Battle.net 2.0 "RealID" Controversy

[ScytheRexx]

Not sure if anyone has been keeping up with one of the new features for Battle.net 2.0 (and by extension, WoW), but the new RealID social networking system has been a mixed bag in the Blizzard community.

If you don't know the system, here is a little breakdown. It allows you to speak with a "RealID" friend on any game, server, or faction that uses Battle.net 2.0. It does this by linking you up by your battle.net name, AKA, your REAL name.

You have those that don't mind the system, as it allows better communication with friends, and then you have those that hate the system, and refuse to use it even with friends or family, because of the issues of privacy. It was already a hot button topic since the latest patch.

Well, Blizzard decided to kick this up a notch and really get some hate rolling. They just announced phase two of the RealID system.

The first and most significant change is that in the near future, anyone posting or replying to a post on official Blizzard forums will be doing so using their Real ID -- that is, their real-life first and last name -- with the option to also display the name of their primary in-game character alongside it.

All I can say is, good or bad, this is going to ruffle a lot of feathers. Personally I don't use the forums enough for it to effect me on much of a level, so the whole thing has become a mixed bag in my eyes.

On the one hand, having everyone forced to reveal first and last names is a bit much and opens the door to some heavy privacy concerns. Piss off that guy during your ten page rant about why warlocks suck, and suddenly he could be trying to google your name. That is a scary notion to have someone gain personal knowledge about you.

On the other hand, this will cut down on trolling. And I mean, A LOT. No more can you post on a level 1 alt just to piss people off. This has the chance of making it so only those that are intelligent enough to talk constructively will stick around and help make the game better, rather then a bunch of random guy pissing and moaning about their class/spec/faction not being the best in all situations, while under the veil of anonymity.

Right now, I am leaning more on the side of unnecessary invasion of privacy, and that this system should be tweaked to become more option. There are many other ways Blizzard can remove trolls from the forum, like having a vote system or even just policing themselves a bit more vigorously. Promoting every players real name to the internet every time they post is almost asking for disaster.

 

[Dave]

Batte.net 2.0 "RealID" Controversy

As someone who is not that anonymous anyway, this wouldn't affect me. However, if my 16 year daughter wanted to post there I'd tell her it's a bad idea.

I see from where they are coming, but disagree that this is the way to do it. Privacy would be a big, big deal.

 

[sixpackshaker]

Batte.net 2.0 "RealID" Controversy

Now would be a good time to link the video of the walrus threatening violence upon her former guild-mates. Those same angry people go to those forums. Actually the WoW forums are quite dead. I looked in on them a couple of weeks ago. I could only find 3-6 threads that had replies in the last 3 months.

 

[Papillon]

Batte.net 2.0 "RealID" Controversy

The system was probably designed by a John Smith or Matthew Jones.

As someone with a rare first + last name combination with enough information online to lead back to me very quickly, I would be nervous posting on a game forum with my real name.

 

[Rob King]

Batte.net 2.0 "RealID" Controversy

I have, in the past, wished for the death of widespread anonymity on the internet. There are situations in which it is prudent to remain anonymous, but when it comes to screaming teenagers on messageboards I think if their words were connected to their physical bodies even only as far as a legal name, the internet would be a much better place.

 

[Dave]

Batte.net 2.0 "RealID" Controversy

In theory I agree with you. But we also have people on the internet who are just plain evil. And do you want them knowing who you are?

 

[Rob King]

Batte.net 2.0 "RealID" Controversy

In theory I agree with you. But we also have people on the internet who are just plain evil. And do you want them knowing who you are?

There are people in the world who are just plain evil. What protects me is that I know who they are.

---------- Post added at 03:58 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:57 PM ----------

All the same, I do see your point.

 

[sixpackshaker]

Batte.net 2.0 "RealID" Controversy

In theory I agree with you. But we also have people on the internet who are just plain evil. And do you want them knowing who you are?

There are people in the world who are just plain evil. What protects me is that I know who they are.

