RealID Update

[Yatokth]

If this is against the rules, I apologize - I don't know why the original thread was locked (petty bickering is my guess) but if there is some ban on the topic, delete the fuck out of me.

Anyway, here's our latest update:

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Blizzard-Ready-to-Hear-Feedback-on-Real-ID-System-146720.shtml

Is this final and/or 100% correct? I don't think so, and I'm not sure, but I can't say I'm surprised. The bottom line more important than supporting or even being truthful with the customer base.

Never getting any more of my hard-earned money.

[Maithanet]

I stated at the end why it was locked. It was locked because of petty bickering. We'd become like the general forums. I did say as well I'd reopen it once we got a substansial word from Blizzard.

This seems pretty big though. Copy Pasta for those who can't read the site:

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Blizzard has recently announced that it is making use of real world names and other data mandatory on the official forums for Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty, the long awaited strategy game sequel set to arrive on July 27, and for the World of Warcraft MMO, which should get the Cataclysm expansion. After a rather hostile reaction from the community of players, the studio revealed that it would be continuing to talk to players about the system but that it would nonetheless go ahead with its implementation.

A representative from Blizzard talked to Gamasutra about the Real ID concept and about how it would be implementing, saying that his company “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.”

He added, “It's important to note that both enabling Real ID in game and posting on the official Blizzard forums are completely optional. Players can continue to read the forums anonymously regardless of whether they choose to post in them, and their gameplay experiences will not change if they choose not to use the Real ID communication features in game.”

It seems the company is comfortable with the fact that a lot of players might migrate from the official forums, asking questions and participating in other Internet-based communities. It might have some problems as bug reports from the player base are crucial to the ongoing task of World of Warcraft, the best MMO.

Blizzard is also assuring gamers that the moderating team will be more vigilant than ever when Real ID is being implemented, trying to limit all the incidents that can arise from the use of real world names on a gaming forum with a player base as big as that of World of Warcraft. Still, the potential for abuse is high and the official forums might feel much more empty in a short while.

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[Yatokth]

This is an unsubstantiated quote from the thread on the official forums, it's truthfulness or lack thereof is unknown and is likely to remain that way:


“Got in touch with my ex-flatmate, whose sister works as a GM for Blizzard, to see what the internal buzz on this was. Apparently, at the moment the employees are largely as pissed as the players, and she stated that despite attempts to keep it hushed, it has become known that the big creative players within Blizzard are pretty much as unhappy about this as we are. Everybody has been told they are not free to comment on this situation outside of specially prepared statements.

It’s still going ahead, however (and here’s where in-house rumours and hearsay really start coming into play): from what they’ve picked up, the Blizzard leads have been told in no uncertain terms that the non-gameplay-related direction of the game is working to a different blueprint now. GC and company are free to play with shiny new talent trees all they like, for example, but for the first time the decisions regarding Battle.net implementation, Real ID, and plans for the general acquisition of new players for the business are no longer in Blizzard’s own hands, and that’s not going down too well.”

It would not surprise me were it true (I hope it is!) but I'm not getting my hopes up.

[Cyrass]

I'm not sure how to feel if that's true. It's not going to change how I feel about RealID, and won't change what I'm doing with my money. But it's at least comforting to know that even Blizzard doesn't like the shit Activision is pulling.

[Chikt]

Blizzard reminds me of Bungie. No matter how big they get, they still prioritize their players first. Community is huge for both companies.

And I don't doubt they'd be pissed about this because of the detrimental effect it has on the players.

[Swerto]

I'm HOPING that is true. I'm HOPING that this is just Activision.

But either way my continued playing will only support activision as they pull shit like this.

Guess no Diablo 3 or cataclysm for me.

[Lysimachus]

So not giving up Diablo, Starcraft AND WoW over this, though. Those games > using the forum.

Again, it's all pending on how they continue to treat their players in the future -- if/until it gets considerably worse, I nor many others are still not fueled up enough by just this.

[Swerto]

So not giving up Diablo, Starcraft AND WoW over this, though. Those games > using the forum.

Again, it's all pending on how they continue to treat their players in the future -- if/until it gets considerably worse, I nor many others are still not fueled up enough by just this.
That's not the issue. Like I said before: big deal my name is public.

What is the big deal is that Activision is willing to go against their customers wishes just to gain an extra buck in add revenue. If you think it's going to end with the forums, you are naiive.

