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Blizzard/Activision Removing Anonymity From Game Forums

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Re: Blizzard/Activision Removing Anonymity From Game Forums

#21

Post by jasonlotito »

robryan wrote: post #9
pdxmarcos wrote: post #2

This is probably the most ridiculous change ever made by a gaming company. The negative stigma associated with being a gamer and even more so being a wow player is a terrible thing to have when looking for a professional job.

I wouldn't want to work for any company that would discriminate against me for my gaming habits in my own time.

So what your saying is:

The negative stigma associated with being a company that thinks poorly of gamers and even more so of wow players is a terrible thing to have when looking for a professional employee.

=)

Re: Blizzard/Activision Removing Anonymity From Game Forums

#22

Post by jasonlotito »

zach wrote: post #18

This would basically close the WoW forums, which actually serve an important gameplay purpose. Hilariously bad idea. Blizzard doesn't always figure things out the first time, but you can probably trust that this will be worked out. Sure, anonymity plus audience, I know. There are a lot of forums where anonymity is pointless, but when we're talking about a ROLE PLAYING game, things are a lot different.

Have you ever seen the WoW forums? The amount of flaming, trolling, and hate spewed filth that gets dragged across there is not worth it.

Too many people avoid the forums for good reasons.

Re: Blizzard/Activision Removing Anonymity From Game Forums

#23

Post by [deleted] »

oneplusone wrote: post #5
pdxmarcos wrote: post #2

This is probably the most ridiculous change ever made by a gaming company. The negative stigma associated with being a gamer and even more so being a wow player is a terrible thing to have when looking for a professional job.

Perhaps, but I would expect that when the real names are shown people will start posting higher quality message and treat their fellow posters with more respect. I have been making my real name accessible on a lot of websites and I have never had a problem with people harassing me. In fact, I think it increases the quality of my interactions on average.

[deleted]

Re: Blizzard/Activision Removing Anonymity From Game Forums

#25

Post by rortian »

gte910h wrote: post #20
rortian wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is crazy over the top. They are not releasing game time played for every person. They are getting rid of anonymous commenting on their forums. I think it is a change for the better. If someone is a troll and/or exhibits anti-social behavior online should it effect their profession careers? I'm cool with it. If people have to think twice about being obnoxious, life just might be better. Don't forget that…

I know it's not. My name is unfortunately common enough it's hard for me get it on every website. My prism account is never taken. Additionally, I think you'll find I'm acutely aware of how non-anonymous my posts are, and have always been relatively tame in my posting history on all sights. It's not the acting out that will effect the professional careers of the people. It's the fact they have the hobby at all which…

Yeah, but you're still not acknowledging that they are making forum posting non-anonymous not game playing.

Second part of the question totally varies. I'm in agreement with you that the first is probably more attractive. But, there are millions of game players out there. Hard to think that all of them self-hate.

Re: Blizzard/Activision Removing Anonymity From Game Forums

#26

Post by sounddust »

rortian wrote: post #15
gte910h wrote: post #10

I don't think gaming company employees get that gaming is stigmatized by non-gamers, especially time consuming forms like MMOs. It isn't stigmatized by them. Friends of mine who play one of the Blizzard games (World of Warcraft) and work at a (non-MMO, console based) game company don't understand that everyone else views gaming, especially PC gaming, as a non-legitimate hobby and a questionable mark against you on a…

I think this is crazy over the top. They are not releasing game time played for every person. They are getting rid of anonymous commenting on their forums. I think it is a change for the better. If someone is a troll and/or exhibits anti-social behavior online should it effect their profession careers? I'm cool with it. If people have to think twice about being obnoxious, life just might be better. Don't forget that…

For every Warcraft 3 player, a profile¹ is created (that you can't opt out of) which lists every game the player has ever played, including timestamps and game lengths. The forum posters are already linked to these pages, so presumably their RealId will be as well when the new system is implemented. This means that if you post in the forums once (even for a technical support issue), your real name will be associated with your game history.

[1] example: http://classic.battle.net/war3/ladder/w3xp-player-logged-gam...

Re: Blizzard/Activision Removing Anonymity From Game Forums

#27

Post by gte910h »

robryan wrote: post #9
pdxmarcos wrote: post #2

This is probably the most ridiculous change ever made by a gaming company. The negative stigma associated with being a gamer and even more so being a wow player is a terrible thing to have when looking for a professional job.

I wouldn't want to work for any company that would discriminate against me for my gaming habits in my own time.

You say that now. Wait till you're out of work for 6 months.

This company is hurting their user base in an effort to not have to do what every other forum on the internet does: Police the trolls.

I'd thought about buying one of their games this Summer (Starcraft II) to play with some friends, but I'd be hesitant to get the "brand" myself after this change

Re: Blizzard/Activision Removing Anonymity From Game Forums

#28

Post by Gormo »

Perhaps Blizzard will successfully improve the quality of their message boards by suppressing anonymity. Or perhaps participants will start considering the impact to their reputation in every other aspect of life each time they post, and undermine the vitality and uniqueness of this particular community.

The latter would be especially ironic considering that the forums in question pertain to an escapist fantasy game in which people role-play as fictional characters.

Anonymous online forums can be found across the full spectrum of discussion quality - HN and 4chan are at polar extremes - so the real root cause of poor-quality discourse is something other than anonymity.

Instead of raising the stakes of participating in their forums, perhaps Blizzard should identify the internal cultural factors of the community that encourage disruptive and inane posts, and work to remedy them more even-handedly.

Re: Blizzard/Activision Removing Anonymity From Game Forums

#29

Post by zach »

jasonlotito wrote: post #22
zach wrote: post #18

This would basically close the WoW forums, which actually serve an important gameplay purpose. Hilariously bad idea. Blizzard doesn't always figure things out the first time, but you can probably trust that this will be worked out. Sure, anonymity plus audience, I know. There are a lot of forums where anonymity is pointless, but when we're talking about a ROLE PLAYING game, things are a lot different.

Have you ever seen the WoW forums? The amount of flaming, trolling, and hate spewed filth that gets dragged across there is not worth it. Too many people avoid the forums for good reasons.

Yeah, and Barrens chat or the trade channel on a weekend night are pretty awful as well. But are they going to get RealID'd too?

If they were only doing this on the general-discussion areas with no gameplay implications, it would be a lot more reasonable. To think you couldn't post on the forum for your character's own server under the character's name is silly.

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