Blizzard - makers of World of Warcraft - goes off the deep end!?!

[Owain Taggart]

Yeah, seems to me, releasing personal info to stop trolling only opens doors to an even more serious problem; stalking. I mean, trolling's one thing, and unfortunately every board has trolls, but they don't really cause trouble beyond the board do they?

This on the other hand is just dangerous. I can respect Blizzard wanting to take action on the trolling issue, but there have got to be better ways. This just reinforces the problem of social networking and using real names with them. It's only going to make it easier for stalkers to get the information they need. Blizzard needs to realize that this has more serious implications than simple trolling.

People play MMOs to relax and let off steam from the real world, and they don't need the real world to intrude like this. Certainly with intrusions like this, more people will likely stay away from the game which is a negative outcome from this. Ironically, I think the trolls win because everyone gets slapped with RealID, and it won't likely stop them. It would be better it were activated on someone after a certain number of reports, making them stand out from the crowd.

 

[Hound of UIster]

Not really. I know people that do it as a matter of daily life.

But are these people internet trolls?

 

[SeerSGB]

Not really. I know people that do it as a matter of daily life.

But are these people internet trolls?

They're online, as to what the do I don't know. I know they wouldn't have a issue getting the ducks in a row to do it.

 

[SiorX]

It does seem drastic, but those forums really are a massive troll-fest. I could imagine the moderators are rejoicing at this news. The community, not so much.

I kinda think it'd be the mods who'd have it worst of all with this. I mean, their meatspace names will be visible, they can't very well avoid posting to the forums, and they're some of the most likely people to earn the wrath of a crazy. I wouldn't want to be a mod on a massive gaming forum and have my real name attached.

 

[SeerSGB]

It does seem drastic, but those forums really are a massive troll-fest. I could imagine the moderators are rejoicing at this news. The community, not so much.

I kinda think it'd be the mods who'd have it worst of all with this. I mean, their meatspace names will be visible, they can't very well avoid posting to the forums, and they're some of the most likely people to earn the wrath of a crazy. I wouldn't want to be a mod on a massive gaming forum and have my real name attached.

I see Blizard making a exception for staffers on the grounds of "security" or some such. Probably right around the time the first mod gets a 3AM phone call getting cursed out for suspending a user or giving them a warning.

 

[Rii]

It does seem drastic, but those forums really are a massive troll-fest. I could imagine the moderators are rejoicing at this news. The community, not so much.

I kinda think it'd be the mods who'd have it worst of all with this. I mean, their meatspace names will be visible, they can't very well avoid posting to the forums, and they're some of the most likely people to earn the wrath of a crazy. I wouldn't want to be a mod on a massive gaming forum and have my real name attached.

I see Blizard making a exception for staffers on the grounds of "security" or some such. Probably right around the time the first mod gets a 3AM phone call getting cursed out for suspending a user or giving them a warning.

They may or may not make an exception for staffers, but in any case it's not terribly difficult to find out the names of most of the blues who post there. Ghostcrawler aka Greg Street, WoW Lead Systems Designer, being probably the most prolific and high-profile example.

 

[sojourner]

^yea, talk about "double standard", for security, staff are exempt. All you players can twist in the wind.

Oh and:

"Everybody knows the fight is fixed / the poor stay poor and the rich get rich / that's how it goes / everybody knows."

 

[Kestra]

I've looked into this a bit more and it looks like (at least for now), staff are not exempt. That being said, there have already been conflicting reports so I wouldn't be surprised if this is something they change in the future.

As a note to anyone playing, I've also read that addons have access to your real names now, so that's something you may want to investigate if you use addons.

All this being said, as I'm looking at the changes they're making, I wonder if they're trying to contain their user base more and turn it more into some sort of social networking site. That maybe it's not just about trolls but also the fact that they've realize they have a large base of people who already spend a lot of time online and want to figure out a way to utilize their player base more. This is all speculation, of course, but surely they wouldn't do something like this just because of trolls? It wasn't that bad. I've gotten helpful responses the few times I posted on the official forums.

 

[Teelie]

Those who have valid concerns about the (in)security of Real ID can disable it by going to battle.net and logging in. Go to the game management page, parental controls, enable them. You'll get an email confirmation link, use it then add your email address to both fields and make sure the "enable Real ID" option is disabled. No more Real ID integration for you.

 

[Arrqh]

This entire thing can really be solved by just not posting on the Blizzard forums. If there's a site full of trolls and you have to use your real name to post on it and this concerns you, then you shouldn't post there. Done.