---------- Post added at 03:58 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:57 PM ----------

All the same, I do see your point.[/QUOTE]

Knowing who has the beef against you does not do you any good, until AFTER they do something. Then how would you or law enforcement know which individual you pissed off?

 

[ScytheRexx]

Well the controversy has hit a critical burn. One of the CMs posted his information in a thread defending the system, as an example that giving out your real name was not a big deal. The "Anon" community proceeded to search the internet to find anything they could about him, posting his address, facebook, photobucket, the name of his parents, his car, his phone number, and countless other personal details.

The thing I find most sad about it, is that 99% of the time no one would go through the effort to do what the anon community did to the CM. This was all an effort of retaliation towards the change, using large amount of people to spite the CM. More then anything it shows the one biggest limit to the system, and why Blizzard should reconsider going through with it...

People are assholes.

 

[Soliloquy]

May I add that there have numerous instances of people killing others around the world for online happenings?

 

[Telephius]

Well the controversy has hit a critical burn. One of the CMs posted his information in a thread defending the system, as an example that giving out your real name was not a big deal. The "Anon" community proceeded to search the internet to find anything they could about him, posting his address, facebook, photobucket, the name of his parents, his car, his phone number, and countless other personal details.

The thing I find most sad about it, is that 99% of the time no one would go through the effort to do what the anon community did to the CM. This was all an effort of retaliation towards the change, using large amount of people to spite the CM. More then anything it shows the one biggest limit to the system, and why Blizzard should reconsider going through with it...

People are assholes.

Yeah that last line is ultimatly the problem. While the RealID thing will stop the level 1 alt trolls from hiding behind their lowbie toons those level 1 alt trolls are like the amataur trolls who can be normal people venting in a trollish manner and will hate to face criticism in the game server world. The pro trolls will probably still post if they can until they get banned from the forums. Also any creative trolls will just use RealID to annoy people outside the game. Because as you said peole are assholes.

It is sad that the CM got trolled hard but at the same time I have a hard time feeling too sorry for the CM when they(Blizzard) seem to have a willful ignorance about some issues they like to implement. I feel sorry for the CM more so because he probably did not have much decision on the RealID system and is paying the usualy customer face price.

EDIT: I also feel bad if some of the CM's info is someone who as similar info and is being hassled because of this.

 

[Papillon]

The thing I find most sad about it, is that 99% of the time no one would go through the effort to do what the anon community did to the CM.

Effort? My contact info at the lab I was working at for my Master's is on the first page of search results for my full name on Google. There are about 10 households with my last name listed in the phonebook for my city. Google, a telephone and 10 minutes would give you more than you want to know about me. And I have a minimal web presence (not on any social networking websites).

 

[figmentPez]

The thing I find most sad about it, is that 99% of the time no one would go through the effort to do what the anon community did to the CM.

But what happens that other 1% of the time when someone does go all stalker? When someone does have motivation to seek out all that information, what do they do with it? Some fat nerd pissing off some other fat nerd is just the tip of the iceburg. I've known girls who have been stalking victims, and it's not pretty. I really don't like the idea of some young lady getting stalked because some obsessed creep decided "OMG she's a girl who plays Starcraft and she's totally my soulmate because she shares my strategy for countering a Zerg rush!"

---------- Post added at 12:52 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:48 AM ----------

Effort? My contact info at the lab I was working at for my Master's is on the first page of search results for my full name on Google. There are about 10 households with my last name listed in the phonebook for my city. Google, a telephone and 10 minutes would give you more than you want to know about me. And I have a minimal web presence (not on any social networking websites).

It's surprisingly easy. Especially if you've got a unique name. I doubt there are more than a dozen people in the entire country who have the same name as I do. A Google search mostly turns up results for a lawyer who is higher profile, but if you know my state you can find out my age and my entire immediate family (with a misspelling or two). Presumably with a little money you could find out a whole lot more.

 

[Jay]

Or they can hire mods.

