as it's hard to fake name or hire credit card. pfft. and that's not even talking ilegitimate methods. Activision can't authenticate RealID. it's honest people that will get shafted, and bad guys that will be protected. way to go.
Maybe im missing something but isnt this latest brain storm an effort to control the trolls on the forums? If so why doesnt Blizzard just ban the trolls from the forums? I realize that if all the squirrels were banned from the game that sub numbers would dip but being banned from the forums wouldnt stop most of these types from continuing to play the game.
WOW isnt great because it has 12 million players. WOW has 12 million players because its great.
Ok so to prove how safe it was some bright spark posted their first and last name. Not long after there was a list of personal info about said bright spark. If that info was correct then we can safely assume it's not as safe as they make out. On the other hand if the info was wrong then some poor sap who just so happened to share a first and last name with the bright spark just got targetted for no real reason.
Now whats so scary about all that is. This doesn't just affect those who use the WOW forums this affects people who have no connection to WOW apart from sharing a first and last name of someone who has angered a WOW forumite enough that they want to track someone down. When the inevitble happens and someone takes this all to far and some innocent bystander gets hurt in some way all because they have the same first and last name of some offensive person on the WOW forums thats when I feel the poop will hit the fan.
The lesser of two evils is still evil.
There is nothing more dangerous than a true believer.
Ok so to prove how safe it was some bright spark posted their first and last name. Not long after there was a list of personal info about said bright spark. If that info was correct then we can safely assume it's not as safe as they make out. On the other hand if the info was wrong then some poor sap who just so happened to share a first and last name with the bright spark just got targetted for no real reason.
Now whats so scary about all that is. This doesn't just affect those who use the WOW forums this affects people who have no connection to WOW apart from sharing a first and last name of someone who has angered a WOW forumite enough that they want to track someone down. When the inevitble happens and someone takes this all to far and some innocent bystander gets hurt in some way all because they have the same first and last name of some offensive person on the WOW forums thats when I feel the poop will hit the fan.
I noticed something shocking today , on pipl.com if i type my name and country my xfire profile is the first thing that shows up . and by looking at my xfire profile you can easily see if i'm a (eg) WoW player or not. Now off course without the country the results show a lot of Facebook profiles (i dont use facebook) and other things. But lets be honest , how often have you yourself told in which country / region you lived or seen other do it. This is now something we won't be able to do anymore, at least i won't be able to .
Fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt. Among those who dislike oppression are many who like to oppress.
All Blizzard has to do to cut down on trolling is permaban every trade chat nazi every time one starts typing. Bonus for a three strikes you're out policy on anal chat spammers and the like. After Blizzard does that (and takes the hit to their wallet), they can think up other ways to control the trolls. Until they do that, I will never believe any of this has anything to do with troll control.
I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals.
Originally posted by Philby Maybe im missing something but isnt this latest brain storm an effort to control the trolls on the forums? If so why doesnt Blizzard just ban the trolls from the forums? I realize that if all the squirrels were banned from the game that sub numbers would dip but being banned from the forums wouldnt stop most of these types from continuing to play the game.
That's the official line, but clearly not the real reason for the change as there are much better, safer and less controversial means to moderate a forum.
They also have the ability to ban from forums but not game so they don't have to necessarily lose subs by keeping the forums clean.
Problem is, as it is now Activision sees the forums as a nuisance and sink on profits, so they have no desire to moderate them properly - and their vision of the forums in the future is as a social medium for pushing DLC.
I've heard somewhere there are plans to eventually change WoW to a DDO/Lotro style F2P/P2P hybrid, and they can push content on people a lot easier through a social interface where they can feel excited to join in on the fun/money sink.
Having your real name out on the internet is not very dangerous by itself, but it does add a certain weight and gravity to your actions. Once WoW players start using the forums en masse no one will be special or unique, and while the option of looking up people is always an option, 99.999% of the player base will not utalize it.
There is that 0.001% however, that one guy who has spent enough time on 4 chan, who is clever enough to do something fun with this, and who has grown enough of a thick skin to not mind the repurcussions. That kid will abuse the unholy dog snot out of this.
