The internet is raging this afternoon over Blizzard's plans to put World of Warcraft users' real names on their official forum posts. The bastards.
The Diablo developer's revealed that, if you post on the version of its forum that will launch with the new StarCraft, your real name, rather than your username, will be shown.
It seems like Blizzard's looking to turn Battle.net into more of a social network than a competitive matchmaking service, as it says itself:
"It's important to us to create a new and different kind of online gaming environment - one that's highly social, and which provides an ideal place for gamers to form long-lasting, meaningful relationships. All of our design decisions surrounding Real ID - including these forum changes - have been made with this goal in mind."
Our colleagues at PC Gamer UK call the plans "foolhardy" and "asking for trouble".
"The gamers that live and breathe their service, at every level, from the bottom, to the super-hardcore pro-gamers, simply don't identify themselves by their real name when they play," the mag says. "They live by their identity or handle. Battle.net isn't a social network. It's a fight club.
"According to Blizzard's announcement, all StarCraft II and Cataclysm forums will display your real name. That means even the tech support forums. And the roleplaying forums. I'm not sure why I need to identify myself when I'm trying to figure out why Warcraft crashes. Or when I'm pretending to be a druid."
One angry reader said of the plans: "I don't want all the world to know my real name. More social it might be but it's very intrusive to my privacy... In this day and age when most social websites are being pushed for more privacy functions they decide to open it up in one of the worst possible way."
Frankly, we don't give a monkey's who knows our real names. We post stuff on the internet all day with our names on the bottom. But we can see how this could be a problem for MMO fans.
Any WoW players out there care to offer their two pence on this issue?
Comments
33 comments so far...
SunScramble on 7 Jul '10 said:
You want trouble? Here's one handy example:
A Blizzard CM who decided to try and support the new changes just found out exactly why it's a bad thing.
There are now pictures of him, his family, and his house all over the internet, his family have stopped answering the phone due to the constant calls from outraged Warcraft fans, and he's deleted his Facebook account.
I figure there's a lesson to be learned here, if you've got the slightest interest in your own privacy.
KMakawa on 7 Jul '10 said:
Not a WoW Player, but don't see what the problem is..
A lot of forums use this as it is.. it gives you more credibility and personality rather then some made up name? surely..
Izo on 7 Jul '10 said:
PCgamer may not care about people knowing their true names but I'm sure many people do particularly with what people can do with it afterall it's stupid to just throw your real name around. That is an identity thief's heaven, find someone's name, look them up on facebook for more personal info and let the fun begin
You might want to name those forums as all the ones I've seen allow people to cover their name on their profiles.
fionn1 on 7 Jul '10 said:
What happens if....you on purpose mess up a raid, I have seen videoes of people doing it on purpose.. it would not be the first time a person takes a game personally and takes it out personally on the person that cocked up!...just a thought..
kremlik on 7 Jul '10 said:
Compounding the issue is that Blizzard want to link with Facebook as well, the first post may seem a little OTT, but if the general public can find YOUR information that easily, anyone can.
Blizzard seems to forget how much of a mess changing the usernames to emails were, I very much dought that any Battle.net 'login' is getting it's fair share of spam because of that, the big issue for most people is that it is a 'like it or you get cut off from the public forums', same with the 'friend of friend' issue with the friends list, theres no control on what data you 'share' and who can see it - it's an irrony factor as Facebook (as I said Blizzard are working with) HAVE these control features!
It's all well and good saying 'well you don't have to use them', but there are people who like those features but would perfer the 11.5 million nay... the WHOLE world from publicly seeing who they are and I can honestly see one 'good' side to it - no more 'alts' and cyberbulling on the forums. HOWEVER it's only a matter of time when Blizzard REALLY distory the trust in their playerbase by putting all those details into the armory which the playerbase STILL have no real control over..
The playerbase is only really asking for more control over their own personal data, but Blizzard can't see past their own games and how bad the 'real world' could be
B_G_G on 7 Jul '10 said:
This is a bit weird, if people don't want to use their real names on a forum then why on earth force them to?
Surprisingly my real name isn't actually B_G_G, but since I'm pretty sure there's more than one Tim on the internet it's what I use to be distinct.
