Are you sure he'll be able to link you character's name to your real name in the forums? I know there is an option to display one of your characters next to your real name, though it is 'optional'.
There is no immediate link between real name and character name (unless you opt to show it). However, the more information you post under your real name, the bigger the "risk" that someone will put two and two together. It may be a typo unique to you, a phrase or opinion that not that many people share, and so on.
One can argue that most of our personal information is out there for the world to see but the difference is that the person I somehow pissed off in a game will have a hard time finding out who I really am because there is nothing out there that links me real name to my character's name. With Real ID, he just has to go to the forums to get my real name, then whitepages.com for everything else.
Are you sure he'll be able to link you character's name to your real name in the forums? I know there is an option to display one of your characters next to your real name, though it is 'optional'.
Is it turned on or off by default? Either way, most people don't realize how much information can be gathered just from a person's name and may display their character's name. Besides, that's just one of the things that can go wrong with Real ID.
What about employers who do internet searches on their employees? Stalkers? Hell, ever been harrased by a collections agency? How about being harrassed by them in WoW?
Yes I know that information can be found and it is easy to get and my argument that most people have Facebook and MySpace profiles that provide more information and are much easier obtained than some name on the forums of a game. And its funny that they will post anything on those sites but when a game uses your name to post, its wrong. And it is optional so its is NO different than Facebook at this time.
There is a HUGE difference between a game forum and Facebook.
On Facebook I control my privacy settings. I control who sees my account and how much they see. Obviously, I'm free to post on other peoples pics etc thus opening up the door for people to see my name (and name only). On Facebook I'm just a name to those outside on my friends list. A name with no opinion of anything that offends or agrees with anybody. Nobody's gonna look for info on me because there's no reason to. I'm a speck of dust. Community on Facebook is (generally) created by people already knowing each other.
On a game forum, it's completely different. In order for community to happen, people need to get out of their shells, and that's where aggression (and comradery obviously) can and does occur. People need to share opinions, and when people share opinions, people take offense to opinions. People overreact. People feel attacked when they may or may not actually be (ie: in this very thread) because they don't know who they're talking to. I believe I'm a pretty respectful person, but I do have strong opinions about things. Things that in my real life I may only passionatly discuss with close friends. But online, I am allowed to discuss these things because it's annonymous. I don't have to worry about being judged, and I'm allowed to be wrong (sometimes ). All important for creating an online community out of strangers.
FYI, I have been cyberstalked because of posting an opinion (the opinion being: "stop stalking people buddy"), and because I use an alias, the dude didn't get far.
What about employers who do internet searches on their employees? Stalkers? Hell, ever been harrased by a collections agency? How about being harrassed by them in WoW?
So those stalkers will have access to your forum posts along with what they can already have now. :P Unless you befriend them with the RealID friends list, they can't know what you're doing in game.
Your name could be John Smith or ILikeButt on the forums and it will never matter. They're not posting an address or location, drama queens. It will keep the flamers (and the drama queens) away so I support it 100%. Stop telling strangers your real personal business (names don't matter) and you have nothing to worry about.
So you wouldn't have any of your problem posting your name in this thread then, right?
You are completely blind to what people can do with a name and a general location (or a lot of times just a name itself)
My name is David Cross I live on planet earth - come and egg my house.
For me, this is no big deal. I like that they are actually trying to bring players closer together. I think it will benefit a game like WoW, which is already a very social game. Facebook seems to be doing great, and although they have even had some disputes about security everyone wants to be on facebook. Whole families are on facebook! I think it's great. As for the privacy stuff, for my part, it's really does not concern me. If someone wants to know who I am, they will find out somehow. And I think the chance of getting a wierdo on your back is probably the same as getting hit by a metorite straight on the head. I have real problems to worry about instead. Nothing is ever 100% safe. Just being alive is dangerous. If you know you have a stalker on your back, opt out of RealID. Simple. There are tons of WoW forums out there you can post in.
I admire their preseverance in this matter. It's not a simple choice to make and it will probably cost them a chunk of customers. But my guess is this will have blown over until Cataclysm hits.
