Blizzard Responds to Concerns Over Real ID

Real ID is already in WoW. It invaded awhile ago. Supposedly there will soon be a user generated mod that allows people to see other peoples real ID, their actual name, by clicking on their character; and the only way to stop that is to turn off the feature using parental controls.

Blizzard really opened a can of worms with this one.

And they are still going ahead with this idea?

Apparently people are frightened they might learn someone else has the same name as them.

I still don't see the big deal.

Here's what I don't get from these kinds of articles. You notice the brouhaha, you notice the jist of what Blizzard is implementing, but instead of doing any research into it whatsoever you parrot the line that the company is feeding you.

Yes, it's optional to use it on the forums. Do you know how? You can choose not to post.

So, there goes guild recruitment threads. No bug reports. No feedback on game systems. No customer service forum or technical support forum. No exchanging of stories. No ability to ask questions of other players, or theorycraft, or exchange ideas. We've had these things since 2004 and built a great community from it, regardless of what forum nay-sayers say about the volume of garbage.

In one day, Blizzard announced they were taking all of that away and destroying the community. Unless you want to use your real name for every post. It's not about cleaning up the forums -- it's about the profit they're going to make by sharing data with Facebook.

The whole story: get it before you write an article.

tin foil hat time! if people know my real name, ninjas will kill me in the night!
grow up, it is not a big deal. you tell people your name all the time in polite conversations, lets hope this forces people to act like a human.

I am Dick Cheney from now on.

This was really a punch in the gut from Blizzard. They used to reassure players that their personal information could be trusted to them. It was even against their TOS for the forums to post personally identifiable information.
I enjoyed my time in WoW, but I never thought privacy concerns would be what made me quit. They're definitely not going to stop at the forums with this RealID crap.

So says the man with a loneninja username.

I quit wow several years back.. Driven off by all the angry 13 year olds that play the game and flame endlessly (including in game) and going off on smoking pot all the time. I was pushing for this very thing a long time ago. Good for them, maybe the kids will behave when you can google search their name and send an email to their parents telling them that they failed.

As long as you don't troll and act like a retard you should be fine. Not sure what the problem is. I don't post in the forums so I don't care. Unless I need help or advice. Maybe looking for guild ... I personally think they should make it mandatory.

Yeah, and what of prospective employers that look you up and find you on WoW? Or who knows who or what else that could find you. Using full real names is a bad idea. At least give the option to hide the last name from showing. It would be much better for everyone that way.

I agree with Lan...if I am up playing WoW all night and call off sick, i dont want my employer finding out that I am in game. >

No actually, trolls won't give 2 ***** if you know where they live or what their name is, they are trolls... what thiss does however, is enable the trolls to do trolling outside of the forums. Ever have a troll call you after they camped your corpse? Now you will. Way to fail blizard, this is worse than the mpaa going after dead filesharing pirates

They are not making profit from Facebook for sharing data - maybe you need to get the whole story?

Otherwise, believe it or not, there are other forums on the internet where you can post with your anonymous name and find guild members. You can do bug reports natively from the game client and via email. Tech support is also done via email and phone. This may not be known to you because you don't seem to have the whole story, but not everyone that plays the games even uses Blizzard's forums. I'd say that, considering there are 20-30 million Blizzard accounts of one form or another considering the volume of game sales and WoW subscriptions, less than 10% use the forums...and the true number is probably far less than that.

Fact of the matter is, you're creating a worst case scenario - my advice is to wait and see how it works out before you start the Chicken Little routine.

I'd also like to add that Blizzard has been looking for ways to force you to use Real ID type of functionality since Facebook was just an infant. Nintendo and Blizzard both have been preaching about removing anonymity from their services since 2003, not for profit reasons, but for the community's benefit. If you're a hermit and are concerned about people knowing your real name, come up with a stage name and stick to it.

Actually, this will eliminate trolls much more effectively...ever had a person follow you in the street harassing you with absolutely no chance of any real consequences? I wonder why that is? And if it were possible to find your real name from the game client, why wouldn't they have already found your email address and mail bombed you? Why do you think there are people on here who don't really care either way? Are we just "stupid" for thinking this will work?

I'm looking for Amanda Hugginkiss. I hear she's hot.

No offense, but your faith in the Real ID system is pretty naive. There is no way that its implementation in WoW's forums is going to be a smooth ride. Just the fact that Facebook is involved behind the scenes should tell you something...

I'm sure that name will be deemed inappropriate, as it may be HIGHLY offensive to some people.....lol

I wouldn't say what I have is called faith so much as "who the f*** cares?". But on the topic of naivity, making such extreme judgements such as "no way" is just that. Facebook being involved the scenes is going to do what? Give away your credit card information? I've got nothing to hide, so I don't care...and if you do care, I'm really wondering why.

Actually - it seams to be quite the opposite: a hermit won't give a damn if people know his "real" name - no one cares about him anyway, so there won't be people to make a connection... or even a connection to make (if he avoids social networking sites).
The only people affected will be the social ones, those who lead "double lives" and wish for them to remain as far apart as they can be.
I still oppose the idea, but for purely aesthetical reasons.

A hermit doesn't want people to know he exists, so I would say the definition fits. But what you're saying is also true.

My picture of the type of person afraid to have his name associated with what he says on the internet is about the same as someone who is afraid to use iTunes because you need to give them your credit card information. I usually picture a guy living in a shack on a mountainside somewhere in Arizona.