I don't really understand why Blizzard thinks this is necessary, no other forum I've ever heard of does. Even Facebook lets you decide yourself.
hephaestos on 7 Jul '10 said:
15 year old A.Smith was shot in the street yesterday... apparently he did overusee the zergling rush technique...
this is the 10000th death related to blizzard's new forum...
oh yeah I see the headlines comming ...
_Marty_ on 7 Jul '10 said:
That is hilarious. Guess that's point proved really.
That said, my real name is in other forums around - I am a member of BoardGameGeek and your real name is put on there too. No biggy.
Honestly, I'm not bothered who knows who I am.
boskersrevenge on 7 Jul '10 said:
Tim!
THE NAME OF A WARRIOR! RAAR!
Sleepaphobic on 7 Jul '10 said:
hahahha oh man that blizzard dude got owned.
PandyBear on 7 Jul '10 said:
i think this will be a shock for those that thought they were helping a hot blonde grind quests, and its turns out theyve been grinding with Terry, 34 from London.
Reegeee on 7 Jul '10 said:
All you can say is who do they think they are? How is it Blizzards decision?
They provide a service that people pay for. Just take the money and let them do what they want.
I don't play mmo's at all, but i agree that this is possibly the worst idea I've ever seen, and that guy that's getting harassed bloody deserves it in my opinion.
I mean you hear all kinds of stories about people getting murdered by internet rage related incidents, imagine how much easier it would be this way?
Wick3d on 7 Jul '10 said:
I feel Blizzard have let the success of WoW go to their heads, and ever since they merged with Activision they have become bastards. Activision have turned Blizzard Entertainment from a service catered towards gamers to a business which only strives for profit.
They told us the creation of "Activison Blizzard" was the beginning of a new era, well they seem to got that right.
They seem to be wanting to steal even more data from the very players who made them who they are today, therefore isolating their loyal fan base and turning towards the more casual end of the spectrum where their is more money; but they seem to have sold their souls during the transition.
There's no point whining, because the WoW players will not cancel their suscriptions therefore Blizzard will take their £9.99 per month and give them the finger and continue laughing all the way to the bank.
If you want them to actually stop and listen then its obvious what you have to do, convince 11.5 million people who are addicted to WoW to quit in the masses and watch how the giant tumbles down and begins to plead for forgiveness.
Then we will see who is in the driving seat again.
alan666 on 7 Jul '10 said:
why anyone would use there full name is beyond me, hopefully this will push WoW over the edge
Dajmin on 7 Jul '10 said:
It depends if you get the option to turn it off or not. You should always have the CHOICE about who you appear to be to the outside world. I keep my gaming and real identities separate, same as I keep my work and personal lives separate.
I bet this idea gets the drop really quickly when people start dropping from the forum like it's hot.
KippDynamite on 7 Jul '10 said:
Izo on 7 Jul '10 said:
People don't use their full names on the forum Blizzard are basically going to take their full names from their personal info as you have to use your name when paying for a subscription and such and display it on the forums when they post.
wwinterj on 7 Jul '10 said:
REAL NAME! On the interwebz! OMFGWTFBBQ!...
I have no problem with this and don't see why people care. Now if they was asked for naked pics of you then I'd be a bit worried.... only a bit mind.
Oneohfour on 7 Jul '10 said:
My real name, vital statistics and address details are all over the web, first person to knock on my door and say "Malanosh Mananori! Remember the sunwell!!" or whatever those fecking daft elves say gets a fiver and a bacon sarnie on me, unless the Mrs answers, then you get a kick in the spuds and a load of verbal.
r0zm4n on 8 Jul '10 said:
Taking bets here:
2/1 DAILY MAIL HEADLINE "BLIZZARD OF PEDO'S SET TO GANK 'ROLEPLAY' TWEENIES. WOW"
5/1 SUN HEADLINE "ONLINE 'CATACLYSM' FOR STRIPPED BARE YOUNGSTERS"
10/1 DAILY RECORD (SCOTLAND) "STICK IT UP YER FROZEN THRONE GAJIES!"
B_G_G on 8 Jul '10 said:
Given my lack of anything approaching skill its more:
Tim!