This system is weak. In my case, if you goggle my name, the entire first page are hits on my shit. Privacy is a huge concern for me. How will I troll anymore?

 

[AshburnerX]

Basically, all that is going to happen is that most people will post in forums on a non-official website that allows them to keep their anonymity and then only use the official forums for bug reports and tech support. Blizzard will lack the feedback they need to refine their game and will lose direction in their future updates. Then, they will change the forum system to something that's not stupid.

 

[Dave]

Want to know who had a great take on the whole thing? Tim Buckley. This is his blog post from today. Ctrl+Alt+Del - Ctrl+Alt+Del - A troll by any other name... (2010-07-07)

So Blizzard has been setting up their new Battle.net, the umbrella under which all current and future Blizzard games will operate and be played. All of your Blizzard games are tied to your Battle.net account.

A couple of weeks ago, Blizzard implemented a neat feature in the new Battle.net, the Real ID system. The Real ID system is a friends list for your close friends and family whereby no matter what Blizzard game you're in (WoW, Starcraft 2, etc) your friends see you online (listed by your real name), and what game you're in. You can chat cross-game, cross-server and faction (in WoW), and once you add a friend, you can see them no matter what alt they're on or may make any time in the future.

It's a really handy and useful feature, though it took some getting used to. However, yesterday, Blizzard comes along and drops the bomb that the upcoming Starcraft 2 forums, as well as new WoW forums to be implemented before the next expansion, will use the same Real ID system. Meaning that from that point on, all forum posts will be made under your real first and last name.

The reason given, aside from Blizzard's goal to push gaming into a more social experience a la Facebook, was to combat the nuclear levels of trolling and flaming that the WoW forums are known for. If you've spent any time there, you know what I'm talking about. I've commented on it before. Blizzard's theory is that by removing a layer of anonymity, these trolls will be less likely to take their venom and vitriol to such extremes.

Now, let me start with the disclaimer that by and large I am unaffected by this change, and therefore the following opinions are those of an outsider looking in. Not only do I not use the WoW forums, but I don't employ anonymity to any great degree. My name is attached to this website, the comics and the news posts, and I post under my name on forums. Any opinions or thoughts I voice here, insightful or erroneous as they may be, are attached to my name. I don't say anything online that I wouldn't say in person. So the idea of posting on a forum under my real name doesn't phase me in the slightest.
With that said, from a speculative and curiosity standpoint, I'm torn on what to think about this RealID forum system.

On the one hand, I love it. I think it's a riot (it's a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine... I get a kick out of things that make people rage). While deep down I have suspicions that, given the response this has received, Blizzard will rescind its decision, I wish so incredibly much that they follow through with it. I am absolutely dying to see what would happen. Like a bit of a social experiment, I'm interested to see if people leave the forums in a mass exodus. If it promotes a friendlier and more social forum environment. If it spawns stalkers to the degree that everyone is predicting.

I want it to happen, not because I necessarily think it's a good idea (though I'm open to the possibility that it may turn out to be), but more because I think it would be fantastic to see the results.

And I certainly don't mean to belittle anyone's concerns about their full name being revealed. It may not affect me, but I'm positive there are players with incredibly valid reasons to keep their real identity separate from their WoW identity. While some of the posts I've seen are clearly fueled by rage, ignorance and fear-mongering (like the people who think they're the only ones on the planet with their name, or who think that knowing someone's full name immediately leads to having their IP address and social security number), I do believe that people have a right to determine, as much as they can control, who knows their real name online. I think that's a fair expectation.

I don't think people are going to be stalked to the degree they're suggesting, I don't think employers are going to be Googling names to see who has a WoW addiction on the level that they're suggesting. However there are legitimate concerns amongst the uproar. Female gamers, for instance, may face increased harassment or over-the-top "white knighting" as a result of being forced to disclose their gender on the forums.
To be fair, I absolutely do believe that accountability is a step in the right direction for the internet, but this Real ID system takes it a step too far I think. It's needlessly upsetting a great deal of people to achieve something that could be done with a happy middle-ground.

