Warcraft Forums to Display Your RL Name

MMO.Maverick

Fearmongering? Hmmm, I'm going to repost some comments from girlgamers I posted earlier, those were only a few:

 

"As a girl who plays WoW, I keep my personal information personal, for exactly that reason. And as a working professional, my husband keeps his info even tighter than I do. We don't use a single social networking site for the same reasons. My first thought on reading that Blue post was "Well, I guess we'll never be using the forums again." I can't imagine a way for them to make it safe for those of us with good reason to keep our info to ourselves to use any of the forums or other things that might come after that without backpedaling on the idea of personal accountability"

 

"Ok I'm a girl, and i have actually been stalked through this game. Someone found my phone number and address from only knowing the city I live in, my job (not a common job), and my first name, all info i gave out without thinking over months of raiding on vent. He called me so often I changed my phone number, he would send me printed out map quest guides from his house to mine. It scared the shit out of me. I transferred and faction changed, and now I don't even tell my guildmates, who i adore, my first name. The escalation of this real id stuff is making me very concerned about playing this game."

 

"As a public forum figure (I had one @Lissanna post pop up on the druid forums already last week), this is going to mean that I'm going to have to decide if I care about the forums enough to put up with Real Life harassment after 5 or 6 years of being so good about protecting my RL info.

The problem is that they'll lose actual constructive, helpful posters like me who won't want my RL name associated with the leveling & healing guides stickied on the druid forums, because I don't want people to be able to call me when they disagree with what I've said. I have a unique enough name that I run a very, very high risk of people being able to easily find my school information (with publicly posted phone # and e-mail address), and using it to /stalk me."

 

And this is only about 1 aspect: stalking/harassing. Not even phishing, scamming, kidlovers, or people who go out of their way in their hate/grudge against some other player.

 

Being sensible means not only to give the right weight to the problems and dangers one foresees, not too light, not too heavy. It also means to not ignore potential problems and risks and take them into account.

Kraoss

Originally posted by mklinic

Originally posted by Kraoss

Forums are just another form of journalism.  Blizzard is just making you put your name to your writing if you choose to participate in their forum.

Its a choice everyone will have to make for themselves, but I strongly disagree with fear mongering.

When I read forum posts, they are more akin to a group of people having a conversation then journalism. Or, to rephrase, just because it is written does not make it Journalism. Additionally, as mentioned, there is no professional incentive for a poster to go by their real name. Now, contrasted to a professionally written article, I don't see how you can put the two on the same level.

For me, it is not a matter of fear mongering. I just don't see the value. I think there is plenty of examples, on Facebook alone, that using a real name does not prevent troll behavior and, as a result, that justification doesn't hold any water for me. If not that justification, then what value is there in using my real name in a "role playing" game...where I am playing a role....in a game...that is specifically, not real life...?

There is really a broader issue though and something I think Facebook, and now Blizzard, are missing the point on. That is the "a public" versus "the public" debate and both companies seem to be interested in forcing their customers toward "the public", should they opt to use their services (which they are, in a manner, paying for so why not right?). I believe it should be the customers choice to be able to use the services and decide what information is made available, but again, I'm not really a decision maker at Blizzard so all I can do is voice my opinion and vote with my wallet I suppose.

I think there is plenty of examples, on Facebook alone, that using a real name does not prevent troll behavior and, as a result, that justification doesn't hold any water for me. If not that justification, then what value is there in using my real name in a "role playing" game...where I am playing a role....in a game...that is specifically, not real life...?

 

You are right.  I am not afraid to put my name to my words, but I cannot argue this point. Really does seem like a dumb move on their part when looked at it from that argument.

