Blizzard responds to Real ID backlash
And what a backlash it is
Blizzard announced on July 6 that anyone using their forums would have to use their Real ID, revealing their first and last name for everyone to see on the internet. To say this isn't sitting well with the Battle.net community is an understatement.
The initial forum thread that revealed this change has exploded to nearly 35,000 responses since its creation, with many users citing various privacy concerns ranging from stalking, phishing, job eligibility, and more. While Blizzard does point out that participating in forums is completely optional, this would mean anyone not doing so can't partake in important discussions such as tech support when they need help.
Blizzard's initial response on the matter doesn't offer much:
"[We] will be carefully monitoring how people are using the service ... Real ID is a new and different concept for Blizzard gamers -- and for us as well -- and our goal is to create a social gaming service that players want to use."
If the policy holds up, there's going to be masses of World of Warcraft, Diablo, and Starcraft players cancelling subscriptions and pre-orders in protest. All eyes are now on Blizzard to see what they do next.
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Heck, amending the EULA to state that repeated bans from the forums will start getting their game account suspended for certain lengths of time would clean up the forums VERY quickly.
And for stopping trolls or flaming, I agree with the suggestions above. One problem I see with this approach of using real names is that sometimes you can upset someone without flaming or harassing them. What happens when some nutjob gets pissed at some random comment you made and decides to look up Joe Random in Kansas?
I think everyone is being overly paranoid about this, with the stalking and whatnot. You're so special or enough of an asshole that someone wants to stalk you... the most likely of situations, I assure you. Not to say it wont happen but it's really unlikely that it will happen to you if you're not a dick on the forums. I do understand how you'd be paranoid that this is activision's doing on the other hand.
I am curious as to why people would think it would effect their job eligibility. Maybe I'm just not thinking about it in the right sense.
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