Seems to be a step past their boundaries. Aren't they worried about people being able to back search someone? All you really need is their first and last name. And I know wow is filled with a lot of angry nerds.
I suppose I can say they are welcoming the massive ID steal plans. I mean who would want to play Blizzard games if we are forced to use the real names?
One can handle trolling, spamming, threads filled with infernal rage, personal attacks and so on. It isnt really hard for any Admin or Mod to settle them every now and then.
If I'll be forced to use the real ID on wow or anything, will quit Wow and everything that has to do with Blizzard and I am sure many others will too, because its just pure BS.
A psycho plays 24 hours of GTA4 and heads out to run people over with his car. No one here blames the developer - he's just a crazy bastard and would eventually have gone off regardless of what games Rockstar makes, so don't ban my games.
A psycho plays 24 hours of WoW and stalks some Pkiller he tracks via the forums. Some here do blame the developer - there are crazy bastards out there, and Blizzard is responsible for letting them track me down!
If you guys are really concerned that playing WoW with real names will let some people turn into serial killers, why aren't you out to get WoW shut down? Anonymous forums help prevent it, but names can be learned and accounts can be hacked. The only real solution is to end the game altogether: no WoW, no angry PK victim, no real-life facestabbing.
Kneejerk cynical POV: Game devs are not to blame when a gamer wants to pre-order the next GTA game, but game devs are to blame when a gamer wants to anonymously troll the shit out of people on a forum.
I use my real name at PC, so anyone who is outraged by my post can have at it.
If you guys are really concerned that playing WoW with real names will let some people turn into serial killers, why aren't you out to get WoW shut down? Anonymous forums help prevent it, but names can be learned and accounts can be hacked. The only real solution is to end the game altogether: no WoW, no angry PK victim, no real-life facestabbing.
OOO...there is planty of where that came from. www.mmosite.com
oh wait..99% game forums on this site dont even give a damn about the nerd rage that goes on their forums...
Sir do you have any idea how many cases of ID steal are there today?
I've used my real name a few times on forums, but I'm still against this, people should keep the right to choose. I wouldn't want any random person (employer even?) googling my name and finding out the games I play so easily.
And yeah, good luck to all the girls who plan on playing on battle.net, I'm sure you'll make LOTS of "friends"!
I think this is a really poor direction to take, would you imagine a city where you were forced to wear a name tag wherever you go? (heh sorry Seinfeld).
If I do end up buying SC2 (really having some doubts now, as much as I like the game I just can't stand the whole Bnet2.0 thing), I will definitely recreate an account with a fake name, just out of principal.
Another thing is, there basing this whole thing, off of an assumption that all their problems are due to anonymity.
Some of these people use their real name anyway, with added one11111s, or whatever.
Most of the Bullying on facebook is not done in anonymity they all know each others real names.
The reason there is most of the bad behaviour on the internet is because they are physically not there. They are one step removed from the situation. People can post death threats with there real name, and not realise that, that could be a problem, that the person at the other end could take offense, and get them arrested.
Personally I'm not too bothered about the stalking in the real world or id theft, thats excessive paranoia. The thing that annoys me is some complete stranger using my real name to insult me. People I dont know, thinking they know me because, they know my name.
I'm betting they'll be a ton of personal insults floating over the pm system that will hurt just that little bit more, as the vitriol is peppered with the targets real name.
OOO...there is planty of where that came from. www.mmosite.com
oh wait..99% game forums on this site dont even give a damn about the nerd rage that goes on their forums...
Sir do you have any idea how many cases of ID steal are there today?
I can think of one case off the top of my head: my WoW account was hacked about a year ago, and permanently banned when the hacker used it for bot farming. I didn't even have the game installed and I still lost all my characters and gear, etc. A jackass knowing my name from the forums isn't going to be worse than that.
In order to defend the new Real-ID feature for BNet 2.0, community manager Bashiok posted his real name on the SC2 forums. Within minutes users were able to get information not only on his CV, but his telephone number, address, age and preferences as well. In addition, they were able to publish his wifes name, that of his cohabitants and the name of his childrens school.
To top it of they found a picture of his house via Google Street View.
Bashiok has already canceled his twitter account.
*
There must be many thousands of people who want to have the same service as everyone else but dont want to be bothered by idiots when they are playing games. celebrities for example will have a crowd following them ingame and thats probably not what theyd want when relaxing, there are hundreds of reasons some people need and would want to hide from someone. I dont think this will last.
I really don't see how this makes people responsible for their actions and the internet hate machine. If someone was harassing a person on the forums or in game they could get banned and their account canceled from blizzard staff anyways. Some people value their privacy. I rarely if ever post on the WoW forums, but that doesn't mean I want my name all over it if I do.
Past that, does this mean I get to look forward to someone stalking me online or in real life because I beat them in a duel or something such nonsense. It's bad enough my wife gets harassed just for being female when on vent, now she can look forward to it all the time. It's been a while since a stalker has harassed her via phone. Can't wait for that to start again.
If you want to say you don't believe in the anonymity of the internet and throw your name all over the place then good for you. However there are some of us that wish to keep our personal lives personal for a variety of reasons.
If you want to say you don't believe in the anonymity of the internet and throw your name all over the place then good for you. However there are some of us that wish to keep our personal lives personal for a variety of reasons.
