B.Net Forums moving to RealID only...goodbye privacy?

Neirai the Forgiven said:
Trust me, I agree and sympathize with your last name issue; I'd be careful if I were in your shoes myself. My arguments are not here to convince you, Tek, just to state that it's not the huge evil move that some people, like RyanB, seem to think it is :)
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In an online culture that shows signs of shifting from public display to private communication, it's a move in the wrong direction. I don't think RyanB was saying the move was "evil," but rather that it was motivated by profit. To be quite frank, if there isn't a profit motive, then their refusal to heed protests of a large segment of the fan community is, put plainly, a very stupid move. If profit isn't the motive, then the risk-reward analysis just doesn't play out in favor of stubbornly sticking to a system that (evidence suggests) most people hate.

There really are only two possible motives: Profit or stupidity. I have looked at the situation from a number of angles, tried to give one of my favorite game development studios the benefit of the doubt, and can not find a third possible motive.

I'm not suggesting that a profit motive is in and of itself a bad thing. But let's dispense with all the, "We're trying to prevent trolling" rot. We're not buying it. A unified user ID (something other than a person's real name) would greatly reduce trolling without posing privacy and security hazards.
 
Well, once again, I don't know that it's correct to say that Blizzard is not heeding their customer's protests. They simply haven't moved forward since the initial release.

Some of the customer's protests are very valid; others are white noise.

When I look at the 1900+ pages of posting, I see that the vast majority of noise is actually coming from trolls. Which isn't to say that there aren't real issues at stake here, but Blizzard is going to have to read 1300 pages of trolls screaming in pain to get at the 600 pages of real protests, which center around probably about 10-20 real issues.

I do agree that a consolidated ID is probably better than a persons name, except that I'd like to know how you would give a consolidated ID without 1) compromising identity or 2) allowing anonymity to remain at its current levels.
 
One of the posts in the almost 3000 page thread...


One way we can all vote NOW is to disable Real ID via the parental controls. Encourage your non-forum friends to do the same.

It's not obvious, but if you:

*log into battle.net
*click Parental Controls
*Click no if you have never set up parental controls, otherwise yes
*If you clicked no, enter your batte.net email address for BOTH the child and parent fields
* Wait for the email

Real ID will be turned off automatically, but I turned it on and then off again just to make sure :)

Now the script that exposes your name in game no longer functions.

**** If we all disable Real ID now, they can see this in their database that people don't want this stuff ****

Just a thought.....
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I think "evil" is a strong word, but I will go on record and say I think this is kind of evil.

Now, I'm pretty sure everyone knows how I feel about Activision. The way they bite the hand that feeds them to milk extra profits gets on my nerves as it is, but this is a different thing entirely. It's one thing to make a game not as good by romoving dedicated servers (read: user mods and fair game play) in the sake of profit. It's another thing entirely to expose somebody (or their family) to potential harm for the sake of milking a few bucks, while being completely unnecessary for their stated reasons.

For the people who say, "this isn't a big deal", I say: why in the world would anyone care what you think?

Now what I mean by that is not that your opinion is wrong or invalid. What I mean is this: it doesn't matter whether you are unaffected (which is arguable), what matters is how many people are affected. Saying "realid isn't a big deal" because you aren't personally affected or don't mind is like me saying, "eh, unemployment in this country isn't a big deal" because I've been blessed enough to keep a job. Obviously a lot of people DO mind, because I refuse to believe that "most" of 3,000+ pages is "trolling", or that such a statement is even verifiable.

So are people really affected or are they just throwing a fuss? Well, we could sit here and argue about it, or we could look at the current culture of cyber-bullying, data-mining, exposure of privacy, etc that has gone on in just the past few years and say: yes, this is cause for concern.
 
There are valid concerns about the change however Blizzard/Activision is only going to have this going forward; they are not changing any of the old forums/posts. So really it gives everyone a choice in it.

If it doesn't bug you/affect you or if you’re happy with it you carry on as normal.

If you think they have really interfered with your privacy and personal rights then let them know. If they stick to the choice they made (It’s not a quick random decision they made to do this, they must have been making the new forums with this in mind for awhile) then choose not to play wow/SC2.

In the end there just games and a person will get by just fine without them. It is their company and they do get a majority say in what they do. They are letting everyone know in advance what they are doing which is good, and if the majority decides its something they are really against and quit then Blizzard/Activision will have to deal with the financial repercussions of that.

Just remember it’s not a primary service we all require, it’s not the grocery stone, it’s not the power company, it’s not your employer (ok well for a small few it is :) ) it’s a game and you have the ultimate choice on if you want to be involved with it, not Blizzard.
 