And I think the chance of getting a wierdo on your back is probably the same as getting hit by a metorite straight on the head.
No offence but that's an incredibly ignorant thing to say. Maybe you might not have an issue with weirdo's but inevitably somebody will. All it takes is one tragedy.
What about employers who do internet searches on their employees? Stalkers? Hell, ever been harrased by a collections agency? How about being harrassed by them in WoW?
So those stalkers will have access to your forum posts along with what they can already have now. :P Unless you befriend them with the RealID friends list, they can't know what you're doing in game.
Look, you can attempt to defend it any way you want but the simple fact is that disclosing a person's real identity on the internet is never a good idea, especially when you don't give him or her an option to not display their real name.
And I think the chance of getting a wierdo on your back is probably the same as getting hit by a metorite straight on the head.
No offence but that's an incredibly ignorant thing to say. Maybe you might not have an issue with weirdo's but inevitably somebody will. All it takes is one tragedy.
If you didn't notice, I was speaking about myself. And inevitably somebody will be hit in the head by a metorite too. I was just pointing out that the risk is very, very slim at best. I know stalkers do exist.
I foresee funny stuff with RealID used in conjunction with Wow Armory "recent activity" feature. Just imagine the potential with simple Google searches.
Examples:
1) Girlfriend: "you told me you had to do home work, and then you kept playing all night long!"
2) Or your boss: "you are not supposed to play games during worktime, you're fired!".
Hope that real names in conjunction with character names (this will be optional, as previous comments say) will be turned of by default, otherwise... funny stuff!
Well, in both cases if you get caught you so deserve it.
You aint supposed to be playing during worktime, much less lie to your girlfriend and put her aside, so hey ! i am all up for this idea. Can´t wait for the drama to come along.
imo if youre afraid to take a point on a forum using your real name you're also afriad to say something in real life. Whats the problem if someone sees your name? Wouldn't you say the same things to that person if he was in front of you? If not then you fear them, and i dont belive everyone who dislikes RealId is a coward.
It truly amazes me the insensitivity that guys have for women gamers. Considering we get the fucking stupid remarks in vent, harassment in game, stalkers, do you wonder why WE DON'T WANT ALL THE DUMBASS GUYS OUT THERE KNOWING THAT MUCH ABOUT US? If I chose to tell someone my MySpace/Facebook or real life info, it should be my choice alone, not some game I'm paying to play, which blatently led us down a slippery slope with the start of battle.net using your email address to log in, now your real name in game! I stopped beta testing SC2 because of that.
Even Facebook, etc. you have control over who knows what.
Every guild I've been in the ratio is what 2 women to 40 guys pretty much? Even the best group, you still get it.
Besides it's an MMORPG, If I wanted to use my real name in game I could have name the character that. Forcing this on people is totally retarded. The helpful people on the Forums will leave, the trolls will still troll.
What do you do when the in-game GM tells you to post to the forum for help - you're screwed then.
I never understood why Blizz didn't have a forum user name, like every other game does. Trying to capture a few extra bucks by socializing this is the biggest mistake I've seen in gaming in a long time.
I'm looking forward to the class action lawsuits that you know some lawyer will file. Right now the share holders are up in arms already since this was in the Wall Street Journal. Wait til the pedophile finds Little Johnny, it will be a media feeding frenzy.
Seriously considering cancelling my account. Homeland Security enters gaming - no thanks.
Well everyone wanted to know what the WoW killer will be, might be Blizzard sinking under its own bloated ego.
The fact that they've even considered this (and a few other things) has made me specifically cancel 2 days after resubscribing.. I'm pretty sure they've pissed a lot of other people off as well.
Time to look for another MMO!
Did you not read any of that article???? YOU CAN POST WITH, OR WITH OUT YOUR REAL ID. ONLY WITH REAL ID WILL YOUR NAME SHOW UP.
So in another words you can post with your toons and alts too.
The real reasons so many WoW players are against this?
1) Too many people will find out that SexahBunny Blood Elf they've been hitting on is actually "Joe Basement" and it scares the pixellated crap out of them.
