Blizzard Forums Make Real Names Mandatory

[Aardvark Soup]

This looks like an interesting experiment. I'm curious what kind of effect this loss of anonimity will have. Still, this system is probably easy to bypass with a fake name and there will be plenty of trolls not caring about this (until an employer googles their name).

 

[IceStar100]

Would someone please tell me the movie this really comes from.

 

[Schwerganoik]

John Smith: You're wrong
John Smith: Nuh-uh!
John Smith: Yes you are
John Smith: Well you're stupid!

The chances of two arguers sharing a name is unlikely, but my example remains plausible.

 

[JourneyThroughHell]

Here's what I wonder about this policy. How do they ensure that you use your real name, and not a made up one? I don't think they can.

Yeah, this leaves me wondering, too.
I mean, if there is not way to ensure the validity of the names, Blizzard is giving trolls more opportunity to screw with regular users.
So, this doesn't sound too good.

 

[Exterminas]

This will most likely nail 25-man raids, if not all dedicated raids, since the official forums are a neccessary plattform for recruitement across realms. And alot, if not most people will not want to continue posting there.

Edit: I think its illegal to fake your name, since your account name is the name you are doing buisness with, with blizzard. It's the name that shows up an our bills and to wich charges will be held, if you don't pay up. Don't think it's legal to lie about that, you can't make up a name when you buy a car either.

 

[Treblaine]

Well that sucks. What if your real name is something aweful as so many parents are utterly retarded when it comes to naming their children, giving them pretty much baby names forgetting that they will grow up and have to live with that name for the rest of their lives.

Like my cousin... her name? Dotty.

No, that's not a shortened nick-name, that is the name on her Birth Certificate, on her passport and will be on her bank accounts, credit cards and driving licences.

Fuck sake, Auntie. Cute baby name but she won't be a baby forever. Way too many hippies have lead to an entire generation of crap names that we wish we could avoid.

More practically, what if they have a Muslim or Jewish or Sikh name and don't want to be discriminated against? What if their real name linked with their comments opens them up to exploitative data-mining that could crack their accounts (date of birth from birthday, favourite book, etc, etc)

Look I am all in favour of the MODERATORS knowing each user's real name (proven via credit card) but that is unnecessary for the ENTIRE INTERNET to know.

This won't work. It will do nothing to stop flaming and trolling, flamers are trolls are just like that. Furthermore, it will only make the other, normal, people uneasy, or unwilling to post with their real names. No, it's stupid.

Agreed. And I smell the smelly smell of Kotick's or Activision Executive meddling.

It is certainly ham-fisted enough to be the work of Kotick.

 

[Aurgelmir]

I was discussing this with some friends earlier today. It seems like an aggressively unnecessary new policy, and a really bad PR move.

That said, I don't understand why people are so upset about their real names being used. It just seems really weird to me that anonymity is that highly valued.

Consider this:
-You apply for a job.
-The manager in charge of hiering googles your name.
-He finds lots of posts made by you on forums, all nicely time stamped and everything
-He dislikes that you play wow, and have a tendency to post during working hours.
-You do not get the job.

People usually want to keep their anonymity because its so easy for people to google you these days.
Usually its not what you say, but where you say it that makes people want to use a screen name. Although some people want so to avoid having to own up to what they said.

But if I choose not to add my main character to my name (apparently thats optional) well then it really shouldn't matter if I troll or not.

Now id the only way to read/find these post is by being a subscribing member to battle.net well then I don't have that gripe.

 

[Exterminas]

-He dislikes that you play wow, and have a tendency to post during working hours.
-

This argument is really flawed. Any company that cares about what their folks do during worktime can protocoll the sites they visit during worktime.

This technology is around since, dunno, five to may be even then years?

And any company that didn't bother with getting it installed won't bother with placing somebody infront of a PC, checking weather or not you posted something during worktime, by manually checking the forums.

 

[Aurgelmir]

-He dislikes that you play wow, and have a tendency to post during working hours.
-

This argument is really flawed. Any company that cares about what their folks do during worktime can protocoll the sites they visit during worktime.

This technology is around since, dunno, five to may be even then years?

And any company that didn't bother with getting it installed won't bother with placing somebody infront of a PC, checking weather or not you posted something during worktime, by manually checking the forums.

Oh but you forget the "he dislikes you playing wow" part also.

