Real ID Announcement Part of Plan, Says Blizzard

[Logan Westbrook]

Real ID Announcement Part of Plan, Says Blizzard

Blizzard says that it had been seeking feedback when it announced that real names would be mandatory on its forums.

Earlier this month, Blizzard surprised pretty much everyone by announcing [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/101916-Blizzard-Forums-Make-Real-Names-Mandatory] that in order to use its forums in the future, people would have to use the Real ID service and post under their real names. The idea proved unpopular and Blizzard changed its mind [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/101979-Blizzard-Nixes-Plans-to-Require-Real-Names] just days later, but senior executive Michael Ryder said that the announcement had been part of a process, and a successful one at that.

Ryder said that Blizzard put a lot of stock into the views of its players, and always sought the opinions of the community before it made this kind of decision. Blizzard hadn't been surprised to receive feedback, he said, as that was exactly what it had wanted.

Ryder said that the process had been successful in this instance, and Blizzard had been able to take the community's feedback and consider it along with all the other factors before making its final decision. "Ultimately we decided we would not go in that direction for the time being," he said. "And see if there were other ways we could address the objective we had, which was to improve the forums generally."

Source: Eurogamer [http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/blizzard-on-real-id-the-process-worked]





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[Premonition]

So basically this is like when you do something unimaginably stupid and quickly say to cover your ass: I meant to do that.

 

[DTWolfwood]

Kinda like the proverbial "I wanted to do that" statement after you accidentally tripped and got pie in your face.

Nice try. XD

 

[D_987]

If that was the case then why not just ask the community instead of throwing it on them and then retracting it? There's no way this was a test because all it did was hurt their image...

 

[Midniqht]

This sounds kind of hokey. The whole "that's what we were intending all along" thing never really sounds legit. Announcing that you're going to be changing the system is not the same as asking for feedback. I think they're trying to make it seem less like a stupid mistake.

 

[Irridium]

Covering-your-ass 101: Say it was all part of your plan.

 

[Loonerinoes]

LOL! Heh...I think the best way to reply to this would be with a single, time-honored internet phrase.

"Cool story, bro."

It reminds me of someone standing up for something on an internet forum, then getting popular opinion turned against them radically and *then* coming out to say "Only hahahahaha no, you see - I trolled u! It was all part of my grandmaster plan!" when it backfires on them.

I still like RealID as an optional thing, don't get me wrong. But please...imagewise, saying something like this is not quite helping I think. Also, the 'improving the forums' objective statement really isn't fooling anyone but the casuals at this point, though I suppose that is a market to which Blizzard finds itself catering moreso these days so...at least points for that.

 

[Meoith]

We see what your doing there Blizzard.

 

[Ken Sapp]

If that was the case then why not just ask the community instead of throwing it on them and then retracting it? There's no way this was a test because all it did was hurt their image...

Actually you can pretty much guarantee that they got far more feedback from telling everybody they were going to do it than if they had "asked". Whether or not that had been their actual intent is still hazy though.

Edit: I want Local LAN play in SCII without involving Battle.net now please.

 

[KEM10]

Blizzard's main plan is to clean up the forums and the Real ID was one idea that they were going to go forward with. Ya, this is a cop out, but shouldn't we be cheering them on for doing something to counteract the trolling?

 

[Loonerinoes]

Blizzard's main plan is to clean up the forums and the Real ID was one idea that they were going to go forward with. Ya, this is a cop out, but shouldn't we be cheering them on for doing something to counteract the trolling?

Not really, because as stated many times over by observers, it's not about trolling on the forums. It's about marketing, making the system more compatible with arena.net and facebook so as to increase social networking and marketing potential.

But really...why bother repeating this to people at this point. As I wrote in another thread...can't this issue just die already? It's incredibly transparent and boring to me personally at least. But I suppose Blizzard wants to keep it going for a bit longer with press statements like this so...

 

[DominicxD]

You know, I would have respected them if they came out, said they were taking the piss, and left us with the words "Deal with it".