2) Too many "Joe Basement" types will be outed as SexahBunny Blood Elf, and no longer be able to ride the easy train of free gear and group help.
Those pissed off by #1 will track down those in #2 and do some RL type PVP. Chaos will reign. Dogs and Cats will live together. It'll be mass hysteria.
Yea... those "privacy issues" are a real beeyotch, but those aren't the real reasons people are so up in arms.
The real reasons so many WoW players are against this?
1) Too many people will find out that SexahBunny Blood Elf they've been hitting on is actually "Joe Basement" and it scares the pixellated crap out of them.
2) Too many "Joe Basement" types will be outed as SexahBunny Blood Elf, and no longer be able to ride the easy train of free gear and group help.
Those pissed off by #1 will track down those in #2 and do some RL type PVP. Chaos will reign. Dogs and Cats will live together. It'll be mass hysteria.
Yea... those "privacy issues" are a real beeyotch, but those aren't the real reasons people are so up in arms.
I like how you say ''too many'' and you have no proof of this whatsoever. Other than your logic that is, and human logic sure has worked well in the past...
It truly amazes me the insensitivity that guys have for women gamers. Considering we get the fucking stupid remarks in vent, harassment in game, stalkers, do you wonder why WE DON'T WANT ALL THE DUMBASS GUYS OUT THERE KNOWING THAT MUCH ABOUT US? If I chose to tell someone my MySpace/Facebook or real life info, it should be my choice alone, not some game I'm paying to play, which blatently led us down a slippery slope with the start of battle.net using your email address to log in, now your real name in game! I stopped beta testing SC2 because of that.
Even Facebook, etc. you have control over who knows what.
Every guild I've been in the ratio is what 2 women to 40 guys pretty much? Even the best group, you still get it.
Besides it's an MMORPG, If I wanted to use my real name in game I could have name the character that. Forcing this on people is totally retarded. The helpful people on the Forums will leave, the trolls will still troll.
What do you do when the in-game GM tells you to post to the forum for help - you're screwed then.
I never understood why Blizz didn't have a forum user name, like every other game does. Trying to capture a few extra bucks by socializing this is the biggest mistake I've seen in gaming in a long time.
I'm looking forward to the class action lawsuits that you know some lawyer will file. Right now the share holders are up in arms already since this was in the Wall Street Journal. Wait til the pedophile finds Little Johnny, it will be a media feeding frenzy.
Seriously considering cancelling my account. Homeland Security enters gaming - no thanks.
Well everyone wanted to know what the WoW killer will be, might be Blizzard sinking under its own bloated ego.
You will get the same attention (ok maybe a little less becouse some of them are too shy) in real life from those persons. Never saw ugly, dumb girls (not saying you are) getting attention just because they're girls (in rl)?
What about employers who do internet searches on their employees? Stalkers? Hell, ever been harrased by a collections agency? How about being harrassed by them in WoW?
So those stalkers will have access to your forum posts along with what they can already have now. :P Unless you befriend them with the RealID friends list, they can't know what you're doing in game.
Look, you can attempt to defend it any way you want but the simple fact is that disclosing a person's real identity on the internet is never a good idea, especially when you don't give him or her an option to not display their real name.
I know, no worries. I'm not agree'ing 100% with Blizzard's move, though I dislike the quantity of misinformation generated regarding this 'War against Trolls'.
Another player documents, more or less, how it took him 20 minutes to find out that player's address, phone number, the names of his parents, the name of his dog, what his dog looks like, the color of the walls in his room, what he did last weekend, where he worked, and what his work phone number was. He then called him at work and told him exactly how easy it was to do.
If you check that first link, you'll see where the player edited his name out of the post and announced that he'd been found.
Now, yes, people who are doggedly defending this thing for whatever reason will state that it would have been significantly more difficult to find the above information without a character name, or that you can safeguard your information if you know how to do it, or that information is already so easily available that it doesn't matter anyway. None of that makes a difference, though, because Blizzard reaches a huge number of people, and not all of them will know to keep their character names separate from their forum names, not all of them will know how important it is to limit information on social netowrking sites. This is another vulnerability that's being purposely introduced and, with a community as large (and, ostensibly, immature) as BioWare's, someone is going to fall victim to it.
