Blizzard online forums will use your real name.

[Scottdau]

Re: Blizzard online forums will use your real name.

I almost have my full name any ways. Dau is the first three letters of my last name and there is only two more letter after Dau. My last name in not real common and there are only about a handful of Scott Dau**.

[VanCitySportsGuy]

Re: Blizzard online forums will use your real name.

People could always make fake facebooks/twitters so I don't see how that works out.

That's true but most people are too lazy to create a fake one just to post on a message board.

[Trevelyan]

Re: Blizzard online forums will use your real name.

I think blizzard is going to end up regretting this in the long run, even though it is opt-in like I said, People won't think it through, and in about 6 months we'll be reading a story about how some guy tracked someone else down because of some WoW beef and beat him up or worse. Its only a matter of time.

[Bighoff]

Re: Blizzard online forums will use your real name.

Bad idea.

I present exhibit A.

It's a fat chick being gangster in front of a camera, not too worried.

[superjames1992]

Re: Blizzard online forums will use your real name.

My name is in my signature and my year of birth is in my username already.

[Aces15]

Re: Blizzard online forums will use your real name.

I feel like forums are a way of communicating with people who share relevant interests as you... but at the same time, interests you wouldn't necessarily talk about in person.

For example the infamous "Girl Help" threads all over the Neighborhood.

a) Guys like girls... and there's PLENTY of dudes on this site

b) You wouldn't want to really ask for help with women from someone that was close to you. Why not ask someone who can't judge you?

That's why I don't think an idea like this is helping anything, as there are much better solutions to having people responsible for what they say.

[MassNole]

Re: Blizzard online forums will use your real name.

Wait, am I missing something here? Was that a female?

Well it made reference to being a she, but truth is it was so fat it hasn't seen its genitals in years and probably doesn't know itself.

[ODogg]

Re: Blizzard online forums will use your real name.

I'm pretty sure it was the real life PAT from Saturday Night Live...LOL

[allBthere]

Re: Blizzard online forums will use your real name.

yeah my concern is people reading my posts that I don't want to...not anyone knowing who I am really.

People already losing jobs over facebook posts, what if they search my name and see some story about sex, booze, pron, and so on...or even extremely passionate posts about videogames.

I would just want to control who see's my stuff. For example I posted on FB that I got a job and mentioned the company name, and also updated my workplace..so I click on the bolded work place and the first thing I see is my post on my friends wall who has nothing to do with it and I can't remove it. So now when I post about work I'll either have to replace letters or not mention the name at all - THAT really bothers me.

[Trevelyan]

Re: Blizzard online forums will use your real name.

I think a better solution for blizzard, if they want to cut down on the trolling/flaming/etc, would be to just hire a bunch of mods to control their forums. If people start posting dumb crap, delete their post, and if a lot of people start getting into it, close the thread, and delete it a few days later, people will get the message eventually.

Blizzard only wants those forums up for game feedback anyway, they don't need or want people getting into anything else.

[KSUowls]

Re: Blizzard online forums will use your real name.

I like it, actually, LOVE the idea. People feel like they can say anything behind the guise of a username and therefore act out in manners in which they never would in real life. By doing something like this people are actually held ACCOUNTABLE **gasp** for the things they say and do.

This is what I don't understand...

Aside from the obvious invasion of privacy I want to know what logical explanation anyone has as to how this system will hold posters "accountable".

The only way that "accountability" really works is if people there are consequences. Simply having a person's name does not deliver any consequences. However, it does offer information for you to be tracked down and harassed which anyone should find creepy and potentially concerning.


edit -
For those saying you will have the option to follow this or not I don't know if that is true. My friend me an article which said this
"The first and most significant change is that in the near future, anyone posting or replying to a post on official Blizzard forums will be doing so using their Real ID — that is, their real-life first and last name — with the option to also display the name of their primary in-game character alongside it."

Sounds like you will have the option to display your character name but your RL name is going to be there regardless.

[Trevelyan]

Re: Blizzard online forums will use your real name.

Here is the quote from blizzard, take from it what you will:

"One important point which I don't believe has been relayed yet is that the switch to showing RealID on the forums will only happen with the new forum systems we're launching for StarCraft II shortly before its release, and a new forum system for World of Warcraft launching shortly before the release of Cataclysm.

All posts here on the current World of Warcraft forums, or any of our classic Battle.net forums, will remain as-is. They won't (and can't) automatically switch to showing a real first and last name.

All posts in the future on the new forum systems will be an opt-in choice and ample warning will be given that you're posting with your real first and last name."

[KSUowls]

Re: Blizzard online forums will use your real name.

Seems like they are trying to spin it to say that you are "opting in" to showing your RealID by posting on the new forums.

Though maybe it really is a simple option you can turn off...kind of defeats the purpose though so I doubt that is the case.

[CYST2000]

Re: Blizzard online forums will use your real name.

I think the conversations on here can be pretty easy going and adding names will only help people ease in their opinions in less erratic ways. Plus all those flamers will think twice before posting their comments, because I am a psycho and i git angerry reeeeeel fasssss! JK ;^)

[MC Fatigue]

Re: Blizzard online forums will use your real name.

I think the idea is stupid.

1.) They just need to make players use a single user name, instead of character names - and that username would link to show all the user's characters.

2.) Names aren't unique and don't identify most people. I can google my name and come up with hundreds of people who aren't me. It's not going to stop most people from being jerks.

3.) How would the OS do this? I'm not paying for this site, and you'd have to have some way to certify a person's name, otherwise they'd be just as fake as these usernames. You think people are going to enter a credit card that "won't be charged" for verifications purposes in order to use a sports video game forum? I know you said it's hypothetical, but it's just plain stupid too.

4.) Blizzard needs to just stop being lazy and monitor their forums and ban people's playing accounts for multiple infractions.

The entire idea is idiotic.