REAL ID

Someone in another forum pointed out people could take your information to sell it Well Blizzard/Activision has our information already; I don't think this would affect anything like that, they could have been selling the information for years really (how would you know?), so could your local pizza joint you order from, or your cell phone provider, or your power company etc.

I do think they spend an incredible amount of time dealing with the forums and spam. By adding your real name (which of course could be fake anyway) there is a sense of responsibility on the poster. Also with things like facebook etc. they feel people are more comfortable with there name out there. So I understand why they are doing it but with that being said I’m not keen on having my name out there in a gaming forum so its likely I will choose not to post on there forums. That could change but my current thoughts anyway.
 
Blizzard/Activision states that usage of the forums is entirely optional except that they have required you to use the forums to post technical questions. I don't envy the moderators who have to wade through the tides of spam/flames/etc. that goes on there and, to be honest, I haven't posted there in quite some time.

Now, Battle.net accounts require a valid first and last name. They're associated with your name on your credit card. So, while I do use a gmail account (and I have three gmail accounts), I cannot use, say, Atavus Ubermoonkin for my named account simply because my credit card isn't Atavus Ubermoonkin... If I managed to get a credit card in that name, I'd be one rich lucky person...

I can change the name that you see on my Facebook page, but you cannot change the name on your Battle.net account. That alone has some very disturbing connotations.
 
Actually, to add grist to the mill, my cousin did in fact change his Battle.net name. You'd probably have to ask him for that information.
 
personally this needs to be optional and the fact is that they are breaking a lot of laws out there to do with children names being posted, in canada and the us there are laws for to protect the children. also blizzard has pulled there real names being used for the own safety, to me what they real are doing not only against the law but also they are trying to kill the forums use so they dont need so many people to mod the forums so they can cut staffing and increase the profit. they dont care if they lose 30% to each star craft or diabo or to star wars they still have 70% market since thye own 2 of them.

I doubt they care that this is the worst mistake they make and people are speaking up about it if they say we are making it optional noone would care.
 
I'm really disturbed by the direction Bliz is taking with the real ID system. If I choose to share my name, fine, but don't force me to show it to everyone without my consent.

I'm not thrilled with the direction they're taking the talent trees either, but I'm still listening to their ideas on that one.
 
rhysj said:
also blizzard has pulled there real names being used for the own safety
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That's been verified as an untrue rumor.

...they are trying to kill the forums use so they dont need so many people to mod the forums so they can cut staffing and increase the profit.
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Then they would just shut down the forums. They don't need to do some controversial change in order to do that, they own them.
 
Ambryana said:
If I choose to share my name, fine, but don't force me to show it to everyone without my consent.
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There are no plans to show your name without your consent. In fact, in the Forums 3.0, if you try to post the forum will pop up a window saying "Hey, do you realize that you will be sharing your real name?"

Yes, it does mean you've essentially been blocked from posting if you don't share your name, but nobody is holding a gun to your head and making you post, nor are they showing your name without you knowing it ahead of time.
 
how far is blizzard going to go tho, using real names can cause biggewr issuse including stalking and yeah it might be far fletched by cant say it wont happen, so I playt he game to play, I join the guild where I give my real name, but to be honest If I want to give people my real name outside of the guild and I want to post int he wow fourms thats my choice and if I want it to be my char name then I should have the option.
 
rhysj said:
personally this needs to be optional and the fact is that they are breaking a lot of laws out there to do with children names being posted, in canada and the us there are laws for to protect the children.
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/lurker wave :)

I just wanted to point out that accounts can only be registered in an adult's name. To open an account means to enter a legal contract by agreeing to the Terms of Use which legally only adults may do. If anyone has an account that was placed into a child's name, they can contact Blizzard's billing department to have that corrected.

On that note, if anyone here cares to Real ID friend me, send me a PM here :)
 
rhysj said:
I want to post int he wow fourms thats my choice
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That's actually where the big misconception lies. The WoW forums are owned by Blizzard, just like these forums are owned by the Christian Gamers Alliance.

It is your choice to post on the WoW forums and these forums, but if you don't follow the rules on either forum, you lose that choice.

Were you, here, to post a forum containing mostly profanity and a few sexual images, you would swiftly lose your option to post.


That being said, on a side note, I get the sense that Blizzard is having to do some pretty strong thinking on the whole "kids posting" thing. Even though Kagnus, above, is right, it is still an issue.
 
I thought I read somewhere that in parental controls you could block the account from posting on the forums (or will be able to with the new forums), so if your kid plays the game you can restrict their access so they can't post hence the name would never be an issue.