I really think that the whole Micah Whipple thing sums up the situation pretty nicely.
Having said all that.
I will give kudos to blizzard for wethering the shitstorm that they brought on themselves, they are trying to inflict a culteral change. As the largest MMO in existance, there actions have a degree of resonance with the internet as a whole. One that I do not nessecarily agree wtih, but one that may in time may be for the better.
Their about face on blue posters and their real names totally weakens my argument though.
Perhaps it doesn't weaken your argument, but you do have a very salient point: Blizzard's actions resonate beyond the MMORPG industry.
My girlfriend and I were talking about this on the way home from work where, fortunately, I am actually able to enjoy playing a MMORPG for a few hours a night once my paperwork is done. Blizzard's actions will set a precedent and if other publishers see this there will be more of a reason for them to try similar things. It should be clear that after several years of a really botched job with their forums that Blizzard isn't doing this simply for the sake of cleaning those boards up; they could have done that at anytime by using their millions upon millions of dollars to actually hire competent workers. Hell, we're in the middle of an incredible recession in the States and plenty of people want to work. Instead, we have this. Yes, this can actually manage to clean up their forums by making it a ghost town but now even legitimate and polite criticism will likely label you a 'hater' and the company will have even less than a reason to provide you with support (NCSoft, anyone?) in ways that are beyond account and technical support related. After all, why help a 'hater'?
More to the point, imagine having to use RealID for Steam or even game-only sites like Dawn of War 2's official forums. This is a very dangerous precedent that is being set and, unfortunately, in a country like the United States where the Deepwater Horizon disaster makes it quite clear that corporate interests really do rule the day, we don't have much of a reason to believe that Blizzard will back off this. With their 11.5+ million subscribers there are likely to be far more coming out of Asia than Europe, the Americas and Australia, far more where this sort of thing would recieve less flak and Blizzard can still say that they are making a profit even with potential losses in Europe, the Americas and Australia.
Just some more food for thought. John Wood and others on this site have made it fairly clear: if you don't like this policy please quit and vote with your wallet. Quitting isn't something that whiny 'QQers' do, it's something that people with a conscious do who can't support something they believe is wrong. Some people will be more eloquent about it than others, sure, but it comes down to the same thing: a violation and pure disregard for consumer and personal rights and the people responding to it appropriately.
Opt out and opt out now, even if Blizzard changes their mind: they'll just betray your trust again.
(1)TL:DR must be your way of saying that thinking hurts. Then again, this may explain why it looks like you responded to the post without using your brain. (2) It's not about community, is it? You just have nothing better to do.
I for one am simply not interested in supporting a company that forces this upon their users. An in-game GM will often send someone to the forums, such as customer service, or tech support, or bug reports, in order to ensure information gets to the correct people. Their claim that the forums are optional seems less valid due to things like that.
Sure, the forums are optional, and sure, I can chose to not post. I can also chose to pay a sub to someone else.
Finally I want to say that I dont have any really serious issues with them taking the facebook route, and that from a marketing perspective I sure understand the amazing possibilities of pushing casual games on casual gamers, millions of whom will now be brought to facebook through battlenet - what I dont like is how they lie about what they are doing and why. I dont want to read blue posts so thoroughly drowning in BS that its hard to keep your nose above level... it just really pisses me off. Im not a commodity for them to sell or pawn to whatever market group they bunched us into when they made the deal with facebook. fook them. - no really!
I tried facebook a while back, quit as soon as my friends started spamming my home page with their games. Every company in the world is trying to jump on that bandwagon right now and that is the core of the problem. Facebook is overrated.