[Mordria]

I agree also, and the reason I didn't post on the last 4 or 5 pages of the last thread is that I didn't want to be drawn into a pointless argument about it.

Both of my accounts are canceled. I turned back on my Aion account this morning and am patching as I write this. Whether or not the blizzard designers are being held hostage creatively, I wont be spending another dollar of my money on any company that supports this sort of behavior. I hope they come to their senses before they release Cata.

[Lysimachus]

As you'll all have it. I do believe the games Blizzard churns out will be well worth dealing with Activision's hellery. I really do.

So I suppose that just comes down to personal preference. Not ALL of their customers care about it as much as some.

[Amoola]

I'm still really divided about all of this. I have a *really* unique name. There is no way in hell I want it up on some forum where I can't control who sees it. At the moment that isn't really an issue as I don't use the official forums, but if this went into the game....... Yeah I'd be out.

If this is Activision and not Blizz I feel really bad for Blizz and should they get pissed enough to find a way to split from Activision they would have my whole hearted support.

[Swerto]

As yat said yesterday, I don't care if a company churns out stuff that makes me orgasm upon touching it. When they participate in shady business deals and lie to their customer base, they aren't getting any of my money. It's the same type of shit that stops me from buying any apple products (I don't even have quicktime on my computer.)

I said I hope this is true, because I'd rather point the blame at Activision, and not at Blizzard, who have always done AWESOME AWESOME things.

In the end the only way we can stop them from doing shit like this is to not pay for it. If enough of us stop, their stocks will plumet as their revenue does and they'll rethink their position.

[Yatokth]

As yat said yesterday, I don't care if a company churns out stuff that makes me orgasm upon touching it. When they participate in shady business deals and lie to their customer base, they aren't getting any of my money. It's the same type of shit that stops me from buying any apple products (I don't even have quicktime on my computer.)

I said I hope this is true, because I'd rather point the blame at Activision, and not at Blizzard, who have always done AWESOME AWESOME things.

In the end the only way we can stop them from doing shit like this is to not pay for it. If enough of us stop, their stocks will plumet as their revenue does and they'll rethink their position.

I'm agreeing with Swerto.

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

[Swerto]

As I was saying...

Big deal my name is public. I don't really care about that. I'm not a very private person, I'm a shut in and anti social... but I"m not private. But that's me, as I'm well aware there are creepers out there and there are some people who are genuinely afraid of them. If their wish was to stop trolling they could have just given us all unique battle.net handles that were displayed everywhere (including in game) and give us the CHOICE on who to show our names to. There are legitimate concerns. Their real goal is to gain money through add revenue and create competition with social networking sites.

They want to draw in casuals, and they think this is the best way to do it. It's also going to get them a fuck ton of cash from advertisers. This isn't like Google that just keeps track of what you do and saves some information to your account so you get adds targeted to you (adds you should never click). This is Facebook adds that take your real information and harass you.

[CytianaMoonarrow]

I'm agreeing with Swerto.

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

Hell hath frozen itself over!

But seriously, I agree with the last point Swerto made about Blizzard stocks falling. When they see that- they're probably going to have to rethink.

[Swerto]

Hell hath frozen itself over!

But seriously, I agree with the last point Swerto made about Blizzard stocks falling. When they see that- they're probably going to have to rethink.
It's not blizzard's stocks. It's Activisions. Activision is the big daddy company now, they pull the strings. Much like EA did with Mythic and is doing with Bioware now. Much like Microsoft did with Bungie until they broke free.

[Emyi]

If enough of us stop, their stocks will plumet as their revenue does and they'll rethink their position.

According to yahoo, Blizz's stocks dropped .51 or 5.69% supposedly...no clue what that all means, but

[Aleria Fadeleaf]

ATVI's stock is down eight cents today, but that isn't surprising news given that ATVI itself has stated that its stock is volitile.

That doesn't change the fact that I'm an unmistakable bear when it comes to ATVI. The Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal have thus far been following this on blogs, and according to the former, the response has been almost "universally negative." While this amounts only to about 40,000 posts, it's more than enough of a sample size.

As Robert Kotick once told the Wall Street Journal, he is "riding World of Warcraft out of the recession", but if he has any sense as a business executive, he'd know that if his subscribers ride off into the sunset, then he's going to ride his company into the ground. If you own ATVI, I'd reccomend that you pull out now, and if you don't, you might make some money off of put contracts, and help to drive their stock price down a little further at the same time.

