Blizzard's RealID: Time for EA/Mythic/Bioware to strike ;)

[BlissMarie]

I listened to 'Jiminy Cricket'. I let my conscience be my guide.

That's excellent, Petra! I love it!
If I am not mistaken, he is the one who taught me how to spell encyclopedia.

"en-cy-clo-pe-dia! en-cyclo-pedia!"

BlissMarie

 

[Viper09]

So, WoW players should just not post on the official forums if they don't want their name out there. There be other forums to post in, such as here on stratics. A horrible idea I admit, but not the end of the world either.

 

[Babble]

LOL
Seems someone went ahead and looked up names and so on from Blizzard people
http://asnowstormbyanyothername.blogspot.com/

 

[Taylor]

LOL
Seems someone went ahead and looked up names and so on from Blizzard people
http://asnowstormbyanyothername.blogspot.com/

This is a perfect example of why I disapprove of RealID.

 

[Arcus]

Uhh... not really. For anyone with a degree in Network security, you know that having an email address/domain name is usually one social engineering step away from having all the information you could have.

Not to mention most people emails are linked to their real names in some way or form. A little digging can reveal a lot, and google is MUCH more powerful than most people realize.

Also, the only thing displayed is the persons name, you can choose to hide the other personal information such as location, and you don't even put your phone number into profiles for forums. At least, anyone with half a brain doesn't.

Uhh...and for the rest of the real working IT world without *chuckle* degrees in Network security *chuckle* that are aware that having an email address or domain name is NOT usually one step away from having all the info you need. I could give you 10 domains I have and 20 of my email address's and my real name and there is no way you would ever find a connection. Why?

Many of those email addresses I only access from virtual machines not running windows from hijacked open wifi hotspots. Some of my domains are paid with gift cards obtained with bogus info. Why? Just for the fact that I don't necessarily want any connection to me.

Only one or two of my email addresses have even been linked to any real identity. I do put my real info on facebook, linkedIn etc etc. I have a visible business persona that I have no problem with people knowing. Luckily, I work in an industry that does not frown upon computer minded people 'nerding out' after work and most of my colleagues are gamers as well. Wow addicts , PS3 and 360 fanbois . A great group of people. When I interview, its a question I ask as a matter of fact.

The reality is that some small minded people would look down on people who spend their free time in a virtual world and any employer who doesnt take the time to google an applicants name is not using all the tools in todays society to their advantage.

I cannot think of one single justifiable reason why Blizzard is doing this. From what I hear this is Activision doing what they said they woudl never do, creeping in to the Blizzard culture and infecting it. I love WoW but I have no interest in having anything to do with this stupidity. Even if they back down and decide not to do this, the fruit has already been spoiled a bit for me.

I still have EvE and UO.

 

[Beer_Cayse]

If you are going to do/say something at least have the courage to NOT hide behind the anonymity of the monitor. You wanna be an arse to me, do it to my face ... not behind your monitor nor behind my back. That is the point Archie ... and there have been instances of RL situations even with anonymity.

 

[Taylor]

I'm not concerned about you finding out my identity. I'm concerned about cyber criminals finding out my identity. I'm not sure in what decade you received your degree in network security, but in the modern era cyber crime (including identity theft, account hijacking, information brokerage, etc.) has become kind of prevelant. Wth do you think the U.S. just established USCYBERCOM? Sure as hell not because we have too much money.

 

[Arcus]

If you are going to do/say something at least have the courage to NOT hide behind the anonymity of the monitor. You wanna be an arse to me, do it to my face ... not behind your monitor nor behind my back. That is the point Archie ... and there have been instances of RL situations even with anonymity.

Ok, so someone ticks you off in the forums. They are not hiding behind any anonymity . You have their real name. Now you have the address. Now what? You going to go to their house and face them in real life? What exactly are you going to do with this information?

Unless you are willing to go to the extremes it changes nothing about the trolls. They will still troll. If you are willing to go to extremes, well that is one of the things people are worried about.

So do tell, what would you do knowing this persons name after they have totally flamebatied you and you are now steaming. What?

 

[Beer_Cayse]

Ummm, spankings ... er, never mind. But thats for the late, great Stratics OT.

If you were going to attack me publicly on the boards in such a way that you know I would be hurt, perhaps severely by allegations that you make and ... it was NOT tied to your gaming account ... it might be worth it, huh?

