SweetPea, although you have taken you ball and went home, I did want to point out the utter ridiculousness of your "what if a camper came to camp with a camp name" comment. First off, I would likely KNOW THAT CAMPERS REAL NAME. Second off, I would not be too hurried to start calling a camper Snowball II or Santa's Little Helper simply because they asked me too. Their parents gave them a name for a reason. If they are proposing a nickname, and it is appropriate and in good fun, then I'd consider it.
Calico, I don't buy the anonymity argument. Our society is not an anonymous society. If camp counselors are like Mary Poppins, where they show-up for the summer and proceed to dissapear from the face of the eart, then I think we have a problem. Would you, as a camper, really want to develop a rapport with someone whom you may never see again?
Your arguments on authority, closeness, and pronounciation, don't suggest why camps can't provide nicknames and tell campers real names. Furthermore, a good staff member should be able to command authority simply because they are a good staff member - not because of some superficial name.
The guessing game argument is an example of another bad tradition that does more harm than good (up there with overly-competitive colour wars that they staff get into moreso than the campers)...on a strict utilitarian scale, the benefits from the guessing does not outweigh the damages it may cause.