So, by all means, keep your name posted in this thread. It's possible nothing will happen. Why on Earth would you want to risk it when you don't have to, though? More importantly, why would you want to let Blizzard risk it for you?
But theres the problem with that, they are forcing us into something that no one wants... And its obviously caused issues.
No one is being forced here. Ultimately the customer has the decision. If they like the changes a company makes, they'll keep supporting their product. Alternatively, if they don't like the changes, they will no longer support said product.
So far Blizzard has pretty much done exactly what players want because it's the road with least risks and apparently most profit, but I applaud them for sticking to their ideal for once, even if it means lost subscriptions.
Wow you are really delusional if you believe that its smart for a business to scare away customers for something as trivial and potentially dangerous as this. Also you need to learn the basics of business law if you think a subscription based game can drastically change what its offering with out the potential for repercussions. Sony is learning that the hard way with several class action suites.
RealID is a bad idea for a competitive game such as WoW. To anyone who thinks the WoW community is all safe and playful they just need to remember the alliance raid that jumped the funeral for the girl who died in real life and all the death threats they received afterward.
The real reasons so many WoW players are against this?
1) Too many people will find out that SexahBunny Blood Elf they've been hitting on is actually "Joe Basement" and it scares the pixellated crap out of them.
2) Too many "Joe Basement" types will be outed as SexahBunny Blood Elf, and no longer be able to ride the easy train of free gear and group help.
Those pissed off by #1 will track down those in #2 and do some RL type PVP. Chaos will reign. Dogs and Cats will live together. It'll be mass hysteria.
Yea... those "privacy issues" are a real beeyotch, but those aren't the real reasons people are so up in arms.
What concerns me more is real greifing such as when someone ninjas an item or ganks someone and it becomes too personal. There have been death threats before from WoW and now these people have a means to retaliate if they are crazy enough. Btw even if you safe guard your information online and don't have a face book people can still find you if you own a house, credit cards etc. There are better search data bases then google when it comes to that.
My father died without ever going online or having an email but i could find information on him that would have made him think it was 1984.
What i don't understand is how blizzard thinks this would really stop trolling. Trolls will just use a fake name and a chat handle bound to each account would have achieved the same purpose as a real name. I guess this is blizzard idea to fix world pvp by bringing it to a whole new level.
Hypocriticism at it's best. Yeah we listen but we already made up our mind.
It's their game, which is why I give them my respects for having a spine for once and not letting the players dictate everything that happens in the game. It's why I don't play it after all; a game made by players for players doesn't appeal to me.
I'm sorry, but I must of missed Blizzards various "Gamer Conferences" when they decided to introduce the Blizzard store, or the 25 dollar pony most likely taken straight from Alganon's loot table, or when they went from offering a quest to learn cold flying, to a quest for it and an option to buy it, to just straight being forced to buy it, or the jacked up badge price of saronite, or the horrible Jousting mechanic... actually you know what, the entire 3.2 patch in general...
They have a spine for revealing personal information to any of WoWs millions of subscribers, who, might I add, are not all sane in the membrane, and will hunt you down by your ingame name alone and kill you, then have their guild send death threats to your family? And yes, that has actually happened to someone. The fact that this decision WASN'T made in the interest of gamers, is bull.
Them saying we are listening, is the same thing as Ebert saying he takes back his opinion. It ain't sincere, they still think we are f***tards, and still believe they are right in all they do. Ebert is the only one of the two who actually has a spine, because he admitted he was wrong to base his opinion on nothing but his thoughts and refusing to play games. Blizzard still probably think ToC is one of the best raids of all time, outside of every other "amazing" raid in their most amazing expansion yet until Cata comes out.
