Blizzard's responses on the Real ID situation

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Sarayana
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Re: Blizzard's responses on the Real ID situation

Unread post by Sarayana »

http://community.livejournal.com/wow_la ... 63688.html

A quote from the poster:
Members of wow_ladies, if the comments and posts from the last two days are any indication the vast majority of us are very united against the new Real ID policy that wishes to enact upon its forums. I want to let you know that there are many Blizzard employees who are also opposed to the change. These people are looking for ammunition to use in their fight. And that's where we can help.

Please comment in this post and tell me your story. Let me know why you are opposed to the Real ID changes.
...
there is no better way to get your voice heard. When I compile these responses the e-mail will go straight to people who are not PR handlers or customer service representatives. No forum posts to sift through, no trolls. These people have direct access to Blizzard company executives, and believe me, they will talk. The more fuel we can give their fire, the better.
It's a really great post, full of responses that address the issues instead of simply crying foul. We'll see what happens, but perhaps this is the kind of response the money-men need to see.

A really poignant (and sad) response:
I play Mirabai, a blood elf Paladin on US-Dalaran. I used to play Kisara, an Alliance guild leader just on the other side. I did that for three years, running a guild through the tail end of BC and the early part of WOTLK. I loved it. It taught me a lot about leadership and problem management. I met a lot of people, and I banned from the guild a few of them. Some are still my friends.

When I took a break, I came back Horde, and I loved it. I rolled fresh, and at 80 I decided, for the first time in my playing history, to be a healer. I put her buns on a flashy sparkle pony because I could. Now, through luck and effort, I'm in the best casual raiding ten man guild on the server. We're primed for Cata.

Or we were.

On the evening of July 7th, 2010, I put a cancellation on my WoW account as the only viable, money-backed vote I could put out against RealID. I was hesitant to do so; I was in the camp of wait and see. Further reading and communication with other players who cared and were devastated by these changes convinced me to vote now.

I want to come back. I want to be able to flick my fingers over to my bookmarks and tap that account page and set it back to its subscription. But I'm not going to. Not now. Not yet.

Blizzard, this is dependent on you. This is not a threat, this is a plea. Whoever has sold you RealID as a concept has sold you a lie. This is not what the playerbase wants. This is not like the past storms over a game change. This is potentially dangerous, unsettling, and a frightening precedent. We don't want this. I don't want this.

Please listen.

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Re: Blizzard's responses on the Real ID situation

Unread post by Slickrock »

Anansi wrote: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.
It's not just the forums. RealID is being implemented so you can update your "Starcraft" status on Facebook within the game. How long do you think before that's added to WoW? likely it will be in Cata, perhaps sooner.

It's quite possible that Activision/Blizzard is aiming this at the segment of the population that really don't care what they share on Facebook. (A quick glance at Failbook.com will show there are plenty in that segment). And if so, they will loose others, but they probably really don't care.

As I said in the other thread, if I was a competing game developer, I would be swooping in to scoop up the best and brightest of Blizzard if they are truly upset with the way things are going.
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Re: Blizzard's responses on the Real ID situation

Unread post by Kalliope »

Dulanie wrote: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.
Totally off topic, but those are urban legends. :P

This would have been a better citation...

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Re: Blizzard's responses on the Real ID situation

Unread post by Skarm »

First, we have been given the option of using our real names or not posting. Kind of an in your face, if you ask me. If cleaning up the forums is such a major goal of theirs, then why don't they moderate them better? I don't post to the forums, and rarely even look at them. Now it will be a cold day in Tanaris before I ever go there again. This is a slippery slope, here guys. Blizz is doing whatever it wants with it's game, and they have already told us as much. They have how many millions of subscribers here at at least fifteen dollars a month? Tha's quite a bit of geldt, if you ask me. If say, twenty five percent of the people griping about real id, myself included, were to cancel their account in demonstration of our displeasure with them, we might get their attention. Trouble is, how serious are any of us when it comes to taking any kind of a stand? Blizz has the whole lot of us by the short and curleys here. It's their game, and they'll do what they want. But the question that I keep asking myself her is, If this is just the latest in a list of Blizz changes, what's next, and when will too much be too much for me?

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Re: Blizzard's responses on the Real ID situation

Unread post by Kayb »

Exactly. We can stop this, easily. Very Easily. The problem is, that everyone can't be bothered to stand up together.

"Everyone else will do it"

If everyone canceled they're accounts on a given date in protest, you better believe Blizzard will pay attention. But yeah, IS everyone gonna get up and actually show them this is not on?

Nope.

Not a chance in hell.

Blizz knows it.

What is there, like, 11million accounts? Imagine if every single one of those was active. $15 x 11million = $165,000,000 per month.

$165,000,000 x 12months = $1,980,000,000 per year. Blizz sure does have an awesome best case scenario. Even if only a third of the total 11million accounts out there were active, they're still raking in the cash. Easily the wealthiest gaming company on the planet.
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Re: Blizzard's responses on the Real ID situation

Unread post by Ellaran »

Is it Blizzard themselves who want to do this, or is it Activision?

