Blizzard Forums Make Real Names Mandatory
- Thread starter Logan Westbrook
- Start date
So, if I ever post an opinion someone doesn't like in a Blizzard forum, I'll get shit delivered to my house now?
Oh joy, though I suppose I can't complain too much as I don't even play WoW anymore.
Oh joy, though I suppose I can't complain too much as I don't even play WoW anymore.
This brings me to the real point behind all of this. Yes, the users that don't want to be outed in front of their bosses can just stop using the forums. Yes, the ladies can do the same or make a new account. But they shouldn't have to. People shouldn't be forced out of a community they've come to know and love, just because they have a completely legal hobby that happens to be looked down upon by their employers. It's fucked up that they're being forced into this situation just because Blizzard wants to suck the same tit that Facebook's been hogging for all these years.commasplice said:
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This is what I agree with, and is why I also mentioned it myself. Sure I can stop posting on the forums, or change my account name (not sure you can actually do that, but oh hey...) I can do all sorts of things to avoid being noticed on the internet, like I don't know USE A SCREEN NAME!
So that is why I am against it, its that simple.
Also I think the sense of community dies when we loose screen names. Today you post as the character of choice on the wow forums. When a wow friend of mine is reading the forums he will instantly know it was ME that made the post. But that same in game friend might not know my actual name, so he will no longer know it was me. (As far as I understood you can choose to add your mains name or not to the forums)
The Real ID thing is cool for keeping your REAL friends close, but not for keeping the forums clean...
I hate this because:
Blizzard is making their forums more like Facebook
Blizzard is a wealthy company which other companies sometimes copy off
If other companies copy it'll soon spread
Internet anonymity will soon be a thing of the past
It might be an exaggeration but seriously I'm sick all these bullshit internet laws being introduced(especially when you are at ground zero,aka Australia) and all Blizzard is doing is laxing them with fucking bullshit, it's like drm for identities, the ones who enter their real indentities will suffer from it(stalking, connecting google searches of their names to their WoW posts, like those fuckwits who can freely discriminate against people who play games, as much as I don't like WoW I would never judge someone's work ethic by the games they play,just their taste) and the ones who enter fake names like Sook Mius will be allowed to troll again without a fear.
Activision needs to die, it is cancer
If Blizzard doesn't separate themselves from Activision they will need to meet the same fate.
Blizzard is making their forums more like Facebook
Blizzard is a wealthy company which other companies sometimes copy off
If other companies copy it'll soon spread
Internet anonymity will soon be a thing of the past
It might be an exaggeration but seriously I'm sick all these bullshit internet laws being introduced(especially when you are at ground zero,aka Australia) and all Blizzard is doing is laxing them with fucking bullshit, it's like drm for identities, the ones who enter their real indentities will suffer from it(stalking, connecting google searches of their names to their WoW posts, like those fuckwits who can freely discriminate against people who play games, as much as I don't like WoW I would never judge someone's work ethic by the games they play,just their taste) and the ones who enter fake names like Sook Mius will be allowed to troll again without a fear.
Activision needs to die, it is cancer
If Blizzard doesn't separate themselves from Activision they will need to meet the same fate.
I don't see how knowing your name changes anything. It's not like they know your adress or anything. and even if they were of the mind to try and find out based on your name It's not like I'm the only Eric in the world. Knowing that a troll is named mike will not make them less likely to troll.
From the moment I listened to Radiohead for the first time I've been waiting for a concert somewhere in my neighbourhood, actually. It turned out that they gave a (great) concert two months from then, but the tickets were all sold out already. And after that they haven't done a show even remotely close to where I live, so far. Hell, they haven't been touring for quite a long time anywhere at all. I heard they're making a new album, but that doesn't make my impatience go away.commasplice said:
I'm not much of a concert-person, but if their concerts are anything like that Jools Holland video you posted, then I want to experience it myself.
Ack, people using their real names could get in a serious flame war with some wackjob then the other person could then just start up a account under their rl name on another website and run their rl reputation into the ground when ever that persons name is goggled, this could become the new way for sick f.cks to get revenge/mess with people.
To be fair, that only occurred because lots of angry people worked on at getting the details of one person as a sign of bad will and to artificially prove their point.Rusty Bucket said:
I doubt that everybody on the forums would actually bother to dig up the details of everybody else on the forums for no reason at all... I mean anybody can pick up a phone book or access an electoral roll to find out people's real names, and then dig up information on them if they want to, but why bother?
I also think that kind of proved Blizzard's point or intentions. The community felt they were being trolled by Blizzard and were angry, so when one of their staff members put up their real name there were consequences... but if people on the forums don't troll and make each other angry, then there shouldn't be any consequences or repercussions of that nature.
That's not the point though. The users proved just how easy it is to fiund out tons of personal information if you have someone's name. No one is going to feel comfortable with that hanging over their head at all time.Jamash said:
You know those stories about counter strike players killing each-other?
