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Destroying people's privacy is not acceptable anytime, least of which under the guise of lessening trolling or to improve the community. Anyone who thinks this is why they are doing it is just a naive fool.
This is not some benevelont anti-troll action by Blizzard. This is a just another step to set themselves up as a facebook style social network, leverage their huge userbase, and then they plan to reap the $$$.
I dont play the game anymore, but I really hope the community is able to rally against this. Its truly harmful. I hope many people do vote with their $$$ and cancel their subs, not just empty threats. A mammoth whinge thread on their forums is one thing, but if "sub cancelled" requests start flying through Account Management over the next week, then they really will listen.
I wish I still played WoW just so I could quit over this.
This is just going to turn it into the wild west of trolling.
And since there are much better ways to manage trolls than to show everyone's real name it's obviously just another step in their goal to integrate with Facebook and grab those Farmville bucks.
There will be Facebook messages popping up warning you your friend's hit points are low, or their group needs a healer.. log in now to help out!
Seems like a bad idea to me.
Don't play WoW anymore but this would stop me if I was
There have been game related murders in real life, there was a case in Russia over L2 and I believe there was one in asia somewhere.
This is pure madness IMO
You know looking through both threads on this topic. The people crying “stop being paranoid” are in the minority. Now… often times the minority is either very sound or very insane. You know the saying “A person is smart, people are dumb, panicky.”
Until it happens to you - this is the key point.
As a parent you do everything you can think of to keep your child safe. That is assuming you are a responsible parent. Sure, maybe these things won’t happen to me and they won’t actually happen to a lot of us. But if something bad happens to one person through a result of their online information, isn’t that enough to say it’s wrong and not worth it?
This is a poor solution to the problem. Why not just say they are working on moving towards a more integrated (commerce) Internet experience? No, instead they are all like “oh, this is for your benefit to stop the trolls.” Like I cared about trolls anyhow… but a troll who knows my name and is waiting under my bridge that is a different story.
Blizzard/Activision (I include Activision because this is ultimately their dinner party) is taking an easy way out, a way that paves the road for things like Facebook integration.
Facebook integration - http://www.raphkoster.com/2010/04/23/facebook-rebrands-the-internet/#more-3518
This is it right here. Companies are not doing it to help the stalkers and freaks that is just an unavoidable side effect. They are looking for more ways into your wallet, and why shouldn’t they? With television commercials in decline, they must find ways to increase advertising or rather ways to replace revenue lost by lack of effective advertising.
The number of the beast is spelled F-A-C-E-B-O-O-K so forget that number on the forehead stuff. These demons are coming for your dollar, yuan, euro, pound, and yen.
People are killing each other left and right I tell you!
Eleanor Rigby.
I will jsut leave this link here :P
http://thenoobcomic.com/index.php?pos=378
in a less funny note, I see a raise in killing
Yeah, I mean since there aren't a bunch of killings, one or two are perfectly acceptable right?
Sarcasm aside, I still don't see a real compelling value for me, as a customer, to have my real name out there. I mean, part of my subscription fee goes toward the maintenance/development of their infrastructure and services so, on some level, I am paying for this. I would think the money would be better spent on moderation and enforcing their own policies versus developing and deploying this RealID stuff.
So, what am I missing? What is my benefit to having my real name attached to my posts? It's certainly not trolling. As I pointed out previously, we see trolling, with "real" names, all the time on Facebook, so how can it be assumed this will stop trolls versus stifling legitimate contributors?
-mklinic
"Do something right, no one remembers.
Do something wrong, no one forgets"
-from No One Remembers by In Strict Confidence
1) Yes.
2) They want social gaming to sprout anew, but they're turning it into a Facebook gimmick and I dislike gimmicks (and Facebook). I do believe that social gaming is going to be the future, but making it look like Facebook is not how I want it to be. I was hoping that Blizzard would come up with something unique similar to Facebook but at the same time something totally different.
Eleanor Rigby.
This will be interesting to follow for sure.
When the 15 year old internet bully gets skull dragged in his front yard for being an asshat on the forums things will really heat up. Can't wait.
1.) ok, we disagree and that's fine.
2.) This explains what you believe they are trying to do, but does nothing to explain where i derive any value from it. Still seems like a waste of developer time and company money, but time will be the judge I suppose.
-mklinic
"Do something right, no one remembers.
Do something wrong, no one forgets"
-from No One Remembers by In Strict Confidence
They're trying to steal a smootch from the Facebook market which sounds good in theory. Only time will tell if any of this will be overly positive or negative.
Eleanor Rigby.
Without any first hand knowledge of their decision making process, i have also been asking why they don't just increase the moderation, or make the rules more stringent.