Although I sympathize and feel the same way you do, fact is business is business. Companies "sell" you every day without your knowledge. Ever got a call from a telemarketer? They bought your name and number from someone. Got junk mail? Spam? Someone sold your name. What troubles me is by Blizzard's own admission they are doing this to "stop trolling". If you can't moderate your own forum, shut it down. If hearing people's negative opinions bothers you that much, shut the forum down and put a feedback box on your site. Instead they went the mob rule way where you post at your own risk. It's part of a bigger scheme though, they just aren't telling you. Read the RealID announcement on battle.net very carefully. It talks about how you will be able to see your friends and talk with them by their real name in every battle.net game. It's not just about the forums people.
Best way to send a message is with your wallet because in the cold harsh reality of the business world, your ranting and rage means nothing. It's a game, a luxury, not required and you can stop using it anytime.
I completely agree with what you are saying. The irony is that ultimately we can chose with our wallets, but I feel the urge to protest because while we have several options to turn to game wise at present, there is no stopping this from spreading to other companies, if noone expresses their discontent. Atm, we have swtor, rift, gw2, tera etc etc comming out soon. the last thing I wanna see is something akin to Blizzards realID getting implemented by those companies.
Definitely! It is important for people to remember though, $$$ ALWAYS comes first. Not saying you shouldn't express your discontent in fact you definitely should because as many are pointing out, this could have a cascade effect that causes every other gaming company under the sun to embrace it. Now is the time to fight this war not two or three years from now when it has become a standard industry practice all because Blizzard got away with it.
"[We] will be carefully monitoring how people are using the service ... Real ID is a new and different concept for Blizzard gamers -- and for us as well -- and our goal is to create a social gaming service that players want to use."
There you have it, folks, their TRUE goal, and it has NOTHING to do with forum trolls.
This is so far the only response I've found posted, anyone see any other Blizzard statements yet?
"[We] will be carefully monitoring how people are using the service ... Real ID is a new and different concept for Blizzard gamers -- and for us as well -- and our goal is to create a social gaming service that players want to use."
There you have it, folks, their TRUE goal, and it has NOTHING to do with forum trolls.
This is so far the only response I've found posted, anyone see any other Blizzard statements yet?
Please post the URL so we can all see where you found it. Not that we doubt you, of course, it simply makes things easier for all of us.
(1)TL:DR must be your way of saying that thinking hurts. Then again, this may explain why it looks like you responded to the post without using your brain. (2) It's not about community, is it? You just have nothing better to do.
"[We] will be carefully monitoring how people are using the service ... Real ID is a new and different concept for Blizzard gamers -- and for us as well -- and our goal is to create a social gaming service that players want to use."
There you have it, folks, their TRUE goal, and it has NOTHING to do with forum trolls.
This is so far the only response I've found posted, anyone see any other Blizzard statements yet?
Please post the URL so we can all see where you found it. Not that we doubt you, of course, it simply makes things easier for all of us.
No problem....except I cannot find the original link where I saw it, but here is another one that has an article about it as well, on softpedia...
This move is terrible, not because I don't want people from the game to find out my real life and profession, but because I don't want people from my real life to google and find me posting on a game site.
How would you like it if your doctor, the night before surgery, was on the wow forums posting about his moonkin rotation.
How would you like it if the person tutoring you to ace your SATs was asking about vanity pets on the forums.
This isn't about me wanting to troll the forums
This isn't about me be worried about someone from the game stalking me because I kicked them from my party, or because I rez killed them in WSG.
This isn't about me being afraid of my bank account.
This is about people not getting jobs because employers ARE googling peoples names now.
This is about people losing customers or clients because there wow account comes up more often then job references.
I have not been following this in depth issue since I don't play the game, but its hard for me to ignore the number of posts. So forgive my question if it has already been posed.
How are they dealing with the U.S. Children’s Online
Privacy Protection Act (COPRA)?
COPRA requires operators of 'websites directed at children' to:
"(1) Provide parents notice of their information practices; (2) obtain prior
verifiable parental consent for the collection, use, and/or disclosure of
personal information from children (with certain limited exceptions for the
collection of ‘‘online contact information,’’ e.g., an e-mail address);
(3) provide a parent, upon request, with the means to review the personal
information collected from his/her child; (4) provide a parent with the
opportunity to prevent the further use of personal information that has already
been collected, or the future collection of personal information from that child;
(5) limit collection of personal information for a child’s online
participation in a game, prize offer, or other activity to information that is
reasonably necessary for the activity; and (6) establish and maintain
reasonable procedures to protect the confidentiality, security, and integrity of
note that the term operators of websites was defined very broadly, I would argue it would apply to the forums and possibly even a game.
