Blizzard to require real names for forums

[stonewall337]

Recently, in an attempt to stop trolling, flame wars, etc, blizzard has started a move to require all users on their forums to use their real names, first and last. What would this do to the RSOF? Would it hurt, or help? Personally, due to my real life job and hope for future employment I would be against it. But what do you think?

 

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2366160,00.asp

 

Tired of that jerk 'TheRealQuahog2453" constantly calling your level 68 Night Elf druid a "n00b"? With a scheduled change to Blizzard's forums, interaction will be between real people with real names, not aliases, Blizzard has announced.

 

Blizzard is the publisher of the wildly popular "World of Warcraft," "Diablo," and "Starcraft" franchises.

 

"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," "Bashiok" (no real name given) posted. "The classic Battle.net forums, including those for Diablo II and Warcraft III, will be moving to a new legacy forum section with the release of the StarCraft II community site and at that time will also transition to using Real ID for posting.

 

Naturally, the announcement has provoked controversy, with pages and pages of posts either supporting or criticizing the announcement. In part, that may be because the Real ID program was (and still is, according to site) positioned as a voluntary enhancement to posting and interacting with other gamers across the various Blizzard properties.

 

The decision, however, was designed to facilitate interaction between real people as well as cut down on the instances of online flame wars, exacerbated by anonymity.

 

"The official forums have always been a great place to discuss the latest info on our games, offer ideas and suggestions, and share experiences with other players -- however, the forums have also earned a reputation as a place where flame wars, trolling, and other unpleasantness run wild," the site said. Removing the veil of anonymity typical to online dialogue will contribute to a more positive forum environment, promote constructive conversations, and connect the Blizzard community in ways they haven't been connected before. With this change, you'll see blue posters (i.e. Blizzard employees) posting by their real first and last names on our forums as well."

 

Could this be extended to other forums as well? Very possibly. With the rise of "real ID" logins such as Facebook, the days of online nicknames could very well be over. Is this a good thing? You tell me.

 

Another article told of how a blizzard employee, to prove nay sayers wrong, posted his real name. Within minutes, people gained his address, and phone number. It was a disaster.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/10543100.stm

 

Another article.

[pulli23]

Nope, why is it a disaster? Why do you have to hide your online identity from your real life identity?

 

It's like joining a new sports team and then saying: "hey I'm coming to join your club, however you can never know my real adress & telephone number".

[why2060]

Hope this never happens to be honest. I play RS to get away from rl. :P

[Obtaurian]

Bad idea. A very unpopular poster could have his day (or life) ruined instantly by anyone with access to Google. Anyone who has ever spent a significant amount of time on 4chan can attest to that.

[stonewall337]

Nope, why is it a disaster? Why do you have to hide your online identity from your real life identity?

 

It's like joining a new sports team and then saying: "hey I'm coming to join your club, however you can never know my real adress & telephone number".

 

A sports team is a PUBLIC figure. A virtual game is a PRIVATE pass time. That is one reason. Another is future schooling/employment. Now a days, many different people conduct searches to find out information about prospective students or employees. Finding out one is a gamer could hurt your chances, depending on where you work. The same is true for posting pictures on Face book, EG post pictures of you being drunk wouldn't exactly impress a future employer.

 

Not to mention, within 10 minutes I found the facebook page, phone number, address, and email address of Timmy's Grandmother, for those of you who remember "TImmy gets hacked" on the news. It could ruin someones day, or even life. Internet pranksters are many, and not all are harmless.

[viralaether]

I am David D Davidson, prove im not

[ghjkl]

I am David D Davidson, prove im not

My real name is squareroot2, you can't disprove it. If they actually have a way, gf forum activity.

[stonewall337]

You are already required to give information to create an account, or to pay with a credit card.

[Racheya]

I am David D Davidson, prove im not

Your debit card.

 

I kind of like the idea, an MMO isn't a private thing it's a PUBLIC thing. The internet is public and if you can't handle that, it's tough. If you don't want people to know who you really are when you spam, the solution is simply not to spam.