I really can't come up with a good answer, other then they maybe using the forum troll argument to dissemble. This Facebook thing is as good of an answer as any.
again, their intent does not imply my value. Stealing some of the Facebook market may appear to be a money maker for them, but where is the value for me; the customer. If it only serves to fragment my existing social network between a "plays Blizzard games" network and a "doesn't play Blizzard games" network, then this does me more harm (in a loose sense of the word of course) then good.
-mklinic
"Do something right, no one remembers.
Do something wrong, no one forgets"
-from No One Remembers by In Strict Confidence
They simply haven't been giving out enough information to make me deduct any kind of qualified answer.
Eleanor Rigby.
and that basically summarizes my issue with the whole thing. While I fully sympathize with the privacy concerns when weighed against the desire to participate in the community, I am unable to determine how this change brings any additional value for the dollar I am spending. While the privacy debate can be extremely polar, I thinking weighing the value is an exercise everyone should participate in when forming an opinion about a new product/service.
-mklinic
"Do something right, no one remembers.
Do something wrong, no one forgets"
-from No One Remembers by In Strict Confidence
People still just ignore a big point. Trolls DON'T have to post. They can let everyone post, find out real names, and do their thing. In real life.
They don't have to use empty words. Now they can do other things.
I know all you white males out there couldn't give a shit, but for the rest of us......
That thread is at 1250 pages. 25000+ posts.
And it's still a drop in the ocean. They will still do this.
Trolls don't meet you in real life, they stay on the internet.
You sound both sexist and racist in your post.
Eleanor Rigby.
I'm including the value tag that someone sticks to their personal details and privacy. For me it absolutely holds value, while for others their privacy or personal information is valueless, thus easily given away to others and to companies.
The ACTUAL size of MMORPG worlds: a comparison list between MMO's
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums:
Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."
Maybe rewording it: How does this change improve my experience as a customer? I mean, that would be a valid question regardless of the value someone assigns (or doesn't) to their personal info right? As I mentioned earlier, my belief is that this will not effectively deter trolls and, as a result, the given reasoning does not improve my experience or contribute value.
So, now a change of pace: Replace the idea that they are going to show people's name with the idea that they are going replace avatar pictures with pictures of random fruit. That takes away any privacy argument since there is no personally identifying info involved anymore. Now, how does the picture change improve my experience as a customer? Well, its silly and can potentially spur fun conversation (which is one of the things a forum is for right?). Ok, that might be an example of some level of value for the change.
I know that's a silly example, but maybe it illustrates what I am trying to figure out, and ultimately, will decide whether I bother paying for WoW anymore or if I just play other games I am subbed to. If preventing trolling isn't a valid reason, what am I getting out of this?
non-directed side note: naturally, this question assumes a desire to participate in the forums so saying "just don't use the forums" isn't really an answer.
-mklinic
"Do something right, no one remembers.
Do something wrong, no one forgets"
-from No One Remembers by In Strict Confidence
Do not count on this. Here in Europe historically we have always had very loose policies on human rights and police measures. And todays European Union is becoming a Hegelian Ethic State emanating law-enforcing directives on everything, from bananas' length to religious/political "Bruxelles-approved" thinking.
I suppose common-law countries will be the ones able to push on it...
Then they are even bigger fools than I've given them credit for. Its not just annoying to a certain segment of their player base. This could well bring the privacy sections of various nation state governments down on their heads. The EU privacy commission, and the Candian privacy minister are just two that come to mind.
Both of those have seriously slapped Facepalm around for various antics they have pulled over the last few years. I can't see any upsides to this, that balance the liability and potential government intervention. I suspect someone over there wasn't thinking things through.
Actually, the EU commission has had some serious problems with Facepalm. It has resulted in their changing some of their polices. While the EU governments tend to be rather slack internally, they don't like out siders doing the same thing ^^
Trolls stay on the forum hopefully. Or you can give them your real name and they can follow you to your Facebook page or phone number and harass you more.
As for the white male comment, maybe hyperbolic as written but pragmatic in essence. Don't know if you've spent much time on vent but some people really do harass women in MMO's. I've never been in a guild where that shit was acceptable but I've tagged along other vents and seen it, and couldn't stand it, even when it was welcomed.
You really think it's going to be appreciated when not only does a woman have to listen to some creep moaning on vent but also whispering their name at them after they found it on the forum?
I'm a white male, and let's face facts - that aspect is null for me. But it still bothers the shit out of me.
Just want to add this. A guy who does a blog at this site I'm linking. He is just showing, that someone who isn't even TRYING, someone who is NOT out to hurt you, can find out so much about you so quickly.
http://seewhatyoudidthere.com/2010/07/07/realid-changes-the-very-real-ease-of-stalking-in-the-internet-age/
Posting this on the three threads about this topic.