Kraoss

Originally posted by cyphers

Fearmongering? Hmmm, I'm going to repost some comments from girlgamers I posted earlier, those were only a few:

 

"As a girl who plays WoW, I keep my personal information personal, for exactly that reason. And as a working professional, my husband keeps his info even tighter than I do. We don't use a single social networking site for the same reasons. My first thought on reading that Blue post was "Well, I guess we'll never be using the forums again." I can't imagine a way for them to make it safe for those of us with good reason to keep our info to ourselves to use any of the forums or other things that might come after that without backpedaling on the idea of personal accountability"

 

"Ok I'm a girl, and i have actually been stalked through this game. Someone found my phone number and address from only knowing the city I live in, my job (not a common job), and my first name, all info i gave out without thinking over months of raiding on vent. He called me so often I changed my phone number, he would send me printed out map quest guides from his house to mine. It scared the shit out of me. I transferred and faction changed, and now I don't even tell my guildmates, who i adore, my first name. The escalation of this real id stuff is making me very concerned about playing this game."

 

"As a public forum figure (I had one @Lissanna post pop up on the druid forums already last week), this is going to mean that I'm going to have to decide if I care about the forums enough to put up with Real Life harassment after 5 or 6 years of being so good about protecting my RL info.

The problem is that they'll lose actual constructive, helpful posters like me who won't want my RL name associated with the leveling & healing guides stickied on the druid forums, because I don't want people to be able to call me when they disagree with what I've said. I have a unique enough name that I run a very, very high risk of people being able to easily find my school information (with publicly posted phone # and e-mail address), and using it to /stalk me."

 

And this is only about 1 aspect: stalking/harassing. Not even phishing, scamming, kidlovers, or people who go out of their way in their hate/grudge against some other player.

 

Being sensible means not only to give the right weight to the problems and dangers one foresees, not too light, not too heavy. It also means to not ignore potential problems and risks and take them into account.

 

I concede that some should be more cautious then others. I don't believe the majority of people will face any degree of harassment that they haven't already experienced throughout their life, in school or work. (unless they live in a bubble)

 

 

Mysk

This is one of the most irresponsible, dumbest, least respectful, and out right frightening things that I've seen a company pull.  People will unquestionably be stalked, some of whom will be killed.  This situation makes me sick to my stomach.

I wish that the world was such a fluffy place that this wasn't the logical conclusion, and I almost envy those who don't think that this is a possibility.

A hobson's choice is not a choice.

tyrannis

Originally posted by Qazz

http://www.wow.com/2010/07/06/official-forum-changes-real-life-names-to-be-displayed/

One of the biggest complaints about WoW is the community.  Let's see how it changes once the trolls are exposed!

The MMO community will be watching closely to see how this one turns out!

 

Edit:

Here is a direct link to Blizzard's forum post about the subject:

http://forums.battle.net/thread.html?topicId=25626109041

 

I completely welcome this and I hope this becomes the norm for how things proceed in the future. 

Coralis

Vote with your wallet if you dont like this ... they lose enough subs they will listen.

eLdritchZ

Originally posted by Kraoss

I believe people have become too paranoid. I do not believe everyone online is inherently evil, out to prey on women and children, or steal my identity.

I think this is a logical progression of reason, to combat a perceived issue with their forums and community reputation.

I don't use aliases in my day to day interaction with strangers. I use my real name, and it is safe to assume I live locally to my place of employment. It would not be that difficult to locate where I dwell. Does that worry me? No.

It does not worry me because I do not have this underlying sense of paranoia about the people I interact with. I have had things stolen, i have had my car broken into, i have been jumped by a car full of guys i didn't even know and never met because i looked like a kid that insulted them at a party. Still, i don't believe people are inherently evil and out to get me.

I see nothing wrong with removing the anonymity on their forums. I also believe it should be elective. If you choose to post on their forums then you elect to have your name shown, there should be a choice at some point that a person or parent can decide how social they want to be.