Sadly there is a huge stigma connected to playing MMOGs, which is why not everyone wants to broadcast that they play them to the world.

 

[Exterminas]

I'm not sure about that. I don't think you can be fired for playing wow and since a few million people do it. May be this opening of Wow, from a nerd-based-game towards more socially accepted phenomenons of the internet (like facebook), will cause society to think more positive about wow, or game in general.

So this developement might be wrong, but it could turn out contructive for gaming as a whole.

 

[geierkreisen]

My alias is something I value very much, because well...it's my name here and not only here. How about a system that gives your alias some sort of "street cred" in forums? Hey, that guy posts on that many forums and is a member of that many communities and is a valued contributor there. So he's using the same name here and that should mean he's not just grabbed genericusername#150 to spew around troll juice on our board.

Neither you nor an effing games company need to know my real name. But I have nothing against people googleing my alias to find out how I tick.

 

[Lucifron]

At first I was like "meh", but then I was like "FFFFUUUUUUU--". I'm not sure I want to use Blizzard's forums now.

 

[Moriarty]

Here's what I wonder about this policy. How do they ensure that you use your real name, and not a made up one? I don't think they can.

Yeah, this leaves me wondering, too.
I mean, if there is not way to ensure the validity of the names, Blizzard is giving trolls more opportunity to screw with regular users.
So, this doesn't sound too good.

It uses the name of your battlenet account, so most people who were around before any of this crap was announced will propably have used their real name.


You can't change it now either, becaue all your blizard games (and your wow accound) are bound to that battlenet ID

 

[LunarCircle]

As much as I'd like to think that people value their basic freedoms, I doubt that many Blizzard customers are going to object to this. It definitely won't make a difference in etiquette, and in the face of instant gratification through playing a game, I doubt that many are going to consider the repercussions of a potential future employer using Google to research their identity.

On another note, the US government is attempting to employ a similar strategy by requiring the internet version of a passport/driver's license/social security card to get rid of anonymity. Some articles for reference:

Financial Times: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/f416e31e-80af-11df-be5a-00144feabdc0.html

Infosec Island: https://www.infosecisland.com/blogview/4501-The-Death-of-Internet-Anonymity.html

 

[Xocrates]

Here's what I wonder about this policy. How do they ensure that you use your real name, and not a made up one? I don't think they can.

Yeah, this leaves me wondering, too.
I mean, if there is not way to ensure the validity of the names, Blizzard is giving trolls more opportunity to screw with regular users.
So, this doesn't sound too good.

One should probably point out that you can't post on a battle.net forum unless you own a BLizzard game. So although you probably can't ensure a real name, you can prevent account spamming.

I heard something about this RealID thing that you have to connect it with your Facebook account?

You don't. You can use Facebook, but RealID isn't more than the name on your Battle.net account.

 

[Jim Grim]

Hey, so what happens if two people have the same name?

 

[Feriluce]

First of all You can display your character name alongside your real name.

Second of all I wonder how many of the people crying here has a facebook account. If you do your arguments are instantly invalid.

 

[Treblaine]

(in other news) Banksy Forced by Law to Reveal Identity

The Home Office have now ordered that the famed artist must reveal his identity or he will be hunted as a fugitive for common vandalism. The minister is quoted as saying:
"Real artists aren't ashamed of showing their identity. I think - from my self appointed position - that once this so-called-artist has an inescapable identity then he will get back in line with all the other creative types"
The government said this in not a blow against freedom, as Security is always paramount over privacy. In further news identity, biometric and DNA profiling mandatory for all citizens and a landmark achievement as Britain becomes the most "secure" country in the world thanks to more CCTV cameras than the rest of the world combined... and unarmed police.
The Met office assures us this situation is not mainly to target petty infractions and non-violent law-breakers but somehow targets armed criminals and the most destructive members of society the most.

(also, in a parallel universe)
[HEADING=2]Premier Kotick the First Vows to Unmask the "Troublemaker" Known Simply as "V"[/HEADING]

Our Dear Leader's edict: "This TROLL has hid in anonymity for too long, there is a face behind that mask and once revealed he will be hunted everywhere he goes. His resistance and disruptive behaviour against the establishment will never be tolerated by the rest of society."

 

[Wedlock49]

I would like to keep my usernames... a lot of thought goes into creating them because I find my real name dull and boring... I troll just the same behind usernames that I've used for so long that I respond to them as if they were my name.