These Cyber "Stalkers" people are so afraid of cannot hide, but you have to actually report them. If someone claims that they are the victem on such and individual they are either a lair, or they have not reported this activity to the authoorities. The onlyway someone could get away with doing this for very long is if they lived outside the US in a country without laws that protect you from such individuals. Authorities have the rights to get IP addresses of people making those threats, and even with use of a proxy, those proxy servers are also bound by the same laws. Especially for US citizens i know this to be true as I have dealt with them myself. One person 3 years ago said they were going to find me and do....well i wont get into that, but i called the police, told them the name of the site, and the fake name someone was using and they had him in hours, and now he isnt allows to own a computer, or electric devices that access the Internet + he went to jail. It is a VERY RARE circumstance that the police cannot put a stop to this behavior as it is not some programming/IT genius stalking you, it is some sicko with a PC, there usually idiots and cannot hide.
We need to stop being afraid, only united throughout the world can we stop injustices to each other!
Comments
There is no immediate link between real name and character name (unless you opt to show it). However, the more information you post under your real name, the bigger the "risk" that someone will put two and two together. It may be a typo unique to you, a phrase or opinion that not that many people share, and so on.
Is it turned on or off by default? Either way, most people don't realize how much information can be gathered just from a person's name and may display their character's name. Besides, that's just one of the things that can go wrong with Real ID.
What about employers who do internet searches on their employees? Stalkers? Hell, ever been harrased by a collections agency? How about being harrassed by them in WoW?
There is a HUGE difference between a game forum and Facebook.
On Facebook I control my privacy settings. I control who sees my account and how much they see. Obviously, I'm free to post on other peoples pics etc thus opening up the door for people to see my name (and name only). On Facebook I'm just a name to those outside on my friends list. A name with no opinion of anything that offends or agrees with anybody. Nobody's gonna look for info on me because there's no reason to. I'm a speck of dust. Community on Facebook is (generally) created by people already knowing each other.
On a game forum, it's completely different. In order for community to happen, people need to get out of their shells, and that's where aggression (and comradery obviously) can and does occur. People need to share opinions, and when people share opinions, people take offense to opinions. People overreact. People feel attacked when they may or may not actually be (ie: in this very thread) because they don't know who they're talking to. I believe I'm a pretty respectful person, but I do have strong opinions about things. Things that in my real life I may only passionatly discuss with close friends. But online, I am allowed to discuss these things because it's annonymous. I don't have to worry about being judged, and I'm allowed to be wrong (sometimes
). All important for creating an online community out of strangers.
FYI, I have been cyberstalked because of posting an opinion (the opinion being: "stop stalking people buddy"), and because I use an alias, the dude didn't get far.
So those stalkers will have access to your forum posts along with what they can already have now. :P Unless you befriend them with the RealID friends list, they can't know what you're doing in game.
My name is David Cross I live on planet earth - come and egg my house.
.. looks out the window.. nope no one there.
For me, this is no big deal. I like that they are actually trying to bring players closer together. I think it will benefit a game like WoW, which is already a very social game. Facebook seems to be doing great, and although they have even had some disputes about security everyone wants to be on facebook. Whole families are on facebook! I think it's great. As for the privacy stuff, for my part, it's really does not concern me. If someone wants to know who I am, they will find out somehow. And I think the chance of getting a wierdo on your back is probably the same as getting hit by a metorite straight on the head. I have real problems to worry about instead. Nothing is ever 100% safe. Just being alive is dangerous. If you know you have a stalker on your back, opt out of RealID. Simple. There are tons of WoW forums out there you can post in.
I admire their preseverance in this matter. It's not a simple choice to make and it will probably cost them a chunk of customers. But my guess is this will have blown over until Cataclysm hits.
No offence but that's an incredibly ignorant thing to say. Maybe you might not have an issue with weirdo's but inevitably somebody will. All it takes is one tragedy.
Look, you can attempt to defend it any way you want but the simple fact is that disclosing a person's real identity on the internet is never a good idea, especially when you don't give him or her an option to not display their real name.
If you didn't notice, I was speaking about myself. And inevitably somebody will be hit in the head by a metorite too. I was just pointing out that the risk is very, very slim at best. I know stalkers do exist.
Well, in both cases if you get caught you so deserve it.
