Blizzard Introduces BattleTag as Real ID Alternative

*ahem* in4b the fanboys. NO BUY IF ITS NOT ON STEAM....

having to have a 4digit code attached to my name just makes this lame. All they have to do is have me pick my handle, assign my player profile a 16 digit guid that's not displayed on my name but is associated with it, and then I can do anything on any blizzard game with one name and possibly even save my configs etc to a cloud storage system.

The RealID system didn't show your full name to all your friends, just the ones that you shared your B.net e-mail address with. You could still add in-game friends, but they couldn't see if you were signed into another Blizzard game - RealID friends can.

Been playing the Beta for D3 and it's extremely fun. Can't wait!

Actually the 4 digit code won't be displayed.

All the attention focus is on Origin now. I remember when Battlenet and Steam was an issue.
However i really want to play this game. I'm almost done with Skyrim, waiting for mass effect 3 to finish the epic fight

For Blizzard to have done this, Real ID must have been a failure or else Facebook would be opposing this vehemently. The question is will they let Real ID die like they should, I will they try to implement it in some other way.

How can you be before yourself? Steam fanboys are as bad. DRM lovers all.

NO BUY IF NO OFFLINE SOLO AND LAN.

See, not all fanboys are bad.

Actually, no buy fullstop if we're talking D3. It's like WoW minus MMO, free-look, complexity, with a smaller world and RL-money-for-functional-items. It has better graphics, but that's all.

woot I got my nickname, thanks Tom!

Just to point out, but Blizzard has not "killed off the Real ID system". From the FAQ link posted in the article:


"Do BattleTags replace Real ID? Can I create new Real ID friendships?

BattleTags are a new feature separate from Real ID. Real ID will continue to work as it always has, and you can continue to create Real ID friendships with people you know in real life."

And for half a second I thought they were saying you could use your Battletag as a "real ID" in real life.
"Sir, can I have your license, registration, and Battletag?"

i dont understand what was bad about real id... can someone tell me?

i mean seriously my name is kyle harder in real life, and im as much a prick to people online as i am in real life.

realistically, you cant find me if you are casual about it, but if you want you could search my name enough to find aliases attached to it, and honestly anyone can do this with enough work, and find out where i live... my information has been on the internet sense i was 10... are people really worried about others to the extent that their real name cant be used on a forum... realistically, id theft is about the only thing you should worry about, and most of that happens through dumpster diving and other things you have no control over.

Your post makes no sense. Unless you're trying to tell us all that you're the first fanboy to post....

Not sure why people's lives revolve around steam, but I'll stick to buying directly from Blizzard....

i wont not buy it from blizzard if i get it, but i would rather have it on steam, you know, keeping my collection in one place and all.

Yeah, on a disc, in my room...

No one has suggested they have killed of Real ID. But Real ID was done in partnership with Facebook. Facebook was making money off it. For Blizzard to implement a parallel service but using aliases has to mean Real ID has not been as successful as they wanted, in other words not being used by that many people, or Facebook would have vehemently opposed Blizzard creating competition to it.

And the fact is, if you know anything about Real ID you know Blizzard has always been hypocritical about the "it's for real life friends and family" argument. In the Blizzcon announcement they suggest using it with guildies, in the patch notes that introduced Real ID into the game they say to use it to "form friendships" inside the game. Now, forming a friendship means making a NEW friend. How do you form a friendship where one already exists? Not to mention the friends of friends feature was not optional when Real ID came out. Then they were going to force it's use on the forums. Is everyone who uses the WoW forums either real life friends or family? I don't think so.

So this entire Battle Tags has been done because it's a lot closer to what people really wanted.

This battletag may be good, i mean with it we can have multiple characters with the same name as they are linked to your 'battletag' which is 1 name, instead of having different names for every character WHICH I HATE!!!

It was never about ID theft. It was about using real names serves no purpose. It was about Blizzard being hypocritical about the whole "it's for real life friends and family" argument and them never using it.

Honestly, name just one thing where a real name is useful over an alias? There is none. Does your real life friends and family not already know who you are? They should. Not to mention, if you only use it for real life friends and family, that means only a very small portion of the community could ever make use of the service, so what was the point?

And several people during the whole initial debate on the subject gave out their real names too thinking because they couldn't find themselves on a Google search, that was the only way they could be found. Well, there are plenty of people search sites out there, free ones too. Several who gave out their real names being all cocky like you just were, ended up getting a call just minutes later from people saying "Hi, guess what, you can be found".

And if you play WoW you know there are a number of jerks who get angry, seriously angry, over nothing. It will only take one person being hurt over something game related for Blizzard to be in seriously legal trouble. So that goes back to the fact that there just serves no good purpose to using real names.

There was only ever one reason they used real names and that was because of their partnership with Facebook. Read any article even here on Tom's and you will see how Facebook is all about ending anonymity. And, if you read Blizzard's privacy policy, if you use Real ID, Blizzard can share your information with Facebook who then can turn around and sell it to marketers as they are not bound by Blizzard's agreements with their customers.

cant play it off line, whats the point of have a disc?




not cocky, just dont care...
most people who get angry in an online setting, are being made angry by a douche bag...

take everquest, in its peak, people would train your camp area to kill your group off and take it for themselves. its not funny just annoying, people generally don't get angry if you don't screw them over.

that said i could see one psycho killing a kid over loot they ninjad

but at the same time, its not hard to find people over aliases.

if the facebook crap was true... well its annoying, but its not that bad. i dont use facebook, and i hate it, but some people just take their not likening it to a retarded extent.

they sell my infromation and what i look at... o well, they are giving me how good of a free service in return? i dont like it but some people couldn't live without it anymore.