 

I would like that to come to the RS forums. It's not like they'd put your full name in view, it'd be just used for authentication I'd say. At least that's how I'd prefer to have it.

[darksonic45]

You are already required to give information to create an account, or to pay with a credit card.

That information isn't public.

There's privacy agreements.

[ghjkl]

Who says you use your credit card?

[stonewall337]

I am David D Davidson, prove im not

Your debit card.

 

I kind of like the idea, an MMO isn't a private thing it's a PUBLIC thing. The internet is public and if you can't handle that, it's tough. If you don't want people to know who you really are when you spam, the solution is simply not to spam.

 

I would like that to come to the RS forums. It's not like they'd put your full name in view, it'd be just used for authentication I'd say. At least that's how I'd prefer to have it.

No, actually they would require you to post under your name, for all to see.

[das]

Secondlife already demands either your drivers licensee #, social security number , passport number to access the adult content, they did it about a year ago and cause quite an uproar - some company runs it in a database to verify who you are, They suffered very little member lossage.

 

http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Linden_Lab_Official:Age_Verification_FAQ

[Grimy_Bunyip]

I am David D Davidson, prove im not

Your debit card.

 

I kind of like the idea, an MMO isn't a private thing it's a PUBLIC thing. The internet is public and if you can't handle that, it's tough. If you don't want people to know who you really are when you spam, the solution is simply not to spam.

 

I would like that to come to the RS forums. It's not like they'd put your full name in view, it'd be just used for authentication I'd say. At least that's how I'd prefer to have it.

you seem to think that bad things will only happen to people who do bad things on the internet.

[12pure34]

I am David D Davidson, prove im not

 

If you knew the WoW system, you'd know that your real life information is something very important to your account. If you ever want to recover your account or there is something wrong, they require a copy of your ID. This is to ensure they are dealing with the original user. So yes, you could go with a false name, but that could potentially hurt you in the future.

 

Other then that, I find it a good thing that real life identities are used. There is no need to flame or insult other people. If you want to discuss you could just do it like you would in real life. Also even when they know your name, you want to know how many David D Davidson's there are? (as an example). The odds that he is within reach of you and he is indeed the person you wanted to reach is minimum. WoW also has the tendency to guard private information EXCELLENT! They are most likely the most successful in this matter.

 

They got my support!

[Den]

My first name is Den, my last name is Usynlige.

If they want my middle name, its Rainy.

 

Problem solved! Wait...

[Riptide Mage]

Bad idea. A very unpopular poster could have his day (or life) ruined instantly by anyone with access to Google. Anyone who has ever spent a significant amount of time on 4chan can attest to that.

 

My thoughts exactly. Real Name + http://www.zabasearch.com/ + http://www.whitepages.com/reverse-lookup = people's family and lives very endangered if someone goes over the edge.

[ArtemisCatal]

Delightful. Make it so much easier for online flame wars to become real life threatening situations. I'm all for people taking responsibility for what they post on the internet, but this is dangerous. There is, afterall, a population of people on the internet who are sadly unstable, and it might just start with annoying theatening phonecalls, but people can send bombs through the mail, etc. There is also making false claims of things you did to police and all kinds of trouble people can make for you if they are stupid, imature, and particullarly jerk. wait... that discribes a lot of the people in flame wars.

 

And anyway, how exactly are they going to prove I'm not Osama bin Laden, and how am I going to prove that I am me. Am I going to have to give them my SS#, my driver's number, a copy of my birth certificate, and go to the WOW office near me to have my passport examined? Perhaps fingerprints? DNA sample? This is the internet...

 

If my full name, publicly avalible, was a condition of posting on a forum, I would personally just say no thanks. That's not to say I wouldn't give out my real name on the internet, but I don't just throw it about willy-nilly (as with all my personal details). Anyway, people could piece my life together, if they really cared too, I just don't do anything I don't want to come back to roost.

