Question of the Day, July 8, 2010

[Keava]

No. From my real name it is way too easy to get too much of my other personal info. It's the pain of age of information, the older you are and the more you do the easier you are to track. My name leads to my work e-mail, leading to my job place, not hard to do further searching from there on.

I rarely use my real name outside of instances that require it, like my work. Even among friends we got used to using nicknames that grew on us over years of knowing eachothers, hearing our names usually just brings confusion.

While it's partilaly true that even full name alone doesnt make much of a difference, the fact that you can match it to certain alias/person changes the perception. When you hear a name without a context it just a name, but when you can attach anything, especially something that involves emotions, it becomes a greater deal, and there is plenty of emotions in internet, not all of them are happy-thoughts.

 

[Plinglebob]

No. Even when I was playing a lot of WoW I never spoke on Vent and never revealed my real name other then "Plinglebob" becuase thats what I use for everything. This is partly because I'm just not very sociable and partly because I have a fairly obscure name so it would be easy for someone to track me if they wanted *dons tinfoil hat*

 

[Flionk]

Half the reason for using internet forums in the first place is the sense of anonymity; you can speak your mind without any worry that they'll be used against you for anything. It's honestly boggled me how the whole social networking craze has caused people to not only freely give up their anonymity, but also any semblance of personal privacy. I can understand forum moderators wanting some additional method to dissuade total fuckwads [http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/03/19/], especially when they're as large as Blizzard, but if this goes forward (which I'm sure it will) and people actually go along with it (which I'm sure they will), it'll just be one step closer to the sort of dystopian culture where governments and/or advertisers monitor your every action, and the kid next door can learn all your dirty secrets with a quick internet search.

 

[Kavachi]

It depends on the forum. I'd be more comfortable using it here than, say, gamefaqs, But I don't like the potential for abuse it has. People would only need to google my name to find my facebook acoount, and from there, personal information about me.

I agree with this, it makes you feel more secure. However that is a fake sense of security, for the only thing you do is take away one step in the process of getting your username. The only thing I would have to do to get your personal information (I will not however, i respect your privacy) is to search your IP. I can than get your name and facebook, maybe even hack your facebook or even your router. But yes, posting your real name is just making it easier for people to get your personal stuff.

 

[unacomn]

I'm actually using my real name right now, just not in the correct order, so I don't see what all the fuss is about.
Names are a lot more common than you may think. There's at least two other people on my street who have the exact same name I do.

 

[Jared]

I've got no problems with it, at all. But, I dont see how it will stop anyone being idiots...afterall, they only have your name...not your location or anything else

 

[Jack_Uzi]

No, remembers me a bit of that crazy man that needed his revenge in RL when he got knifed in counterstrike. Exception on the rule, I know, but then again... you never know.

 

[Kavachi]

There are a lot of "Jack Smith"s out there, so I can't see the problem.
If you ad a country to that it still isn't that bad/detectable.
If you ad a birth date I still don't think it's traceable.
If you ad a region, still no harm done.
If you ad a city/town then it might be traceable.
But I doubt someone would go through so much trouble to track me, Iacomi Theodor form Romania, down + I live in Romania, there's nothing I have that someone else doesn't.
I can't see the problem with Blizzard's new policy(I can comprehend it, but I fail to believe it can turn out as a stocker-fest).

I mean I consider credit cards(you live country or by something more quirkier, BAM! T.H.E.M know about it) far more abusive than some unknown-nobody knowing my identity.

Well, as I said in my above post (sorry for double-posting btw)even posting something without your real name makes you tracable. That is because the second you post or leave a mark in any way on the internet, your IP is easy to get. With someone's IP you can do alot, and I mean alot, of damage. You can hack into the router/modem, you can hack into his Hyves, MySpace, Facebook etc, and advanced hackers even in your computer. Also they can easily get your name, place you live, phone number, and your whole family tree. I've seen many people get their lives ruined by someone who got their phonenumber and starts to call their parents and such, threatening them.

 

[Trivun]

Well, I'm doing so right now. Trivun is my real first name, odd since I'm English, but my dad's family were Serbian immigrants, so I was named after my late grandfather. But more to the point, yes, I already use my real name online anyway, since people won't ever think it's the real name of some English dude. So that kind of answers the main question, I suppose...