Thing of the past, now it's going to be Blizzard forumgoers.
Thing of the past, now it's going to be Blizzard forumgoers.
Its up to 2208 pages now.Swarley said:
This is probably the worst idea they've ever had, and that they ever will have.
The problem is a balancing act. On one hand, you got people who really just don't feel comfortable sharing their whole identity with the whole world. On the other, being an anonynmous is EXACTLY what gave rise to shit like /b/. It is PRECISELY the reason why a lot of women pose as men or use gender neutral screennames. Why? because little shits hiding behind a screen name will say stuff like "Tits or GTFO" the moment they realize it's a woman on the other end.
No, I'm not saying YOU GUYS might. I'm saying that in a culture where there is no accountability for how you act, that is the logical result in the very end. To protect themselves, people need to hide from those others that hide.
I don't think the realID is a good idea either because it's trying to hamfist the solution when the solution is clearly a cultural one, not a technological one.
No, I'm not saying YOU GUYS might. I'm saying that in a culture where there is no accountability for how you act, that is the logical result in the very end. To protect themselves, people need to hide from those others that hide.
I don't think the realID is a good idea either because it's trying to hamfist the solution when the solution is clearly a cultural one, not a technological one.
Case and point. This new policy may not directly cause incidents like you described, but it could certainly make it easier to track someone down since everyone on the forums will have access to someone else's full name. I'm also willing to bet that they will veryify the name via credit/debit card.commasplice said:
the problem is that anonymity protection only works when it is applied to all info and both ways. Me exposing my own real name simply means I expose myself to the thousands upon thousands who can simply take their trolling outside of the system.
i.e. they can find out where I live, or what my phone number is, or where I work and then proceed to bombard those areas with anonymous emails, phone calls, and such to make my life a living hell.
Unless we live in a society where every interaction with someone gives me full disclosure as to who they are, this is not a good solution at all and it simply brings more risk to those who participate in the blizzard community.
to me, a more effective method is to create accountability and to give the users stakes in the health of the community. Not that the users of any gaming community don't have a stake in the healthy gaming culture of the community, but rather the stakes are not laid out clear to people and often the responsibility of these stakes are not laid on them.
for example, I just joined the escapist forums, but say I've been here for a while. it is then in my interest to continue to be a contributing and positive member of this community. (or at least, one that is not detrimenal to the community) because I actually do care about my reputation here. This is in the case where the stakes are created by myself, and thus resulting in me having something to lose if I fuck up big enough.
However, that thing that I have to lose needs to be balanced by what it is I have to gain from this. If joining this community means I could potentially, simply because of someone deciding to be a dick, lose EVERYTHING just for a game, then I won't bother joining in the first place.
The trick here is that we need to tie this to something that is not easily replaceable i.e. an email address can be created for free, with little to no effort. But a paying subscription account? that's much much harder to replace.
i.e. they can find out where I live, or what my phone number is, or where I work and then proceed to bombard those areas with anonymous emails, phone calls, and such to make my life a living hell.
Unless we live in a society where every interaction with someone gives me full disclosure as to who they are, this is not a good solution at all and it simply brings more risk to those who participate in the blizzard community.
to me, a more effective method is to create accountability and to give the users stakes in the health of the community. Not that the users of any gaming community don't have a stake in the healthy gaming culture of the community, but rather the stakes are not laid out clear to people and often the responsibility of these stakes are not laid on them.
for example, I just joined the escapist forums, but say I've been here for a while. it is then in my interest to continue to be a contributing and positive member of this community. (or at least, one that is not detrimenal to the community) because I actually do care about my reputation here. This is in the case where the stakes are created by myself, and thus resulting in me having something to lose if I fuck up big enough.
However, that thing that I have to lose needs to be balanced by what it is I have to gain from this. If joining this community means I could potentially, simply because of someone deciding to be a dick, lose EVERYTHING just for a game, then I won't bother joining in the first place.
The trick here is that we need to tie this to something that is not easily replaceable i.e. an email address can be created for free, with little to no effort. But a paying subscription account? that's much much harder to replace.
Google someone's alias - you'll no doubt find member_pages for every forum that user is signed up to along with, most likely, links to Facebook or similar social networking sites.
Now google someone's name - you'll have a hell of a lot more results, with the term "needle in a haystack" on the tip of your tongue.
A better solution would have been to force real credentials to sign up but make this info only available to admins. In doing so, honest posters dont feel exposed and trolls will know that the admins not only know their names but full addresses confirmed by a credit card or something too.
Now google someone's name - you'll have a hell of a lot more results, with the term "needle in a haystack" on the tip of your tongue.
A better solution would have been to force real credentials to sign up but make this info only available to admins. In doing so, honest posters dont feel exposed and trolls will know that the admins not only know their names but full addresses confirmed by a credit card or something too.