http://forums.battle.net/thread.html?topicId=25626109041

This thread got 35 pages of replies in the first 5 hours. And it's heating up with over 100 pages of replies on other websites.

Basically, the gist of it is that Blizzard will now force all members of the forums to use their real names when posting. They explain (pretty pathetically) why in the link I posted above. Apparently it's because of spammers... I have no idea whether they will mandate the use of real names in Starcraft II, or later along the line Diablo III, but if they do I know that I'm going to delete my bnet account and make a new one under the name Sparky McAwesome. I see no alternative.

Seriously, do you think there's any real point to this? Any real benefit? I can't wrap my head around it no matter how much I try. From anyone's perspective, this makes no sense. And most importantly I'm not sure who to blame. Am I supposed to blame Activision? Or has Blizzard entered some sort of retardation space where they just need to get every bad idea they've ever had out of their system? Honestly, I don't know.

What do you guys think, even if you have no interest in Blizzard games whatsoever?

Just use stupid names.

Use Issac Hunt.

i call JOHN DOE.

Clearly this is going to be sucessfull.

http://wowriot.gameriot.com/blogs/Americans-are-bad-at-games/Real-Names-on-the-Official-Forums-New-REAL-ID-function?gr_i_ni

....clearly.

Pretty sure this is all Blizzard's fault as they keep any and all control over their IPs when the merge happened.

So, wtf Blizzard... wtf.

displaying the real name is a bit odd. that being said i dont have a problem if they wanted to say, display your b.net email/login or something.

i can see wanting to reduce spam/trolling/etc.

That link shows why they shouldn't do that. (Tm's link)

Common sense shows why they shouldn't do that. Somebody must have brought some crack or something over there, because I don't know what they're thinking. And I get the feeling they don't either.

I feel sorry this Micah Whipple fellow.

what about people with weird names like this guy (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuZeU-SjgJQ&feature=related)?

I read about this on another forum, and while I can see the expected benefits this would offer (Cut down on trolling etc), but also the possible negatives.

I wouldn't be surprised if some people have already tracked down Micah Whipple's address, phone number, age, family members, facebook and what his house looks like. Somebody's going to throw a tantrum, track somebody down with their real name, and kill them or something.

Female gamers already have to put up with harassment and crap in WoW as it is, but now they'll have to face it on the forums as well. But I don't think this will be well received overall, specially by people in EU, considering the strict privacy laws there.

Some MMO players though... are really unhinged. You can tell by how they act in a guild/linkshell/etc (depending on which MMO you're playing), and while some of them may just be taking roleplay a little too far, there are some who really believe it. It just take that one person who treats it like a obsession to the point they don't believe anything else, they won't have any problems driving 500 miles to the house of that Rogue who screwed them out of treasure from a raid or something, and either inflict bodily harm on them or some other violent tendency just because Blizzard/SE/etc screwed the job class via a update.

I'm not sure if this change is retroactive though, only the new forums (launched with Cataclysm) will have the real ID's, so if some people are strongly against it, they can just post on the old forums I guess.

Clearly this is going to be sucessfull.

http://wowriot.gameriot.com/blogs/Americans-are-bad-at-games/Real-Names-on-the-Official-Forums-New-REAL-ID-function?gr_i_ni

....clearly.

This is idiotic. I would like to question these people as to whether they have ever heard of Facebook. LOL SHOWING PEOPLE'S REAL NAME MEANS THEY CAN LOOK YOU UP! So does the phone book. If you want the names of Blizzard employees, you don't have to wait for them to post them on message boards.

I don't get why people don't know the reason they're doing this. It seems pretty clear to me. I think it might be because


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.

Does this not make sense? The kind of shit stirring in TM's link is EXACTLY what they are obviously trying to stamp out on their message boards. They're trying to eliminate 4chan syndrome. Anonymity is what drives people to do retarded douchebag stuff like what's in that link.

The internet is probably going to go this way more and more, in my opinion. Facebook has made it pretty clear that it works and people aren't afraid of displaying their real name.

