Bye-bye trolls? Blizzard forums to use real names

[MNeagle]

NEW YORK – Activision Blizzard Inc.'s move to require people to use their real names if they want to post messages in online forums for games is the latest sign that online anonymity is falling out of favor with many companies.

The upcoming change has upset many gamers who prize anonymity and don't necessarily want their gamer personas associated with their real identities.

Blizzard, the maker of "World of Warcraft," said Tuesday that the new rule will go into effect later this month. It will apply first to forums about the highly anticipated "StarCraft II," out July 27; other games are to follow.

Blizzard hopes that making people use their real names will cut down on nasty behavior in the forums and create a more positive environment. Players will have the option — but not a requirement — to display the name of their main game character alongside their real name.

Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said Blizzard is the latest company to require real identities. But he added businesses have "a lot of freedom" in doing so.

Facebook, the world's most popular online social network, asks users to sign up with their real names. The company tries to delete fake profiles it comes across. A growing number of blogs and news sites are also abandoning anonymity. The Buffalo News said last month it will start requiring commenters on its website to give their real names and the towns they live in, just as they would do in a printed letter to the editor.

Online games are among the last truly anonymous frontiers. As such, Rotenberg called Blizzard's decision a "bit of a sad day" in the world of gaming.

"Part of the fun of the online gaming would was the sense that you could construct a character different form who you were in the real world," he said.

"World of Warcraft" has more than 11.5 million subscribers who pay monthly fees to play the game worldwide.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100707/ap_on_hi_te/us_tec_blizzard_real_name

[Carbon]

Any and all IT trends begin in gaming and porn... and trends in IT now go mainstream in shorter time frames on a geometric scale. This doesn't bode well considering the new 'Perfect Citizen' grab by .gov.

Here we are, on the absolute cusp of Orwell's '84 - in all its horrible, wretched splendor - and the masses haven't a clue. The gamers will accept this without so much as a murmur and it will spread throughout the net like wildfire.

Say goodbye to privacy - it's so last century.

[Grand Master Melon]

It won't be long before the moron who came up with this idea gets canned.

[dysgenic]

I agree, this is very significant.



Any and all IT trends begin in gaming and porn... and trends in IT now go mainstream in shorter time frames on a geometric scale. This doesn't bode well considering the new 'Perfect Citizen' grab by .gov.

Here we are, on the absolute cusp of Orwell's '84 - in all its horrible, wretched splendor - and the masses haven't a clue. The gamers will accept this without so much as a murmur and it will spread throughout the net like wildfire.

Say goodbye to privacy - it's so last century.

[Horn]

Carbon's got it right there, the trend used to be with small breakaway groups.

Now all's thats left is the international producers.

China, or someone needs to sell a bootleg version of MS Windows to overcome this sway. 8)

[BabushkaLady]

Here we are, on the absolute cusp of Orwell's '84 - in all its horrible, wretched splendor - and the masses haven't a clue. The gamers will accept this without so much as a murmur and it will spread throughout the net like wildfire.

Say goodbye to privacy - it's so last century.


I'm betting the gamers don't just accept this without a fight. I know a few very addicted War players. I also know a lot of people that know the basics of attaching your real name to online stuff. I'm thinking there will be backlash. They are paying to play, not paying for a "nice environment".

Privacy isn't dead yet, it just takes a lot more time and money to accomplish.

[wildcard]

Anonymity allows people to speak the truth without fear of reprisals. They are going to stifle any criticism of WoW. Sounds like another website I know that stifles discussion.

They want to sanitize the world. Well, the reality is, people are vicious and don't really like each other. I guess the next step is taking people out back and capping them in the head. That will at least get people to play pretend. Kind of like the way Saddam kept Iraq held together.

*without free discussion, there will be no growth or progress. Only stagnation.

Version 3 is great. Everyone loves version 3. If you don't like version 3 there is something wrong with you. If you don't like version 3 we will censor you. If we can not censor, you we will disappear you. Everyone loves version 3.

[TheNocturnalEgyptian]

I sent all of the vice presidents this short letter:


I want to protect my privacy. I don't need to provide a reason for this.

I will split my 15 year relationship with blizzard over Real-ID. Unfortunately, you must back down or I will stop using more than just the forums, I will vote with my wallet and stop buying all blizzard products for good. I refuse to be involved with the RealID in any way, shape, or form. No negotiations on this point.