Edit: AIY.BE down 51 cents, but the last trade was July 2nd.

Further Edit: For dramatic effect...
http://susty.com/image/species-spotlight-grizzly-bear-brown-mouth-open-black-nose-attacking-growling-biting-photo.jpg

[Yatokth]

According to yahoo, Blizz's stocks dropped .51 or 5.69% supposedly...no clue what that all means, but

Probably normal fluctuation. Doubt the big stockholders will care.

[Synestra]

So we are the oil slicked birds and activision is BP..Blizz is..the protesters?

[Swerto]

ATVI's stock is down eight cents today, but that isn't surprising news given that ATVI itself has stated that its stock is volitile.

That doesn't change the fact that I'm an unmistakable bear when it comes to ATVI. The Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal have thus far been following this on blogs, and according to the former, the response has been almost "universally negative." While this amounts only to about 40,000 posts, it's more than enough of a sample size.

As Robert Kotick once told the Wall Street Journal, he is "riding World of Warcraft out of the recession", but if he has any sense as a business executive, he'd know that if his subscribers ride off into the sunset, then he's going to ride his company into the ground. If you own ATVI, I'd reccomend that you pull out now, and if you don't, you might make some money off of put contracts, and help to drive their stock price down a little further at the same time.


I should have stopped supporting Vivendi years ago when they ran the Tribes franchise into the ground, but I decided I'd give them another chance after the first Fear.

[Faeriel]

Figured I'd add this. The actual article is from Gamasutra which is pretty reliable as far as gaming news sites go. Here's the direct text from Gamasutra and a link to the article.


Since World Of Warcraft and StarCraft II creator Blizzard announced that its official forums would phase in mandatory use of its newly announced "Real ID" system, which marks posts with their writers' real-life names, there has been a deluge of heated discussion about the decision, and Blizzard says it is "definitely listening to player feedback."

"[We] will be carefully monitoring how people are using the service," a Blizzard representative told Gamasutra this week. "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."

The Real ID system remains optional within Blizzard's current games like World of Warcraft and StarCraft II. Players can take advantage of it by adding friends by their Battle.net-associated email account, rather than their public user name.

The system is only planned as a requirement on the Battle.net community forums. StarCraft II's forum will begin using Real ID later this month, and World of Warcraft's will begin as the Cataclysm expansion pack's release approaches.

"It's important to note that both enabling Real ID in game and posting on the official Blizzard forums are completely optional," the Blizzard rep said. "Players can continue to read the forums anonymously regardless of whether they choose to post in them, and their gameplay experiences will not change if they choose not to use the Real ID communication features in game."

He also says players can enable parental controls to keep their children from using the Real ID system, or to disable their forum posting capabilities.

Players can actually register any name they wish when signing up for their Real ID -- but an account for a given game must be tied to a unique CD key for that game, and Blizzard says it plans to attempt to enforce the use of legitimate names.

"We have multiple teams here who will be monitoring the forums and looking for inappropriate names," the rep explained. "When the situation does arise, our community and customer service representatives will investigate and determine if any action is needed.

"In addition, our Terms of Use agreement requires that players provide us with accurate information, as certain aspects of the customer service we provide (for example, addressing forgotten-password issues) rely on identity verification -- if a player uses a fake name, it would ultimately impact our ability to provide him or her with timely service."

Gamasutra Article (http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/29325/Blizzard_Were_Definitely_Listening_To_Player_Feedb ack_On_Real_ID.php)

While the quotes are all from a "Blizzard Representative" (read: PR guy), it's their first real statement on current policy after the initial backlash. And their still going through with it. I feel like the most important thing in that article is the quote "our goal is to create a social gaming service that people want to use." Well, personally, I don't want to use the forums anymore, and it sounds like their forum implementation is only the beginning of that "social gaming service." I don't really care to see what they decide to do next in their pursuit of this stated goal.

[Chikt]

I keep saying it, and I'll say it again to reiterate. I will be HUGELY shocked if they decide to go through with this. There's no financial benefit for investors, and they're losing customers left right and center over it. Just using the TNG as a sample size, it's like 60% of people are upping and leaving over it.

