News Blizzard forums will require real names

I don't mind telling people my real name when I choose, I think it's on my profile too but I choose to have a username for some privacy.

If I did say something that was mis-interpreted and offended someone, what if that person was local to me, I could face some retaliation. Extreme case there but will cause a problem for some people one day

 

http://wowriot.gameriot.com/blogs/A...ot+Blog+Posts+-+Wowriot.Gameriot.com)&gr_i_ni

Enough said.

 

It sounds silly to me as there is no way to guarantee that the name used is your real name, so why try to enforce it? I have plenty of friends on facebook who use made up names, purely so only real friends can find them, one mate even signed his cat up (it had more friends them him unfortunatly!). Maybe using your credit card name could be a possiblity, (but for some reason mine is just P. no first name!), or you could be using someone elses (a parent for example)!

They could also try a name filter to allow only certain names, but that by definition is flawed! Years ago I registered for hotmail and it would not let me have 'Paddy' as my first name, stating that is was not a real name! Stupid microsoft!

So all in all it seems a pointless exercise to me!

 

Given the availability of peoples identities through social networks such as Facebook, I'm not entirely sure this is a good idea...

 

Are we in danger of having our previous posts on the wow forum show up with our real names now?

 

What the hell is wrong with the Justice system? Only 2 years and anger management? He won't even do the full 2? WOW.

 

LMAO.

 

This is a really bad idea.

 

I don't see an issue with having full names available to Blizzard.

But to the public? No freaking way. Especially not full first and last name.

I have a facebook, like most people. I also am one of the many people who do not post with a full last name, only with their first name and last initial, and I have the privacy settings turned pretty high. Will Blizzard offer that?

IMO, if they are targeting flaming, the best solution would be to tie each user to a CD-key. You put in your CD-key, and make a forum account. If your forum account gets banned, don't allow any new accounts to be created under that CD key. Simple as pie, and doesn't infringe upon privacy.

At the very least, if they want to require real names for forums, then they should not link forum names to battlenet games.

The age and maturity level of most Blizzard gamers is very low, worse than most games. For instance, last night, I was playing a DotA game, and got a First Blood kill around level 3. It wasn't a gank or anything spectacular, but I killed my opponent. He immediately tried to get me votekicked from the game, which almost worked because my teammates wanted my gold. I killed him a second time, and he tried to votekick me again, and when it didn't work he left, then all of his teammates left. The sad part is, stuff like that isn't uncommon. There is so much pent-up adolescent aggression in these games. I think, even neglecting the possibility of real life stalking, that there would be a huge potential for harrassment. If I beat somebody, or someone on my team got mad at me, and they knew my full name, they could harrass me via other mediums, or post slanderous information about me.

 

Couldn't agree more. For a role playing game it also takes a lot of the role play out when you're using your RL name plus all the security issues mentioned. I hate being able find my own email address via google let alone forum posts by my name.

 

Definitely not a good idea.

 

Awful, AWFUL idea

As Altron said, the only people I'd be happy with seeing my real name is the company I have the contract/subscription with and people I know well enough. I don't want some *** seeing my real name in a forum, be it guild advertisement or whatever

Forums are never going to be a fully positive/ideal part of the internet for everyone, same as you wouldn't have a smegging tea party within the mosh pit at a Nile gig, it's part of the territory

 

to create a gaming environment "that’s highly social, and which provides an ideal place for gamers to form long-lasting, meaningful relationships"

...and at last I might get myself a girlfriend! PMSL ...Thank you Blizzard!!!

 

If they run the forums like WoW, the fans will cry and Blizzard will give into all their damands.

 

I was thinking that, ive never played WOW but the user base is massive, so a big enough uproar and they'll probably have to change it.

 

Seems like an extremely intellectually lazy solution to the problem to me. If their forums are full of loonies, how about just banning them? If they keep coming back, how about this excellent idea:

At the very least, the banned user would have to go out and spend another £20 (or whatever) to start harassing people again. Multiple bans for those demented types with money to burn would surely make Blizzard happy!

There're all sorts of reasons why I'd never post in a forum under my real name, CardJoe's and FelixTech's examples were the ones that immediately sprang to mind:

If you have an argument with someone in a pub, (or wherever) you know exactly who to watch out for - if the argument is online, (and you don't necessarily know how badly you've upset them) you have no idea to look out for the guy who's walking up behind you - someone who's actually travelled three thousand miles and crossed seven countries to stab you in the back of the heart, all because you said elf warlocks were really just a bunch of effeminate girlies...

As for work, when asked, my hobbies include weightlifting, boxing, running, cinema, football, messing about with PC's & helping out with a charity. I wouldn't then want potential employers, (or current ones or colleagues) to find out I'm actually quite a nerd at heart, having in depth discussions about things like CPU clock speeds, magical potions, or which is the best sniper rifle for a clean headshot!

Conversations like that may go down well in some industries with like-minded people, but they certainly wouldn't in others...

 

Joe's right, dumb idea.

This says it all. What a joke.

 

i think its a good idea.

not great, but not bad either. actually, better than 'not bad'. its good.

it will, definitely, reduce the trolling and flame wars. So that's good.
it might, concurrently, create other new problems. like privacy issue debates. So that's not so good.


Kotaku has an option to login using your facebook account instead of creating a totally new credential. just an option. and even if somebody does use facebook, they have an option to use their real names, or not, or even create a fake facebook.

I think that's the best idea. The option is there to remove anonymity. And if you chose to do so, your posts carry (arguably) more weight into it due to your (seemingly) confident "background" which it supports.
Or you can chose to stay anonymous and... well... yeah.

just my 2c.

ps: i do log in kotaku using my facebook and it is my real name. the trick is to remove unecessary access to ur FB profile except by friends you approve.

 

Since Warcraft III, I have been steadily moving away from Blizzard Games beginning with WoW and with this it's yet another step away.

 

Research would suggest that what Blizzard is doing will actually improve the situation on the forums. There will be less abuse and a more positive environment.

Or maybe you are just misinformed and basing your arguments on assumptions rather than hard evidence...

Either way this move from Blizzard is a very good idea and I challenge any of you to find a piece of research which suggests that a nonymous online environment leads to a more aggressive environment....

Point being most of you don't know what you're talking about and the suggestion that using an alias increases your anonymity is a fallacy as it often isn't difficult to link an alias to an individual or even an address.