Blizzard Backs Down on Real Names in Forums

[Regulas]

Still not buying the no LAN supported SC2 in 3 parts.

 

[doorspawn]

To start with I have to say it is good to see the company finally making their first good decision since WoW launched - even if it is only a repeal of their prior bad decision.

I think the problem with Blizzard's forums is simply poor design and poor quality moderation.

There are many sites with techniques to combat spam and trolling - primarily user moderation and quality captchas. (Apologies if they have added these since I left).

Their moderators, back when I used to care (pre no LAN), didn't moderate very often, couldn't tell legit posts from spam and banned people for simply criticizing Blizzard (within the ToS).
They obviously thought that spending a few thousand dollars paying for enough mods to moderate the forums of their multi billion dollar products was too much.

I do hope this acting on their user's desires is a sign of good things to come, such as removal of DRM, addition of LAN, etc.
However, until that day, no SC2 for me.

 

[NuclearShadow]

What really disturbs me about this whole thing is the fact that they clearly either didn't think it out or actually wanted to bring fear of safety to those who use the boards.

When the forum mod posted his real name it didn't take long to find him and of course they deleted the whole thing afterward. But isn't this what Blizzard was actually trying to do in the first place?

For example lets say a person with the name Timothy Mercer went on their forum with his real name and trolled and said some very awful things. How does him doing it with his real name matter any? What is the difference than a nickname? The only difference I see is that people can look him up and possibly find him and then harass him in real life or even worse bring physical harm to him. This is also assuming that those who are angry and going on the witch hunt actually find the right person and don't target someone with the same name.

Being anonymous at-least to other users is important for safety reasons.
I am sure everyone eventually offends someone on the internet even if its unintentionally. With how emotional and crazy some people can get
even over small things people can be seriously harmed by making their personal information public.

I want to end this with a real life story what I am about to share is 100% true. Back when the internet was generally new to the public and much fewer people used it I had a friend who posted on newsgroups he began to befriend someone online and found out they were rather close in location. (about a state away) They began to talk about religion in a mature and polite manner where my friend mentioned he was a atheist.
Just because of that and because my friend gave his real name and general location he was tracked down and this was before being able to simply do a Google search. His "friend" showed up as his door one day and beat him brutally with a baseball bat to where he had to be hospitalized and suffered severe injuries.

Think twice before posting personal information its not hard to find you and its not hard to anger someone even if you did nothing wrong.

 

[balister]

[citation][nom]pojih[/nom]You know Activision owns blizzard right?
[/citation]

No, Vivendi own Blizzard (and Activision). Vivendi merged the two subcompanies together into a single entity (although Blizzard does have a little autonomy from Activision, part of the deal that went into the merger as Vivendi was frightened it could kill the Blizzard cash cow).

 

[LORD_ORION]

Reading that doesn't look like they backed down at all... they simply tied all features of battle net to RealID. You don't use RealID, you don't get anything out of Bnet.

Obfuscated BS.

Also, I don't think this is Blizzard's doing, it is Activision behind the scenes.

 

[clivene09]

[citation][nom]LORD_ORION[/nom]I don't think this is Blizzard's doing, it is Activision behind the scenes.[/citation]

That is my feeling on the matter. Before Activision got merged with Bliz, Bliz was fairly vanilla with things. Games were straight up $50, and expansions were $30-$40. Even the $15 a month sub fee for WoW was no different that other top MMORPGs. Since Act came into the picture, all kinds of al a carte (sic?) stuff has been added to WoW, and SCII is going to be $60 per faction pack, not to mention the charging for services that used to be free in the SC WCIII days (tourneys).

I was really looking forward to SCII, even was the main reason I built a new PC, but now I am not sure I want to get involved with the game, as I don't want to show Act/Bliz that they can charge me whatever they want to for their games.

 

[zetareticuli36]

[citation][nom]zachary k[/nom]well, they listen to the customers alright, too bad paranoid idiots are louder then people with more than half a mind. bad move blizz, i was looking forward to this.[/citation]

I demand that you post under your real name here immediately, or I will be forced to call you a hypocrite! ;D

 

[jsm6746]

*phew*

back to trolling again...

- Robert Kotick

 

[graill]

[citation][nom]gm0n3y[/nom]Yes, but from this and other actions, it seems that Blizzard still remains relatively independent from a management standpoint.[/citation]

Vivendi owns blizzard and activision in whole, this includes direction, and action. Do you seriously think an american suit or lawyer suggested real id?. The name activision and blizzard are both more recognized so they are the flagship names used in promo. The french own and direct activision and blizzard in all aspects.

 

[IFLATLINEI]

[citation][nom]pojih[/nom]You know Activision owns blizzard right?In their TOS it says they can change their TOS whenever. TOS's are also notorious for not meaning anything also.Regardless of how you feel, there are still enough people out there who will play the game. And in regards to the forums, subscribers pay enough to have some policing on them. The trolling is pretty out of hand (or at least was when I quit).[/citation]

The TOS doesnt necessarily mean anything. It must work within the confines of the law and even then you must also choose to recognize it. Sometimes you can dance around it. I have with many companies. Sometimes you just choose not to do business with them ever or anymore. Just because I put out a document stateing I can do something doesnt mean I can. Many TOS's documents run afoul with the law and can be challenged.

 

[i7Rocks]

[citation][nom]Maxor127[/nom]It was a very ill-conceived idea. Blizzard should've never have even considered it. I don't see how it would stop trolls. If you want to stop trolls, force them to put their addresses on there. If you want to hold people accountable for their posts, then screen names and cd keys should be enough.[/citation]

If I have your real name I have your address and any other information I want about you, so forcing people to use their names would achieve this. thanks Google