Blizzard Products have brought me a lot of enjoyment over the last decade and a half, and while it's true that I was very much looking forward to several future releases, this is unfortunately my line in the sand.

Please change your mind, so that I can continue to support you,

Christopher

Blizzard Customer since 1995.

[EE_]

It won't be long before the moron who came up with this idea gets canned.


And here he is!
http://images.forbes.com/media/people/tearsheets/1/1126_main.jpg
Mr. Robert A. Kotick is President, Chief Executive Officer, Director of Activision Blizzard Inc. Mr. Kotick has been a director of Activision Blizzard and the company's Principal Executive Officer since February 1991 and was the company's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer from February 1991 until July 2008, when he became our President and Chief Executive Officer in connection with the Combination.

Yes, he is a Jew

[dysgenic]

Connect the dots:

China requires everyone that contributes to message forums to provide their real names.
In a recent interview concerning his 'internet kill switch' bill, Leiberman said that USA needs to have the same capabilities as China.
Leiberman is an occultist and is Jewish.
War of Warcraft is an occultic game.
The president of the company is jewish.

This is much more significant that it appears at first blush.

dys

[Horn]

Yes, he is a Jew


http://meaninglessguy.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/tick-graphic.jpg

[BabushkaLady]

Connect the dots


Did Coke lose money on New Coke? Customers hated it. Company backed down. Like I said, the Money (or lack of) is what will kill this . . .

[Carbon]

Here we are, on the absolute cusp of Orwell's '84 - in all its horrible, wretched splendor - and the masses haven't a clue. The gamers will accept this without so much as a murmur and it will spread throughout the net like wildfire.

Say goodbye to privacy - it's so last century.


I'm betting the gamers don't just accept this without a fight. I know a few very addicted War players. I also know a lot of people that know the basics of attaching your real name to online stuff. I'm thinking there will be backlash. They are paying to play, not paying for a "nice environment".

Privacy isn't dead yet, it just takes a lot more time and money to accomplish.


What fight? With their joysticks?

What are they gonna do? Quit playing Blizzardware? The stuff is so popular, they sell characters and gear for real FRN's. Some of those players have big FRN's invested in this virtual nothingness. Quit?

That's all they can do. They can't fight the corporate decision. And this is just the first and prolly one of the bigger companies to do this. Smaller fish will follow. Then forums and freemail accounts.

I'll bet ya the gamers will play on without a whimper and the trend continues unabated.

[wildcard]

Death by 1000 cuts continues on.

[Carbon]

Connect the dots


Did Coke lose money on New Coke? Customers hated it. Company backed down. Like I said, the Money (or lack of) is what will kill this . . .


The Coke decision didn't have the interests of No Such Agency behind it. You're missing the larger picture.

And, customer boycotts are also so last century... and they never worked anyhow.

Besides...


The Great Coca-Cola Conspiracy (http://www.obscure.org/~bob/stuff/coke.html)

The New Coke campaign of the early 80's was considered one of the biggest marketing failures ever. Well, it's not. It is in fact one of the most brilliant and immoral marketing strategies in history. This is all true, just look on any can of Coke.

In the 1980's when Bill Cosby declared that Coke would change its formula, it was a huge scam to save Coke money. You see, the Coca-Cola corporation never dreamed that people would like New Coke. What they wanted was to release a substitute Coke product with a noticeably different taste. They would keep this on the market until all of the old Coke was sold and people couldn't get it anymore.

Eventually, Coke co. claimed (quite rightly) that people missed old Coke and demanded its return. As a consequence, Coke vowed to rerelease the original Coke as Coke Classic. They never did. What they did do was bring back the original recipe, but with (significantly cheaper) corn syrup instead of sugar.

Everyone would have noticed if they had just made the switch directly. Coke would have been forced to return to the original, more expensive, product. But since Classic Coke tasted passably similar to old Coke, people just assumed it was the same, since no one had had any in so long.

So now you can only get original Coke in the US on Passover (look for Kosher for Passover Coke from about mid March, it will either say KP, or just look for Hebrew letters). Since corn is not kosher for Passover, they release the true original formula with sugar.

In Europe, Coke is still made with real sugar.

[wildcard]

This is aimed at kids and young adults mostly, already seeking a fantasy world to live in. They are the perfect starting place.

