Real names on Blizzard forums

Skcornnelg

Skcornnelg

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

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=25712374700&sid=1


Blizzard have announced that the RealID will extend to all official Blizzard forums in the coming months. It basically means that if you post on the official forums your real name and surname will appear.
Apparently it is Blizzards attempt to reduce the amount of trolling, flame wars, etc from the official forums.

Probably not a big issue if you don't post on the official forums but, naturally, it has had a huge negative response from the community.
 
thatbloke

thatbloke

Junior Administrator
That's complete bollocks.

The reason we come up with handles online is specifically because we do not know who we are talking to.

I don't want 12 million people being able to associate my actions in a GAME to a real person. It also means that account hacking becomes easier as you suddenly have a person's real name.

In addition, the potential for harassment outside of the game skyrockets - one search of my real name on somewhere like facebook and suddenly they have a target for such harassment.

Someone linked in another thread a story where someone went and stabbed some CSS player because he killed him in-game. If I spend an evening being an absolute arse to someone in a game they then can find my name out, and may well be able to find out enough to be able to find me and do something similar. Do I want that to happen? no.

I'll not be buying anything more from Blizzard until said policy is reversed.
 
G

Gombol

Guest
Forums are normally full with trolls. I fail to see a real problem.
 
AcidK

AcidK

New Member
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Nuff said...
 
BiG D

BiG D

Administrator
Staff member
If I read correctly, though, showing your character name is optional. So you don't have to have a link between yourself and your character if you don't want to. There shouldn't be any issues with someone tracking you down unless you make that link voluntarily.

The reason nothing will change with regards to trolls is because everyone is still anonymous, strange as that sounds. A name is generally not enough to uniquely identify someone. Just because you know someone's name doesn't mean you know who they are. Alcoholics Anonymous, for instance, runs on this basis.
 
thatbloke

thatbloke

Junior Administrator
so a Blizzard GM that gave his name out and then within hours deleted his facebook profile, who then posted a threat to ban anyone that posts any information about him doesn't ring any alarm bells?

for those of you in the UK, I suggest you check out www.192.com
 
L

Lideon

Member
thatbloke said:
for those of you in the UK, I suggest you check out www.192.com
Click to expand...

As you were posting this, I did a quick google of my name, I found that I was able to find my approximate age, family members/people I live with. They could also have access to my address and phone numbers if they were willing to pay for an account. All this information gleaned from official sources I.E government documents...

I believe you don't need much more information than that to commit identity theft do you not..

Thus in an age/society whereby your personal information is the most valuable asset we own (business/governments regularly sell our information to each other) we should all be taking appropriate action to make sure that we keep it as private as possible online.

Lideon

PS on further searching through this website, i found that a for a small sum of money (23p to be exact) you can also gain access to the Birth/Marriage and Death records of people. Which is of more concern.
 
BiG D

BiG D

Administrator
Staff member
It just seems all rather hypocritical. Some folks here get quite pissy when they're asked not to use real names on the forums, and now everyone is all pissy because Blizzard is mandating exactly that?

How many people angry about this realID thing already have a facebook account? hmmm?
 
L

Lideon

Member
But that is besides the point Big D, facebook is a choice, if I choose to be there its because I wanted to be .. and also I'm there with the ability to choose who can have access to my page, and the information posted on there is within my control.. only information I wish to be in the public domain in listed. Where as with Blizzard there isn't even an opt-out/in button where there should be.

Lideon
 
thatbloke

thatbloke

Junior Administrator
Just picked the following up from the threadnaught on the WoW forums... (Which just 22 hours after being posted already has over 5000 posts on it)

Expect to see the following (or at least something very similar) posted a couple of months after the changes go into effect:

Recently, we connected the Real ID feature to the World of Warcraft official forums. So far we have gathered nothing but positive feedback - the forums truly have become a better, more enjoyable place for players to visit.

Today, we wanted to give you a heads up about another upcoming major change: Real ID will finally become a part of your in-game character and accompany you while venturing through Azeroth. Anyone logging in will be doing so having their Real ID - that is, their real-life first and last name - displayed along with their character name, title and guild name. Additionally, you'll have the option to add your Facebook profile to your character panel. While this particular feature will be entirely voluntary, the integration of Real ID will be part of everyone's gaming experience.

Despite being a (hopefully enjoyable) game World of Warcraft has always provided certain social networking features - however, with anonymity comes antisocial behaviour. Ninjalooting, namecalling and spamming, general rudeness in groups as well as in chat channels and other unpleasantness run wild. Removing the veil of fantasy names typical to online games will contribute to a more positive gaming environment.

We're aware that critical voices will be part of the upcoming discussion. Rest assured that we'll read every reply and take valid concerns into account. However, on our quest to provide the best gaming experience as well as a network of newfound friends we feel like Real ID and your characters simply belong together.

For more info on Real ID, check out our Real ID page and FAQ located at http://eu.battle.net/realid/ . We look forward to answering your questions about these upcoming in-game changes in the thread below.
Click to expand...

The horrible truth is, I can actually imagine that happening.
 
Zaggu

Zaggu

In Cryo Sleep
The day that happened would be the day I'd instantly cancel my sub never to return. As much as I love to play WoW, there is no way in hell a company is going to force me to use my actual name ingame.

People in the guild know my name because I told them, I opted to have people know what my name and when Madrak comes banging on my door begging for my manlyhood it is my sole pleasur... errr... responsability as it was a choice I made. Imposing the alienation of an age-old practice which are forum / game handles and associating a WoW account to its owner for all to see is one of the most dreadful ideas I've seen.
 
Windzarko

Windzarko

Well-Known Member
thatbloke said:
Expect to see the following (or at least something very similar) posted a couple of months after the changes go into effect
Click to expand...

Q-man, don't DO that to me! I misread it (and so did Brad) and we thought it was an announcement of something that was definitely going in...

Put simply, I'll probably just close my WoW account if they start forcing the displaying of details like that alongside your character to ANYONE who cares to view. It goes beyond potential security hazard and gross violation of personal privacy, it's just plain pants-on-head retarded.
 
H

HotStuff

Member
Part of the fun in roaming about Azeroth is knowing it is a fantasy secret life from your serious real one. The fact that this new thing is called real-id pretty much says it all.

This game is fast becoming way tooooooo serious. That authenticator (as used by MOD) was taking it far, but dispalying your real name in game for all to see is just plain.....**************

Am just glad my real name is quite common.

I am worried about the next thing Blizzard are going to introduce. It could end up if you have a wow character you MUST wear a badge in real life giving name of your character and realm. Blizzard, by then will have so much money they will employ officers to do random checks. :S

Back to being serious, wouldn't this type of technology be of better use in chat rooms?
 
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