If you believe you're in any way anonymous, you're wrong. You use your gamer handle "Praetus" all over the place - on YouTube, on deviantArt, on LinkedIn, here on Polycount, etc. Anyone can easily find out that you're Michael Barrington of 13XXX N. Linden Ave, Apt 3XX Seattle, WA 98XXX, and they can call you at (386)29X-XXXX and ask how Elizabeth's doing or how late the Fred Meyer is open on Sundays. Details X'd for privacy, but your info simply isn't discrete.
The thing is, a unique player handle associated to a handful of game/web accounts is WAY more specific than most people's actual names. If someone just searches for Michael Barrington, they're going to get listings of dozens and dozens of people, with no real way of knowing which one is you. But looking for "Praetus" in the context of video games makes you easy prey, because that's a very unusual name and you've stamped it all over your digital life. As soon as you adopted the identity of "Praetus" and chose to link that with your real name, you screwed your anonymity over a hundred times worse than anything Blizzard's real name policy might ever do.
I can clear your name and details out of here later if you want, but remember that I found all this info elsewhere and it took me less than ten minutes to do it.
No worries, I'm not going to stalk you, I'm just making the point. A false sense of security can be worse than no security at all. Also, congrats on the Addy
God forbid we use our real names! Because we're all so popular, that people will actually bother stalking us!
Don't be ridiculous. It's going to do nothing, stop over-reacting. No need to hide behind a screen name. I often use my real name in-game and on message boards. Don't know why I'm using my alias on here to be honest.
God forbid we use our real names! Because we're all so popular, that people will actually bother stalking us!
Don't be ridiculous. It's going to do nothing, stop over-reacting. No need to hide behind a screen name. I often use my real name in-game and on message boards. Don't know why I'm using my alias on here to be honest.
The point is, something could happen between you and another player, that the other player might take into his own hands. You're probably one of the few people who doesn't mind having their real name out there, but beyond all the reasons already posted, it becomes just a matter of privacy. It's a lot easier to find out information about person with his/her real name. And if you have someone's name out there, there is even more of a motivation to find something out about them. You don't have to be popular, with the WOW/Internet mentality people may harass you for fun.
Also to Tom's GTA response, the problem is you aren't playing grand theft auto as extensively as you have to play world of warcraft. There's less of a chance of it altering your mentality. I mean, the same thing could be said about counterstrike, where a kid wanted to be a terrorist like in the game, but there's more recorded issues with mmo players.
The point is, something could happen between you and another player, that the other player might take into his own hands. You're probably one of the few people who doesn't mind having their real name out there, but beyond all the reasons already posted, it becomes just a matter of privacy. It's a lot easier to find out information about person with his/her real name. And if you have someone's name out there, there is even more of a motivation to find something out about them. You don't have to be popular, with the WOW/Internet mentality people may harass you for fun.
It's true! That's why when I go outside and play soccer and basketball against teams full of strangers, I wear a mask, and use the name "aesir" on the back of my jersey. That way, when I call them a cum filled cunt or bitch tits or what have you, they are unable to track me back home and kill me.
It's true! That's why when I go outside and play soccer and basketball against teams full of strangers, I wear a mask, and use the name "aesir" on the back of my jersey. That way, when I call them a cum filled cunt or bitch tits or what have you, they are unable to track me back home and kill me.
It's the internet, things are said here that most people would not like to use mixed company. You can't stop hate machine that's already been bred here for the last decade. Why give them MORE of a reason to go to your home and kill you for something both of you are probably doing?
It's true! That's why when I go outside and play soccer and basketball against teams full of strangers, I wear a mask, and use the name "aesir" on the back of my jersey. That way, when I call them a cum filled cunt or bitch tits or what have you, they are unable to track me back home and kill me.
You guys wont just understand, until you see the result..Seriously using your Real ID in some sport is onething...you get in to a fight but there is someone to stop it and settle it down. You guys even get punishment(s) for that..
using Real ID on the forums and online games is completely different..And wrong, it can haunt you down and get you killed.
using Real ID on the forums and online games is completely different..And wrong, it can haunt you down and get you killed.
So when this happens people who use the Blizzard forums are going to be hunted and killed in real life for their actions in a game? Seriously, if this happens to anyone it's because of the mental instability of the person who felt the need to kill someone for doing something in a game, not because Blizzard started making people use their real name on the forums.
So when this happens people who use the Blizzard forums are going to be hunted and killed in real life for their actions in a game? Seriously, if this happens to anyone it's because of the mental instability of the person who felt the need to kill someone for doing something in a game, not because Blizzard started making people use their real name on the forums.
reminds me of a great eddie izzard quote
"...so the NRA loves that saying 'guns don't kill people, people kill people'.... but I think the gun helps, yeah?"
Wow, not the responses I expected. Honestly I'm confused as to why people are actually defending this. Loss of online anonymity is a bad idea on multiple levels, and the implications extend past the blizz forums.
1) A game company should not require you to play or post using your real name. Games are not serious business, they should not require any investment from you past your time and money. Unfortunately blizzard smells money, so fuck you.
2) It won't work that well. Seriously, why do they think it will work? People might be scared away initially, but without a change in forum penalties there will be no functional difference between flaming by "Xx-Sup3rL33TKill3r-xX or "Bob Johnson". Rude conduct will continue. If it isn't bannable, why would someone be afraid to do it? People dumb enough to flame and act like cocks aren't going to suddenly turn respectable.