Breakfast of champions! Waaah.
GunstarHeroX on 8 Jul '10 said:
I don't really mind this. My real name is Gunstar J. Hero anyhow. Or at least it will be when the papers go through. Bloody red tape.
nb_nmare2 on 8 Jul '10 said:
I'm not quite sure I understand what's preventing anyone from giving a fake name on these new forums?
Bren on 8 Jul '10 said:
I would seriously doubt Blizzard can force you to publish you name on the forums. I am sure there will be an option to keep it hidden. Otherwise, I believe they are in breach of Data Protection Policy and are leaving themselves open to be sued if user info is misused as a result of this.
Signed
Max Power
only_777 on 8 Jul '10 said:
This ladies and gentleman is just another reason why FFXIV will be the future King of MMO's.
FFXIV comes out in September near to the time when Blizzard force this stupid idea onto their players.
They will leave WoW and find a new home in FFXIV.
B_G_G on 8 Jul '10 said:
Oh FFS. There are fanboys for MMOs now? Really? Why?
Because honestly, to people who don't play any MMO you're all spoddy wankers, whatever you play.
Leaving WoW for FFXIV is like being cured of herpes so you can have a happy life with HIV.
only_777 on 8 Jul '10 said:
And people that have never played and MMO (i.e you) but go on to talk about how s**t they are nothing more than a common troll.
Also having an opinion that one game will take another place as most popular in its genre is not what sane people would call a fanboy. It's called having an opinion, you know the things, what people normally share on forums.
If you don't like people voicing their opinions then what the f**k are you doing on and internet forum.
Ah I know, trolling.
B_G_G on 8 Jul '10 said:
Whatever, spoddy fanboy.
This thread was interesting because of the wider privacy implications, now it's boring because you turned it into "This is why WoW is rubbish and why a game I've never played (irony overload) will be far superior hahaha."
You're boring AND spoddy. Have a nice life as an elf.
Macrodot on 8 Jul '10 said:
You can't post without a WoW account.
Your forum name is populated automatically from your WoW subscriber account, some of us made these accounts 5 years ago and had no idea this would ever be a likely situation.
Changing your WoW account name requires you to change yr name by deed poll and submit the documents to Blizzard (to prevent account trading)
There is NO OPT OUT , other than not posting - this is Blizzard's definition of an opt out system, in fact its a put up or shut up system (literally)
Viewing the forums does not require a WoW account, so our real names are going onto public forums.
Blizz in game & telephone support direct you to the forums for tech issues, so to get tech support you must reveal your real name on a public forum.
Activision Blizzard has a done deal with Facebook to further integrate our WoW accounts with the CIA's favorite datamining site.
IN GAME - There is a flaw in the design of the Real ID system which,allows any addon to expose your real life name to anything or everyone; even if you have not marked those people as a Real ID friend.
And on a final note - can anybody here name a publically viewable internet forum that FORCES posters to use their real name in full?
This is pretty significant.
edit: they have received over 40,000 posts re this issue in 48 hrs on the US/EU boards, 90%+ against.
SunScramble on 8 Jul '10 said:
Actually, this isn't entirely true anymore.
You don't even have to post to have your real name put out there. Because of the way the ReadID system currently works in-game, since the changes to the friends system in the last patch, certain add-ons can automatically retrieve that information and broadcast it in-game without your permission.
JablesKage on 8 Jul '10 said:
WOW sux ass, so this guy got what he deserved in my eyes!!!
incrediblebulk on 9 Jul '10 said:
looks like wow is going out with arms flailing really. I played for 5 years and i recently stopped 5 months ago. Everything i read about the new changes coming up just make it look even worse and this real ID thing is a joke, most days i get emails in my inbox from hackers trying to get my details for my wow account and its the email address that isn't even connected to my wow account so putting someones real name on there wow profile is one step closer to getting hacked even easier. may not seem as important to people on other forums but wow you have something to lose if people can get all your details.
_Marty_ on 9 Jul '10 said:
Not sure, try this.
I know my real name is on this.
I got harrassed by a p**sed off husband once when I fooled around with his wife, and he got my email address from this site. Erk