 

 

 On one hand I kind of agree with this.... not "everyone" on the interwebs is a perv/rapist/stalker/pedophile/serial killer .... surely there are lots of nice people.... but there are lots of those types too... and mostly they SEEM like nice people

On the other hand people try to scam me with random stuff (Blizzord tells you: You have been chosen for the Cataclysm Beta...") EVERY SINGLE DAY.... and if it's not WoW scams it's Aion Scams (and I've actually never even played that....) or IQ tests, Malware, Viruses, Trojans or whatever....

If you are REALLY honest with yourself - The internet is a bloody scary place.... it's not the nice fairytale world that FacePalm and now Blizzard are making it out to be...  I don't mind people coming to my house.... I got guns, knives, swords, fold-up spades (everything I'll need for the Zombie Apocalypse obviously) and I think that Stalkers would find out pretty quickly that my house is even scarier than the interwebs when you're not invited....

Odds are, very few people will actually fall victim to the "evil" interwebs population.... 1 in 6 or less maybe.... then again, that's the same chance as in Russian Roulette

ElGuappo

WoW is a public forum where hate and abuse and insults is par for the course, as are threats and the like. When someone flames or trolls, that person's usually ignored and dismissed and noone really cares. But the thing is, the things that are posted that result in this outpouring of bile are mostly harmless. Someone else just doesn't agree with them and they feel such an irrational rage that, anonymously, they reply with scorn and insults and the like.

But on the new WoW forums they can't do this anonymously. They're rendered impotent or they have to be accountable. So they don't post. But they do see your post. They still feel whatever screwed up, irrational emotions, they just can't express them in their usual anonymous way. You're accountable in what you post but you don't get to limit who reads it.

But anyway, to those who see this as a non-issue, go into your account page here and add your real name to your signature. It's only an MMO forum so who cares? At least you get to choose to do so; anyone who wants to express an opinion on WoW forums doesn't have the luxury; be seen or be quiet is the rule there.

But for posting his name, if nothing else, Mr Donovan Cummins gets a short round of applause from me. At least he puts his money where his mouth is, assuming that is his real name, which I'm sure it is.

I googled it, by the way - sure a few others have. Only one person of that name came up on FB - http://www.facebook.com/banjogoose

But there is this guy on Flickr - http://www.flickr.com/people/donoman85/ and that page provides a whole heap of info on someone who may or may not be you. Not sure if FB and Flickr are the same person. No idea if either are you.

Guess my need to find out more about you or these people is precisely dependant on my reasons for wanting to do so.

Kraoss

Originally posted by eLdritchZ

Originally posted by Kraoss

I believe people have become too paranoid. I do not believe everyone online is inherently evil, out to prey on women and children, or steal my identity.

I think this is a logical progression of reason, to combat a perceived issue with their forums and community reputation.

I don't use aliases in my day to day interaction with strangers. I use my real name, and it is safe to assume I live locally to my place of employment. It would not be that difficult to locate where I dwell. Does that worry me? No.

It does not worry me because I do not have this underlying sense of paranoia about the people I interact with. I have had things stolen, i have had my car broken into, i have been jumped by a car full of guys i didn't even know and never met because i looked like a kid that insulted them at a party. Still, i don't believe people are inherently evil and out to get me.

I see nothing wrong with removing the anonymity on their forums. I also believe it should be elective. If you choose to post on their forums then you elect to have your name shown, there should be a choice at some point that a person or parent can decide how social they want to be.

 

 

 On one hand I kind of agree with this.... not "everyone" on the interwebs is a perv/rapist/stalker/pedophile/serial killer .... surely there are lots of nice people.... but there are lots of those types too... and mostly they SEEM like nice people

On the other hand people try to scam me with random stuff (Blizzord tells you: You have been chosen for the Cataclysm Beta...") EVERY SINGLE DAY.... and if it's not WoW scams it's Aion Scams (and I've actually never even played that....) or IQ tests, Malware, Viruses, Trojans or whatever....