"Never met a pack of humans that were any different. Look at the idiots that get elected every couple of years. You really consider those guys more mature than us? The only difference between us and them is, when they gank some noobs and take their stuff, the noobs actually die." - Madimorga
"[We] will be carefully monitoring how people are using the service ... Real ID is a new and different concept for Blizzard gamers -- and for us as well -- and our goal is to create a social gaming service that players want to use."
There you have it, folks, their TRUE goal, and it has NOTHING to do with forum trolls.
This is so far the only response I've found posted, anyone see any other Blizzard statements yet?
"Social gaming service"
JOIN WORLD OF WARBOOK NOW! INVITE YOUR FAMILY SO YOU CAN ALL HAVE YOUR IDENTITY STOLEN IN ONE EASY PLACE!
Nope, but we could flood the GM's and have everyone open a ticket every day for everything instead of posting on the forums.
Overwhelm them even more
What's really going to piss me off is if the players have to have their names exposed and not the employees. I am not cool with a catch 22.
"[We] will be carefully monitoring how people are using the service ... Real ID is a new and different concept for Blizzard gamers -- and for us as well -- and our goal is to create a social gaming service that players want to use."
There you have it, folks, their TRUE goal, and it has NOTHING to do with forum trolls.
This is so far the only response I've found posted, anyone see any other Blizzard statements yet?
Please post the URL so we can all see where you found it. Not that we doubt you, of course, it simply makes things easier for all of us.
No problem....except I cannot find the original link where I saw it, but here is another one that has an article about it as well, on softpedia...
"[We] will be carefully monitoring how people are using the service ... Real ID is a new and different concept for Blizzard gamers -- and for us as well -- and our goal is to create a social gaming service that players want to use."
There you have it, folks, their TRUE goal, and it has NOTHING to do with forum trolls.
This is so far the only response I've found posted, anyone see any other Blizzard statements yet?
What's really going to piss me off is if the players have to have their names exposed and not the employees. I am not cool with a catch 22.
I agree and also disagree with this.
People in positions of authority, or rule enforcers will draw much more heat then some random Jane that posts "I think Gnomes are cute.".
You won't find FBI agents going around posting how they are FBI agents. Cause people in roles like these will draw more attention then someone who isn't trying to enforce any rules on them.
So, while I don't agree with the double standard, i can see why it might have to be this way especially after people tried to prove a point with that CM.
"[We] will be carefully monitoring how people are using the service ... Real ID is a new and different concept for Blizzard gamers -- and for us as well -- and our goal is to create a social gaming service that players want to use."
There you have it, folks, their TRUE goal, and it has NOTHING to do with forum trolls.
This is so far the only response I've found posted, anyone see any other Blizzard statements yet?
What's really going to piss me off is if the players have to have their names exposed and not the employees. I am not cool with a catch 22.
I agree and also disagree with this.
People in positions of authority, or rule enforcers with draw much more heat then some random Jane that posts "I think Gnomes are cute.".
You won't find FBI agents going around posting how they are FBI agents. Cause people in roles like these will draw more attention then someone who isn't trying to enforce any rules on them.
So, while I don't agree with the double standard, i can see why it might have to be this way especially after people tried to prove a point with that CM.
Finding someone, by their name is not hard. At all. The internet has a long memory.
"[We] will be carefully monitoring how people are using the service ... Real ID is a new and different concept for Blizzard gamers -- and for us as well -- and our goal is to create a social gaming service that players want to use."
There you have it, folks, their TRUE goal, and it has NOTHING to do with forum trolls.
This is so far the only response I've found posted, anyone see any other Blizzard statements yet?