3) It will make harassment much easier. A gamer tag is a clue; A clue that can easily be a dead end. A full name is a near guarantee for a search hit. One layer of potential protection is stripped away, which is funny since they want to make it safer and friendlier.
4) It makes indiscretions easier to uncover. If you act like a douche online you may be just fine offline, but your boss may not give a damn after a google search of your name uncovers some meaningless forum indiscretion. People have already been burned undeservedly for social networking gaffes, an expansion of that phenomenon is not a good thing.
5) This is about cleaning up the forums as much as my shits are about making the bathroom smell like peppermint. Blizzard wants to expand b.net into a social platform and it's doing it one step at a time. Except it's a multiplayer architecture and most people don't give a shit about it beyond that.
6) First they take your real name, and you say nothing. Then massive privacy issues are uncovered and everyone cries foul, but oops, too late! Facebook did it, and Blizzard will too if their Activision connection is any clue. And they'll tell you it's a feature.
TomDunne: I'm curious what you can dig up on me. I try to keep a low profile online, but I still wonder if my address and important info manages to get into searches.
... you screwed your anonymity over a hundred times worse than anything Blizzard's real name policy might ever do.
Real ID and other similar ID programs *authenticate* those bits of data so it's infinitely worse than finding spurious bits scattered over the net and trying to make the parts fit, that only works for the small percentage of people that have a reasonably large enough footprint on the Net to do that with (have websites, blogs etc etc.).
I can see this being one of the first steps in a horrible trend which will basically be the death of the internet as we know it (im not kidding). Look, i know theres flame wars, spammers and such, but when internet anonymity becomes a thing of the past then surely freedom of speech and/or internet censorship will follow. How do i make that connection? Well, theres a disturbing trend amongst politicians in the west to want to adapt a "chinese style" internet censorship and regulation(yeah i've been following that one closely, don't touch my internets!11), which they are pushing very hard for. Oh... and a internet killswitch.
I keep seeing people bring up the comparison between PC and this new Blizzard change. These things cant be more diffrent. The diffrence here is that PC is not some game, not some escape for the shit of real life. This is a website where we CHOOSE to share our info, our names, our work. PC is more buissness oriented, in the way that we use this website as a place for critiques on our work, make connections and find possible jobs.
Wow and SC2 are games, where CHOICE has been taken away from people. If you choose to not show your name you lose out on all the fourms have to offer. They already have this "realID" system in place now in game where you can CHOOSE to display your Real Life name to only your friends. But now for there fourms they remove that choice, you have to share your name with everyone and people who you might not want to know it.
People mainly become good friends through interaction in game. And in wow you can CHOOSE to have your real life name dispalyed to them. This isnt going to make a tighter community. The realID feature in game now is a great thing so you can become better friends with the people you want. This is going to break appart the community from people who will never post again, which will be a great deal and those who will be fine with posting. Many people, even helpful posters will leave and I think it will only hurt the community at large.
In defense of this new plan a Blizzard Poster posted his Real Life name on the wow fourms and within 5 min people started posting his Adress, his phone number, the names of his wife, children, parents, his past jobs, his facebook, pictures of him, pictures of his home, the home he grew up in, hobbies...the list goes on.
A psycho plays 24 hours of GTA4 and heads out to run people over with his car. No one here blames the developer - he's just a crazy bastard and would eventually have gone off regardless of what games Rockstar makes, so don't ban my games.
A psycho plays 24 hours of WoW and stalks some Pkiller he tracks via the forums. Some here do blame the developer - there are crazy bastards out there, and Blizzard is responsible for letting them track me down!
This is such a horrible comparison, in your Rockstar example your best attempt to tie the criminal activity to the game is that he played it at some point before comitting the crime.
In your Blizzard example the crime is a direct result of a vendetta he formed in-game and far more importantly, he used the game as a tool to get information in order to commit that crime.
You screwed your anonymity over a hundred times worse than anything Blizzard's real name policy might ever do.
Great point, the damage has been done, we may as well just start shredding all the privacy policies!
Hell let's get rid of doctor patient confidentiality too, I mean really anyone can just as easily get your name and address off the internet, follow you around for a while and find out that you're going to an abortion clinic. Since they can find it via some other means why should anyone bother trying to protect the rights of their users?
Solution!!!!!!
stay off off the forums.
My solution is going to be to not buy Blizzard games.
So when this happens people who use the Blizzard forums are going to be hunted and killed in real life for their actions in a game? Seriously, if this happens to anyone it's because of the mental instability of the person who felt the need to kill someone for doing something in a game, not because Blizzard started making people use their real name on the forums.
Actually it will become a hell of an issue just because Blizzard will enforce people to use their real name on the forums
I dont know I just look at the core being who was a dick to introduce something which made part of the AI world go bizarg. I wouldnt blame it on members who are doing it.
Why? God I cant even explain stuff that goes in my mind.
Why is this even an issue, when everyone can find anything they need on Facebook, where a lot of people are also signed up on, and include their real names on? You opt-into facebook by logging in and creating an account, similarly to how you create a battlenet account to play the games.
Yes, it poses an issue, but any stalker on Facebook can get your info just as easily. If you arent interested in facebook, you dont log into the website & post on it. If you're not interested in being exposed via Starcraft or Warcraft, don't post on the forum - but that has no impact on the fact that you can still enjoy the game
The display of your name by a voluntary forum post has no meaning, merit, or bearing on the fact that their games are still amazing, and fun. Posting is not a requirement after purchasing the games, so saying "i wont buy their games," is a little ridiculous.
