Blizzard Nixes Plans to Require Real Names

[Desworks]

I have to say, I'm very impressed that they had the balls to put there hands up and say "it was an idea, and it hasn't worked out" and change their minds. There's a lot of companies out there that would simply go ahead with the plans anyway.

On a personal note, i don't mind having my real name out there, I just prefer to be the one who decides to give it out. This plan didn't sit well with me because I didn't have that choice. Some say that posting on the forums is a choice, but in the case of Starcraft and Warcraft, if yuo want to leave feedback on classes and abilities, the forums was your only way. The in game GMs don't pass on suggestions and feedback, they simply redirect you to the forums.

Still, alls well that ends well.

 

[Deofuta]

Well, now we know they're not colossally stupid, but there's still a long way to go to regain the trust and respect of people buttfucked by what we know as Battle.net 2.0.

Bravo to Blizzard for listening to its supporters...again.

Now if they would just listen and somehow remove themselves from Vivendi...

And this. I am just so tempted to make a fool of myself by creating a thread about this.

I know right? I know that Vivendi and Blizzards adopted brother Activision don't have much of/any say in Blizzards dealings, but it is just a stigma that they have to deal with. Blizzard is almost the antithesis to Activision at times.

Apart from being money eating bastards, they do that pretty well.

 

[Nalgas D. Lemur]

Though Nethaera said that Blizzard believed that RealID was a "powerful" communications tool that real-life friends could use to keep in touch no matter what, it would remain entirely optional. "We believe that the powerful communications functionality enabled by Real ID, such as cross-game and cross-realm chat, make Battle.net a great place for players to stay connected to real-life friends and family while playing Blizzard games. And of course, you'll still be able to keep your relationships at the anonymous, character level if you so choose when you communicate with other players in game."

Really, guys? Really? You need my real name to be able to do that? How many years have things like Steam and all sorts of other services allowed us to do all of those things with just an account name? You don't need a "real" ID, just one unique account ID that links the rest together, which can be anything from a number to a made up name to your real name. Stop making up excuses for crap.

 

[Ne1butme]

I'm tired of acting scared of the internet and its 'ills'. I wanted to see the Real ID experiment carried out and see the results.

I'm not afraid of my own name.
My name is Scott Gillan and I approve this message.

 

[The Philistine]

Yeah exactly, aren't all WoW characters linked to the like master account that holds all their characters? Why not simply make them use that master account so you can then look at their characters and blacklist all of them?

So long as the name of that account* isn't revealed I could see that working. Maybe allow the account owner to choose a handle and "main" to post on while the rest of the characters are linked.*

*Account security is a big enough problem on WoW as it is without giving hackers another bit of information.

 

[Twilight_guy]

Pansies. This could have been a real experiment into the effects of removing anonymity and trying to stop the raging assholes who thrive on it and now we don't even get to see if it works or flops. Man up Blizzard.

 

[RvLeshrac]

I'm actually disappointed with this. I like the idea of being forced to use your real identity online, provided it's all safe and secure. I use my real identity, and it's a great idea to crack down on people who abuse the system and the forums. Fine, usernames are good too. But why not let Blizzard do something like The Escapist does, allowing usernames but having real names on profiles, except unlike here, making those real names compulsory? A bit of compromise might help sooth the wounded trolls on the Blizzard forums...

Because when an unhinged psychopath flies into a rage at that thing you posted asking them to nerf his class, the first thing you want is for him to know your name and have the ability to uncover all of your personal information, including your address, right?

There's a reason NCSoft's global headquarters has double steel vault doors separating the company's staff from the throngs of people who constantly send them death threats.

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As for the OP, Blizzard's announcement was "We're going to rethink RealID," similar to Google's "We're going to not turn Buzz on by default."

This is a strategic retreat, and they're going to return once you've all gotten used to RealID in the game. They probably won't even announce it next time, since it becomes easier for them to say "Well, we can't go back now!"

 

[BlueInkAlchemist]

Guess I'll have to update my blog post showing the decline of a Theoden-like Blizzard from the brave leader of horse-men of Rohan to the tottering and confused old man being whispered to by Wormtongue... er, Activision...

 

[ZeoAssassin]

i glad to see that blizzard is continuing to listen to us. overall i still liked the idea but was just not comfortable sharing my full name with the internet.

really all blizzard needs to do is make players have a forum-only screen name that is permanent to post on the forums with, that way they can still have accountability. they can link their WoW toons/ SC2 names as well and they need at least one blizzard game code to participate on the forums. problem solved.

 

[DannibalG36]

Good, Blizzard. Thanks for listening to us gamers and retracting such a preposterous idea.

 

[Tehlanna TPX]

I'm glad only because I'm sick of the whining. You don't want to post on your real name on the forums, then don't. Simple.

 

[Feriluce]

Well thats disappointing. Blizzard giving into all the paranoid crying isn't exactly what I call good news.

Whats the next going to be? Are they going to hand out free epics at lvl 85 because a vocal minority is crying about that too?

 

[Ertis]

Pansies. This could have been a real experiment into the effects of removing anonymity and trying to stop the raging assholes who thrive on it and now we don't even get to see if it works or flops. Man up Blizzard.

So you would be ok if the Escapist did this then? "But there's no troll problem here!" Right you are, if Blizzard put half as much effort into moderation as most large and well-known forums do, there wouldn't have been this discussion to begin with.

 

[John Funk]

Wait... weren't you FOR this just a few minutes back? xD

Also... that "Post" isn't from "Nethera" (whoever that is) but is a Public Announcement by Blizzard's CEO (Mike Morhaime) just posted by different Blizzard representatives on different forums, so you might wanna change that

I've never been for or against it. I've been arguing that there were pros and cons alike to the feature, but since most people were focusing on just the cons I'd been arguing the pros.

And thank you, fixed.

 

[CyberKnight]

I am genuinely surprised. I wouldn't have expected them to backtrack so quickly. Their "We are listening" really sounded like empty promises, especially when paired with their repeated "Forum participation isn't mandatory" refrain.

I'll try not to let the hope go to my head...

 

[Joseph Murnan]

I'm glad they've gotten rid of it, but I still think allowing people to use indvidual character names is a bad idea as it encourages that level 1 alt trolling.

It'd be a more sensible idea to make the forum users post under their account name perhaps with their actual characters and armory links listed bellow.

 

[Atmos Duality]

Hahaha! Wow, that did not last long.
Perhaps I was correct to call it a doomed social experiment; though I never imagined it would have ended after a few short days!

Oh well. It was good fun while it lasted.

 

[Nimbus]

Everybody, that is, except for certain people who have spent all morning writing a column that is now completely invalidated.

<

Ahaha! Man, that sucks!

Seriously though, this is probably a good thing. Bliz probably had a good thing in mind, but I think it would have started a bad trend.