How would you compare Facebook to 4chan in terms of the average level of civility in a given thread, the type of content that regularly gets posted, and the reputation and image of the web site? It's very easy to see why this is being done, and I don't think anyone can blame them. Also, give it a few years, and nobody will care anymore.

if people still want anonimity they will make fake names. i highly doubt thomas william will register AS thomas williams, because its pretty obvious tracking the adress, family members, etc etc of thomas williams is just a few clicks away.
and like deaths head said, there can (and probably will) be incidents resulting in physical harm.

Moderating would also work. But I guess what they're trying to do isn't entirely insane. If it works, then all's well. What they should definitely NOT do is force people to use their real names in-game. That would be... suicide for both Blizzard and the players.

if people still want anonimity they will make fake names. i highly doubt thomas william will register AS thomas williams, because its pretty obvious tracking the adress, family members, etc etc of thomas williams is just a few clicks away.
and like deaths head said, there can (and probably will) be incidents resulting in physical harm.

Have you taken a moment to consider how many people in the world there must be named Thomas Williams?

OK, so in a surprise move Blizzard has changed their minds!

Here: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=25968987278&sid=1

They still support the idea, but apparently the vast ammount of negative feedback made them change their minds. They'll probably do it when the audience is ready for it.

Yeah, I just saw this. They are still going to tie a lot of content to RealID on battle.net it sounds like.

Overall I think it's a step back, but I guess people made a big enough stink. Online games are never going to lose their stigma until the communities start to crawl out of their caves, though.

Man some of the people in that thread are morons with the "WE WON HAHA WE BETTER THEN BLIZZARD" attitude.

The internet is probably going to go this way more and more, in my opinion. Facebook has made it pretty clear that it works and people aren't afraid of displaying their real name.

How would you compare Facebook to 4chan in terms of the average level of civility in a given thread, the type of content that regularly gets posted, and the reputation and image of the web site? It's very easy to see why this is being done, and I don't think anyone can blame them. Also, give it a few years, and nobody will care anymore.

I think things are going to go the opposite way, actually. People can be really naive when it comes to putting their personal information out there on the internet. As doing this comes back to haunt more and more people, I think they're going to seek more privacy on the internet again.

People at my work have been written up and fired over stuff on Facebook. It's why I don't use my real last name on mine. I know I've heard lots of stories of other people having problems with being hired or at their school because of stuff on myspace or facebook soon. I just can't see this continuing on and not changing as news of this stuff becomes more widespread.

Also it's a moot point now but I'd never post on a site that required me to use my full real name. It would be fine if I was a Thomas Williams or something but I think I'm the only person with my name in the entire world.

facebook is (mostly) an extension of real life. it's real life contacts brought online. because of that it only makes sense to use real names.

that doesn't eliminate the desire people have to be anonymous. things like facebook aren't going away, but things like 4chan aren't either.

it doesn't really make sense sense for blizzard to implement something like this at first glance because people go there for an escape from real life, not an extension of it, even though plenty of people play with their ~*~ irl ~*~ friends. if real names were going to make an appearance in-game as opposed to just on the forums i'd probably interpret it as a marketing strategy, because it's a way to get market penetration they don't already have. the wow facebook apps are basically a way to try to accomplish that. each HEY I JUST LOOTED THE SUPERIOR MONKEYFIST OF THE FISHGOD post is really just a "hey, i play wow" reminder to your friends, which is a lot more powerful than their mr t ads or whatever in terms of psychological influence.

also: while there are places like facebook and places like 4chan, i've never seen a place like 4chan try to turn into a place like facebook. i don't imagine that sort of thing would go over well, which is probably why no company has tried it.

I think things are going to go the opposite way, actually. People can be really naive when it comes to putting their personal information out there on the internet. As doing this comes back to haunt more and more people, I think they're going to seek more privacy on the internet again.

People at my work have been written up and fired over stuff on Facebook. It's why I don't use my real last name on mine. I know I've heard lots of stories of other people having problems with being hired or at their school because of stuff on myspace or facebook soon. I just can't see this continuing on and not changing as news of this stuff becomes more widespread.

