The reason video games do not require uniqueness is that the interaction is smaller.<p>It's not a forum where everyone interacts with everyone, where people would copy each other's username to impersonate each other, knowing full well that most do not memorize the number after it.<p>That having been said, I personally greatly favor the textboard approach where there is no account registration. <i>Lainchan</i> does not require one to give up a username when making a post, and almost no one does so, and when one not, the system assigns it a fairly arbitrary name such as “Anamika” or “Sipho Nikosi”.