The part that makes ME sad as somebody that WANTS to stick around is that of the two reasons I had to stick around - The Raven Cross and Goblins - one of them is very quickly falling apart with this change and all the people jumping ship. I'm even having to think about editing the Raven Cross website so that it's no longer about WoW but TOR instead.

It makes me sad that something like this is going to tear guilds and friends apart because they're all so torn on the issue. And I'll be honest - the moment that they say this is happening without a doubt, and that all my friends have their opinions sealed in stone that they won't make a return, I won't either. I've no intent of playing WoW on my own.

[Synestra]

I keep saying it, and I'll say it again to reiterate. I will be HUGELY shocked if they decide to go through with this. There's no financial benefit for investors, and they're losing customers left right and center over it. Just using the TNG as a sample size, it's like 60% of people are upping and leaving over it.




While I don't know if anyone outside of TNG is leaving, 60% of people on this forum is like .01% in how many people subscribe. I really don't see any sort of fiscal damage coming out of this, at least not enough for Activision to retract what they're doing. Especially since people like Lys and Carlos are the other half of this, the people who don't really even post on the forums so it doesn't effect them enough to give up the game. Yes it's a horrible customer service thing but it's still not detracting them from playing.

[Szordrin]

I think I will be calling Best Buy tonight to cancel my pre-order for Starcraft II: Collectors Edition. At this rate, I am unsure if it would even be worth purchasing to then sell on E-Bay. Unfortunate since I have waited for this game for over a decade.

Synestra, go re-read the posts in the original thread.

[Mordria]

"In addition, our Terms of Use agreement requires that players provide us with accurate information, as certain aspects of the customer service we provide (for example, addressing forgotten-password issues) rely on identity verification -- if a player uses a fake name, it would ultimately impact our ability to provide him or her with timely service."


^^^^^
A hundred times this. If you decide to take a stand and make a fake name to protect yourself, your minor children, your military security clearance etc...

You know what, I'm not even going to rile myself up over this anymore. Can I join the Raven Cross-Star wars branch?

[Maithanet]

I keep saying it, and I'll say it again to reiterate. I will be HUGELY shocked if they decide to go through with this. There's no financial benefit for investors, and they're losing customers left right and center over it. Just using the TNG as a sample size, it's like 60% of people are upping and leaving over it.

The part that makes ME sad as somebody that WANTS to stick around is that of the two reasons I had to stick around - The Raven Cross and Goblins - one of them is very quickly falling apart with this change and all the people jumping ship. I'm even having to think about editing the Raven Cross website so that it's no longer about WoW but TOR instead.

It makes me sad that something like this is going to tear guilds and friends apart because they're all so torn on the issue. And I'll be honest - the moment that they say this is happening without a doubt, and that all my friends have their opinions sealed in stone that they won't make a return, I won't either. I've no intent of playing WoW on my own.

If they lose 1million people, but gain 3million from Facebook, that's an acceptable loss (For Activision).

We both know Kotick doesn't care about us, he cares about £$¥€.

P.S: Join the Ebon Guard Sith Side in TOR today!

[Trigin]

I personally not going to up and quit because they are making me use my real name on their forum that I dont use. I do agree that this is a terrible idea and i dont not support it at all but I invested to much time in my characters and this game to just quit because they make me do something on their forums which i never use.

That being said im still playing WoW ( for now ), im buying SC2, and im buying D3

[Synestra]

That being said im still playing WoW ( for now ), im buying SC2, and im buying D3

And that's where I was trying to make my point..not sure what me reading the oringal posts was gonna do. There's a lot of people like Trigin who aren't bothered by this (I'm not saying those who are are wrong), I'm just stating from a fiscal point unless every single person drops their subscription or more than half then this won't change due to stocks plummeting. Hell my mom has been waiting for D3 since they even announced they wanted to do a third one. And she doesn't post on forums so I'm sure it's not going to stop her from buying her beloved diablo

[Chikt]

While I don't know if anyone outside of TNG is leaving, 60% of people on this forum is like .01% in how many people subscribe. I really don't see any sort of fiscal damage coming out of this, at least not enough for Activision to retract what they're doing. Especially since people like Lys and Carlos are the other half of this, the people who don't really even post on the forums so it doesn't effect them enough to give up the game. Yes it's a horrible customer service thing but it's still not detracting them from playing.


