Warcraft RealID upcoming changes

[Kotchanski]

So my husband started ranting late last night after reading the latest changes to the new RealID feature of World of Warcraft and other Blizzard games.

It makes little to no difference to me, however given my membership to this forum, I thought I'd bring it up here and see what others outside of the game think about this move in general.

In short, blizzard implemented a new system some time ago which allows a user to log into any number of their games using one username/password combination, controlling them all from the same panel, and linking multiple accounts.

A week or so ago, step two of this plan was put in place, and a messenger style system was added in game. Members can now add each other to friends via email addresses and when accepted are granted the full list of that users characters on all servers/realms, can chat cross realms and essentially always remain in contact.

Last night, they announced step 3...

All posts on their official forums will be posted under your real name, first and second, as opposed to the usual choice of character names.

They claim this move is to cut down on forum trolling and the likes.

If you're reading this, you are a forum user. Granted this is not a gaming site, and is at least a little more personal in nature for some, but what would be your feelings if we were to suddenly announce that as of x date, all your posts will be made under your real name?

I know from experience that several here have suffered at the hands of stalkers to various degrees, and that isn't confined to adult sites. Warcraft has it's own set of unhinged members, and the advice and support offered by Blizzard has always been the same regardless of severity of the issue, or the evidence provided... "put them on ignore" They now move to provide these undesirables with your full names, taken from a pre-existing system, which relies on you being able to verify your name in the event of having to contact them for support.

I personally think this is a violation of privacy, with seemingly no "opt out" option being provided, I worry about those with children using the game, I worry about the small degree of women using the game who already come under a lot of harassment for simply possessing a pair of tits....

Your thoughts?

 

[luka82]

It was just a question of time when I`d find out his real name!:tongue:
I always win! Run, run but you cannot hide!

 

[Incocknito]

I wouldn't like to post my full name anywhere although I did have an account here that consisted of my first and second names :tongue:

I would just delete my account at the forum? Unless they don't allow you to do that. Even then maybe all the posts you'd made would still be there, with the username changed to your real name.

 

[Kotchanski]

They have confirmed that old posts won't be changed to reflect your new name, which is good I guess.

I can see the future:

Boss: Bob, I asked you to finish that report by Monday. It's Thursday now and it still isn't done.

Bob: Sorry boss, I was sick in bed for most of the weekend, and I've been working hard on it since then.

Boss: That's funny, I just searched your name and found a whole list of posts you managed to make on the WoW forums about the 3 day straight raiding weekend you attended. You're fired!

 

[D_Andreas Sukov]

Sounds very dodgy. I wouldnt be comfortable with it.

As long as they get your money, what do they care?

 

[HazelGod]

(Checks calendar, sees we're well past April)

Two observations:

First, this consolidated gaming platform cum social network idea is a blatant ripoff of Valve's Steam platform. I'm not saying Valve rulz and Blizzard is teh sux, because as a gamer I despised the Steam platform when it came out...and as an internet user, I don't really care for the creeping social network atmosphere that's insinuating itself into virtually every aspect of the online experience. And that includes this site. I think they're both shite, but one is original shite and the other is a shitty ripoff of that shite. However, from a business standpoint, what Valve created was brilliant, and they seem to have worked through a lot of the technical challenges.

To the more salient point, though, the idea of exchanging avatars or handles for real names is horrifyingly bad. As I'm sure many members here are already aware, there are some truly psychopathic personalities lurking behind those usernames and the ready availability of personal information on the internet makes it ridiculously easy for such people to harass others in ways ranging from the annoying to the outright criminal. IMO, there is nothing to be gained by "outing" people's real names...certainly nothing demonstrable, and nothing that could even come close to offsetting the damage potential of such a move.

If nothing else, this seems like a COPPA violation on its face, since Blizzard knows they have children playing their games. Bad idea all around, I say.

 

[vince]

I agree with sentiments expressed about privacy and the high chance that use of real names will lead to problems offline.

Furthermore, it just seems like a bad business move. I don't have a WoW account, but if I did, I'd be closing it down and looking for a different online experience.