If you are REALLY honest with yourself - The internet is a bloody scary place.... it's not the nice fairytale world that FacePalm and now Blizzard are making it out to be...  I don't mind people coming to my house.... I got guns, knives, swords, fold-up spades (everything I'll need for the Zombie Apocalypse obviously) and I think that Stalkers would find out pretty quickly that my house is even scarier than the interwebs when you're not invited....

Odds are, very few people will actually fall victim to the "evil" interwebs population.... 1 in 6 or less maybe.... then again, that's the same chance as in Russian Roulette

))

HAHA

1 in 6 is good odds. That means their are about 50 million Americans out to get us.  Hope you have a lot of ammunition, cause your arm is likely to get tired.

That is why im moving to the louisiana bayou, with an oil filled moat I can just light when things get tight. I hear oil comes cheap down there.

Ryukan

Maybe Blizzard should spend some of its vast riches and resources on actually moderating their forums worth a damn and hire more forum moderators. This RealID thing feels like the wrong way to try and crackdown on forum moderating.

I can see it now, entire families giving up WoW...

"Well honey, I guess it's time to quit WoW what with this RealID deal. Looks like we're gonna have to break it to the kids that WoW won't be a part of our family anymore. Guess we will have to find a new game to play until Star Wars comes out. Hey...I hear LotRO is going free to play!"

Kraoss

Originally posted by ElGuappo

WoW is a public forum where hate and abuse and insults is par for the course, as are threats and the like. When someone flames or trolls, that person's usually ignored and dismissed and noone really cares. But the thing is, the things that are posted that result in this outpouring of bile are mostly harmless. Someone else just doesn't agree with them and they feel such an irrational rage that, anonymously, they reply with scorn and insults and the like.

But on the new WoW forums they can't do this anonymously. They're rendered impotent or they have to be accountable. So they don't post. But they do see your post. They still feel whatever screwed up, irrational emotions, they just can't express them in their usual anonymous way. You're accountable in what you post but you don't get to limit who reads it.

But anyway, to those who see this as a non-issue, go into your account page here and add your real name to your signature. It's only an MMO forum so who cares? At least you get to choose to do so; anyone who wants to express an opinion on WoW forums doesn't have the luxury; be seen or be quiet is the rule there.

But for posting his name, if nothing else, Mr Donovan Cummins gets a short round of applause from me. At least he puts his money where his mouth is, assuming that is his real name, which I'm sure it is.

I googled it, by the way - sure a few others have. Only one person of that name came up on FB - http://www.facebook.com/banjogoose

But there is this guy on Flickr - http://www.flickr.com/people/donoman85/ and that page provides a whole heap of info on someone who may or may not be you. Not sure if FB and Flickr are the same person. No idea if either are you.

Guess my need to find out more about you or these people is precisely dependant on my reasons for wanting to do so.

Well, being one of two people who volunteered our names I have stood myself out in the crowd. I am much more likely to experience harassment from someone trying to prove that people will be harassed because of this.

If everyone used their real names on this forum, i would not stand out. Most likely I would be overlooked as a semi educated arm chair debater.

My cat has a facebook, but i do not. And only because my friends pressured me into helping them get more friends for farmville. (you need X number of people in farmville to upgrade your farm.)

I am an unremarkable person though, and you won't find much on me. One day I might be a Movie Star, but I may change my name at that point to be more marketable.

Ngeldu5t

Blizzard products are banned on my to buy list plain and simple,no matter how good(speculation here) their upcoming titles gonna be.

I wonder what Patrick Wyatt and Mike O'Brien think about that?

Rednecksith

I do wonder how long it will be before Blizzard gets sued b/c someone got stalked, beat up, or killed as a result of their full name being made publicly available. 

For so many reasons already posted and discussed, this is one of the stupidest ideas I've ever heard.

eLdritchZ

Originally posted by Kraoss

I am one of those annoying people that reads name tags and addresses people by name. I also introduce myself to new people I have long, or recurring contact with (Like a Waitress at a local restaraunt.). Its just a polite thing to do.