XionTawa said:
Interesting: http://www.incgamers.com/News/23877...lly?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
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A rumour with a very unreliable source claims Blizzard 'big creative players' are against the new Real ID name revealing on Blizzard's forums.
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It would not surprise me at all if this were true.

Fans have been speculating for a while now that Activision has adopted a more "hands on" approach with Blizzard. A hare-brained attempt to monetize Battle.net by turning it into a Facebook In Space (or, for WoW players, in Azeroth) smacks of Activision's meddling touch, not Blizzard's. At least, that's what I'd like to believe.
 
Eh, maybe enough people will get angry, leave to start a new studio, and then in 4-5 years we'll finally have that "WoW-killer".
 
RyanB said:
Eh, maybe enough people will get angry, leave to start a new studio, and then in 4-5 years we'll finally have that "WoW-killer".
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Fourteenth time's the charm, right?
 
XionTawa said:
Update: http://www.wow.com/2010/07/09/mike-morhaime-real-names-will-not-be-required-on-official-forum/
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Blizzard: 0. Internet: 1.
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.
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Source: Forum Real ID Integration Retracted
 
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I find the overall discussion of internet privacy utterly fascinating and really am of two separate minds on the matter.

On the one hand, I think things like Blizzard's attempt at RealID integration is a great thing (to the point I'll probably be using it). I see the internet as an incredibly social activity, where someone's fortune can rise and fall based on activities therein... But only if they are able to build an identity around themselves. For some (like Tek), they build it around pseudonyms carefully hiding their real selves behind the mask of anonymity, while others jump all-in and use their real self, with all the knowledge and expertise (job, location, status, ect) to make their online life just another extension of themselves.

On the other hand, revealing one's true identity to the internet makes it much easier for someone to steal that identity, or find out much more than is let on via social profiling/engineering. This can be very detrimental to that person, and they have to keep a much closer eye on just what information is out there about them than someone who uses a pseudonym all the time, as well as be willing to do damage control if things go wrong.
 
Odale said:
I hope they keep RealID in the games...

I like the service.
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They will.

The change was reversed not because of the huge public outcry, but because of specific public protests -- those, like RiverTiger and Tek7, with real, complex issues.


P.S., Kotick doesn't run Blizzard. Morheim still does.
 
Neirai the Forgiven said:
P.S., Kotick doesn't run Blizzard. Morheim still does.
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I sincerely hope you're right. I want to believe you're right.

Elader Arkon said:
For some (like Tek), they build it around pseudonyms carefully hiding their real selves behind the mask of anonymity
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The irony is that I'm probably more careful how I act when using the Isaiah "Tek7" Jones alias than even when I use my real name. I'm acting as the President of two online organizations that represent Christ in a larger community generally hostile to Christianity. That responsibility has caused me to hold my tongue or carefully shape my words on countless occasions.

As for the notion of "hiding their real selves": This is really me. A more careful and more responsible me, perhaps, but still very much me. I could argue the case that my passions shine through my Tek7 alias more clearly because I don't have to be concerned whether founding and leading a Christian gaming group would improve or damage how a potential employer views me.

Rest assured, Isaiah "Tek7" Jones is a pseudonym--not a persona. I've even gone so far as to tell several community members who have met me in person that Tek is my "other first name." It's not an idle claim.

I can only speak for myself and I understand my case is probably as far removed from average as one can get. But when I post as Isaiah "Tek7" Jones, there is a persistent voice in the back of my head reminding me that I represent the Christian Gamers Alliance, Tribe of Judah, and, most importantly, Christ. I don't need a Real ID to keep me in line; I have a reputation spanning more than 11 years to do that already.
 
Glad to hear this is off the table, but I am also left sort of puzzled. Regardless of why they decided to step down (volume vs. specific situations), isn't it exactly the response they would have expected? Why go into something expecting outcry, then back down because of it? Maybe they were simply testing the waters, or maybe the employee response in Blizzard was too great to ignore; I guess we'll really never know.
 
Tek7 said:
...I'm acting as the President of two online organizations that represent Christ in a larger community generally hostile to Christianity....
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I think it is ironic [and true] that the very hostility that makes you want to use a pseudonym stems from the overabundance of anonymity in gaming.

Very ironic indeed.
 
Odale said:
I think it is ironic [and true] that the very hostility that makes you want to use a pseudonym stems from the overabundance of anonymity in gaming.
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Agreed.

On a related note, I still haven't heard back from Blizzard on my request to change my name on my Battle.net account to Isaiah Jones.
 
The irony is our own terms of service forbids using a false name. I guess we could assume Blizzard would appreciate the same.

TOJ Terms - Members will not impersonate any other person or communicate under a false name that you are not or have not been previously registered as, entitled to use or authorized to use. Members will truthfully represent their identity as themselves both past and present. All members are to have their own accounts and not share it with another person.
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