Also it's a moot point now but I'd never post on a site that required me to use my full real name. It would be fine if I was a Thomas Williams or something but I think I'm the only person with my name in the entire world.

These things stick out, though. Without facebook there are plenty of other BS (or possibly not BS!) reasons for people to get fired. I don't think this is an argument against using your real name online any more than it's an argument against going outside that you might get hit by a car.

On facebook people have control over what they post, and who can see it. If they're writing things on there that could get them fired and they're exposing them to people who can fire them, I don't think it's much different from doing things that could get them fired in real life. Maybe the reasons for firing them were good or bad, but it isn't affected by the medium through which their actions were discovered.



facebook is (mostly) an extension of real life. it's real life contacts brought online. because of that it only makes sense to use real names.

that doesn't eliminate the desire people have to be anonymous. things like facebook aren't going away, but things like 4chan aren't either.

it doesn't really make sense sense for blizzard to implement something like this at first glance because people go there for an escape from real life, not an extension of it, even though plenty of people play with their ~*~ irl ~*~ friends. if real names were going to make an appearance in-game as opposed to just on the forums i'd probably interpret it as a marketing strategy, because it's a way to get market penetration they don't already have. the wow facebook apps are basically a way to try to accomplish that. each HEY I JUST LOOTED THE SUPERIOR MONKEYFIST OF THE FISHGOD post is really just a "hey, i play wow" reminder to your friends, which is a lot more powerful than their mr t ads or whatever in terms of psychological influence.

also: while there are places like facebook and places like 4chan, i've never seen a place like 4chan try to turn into a place like facebook. i don't imagine that sort of thing would go over well, which is probably why no company has tried it.

People will always want to be anonymous online, and I don't think 4chan and similar places will ever disappear. But 4chan isn't like Blizzard; they don't have the same kind of image concerns.

A lot of people are arguing about the negative effects of switching to real names on battle.net (some of which I readily admit are significant), but they're mixing up causes and effects. Much of the issues surrounding the switch to real IDs are actually the result of a culture that has been built up around anonymity. The transition may not be the easiest, but I think Blizzard wants to try to switch over to something that is eventually like Facebook so that they can have the same sort of public acceptance that Facebook has. For example, I've been seeing posts about how people don't want to be associated with WoW outside of WoW because of the stigma around WoW players. But the stigma exists because the players are outside the consciousness of the average "normal person." Blizzard is trying to bring battle.net out into the open so that WoW players will be viewed for what they are by and large—normal people with regular lives. If you were Blizzard, wouldn't you be concerned about a widespread stereotype that all of your players are shut in losers with mental problems who sit in their mom's basement all day and pee in a bucket?

I've also seen a lot of people claiming, "it should be a person's choice to display their name or not" or some variant. That's true, but they aren't being forced to. If Blizzard decides that you have to display your real name to play their game, you have a choice between displaying your name and playing, or not displaying it and not playing. There's no right to play a game anonymously. I just think the amount of moral indignation around it is kind of ridiculous.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJc8A0rUyyo

Video about the forum. Forums in general.

I could care less whether they display real names or not.
If it deters people from talking shit, then im all for it. I really hate it when people talk shit to noobs who are barely learning how to play, or when people think they're all fuckin bad ass when they win especially cause they had clan help (Its probably why I just mute the mic when i play multiplayer games, I tend to talk shit back and piss people off especially when I get back at them in the game LMFAO).

Anyways, im all for anonymity, but if people are just there to talk trash and harass people, then why the fuck hide behind a false persona?!

I think there are better ways for cutting the trolls and harassment than giving your real name. As it has been said before, there are some malicious people that will backtrack those ones who dislikes, and harass them.

For example, they can be more strict with the trolls and banning them at first sight.

I am against those "post rating system" that Blizzard announced. I see that it'll work like YouTube comment rating system, and people will downvote post because they don't like some people, or they're butthurt.