Blizzard is "Definitely Listening" to Real ID Feedback

[DTWolfwood]

Well, My addition is true. The person you're quoting feels his privacy is threatened just by playing wow. This of course makes no sense as The game WoW =/= The WoW forums. Apparantly you NEED to post on the forums to play wow?

whether your addition is true or not i don't appreciate some1 changing MY words to represent THEIR words ok, had you not been a stranger i would not mind as much but seeing as you are DO NOT MISQUOTE ME! thanks.

Point withstanding, should he post on the forums it would mean he is compromised. By forcing his real name you (as in blizzard) is excluding ppl like him from participating who are in fear of the reprisal he so mentioned. Had u considered that?

 

[Freshman]

/sarcasm Oh No, now i can't be a total dick on blizzard forums, what will i do with my life . blizzard would do well to not listen to what anybody is saying, and just stay with this real ID thing (although as i said earlier, everybody knowing your name won't necessarily stop you from being an undesirable. just because i know the trolls name is john smith doesn't mean hes gonna stop being a troll) the only way I can see this being negative is if you have to prove your identity somehow, in a way that could potentially expose your personal info.

 

[MetalGenocide]

many arguments against and one* for this system

* Hammered back into the dust, the moment it showed it's malformed unsupported by reality head.

Fixed.

 

[Flying Dagger]

I think it would definitely deal with trolls.
I know I'd have under a hundred posts if I had to put my real name on this site.

 

[The Philistine]

You're being held accountable to the community as a whole. Why do you think most trolling is made on low-lvl alts and not main characters?

People troll on low level alts for a number of reasons. To avoid someone tipping off their guild mates or making themselves look bad to the people they play with. To make claims about their credentials that they may not be able to back up. To avoid ad hominem attacks at their character. To avoid someone looking them up and taking the argument inside the game.

All of those are measures to avoid in game consequences for discussions pertaining to the game, trolling or not. Any of those could have potential ingame consequences if they were forced to post on their mains or had a link to their primary characters. Why should a forum pertaining to a game shift those consequences to real life?

And no, I don't post on a low level alt.

 

[Treblaine]

If you have Facebook, everything's already out there.

What if you don't? And what does it ACTUALLY mean if you do?

What if you have facebook but just have the BARE MINIMUM information such as your name and a few profile pics. For millions of people Facebook is just a substitute for "friends-reunited". And even then, that name and face is not linked to ANYTHING ELSE!! That's the way I have it. And there is no way you could possibly link my online Persona of Treblaine with my Real name on there.

Using the facebook argument is as empty as saying "well your name and number is in the phonebook" as that name and number is meaningless to any troll who disagrees with you on a forum topic.

Blizzard Activision is forcing you to link your real life to this gaming world and to publicise that to EVERYONE from trolls to stalkers, to data-mining advertisers.

(PS: we all know what bad things Facebook have been doing in terms of privacy, but people are pissed at that too. Two wrongs don't make a right... though Kotick Someone in Activision-Blizzard seems to think they can "get away with it" as well)

 

[ThreeKneeNick]

What's the point in listening if you're not going to change your mind despite the staggering amount of outrage. Obviously Blizzard likes to cause controversy because it's free promotion with everyone on the internet talking about your sparkle ponies and real IDs, but they don't give a fuck about anyone's opinion because they have so much power over the players. What are they going to do, stop playing WoW or SC2? Good luck with that.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

BTW, if you have to use RealID to view the forums, that means all developer notes etc. are banned from your eyes.

Possibly if you want technical information as well.

Or general help.

But this is all to keep you safe. Remember that.

 

[John Funk]

Want to just play a game and immerse yourself in the world? Fuck that, you have to join a Faux-FaceBook.

No, you don't.

You just have to use it to post on the forums.

>:C

But that is HALF THE FUN! That is where the discussions are made where the mods and developers can respond and introduce news it is THE place to discuss all the relevant issues, tactics, collaboration.

Saying you don't need real-ID to view the forums is NO SOLACE!!! That means anyone, completely anonymously, can know exactly what I - me, myself - say about stuff about Blizzard's games.

Activision-Blizzard can hide behind bullshit percentages like "most people won't be affected" THIS WILL DECIMATE BLIZZARD'S COMMUNITY!!! Fuck your community, you fuck your feedback, you fuck your product, you fuck your largest group of unpaid proponents and evangelists. This destroys your upmarket who have been holding standards high.

And proof this won't stop trolls: you can lie on Real-ID.

Fan-fucking-tastic, so the idiotic trolls who don't mind taking risks can fuck with the REAL LIVES of innocent forum goers who attract their wrath will be royally shafted.

BTW: do you think The Escapist should do this? Force us to post with real identities?

I can GUARANTEE that will destroy this community and the few foolish enough to stay behind will be rich pickings for trolls who have a real name to work with. They wouldn't even have to log in.

What do you see directly to the left of this post, hmm?

I deal with anonymous asshats (not you, in general) while posting with my real identity every single day.

 

[The Philistine]

What do you see directly to the left of this post, hmm?

I deal with anonymous asshats (not you, in general) while posting with my real identity every single day.

You also in part make your living from your name. Not everyone is willing to subject themselves to that kind of publicity and the ramifications it can entail.

*Should that unwillingness really exclude someone from sharing their voice?

 

[Treblaine]

Eh.

Imagine all the screaming 13-year-olds on Xbox Live yelling racist and sexual slurs into your ears. Do you really think they'd be doing it if they knew that they'd be personally accountable for them? Studies show that accountability raises the level of discourse.

