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There are a number of reasons why anonymity in playing a game is desired by perfectly mature and responsible adults who have no interest or desire to be in any way negative or get away with anything. Those claim so called virtues for curbing trolls fail to understand that it is much like 'curing crime', people will commit crimes because they *want* to, and then justify it with some excuse so that consequences are mitigated.
The fact that employers and what not have already fired people over saying something on facebook which they felt was being shared only with friends, along with RealID is indicative of a growing trend that what is needed is fewer liberties and more control in the hands of the authorities since gosh, you're a honest citizen, what do you have to worry about right? After all the gov't is just like a great big dad, stern when you misbehave, and kindly rewarding father when you 'behave'. The fact that people associate a gov't with this imagery is beyond mind boggling to me, since at its core, all gov'ts seek to have more power and less accountability to those whom they govern.
This isn't to turn this into a political debate, it is to illustrate the notion that a central authority figure who is not beholden in any way to those they have authority over, is opening a floodgate of abuse, simple as that. Thats why people left the countries ruled by kings, because of the abuse they suffered under such a central authority, and thats why people today in our country of extensive PERSONAL liberties are so blind and simple when it comes to the very needed defense of them. They don't understand why they need to protect their personal liberties and privacy because they started off with them, once they've had to endure the consequences, they'll look back and miserably call themselves stupid for not having listened when they should've.
People simply do not fully understand what having your private information splashed over a website with the sort of traffic WoW gets really will lead to. The arguments that the monolithic corporation will see to your welfare, that it will protect you and is inheritably good, is likewise a fantasy. All corporations are concerned with one thing, the profit margin. Their management is also aware that in this age, information = money, and they have the sort of information that internet marketers spend countless hours trying to get you to divulge. What's in a name? You'd be surprised at what knowing your real name can let others access, especially if they have but a modest amount of internet savvy.
Just as I cannot control the drivel that spams my trade chat by annoying children desperate for negative attention, Blizz will not be able to control what is done with the information that having one's real name splashed on their forums will lead to. This to me, is a invasion of privacy every bit as annoying, every bit as unconsciousable, as the phone marketers that used to plague us during the 90s, only worse because now any maladjusted social twit will have access to information to create mischief with.
I do not have a Facebook, or Myspace account. I don't need or want them for the very thing I mentioned above, but the masses have been brainwashed into thinking that all corps are these good intentioned angles who's only goal is to make their consumer happier. Likewise, the masses have been mentally neutered into thinking that only bad people have bad things happen to them, and that good people have nothing to fear. Its not being a nutjob or paranoid dinosaur, its being aware of the nature of the beast. Want another example of what happens when too much control by the few happens over the many? Look to Germany 1938 and see what that led to.
And so to answer your question, yes, I will cancel my account and never look back again the moment RealID goes live. I know Blizz will go through with it just the same, I know they'll consider me and others like me acceptable losses, and that's fine. The rest of you can unwittingly contribute additional revenue streams to Blizz Inc if you want and live on in blissful ignorance with your blind trust. I however, will not be assimilated into the collective.
Even peace may be purchased at too high a price, and the only time you are completely safe is when you lie in the grave.
The "to prevent trolling" excuse is pure crap.
They could just as effectively diminish it if they allowed players to look up the other character's of the poster, or linked all posts to a single posting handle tied to each player's account. All without throwing around people's real names.
I think you need to call the FBI's cyber patrol who go after internet child predators and explain to them how useless their job is, that obviously, the people they're "harrassing" just stay on the internet.
Even peace may be purchased at too high a price, and the only time you are completely safe is when you lie in the grave.
Meh, i don't give a crap. I'll keep trolling there anyways, just as i keep starting conversations about good porn sites in the morning for all kids to see in WoW.
In fact, i think when blizz implement this i'll troll more, because i'll know everybodys name. Real life threatening and harassment, now that's one type of trolling i've never tried. And probably nothing will happen to me (just as always), my first and last name are very common, i don't have a facebook and i don't even live in USA lol.
Better get myself ready for the trollfest (although the first comment on the official forums thread about this matter is very reasonable, the guy under witness protection).
Playing: Starcraft II.
Played: Tibia, Ragnarok Online, Ultima Online, Guild Wars, World of Warcraft.
Wanna play: Guild Wars 2, SW:TOR, Final Fantasy XIV, Diablo III.
Ah yes. There have never been cases of trolls harassing people in real life. Not even in the like 2 posts down I showed. Obviously you are correct in that trolls stay on the internet. No one has gotten hurt, or had pizzas ordered to there house, or been threatened or anything else. I should not even have brought that up since you are so correct. There are not cases in the thread of people Giving their full name, DARING people to find them. And a page or two later (since the pages are going 2-3 a minute it seems), someone has posted aim names, facebook, deviantart, family, phone numbers, and addresses among other things. What's worse, is sometimes they had the WRONG person AT FIRST. That person was getting harassed. A few minutes later, the correct person was found. I have personally seen a few profiles changed from open to private to even photos deleted. And these people are just proving a point.
