The days of Internet anonymity and online rudeness are coming to an end it seems. At least if you want to keep posting over at Blizzard that is. Quoting sometime “in the near future,” all comments made on Blizzard’s Battle.net forums will be posted using players’ Real ID credentials. The catch? Your Blizzard Real ID comprises of your real first and last name, removing the comfort of hiding behind your awesome (and possibly inflammatory) handle as you spit vitriol at people who have a dissimilar opinion than you in a pitiful attempt to compensate for your own crippling, pathetic inadequacies. The announcement regarding the change over on the forum states:
“Anyone posting or replying to a post on official Blizzard forums will be doing so using their Real ID — that is, their real-life first and last name — with the option to also display the name of their primary in-game character alongside it. These changes will go into effect on all StarCraft II forums with the launch of the new community site prior to the July 27 release of the game, with the World of Warcraft site and forums following suit near the launch of Cataclysm.”
Admitting that the Blizzard forums have become a hotbed “where flame wars, trolling, and other unpleasantness run wild,” Blizzard believe taking away “the veil of anonymity typical to online dialogue” will see such nastiness fade away. We’re not entirely convinced but we applaud the move if it reduces the amount of vindictiveness and malcontent associated with online commentary (thankfully not as prevalent on TSA’s awesome and super-friendly forums). If anything, at least people will now be able to accurately call out the real name of your Mom. Mrs. Kovacs will be so pleased.
Source: Battle.net
theDAZBOMEGATRON
It sounds like a good idea and might prevent flame wars, but here’s another one… use moderators and strict rules more effectively.
Forcing people to reveal their real names is never ever a good idea.
Bilbo_bobbins
people will just sign up with fake names wont they? seems a bit pointless.
BrendanCalls
I agree with idea in principle but it wont work.
People will just give false names like Joe Bloggs, Dave Smith or Osama Bin Laden
herotoozero
Unless it’s tied to your billing account where you will be unable to use a false name if you have a registered credit card.
BrendanCalls
Ahh Good call, you may be right about that.
hazelam
they can just use the game time cards, many people do anyway, they won’t have any billing details then.
i used to use the cards when i played, because i didn’t have a debit or credit card at the time.
brillerment
How is “Joe Soap” any less anonymous to “L33tguy”. I won’t know who either one is anyway :-P
citizeninsane45
A quick serach on Google or Facebook etc. and you can certainly find details of the individual (especially if the name is not all that common). The tyrade of abuse will then be sent directly to the individual.
Personally, I think the forums should just be better moderated!
Kronik76
That’s me screwed then as I’m virtually 100% sure that I’m the only one with my name in the world!!
hazelam
as you can probably tell, i don’t have a problem with my name being displayed, some of it anyway, and i’ve been known to pit a bit of vitriol, i try not to though as it makes a mess on my monitor screen.
but forcing everybody who visits their forum to display their real name is just taking things way too far.
and this security talk is just bullshit.
blizzard will know the names of the users, if somebody is trolling they know who they are, making that info public seems to me like blizzard is supportive of some kind of vigilante activity.
spammers and trolls can create new accounts with false names easily enough, but the legitimate players with high level characters and long standing accounts can’t, this is a violation of their privacy.
and despite what some people say, disagreeing with this does not mean you’re a troll, i’ve been reading the official thread on the blizzard forum and most people disagree with this.
they will lose lots of players over this.
personally i find this action disgusting, and i know i will never play wow again while this kind of crap goes on.
has anybody else noticed how far downhill blizzard have gone since the merger with activision?
seriously, everything activision touches seems to end up pissing off large portions of the gamer community.
but with gaming’s answer to the antichrist in charge what do you expect?
carson321
right on hazel smith!
hazelam
jones actually, but don’t tell anyone ;)
DJ-Katy
You must love Facebook Hazel. Ironically they just introduced anonymous aliases.
td_rules
this severely restricts those who role play on Blizzard games (they’re a lot, I do not myself), in WoW there are servers filled with tens of thousands of people acting out life in Azeroth as if it was their own.
Ripperfish
But at least it might stop the guys who roleplay as girls. Which happens way to much to be normal.
brillerment
http://www.cad-comic.com/comics/c0a129271278475206.jpg
Sums it up :-P
carson321
lol, brilliant! Bit crap if someone on the forum is actually called justin riley though, there in for an unpleasant time!
BrendanCalls
HaHa, thats brilliant
Foxhound_Solid
I dont mind – quite like my real name – ahem, Foxhound ahem Solid!
hazelam
so it’s mr solid?
Blue Heeler
I won’t use their forums any more, even though I still play…most of the playerbase will just flock to a fansite. I have a very unique last name, and would prefer to stay anonymous.
bunimomike
I have a very unique last name, and would prefer to stay anonymous.
Kotick?
Shakugan
Everyone smack Kotick’s face! ……………….Just kidding :D
hazelam
many gaming forums, the blizzard forums included, have a rule on naming and shaming, how are they going to reconcile that rule with this?
the two seem mutually exclusive to me, and i don’t see how they can both be applied to the same forum.
YOURMUMANDME
They should spend less time worrying about this and more time getting Diablo III onto the shelves *shakes fist*