I keep saying it, and I'll say it again to reiterate. I will be HUGELY shocked if they decide to go through with this. There's no financial benefit for investors, and they're losing customers left right and center over it. Just using the TNG as a sample size, it's like 60% of people are upping and leaving over it.

There will be plenty of people that don't post on the forums that won't care. There are plenty of people that don't post on the forums that DO care. What I was saying was that if the number of people leaving WoW from the TNG is any indication, that's a VERY large chunk of players quitting WoW over this - I think far larger than you may believe.

Despite the parental control, parents will go just pulling their children out of WoW - especially with the news reports not saying ANYTHING about the parental control. Players like myself who WANT to stay but have all their friends leaving will follow suit.

There will be a lot of people abandoning ship. And if Activision and Vivendi want to keep GAINING players, they can't go through with this.

[Szordrin]

The stocks probably wont plummet until a quarter or yearly report, depending on how many back out of Activision-Blizzard products.

[Aleria Fadeleaf]

The stock is beginning to rebound, but it's hard to say if its doing it on its own or with the rest of the Nasdaq.

[Maithanet]

And that's where I was trying to make my point..not sure what me reading the oringal posts was gonna do. There's a lot of people like Trigin who aren't bothered by this (I'm not saying those who are are wrong), I'm just stating from a fiscal point unless every single person drops their subscription or more than half then this won't change due to stocks plummeting. Hell my mom has been waiting for D3 since they even announced they wanted to do a third one. And she doesn't post on forums so I'm sure it's not going to stop her from buying her beloved diablo

The original posts will show that, if you take TNG as a demographic Blizzard should feel quite the impact.

Also, I fully intend to play Diablo but you'll never see me in their multiplayer sections. A lot of the joy of Starcraft comes from multiplayer.

[Chikt]

If they lose 1million people, but gain 3million from Facebook, that's an acceptable loss (For Activision).

Lets be honest. How many people on Facebook are going to look at WoW's new facebook-esque functionality and say "Hey! That makes me want to play!"

Not gonna happen.

[Keraph]

It makes me sad that something like this is going to tear guilds and friends apart because they're all so torn on the issue. And I'll be honest - the moment that they say this is happening without a doubt, and that all my friends have their opinions sealed in stone that they won't make a return, I won't either. I've no intent of playing WoW on my own.

This, soooo much this. I came to the realization today, among MANY great, intelligent one on one discussions I've been having about opinions on the issue, that one of the main reasons I harp on people for jumping ship over this, why I try to invalidate their reasoning and make it seem absurd, is because I really REALLY don't like the idea of losing community members over this.

That said, I'm totally still going to harp on people for jumping ship on this, invalidate their reasoning, and make it seem absurb. Partially because I have REALLY good reasoning and logic as to why it IS (in many but not all cases) a questionable decision that may or may not even make an impact of any worth or note, and do nothing but deprive those who are quitting without even really WANTING to quit (A sign of sheer mob mentaility imo), but also because I care :P

[Szordrin]

You know what, I'm not even going to rile myself up over this anymore. Can I join the Raven Cross-Star wars branch?

Yes! We will be playing with The Galactic Republic.

[Lysimachus]

I know many more people staying than going, and all the closest people I play with don't much care. I mean, they don't LIKE the forum changes, but until the company ACTUALLY pulls something that affects them, they're going to stick it out. Plus, new people will filter in where the others will jump ship for other games, I figure.

[Synestra]

I'd also like to know how many parents who aren't gamers and just pay for the subscription actually know about this. I don't even think my mom knows about it and she plays blizzard games.

[Szordrin]

You know, because I decide not to spend my money on a company with questionable reasoning really doesnt give anyone the right to tell me my view on my own personal information is wrong. Just throwing that out there. You dont control my money, I do.

[Chikt]

This, soooo much this. I came to the realization today, among MANY great, intelligent one on one discussions I've been having about opinions on the issue, that one of the main reasons I harp on people for jumping ship over this, why I try to invalidate their reasoning and make it seem absurd, is because I really REALLY don't like the idea of losing community members over this.

That said, I'm totally still going to harp on people for jumping ship on this, invalidate their reasoning, and make it seem absurb. Partially because I have REALLY good reasoning and logic as to why it IS (in many but not all cases) a questionable decision that may or may not even make an impact of any worth or note, and do nothing but deprive those who are quitting without even really WANTING to quit (A sign of sheer mob mentaility imo), but also because I care :P

I've kinda just resigned myself to the fact, personally.

