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Blizzard/Activision Removing Anonymity From Game Forums

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Re: Blizzard/Activision Removing Anonymity From Game Forums

#31

Post by efsavage »

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…

You think that someone who would hold gaming against a candidate really cares how much time you played? When someone does a background check or even just googles you, they aren't looking for reasons to hire you, they're looking for reason NOT to hire you. If they see your 2000 word rant about how a class got nerfed, you think they are going to say "well he's just passionate about his hobby"?

I'm all for people being able to use their Real Names to establish a little credibility, but forcing someone to do so is going to make things worse, not better, because the trolls probably don't have much to lose, while normal, sane people that give forums like this their modicum of value, will be silent.

Re: Blizzard/Activision Removing Anonymity From Game Forums

#32

Post by aphistic »

This change is completely crazy. I don't understand the people who think that this is a good idea and I couldn't care less about the "gamer stigma" others are mentioning. People in my real life know I'm an avid gamer and so do (obviously) the people I play with. I'm typically a Blizzard apologist but in this case I just can't see the logic in this.

You can find anything about someone with their name and a little bit of time, especially when that name can be associated with a character name that could be that person's online handle on other sites.

Take this response in the official thread (http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=257123...) for example:

"Lol. This doesn't really effect me, as I know you simply can't track someone down by name alone.

Enjoy your tin foil hats everyone.

- "

Just as an exercise I spent 10 minutes searching knowing just this guy's online handle that he posted as and his real name that he willfully posted in his response. Within that time I now have his real full name, age, home address and i know his dad's high school and graduation year. Pretty scary.

I don't mind this RealID change in-game where I can give out my details to friends I trust but requiring that I post on my real name for any random person browsing the forums to see? Nuh uh.

There have also been responses saying "Oh, just don't post on the forums any more". This is not a good solution because A) I pay for forum access as part of my subscription fee (otherwise you wouldn't have to be a subscriber to post) and B) I'm an officer in a guild and doing recruitment would require me to post on the forums to recruit people, thus putting my real name out there.

If they want to cut down on forum trolls they should allow people to set a Battle.net account nickname and use that instead. It would still be a semi-anonymous name but would cut down on the trolling because people wouldn't be able to create a random character on any random server and use that to post on. Everything they say would be associated with that handle and through that with their online reputation in the community. This may not cut down on ALL the forum trolls (really, using real names won't cut down on 100% of it either) but at least it won't kill the community that's there.

Re: Blizzard/Activision Removing Anonymity From Game Forums

#33

Post by jasonlotito »

zach wrote: post #29
jasonlotito wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> If they were only doing this on the general-discussion areas with no gameplay implications, it would be a lot more reasonable.

That's exactly what they are doing. The forums aren't part of the game.

Re: Blizzard/Activision Removing Anonymity From Game Forums

#34

Post by rortian »

sounddust wrote: post #26
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…

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…

Please read before you get started with the FUD. It will be optional to display your main characters name.

EDIT:

To be clear

>so presumably their RealId will be as well when the new system is implemented.

Is false on its face from Blizzard's announced policy. This, of course, eliminates the last concern of the parent.

Re: Blizzard/Activision Removing Anonymity From Game Forums

#35

Post by rortian »

efsavage wrote: post #31
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…

You think that someone who would hold gaming against a candidate really cares how much time you played? When someone does a background check or even just googles you, they aren't looking for reasons to hire you, they're looking for reason NOT to hire you. If they see your 2000 word rant about how a class got nerfed, you think they are going to say "well he's just passionate about his hobby"? I'm all for people being…

>If they see your 2000 word rant about how a class got nerfed, you think they are going to say "well he's just passionate about his hobby"?

They will know that this will have their real name attached to it. If they don't have discretion before attaching their name to a long rant, I have no sympathy for them.

Re: Blizzard/Activision Removing Anonymity From Game Forums

#37

Post by prodigal_erik »

marknutter wrote: post #7

I think more sites should end anonymity. If you're too afraid own up to what you say online maybe you shouldn't be saying it in the first place. It'd be like an entire town full of people wearing ski masks- nobody would be held accountable for anything.

Anonymity's protection of nonconformists is the reason cities are the source of progress and villages are not. It is the only way you will ever hear What You Can't Say (http://paulgraham.com/say.html) from anyone who isn't willing to wreck their life over it. Any forum that requires a True Name is a waste of time for anything beyond small talk. It's not worth it to try to catch a few griefers (who will work around it anyway).

Re: Blizzard/Activision Removing Anonymity From Game Forums

#38

Post by marknutter »

hubb wrote: post #11
marknutter wrote: post #7

I think more sites should end anonymity. If you're too afraid own up to what you say online maybe you shouldn't be saying it in the first place. It'd be like an entire town full of people wearing ski masks- nobody would be held accountable for anything.

this doesn't make sense. the loss of privacy isn't worth a potential gain in the quality of discussion. look at any public group or announcement on facebook: lack of anonymity does not prevent people from being ignorant jackasses

I just think people would be a lot more thoughtful if they had to own up to what they said.

Re: Blizzard/Activision Removing Anonymity From Game Forums

#40

Post by marknutter »

prodigal_erik wrote: post #37
marknutter wrote: post #7

I think more sites should end anonymity. If you're too afraid own up to what you say online maybe you shouldn't be saying it in the first place. It'd be like an entire town full of people wearing ski masks- nobody would be held accountable for anything.

Anonymity's protection of nonconformists is the reason cities are the source of progress and villages are not. It is the only way you will ever hear What You Can't Say ( http://paulgraham.com/say.html ) from anyone who isn't willing to wreck their life over it. Any forum that requires a True Name is a waste of time for anything beyond small talk. It's not worth it to try to catch a few griefers (who will work around…

By your logic we should all be over at 4chan to discuss startups and tech news. Hacker News is a perfect example of the good that can come from non-anonymity and 4chan is the perfect example as to why total anonymity will always lead to cesspools.
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