You aint supposed to be playing during worktime, much less lie to your girlfriend and put her aside, so hey ! i am all up for this idea. Can´t wait for the drama to come along.
Rawr.
I love the RealID changes and greatly look forward to it!!!
imo if youre afraid to take a point on a forum using your real name you're also afriad to say something in real life. Whats the problem if someone sees your name? Wouldn't you say the same things to that person if he was in front of you? If not then you fear them, and i dont belive everyone who dislikes RealId is a coward.
It truly amazes me the insensitivity that guys have for women gamers. Considering we get the fucking stupid remarks in vent, harassment in game, stalkers, do you wonder why WE DON'T WANT ALL THE DUMBASS GUYS OUT THERE KNOWING THAT MUCH ABOUT US? If I chose to tell someone my MySpace/Facebook or real life info, it should be my choice alone, not some game I'm paying to play, which blatently led us down a slippery slope with the start of battle.net using your email address to log in, now your real name in game! I stopped beta testing SC2 because of that.
Even Facebook, etc. you have control over who knows what.
Every guild I've been in the ratio is what 2 women to 40 guys pretty much? Even the best group, you still get it.
Besides it's an MMORPG, If I wanted to use my real name in game I could have name the character that. Forcing this on people is totally retarded. The helpful people on the Forums will leave, the trolls will still troll.
What do you do when the in-game GM tells you to post to the forum for help - you're screwed then.
I never understood why Blizz didn't have a forum user name, like every other game does. Trying to capture a few extra bucks by socializing this is the biggest mistake I've seen in gaming in a long time.
I'm looking forward to the class action lawsuits that you know some lawyer will file. Right now the share holders are up in arms already since this was in the Wall Street Journal. Wait til the pedophile finds Little Johnny, it will be a media feeding frenzy.
Seriously considering cancelling my account. Homeland Security enters gaming - no thanks.
Well everyone wanted to know what the WoW killer will be, might be Blizzard sinking under its own bloated ego.
Proud member of Hammerfist Clan Gaming Community.
Currently playing: RIFT, EQ2, WoW, LoTRO
Retired: Warhammer, AoC, EQ
Waiting: SWToR & GW2
Did you not read any of that article???? YOU CAN POST WITH, OR WITH OUT YOUR REAL ID. ONLY WITH REAL ID WILL YOUR NAME SHOW UP.
So in another words you can post with your toons and alts too.
www.roxstudiodesigns.com
The real reasons so many WoW players are against this?
1) Too many people will find out that SexahBunny Blood Elf they've been hitting on is actually "Joe Basement" and it scares the pixellated crap out of them.
2) Too many "Joe Basement" types will be outed as SexahBunny Blood Elf, and no longer be able to ride the easy train of free gear and group help.
Those pissed off by #1 will track down those in #2 and do some RL type PVP. Chaos will reign. Dogs and Cats will live together. It'll be mass hysteria.
Yea... those "privacy issues" are a real beeyotch, but those aren't the real reasons people are so up in arms.
I like how you say ''too many'' and you have no proof of this whatsoever. Other than your logic that is, and human logic sure has worked well in the past...
Eleanor Rigby.
You will get the same attention (ok maybe a little less becouse some of them are too shy) in real life from those persons. Never saw ugly, dumb girls (not saying you are) getting attention just because they're girls (in rl)?
I know, no worries. I'm not agree'ing 100% with Blizzard's move, though I dislike the quantity of misinformation generated regarding this 'War against Trolls'.
Be careful what you wish for.
A player on the forums gives his real name and says more or less what you just did:
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=25712374700&sid=1&pageNo=34#670
Another player documents, more or less, how it took him 20 minutes to find out that player's address, phone number, the names of his parents, the name of his dog, what his dog looks like, the color of the walls in his room, what he did last weekend, where he worked, and what his work phone number was. He then called him at work and told him exactly how easy it was to do.
http://seewhatyoudidthere.com/2010/07/07/realid-changes-the-very-real-ease-of-stalking-in-the-internet-age/
If you check that first link, you'll see where the player edited his name out of the post and announced that he'd been found.