Really you don't NEED to post on there forums, I find I have followed the game fairly close and I think the last time I posted something there has to be at least a year ago, I find now I generally read sites like MMO-Champ and read just the blue posts there really, and If I want to say something to blizzard I can do a ticket in game, I can e-mail them or phone them.

So really I’ am so-so on the change, I personally don’t like having my real name tagged if I choose to post but at the same time right now the forums are horrible and I don’t even use them because of that. So it will be interesting to see if this helps and how much.

On a similar note, one thing blizzard has always done is keep the forum/game separate. So if you were acting up on the forums and being nasty you can get suspended from the forums. It has never affected you in game, there are people out who have caused so many issues they are banned from the forums permanently but still are in game. I personally think another way to clear/clean up the forums is your actions on the forums should affect your game access as well. So if I do some nasty posts on the forums I will find out I’ am suspended from the forums for a week but when I log into the game I would find I’m suspended from the game from a week as well. I think it would have a much greater affect.
 
viglundr said:
On a similar note, one thing blizzard has always done is keep the forum/game separate. So if you were acting up on the forums and being nasty you can get suspended from the forums. It has never affected you in game, there are people out who have caused so many issues they are banned from the forums permanently but still are in game. I personally think another way to clear/clean up the forums is your actions on the forums should affect your game access as well. So if I do some nasty posts on the forums I will find out I’ am suspended from the forums for a week but when I log into the game I would find I’m suspended from the game from a week as well. I think it would have a much greater affect.
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I very much agree. If someone is going to be a pain on the forums, chances are that they're the same people making Trade chat useless.

hmm. maybe Trade chat needs to use your Real ID...

j/k
 
Actually, there is one case where you are pretty much forced to post on the forums to get any action - Technical suggestions/issues.

As these are part of the forums as well.....out with you RL name.

Although in the same flavor as Dan's character name - I guess mine would be on the order of

XanKyphTierc VanBierXyl

Now...how do I get THAT on my credit card....
 
There is a webform you can use for technical issues and they accept technical issues by e-mail/phone as well. So your not forced to post on that forum, you can just e-mail them directly your issue, use the webform to send it in or call them.

(Our email address for PCs is support@blizzard.com or for Macintosh questions you can email macsupport@blizzard.com)
 
I personally don't see the issue here. Someone along this post has refuted every concern people have had. People under 18 (or 21, depending what the age is for legally being an adult in the USA) are not allowed to sign up anyways and there are alternate ways to get tech support other than the forums. Sounds to me like a non-issue.
 
well it dont matter if we like or not it was offically cancelled today

Originally Posted by Nethaera (Source)
Hello everyone,

I'd like to take some time to speak with all of you regarding our desire to make the Blizzard forums a better place for players to discuss our games. We've been constantly monitoring the feedback you've given us, as well as internally discussing your concerns about the use of real names on our forums. As a result of those discussions, we've decided at this time that real names will not be required for posting on official Blizzard forums.

It's important to note that we still remain committed to improving our forums. Our efforts are driven 100% by the desire to find ways to make our community areas more welcoming for players and encourage more constructive conversations about our games. We will still move forward with new forum features such as conversation threading, the ability to rate posts up or down, improved search functionality, and more. However, when we launch the new StarCraft II forums that include these new features, you will be posting by your StarCraft II Battle.net character name + character code, not your real name. The upgraded World of Warcraft forums with these new features will launch close to the release of Cataclysm, and also will not require your real name.

I want to make sure it's clear that our plans for the forums are completely separate from our plans for the optional in-game Real ID system now live with World of Warcraft and launching soon with StarCraft II. We believe that the powerful communications functionality enabled by Real ID, such as cross-game and cross-realm chat, make Battle.net a great place for players to stay connected to real-life friends and family while playing Blizzard games. And of course, you'll still be able to keep your relationships at the anonymous, character level if you so choose when you communicate with other players in game. Over time, we will continue to evolve Real ID on Battle.net to add new and exciting functionality within our games for players who decide to use the feature.

In closing, I want to point out that our connection with our community has always been and will always be extremely important to us. We strongly believe that Every Voice Matters, ( http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/company/about/mission.html ) and we feel fortunate to have a community that cares so passionately about our games. We will always appreciate the feedback and support of our players, which has been a key to Blizzard's success from the beginning.

Mike Morhaime
CEO & Cofounder
Blizzard Entertainment
 
Well Kudos to Blizzard, I was just so-so on it and I could have lived with it but that fact they listened to a very vocal minority (Even if 1 million people complained it would be less then 10%, weird to think of 1 million as an minority thou :p) and decided to change shows they listen to their customers still.
 
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