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Re: Blizzard's responses on the Real ID situation

Unread post by Skarm »

This is going to sound like heresy, but it's only a game. We were looking for one when we found this one, and there are others out there that Activision and Blizzard don't have control over. I happen to like this one, and there is also my wifes opinion to take into account, because she plays also. I think watch and wait is the operative here.

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Re: Blizzard's responses on the Real ID situation

Unread post by Sarayana »

Skarm wrote:This is going to sound like heresy, but it's only a game. We were looking for one when we found this one, and there are others out there that Activision and Blizzard don't have control over. I happen to like this one, and there is also my wifes opinion to take into account, because she plays also. I think watch and wait is the operative here.
Yup. Very much so.

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Re: Blizzard's responses on the Real ID situation

Unread post by Tahlian »

Scuttlebutt I've heard is that Blizzard is NOT happy about this RealID thing and the backlash it's causing...but the order has come down from Activision's Bobby Kotick, so in it will go, to the inevitable detriment of Blizzard games and our beloved World of Warcraft. Their hands are tied, they have no choice. All they can do is sit there and watch it happen, and maybe hope some sort of miracle occurs.

This entire mess is hurting my heart. People I've known and raided with for years are leaving the game because of this. I'm losing parts of what has become, for me, a second family. And some people seem to think I'm being somehow irresponsible for deciding that I can live with not posting on the forums save if I need assistance (and then only on a trial account); that at least for now, the risk I'm taking is acceptable to me.

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Re: Blizzard's responses on the Real ID situation

Unread post by Ghanur »

Anansi wrote:
Ghanur wrote:
Anansi wrote: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 :evil:

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.
You still don't get it!
I'm forced to use the official forum if I need technical support, and

realID is available in the game already, AddOns can collect the data - I can't do anything about it!


Today I ordered Activision to delete all my personal information and to hand over a list of everyone who had access to it (outside their own corporation) - those are my rights as a citizen of the EU.
The account is gone and I will never buy anything from this corporation again.

Have fun with this game, and don't use your brains, it may hurt :twisted:
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Re: Blizzard's responses on the Real ID situation

Unread post by Noor »

Aleu wrote: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.
Some good reading on Bobby Kotik, Activision and Blizzard: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmes ... _id=128252

This Kotik guy is pretty much despised and feared in the gaming industry, I just don't understand how a once awesome gaming company like Blizzard would hook up with him! He fires like 200 people in 2009, and then has the nerve to say: Yeah, we had a wonderful year in 2009 and I can only thank my employees for that. The guy is a scumbag. :evil: I can't type, I'm so angry and disappointed about this, go read the link. Just get a cup of something to drink however, because it is long.

Personally, I've canceled WoW, and I do not plan on re-subscribing. I went from totally being hyped about Cataclysm, to feeling disappointed and so done with WoW.
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Re: Blizzard's responses on the Real ID situation

Unread post by Mockingbird »

Ghanur wrote: Have fun with this game, and don't use your brains, it may hurt :twisted:
I don't think there's any need for that kind of attitude towards the others here at the site.
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Re: Blizzard's responses on the Real ID situation

Unread post by Palladiamorsdeus »

Okay, Noor? That explains EVERYTHING. Thank you for that link.

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Re: Blizzard's responses on the Real ID situation

Unread post by Saturo »

Activision is like EA, only difference being the names, and that Blizz fell for it.

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Re: Blizzard's responses on the Real ID situation

Unread post by Teigan »

Noor...ok, like Palla said, that explains things. We're screwed.
I'm going to quote Aldo Leopold, the naturalist (Sorry, Aldo, I know you were talking about wetlands, not video games!).
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Re: Blizzard's responses on the Real ID situation

Unread post by Bulletdance »

Saturo wrote:Activision is like EA, only difference being the names, and that Blizz fell for it.
Is it really the same company? After those morons at EA (fairly sure it was them may have to research been a while)sent boxes of real weapons to kids and players as presents supporting that stupid gang game grand theft auto I decided to never play any of their games again.They had to scramble to get them back because they forgot brass knuckles were illegal in half the US.
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Re: Blizzard's responses on the Real ID situation

Unread post by Saturo »

They're not the same, but they're very similar.

They purchase a company that has good intellectual property, milk every last cent out of it, and then dismember the company.

I also exist on DeviantArt.
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Re: Blizzard's responses on the Real ID situation

Unread post by Palladiamorsdeus »

Yeah, EA are also the people who took the popular C&C series and made it into something fans hated. All for the sake of trying to make more money by selling it to a wider audience. That failed. Miserably.

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Re: Blizzard's responses on the Real ID situation

Unread post by Anansi »

Ghanur wrote:Have fun with this game, and don't use your brains, it may hurt :twisted:
You're doing a great job of legitimately supporting your argument. Ad hominem attacks are always the best way to show others just how right you are.
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Re: Blizzard's responses on the Real ID situation

Unread post by Slickrock »

I would not be surprised at all if Activision is willing to sacrifice the older player base that is concerned about this in order to reset to a younger player base that lives it's life on Facebook anyway.

I'm certainly not buying Cata until this settles out, if I buy Cata at all..

I need to check when my sub runs out. Might be time to put this on hold for a few months and see what happens. It's not like anyone I know is raiding anymore anyway.
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