Developers can't hide behind aliases anymore either, which could be troublesome
The display of your name by a voluntary forum post has no meaning, merit, or bearing on the fact that their games are still amazing, and fun. Posting is not a requirement after purchasing the games, so saying "i wont buy their games," is a little ridiculous.
It's called having principles and the only way you actually get to voice your opinion with any business is through your wallet, so long as what they're doing doesn't encroach on peoples decisions to buy products, they're going to keep pushing them onto consumers, which is why all products of this kind are introduced in a phased manner.
If you don't think this is the beginning of a larger attempt to push the social networking aspect of their games onto users then you've seriously deluded yourself. Ask yourself, who the hell really wants this feature? Real ID as a feature is virtually worthless by itself, this is a precursor meant to both test the waters and pave the way to more social content and inevitably, less privacy.
I can see how Facebook requires people to go by their own name, since that is the actual principle behind a social/friends site. The idea being that you are only friends with friends. I'm pretty sure that, like Facebook, you'll be able to opt out of showing personal details such as your phone number, email address and such. As I choose to do.
For those that do not like this idea, I would basically not go on the forums, simple as that really, its the principle that stinks though. Its not a social networking site, its just a game forum so why treat it like that?.
With regards to trolling and the like, its not like trolling or flame baiting is a serious crime, its what the internet is about. If the whole of the internet started to turn towards a big social site, then I could see some serious problems. Its not like people send letters through the post randomly, or people walk around town with name tags in the street. This will most likely alienate people from the forums.
Its obvious to understand they want to push social networking into their games, don't disagree with that at all, its why i related it to Facebook. World of Warcraft has been a social networking tool, and game, for 7 years now - this change, while drastic, isn't all that surprising.
Can see the point that it does somewhat invade privacy, in that it would be a little more stressful to give my opinions on dungeons, bosses, or other game nonsense when it could directly flow back to my personal life. Being anonymous is cool, i don't disagree.
Grand scheme of things, i guess i don't really give a shit and want to play good and fun games - and if that means i have to keep my anonymity by not posting on a forum, but still get to enjoy a sweet game, then i can live with that.
You can display whatever name you want on facebook, you dont have to use your real name at all. I have a couple of friends who dont use there real full name but there nick names.
As many of you have said its a game, its not a social networking website. People didnt sign up to be on a social networking site when signing up for battle.net. But that is what Blizzard is turrning it into. Just look at the chat system they have in SC2 now, it is very much like that of Facebook. Some people consider the fourms a big part of the game, something to connect and share with the communite but still keeping it in the game sphere of seperated from there real life.
I think its kind of crappy to running a service one way for years then switch it to something different BAM your exposed sucka!. Seems kind of bait and switch.
Roll that idea out with something new but don't screw with the WoW boards, too established, set in its ways and way too much nerd rage.
I guess when you're starring down the sights of D3 and SC2 you don't really need teh wowz as much so its fine to piss off a few smacktards.
I think its kind of crappy to running a service one way for years then switch it to something different BAM your exposed sucka!. Seems kind of bait and switch.
Roll that idea out with something new but don't screw with the WoW boards, too established, set in its ways and way too much nerd rage.
I guess when you're starring down the sights of D3 and SC2 you don't really need teh wowz as much so its fine to piss off a few smacktards.
The forums have never been a part of the service has it?, and this is if we look past the ability blizzard will have to change the terms however they wish, you're still pretty much anonymous ingame no?
The forums have never been a part of the service has it?, and this is if we look past the ability blizzard will have to change the terms however they wish, you're still pretty much anonymous ingame no?
With a social, collaborative and complex game like WoW, players need a place to discuss strategy, archive ideas as well as help guide newer players by answering their questions. Much more than the normal official boards for XYZ game that doesn't require that level of involvement and interaction. It doesn't need to be official but its nice when it is.
If it requires users to sign up for new accounts or activate old ones in a new way, which it appears to do, I think its fine. I think it would be a mistake to link old dead accounts with names. Those posts where created under one set of rules and it can easily stir up more trouble than it seeks to squash if they do. Hopefully they structure it as a "going forward, opt in" service without preforming necromancy on long dead cans of worms, then I'm fine with it.
If you believe you're in any way anonymous, you're wrong. You use your gamer handle "Praetus" all over the place
Right, and I use that name with sites I'm not worried about. Too true that my information is all over the net. It's the price I had to pay to network my art and on some forums I use my actual name for my handle (Gameartisans for example.) It's something that I've been ok with when it comes to somewhat "legitimate" sites. However when it comes to gaming sites, WoW forums, etc I use a different name with little to no personal information within them for the idea that it can't be brought back as easily. The same goes for my wife.
Is it a bit alarmist to think that someone is going to shank me for killing them in a duel? Yes. yes it is. There's pretty much not a chance in hell it's going to happen. Let me ask this though. How many of you posting here are girls or know girls that play WoW? How many get harassed just for being female. If you think this measure is going to make people stop trolling, you're sorely mistaken. It's not like Blizzard can't look up and ban someones account as it is. It's just going to make it easier for Johhny Douchebag to get peoples name and harass them if he feels like trolling in real life.
Also, facebook and the like I signed up for so I could network with friends and colleagues and most my info is hidden because of this. I gave Blizzard my info for account purposes and verification, not so they could blast it out.
