Blizzard Stops Plan To Force Real IDs In Forums

[Terminator02]

Just three days ago on July 6th, Blizzard announced that it would change its forums going forward so that users of the world's largest MMO, World of Warcraft, and the upcoming RTS StarCraft II would be required to use their real names to post on its official forums in an effort to improve behavior and foster better dialog.

In three short days, that post managed to get over 44,000 replies and over 550,000 views, most of them not in favor of players being forced to use their real names. Thankfully, Blizzard listened and announced today that they will no longer require real names on official Blizzard forums "at this time."

Here is the message from Mike Morhaime, CEO and co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment:

Hello everyone,

I'd like to take some time to speak with all of you regarding our desire to make the Blizzard forums a better place for players to discuss our games. We've been constantly monitoring the feedback you've given us, as well as internally discussing your concerns about the use of real names on our forums. As a result of those discussions, we've decided at this time that real names will not be required for posting on official Blizzard forums.

It's important to note that we still remain committed to improving our forums. Our efforts are driven 100% by the desire to find ways to make our community areas more welcoming for players and encourage more constructive conversations about our games. We will still move forward with new forum features such as conversation threading, the ability to rate posts up or down, improved search functionality, and more. However, when we launch the new StarCraft II forums that include these new features, you will be posting by your StarCraft II Battle.net character name + character code, not your real name. The upgraded World of Warcraft forums with these new features will launch close to the release of Cataclysm, and also will not require your real name.

I want to make sure it's clear that our plans for the forums are completely separate from our plans for the optional in-game Real ID system now live with World of Warcraft and launching soon with StarCraft II. We believe that the powerful communications functionality enabled by Real ID, such as cross-game and cross-realm chat, make Battle.net a great place for players to stay connected to real-life friends and family while playing Blizzard games. And of course, you'll still be able to keep your relationships at the anonymous, character level if you so choose when you communicate with other players in game. Over time, we will continue to evolve Real ID on Battle.net to add new and exciting functionality within our games for players who decide to use the feature.

In closing, I want to point out that our connection with our community has always been and will always be extremely important to us. We strongly believe that Every Voice Matters, ( http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/company/about/mission.html ) and we feel fortunate to have a community that cares so passionately about our games. We will always appreciate the feedback and support of our players, which has been a key to Blizzard's success from the beginning.

Mike Morhaime
CEO & Cofounder
Blizzard Entertainment

Source

 

[Theraima]

Didnt actually care about those Real IDs, but it seems kinda weird for Blizzy doing something like that. Good thing they cancelled it.

 

[Nikolay]

Smart move.

 

[ojsinnerz.]

I blame this on Activision.


They've made nothing but bad choices since the merger.

 

[Maikel Steneker]

I don't mind using my real name in a game or on a forum, but a lot of people do. I don't see why Blizzard needs to force them to use their real name if they don't want to, so I think this is a good thing.

 

[CamulaHikari]

Thank god they didn't go through with it~! Otherwise stalkers would have an too easy time...

 

[Wabsta]

The last week, since they announced it, the blizz forums and mmo-champion were full of QQ.
Pretty funny.

So that's prolly why they canceled it.
I wouldnt care tho, if people see my real name..

 

[Raika]

They were retarded to even suggest it to begin with. This is an invasion of fucking privacy, who would want to leak their personal stuff online? If they didn't cancel this then those dudes would probably rage and start riots.

 

[injected11]

I blame this on Activision.


They make nothing but bad choices.

Fixed.

 

[ZAFDeltaForce]

Wow, when did they smarten up?

 

[BakuFunn]

Wow, when did they smarten up?

Yesterday, it seems.

 

[DSGamer64]

Wow, when did they smarten up?

When people started rage quitting and canceling their subscriptions, it was a BS move that was completely uncalled for and not necessary at all. The fact is that they wanted a way to cop out on having to assign more moderators to their forums to stop all the trolls, which is just a lazy attitude really. If they had any real balls, they would just IP ban players accounts from the forums, let them still play the game but their account loses all posting rights for all characters and they can't post on their IP address, it would really just stop the trolls in their tracks since they wouldn't be able to hide on level 1 alts to do it.