What's really going to piss me off is if the players have to have their names exposed and not the employees. I am not cool with a catch 22.
I agree and also disagree with this.
People in positions of authority, or rule enforcers with draw much more heat then some random Jane that posts "I think Gnomes are cute.".
You won't find FBI agents going around posting how they are FBI agents. Cause people in roles like these will draw more attention then someone who isn't trying to enforce any rules on them.
So, while I don't agree with the double standard, i can see why it might have to be this way especially after people tried to prove a point with that CM.
Finding someone, by their name is not hard. At all. The internet has a long memory.
"[We] will be carefully monitoring how people are using the service ... Real ID is a new and different concept for Blizzard gamers -- and for us as well -- and our goal is to create a social gaming service that players want to use."
There you have it, folks, their TRUE goal, and it has NOTHING to do with forum trolls.
This is so far the only response I've found posted, anyone see any other Blizzard statements yet?
Please post the URL so we can all see where you found it. Not that we doubt you, of course, it simply makes things easier for all of us.
No problem....except I cannot find the original link where I saw it, but here is another one that has an article about it as well, on softpedia...
Q: Is there a possibility that a future game will require a person to use their real identity?
A: "We haven't announced any plans along these lines."
They havn't "Announced" Any plans
But the answer is resounding yes.
So i guess everyone (me included) suspecting they would implement it in the game someday aren't wearing tin foil hats. Obviously if they wouldn't even think about doing it they would have said "NO" as Real ID is hurting their PR . The fact they're using a vague answer implies they're thinking about it but prefer not to say it like that, the WoW forums are like a forest-fire as it is, this kind of news would turn it into a living flamethrower (if you catch the lame metaphores )
Fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt. Among those who dislike oppression are many who like to oppress.
Comments
as it's hard to fake name or hire credit card. pfft. and that's not even talking ilegitimate methods. Activision can't authenticate RealID. it's honest people that will get shafted, and bad guys that will be protected. way to go.
Maybe im missing something but isnt this latest brain storm an effort to control the trolls on the forums? If so why doesnt Blizzard just ban the trolls from the forums? I realize that if all the squirrels were banned from the game that sub numbers would dip but being banned from the forums wouldnt stop most of these types from continuing to play the game.
WOW isnt great because it has 12 million players. WOW has 12 million players because its great.
Ok so to prove how safe it was some bright spark posted their first and last name. Not long after there was a list of personal info about said bright spark. If that info was correct then we can safely assume it's not as safe as they make out. On the other hand if the info was wrong then some poor sap who just so happened to share a first and last name with the bright spark just got targetted for no real reason.
Now whats so scary about all that is. This doesn't just affect those who use the WOW forums this affects people who have no connection to WOW apart from sharing a first and last name of someone who has angered a WOW forumite enough that they want to track someone down. When the inevitble happens and someone takes this all to far and some innocent bystander gets hurt in some way all because they have the same first and last name of some offensive person on the WOW forums thats when I feel the poop will hit the fan.
The lesser of two evils is still evil.
There is nothing more dangerous than a true believer.
I noticed something shocking today , on pipl.com if i type my name and country my xfire profile is the first thing that shows up . and by looking at my xfire profile you can easily see if i'm a (eg) WoW player or not. Now off course without the country the results show a lot of Facebook profiles (i dont use facebook) and other things. But lets be honest , how often have you yourself told in which country / region you lived or seen other do it. This is now something we won't be able to do anymore, at least i won't be able to .
Fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt.
Among those who dislike oppression are many who like to oppress.
All Blizzard has to do to cut down on trolling is permaban every trade chat nazi every time one starts typing. Bonus for a three strikes you're out policy on anal chat spammers and the like. After Blizzard does that (and takes the hit to their wallet), they can think up other ways to control the trolls. Until they do that, I will never believe any of this has anything to do with troll control.
I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals.
~Albert Einstein
That's the official line, but clearly not the real reason for the change as there are much better, safer and less controversial means to moderate a forum.
They also have the ability to ban from forums but not game so they don't have to necessarily lose subs by keeping the forums clean.