Err... what are you ACTUALLY implying here?

That individual users should know the real names of little children and WHERE THEY LIVE so they can sort it out themselves?!?!?!

Microsoft (are supposed to) monitor their community and with ever Gold Account they can take action directly against their IP, Mac-Address, Account or if paid (most likely) with card then their actual address. It is THEY who should sort out troll behaviour, not individuals, that just empowers trolls, or worse it empowers mobs.

Remember all the discrimination against open homosexuals on XBL? What if they knew their name and could find out where they lived?

I don't have much of a problem with the organisation having personal data like name an address, it is just their insistence on PUBLICISING it!

Publicising real names and identities just seems to be inviting vigilante justice. People are asshats on XBL because they are immature and detached from any immediate threat. But is it REALLY any solution to replace that with actual threats like "I know where you live Timmy McKormack".

Public Anonymity is VITAL for good online community along with good moderation of warnings, probation, bans, perma-bans and so on.

 

[John Funk]

Publicising real names and identities just seems to be inviting vigilante justice. People are asshats on XBL because they are immature and detached from any immediate threat. But is it REALLY any solution to replace that with actual threats like "I know where you live Timmy McKormack".

Public Anonymity is VITAL for good online community along with good moderation of warnings, probation, bans, perma-bans and so on.

If the person making the threat is doing so with THEIR real name attached to it, that's a very serious deterrent. It goes both ways, mind you - the MAD of the internet.

I don't think it is. Look at GI.biz - it's an industry site and requires credentials. You post under your name and position. There isn't as MUCH communication but it's pretty much all reasoned and polite. On the other end of the spectrum, we have 4chan.

As I said, I'm very heavily divided on the RealID issue. I'm not entirely sure what I think of it, but anyone who refuses to acknowledge that there are both pros and cons to it is willfully blinding themselves.

 

[Treblaine]

What do you see directly to the left of this post, hmm?

I deal with anonymous asshats (not you, in general) while posting with my real identity every single day.

(I don't see any Real ID tag proving it is really your name. It could be a made up name for all we know)

WHAT!! You mean your IT guys can't even track IP address and ban at that level?

I can understand the mods wanting to keep track of identities but WHY does the entire internet have to know? Why? Just social network bullshit like "copy what Facebook does"!

NOT EVEN FACEBOOK forces you to use a real name, you can use a fake name. People ONLY use a real name to make it easier to track down old friends, and you do in fact have privacy settings. And you don't put on any more than you want and make visible only what you like (though it takes a LOT of tweaking).

 

[Arec Balrin]

Personally I am not worried. I'm the real Arec Balrin.

 

[Jared]

So basically its saying "We are listening, but...all we hear is 'Wah Wah Wah'"?

...Well, Im all for the real name thing, might as well, just to make people go "Grrrr"

 

[Treblaine]

Publicising real names and identities just seems to be inviting vigilante justice. People are asshats on XBL because they are immature and detached from any immediate threat. But is it REALLY any solution to replace that with actual threats like "I know where you live Timmy McKormack".

Public Anonymity is VITAL for good online community along with good moderation of warnings, probation, bans, perma-bans and so on.

If the person making the threat is doing so with THEIR real name attached to it, that's a very serious deterrent. It goes both ways, mind you - the MAD of the internet.

I don't think it is. Look at GI.biz - it's an industry site and requires credentials. You post under your name and position. There isn't as MUCH communication but it's pretty much all reasoned and polite. On the other end of the spectrum, we have 4chan.

As I said, I'm very heavily divided on the RealID issue. I'm not entirely sure what I think of it, but anyone who refuses to acknowledge that there are both pros and cons to it is willfully blinding themselves.

Brave attempt, you are arguing your corner with spirit but it's a lame defence because you are defending the indefensible. I suggest you change your plea to Guilty and save the court of public opinion a lot of time and hope for clemency (i.e. argue that people should merely not use the service rather than something more serious).

Mutually assured destruction is a TERRIBLE template, it is utter madness. Of course there are SOME benefits, there are benefits to being paralysed from the waist down (great parking) but nothing you'd wish on anyone.

(Also, GI.Biz: you only post what you want, and is not linked to anything else (gaming tag) but your business credentials and is of course a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT environment from a games forum)

 

[Actual]

Let's all take a breath and be realistic for a moment. How many psychos are likely to be looking you up once you start using your real name on the internet? The correct answer is, probably zero. You're not that interesting, you're not that important.

Unless you made the mistake of killing someone in BGs who happened to be a nutball, or you're female, or it's a Tuesday, or you reported someone and made the mistake of telling them.

My RL job is internet customer service, I also moderate our forums. I've colleagues who've been stalked and even attacked when their real names were discovered. The company I work for encourages us to keep our identity unknown for these reasons.

Blizzard is huge compared to us, it just means a larger pool of crazies to piss-off.

You're right, most of us are safe from this, but I care if only one person is hurt because of it.

Eh.

Imagine all the screaming 13-year-olds on Xbox Live yelling racist and sexual slurs into your ears. Do you really think they'd be doing it if they knew that they'd be personally accountable for them?

I actually do, they'll soon realise they're not going to be held accountable, they may get a forum ban but that's already an option.

I can't see a blizzard employee going to their house to give them a telling off. Addressing a troll by his real name is not a magic spell that stops him being a dick.

 

[Motiv_]

Listening =/= Caring.

I personally am glad that I won't be posting in the Blizzard Forums anytime soon. I just wish that this failure of an idea will stay with Blizzard's games.