The current WoW forums system has to go, that much is clear. Currently you can choose to post as any of the characters on your WoW account. So people make level one alts to post as, so they can say whatever they want, troll and flame however they want, all without risking their reputation or the reputation of their main characters, the ones they've actually invested time into and play.

If they've got the Battle.net account system in place, why not allow us to choose a single nickname associated with the Battle.net account. Any time you want to post on a Blizzard forum, this is the name that is going to show up. This is the name that you are known by in the Blizzard community, no matter which game, until you decide you've fucked up enough that you need to buy a new account to get a clean slate. And if you're really nasty, Blizzard removes forum permissions for that Bnet account.

Take it one step further, even. Have this Battle.net nickname appear attached to all your in-game WoW characters as well. Keep the Real ID for real friends and families, use this other ID name for everyone else.

It seems to me that would accomplish the same ultimate goal, which is essentially to stop giving people easily removable, easily changeable masks from behind which to act like asshats, yet without using real names which is clearly a hot button for a lot of people (even if their fears may be blown a little out of proportion).

Because frankly, some people are going to troll no matter what, real identity or not. Some of the more cowardly ones will be deterred by the idea of being held accountable for what they say, but you don't necessarily need real names to do that. You just need a system with a constant ID that functions like our names do in real life. Always with you.

 

[sixpackshaker]

I can just see some one that is pissed at Blizz cruising the support forums and harassing the people that post there.

I've seen trolls track down message board members to a company, and report their online activity to their boss. And the woman lost her job. I don't think that the member even had a beef with the troll. He/She just wanted to prove how cute/smart they were.

 

[Jay]

That makes perfect sense. *stares at his coffee*

 

[Piotyr]

I really want to see Blizzard go through with this. Mostly because I'd like to see what actually happens in a forum when anonymity is completely gone. I'm pretty confident that at the least it'd remove 80-90% of the trolling and general dickishness of forum posts, at least at first.

Of course, it could just be replaced by passive-aggressive dickishness, anything a person can hide behind.

 

[ScytheRexx]

I agree with Buckley on this, and I really think Blizzard needs to have a "Battle.net ID" that is not tied to ones real name. I know a lot of people that would love to be more liberal with the RealID system, but refuse to do it because it gives out ones real name to everyone. It would also fix many of the issues on the boards without going to the extreme of giving out names for all the trolls to harass.

Come on Blizzard, I know you guys are smarter then this. You are on the line between making an improved, possibly rich community, and destroying what faith you have left with many players by giving out information they don't want to give. It should not be that hard to allow us to pick one single screen-name to be our battle.net persona, it really shouldn't.

 

[sixpackshaker]

Hell, I think more people know me by my screen names than know me in real-life.

 

[ElJuski]

I hate to say it but I think Buckley has the right idea. There's no way I'd want my real name to be hanging out in the WoW world. All of you boners here that know it is already too much.

 

[AshburnerX]

Actually... now that I think about this, it's entirely possibly they are doing this as a means to hinder Gold Selling. Tying a name to an account = Someone to sue if they are found to be selling gold/items/whatever.

 

[Piotyr]

While they're at it, they should just show a picture ID for their avatar, remove all transparency.

 

[ScytheRexx]

Actually... now that I think about this, it's entirely possibly they are doing this as a means to hinder Gold Selling. Tying a name to an account = Someone to sue if they are found to be selling gold/items/whatever.

This is already possible. Blizzard can already see our name no matter what character we use to play or post. Ever since the change to Battle.net 2.0 all our information for all Blizzard games are tied together under our e-mail and real name. All this change does, is show our real name to the public on the curtain rather then only Blizzard able to see it behind the curtain.

