Blizzard to take away any anonymity you had left

[Wassa]

Wow...

Looks like I won't be posting on the official forums. I don't troll or flame anyone on low level alts, but I don't want my real name shown, especially when I'm a girl too.

[Mania]

I noticed that two of the MVPs -- Frejya and Snowfox -- have mentioned that they may not be able to keep posting if their real names are exposed.

[Bulletdance]

I think Blizz needs to watch a few episodes of to catch a predator before they go ahead with this...
This a Teen and up game. And as an adult I think we all have to look out for the younger wow fans. Releasing the names of teens on the internet in a place that is a game that is something those kind of people who look to take advantage of them may go to, scares me a bit.

[Vephriel]

Oh look,

Security flaw allows addons to expose full real life names without user permission
http://www.wow.com/2010/07/06/security- ... mes-witho/

[Saturo]

Oh look,

Security flaw allows addons to expose full real life names without user permission
http://www.wow.com/2010/07/06/security- ... mes-witho/

Somehow I'm not surprised.

[Vephriel]

Me neither Saturo, me neither.

[Aleu]

Eh... Even if it is taken to court, I'm betting Blizzard has the lawyers to shoot down anyone trying to sue them or whatever. I've never really liked the community in general, so I don't post on any forums besides my realm forums. I have a feeling that Blizzards forums will be... quit silent for a while. =P

I dunno. I guess I won't be posting on the forums after this, unless they change it. I was okay with the RealID thing in game as I only selected a few people I knew personally, but the forums? Ehhhhh...

[Mania]

Ironic that that gets reported today.

I'd say "Poor Blizzard" if they hadn't completely brought this on themselves.

I ... may be overreacting. I am fully willing to admit that I might be. But since you can't change the real name associated with your battle.net account, I can foresee circumstances in which I set aside my current account -- including Mania and my beloved slime -- to start a new account under a different name.

Yeah, okay, I am probably overreacting. Just not posting is easier.

[Adam-Savage]

I noticed that two of the MVPs -- Frejya and Snowfox -- have mentioned that they may not be able to keep posting if their real names are exposed.

That's pretty bad when they don't even agree with this..I can't see them doing this. They will need to come up with a User name or something. They are taking to much heat from there paying customers from this.

[Tygamoon]

I like this Players will have the ability to rate up or rate down posts so that great topics and replies stand out from the not-so-great; low-rated posts will appear dimmer to show that the community feels that they don't contribute effectively to the conversation. but the rest can go to pot as far as I'm concerned. I play my characters still but my Hun does not. The name on our account is my husbands and there is no way in hell I'm going to toss that around as I post my personal views. It would be more of a danger for my entire family if something bad were to happen to him as a result of someone finding his name because of something I said.

[Saturo]

Now, I wouldn't be as mad at this if I could change the name registered to the account...

[Mania]

I'd like to be able to change the name on my husband's account to match his Discover card.

Context: He goes by his middle name to avoid confusion with his father. When I created the account for him I used his colloquial name (middle last) and not his legal name (first last). Luckily I did the same (although by accident) when I made him a second person on my Visa card, so at least I can pay for his account with that card.

I'd still be angry about this, though.

[Jangalian]

I WON'T post in the forums now. Let the devs post there, and then I can post my thoughts about said comments on another blog where my persona can remain firmly intact. Nothing like dumping a great white in the bathtub, is there.

[Palladiamorsdeus]

I think that this would go a LONG way to clean up the forums. The major factor in people being such asshats is that layer of annoymity. If people think that you actually KNOW who they are, they are going to be a lot less likely to post stupid or insulting things. Is it possible to track some one back using that? Eh, sure, but statistically speaking the chances of that happening are very low. People cling to that veil of annomity very hard, and hate the idea that it might be pulled back for everyone to see who is posting what.

Do I agree with this change? No, and for other reasons as well. This is something I've been talking to Saturo about, but more and more, WoW is becoming a social application. It is becoming less and less about the game, and more and more about the social interaction. This is just one more step in that direction. WoW, and Blizzard in general, are becoming the new Facebook.

Don't make any large bet's on this not going through. Blizzard is free to change their rules for their game any time they see fit.

[Saturo]

Mhmm, it's becoming less about the game, and that's not really what I want in an MMO. For me, the game is about raiding, getting phat epix, and competing about downing HC-bosses. Heck, even the social aspects like questing and just running around, or whatever you people do (:P) seem more like a part of the actual game for me, than adding stuff like cross-game chatting. If I want that, I'll run WoW trough Steam. That client, BTW, is far better.

[Mania]

Nethaera posted on the official feedback thread:

Just to respond to those that don't think we read through all of these responses and threads, we do and have been. We will continue monitoring feedback as well.

We put a lot of thought into this change and have a long-term vision for the Real ID service and wanted to make sure that we communicated ahead of time and very clearly as to what will be changing and how. Keep in mind that posting is optional, and we recognize that some players will choose not to utilize the Real ID feature in game or post on the forums and support everyone's individual choice on using or not using it.

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. We just want to make sure that if people are sharing feedback, that they keep it constructive, and yes, as I said, we are reading.

I'm glad they support my choice not to post.

[Palladiamorsdeus]

Lord, she even CALLED IT a social gaming service. *Rolls his eyes*

[Vephriel]

Post with your real name shown to everyone or don't post at all hardly seems like much of a choice to me...

Also, what if you need to post something in Technical Support? That's one of the few forums I've posted in because I needed genuine game help, and now we won't even be able to do that without having our names displayed? Their call centers are going to be swamped.

[Mania]

Last time I called I got a recorded message saying that they were so backlogged that I couldn't even wait on hold -- e-mail them or use the forums.

[Karathyriel]

One important point which I don't believe has been relayed yet is that the switch to showing RealID on the forums will only happen with the new forum systems we're launching for StarCraft II shortly before its release, and a new forum system for World of Warcraft launching shortly before the release of Cataclysm.

All posts here on the current World of Warcraft forums, or any of our classic Battle.net forums, will remain as-is. They won't (and can't) automatically switch to showing a real first and last name.

All posts in the future on the new forum systems will be an opt-in choice and ample warning will be given that you're posting with your real first and last name.

Yep, and Blizzard once said that a battle.net account is optional, not mandatory...

I am currently busy to delete each and every post that I ever made with any charakter in the official forums.

Just to be on the safe side...