 

good for you ^^

 

I don't... mostly because I don't really give a submarining phoque about people I don't know.... I don't chatter with neighbors/ the chick who cuts my hair / the guy who makes my take out food or the taxi driver if the only reason to do so would be to be polite... Never did it never liked it don't care if people think I'm unfriendly or inpolite...

 

whilst you with your uberpolite attitude might be totally fine with this whole issue (and that's ok it's basically your opinion/take on things) others might not be for whatever reason...

 

some might be afraid of stalkers, some might be concerned about their professional lives or some, like me, might think that it's not every dimwit's right to know who I "really" am (my opinion). This does not mean that I can't function in an online community... I'm running a GO, I'm in guilds for multiple MMOs, I ran a Blog for quite some time and I have been posting a lot of constructive stuff on the official Paladin Forums... this I will stop as soon as this garbage is introduced...

 

here's the jist of it:

 

online, I'm eLdritchZ, offline I'm me.... it's still the same person in terms of attitude, behavior and opinions, it's just that it's 2 different iterations of me if that makes sense... I see my online handle as sort of a lobby... for people to come in look around and if they like what they see, chat me up... if I eventually think they're worth it I might invite them into the Real World side of me... made a lot of good friends that way and never had any bad experiences...

sure the risk of bad experiences might be low even with exposure.... but why risk it at all? just so I can be "polite" to a few  more people I'll never give a damn about? nah...

 

I use the same system in bars by the way... works well there too

 

P.S.: since the interwebs is such a frakkin emotionless place and since I've been wrongly accused of flamebaiting and such before:

Disclaimer: This post is in no way, shape or form meant as an insult to specific posters, moderators, the population of this forum or the human race in general. The opinions voiced by eLdritchZ here are not neccessarily the opinions of other S.T.E.A.L.T.H members, allthough since they are peasants and he is their Overlord they have no say anyway. If you should feel offended by this post, please contact him via PM and he will read them thoroughly before blatantly discarding them. Don't buy Bonds, Bonds suck and The Cake is not a Lie, it's a Feature.

Kraoss

I don't think anyone has to worry for long. There is so much feedback against this move I would bet Blizzard changes their minds.

Might be a bet i lose, but it really doesn't look good for a RealID Forum.

Hrothmund

Blizz won't do a 180 on this. I think this is a stupid move, exposing someone's identity is not a good way to manage forum trolls.

 

I will never post on a Blizzard forum again after this, and I'm thinking hard about unsunscribing from WoW.

Kraoss

Posted on WoWs forums: Hitlers response to RealID Forums

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiauaGbxipA

These usually aren't funny, but this made me chuckle.

Wraithone

Originally posted by tyrannis

Originally posted by Qazz

http://www.wow.com/2010/07/06/official-forum-changes-real-life-names-to-be-displayed/

One of the biggest complaints about WoW is the community.  Let's see how it changes once the trolls are exposed!

The MMO community will be watching closely to see how this one turns out!

 

Edit:

Here is a direct link to Blizzard's forum post about the subject:

http://forums.battle.net/thread.html?topicId=25626109041

 

I completely welcome this and I hope this becomes the norm for how things proceed in the future. 

I trust the irony of your position on this, and forum name does not escape you?

This is a very bad decision on Blizzards part. I suspect that the EU's Privacy commission and the Canadian minister for privacy(to name but two of many such government bodies) will be much less than amused.  Facepalm has had to repeatedly alter its polices because of conflicts with nation state privacy laws.  This needlessly exposes Blizzard to liability for no good purpose.

djazzy

Originally posted by Kraoss

I don't think anyone has to worry for long. There is so much feedback against this move I would bet Blizzard changes their minds.

Might be a bet i lose, but it really doesn't look good for a RealID Forum.

 The majority of feedback is negative. I think if they allowed people to use a forum handle, like we do on this site, and that handle is tied to your account then it wouldn't be nearly as bad. I used to post on the forums but if they implement this as they have stated currently then I'll probably never post anything there again.