There may not be people getting killed as soon as the system goes in place. That is a good possibility. But there WILL be people harassed. You are kidding yourself if you think otherwise.
I sound both sexist and racist? Is that because I said white males with average names, that have 8017234091287341098 others with the same name have almost no cause for concern? While females, minoritys, and unique names do? At least a much larger concern. Can these white males have these problems? Of course! But the can of worms that can be opened against others seems...already opened in this case.
Sorry, I did not mean to come off racist or sexist.
Like I said, trolls don't meet you in real life. Those people that meet you aren't trolls - they're unstable people. Trolls troll to get a reaction and when they get a reaction they keep going because they think it's funny. Sure you get a reaction when you suckerpunch a person, but again - that's not what trolls want. The worst they do is leave death threats, but that's about it. I guess you have never been to 4chan or partyvan for a raid, or a raid in general. My point was that your definition of trolls is wrong, but you are correct in the sense that people do beat/kill other people because of stupidity and insanity.
Never feed the troll and you won't have a problem.
Eleanor Rigby.
I guess that's right. There are weird people. There are crazy people. Some people you don't need to feed, some people you can talk to and they will think you are in love with them. Some you will try to not talk to, and they will think you are best friends. You might beat someone in pvp, running across them a few times accidently, and they take offense, and do something about it.
I guess you wouldn't call them trolls. But I still feel trolls could, and will, do things stated in this thread. They most likely won't rush out to beat someone up, but any form of harrassment from them outside of forums (where they have mods to delete crap they post), is too much. And they can and will find information on the internet thanks to your name on the website, in game, friends of friends, or bugs with mods showing everyones RL name.
Well they just made identity theft for millions of users super easy with the real ID by connecting their real names to their address and email. I wonder how many lawsuits Blizzard will get before they remove the real ID. I am truly curious about that the most.
In other news the new level 81 hunter talent is called "To catch a predator"
ROFLOL!!! Well Said!
How are you going to find my email by knowing my first and last name again?
Eleanor Rigby.
Have you ever received an actual death threat from a person on the internet or from within the game that you're playing?
I have, the person threatened to come to my home town (he knew my real name and city) and harm a family member.
Did it come true? No. Did I keep the firearms locked and loaded for a while, you bet. I don't take chances with crazy people, even if the chances are slim to none.
This is no laughing matter than can be easily dismissed by saying we're just being paranoid, when it comes to real life and family, you do not mess around.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
And that's exactly the kind of buttons trolls want to push on. Would I take threats from a gamer serious? No. A guy told me he was going to meet me, so I reported him to the GM's and they gave him a warning. Afterwards I got an apology from him, but when I was sitting there thinking about that threat before he apologised I realised something - that guy ain't worth even one minute of my time.
They work on fear and when you let fear control you, they win.
Eleanor Rigby.
It will be different. Blizzard doesn't even give you the option to hide your name. At least on Facebook you can use a nickname/alias and hide any other information about yourself from other people.
With the RealD your first and last name is tied to your payment for the game, so no way to use an alias/nickname there.
The funniest thing about this is that the trolling won't stop.
Sure, there are maybe a minority of trolls that may work at uptight companies that may fire them if they see "Markus Dreakon" posting "LOLZ you iz suc the noob!" and other such things. But I guarantee the majority of trolling may slow down for a while until the initial shock of everyone seeing your real name wears off, then it'll be back to full-on troll mode for most of the a**holes on the WoW forums.
The only thing this will successfully do is stop someone from asking a legitimate question or partaking in a conversation they find interesting because they don't want their name public.
This whole thing just makes me glad I've never liked any Blizzard game.
Edit: One thing I gurantee though, if this does roll out the way it is now, companies WILL be searching the forums for employee's names.
"There is as yet insufficient data for a meaningful answer."
Depends on how common the name is really and what other online activities you take part in. It might be easy to find you on LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace, etc. You might have put your resume online or run a blog that has your email associated with it. Really, it could be difficult or it could be real easy. It depends on the person in question and displaying the names is just additional information that doesn't need to be exposed.
The other question should really be: if the name isn't valuable at all, how can it be a deterant to trolling?
-mklinic
"Do something right, no one remembers.
Do something wrong, no one forgets"
-from No One Remembers by In Strict Confidence
Well... Thats certainly one perspective... But there is a difference between letting "fear control" one, and not taking the proper precautions for a given situation. Its all about risk/threat management. In most situations the risk/threat is minimal. In others, its not. The trick is to have the experience to know the difference. But even experts make mistakes. Better safe than sorry is a good rule of thumb. Blizzard should not be doing this. It violates basic principles of privacy/security.
what about guys getting stalked?
haha, maybe this might make the WoW children think twice.
They work on fear and when you let fear control you, they win.
So I have a pair of friends who were supreme dicks as teenagers in an online game and actually did beat someone up over it when someone confronted them irl. So just because 99% of threats are hollow doesn't mean 1% doesn't exist. Not saying you should fear trolls, but I just see no reason to give them personal information either.