Even so, this change will do nothing to hamper Gold Sellers, since they don't actually play the game using any real information. If they buy an account, they pay with pre-paid cards and give a random name like John Doe, making a new battle.net e-mail each time. That is only if they buy it, which is rare now because most Gold Sellers make the gold they get through hacking other peoples accounts, using them for farming, promotion, etc... using bot addons. That guy you ran a dungeon with yesterday could be naked, teleporting through zones mining ore from under the ground the next day.

 

[Chazwozel]

This is probably the best way for Blizzard to tone down their forums to constructive only posts.

 

[Oddbot]

A great disturbance in the Forums. It was like a million anonymous trolls qq'ing out in unison, then suddenly silenced.

As someone who hasn't played WoW in years, and who remembers the festering cesspool that was the official forums, I find this change hilarious. The epic levels of nerd rage I've been seeing over this is really entertaining.
The ironic part is that if people didn't treat Blizz's forums as their own personal haven to anonymously troll and be complete asshats, Blizzard probably would have never done this. Many of the people that are crying the loudest are probably the ones that are most responsible for this whole mess in the first place.

Seriously though, I don't understand why Blizz just doesn't limit each account to be able to post on ONE character only, or just have a single s/n for your forum account like most other official MMO forums do.

 

[Chazwozel]

A great disturbance in the Forums. It was like a million anonymous trolls qq'ing out in unison, then suddenly silenced.

As someone who hasn't played WoW in years, and who remembers the festering cesspool that was the official forums, I find this change hilarious. The epic levels of nerd rage I've been seeing over this is really entertaining.
The ironic part is that if people didn't treat Blizz's forums as their own personal haven to anonymously troll and be complete asshats, Blizzard probably would have never done this. Many of the people that are crying the loudest are probably the ones that are most responsible for this whole mess in the first place.

Seriously though, I don't understand why Blizz just doesn't limit each account to be able to post on ONE character only, or just have a single s/n for your forum account like most other official MMO forums do.

Match point.

You guys realize that 99% of the Blizzard trolls are kids to begin with. Giving out real names and allowing parents to turn off little Johnny's forum access will probably kill off a good majority of the trolls.

 

[Shegokigo]

As many of you can imagine, I'm 100% behind this change.

It has it's downsides (people begin RL stalking those they are "interested" in or "hate") but for the most part, puts a serious damper on the idiocy that caused the WoW forums to be such a joke in the first place.

 

[Rob King]

As many of you can imagine, I'm 100% behind this change.

Honestly, seeing as you have always been notable (at least, in my eye) as one of the forumites here who makes serious effort to keep their real life segregated from the forum (alternatively "Try to keep the forum away from your real life"), I would have expected you to fall on the other side of this.

 

[Shegokigo]

I'd only be in trouble if I posted. :slywink:

 

[Rob King]

Aah. And now it seems obvious ...

 

[Element 117]

http://hellmode.com/2010/07/06/why-real-id-is-a-really-bad-idea/#more-390

Why Real ID is a Really Bad Idea
Written by Ashelia | July 6th, 2010 |

Back in the start of World of Warcraft, several years ago, I knew a guy who knew a guy. He was a forum warrior of sorts. He posted inflammatory stuff all day and night. One day, a group of people decided to reign him in and right the wrongs he’d besieged the community with. Long hours spent with search engines occurred and eventually a real life name was found. A few weeks later, a bouquet of roses and a dildo was sent to his door in care of his mother.
With the tables turned, the forum warrior was discovered to be just a helpless boy. He didn’t have an actual shield or sword like the name forum warrior implied. And his mother wasn’t very happy about the whole situation. The troll became trolled–and the realm of the internet carried over somewhat viciously into the real world.
Blizzard wrote today that with their new Real ID system, they hope to “connect the Blizzard community in ways they haven’t been connected before.” They plan on doing this by tying real life names to all forum posts from here on out.
I, however, posit that the community has been connecting in these ways for years–Blizzard is just naively unaware. And this is a very bad thing.
I remember when World of Warcraft’s mandatory merger with Battle.net was announced nearly a year ago. It was just an e-mail address, a universal login of sorts; it didn’t seem too threatening. There were whispers of big brother, but they sounded dramatic and paranoid. We even got a free in-game vanity pet out of it as a reward–it was hard not to agree with it. It seemed like such an inconsequential thing and the penguin was really cute.

