying.  I'd rather they all be called Master Chief and spelled correctly than "legit4shotBRnoobtubetwopiece117".  Despite making that up, I'm sure it is someone's gamertag or PSN name.  

I'm not a big fan of the friend code setup, nor do I think this whole universal friend code is too much better (I love the XBL setup as it IS the best), but that doesn't change the fact that the majority of the gamertags are terrible most likely due to the limitations on creativity both by the system and the user.  

It's not like there's something preventing you from creating a unique name with the service. Sure I could use my nickname "curry" that I use for local multiplayer games however I would probably use ItdBeSuck or xeroxm3 because those are my handles. If players want to seperate themselves they will and if they're your friends then you can tell them if somebody else has the same name. Nothing is locked in so far which makes adjusting easy, so I'm not sure why there's a problem.

I'd be much more inclined to give credence to kyliedog's fears, except that I've played Monster Hunter Tri less than a year ago, and thus have definitive proof that he's overreacting.

KylieDog, in the "likely"s and "but"s already? Damn... your damage control is really something to any devoted console defender look for...

Man this thread seems like a war between Nintendo haters and Nintendo fans.

Honestly I like the idea of using friend codes to a degree. A universal friend code is great news. I wonder if you will still enter the friends name personally or whether it will use the name your friend came up with. Example I ad Smeags I can name him Smeags. I add a friend named Josh I know him as Josh so I'm not having to try and remember his user name I just look and their is Josh.

A thing I find annoying with GamerTags and such is that I forget who half the users are. I remember like 5 of my friends but when you have like 50-100 friends many who you met online you tend to forget who is who. But with FC's I'll be able to name them all and never worry about forgetting their names or remembering who is who.

I think it will be great on VGChartz as well. I'll add SnesBoy and all my other VGChartz pals and name them by their VGChartz names and whoola they have the same name as on the forum and I will remember them. Heck I'll even try adding Rol for fun he's gotta be a blast to play.

So I see this as a major positive I'd consider it better then a GamerTag.

Another problem of these friends codes is that you need 1 code for every nintendo device that you have.

In PSN you can have the same ID on PSP, PS3 and PSP2. And in PSP2 probably you will be able to communicate with PS3 users.

If Nintendo is going to the number path, they could make a code for both 3DS and their next console.  If they or their gamers(except me) cares...

Well Nintendo could do similiar things. I know my DSi and Wii both use my MyNintendo account. So if Nintendo worked on better utalizing MyNintendo then we could see similiar things with 3DS and which ever console Nintendo launches next. You could maybe link your two consoles codes together, transfer friends over from handheld to home console. We have no idea what Nintendo could do with a few firmware updates when the next home console arrives!