Because I can understand them. I don't blame them for leaving, I totally understand it. And I don't WANT to convince them to come back, because it's not up to me.

Fact of the matter is, their reasons are valid. And as much as it sucks for me since I really don't want to play or lead on my own, I simply cannot bring myself to badger them to NOT leave. It's much more a matter of, if they DO leave? I'll leave.


Yes! We will be playing with The Galactic Republic.

I should add that we WON'T exactly be light-sided, even if we're Republic.

[Lysimachus]

I'd also like to know how many parents who aren't gamers and just pay for the subscription actually know about this. I don't even think my mom knows about it and she plays blizzard games.

There will probably be a forum notification explaining it once it's implemented, and I imagine that any minor with an account with parental controls activated (which any responsible parent should rightly have done) will require a parental consent and password.

[Trigin]

I can tell you one thing though when Kotor comes out I will be playing that instead of WoW most likely

[Lysimachus]

Libelle and I are trying the newest Final Fantasy when it arrives, one way or the other :)

We'll probably just play it along with Cataclysm, I figure.

[Keraph]

I've kinda just resigned myself to the fact, personally.

Because I can understand them. I don't blame them for leaving, I totally understand it. And I don't WANT to convince them to come back, because it's not up to me.

Fact of the matter is, their reasons are valid. And as much as it sucks for me since I really don't want to play or lead on my own, I simply cannot bring myself to badger them to NOT leave. It's much more a matter of, if they DO leave? I'll leave.


I'm stubborn and dumb and even if I totally get their reasoning I fight tooth and nail to try to change their minds because I'm more concerned with the game and the community than I am some corporate garbage. I'm gonna get really irritating really fast, I'm pretty positive.

[Maithanet]

Dio: WE know that. That's not to claim Kotick does.

Keraph: Everything dies and everything has it's time. One day, you will lose WoW and you will lose all the people you play with, most likely to TOR. It's really hard to accept (Because EVEN I AM HOPING Blizzard hates this and is demanding ActiSatan recinds it) but it's going to happen. It sucks though.

[Szordrin]

Libelle and I are trying the newest Final Fantasy when it arrives, one way or the other :)

We'll probably just play it along with Cataclysm, I figure.

I will probably try FF14. I will probably try KoTOR. Thats about it.

This isnt the first MMO that has gone to shit because of an intervening company that I have gone through. When EA was a douche of a company, they ruined Ultima Online. Seeing as Activision is now the new EA, it is just history repeating itself. Except, first as a tragedy and now as a farce.

[Lysimachus]

I'm stubborn and dumb and even if I totally get their reasoning I fight tooth and nail to try to change their minds because I'm more concerned with the game and the community than I am some corporate garbage. I'm gonna get really irritating really fast, I'm pretty positive.

More power to you, my friend! Online friends are online friends, and they shouldn't get angry at you for wanting them to stay.

...or should they?

But either way, I do love final fantasy ._.

[Keraph]

More power to you, my friend! Online friends are online friends, and they shouldn't get angry at you for wanting them to stay.

...or should they?


I have a tendancy to run my mouth and piss people off when I don't get my way, so they probably should XD

I'm kind of a baby D:

[Maithanet]

I will probably try FF14. I will probably try KoTOR. Thats about it.

This isnt the first MMO that has gone to shit because of an intervening company that I have gone through. When EA was a douche of a company, they ruined Ultima Online. Seeing as Activision is now the new EA, it is just history repeating itself. Except, first as a tragedy and now as a farce.

You forgot SoE and NGE. Sorry to harp on about it, BUT NOW YOU SEE MY FRIEND.

Kind of interesting, in the article Yat linked, it was EA who saved Bruuuuuuuuutal Legend. Video game companies right now are like frikkin' wrestlers. I DONT KNOW WHO TO CHEER FOR!

[Szordrin]

You forgot SoE and NGE. Sorry to harp on about it, BUT NOW YOU SEE MY FRIEND.

Kind of interesting, in the article Yat linked, it was EA who saved Bruuuuuuuuutal Legend. Video game companies right now are like frikkin' wrestlers. I DONT KNOW WHO TO CHEER FOR!