Problem is, as it is now Activision sees the forums as a nuisance and sink on profits, so they have no desire to moderate them properly - and their vision of the forums in the future is as a social medium for pushing DLC.
I've heard somewhere there are plans to eventually change WoW to a DDO/Lotro style F2P/P2P hybrid, and they can push content on people a lot easier through a social interface where they can feel excited to join in on the fun/money sink.
Bad idea Blizzard. The cutomer should have the right to remain anonymous, and as we all know the customer is always right.
Perhaps it doesn't weaken your argument, but you do have a very salient point: Blizzard's actions resonate beyond the MMORPG industry.
My girlfriend and I were talking about this on the way home from work where, fortunately, I am actually able to enjoy playing a MMORPG for a few hours a night once my paperwork is done. Blizzard's actions will set a precedent and if other publishers see this there will be more of a reason for them to try similar things. It should be clear that after several years of a really botched job with their forums that Blizzard isn't doing this simply for the sake of cleaning those boards up; they could have done that at anytime by using their millions upon millions of dollars to actually hire competent workers. Hell, we're in the middle of an incredible recession in the States and plenty of people want to work. Instead, we have this. Yes, this can actually manage to clean up their forums by making it a ghost town but now even legitimate and polite criticism will likely label you a 'hater' and the company will have even less than a reason to provide you with support (NCSoft, anyone?) in ways that are beyond account and technical support related. After all, why help a 'hater'?
More to the point, imagine having to use RealID for Steam or even game-only sites like Dawn of War 2's official forums. This is a very dangerous precedent that is being set and, unfortunately, in a country like the United States where the Deepwater Horizon disaster makes it quite clear that corporate interests really do rule the day, we don't have much of a reason to believe that Blizzard will back off this. With their 11.5+ million subscribers there are likely to be far more coming out of Asia than Europe, the Americas and Australia, far more where this sort of thing would recieve less flak and Blizzard can still say that they are making a profit even with potential losses in Europe, the Americas and Australia.
Just some more food for thought. John Wood and others on this site have made it fairly clear: if you don't like this policy please quit and vote with your wallet. Quitting isn't something that whiny 'QQers' do, it's something that people with a conscious do who can't support something they believe is wrong. Some people will be more eloquent about it than others, sure, but it comes down to the same thing: a violation and pure disregard for consumer and personal rights and the people responding to it appropriately.
Opt out and opt out now, even if Blizzard changes their mind: they'll just betray your trust again.
(1)TL:DR must be your way of saying that thinking hurts. Then again, this may explain why it looks like you responded to the post without using your brain.
(2) It's not about community, is it? You just have nothing better to do.
I for one am simply not interested in supporting a company that forces this upon their users. An in-game GM will often send someone to the forums, such as customer service, or tech support, or bug reports, in order to ensure information gets to the correct people. Their claim that the forums are optional seems less valid due to things like that.
Sure, the forums are optional, and sure, I can chose to not post. I can also chose to pay a sub to someone else.
NOT INTERESTED BLIZZ!
WoW F2p?
Interesting thought.
^^
QFT
Definitely! It is important for people to remember though, $$$ ALWAYS comes first. Not saying you shouldn't express your discontent in fact you definitely should because as many are pointing out, this could have a cascade effect that causes every other gaming company under the sun to embrace it. Now is the time to fight this war not two or three years from now when it has become a standard industry practice all because Blizzard got away with it.
Blizzard response:
There you have it, folks, their TRUE goal, and it has NOTHING to do with forum trolls.
This is so far the only response I've found posted, anyone see any other Blizzard statements yet?
Please post the URL so we can all see where you found it. Not that we doubt you, of course, it simply makes things easier for all of us.
(1)TL:DR must be your way of saying that thinking hurts. Then again, this may explain why it looks like you responded to the post without using your brain.
(2) It's not about community, is it? You just have nothing better to do.
No problem....except I cannot find the original link where I saw it, but here is another one that has an article about it as well, on softpedia...