Interestingly, someone started a blog showing all the information they can find on Blizzard employees who have posted on their forums... and all it really shows is that Facebook has some serious privacy issues, which we all already knew. Which brings up another point... most people use their real names on Facebook and Twitter constantly and it presents a double standard when it comes to privacy expectations.

 

[sojourner]

^The problem is that people voluntarily put their real names on facebook and twitter. This won't be true of the WoW forums.

What happens if you need to post something in the tech support forum? Oops, to get help with the game I have to give up my privacy from other players.

Lets put it this way. How would you react if Trekbbs went to full names?

 

[Arrqh]

If they did that here, I'd stop posting here. Which is exactly what I would be planning on doing if I frequented the WoW forums. Simple.

You are voluntarily putting your name on the Blizzard forums because you're voluntarily posting on them. If you still need support, deal with support directly and not on the forums. Frankly, I'd never try and deal with official support in any sort of forum for any sort of service or product because there's just too much noise. I took a quick gander at the Tech Support forum on WoW, and the first post contains all the other non-forum ways of getting support including email and phone. So if you need support, go do that. If you just want to talk about WoW, do it somewhere else.

 

[sojourner]

^so what your saying is that using real names would drive you away. Doesn't sound like a good idea to drive paying customers away.

 

[Arrqh]

Yes, from their forums. Not from their game. People don't pay a WoW subscription fee to post on forums, they pay it to play.

 

[Noname Given]

Agree with the above. I was a hards core end game WoW raider for 2.5 years (quit after a month of WoTLK); and currently like STO a lot.

Some of my old WoW Guildmates whom I'm still in contact with have been trying to get me to come back and try th game again after Cataclysm launches; but with this announcement from Blizzard; I won't touch WoW again with a 50' pole.

I don't think I'm alone either, and I think in the long run this move WILL hurt their massive subsciber base a lot.

Time will tell.

 

[sojourner]

Well, Blizzard came to their senses and rescinded the idea. But not till after the forum thread about it reached 2500 pages of responses.

 

[Rii]

^ The post in question:

Hello everyone,

I’d like to take some time to speak with all of you regarding our desire to make the Blizzard forums a better place for players to discuss our games. We’ve been constantly monitoring the feedback you’ve given us, as well as internally discussing your concerns about the use of real names on our forums. As a result of those discussions, we’ve decided at this time that real names will not be required for posting on official Blizzard forums.

It’s important to note that we still remain committed to improving our forums. Our efforts are driven 100% by the desire to find ways to make our community areas more welcoming for players and encourage more constructive conversations about our games. We will still move forward with new forum features such as conversation threading, the ability to rate posts up or down, improved search functionality, and more. However, when we launch the new StarCraft II forums that include these new features, you will be posting by your StarCraft II Battle.net character name + character code, not your real name. The upgraded World of Warcraft forums with these new features will launch close to the release of Cataclysm, and also will not require your real name.

I want to make sure it’s clear that our plans for the forums are completely separate from our plans for the optional in-game Real ID system now live with World of Warcraft and launching soon with StarCraft II. 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. Over time, we will continue to evolve Real ID on Battle.net to add new and exciting functionality within our games for players who decide to use the feature.

In closing, I want to point out that our connection with our community has always been and will always be extremely important to us. We strongly believe that Every Voice Matters, ( http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/company/about/mission.html ) and we feel fortunate to have a community that cares so passionately about our games. We will always appreciate the feedback and support of our players, which has been a key to Blizzard’s success from the beginning.

Mike Morhaime
CEO & Cofounder
Blizzard Entertainment

I must admit, I let out a breath here I didn't know I'd been holding. The more I read about the implications of the proposal, the worse it seemed; yet I didn't feel concerned because I simply didn't believe that Blizzard would be so stupid as to go through with it.

I'm not currently active on the forums and may not be even when I resubscribe for Cataclysm, but I have been in the past and it's nice to know that, should I desire it, the forums will still be available to me in future.

 

[SeerSGB]

We've been constantly monitoring the feedback you've given us, as well as internally discussing your concerns about the use of real names on our forums

Link

Translation: The legal dept. had a cow over the possible liability issues that could arise and marketing shit the couch when they saw money walking out there door.

 

[sojourner]

My only worry is the "at this time" phrasing. Will they try to slip it in later in another form?

 

[Sanji Himura]

Knowing Blizzard, nothing surprises me anymore. I was going to play StarCraft 2 when it comes out, but I will never play a Blizzard game again after this shit.