Obviously I'd never presume to speak for anyone else, but from my experience during WoW (I played for three years before quitting) I never really ran into serious trouble from stalkers or crazies, nor did most of my female friends. Like a number of the arguments put forth I think it's a little extreme to assume that lady players are going to have stalkers all up on the moment they post on the forums, but not all servers are alike when it comes to their communities, and I'd be interested to hear what other female players had to say on the matter.
Still, I don't love the idea in any way, shape or form.
If you want to say you don't believe in the anonymity of the internet and throw your name all over the place then good for you. However there are some of us that wish to keep our personal lives personal for a variety of reasons.
I can't really imagine what it's like to get pestered by brainless morons, in game, just because of the arrangement of chromosomes I have. Especially on vent and by phone That must really suck, and I sympathise with you.
I have to ask, though. If you and your wife have this kind of trouble in a game, why do you both still play this game? It's by your own choice that you both play it and offer yourselves up to these trolls, knowing they exist. I get that you might not want to give up playing something you've both probably invested your time into, but it is still your choice to keep going back there.
All of this pestering could stop, simply by finding something else to spend your time on.
I only trust that Bliz has examined the issue to the point where they aren't putting people in harm's way to the extent they'll be liable. In this case, I think that probably works out best for everyone.
I only trust that Bliz has examined the issue to the point where they aren't putting THEMSELVES in harm's way to the extent they'll be liable.
There, fixed that for you
Seriously, when you look at recent privacy fuck ups it's usually the individual that has the most trouble as a result, and not the company. The trouble the company usually gets in those cases is rather minor, if any at all, because nobody who isn't affected usually protests. That is, assuming the case even makes it to the public.
So someone steals your CC or from a big online retailer...or ID theft? You can bet the company will survive, but you yourself may just be broke and ruined afterwards...
Now I don't think the potential is that great that there'll be a ton of fuckups with Blizz's new system, but I don't think it's a step in the right direction.
More than anything it's caused her to not join parties unless it's with people she knows or she just refuses to use vent at this point. Enough guys play as girl characters so she just rolls with that. As to why we still play, we both love online games and I really like the world that Blizzard has sculpted with WoW. I've tried to play other games but since she won't move off WoW it gets kind of boring playing alone. With this news though she talking about quitting if they put names in game. Forums we can avoid I suppose, but we'll see. Final Fantasy XIV is looking better and better this September.
It's amusing to a point because I see where Blizzard is trying to go with this. At the same time I can't imagine it working to the point they are aiming for. Haters gonna hate.
Read the Article, information about this Blizzard employee was discovered pretty much instantly after a failed attempt to alleviate people's concern with Real-ID, now he is being harassed.
It makes you wonder how shit like this even gets past a brainstorm.
hah i think its gonna be a race to fill out free b-net accounts with fake celeb ID's. if you own a game like SC you dont need to fill in your real name right, you can totally fake an account name when you fill it in. Dibs on john holms!
hah i think its gonna be a race to fill out free b-net accounts with fake celeb ID's. if you own a game like SC you dont need to fill in your real name right, you can totally fake an account name when you fill it in. Dibs on john holms!
Well that's the thing, I never gave my real name for my bnet account, but apparently if some shit goes down with the game (like your acc is jacked or game broke) they will require a proof of ID.
How will I prove that I am, in fact, vcool the great?
im pretty sure you can send them an image/scan of your original cd key like you can with valve/steam to have them reset your account. not 100% but think i read that somewhere before.
Read the Article, information about this Blizzard employee was discovered pretty much instantly after a failed attempt to alleviate people's concern with Real-ID, now he is being harassed.
It makes you wonder how shit like this even gets past a brainstorm.
Things like this happens even without real names going out, except now people are just breaking forum rules just to prove some point. It's often easy to google information about someone just based on a nickname, or easily get the information based on the IP adress.
So why do some people act like dicks behind their anonymity?
Replies
I suppose I can say they are welcoming the massive ID steal plans. I mean who would want to play Blizzard games if we are forced to use the real names?
One can handle trolling, spamming, threads filled with infernal rage, personal attacks and so on. It isnt really hard for any Admin or Mod to settle them every now and then.
If I'll be forced to use the real ID on wow or anything, will quit Wow and everything that has to do with Blizzard and I am sure many others will too, because its just pure BS.
EDIT: Make that real-ID in-game and on-forums
A psycho plays 24 hours of GTA4 and heads out to run people over with his car. No one here blames the developer - he's just a crazy bastard and would eventually have gone off regardless of what games Rockstar makes, so don't ban my games.
A psycho plays 24 hours of WoW and stalks some Pkiller he tracks via the forums. Some here do blame the developer - there are crazy bastards out there, and Blizzard is responsible for letting them track me down!
If you guys are really concerned that playing WoW with real names will let some people turn into serial killers, why aren't you out to get WoW shut down? Anonymous forums help prevent it, but names can be learned and accounts can be hacked. The only real solution is to end the game altogether: no WoW, no angry PK victim, no real-life facestabbing.
Kneejerk cynical POV: Game devs are not to blame when a gamer wants to pre-order the next GTA game, but game devs are to blame when a gamer wants to anonymously troll the shit out of people on a forum.
I use my real name at PC, so anyone who is outraged by my post can have at it.
OOO...there is planty of where that came from. www.mmosite.com
oh wait..99% game forums on this site dont even give a damn about the nerd rage that goes on their forums...