Trying to make it seem like he meant it or w/e doesn't work for me.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Ryder said that Blizzard put a lot of stock into the views of its players, and always sought the opinions of the community before it made this kind of decision. Blizzard hadn't been surprised to receive feedback, he said, as that was exactly what it had wanted.

Oh really?

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/102355-BioWare-Mythic-Surprised-by-Blizzard-Real-ID-Plans : Blizzard badly misread its community, says BioWare Mythic's general manager. - Nilcypher

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/101946-Blizzard-is-Definitely-Listening-to-Real-ID-Feedback : Blizzard has noticed and is "definitely listen to player feedback," a rep told Gamasutra. "[We] will be carefully monitoring how people are using the service. Real ID is a new and different concept for Blizzard gamers - and for us as well - and our goal is to create a social gaming service that players want to use." - Malygris

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.210182-Blizzard-Nixes-Plans-to-Require-Real-Names : In response to overwhelmingly negative feedback, Blizzard has changed its plans to display users' real names on its forums. - John Funk

If you can't convince your peers, you really can't convince your public.

What you could do is...say...give away a free game to counteract that bad marketing hit?

Now, I'm no great marketing manager but given that Starcraft 2 is out sometime...perhaps there's another title in your back-catalog that you could release to all those on Battlenet?

Something about CRAFTing in STARS?

Something people might want to play?

[small]Something that might give people the idea you care about your PR face?[/small]

[sub]A STARt to your new CRAFT?[/sub]

 

[Ayjona]

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.210182-Blizzard-Nixes-Plans-to-Require-Real-Names : In response to overwhelmingly negative feedback, Blizzard has changed its plans to display users' real names on its forums. - John Funk

The Escapist publishing an article claiming that Blizzard changed their plans, does not mean that Blizzard THEMSELVES would use the expressions "changed" (which would have been contrary to their new statement of seeking feedback, indeed).

That said, if they only sought feedback, why not ask the community about their opinions on the upcoming RealID system before actually announcing it?

 

[KEM10]

Not really, because as stated many times over by observers, it's not about trolling on the forums. It's about marketing, making the system more compatible with arena.net and facebook so as to increase social networking and marketing potential.

Oh yes, having an MMO with social network capabilities is so outlandish. Heaven forbid that you are playing with real people and Blizzard is trying to smooth along that process.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.210182-Blizzard-Nixes-Plans-to-Require-Real-Names : In response to overwhelmingly negative feedback, Blizzard has changed its plans to display users' real names on its forums. - John Funk

The Escapist publishing an article claiming that Blizzard changed their plans, does not mean that Blizzard THEMSELVES would use the expressions "changed" (which would have been contrary to their new statement of seeking feedback, indeed).

Nope, but given members of the Escapist are games journalists who have an active love of Blizzard, if their reporting is "unfavourable" to the company line; then you have to wonder where the company line is coming from.

And it sounds like the place where spiders webs come from.

 

[Loonerinoes]

Not really, because as stated many times over by observers, it's not about trolling on the forums. It's about marketing, making the system more compatible with arena.net and facebook so as to increase social networking and marketing potential.

Oh yes, having an MMO with social network capabilities is so outlandish. Heaven forbid that you are playing with real people and Blizzard is trying to smooth along that process.

*sigh*

Heaven forbid, that people should be FORCED into revealing real life information to people you don't even know rather than being presented with it as an OPTION.

There's an important distinction between the two and while Blizzard first wanted to push for the first, they later chose the second.

 

[John Funk]

That spin would make Andre Agassi proud.

 

[z3rostr1fe]

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.210182-Blizzard-Nixes-Plans-to-Require-Real-Names : In response to overwhelmingly negative feedback, Blizzard has changed its plans to display users' real names on its forums. - John Funk

The Escapist publishing an article claiming that Blizzard changed their plans, does not mean that Blizzard THEMSELVES would use the expressions "changed" (which would have been contrary to their new statement of seeking feedback, indeed).

Nope, but given members of the Escapist are games journalists who have an active love of Blizzard, if their reporting is "unfavourable" to the company line; then you have to wonder where the company line is coming from.

And it sounds like the place where spiders webs come from.

Iz it Cavez?