Let me just say this: If you say things on the internet that you don't want associated with your person, don't post on Blizzard's forums. We won't miss you there, to say the least. Otherwise, if you're a gamer who wants to discuss the game, not the latest youtube video, you should have nothing to fear.

One thing that Blizzard should implement is that the forums be private and only accessible with a registered Blizzard account. This will eliminate Google searches and worries about employers.

Blizzard is not stupid, and they're gamers themselves, they're not trying to screw us all and they still want you to post on their forums. I'm getting the feeling that many people here have no idea what a living hell Blizzard's forums are.

And finally, if you haven't heard of email leaks from within Blizzard's games, I don't see how you'd worry about names leaking. And even then, what is it that so many are afraid of about people knowing your name? You have to realize that the odds of you having a unique name are far less than they are for the gaming handle you use, right? If you Googled me, you wouldn't know which of me I am.

Through a bug they've introduced in the latest patch (I assume it's a bug) people are reporting that installed mods have access to peoples RealID information if the person hasn't enabled parental controls.
Now.
As in, already live.
So a mouseover of a character in game will tell you their real name.

So who want's to take the blame for taking the WoW cash-cow out back and shooting it?

I really cant believe blizzard legal team is going to allow this. What happens when someone goes on a ganking spree, then posts on the forums about how fun that world pvp was.(or trash talk) little does he know he angered a psycho that uses his real name to track him down(maybe earlier in the week that player commented on something that would narrow down where he lives) and gank him in RL. I know i would try to sue blizzard for their involvement.

I don't think everyone is aware that in the US if you have ever paid taxes your name and address along with other info is posted online for everyone to see.

A blue poster trying to defend the realID system posted his real name, within 45 mins the players tracked him down got his address and the names of everyone that he lives with.

This just might be the worst idea blizzard has come up with, and that is really saying something if you follow blizzard and or Wow.

It's ridiculous comments like the one at the end of your post that really make it hard to even want to discuss the matter. The typical forum post response to any company's actions is always that they must not realize the risks or that the poster knows better...and always ends with how it's going to result in the company going bankrupt and their buildings catching on fire.

But anyway, if you ran around WoW with your actual name instead of a screen name, not even trying to hide it. Exactly what would you fear? I don't care if you're Tom Smith or whatever...it's no different than leaving your house and going outside, there are other people there and we all have names.

Are you serious? Your tax information is not posted online...working in Government Security, I can tell you that this is the most confidential non-military information we protect. Judging from that massive blunder, I can't imagine you really thought about how easy it is to find someone who works for Blizzard, considering their high profile. You do not even have to use your real name, is that clear?

And to top that off, isn't that the point? Accountability....

remember when blizzard and bioware where not run by Activision and EA and did not spend every waking second trying every possible way of "maximizing their revenue streams"?

Ok first i never said anything about your tax information being posted online, is that clear? (feel free to read that as many times as needed)

But yes i did misspeak, i said taxes i really meant property taxes. if you pay property taxes your name and address are posted online along with other information like you're behind on them etc.(not tax information) As for proof, although this kind of gives away the area i live in i feel its needed to prove my point. The website is www.accesskent.com. mouse over online services > property parcel look up. then enter a range of addresses and the city/township. I put in a range of addresses near by and i got peoples names, their addresses, how large their property is, the estimated value and taxable amount their property is, if they are delinquent on payments, the property's history on sales, and much more information.

Ya sure you can make a fake name for your Bnet account, but guess what you already have a bnet account if you are playing wow. this account is tied into your wow account so not only would you need to make a new bnet account, but also you would need to call blizzard have them untie the wow account to that bnet account to have a fake name. sounds like a lot of work, so instead most users will just not post on the wow forums which really overall hurts the community. Not as much theorycrafting will take place and trolls will still be everywhere. Not to mention id you use a false name and get hacked it slows their response time to help you since they have to figure out who you really are.

As far as the blue post goes i don't remember who the blue was who told everyone his name. but i assume it wasn't Michael Morhaime or Chris Metzen, it wasn't one of the famous blizzard employees that would be easily findable and in the spotlight. Sure finding the average joe would be harder for sure, but if you really wanted to find that person it wouldn't be impossible.

So. I beat someone in a game of starcraft. From that game they can find my IP, and they have my character name.
With my character name, they can potentially find my real name if I post on the forums.
With my IP, they can find out what city I live in.
Now it's quite possible to locate me physically.

If you don't think someone would go to these lengths over a game, go play xbox live for a few days. I've been DDoSed for 10 hours because I beat someone on Halo. I'm not a trash talker by any means - in the post game lobby, the kid just declared he had my IP and once his friend got online he'd put me offline. Lo and behold, about an hour later, thousands of packets start flooding my network, continuing for 10 hours. Over a game of Halo with no provocation other than the fact I beat him.

So now, if you want to be safe, you can't post on the forums. That means no bug reports, no help with quests, no clan recruitment, nothing.

If you're a woman or a child, going outside and walking around indeed is a bad idea, it has nothing to do with having a name, they simply don't have that choice that adult men do. You see, there are women and children who play WoW, and some people think that it's a good idea that these people are protected, and can enjoy a refuge of sorts from the real world, which, by the way, is filled with rape and molestation of all sorts. Keeping their identities concealed online protects them from this. It is a very real concern, and the way you're nonchalantly addressing this issue is fairly inappropriate.