Sir do you have any idea how many cases of ID steal are there today?
there already are. I accidentally put my bday as 2001 once and couldnt get to the forums for a while, during my hardcore wow forum days
And yeah, good luck to all the girls who plan on playing on battle.net, I'm sure you'll make LOTS of "friends"!
I think this is a really poor direction to take, would you imagine a city where you were forced to wear a name tag wherever you go? (heh sorry Seinfeld).
If I do end up buying SC2 (really having some doubts now, as much as I like the game I just can't stand the whole Bnet2.0 thing), I will definitely recreate an account with a fake name, just out of principal.
Some of these people use their real name anyway, with added one11111s, or whatever.
Most of the Bullying on facebook is not done in anonymity they all know each others real names.
The reason there is most of the bad behaviour on the internet is because they are physically not there. They are one step removed from the situation. People can post death threats with there real name, and not realise that, that could be a problem, that the person at the other end could take offense, and get them arrested.
Personally I'm not too bothered about the stalking in the real world or id theft, thats excessive paranoia. The thing that annoys me is some complete stranger using my real name to insult me. People I dont know, thinking they know me because, they know my name.
I'm betting they'll be a ton of personal insults floating over the pm system that will hurt just that little bit more, as the vitriol is peppered with the targets real name.
I can think of one case off the top of my head: my WoW account was hacked about a year ago, and permanently banned when the hacker used it for bot farming. I didn't even have the game installed and I still lost all my characters and gear, etc. A jackass knowing my name from the forums isn't going to be worse than that.
http://www.gamona.de/games/activision-blizzard,blizzards-bashiok-ist-erstes-opfer-der-real-id:news,1769743.html
Rough translation/summary:
In order to defend the new Real-ID feature for BNet 2.0, community manager Bashiok posted his real name on the SC2 forums. Within minutes users were able to get information not only on his CV, but his telephone number, address, age and preferences as well. In addition, they were able to publish his wifes name, that of his cohabitants and the name of his childrens school.
To top it of they found a picture of his house via Google Street View.
Bashiok has already canceled his twitter account.
*
There must be many thousands of people who want to have the same service as everyone else but dont want to be bothered by idiots when they are playing games. celebrities for example will have a crowd following them ingame and thats probably not what theyd want when relaxing, there are hundreds of reasons some people need and would want to hide from someone. I dont think this will last.
Past that, does this mean I get to look forward to someone stalking me online or in real life because I beat them in a duel or something such nonsense. It's bad enough my wife gets harassed just for being female when on vent, now she can look forward to it all the time. It's been a while since a stalker has harassed her via phone. Can't wait for that to start again.
If you want to say you don't believe in the anonymity of the internet and throw your name all over the place then good for you. However there are some of us that wish to keep our personal lives personal for a variety of reasons.
If you believe you're in any way anonymous, you're wrong. You use your gamer handle "Praetus" all over the place - on YouTube, on deviantArt, on LinkedIn, here on Polycount, etc. Anyone can easily find out that you're Michael Barrington of 13XXX N. Linden Ave, Apt 3XX Seattle, WA 98XXX, and they can call you at (386)29X-XXXX and ask how Elizabeth's doing or how late the Fred Meyer is open on Sundays. Details X'd for privacy, but your info simply isn't discrete.
The thing is, a unique player handle associated to a handful of game/web accounts is WAY more specific than most people's actual names. If someone just searches for Michael Barrington, they're going to get listings of dozens and dozens of people, with no real way of knowing which one is you. But looking for "Praetus" in the context of video games makes you easy prey, because that's a very unusual name and you've stamped it all over your digital life. As soon as you adopted the identity of "Praetus" and chose to link that with your real name, you screwed your anonymity over a hundred times worse than anything Blizzard's real name policy might ever do.
I can clear your name and details out of here later if you want, but remember that I found all this info elsewhere and it took me less than ten minutes to do it.
No worries, I'm not going to stalk you, I'm just making the point. A false sense of security can be worse than no security at all. Also, congrats on the Addy
Nee..Sir, it couldve been much worst than this.
Don't be ridiculous. It's going to do nothing, stop over-reacting. No need to hide behind a screen name. I often use my real name in-game and on message boards. Don't know why I'm using my alias on here to be honest.
The point is, something could happen between you and another player, that the other player might take into his own hands. You're probably one of the few people who doesn't mind having their real name out there, but beyond all the reasons already posted, it becomes just a matter of privacy. It's a lot easier to find out information about person with his/her real name. And if you have someone's name out there, there is even more of a motivation to find something out about them. You don't have to be popular, with the WOW/Internet mentality people may harass you for fun.
Also to Tom's GTA response, the problem is you aren't playing grand theft auto as extensively as you have to play world of warcraft. There's less of a chance of it altering your mentality. I mean, the same thing could be said about counterstrike, where a kid wanted to be a terrorist like in the game, but there's more recorded issues with mmo players.
It's true! That's why when I go outside and play soccer and basketball against teams full of strangers, I wear a mask, and use the name "aesir" on the back of my jersey. That way, when I call them a cum filled cunt or bitch tits or what have you, they are unable to track me back home and kill me.
It's the internet, things are said here that most people would not like to use mixed company. You can't stop hate machine that's already been bred here for the last decade. Why give them MORE of a reason to go to your home and kill you for something both of you are probably doing?
