Blizzard Forums Will Soon Display Your Real Name

[Deleted_171835]

How do you stem the tide of a forum flooded with flame wars, trolling, and other unpleasantness? Just do what Blizzard is about to do in the official forums for StarCraft II and World of Warcraft: Display posters' real names.

Blizzard poster Nethaera breaks the news to fans in the Battle.net forums: their internet anonymity will soon be a thing of the past. Going into effect with the launch of the new StarCraft II community site before July 27, with World of Warcraft following suit as the Cataclysm expansion nears, all posts and replies in official Blizzard forums will contain the Real ID, which is the first and last name on each user's Battle.net account.

Real ID is a feature of the new Battle.net that allows players to communicate with one another over different servers and games. It was recently introduced to World of Warcraft, and will be part of StarCraft II at launch.

So why the forum change?

The official forums have always been a great place to discuss the latest info on our games, offer ideas and suggestions, and share experiences with other players — however, the forums have also earned a reputation as a place where flame wars, trolling, and other unpleasantness run wild. Removing the veil of anonymity typical to online dialogue will contribute to a more positive forum environment, promote constructive conversations, and connect the Blizzard community in ways they haven't been connected before. With this change, you'll see blue posters (i.e. Blizzard employees) posting by their real first and last names on our forums as well.

This is one of the dumbest ideas I've encountered in a long time. Displaying their real names to eliminate trolling and thus reducing anonymity.

Source: Kotaku

 

[Prophet]

WoW players are so accustomed to swallowing Blizzards shit that they won't even be phased by this change.

 

[DiscostewSM]

WoW players are so accustomed to swallowing Blizzards shit that they won't even be phased by this change.

Their forums (as well as fan-site forums) speak otherwise. From what I've checked up on this "RealID" business, it was meant to be for friends to stay in contact with each other, even when playing different games. To extend that to forums seems to be the opposite of what they wanted for RealID in the first place, as now total strangers will see what your name is.

May not sound like much, as lots of people may have the same name, but that won't stop them from Googling you, and finding information about you and everyone else with that name. I went and checked my own name. Didn't show up, at least under it's current spelling. A slight change, and my information came up, including address, phone number, relatives, etc.

If Blizzard (and Activision) are allowed to do this, then it is quite possible that other companies will start doing the same.

 

[_Chaz_]

WOO HOO!

This means it's gonna be extremely hard to scam people without getting them to track you down.



Also, this will deter new players from being drawn into the forums.

 

[Zarcon]

A moderator posted his name to show there was no harm.
Within minutes people knew where he lived, worked, his daily habits, who his family and loved ones were, etc.

A player defending RealID dared people to find anything abusable with his "fairly common name".
Within twenty minutes the same thing happened. He was even called up at work to confirm everything.
He has since removed his posted name with an edit saying "I was wrong about RealID!"

Unless RealID is completely optional I can't see this ending well.
That or people will just make alt accounts with fake names.

 

[J-Mirage]

My opinion is this: Whoever does not want it DON´T USE IT. Hiding behind a nick to insult people are for cowards.

PD: See this:

 

[Sir-Fritz]

/v/ has been raging about this all week, apparently its activisions idea and blizzard aren't in control of the company anymore.

 

[Nimbus]

Sigh....


This people is one of the thousands upon millions of reasons as to why I don't play MMORPG's

 

[Sir-Fritz]

Its extending to all blizzard games afaik.

 

[Deleted member 67270]

Great! Now a total stranger can look up a player that pissed him off so that he can meet up with them in real life and stab them over something that happened to him in an online game!

Seriously though, I can see a lawsuit about this coming their way in the future. Worst. Idea. Ever.

 

[injected11]

Great! Now a total stranger can look up a player that pissed him off so that he can meet up with them in real life and stab them over something that happened to him in an online game!

Seriously though, I can see a lawsuit about this coming their way in the future. Worst. Idea. Ever.

Blizzard didn't make Counterstrike, silly.

 

[TM2-Megatron]

I read this is being done due to some South Korean law that disallows internet anonymity in certain cases:

http://watchingthewatchers.org/indepth/136...policy-blizzard

Since so many WoW players are based in that country, in order to continue making money Blizzard obviously is considering complying. Seems like a bad idea, though, 'cuz you'll always get nutjubs like this guy... and what Blizzard wants to do will only make their job easier.

 

[thegame07]

Great! now some psycho is going to stab me when I beat him on a roll for his tier gear

 

[thegame07]

I don't normally double post but I thought I would give people an update on this. Blizzard have seen the public outrage and have now decided not to do it.