 

[hazabaza1]

I don't see why not. Anything like facebook is friends only, I never put where I live available to see randomly on the internet, so I'd be fine with it.

 

[LadyCatra]

I said Yes, but in truth I don't like my real name so I wouldn't *want* to.

Besides, doesn't this move end up with a million John Smiths and the like? So what, the avatar becomes the unique identifier?

And, now that I think about it, how are they planning to verify my "real" name -- that worries me more than having to use it.

Stupid, pointless - IMHO.

 

[Evil the White]

Because there's only four results for my name on Facebook. And I personally think it'll be obvious which one I am considering the other three have no picture and about 5 friends.

And, trolls will still troll if they want to. It won't stop them.

Oh look, it says I have to use my real name. I think I'll put something witty, like T.Roll instead

 

[onda]

I don't see any reason why I should, and no reason why I shouldn't.

 

[KSarty]

My current username is my first initial and last name, so it wouldn't be a big jump for me.

 

[Virgil]

There are a lot of "Jack Smith"s out there, so I can't see the problem.

I think that's what makes it a pretty difficult issue to pin down - for example, I can guarantee that there have to be at least several dozen "Jason Smith"s in my local area, let alone at a broader level. There's virtually no privacy implications there. For people with more unique names, there's a larger chance that just their name can be used to track them down, depending on how actively they use it.

On the other hand, a ton of people do provide their real name online on a regular basis. They put them into web forms, put them in their emails, post them on their blogs, on social sites, and in forums. All of our staff put their real names into their profiles, if that's not their username to begin with. We also require our writers to publish under their real names, unless they have a professional reason to use a pseudonym.

The consequences of this are pretty much nonexistent. The privacy of hiding your name is mostly an illusion, compared to plenty of other major security lapses most people do. Unless, of course, you end up making yourself a big fat target for some reason; like posting your real name while a whole bunch of internet assholes are riled up about your company making people post their real names. That was pretty much expected.

 

[Koeryn]

If we do, my real name is John Smith.

I am paranoid, I do not want to reveal my name to those what may abuse it.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

my name is
Matthew David Wensley
I am British, and live in Newcastle upon Tyne
none of that information can be used against me

Quick searchings

Spoiler

16, living in Killingworth, Catholic, recently baptised, one of your mates

You wanted to get your hair cut short like andy clemmenson from short stack, you went to George Stephenson High School where you are pictured in Year 8 with the High Maths Students Year 8 with Jade Redhead, your family traces back to 1645 in Yorkshire...and that's from a quick search. Scared yet?

 

[alleghory415]

I personally have become a very outspoken protester against this RealID thing. There is something sinister, dangerous, and just plain wrong about posting people's full names without their consent. Blizzard posted the following response to yesterday's outcry of the situation:

"Blizzard has recently announced that it is making use of real world names and other data mandatory on the official forums for Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty, the long awaited strategy game sequel set to arrive on July 27, and for the World of Warcraft MMO, which should get the Cataclysm expansion. After a rather hostile reaction from the community of players, the studio revealed that it would be continuing to talk to players about the system but that it would nonetheless go ahead with its implementation.

A representative from Blizzard talked to Gamasutra about the Real ID concept and about how it would be implementing, saying that his company ?will be carefully monitoring how people are using the service. Real ID is a new and different concept for Blizzard gamers - and for us as well - and our goal is to create a social gaming service that players want to use.?

He added, ?It's important to note that both enabling Real ID in game and posting on the official Blizzard forums are completely optional. Players can continue to read the forums anonymously regardless of whether they choose to post in them, and their gameplay experiences will not change if they choose not to use the Real ID communication features in game.?

It seems the company is comfortable with the fact that a lot of players might migrate from the official forums, asking questions and participating in other Internet-based communities. It might have some problems as bug reports from the player base are crucial to the ongoing task of World of Warcraft, the best MMO.

Blizzard is also assuring gamers that the moderating team will be more vigilant than ever when Real ID is being implemented, trying to limit all the incidents that can arise from the use of real world names on a gaming forum with a player base as big as that of World of Warcraft. Still, the potential for abuse is high and the official forums might feel much more empty in a short while."

In one short day, the thread on the implemtation of the forum RealID debacle had generated (as of writing this) 1878 pages of people who were angry, scared, and just downright AGAINST the policy.

It's a shame to see a good company go rogue.

 

[Ekit]

No, I like my fakename better than my real name.