Blizzard's responses on the Real ID situation

[Adam-Savage]

This should be the player response.

[Muzzle]

Does Blizzard not understand that a lot of people like keeping their WoW life seperate from their real life? also I found this comment from Nethaera funny

This is obviously new ground for us and for you as well, but we want to make sure we're creating a great social-gaming service that people will want to use.

Also she said they have been reading the replies...if they have been reading the replies don't they understand that 95% of the replies state that they hate the idea and theydon't want to use it?

[cowmuflage]

Well they might be changeing it we will ahev to wait and see!

[Adam-Savage]

Well they might be changeing it we will ahev to wait and see!

They need to. To many customers are upset with them. The forums will be dead. Nobody want's there name all over the forums.

Posting here will solve NOTHING!

File complaints here: https://www.esrb.org/about/contact.jsp

And make your voice heard here: http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2010/07/07/ ... d-wizards/

Blizzard is not listening, we have to go over their heads.

[cowmuflage]

Then we will have to wait and see then now wont we? instead of going "omgs weres gunna dies" as alot of us are.

[Ghanur]

Then it is your responsibility to protect your identity.

You don't get it!

It's Activision who decided to put my identity in the open! I can't do anything about it, short of nuking them from the orbit

I do protect my identity, US corporations are violating my rights - so I don't do business with them, as long I can avoid it.

[Ghanur]

Even then, if someone hacks your account they can utterly destroy your reputation completely.

This!

[Anansi]

Then it is your responsibility to protect your identity.

You don't get it!

It's Activision who decided to put my identity in the open! I can't do anything about it, short of nuking them from the orbit

I do protect my identity, US corporations are violating my rights - so I don't do business with them, as long I can avoid it.

Are you being forced to post on the Warcraft forums? No, you are not. Therefore your identity has not been put out in the open without your control and therefore the status of that identity is up to you to protect as you see fit. Your rights are not being violated here. If Blizzard decided to put our Real ID as visible in the game itself, which is a service we pay for, it would be different and no doubt commercial suicide, but the forums are not mandatory, no-one will see your ID if you do not post, and refraining from posting is a control of your personal identity.

I read an article a couple of months ago which discussed the future state of the internet and one of the predictions based on a number of precedents and such, was that anonymity is very likely to diminish via a number of forces. As the internet becomes more and more commercialized and held by private interests, anonymity and the revelation of real identity, voluntary or not, will not be as widespread as it is today and has been all along.
Now that may be neither here nor there but I rather suspect that what Blizzard is doing is not going to be so unusual in times ahead.

I totally understand people's aversion to this and I fully respect the reasons why (I have a great deal of respect for this entire forum, I think it's hands-down the best internet forum I've ever posted on in all my years of internet posting) but at the same time, no-one is having their identity made public without their consent, and legally that's an important distinction.

[Dulanie]

for the loss of aninimity you have the criminals to thank for that. I don't mean the ones that use hax for BG exploits. I'm refering to the ones like "The Craigslist killer", all the child molestors, hard core stalkers, etc...

[Sarayana]

You know, I agree with you Anansi. I have two concerns though:

1) When you have a tech issue you need resolved, the first recommendation is always to post on the tech support forums. What'll happen once this goes live? Will in-game GMs have that much more work? (Which means that many more people will simply delete their WTF/Cache/Interface folders and try again... =_=) Will the phone lines be that much more busy? Cause I guarantee you I won't be posting there. I won't be posting in the suggestions forum either.

2) Where is it going? They're talking about having a vision for RealID, but they're coy about what it is. As of right now, I'll keep playing, I'll avoid the forums and, re: Saturo's concern about hacking, I'll be trying even harder to keep my account safe. But where is it going? Like I said above, I'm reserving judgement since I don't yet know what I'm judging.

[Chrizesu]

for the loss of aninimity you have the criminals to thank for that. I don't mean the ones that use hax for BG exploits. I'm refering to the ones like "The Craigslist killer", all the child molestors, hard core stalkers, etc...

The issue is that this also makes the 'prey' more vulnerable. It really solves nothing.


There are cases small groups don't want certain things getting out. On live journal there's even special yoai memes were the stuff is posted anon. Can you believe your co workers finding out you write yaoi?! Especially if you worked somewhere like, say, Disney?

[Anansi]

I don't deny that there are concerns with the Real ID implementation on the forums and I certainly hope Blizzard has some pretty solid security upgrades for in-game to prevent hacking. I also don't think it's far-fetched to see this as an attempt to sell more Authenticators (a move for which you can likely thank Activision).