But you still don't answer the big question...what is the point of using real names? Name one benefit it offers. Your real life friends and family already know your name. And if it restricts peoples usage because of limiting to real life friends and family, then the service is gimped and not as useful as it could be.

And yes, it can be hard to find someone using an alias if that person does not give you any idea of where they are. Unless you use some tools to track IP addresses, and if that person does not use dynamic IP addressing through their ISP, it may be possible, but that's a lot more difficult. And if someone did find out that way, Blizzard could not be held responsible.

The fact is Battle Tags will provide infinitely more useful than Real ID, if it provides the same functionality such as grouping cross realm. This can actually bring a little bit of the sense of community that the game has lost since BC back to it.

well, take my little brother as an example, to strangers he acts like an angle, but around family he acts retarded and is the most unlikable person i have ever met, he is 14 and decided to pick his nose, put it all in his hand, and while im sitting watching tv, decided to throw it at me. i told you that, because its a common thing he does, its annoying, but common. online he is... well... worse to them than he is to us... but if his real name was online, im fairly confidant that he wouldn't be... well... the way he is. if you tell him you are going to hack him, he believes it, if someone knows his real name, he would think twice before doing the crap he does.

All your story does is prove my point. It's a limiting feature. It is also not an example of enhancing gameplay which is what a game feature is suppose to be. Since your brother won't want his real name known, he is less likely to use Real ID. For one thing, you and your family and his friends know how he is, so whether or not he uses an alias doesn't affect the interaction between him and thise he knows in real life.

My entire point was Real ID as implemented was never intended to help the player base, it was intended to be used as a tool between Activision Blizzard and their partner in it, Facebook. And your example does not disprove that point.

my point is that if real id was forced like they were planning, you might not have that one douchebag screaming every obscenity into a mic he can remember and who isn't griefing you.

I was referring to the 2nd title of this article "Blizzard has killed off the Real ID system for an Xbox LIVE-like BattleTag alias setup."

Quote:
"There was only ever one reason they used real names and that was because of their partnership with Facebook. Read any article even here on Tom's and you will see how Facebook is all about ending anonymity. And, if you read Blizzard's privacy policy, if you use Real ID, Blizzard can share your information with Facebook who then can turn around and sell it to marketers as they are not bound by Blizzard's agreements with their customers."
The Chinese govt want to end anonymous posting too. The shut down site that criticize the people in power.
Funny western government want to do the same thing too. Hold citizens who oppose them indefinitely without trail. Or shut down you web site. But they need to know who you are first. So there is great pressure to get end anonymous posting and surfing.

F off Acti-Blizzard, no LAN and your DRM is over the top. Kiss my bare arse.

If Battle Tags work just like Real ID, it will essentially kill off Real ID because who will use Real ID over Battle Tags? Now, with Blizzard that's a big if, but if Battel Tags offers the same functionality, including cross realm grouping on WoW, please, tell me what incentive anyone would have to continue using Real ID.

And please explain your logic behind that. You yourself gave out your real name. You don't think you can be found by it "realistically, you cant find me if you are casual about it" (your words). You think the griefer on game is going to suddenly be concerned about it. Sorry, but I think you have missed real life bullies posting Youtube videos in the past of them actually hurting other people. Jerks don't care.

And I have heard your argument from many people back when I was playing WoW. Please explain WHY having their real name exposed is suppose to deter someone from behaving badly? You yourself rule out real life consequences, so if they already don't fear an in game penalty, then no reason for them to fear anything.

Now are you saying that there should be real life consequences for someone acting badly? Should someone get beaten up? Fired from a job? Kicked out of school? All over a video game? And keep in mind, minors (anyone under 18), is not suppose to have a WoW account under their real name. It is suppose to be their parents. So how do you seperate John Doe from John Doe Jr.'s actions?

Sorry, you still have no given any point to Real ID. You have attempted a very poorly social engineering excuse, which can clearly be beaten back, but Blizzard's job isn't to be social police. If someone is acting badly in game, they don't need to expose someone's real name to do anything about it, their rules already allow them to ban that person. Their job is to creat a game and game features that customers want to use.

im also an adult, someone tells me they are going to hack me or some crap i laugh at them, no... in my experiance, the worst one are kids, tell a kid you are going to hack them, and even the ones that dont believe it fully still believe it.

you are really looking to much into it, lets say a cop is watching you, even if anything you do isnt illegal, you still think twice, that logic can be applied to the games, even if nothing you do will ever be punished, many people, kids being the worst offenders, will think twice

Except once again you fail to answer the question or address the point. A kid, who is a minor, is not suppose to have their own account. That means the name that shows under Real ID is not suppose to be their name. So there is no worry of someone watching over their shoulder. and if you only add people you know in real life, they know who you are anyway.

Sorry, but you are the one who is looking to much into it. You are the one trying to grasp at straws such as Blizzard making Real ID to stop cyber bullying by adding real names. My only point is one, that really isn't the point since Facebook is their partner in it, and two, if people follow the "it's for friends and family" argument, which apparently they have or else it would have been more of a success meaning Blizzard wouldn't need to introduce Battle Tags, then that's a moot point.