But I suppose that’s how these things start. Not with a bang, but with a whimper–a gradual step here and there until suddenly you look back to realize everything’s changed. In that case, Blizzard certainly has been busy. Months after release, Battle.net IDs have become Real ID and Real ID has become linked not only as an optional feature in games like World of Warcraft or Starcraft 2 but to less optional methods of communication, like the official Blizzard forums where Blizzard takes feedback, lets players mingle, and even answers support tickets.
When Real ID came out a few weeks ago, I threw caution to the wind. Although my name is fairly uncommon, I immediately added everyone in my guild. I did this mostly because I like my guildmates, I trust them, and I’m an officer of our guild; it would be strange for me to not use this service. We killed heroic Lich King together, we make all kinds of obscene jokes, and although I’m one of two females in the entire guild of forty or so people, harassment is never an issue. I’m an equal. I’ve been here for over a year, and as such, giving these players my real life name wasn’t an issue.
This is a privilege I fully recognize. I haven’t always been that lucky and others definitely aren’t. But even in my privilege, there was a smaller problem. The guildmates I’d friended had friends who could see me as well because of this. For some reason, Real ID came with the feature that everyone can view other people’s friends–that is to say if I friend Joe, I can then see Joe’s friends and Joe’s friends can see me. It seemed wholly unnecessary and it was the first step in the Battle.net merger I would disagree with. The problem is, it wasn’t the last. It was, instead, the start of the proverbial slippery slope.
As I’ve alluded to, Blizzard announced today that all posts on their forums will be now using Real ID. This is mandatory–if you want to post, you have to post this way. Luckily it isn’t retroactive, but in the distant future for all Blizzard titles, real life names will be next to those who post. This will affect everyone, even Blizzard employees. They are also adding a karma feature that will be a lot like Reddit or Digg.
This is a horrible idea. Forcing people to sign real life name to a forum post is problematic on a basic level. The internet is largely what it is because of its anonymity–for better and for worse. Many great discussions have been had solely because someone could submit their words without worry of being judged. While it’s unavoidable that some people use anonymity to grief others, they aren’t as large factor on forums as heavily moderated as Blizzard’s. When Blizzard offers that requiring the inclusion of real life names will make gamers more civil and promote polite discussion, I must wonder if they’ve seen most gamers. The ones who played by the rules–who will sign at the dotted x on every forum post–were never the ones who were meant to be civilized. In fact, they are the ones being punished by this new system.