 

Edit: I hardly belive that they can do this with minors. Aren't what minors are legally allowed to do on the internet curtailed, at least legally-wise in the U.S.? Not that it is every really inforced much, but still. I don't know much anymore as when I was still a minor on the internet, the land was still a wild place, debreft of law and order. (or, at least wilder than it is now)

[Pirate_Felix]

And this is how you let blizzard stfu

http://wowriot.gameriot.com/blogs/Americans-are-bad-at-games/Real-Names-on-the-Official-Forums-New-REAL-ID-function?gr_i_ni

 

So Blizzard are now making it so instead of showing your character on those forums, it'll instead show your real name with the option of attaching your char name too it (no option of not showing your real name).

 

Now I think it's fairly safe to say that this is perhaps the dumbest idea that anyone has ever had ever.

 

To alleviate people's concerns, Blizzard employee Bashiok decided to say his real name on the forums, his real name is Micah Whipple

 

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=25712374892&sid=1&pageNo=1 Post #16

 

So say hi to Micah Whipple

 

Address:

473 Avenue B

Lakeport, CA 95453-6032

 

Phone Number:

(707) 263-0190

 

Age:

28

 

Family:

Kimberly K Whipple, age: 54

Jason Stephen Whipple, age 34

 

It looks like he's staying in the same house as his mother =[

 

http://www.whitepages.com/search/FindPerson?firstname=Micah&name=Whipple&where=Lakeport%2C+CA

http://www.peoplelookup.com/search-summary-out.php?trackit=&ReportType=1&qf=Micah&qmi=&qn=Whipple&qs=CA&searchform=name&focusfirst=1

 

Oh btw, here is his facebook too:

 

http://www.facebook.com/micah.whipple

 

Music

Honeypie, Closed Heart Surgery, The Sound Of Animals Fighting, White Stripes, Tool Band, Radiohead, Disorient Express, The Mars Volta, The Unhandled Exceptions, As Tall As Lions, The Dear Hunter

 

Movies

*Big Trouble in Little China*, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, Disney Pixar

 

Television

The Daily Show, Samurai Champloo, Tim and Eric Awesome Show: Great Job!, Freaks and Geeks, 30 Rock, Human Giant

 

I think we can all see what a great idea this is going to be.

 

Jesus [bleep].

[Amaranth_GTO]

Personally I think this is a bad idea. Let's pretend tif did this. How many of us, just out of curiosity, would look up other members on facebook or google or something? Now, imagine someone who was really crazy had a grudge against another forum member, and had access to their real name. It wouldn't be hard for them to find the person. Plenty of lives could be potentially ruined, not something blizzard wants to happen

[das]

From the noob comic.

 

[Balance]

Seems like a dangerous idea to me. I certainly wouldn't like having people who don't like me knowing who I am and where I live. Seems like it could lead to not only users being harmed, but Blizzard being held responsible for it.

[Pirate_Felix]

Personally I think this is a bad idea. Let's pretend tif did this. How many of us, just out of curiosity, would look up other members on facebook or google or something? Now, imagine someone who was really crazy had a grudge against another forum member, and had access to their real name. It wouldn't be hard for them to find the person. Plenty of lives could be potentially ruined, not something blizzard wants to happen

We already have the real life thread and I know that half of tif puts their actual location and some other details on their profile.

Tif is too full of good people, especially off topic.

[stonewall337]

I'm for more accountability. I just don't think this is a good way to do it.

 

Also, felix, those people CHOOSE to do so, and I doubt many post their full name. Requiring everyone to do so would be different.

 

On a more humorous note, imagine something like this:

 

"OMG Craig, guess what, Zezima goes to Cal-tech! That's where I'm gona go now!!! I wana meet him. Maybe I can be in this room!"

[Sir_Kurity]

Well if i cant fake my name to something like Wayne Kerr, then i would simply not use it.

 

I dont like the idea of someone on RSOF who i debate with knowing my real name, especially when theres every chance hes an insane psychopath who takes internet flame wars way to seriously and decides to take it to far and kill me or something.