Blizzard Triggers a Different Kind of Cataclysm

[T3chn0s1s]

As a person who avidly plays World of Warcraft, I can say that this is a load of bullshit. Honestly, how can trolling be such a problem where they decide to flaunt your real name to everyone? It's a pathetic stab at trolls, and in the long run, it will stop nothing. Honestly, I will never post on those forums again. I don't need strangers seeing my full name. Ever try googling yourself? I did. The first link was my damn facebook. I don't need some 12 year old schmuck tracking me down because I camped him in Hillsbrad.

This.

This is actually one of those scary ass things that I think about when I realize just how many of my students play the same games as me. Ever try finding out about someone on facebook? I actually want you all to do that right now. Make a new facebook page. Take one of your friends, and pick one fact about them that they don't hide (Like, maybe, "Plays Video Games") along with their name. Now, go to facebook.

Find your friend, but don't try to add them. Just start looking through their friends list. Click through a few pages... Find some connections. Pretend you went to school with them, and you're trying to get back in touch. Nine times out of ten you will find, if not someone who does know them, someone who can tell you who to talk to that does. From there, it's actually not hard to find out where someone works, where they live now, if they have a relationship, cell phone numbers, home numbers, likes, dislikes, fears, and things that invoke pure unadulterated gut-wrenching terror...

No really, do it. See what you can find out about your friends, and then just message them and be like, "Man, I never knew you pissed yourself that time that I shot silly string at you." and they'll be like, "NO ONE KNEW THAT ZOMG ZOMG" and you'll have officially been an internet stalker.

Of course, this is all very low-tech. This isn't even going into what a little technology and know-how can do with information as sensitive as 'name, state, approximate age' which can be gathered from guild-mates or play-mates by anyone with half their competence to devote to charisma.

"Pft, my friends are safe!"

Okay, I'm really happy that whoever you are all of your friends are absolutely dedicated to keeping their anonymity and yours from all sources including those who can 'prove' they know you. Are you naive enough to believe that everyone is? Hell, looking at my facebook right now I can list at least twenty people who know me well enough to get me killed/kidnapped and they have all their information up and publicly available. One of them has their cell phone number in their about-me. Man, I love the internet.




Don't get me confused here. I'm not trying to cloud the issue, I'm just trying to give everyone a vague grasp of just how easy it is for people to do things if they want. Hell, it's easy enough even without a name to go off of if a true friggin' psycho wanted to do something. Why should we give them a head-start?



PS. People have time to calm down if they have to do work to make a personal attack.

 

[tkioz]

You wanna know how they fix the forum without using realID? It's very simple, close the current forums, they are garbage anyway, archive all content.

Next, set up a forum, link each users forum ID to their account, so now when a person posts you can see all their characters, no more alt arguments. This ID would share any punitive measures opposed on the other, 72 hour susspention on the forum for posting like a dick? 72 hour ingame ban. Perma-ban? permaban ingame.

Finally, and here is the real kicker, hire about 200 staff to moderate the forum at all times, with a zero tolerance policy, I'm talking jackboot wearing stuff, posting mimes, stupid replies such as "first" "lol wut" and "TLDR", swearing, blatantly false information, generally being a jerk, all bannable offences.

The first month or so will be complete and utter hell for the mod team, but after that the worst offenders will be gone or scared straight, so you can let half or more of your mods go, but don't tell anyone, just let the players assume the nazis are still in residence.

Forum will be much nicer.

Oh wait, sounds too much like work? I forgot blizzard is owned by Activision now.

 

[tkioz]

Another thing people have failed to take into account, what about people who play WoW for the anonymity, you use to hear all the time about famous or semi famous people getting "outed" either for publicity or just plain bad luck as WoW players.

I remember a few years ago there was a politician in some US area that got outed by one of his staff as a WoW player, he had to change his character name and move servers because of all the harassment he got ingame...

 

[ImprovizoR]

This will fail because people can always make a free internet forum dedicated to whatever game they want and just stop posting on the official forum.

 

[Nemu]

It is a bad bad idea. It pretty much ensures i wont bother with any future Blizzard projects involving Battle.net. I don't need every random jerk knowing my name, i don't like the idea of any company announcing it for public view.
Along with e-mail address being used as login name ever since battle.net rework it can only bring bad things, and result in serious breaches of privacy.

yeah exactly, my name is in my email, google me and you could find me, possibly WAY more than i want anyone playing wow to find out about. There are freaks that play and i really do not want everyone knowing who i am. Plus, future employers finding posts about me etc... I do not understand how they thought this could be a good idea

Not even going to get into using your name as your email...


Still, it's not actually THAT bad--if you are smart. I did it with RL friends, my girlfriend and a MINUTE amount of people in WOW, but I admit that I wouldn't have added any9one I DIDN'T know IRL if I didn't have an authenticator.

As for worried about posts a future employer MIGHT read, wot is the big deal if yer not an asshat on forums? It doesn't take much to act with a bit of civility--even when at the same time yer being a jerk. Unless you expect to rattle off some racist/political/religious agenda (et al), you shouldn't need to worry about a post on a WoW forum.

Another thing people have failed to take into account, what about people who play WoW for the anonymity, you use to hear all the time about famous or semi famous people getting "outed" either for publicity or just plain bad luck as WoW players.

I remember a few years ago there was a politician in some US area that got outed by one of his staff as a WoW player, he had to change his character name and move servers because of all the harassment he got ingame...

You're acting as if folks are REQUIRED to participate in this. When you add a new player, you are given the option to add the toon name OR the RealID. So if Dave Chappelle doesn't want people knowing who his toons are, he just simply doesn't have to add anyone using RealID.

 

[Pendragon9]

Well, I'm never using their forums. :/

 

[slipknot4]

Didn't Australia try this during their elections? And didn't that fail?

Anyway, I guess it could help eliminate the trolling stuff, but as I don't really go onto any Blizzard forum, I can't exactly say if I like it or not.

Trolls will be disappointed, but who knows, perhaps this could make that place better.

Trust me, The place is filled with trolls and, for lack of a better word, "tards".
Removing the integrity of people will make them more thoughtful and perhaps, more intellectual.
But again, this is the internet and any attempt at making this a better place for all of us might just fail as hard as this gurl [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9OaYNHAN_I&feature=related]