... assuming you had/have that twist in your character. <shrug>

Now if you know that your gaming account could be in jeopardy because of the same actions/words on a forum ... will you stop and think or would you simply say WTH and do it anyway?

Let's call this move on Blizzards part a deterrent. It won't stop things but it might tame them down. I'm betting that is the desired effect. A few accounts might get suspended/banned due to board behaviors but I bet things become better overall.

 

[Beer_Cayse]

Switchboard.com (or any of a hundred such places) ... reverse lookup of any of that information. Put your home phone number in Google as ###-###-#### then press SEARCH and pick any of the links presented. I bet you'll be surprised what you can find out without paying a dime.

The map to my house pinpoints my house phone only 1 block from the REAL location ... and that is Yahoo maps.

 

[Beer_Cayse]

Yeah but can you spell supercalifragilisticexpialidocious 3 times without stuttering?

I can't but I just hadda ask. <poke, poke, jab, jab> Luv ya anyway.

 

[lucitus]

Hehe cool, then you can do that with your forum mates:

[YOUTUBE]4l1_8wefR7c[/YOUTUBE]

 

[Arcus]

Now if you know that your gaming account could be in jeopardy because of the same actions/words on a forum ... will you stop and think or would you simply say WTH and do it anyway?

That argument makes no sense. Blizzard knows exactly what account is tied to every post. You have to log in with your game login to post. They can and do ban forum accounts and game account due to misconduct on the forums.

Think of the other issues, kid is posting showing parents account. Account that has been traded (yes, i know its not allowed) and now the original account holders name is being muddied all over the forums.

There are too many downsides.

If someone trolls someone else bad enough, said person can:

1) Ignore it like they always have , real name displayed or not
2) Find the person and do them harm.

There is no outcome to someone being trolled that is either any different than before the real names were displayed (#1) or that would be very bad for all parties , including blizzard(#2)

There is no benefit . All it takes is one nutjob to do something bad either physically or stealing someones identity to make this whole quelling of the trolls not worth it.

Think about this, you will NOT need a game account or be logged in to see the names.

 

[canary]

Blizzard's planning on implementing a system called RealID on their official fora. If one wants to post, they get a warning that they are about to post with their real names attached to that forum post, if they agree, their name is there for all to see, be it a troll post, a flame or a technical question regarding World of Warcraft...

Time to hit the internet with advertisements for UO, UO Marketing people...

People are claiming there have been about 38k posts on the WoW fora about the upcomming changes, and a lot of people are quitting the game over it. If you guys could pick up just a fraction of the people leaving, you'd be good for a few more years

"Value your privacy? Come play the world's oldest and most amazing MMO, Ultima Online!"

You know I'm right!

Well, one thing that WoW HAS that UO lacks is, you know, official forums.

We don't have RealID on our forums because UO HAS no forums.

UO Stratics is merely the 'unofficial official' place to go.

 

[Archie]

If you are going to do/say something at least have the courage to NOT hide behind the anonymity of the monitor. You wanna be an arse to me, do it to my face ... not behind your monitor nor behind my back. That is the point Archie ... and there have been instances of RL situations even with anonymity.

Why not do what the old UO forums did and tie posting rights to the game account? That would provide a similar level of accountability.

I don't disagree all that much with your sentiments about accountability and people hiding behind their keyboard. I just think the potential for harm to innocent people is a more important concern than Internet trolls, when they can be handled through time tested methods like moderation and game account bans.

 

[Arcus]

Its over. Blizzard listened to their customers and is no longer planning on displaying real names.

 

[Viper09]

Its over. Blizzard listened to their customers and is no longer planning on displaying real names.

Not surprised. Well, surprised it took this long, but still, lol.

n/m: http://www.wow.com/2010/07/09/mike-morhaime-real-names-will-not-be-required-on-official-forum/

 

[slaveone]

Pretty darn funny. Although i don't really think worrying about some smuck showing up at your house cause you trolled a post they made is anything to be worried about. If anything the smuck showing up at my doorstep because they didn't like a troll post i made towards them should be worried cause the second they tried something they'd be leaving in cuffs or a bodybag....

 

[Arcus]

P in cuffs or a bodybag....

Hell its Friday , why not both!

 

[Saunders]

And comment from The Noob:
http://www.thenoobcomic.com/index.php