All Blizzard is effectively doing is giving those who fall between the cracks and margins more fodder to mess with people who do continue to use their services. A lot more fodder. Real life names, addresses, and downright terrifying fodder.
Additionally, by using a full name, players are tied to their real life persona and unable to separate themselves from their online one. In this system, it becomes linked forever in search engines. This means potential employers could find out if a player was a World of Warcraft fan and even the characters they have with a simple search. As cool of a story as it would make to be fired because your boss is staunch Horde and you’re Alliance (or more likely, because you play video games and your employer frowns upon MMORPGs in general), realistically there are aspects of one’s private life that don’t look good during an interview process. My boss doesn’t need to necessarily know if I have three level 80s, or if my arena team is about to get Gladiator using a cheap team composition.
There’s other issues, too. Women might find it harsher with new avenues of harassment opened. Transgendered people could be inadvertently outted when someone sees Sally, the friendly Paladin chick, posting under the name Steve. Someone could have a distinctive name and be disregarded solely because their name sounded like a person of a certain background, race, religion, or otherwise. And if someone’s a minor–or even major–celebrity, having their name exposed could be damaging. From Felicia Day to Mila Kunis, I doubt they’d like their alternative identity exposed simply because they decided to post a suggestion on the WoW forums or report a bug to support.
At the time of writing this, I have a friend who works for Blizzard and even she is upset about her name being tied to her video game identity–just a quick Google search with her real life name and you can find her LinkedIn where she mentions her affiliated companies, one of which is Blizzard. She says she simply will stop posting on the forums to avoid any mishaps, but she shouldn’t have to. To some degree, she knows and admits this, but what can she do? It’s her lifeblood. She’s not able to just quit her job because of a bad policy, so instead she’ll just opt out of posting on forums she enjoys.
That’s largely the point. People shouldn’t have to stop posting or stop using a product because of a larger marketing scheme. This should have never been a decision. There should have been another option; I can think of several off the top of my head. Blizzard could have adopted a Steam-like policy of usernames and then nicknames so users can define exactly how personal they would like their encounter to be. Another solution would have been to use a first name and last initial instead. Or maybe unique ID codes could be linked to real life names, but the code could be shown in the public so people don’t know their real life details.
And as for the ability to like posts and promote them to the top, maybe I’m negative, but I can see it quickly getting out of hand. Imagine an entire guild down voting your suggestion to a developer for no reason other than your guild is their rival guild or because you used to know them until you had a falling out of sorts. Of course, by even posting your suggestion out there, you’ve just given hundreds of people who may or may not loathe your existence your full name–let alone the trade chat trolls who will find it.
I mean, you better hope they are mostly all bark and not a lot of bite. And you really better hope they aren’t remotely connected to 4chan or other internet groups. Or at least not good with a phonebook.

When Blizzard first unveiled the Real ID system, I was excited against my better judgment. It brought my WoW guildmates together. We did things like make fun of each other’s names, put updates that were laughing at inside jokes, and enjoy the novelty of seeing formal names instead of character whispers in-game. But the novelty has since worn off with this announcement and now I’m disappointed. Extremely disappointed, actually.
Like I said, there were options. Unfortunately it seems Blizzard executives chose not to look into them and then turned a blind eye. It’s just a shame that this lack of foresight will probably at the very least result in the harassment of many thousands of individuals–if it doesn’t end up causing something worse for a select few.
As for me, I haven’t forgotten about the person from France who spent over six months to track down and attempt murder on a guy who fragged him in Counter-strike (NY Daily News). Call me pessimistic all you want, but I have to wonder if Blizzard’s marketing department even thought about it.
Or if they’ll even listen to us now.

 

[Telephius]

A great disturbance in the Forums. It was like a million anonymous trolls qq'ing out in unison, then suddenly silenced.

As someone who hasn't played WoW in years, and who remembers the festering cesspool that was the official forums, I find this change hilarious. The epic levels of nerd rage I've been seeing over this is really entertaining.
The ironic part is that if people didn't treat Blizz's forums as their own personal haven to anonymously troll and be complete asshats, Blizzard probably would have never done this. Many of the people that are crying the loudest are probably the ones that are most responsible for this whole mess in the first place.

Seriously though, I don't understand why Blizz just doesn't limit each account to be able to post on ONE character only, or just have a single s/n for your forum account like most other official MMO forums do.

Match point.

You guys realize that 99% of the Blizzard trolls are kids to begin with. Giving out real names and allowing parents to turn off little Johnny's forum access will probably kill off a good majority of the trolls.[/QUOTE]

It may get rid of some trolls but I doubt all while also probably scaring off helpful posters who are weary of the change. Also its not like all forums trolls are children, I mean on this forum where trolling severity is not that bad and sometimes accidental, I recall people being accused of following other posters thread history so they can post in those threads to make snarky comments and I am fairly confident most posters hear are adults. I mean if 18+ people acted like mature grown ups all the time I am sure downtown Toronto would not have been vandalized during the G20.

 

[tegid]

Here's what a see: overall, they are trying to create a social network a la facebook, but they don't see that in facebook you can protect your info as much as you want. Not only is privacy an important issue, but you can use false names.