[U.S.S. Hyperion]

Anyone registerd in the official Blizzard forums beware: They are planning a terrible thing:

http://forums.battle.net/thread.html...Id=25626109041

I am tired of game companies doing bull**** like this. It is not the illegal copying that is killing PC gaming... it is the ****ing industry itself.

First of the remove LAN play for Starcraft 2 and now this.... Blizzard was once a good company... but ever since they merged with Activision things got worse and worse.


I only hope many people will not buy anything from then for a long time. At least long enough to make the message sink in, that your customers are to be treated with respect.

There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.
Sam Walton

[Iam118]

While I do see it as an issue, I'll play devil's advocate for a minute. There are a lot of reasons to do something like this too. TBH complete anonymity on the internet is a huge reason why so many people on the internet, and especially places like MMO forums are full of idiotic bitching and general asinine behavior.

As a WoW player, I would bet it'd probably clean up a lot of stupid bs on their forums, which in general are about 98% stupid bs.

There's also the reason that Starcraft's biggest fanbase, S. Korea has a new law that requires websites of a certain size user base, MUST make user's real names visible.

Of course there's a lot of privacy concerns this opens up that I hope are really being considered, but you need to decide what you're getting upset over the privacy concerns or the fact that next time you make an immature rant on the WoW forums that instead of being WoWplayer13 you're now John Smith?

The internet in general has long needed some level of accountibility, I don't see a problem with movement in that direction, but it has to be done intelligently.

[U.S.S. Hyperion]

While I do see it as an issue, I'll play devil's advocate for a minute. There are a lot of reasons to do something like this too. TBH complete anonymity on the internet is a huge reason why so many people on the internet, and especially places like MMO forums are full of idiotic bitching and general asinine behavior.

As a WoW player, I would bet it'd probably clean up a lot of stupid bs on their forums, which in general are about 98% stupid bs.

There's also the reason that Starcraft's biggest fanbase, S. Korea has a new law that requires websites of a certain size user base, MUST make user's real names visible.

Of course there's a lot of privacy concerns this opens up that I hope are really being considered, but you need to decide what you're getting upset over the privacy concerns or the fact that next time you make an immature rant on the WoW forums that instead of being WoWplayer13 you're now John Smith?

The internet in general has long needed some level of accountibility, I don't see a problem with movement in that direction, but it has to be done intelligently.

The problem is in fact, that knowing your real name can have desastrous effects on your REAL LIFE. An employee from Blizzard wanted to cease the concerns and posted his real name. He regrettet it dearly. In a matter of minutes, people found out his adress, phone number, facebook profile. He was thaught first hand of how stupid an idea it is. And consider: The internet forgets nothing, you can bet that in 10 years you will still be able to see pictures from him, although he now has closed down all his social networking sites. Thinks like that can ruin your career quite permanently, because nowadays more and more companies check peoples background in the web before hiring them.

When there is a problem with misbehavior on the forums, there is a simple solution for that, that is even more effective than the real name.

Bad behavior on the forums = game ban for 2 weeks. No refund of course.

That solves the problem quite well.



UPDATE: Following the outcry of the community and very negative press Blizzzard has surrendered. The plans were abandoned.

http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread....16839821&sid=1

[Locutus]

iam glad they changed it... there forums would be pretty empty if they had continued their path

[Cat]

While I do see it as an issue, I'll play devil's advocate for a minute. There are a lot of reasons to do something like this too. TBH complete anonymity on the internet is a huge reason why so many people on the internet, and especially places like MMO forums are full of idiotic bitching and general asinine behavior. (Snip.)

(Not flaming, just commenting.)

I can see that point. However, on my end, I despise this shift toward requiring everyone to use their legal names on forums and social networking sites.

First, I don't want world+dog, and / or potential employers to be able to google me and find out everything about my online personal life. Frankly, it's none of their business. And yes, I do know people who've been either reprimanded or fired because they had an online journal or a blog, even if they didn't write about work.

Second, I've been stalked, in the past. I really do NOT want my former stalker to decide they miss me and be able to find where I'm living, what I'm doing, and who the people in my life are. I've been on the 'net since early 1994, and have never used my given name in forums on on social networking sites. People don't just use pseudonyms because they want to be asinine online. (Note: I'm not saying you suggested they do.)

Frankly, I sincerely believe that this shift toward requiring legal names has two primary purposes: Making datamining easier, and making targeted advertising easier. I think the whole 'accountability' issue is more smokescreen than not, and being used as an excuse to implement the policies. (I wonder if advertisers are willing to pay more to advertise on sites which have this policy.)

Anyhow, that's my opinion. Your mileage may vary. Fly safe, everyone.

[Neo]

Firstname: N
Surname: eo

[Christopher Halsey]

Although I do agree that if real names were displayed it would probably help with a lot of the poor behaviour on forums I think people should be allowed a certain degree of privacy.

Gaming in particular is a good escape from someone's real life, it is a leisure activity and in an MMO you play a character you have created. I think people should be allowed to have an alter ego for this sort of activity, it doesn't do any harm but provides some escapism from a world where most people's lives consist of sleeping, waking up, going to work and then being able to spend the remaining few hours of their existance to eat, drink and then do something they actually want to do before the cycle repeats.

I think if someone wants to keep their real life seperate from their virtual one then let them. Blizzard obviously know everyone's details since registration is required however I am not entirely sure how their system would work because what would stop someone registering with a fake name? And what do their terms and conditions say regarding protecting information? I am sure most terms and conditions state about protecting your privacy so how can they suddenly publish your personal information without your consent anyway?

I am glad to see Blizzard abandoned the idea. I really don't think it was particularly well thought out on their part and is something that is definately just going to piss off the people that keep them in business.

[Burtonshaw]

Perhaps a compromise of the last name only, or the first initial and full surname?

Less chance of finding private data, but enough data to make one wary of their posts. (personally, i have always used this option anyway)

[John Hathaway]

I think they were forced to conclude that while their intentions were good, their idea was not. Solving internet "noobs"... heh I hope they let the rest of us know when they figure that little chessnut out.