You guys wont just understand, until you see the result..Seriously using your Real ID in some sport is onething...you get in to a fight but there is someone to stop it and settle it down. You guys even get punishment(s) for that..
using Real ID on the forums and online games is completely different..And wrong, it can haunt you down and get you killed.
stay off off the forums.
So when this happens people who use the Blizzard forums are going to be hunted and killed in real life for their actions in a game? Seriously, if this happens to anyone it's because of the mental instability of the person who felt the need to kill someone for doing something in a game, not because Blizzard started making people use their real name on the forums.
reminds me of a great eddie izzard quote
"...so the NRA loves that saying 'guns don't kill people, people kill people'.... but I think the gun helps, yeah?"
1) A game company should not require you to play or post using your real name. Games are not serious business, they should not require any investment from you past your time and money. Unfortunately blizzard smells money, so fuck you.
2) It won't work that well. Seriously, why do they think it will work? People might be scared away initially, but without a change in forum penalties there will be no functional difference between flaming by "Xx-Sup3rL33TKill3r-xX or "Bob Johnson". Rude conduct will continue. If it isn't bannable, why would someone be afraid to do it? People dumb enough to flame and act like cocks aren't going to suddenly turn respectable.
3) It will make harassment much easier. A gamer tag is a clue; A clue that can easily be a dead end. A full name is a near guarantee for a search hit. One layer of potential protection is stripped away, which is funny since they want to make it safer and friendlier.
4) It makes indiscretions easier to uncover. If you act like a douche online you may be just fine offline, but your boss may not give a damn after a google search of your name uncovers some meaningless forum indiscretion. People have already been burned undeservedly for social networking gaffes, an expansion of that phenomenon is not a good thing.
5) This is about cleaning up the forums as much as my shits are about making the bathroom smell like peppermint. Blizzard wants to expand b.net into a social platform and it's doing it one step at a time. Except it's a multiplayer architecture and most people don't give a shit about it beyond that.
6) First they take your real name, and you say nothing. Then massive privacy issues are uncovered and everyone cries foul, but oops, too late! Facebook did it, and Blizzard will too if their Activision connection is any clue. And they'll tell you it's a feature.
TomDunne: I'm curious what you can dig up on me. I try to keep a low profile online, but I still wonder if my address and important info manages to get into searches.
God damn...
I can see this being one of the first steps in a horrible trend which will basically be the death of the internet as we know it (im not kidding). Look, i know theres flame wars, spammers and such, but when internet anonymity becomes a thing of the past then surely freedom of speech and/or internet censorship will follow. How do i make that connection? Well, theres a disturbing trend amongst politicians in the west to want to adapt a "chinese style" internet censorship and regulation(yeah i've been following that one closely, don't touch my internets!11), which they are pushing very hard for. Oh... and a internet killswitch.
Im just saying, be carefull what you wish for.
Wow and SC2 are games, where CHOICE has been taken away from people. If you choose to not show your name you lose out on all the fourms have to offer. They already have this "realID" system in place now in game where you can CHOOSE to display your Real Life name to only your friends. But now for there fourms they remove that choice, you have to share your name with everyone and people who you might not want to know it.
People mainly become good friends through interaction in game. And in wow you can CHOOSE to have your real life name dispalyed to them. This isnt going to make a tighter community. The realID feature in game now is a great thing so you can become better friends with the people you want. This is going to break appart the community from people who will never post again, which will be a great deal and those who will be fine with posting. Many people, even helpful posters will leave and I think it will only hurt the community at large.
In defense of this new plan a Blizzard Poster posted his Real Life name on the wow fourms and within 5 min people started posting his Adress, his phone number, the names of his wife, children, parents, his past jobs, his facebook, pictures of him, pictures of his home, the home he grew up in, hobbies...the list goes on.
In your Blizzard example the crime is a direct result of a vendetta he formed in-game and far more importantly, he used the game as a tool to get information in order to commit that crime.
Great point, the damage has been done, we may as well just start shredding all the privacy policies!
Hell let's get rid of doctor patient confidentiality too, I mean really anyone can just as easily get your name and address off the internet, follow you around for a while and find out that you're going to an abortion clinic. Since they can find it via some other means why should anyone bother trying to protect the rights of their users?
My solution is going to be to not buy Blizzard games.
Actually it will become a hell of an issue just because Blizzard will enforce people to use their real name on the forums
I dont know I just look at the core being who was a dick to introduce something which made part of the AI world go bizarg. I wouldnt blame it on members who are doing it.
Why? God I cant even explain stuff that goes in my mind.
Why is this even an issue, when everyone can find anything they need on Facebook, where a lot of people are also signed up on, and include their real names on? You opt-into facebook by logging in and creating an account, similarly to how you create a battlenet account to play the games.
Yes, it poses an issue, but any stalker on Facebook can get your info just as easily. If you arent interested in facebook, you dont log into the website & post on it. If you're not interested in being exposed via Starcraft or Warcraft, don't post on the forum - but that has no impact on the fact that you can still enjoy the game
The display of your name by a voluntary forum post has no meaning, merit, or bearing on the fact that their games are still amazing, and fun. Posting is not a requirement after purchasing the games, so saying "i wont buy their games," is a little ridiculous.
Developers can't hide behind aliases anymore either, which could be troublesome
If you don't think this is the beginning of a larger attempt to push the social networking aspect of their games onto users then you've seriously deluded yourself. Ask yourself, who the hell really wants this feature? Real ID as a feature is virtually worthless by itself, this is a precursor meant to both test the waters and pave the way to more social content and inevitably, less privacy.