Treekodar

Originally posted by Wraithone

Originally posted by Treekodar

Originally posted by lorechaser

Treekodar - Elite Member Member since May 13, 2010 Last Visit: July 6, 2010 18 year old Male from Køge, Denmark Email: Private

So, what's your e-mail and your real name + your address Treekodar? Since even your email here is private....

Allow me to demonstrate the power of doxing: http://forum.cheatengine.org/viewtopic.php?p=4911325&sid=d424c8e20c486bb9aeb03a7059e227fa

 

And that's only by googling ''Treekodar''. See, it's easy to find information about me, but the usage is quite limited.

Now, I would like somebody to try to find my hacker alias. Yea, you never will.

 

You might well be surprised, Mr Anderson... 

The point is that people in the forums have no need for this information, thus it should not be provided. Thats one of the basic principles of privacy/security policy.  There is way too much personal information floating around on the web as it is, we do not need Blizzard making things worse.

But Agent Smith the war with the machines has got to stop.

 

The way I see it: By making it show your first and last name what you will get rid of is is the 12 year old trolls. The real trolls will not care about this one bit, and to be honest I can't see what the problem is with showing your name. If I post under the name Dennis Nielsen, then why would that make me troll any less? Am I supposed to be scared of real life threats and that should be the reason not to troll, or am I missing something here?

And to me those female gamers seem to be overreacting. I've played with quite a few girls myself and I have never heard about any of them getting stalked. If anything, the female gamers are bait to lure out stalkers so that they can get sent to jail and we all know that being bait is great.

The only way to get rid of skiddies and stalkers is to completely remove the anonymosity on the internet. That way it's easier to track down people, but at least it works both ways then.

And no, I'm not affraid of people killing each other because that has already happened, but I don't see any people that stop playing the game because of that. I'm feeling comfortable saying that this will be a success and I will be posting on the forums, and if it doesn't work - well you still have other sites such as mmo-champion. One thing that I do dislike about Blizzard's approach is that they're trying to turn it all into Facebook, something which I am against.

As always - stay calm, observe, react.

Kyleran

Originally posted by tyrannis

Originally posted by Qazz

http://www.wow.com/2010/07/06/official-forum-changes-real-life-names-to-be-displayed/

One of the biggest complaints about WoW is the community.  Let's see how it changes once the trolls are exposed!

The MMO community will be watching closely to see how this one turns out!

 

Edit:

Here is a direct link to Blizzard's forum post about the subject:

http://forums.battle.net/thread.html?topicId=25626109041

 

I completely welcome this and I hope this becomes the norm for how things proceed in the future. 

Stop.  Your email address on this forum is private and you don't even share your age (real or imaginary). 

If you're going to support something like this feel free to sign it with your real name and address while your at it.

At least Dominic has the balls to put his money where his mouth is in his  posts.

Malvious

I support this to thank you blizz for making the community much much better with this move. Anyone not supporting this and quitting the game i am glad you quit it will make the community much better now that you cannot hide behind your forum troll.

Oh yeah QQ MOAR BITCHES!

Treekodar

I hope they implement this. But I also hope that if it fails that they will remove it, instead of being steadfast about it.

Irishoak

I support it even if it fails. It's win/win.

saxifr

Originally posted by arenasb

Originally posted by Kraoss

I don't think anyone has to worry for long. There is so much feedback against this move I would bet Blizzard changes their minds.

Might be a bet i lose, but it really doesn't look good for a RealID Forum.

 The majority of feedback is negative. I think if they allowed people to use a forum handle, like we do on this site, and that handle is tied to your account then it wouldn't be nearly as bad. I used to post on the forums but if they implement this as they have stated currently then I'll probably never post anything there again.

I wouldn't say that the majority if feedback is negative. I would say that the majority of feedback is so negative it's vitriolic.