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Blizzard-Ready-to-Hear-Feedback-on-Real-ID-System-146720.shtml
I'm googling the google news to see what I can find on it or any other responses.
addendum... just found this article from the Orange County register...
http://www.ocregister.com/news/real-256809-blizzard-forums.html
interesting read...
This move is terrible, not because I don't want people from the game to find out my real life and profession, but because I don't want people from my real life to google and find me posting on a game site.
How would you like it if your doctor, the night before surgery, was on the wow forums posting about his moonkin rotation.
How would you like it if the person tutoring you to ace your SATs was asking about vanity pets on the forums.
This isn't about me wanting to troll the forums
This isn't about me be worried about someone from the game stalking me because I kicked them from my party, or because I rez killed them in WSG.
This isn't about me being afraid of my bank account.
This is about people not getting jobs because employers ARE googling peoples names now.
This is about people losing customers or clients because there wow account comes up more often then job references.
I have not been following this in depth issue since I don't play the game, but its hard for me to ignore the number of posts. So forgive my question if it has already been posed.
How are they dealing with the U.S. Children’s Online
Privacy Protection Act (COPRA)?
COPRA requires operators of 'websites directed at children' to:
"(1) Provide parents notice of their information practices; (2) obtain prior
verifiable parental consent for the collection, use, and/or disclosure of
personal information from children (with certain limited exceptions for the
collection of ‘‘online contact information,’’ e.g., an e-mail address);
(3) provide a parent, upon request, with the means to review the personal
information collected from his/her child; (4) provide a parent with the
opportunity to prevent the further use of personal information that has already
been collected, or the future collection of personal information from that child;
(5) limit collection of personal information for a child’s online
participation in a game, prize offer, or other activity to information that is
reasonably necessary for the activity; and (6) establish and maintain
reasonable procedures to protect the confidentiality, security, and integrity of
the personal information collected."
http://www.ftc.gov/os/1999/10/64fr59888.pdf
note that the term operators of websites was defined very broadly, I would argue it would apply to the forums and possibly even a game.
"Never met a pack of humans that were any different. Look at the idiots that get elected every couple of years. You really consider those guys more mature than us? The only difference between us and them is, when they gank some noobs and take their stuff, the noobs actually die." - Madimorga
"Social gaming service"
JOIN WORLD OF WARBOOK NOW! INVITE YOUR FAMILY SO YOU CAN ALL HAVE YOUR IDENTITY STOLEN IN ONE EASY PLACE!
Nope, but we could flood the GM's and have everyone open a ticket every day for everything instead of posting on the forums.
Overwhelm them even more
What's really going to piss me off is if the players have to have their names exposed and not the employees. I am not cool with a catch 22.
I'll say it was interesting
Q: Is there a possibility that a future game will require a person to use their real identity?
A: "We haven't announced any plans along these lines."
They havn't "Announced" Any plans
But the answer is resounding yes.
I agree and also disagree with this.
People in positions of authority, or rule enforcers will draw much more heat then some random Jane that posts "I think Gnomes are cute.".
You won't find FBI agents going around posting how they are FBI agents. Cause people in roles like these will draw more attention then someone who isn't trying to enforce any rules on them.
So, while I don't agree with the double standard, i can see why it might have to be this way especially after people tried to prove a point with that CM.
Finding someone, by their name is not hard. At all. The internet has a long memory.
I think everyone should read this page and follow the instructions.
http://askbobrankin.com/remove_phone_listing.html
Is there someone you want to find?
So i guess everyone (me included) suspecting they would implement it in the game someday aren't wearing tin foil hats. Obviously if they wouldn't even think about doing it they would have said "NO" as Real ID is hurting their PR . The fact they're using a vague answer implies they're thinking about it but prefer not to say it like that, the WoW forums are like a forest-fire as it is, this kind of news would turn it into a living flamethrower (if you catch the lame metaphores
)
Fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt.
Among those who dislike oppression are many who like to oppress.
Join the campaign -- www.stopblizzrealid.org