Now, yes, people who are doggedly defending this thing for whatever reason will state that it would have been significantly more difficult to find the above information without a character name, or that you can safeguard your information if you know how to do it, or that information is already so easily available that it doesn't matter anyway. None of that makes a difference, though, because Blizzard reaches a huge number of people, and not all of them will know to keep their character names separate from their forum names, not all of them will know how important it is to limit information on social netowrking sites. This is another vulnerability that's being purposely introduced and, with a community as large (and, ostensibly, immature) as BioWare's, someone is going to fall victim to it.
So, by all means, keep your name posted in this thread. It's possible nothing will happen. Why on Earth would you want to risk it when you don't have to, though? More importantly, why would you want to let Blizzard risk it for you?
Wow you are really delusional if you believe that its smart for a business to scare away customers for something as trivial and potentially dangerous as this. Also you need to learn the basics of business law if you think a subscription based game can drastically change what its offering with out the potential for repercussions. Sony is learning that the hard way with several class action suites.
RealID is a bad idea for a competitive game such as WoW. To anyone who thinks the WoW community is all safe and playful they just need to remember the alliance raid that jumped the funeral for the girl who died in real life and all the death threats they received afterward.
I think instead of bringing back open world pvp, Blizzard is trying to get into Real World pvp now hence the RealID idea
"All expectation leads to suffering" Buhhda
What concerns me more is real greifing such as when someone ninjas an item or ganks someone and it becomes too personal. There have been death threats before from WoW and now these people have a means to retaliate if they are crazy enough. Btw even if you safe guard your information online and don't have a face book people can still find you if you own a house, credit cards etc. There are better search data bases then google when it comes to that.
My father died without ever going online or having an email but i could find information on him that would have made him think it was 1984.
What i don't understand is how blizzard thinks this would really stop trolling. Trolls will just use a fake name and a chat handle bound to each account would have achieved the same purpose as a real name. I guess this is blizzard idea to fix world pvp by bringing it to a whole new level.
I'm sorry, but I must of missed Blizzards various "Gamer Conferences" when they decided to introduce the Blizzard store, or the 25 dollar pony most likely taken straight from Alganon's loot table, or when they went from offering a quest to learn cold flying, to a quest for it and an option to buy it, to just straight being forced to buy it, or the jacked up badge price of saronite, or the horrible Jousting mechanic... actually you know what, the entire 3.2 patch in general...
They have a spine for revealing personal information to any of WoWs millions of subscribers, who, might I add, are not all sane in the membrane, and will hunt you down by your ingame name alone and kill you, then have their guild send death threats to your family? And yes, that has actually happened to someone. The fact that this decision WASN'T made in the interest of gamers, is bull.
Them saying we are listening, is the same thing as Ebert saying he takes back his opinion. It ain't sincere, they still think we are f***tards, and still believe they are right in all they do. Ebert is the only one of the two who actually has a spine, because he admitted he was wrong to base his opinion on nothing but his thoughts and refusing to play games. Blizzard still probably think ToC is one of the best raids of all time, outside of every other "amazing" raid in their most amazing expansion yet until Cata comes out.
I can't see why this is a bad thing?
These Cyber "Stalkers" people are so afraid of cannot hide, but you have to actually report them. If someone claims that they are the victem on such and individual they are either a lair, or they have not reported this activity to the authoorities. The onlyway someone could get away with doing this for very long is if they lived outside the US in a country without laws that protect you from such individuals. Authorities have the rights to get IP addresses of people making those threats, and even with use of a proxy, those proxy servers are also bound by the same laws. Especially for US citizens i know this to be true as I have dealt with them myself. One person 3 years ago said they were going to find me and do....well i wont get into that, but i called the police, told them the name of the site, and the fake name someone was using and they had him in hours, and now he isnt allows to own a computer, or electric devices that access the Internet + he went to jail. It is a VERY RARE circumstance that the police cannot put a stop to this behavior as it is not some programming/IT genius stalking you, it is some sicko with a PC, there usually idiots and cannot hide.
We need to stop being afraid, only united throughout the world can we stop injustices to each other!
/endRant