I would like to see Blizzard directly address the concern of having your account stolen and somebody posting crap under your name on the forums for all the world to read. It could be very hard if not impossible to explain to an employer or prospective employer (for example) why your name was posting terrible things on the World of Warcraft forums (of all places). Strict moderation and quick removal of such things is good but as we all know once something is committed to the digital realm it's nearly impossible to remove completely.
So I do hope Blizzard can address this very specific concern and how they plan to manage it with their Real ID plan. And yes, it'd be nice to see them spell out their vision for Real ID rather than bringing it in incrementally. I agree that if they have a plan that involves the use of our real names then we should know the nature of that plan.

My support for the using of Real ID on the forums is not from a blanket "this can not possibly be a bad thing" perspective, rather I support the intent behind the move yet that is not without acknowledgment that there are many areas that need addressing before going forward.

[Gala]

anansi.

/brofist

[Murloc Chow]

I know what they’re trying to, or at least their excuse, what I don’t see is how it will remove anonymity. The example given for why some people don’t mind the change is because they have a common name... well that’s exactly the reason why it won’t work, John Smith will happily continue to post because he knows that no one will be able to separate him from every other John Smith.

But this is what came to mind when I saw this:
http://www.cracked.com/article_18540_5- ... oogle.html
Mostly this though:
http://www.cracked.com/article_16765_5- ... ernet.html

What I don't like currently is the way they were locking and deleting posts.

[Dulanie]

There are cases small groups don't want certain things getting out. On live journal there's even special yoai memes were the stuff is posted anon. Can you believe your co workers finding out you write yaoi?! Especially if you worked somewhere like, say, Disney?

Well the thing with that is that there are alot of perverts working for Disney already and have been for years. For example the original cover for the "Little Mermaid" had to be recalled because on the castle were orgy scenes. Also in the scene where they are getting married the priest has a boner. You also have to consider the fact that in the movie Ariel is 14 And that is just one movie. Another thing is that Britiney Spears, Christina Agulaira, and other "wild" girls were members of the Mickey Mouse Club. It's enough to make me wonder if Traci Lords is being used as a role model for them.

[Slickrock]

My immediate reaction? I'll never post on the official forums again. I don't want people tracking back to me without my consent on giving out my name. Considering that Drysc was foolish enough to post his real name on the forums, and within 30 minutes pizzas and more were being delivered to his house, I don't want my real name exposed to people I don't know.

What really concerns me is what they might do next. If the RealID info shows up on the armoury pages without my consent or ability to opt-out? I'll quit WoW immediately, and never look back.

There are very real concerns here. For those of us in the workforce, especially in environments where your reputation can effect the company, do you want anyone to be able to find out you play WoW, and how much time you spend there?

Now here's another angle...

Let's say you have an alt with a guild name that some would consider offensive. Or your rogue is named "IKEELYOUDIEIDIE". You are applying for a management level IT position. The hiring agent finds your armoury page with your real name, and all your characters, and their guilds. How will that offensive guild name and rogue name play with that hiring manager who knows nothing about WoW but sees you are in a club named something offensive and your character seems to have homicidal tendencies?...

They are using the "control" of the forums as an excuse to widen the scope of RealID, but they obviously have bigger plans for this. You wouldn't create this firestorm just to control the forums.

[Slickrock]

and perhaps over-the-top, but...

[Aleu]

I'm not sure if this has been addressed, but I'm being told there's another side to this whole forum Real ID. This one involves Blizzard as the victim. The main culprit? Activision. Apparently, the made a deal behind Blizzards back to Facebook. This was already know they made this deal, but of course, they did it for the money they'd get. The contract Blizzard and Activision have prevents the blues from really saying anything.

I haven't got full details (I'm still looking around since I heard this could be a chance for Blizzard to be an independent company again), but to be honest, this does make a bit of sense, to me at least. It sounds like something Activision would pull to get more money. They mentioned they only care about money anyways.

[Slickrock]

I'm not sure if this has been addressed, but I'm being told there's another side to this whole forum Real ID. This one involves Blizzard as the victim. The main culprit? Activision. Apparently, the made a deal behind Blizzards back to Facebook. This was already know they made this deal, but of course, they did it for the money they'd get. The contract Blizzard and Activision have prevents the blues from really saying anything.

I haven't got full details (I'm still looking around since I heard this could be a chance for Blizzard to be an independent company again), but to be honest, this does make a bit of sense, to me at least. It sounds like something Activision would pull to get more money. They mentioned they only care about money anyways.

That seems to be the case. Selling out to Facebook of all stupid places...

In any case, if my name shows up anywhere I didn't allow it, I'm gone, and if it's their clear direction, I might be gone before that.

[cowmuflage]

Well it does look like its all Activisions doing and not really blizz seeing as so many people in blizz don't like it. :S