 

[GreatCrippler]

Wow, so many trolls on this forum. Accountability was all they were going for. A bunch of stupid kids QQing about their names on a forum, Boohoo.

 

[Sir-Fritz]

Wow, when did they smarten up?

When people started rage quitting and canceling their subscriptions, it was a BS move that was completely uncalled for and not necessary at all. The fact is that they wanted a way to cop out on having to assign more moderators to their forums to stop all the trolls, which is just a lazy attitude really. If they had any real balls, they would just IP ban players accounts from the forums, let them still play the game but their account loses all posting rights for all characters and they can't post on their IP address, it would really just stop the trolls in their tracks since they wouldn't be able to hide on level 1 alts to do it.

What would an ip ban actually do? Ban them for a day until they have a new ip address?

 

[DSGamer64]

Most people wouldn't change ISP's to dodge a forum ban unless they are real losers.

 

[Fat D]

Outside of Canada, IP adresses are usually dynamic and change after each reconnect.

 

[BlueStar]

Wow, so many trolls on this forum. Accountability was all they were going for. A bunch of stupid kids QQing about their names on a forum, Boohoo.

Except it wouldn't affect everyone equally, you're more anonymous if your name is Chris Brown and you live in New York than if your name is Hamish McDougal and you live in a little town in Mexico. Also, thanks to the kind of socially retarded fuckwits who play MMOs, anyone with a pair of tits would get even more hassle than they do now. It was a moronic idea and people were never going to accept it, Blizzard must be seriously light on braincells to ever think it was gonna fly.

Any suggestion it was no big deal was disproven as soon as it became possible to phone up that moderator at work and take the piss out of him for living with his mum.

 

[Panzer Tacticer]

I didn't have any real objection to the idea until I watched it utterly ripped apart by very smart well thought out arguments presented on forums I respect (forums that are not either Blizzard or solely gaming sites).

The idea was utter fail from the beginning.

It's fairly transparent Blizzard spent NO time thinking the idea through, likely cost them a few thousands of dollars in accounts canceled which might even not get renewed. I know of plenty of cases of people just waiting for a good reason to quit. I wouldn't be surprised if someone lost their job over this very bad idea.

It ranks up there with 'New" Coke.

The truth, Blizzard clearly needs to just get their act together and start running their forums in a logical manner.
I've been on forums where people get banned. You CAN ban people even with seemingly unbannable forms of internet service. It's just not something you do without really wanting to do it. One good idea, making the forums ONLY open to visible identifiable accounts. Oh they CAN see your account eh. Ban on the forum means banned account, poof your 80th level super guy is gone. Thing is, Blizzard wants your money, and thus, Blizzard is unlikely to pick your safety over your money.

So being trolled on their forums and them caring is not compatible with their real needs.

Guess what, that is not unique to Blizzard. The forums associated with Matrix Games, where I buy my computer wargames for instance. They are not sufficiently interested in policing them. It's the truth even though they will deny it. Fuck their denials. But they still make the best in wargames. Solution, don't post on forums not well policed.

Blizzard isn't the only decent place to discuss WoW eh.

 

[J-Mirage]

As people have begun to take data of them and their families they screwed up... I would keep gaining them data, now fuck you. They just have rectified as soon as they discovered in their own flesh the danger of such a system.

 

[injected11]

My brother plays Everquest and ran up to me the other day, saying "You hear what that douche Blizzard is doin now?!". This was a ridiculous idea. How did nobody object in the meeting when it came up??

It ranks up there with 'New" Coke.

I'd think new Coke had a lot more thought put into it. Their Coke sales were slipping, they purposefully launch a new, terrible product, pull it from shelves after a short while, then ship their same old product as "Coca-Cola Classic" which brought back familiarity and a "classic" simulated sense of nostalgia.