Of course only a racist wouldn't want to create a friendly hate-free online community. ::)

Hopefully, it'll shake a few more awake, but many more will walk right up the ramp into the slaughterhouse without a second thought.

[TPTB]

Leiberman is an occultist and is Jewish.

This is much more significant that it appears at first blush.

dys




Everyone knows Leiberman is Jewish, and I can't stand the slimy Fuck, but wth do you mean he's an occultist? Where's your evidence? What are you talking about?

[Skirnir]

That game is addicting, I pity the fools.

[Book]

NEW YORK – Activision Blizzard Inc.'s move to require people to use their real names if they want to post messages in online forums for games is the latest sign that online anonymity is falling out of favor with many companies.



http://cache4.asset-cache.net/xc/52586379.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=77BFBA49EF878921F7C3FC3F69D929FD85C0DE6F7C34D20F 6A0D91B0AE5163E23DC914E1B3ADA2F6F06BF04B24B4128C

They should require their Department of Homeland Security title and military rank too.

:)

[BabushkaLady]

Here's the Gamer's showing their displeasure . . . we'll see:

forum here (http://forums.battle.net/thread.html?topicId=25626109041&sid=3000&pageNo=1)

[BrewTech]

Here's the Gamer's showing their displeasure . . . we'll see:

forum here (http://forums.battle.net/thread.html?topicId=25626109041&sid=3000&pageNo=1)


Hey... can we make our forum look like that?? :P

[iOWNme]

WoW is 11.5 million people?


NO WONDER WE ARE FUCKED.



The most diabolical, satanic, intrusive and immoral agendas are always used in conjunction with games, entertainment, the young hip crowd, fashion and everything related to inculcating the masses.

Its amazing once you learn to see it, IT IS EVERYWHERE, and now your old view is gone forever. Whoever said 'Ignorance is bliss'.......

[Liquid]

WoW is 11.5 million people?


11.5 million heavily addicted people...pull the plug on WoW, it's a big thing.

Personally, I really feel sorry for these folks. Not because of the real name issue, but because of their attachment and addiction to fantasy. I work with a couple of folks that can't stop themselves playing these games.

Anything you can't say no to, you are it's slave, and it is your master.

[Carbon]

Here's the Gamer's showing their displeasure . . . we'll see:

forum here (http://forums.battle.net/thread.html?topicId=25626109041&sid=3000&pageNo=1)


You're under the misguided impression that customers/users make the rules. Affect the rules. Shape the rules.

They do not.

Owners make rules. Sysadmins make rules. Customers/users bleat about rules and then follow them or get tossed... nothing more. The same thing is happening on that forum. Bleating. It isn't gonna change a damn thing - my bet.

Case in point: the demise of GIM. The bleating is still going on today - it didn't/doesn't affect a damn thing. Nada.

[vacuum]

To be fair to them, its not about stifling criticism, they really did have a problem with people trolling. Like, during the weekend when no employees were monitoring, there'd be 500+ threads with titles like:

OMG IS EVERYONE HERE GAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?????????????????

Monday mornings must have sucked to come to work for the mods, lol.

Unfortunately, this is also a line the the sand for me, and I'm not buying any of their products. This and their control over battle.net makes their games not worth playing. I might have sent them an email, but even if they didn't do this, their locked down battle.net 2 is too over the top for me. It integrates facebook, doesn't have chatrooms, and other such nonsense.

[vacuum]

Also, Kotick is a real scumbag.

[Buddha]

I havn't played a Blizzard game in years, but I've always liked their products. I used to play Starcraft, Diablo 2, and Warcraft 3 alot, great games. Never got into WoW though I'm not paying monthly to play a game, and with 2 jobs and other things don't have the massive amounts of time to dedicate tot he game, which is basically a prerequisite.

This is a line in the sand however. One side of me, the dormant yet aleep side says that one should be accountable for what they say. Like vacuum said, the few times that I would be on the forum it was all BS, trolling, name calling, a huge thunderdome. I just wanted to improve my buildorders. The conscious me that is "awake" tells me that this is complete Orwellian BS. Sure it's just a Blizzard game, and if you don't want your privacy infringed like that then don't post on the forum. Just play the game. It is such a slippery slope however. If Blizzard will do this so openly, who is next? It's kinda like a shot heard around the world.