Nicknames are the same as handles. If you are having a discussion in real life, it will not go beyond the very shallow without more information than that.
And I am not saying that this is a bad thing, just that, de facto, we are all role playing on here since there is no face-to-face or real names used.
I think that is why you will find that the rancor that exists on a BBS disappears when we meet in person. In my experience, once we actually meet in person, the first thing to go are handles, and we call the other by their given name.