For those that do not like this idea, I would basically not go on the forums, simple as that really, its the principle that stinks though. Its not a social networking site, its just a game forum so why treat it like that?.
With regards to trolling and the like, its not like trolling or flame baiting is a serious crime, its what the internet is about. If the whole of the internet started to turn towards a big social site, then I could see some serious problems. Its not like people send letters through the post randomly, or people walk around town with name tags in the street. This will most likely alienate people from the forums.
Can see the point that it does somewhat invade privacy, in that it would be a little more stressful to give my opinions on dungeons, bosses, or other game nonsense when it could directly flow back to my personal life. Being anonymous is cool, i don't disagree.
Grand scheme of things, i guess i don't really give a shit and want to play good and fun games - and if that means i have to keep my anonymity by not posting on a forum, but still get to enjoy a sweet game, then i can live with that.
http://www.metafilter.com/93492/But-my-name-really-is-Deathblood-Blackaxe#3171416
And theres already a ton of trouble with facebook at the moment, privacy issues and all that.
http://www.bullying.co.uk/index.php/young-people/cyberbullying/facebook-bullying.html
As many of you have said its a game, its not a social networking website. People didnt sign up to be on a social networking site when signing up for battle.net. But that is what Blizzard is turrning it into. Just look at the chat system they have in SC2 now, it is very much like that of Facebook. Some people consider the fourms a big part of the game, something to connect and share with the communite but still keeping it in the game sphere of seperated from there real life.
Blizzard is stripping that choice from players.
Roll that idea out with something new but don't screw with the WoW boards, too established, set in its ways and way too much nerd rage.
I guess when you're starring down the sights of D3 and SC2 you don't really need teh wowz as much so its fine to piss off a few smacktards.
The forums have never been a part of the service has it?, and this is if we look past the ability blizzard will have to change the terms however they wish, you're still pretty much anonymous ingame no?
Not that I strive for anonymity, personally, but still.
If it requires users to sign up for new accounts or activate old ones in a new way, which it appears to do, I think its fine. I think it would be a mistake to link old dead accounts with names. Those posts where created under one set of rules and it can easily stir up more trouble than it seeks to squash if they do. Hopefully they structure it as a "going forward, opt in" service without preforming necromancy on long dead cans of worms, then I'm fine with it.
Right, and I use that name with sites I'm not worried about. Too true that my information is all over the net. It's the price I had to pay to network my art and on some forums I use my actual name for my handle (Gameartisans for example.) It's something that I've been ok with when it comes to somewhat "legitimate" sites. However when it comes to gaming sites, WoW forums, etc I use a different name with little to no personal information within them for the idea that it can't be brought back as easily. The same goes for my wife.
Is it a bit alarmist to think that someone is going to shank me for killing them in a duel? Yes. yes it is. There's pretty much not a chance in hell it's going to happen. Let me ask this though. How many of you posting here are girls or know girls that play WoW? How many get harassed just for being female. If you think this measure is going to make people stop trolling, you're sorely mistaken. It's not like Blizzard can't look up and ban someones account as it is. It's just going to make it easier for Johhny Douchebag to get peoples name and harass them if he feels like trolling in real life.
Also, facebook and the like I signed up for so I could network with friends and colleagues and most my info is hidden because of this. I gave Blizzard my info for account purposes and verification, not so they could blast it out.
Still, I don't love the idea in any way, shape or form.
I have to ask, though. If you and your wife have this kind of trouble in a game, why do you both still play this game? It's by your own choice that you both play it and offer yourselves up to these trolls, knowing they exist. I get that you might not want to give up playing something you've both probably invested your time into, but it is still your choice to keep going back there.
All of this pestering could stop, simply by finding something else to spend your time on.
I only trust that Bliz has examined the issue to the point where they aren't putting THEMSELVES in harm's way to the extent they'll be liable.
There, fixed that for you
Seriously, when you look at recent privacy fuck ups it's usually the individual that has the most trouble as a result, and not the company. The trouble the company usually gets in those cases is rather minor, if any at all, because nobody who isn't affected usually protests. That is, assuming the case even makes it to the public.
So someone steals your CC or from a big online retailer...or ID theft? You can bet the company will survive, but you yourself may just be broke and ruined afterwards...
Now I don't think the potential is that great that there'll be a ton of fuckups with Blizz's new system, but I don't think it's a step in the right direction.
It's amusing to a point because I see where Blizzard is trying to go with this. At the same time I can't imagine it working to the point they are aiming for. Haters gonna hate.
Very.
Bad.
Idea.
Read the Article, information about this Blizzard employee was discovered pretty much instantly after a failed attempt to alleviate people's concern with Real-ID, now he is being harassed.
It makes you wonder how shit like this even gets past a brainstorm.
Can't wait to see what kind of characters Micheal Jordan and Obama have
Well that's the thing, I never gave my real name for my bnet account, but apparently if some shit goes down with the game (like your acc is jacked or game broke) they will require a proof of ID.
How will I prove that I am, in fact, vcool the great?
Things like this happens even without real names going out, except now people are just breaking forum rules just to prove some point. It's often easy to google information about someone just based on a nickname, or easily get the information based on the IP adress.
So why do some people act like dicks behind their anonymity?