I said that I've gone through. I didnt play that game and the death of Ultima was the first of MMO's to go to the grave.

[Maithanet]

I said that I've gone through. I didnt play that game and the death of Ultima was the first of MMO's to go to the grave.

Okay. I missed that. Tired and going to sleep in a second so yeah... Whoops.

I will look into FFXIV. My Experience of FFXI was ruined when I hit level 7, died a second after, and instantly levelled down.

[Keraph]

Keraph: Everything dies and everything has it's time. One day, you will lose WoW and you will lose all the people you play with, most likely to TOR. It's really hard to accept (Because EVEN I AM HOPING Blizzard hates this and is demanding ActiSatan recinds it) but it's going to happen. It sucks though.

I've been there, with a solid few games, which is perhaps why I'm so vehemently against letting it happen again. As if I have control of the issue.

[Trigin]

the way I see this is that ActivBlizz doesnt really care and this will blow over after Cata hits but who knows

[Keraph]

I do really feel like this isn't even going to be a big deal after a while, even if they make no modifications to their plans. Everyone's just caught up in the debate.

[Maithanet]

I've been there, with a solid few games, which is perhaps why I'm so vehemently against letting it happen again. As if I have control of the issue.

I can understand that. Come TOR, RC is going Republic, EG is going Sith. There's no saying everyone from TN will end up on the same server. I couldnt play with half the people I wanted to on Aion because they were fuckwits who went purpleskins.

Also on topic: 41, 842 posts / 2,093 pages - No response from a US Blue since post 6,476. Oy.

Also, if a long time passes and they don't expand Real ID, I may consider coming back (Because I dont care about the forums) but the shoddy customer service has shaken my commitment to that.

[Szordrin]

I've been there, with a solid few games, which is perhaps why I'm so vehemently against letting it happen again. As if I have control of the issue.

You could, of course, assassinate a CEO while staging a Coup d'Gras and then claiming yourself emperor as you steam roll the remaining kingdoms of the gaming world. Once you do this, you could fall in love with a woman who could not produce a child, divorce her and still pine over her repeatedly while you know she lives somewhere in the Orange County in a nice villa you've made for her from the pillaging you created in your wake. Of course, you would wear a hat like no other... at least like no one who is not still stuck in the nineties. Except, with this twist, you will wear your baseball cap with one ontop of another, one brim over your right shoulder and the other over your left. This way you are taking a once cool style and making it one for the new millennium, a new era of dominance.

[Lurile]

This is fucking retarded. There's no benefit to this for a player. I really do hope I don't lose contact with everyone on TNG when playing Conan or Lotro. I hope most of you who I played with and talked to a lot stay on TNG vent ._.

[Akuje]

Question, what is this TOR everyone is talking about?


Also, No more wow forums for me, but I still am excited about the changes in the X-pac, and for that reason i'll stick around.

[Szordrin]

The Old Republic.

[Chikt]

I can understand that. Come TOR, RC is going Republic, EG is going Sith. There's no saying everyone from TN will end up on the same server. I couldnt play with half the people I wanted to on Aion because they were fuckwits who went purpleskins.

Honestly given how things went with WAR (even if it was on a smaller scale) the community was actually pretty organized in getting on the same server.

I'd like to think that we could to the same with Twisting Nether come TOR. It seems to have a lot more people interested than WAR did. I'd much rather get all the TN community onto a single server to make it great from day one than have ourselves all spread out and all over the place.

They usually release server lists before the game is out anyway. So that should make it easier to coordinate an effort.

[Keraph]

You could, of course, assassinate a CEO while staging a Coup d'Gras and then claiming yourself emperor as you steam roll the remaining kingdoms of the gaming world. Once you do this, you could fall in love with a woman who could not produce a child, divorce her and still pine over her repeatedly while you know she lives somewhere in the Orange County in a nice villa you've made for her from the pillaging you created in your wake. Of course, you would wear a hat like no other... at least like no one who is not still stuck in the nineties. Except, with this twist, you will wear your baseball cap with one ontop of another, one brim over your right shoulder and the other over your left. This way you are taking a once cool style and making it one for the new millennium, a new era of dominance.

You speak the words that sing in my soul.

Also, Coup d'etat

[Trigin]

TOR = The old republic

[Szordrin]

You speak the words that sing in my soul.

Also, Coup d'etat

SHIT. I had a feeling I used the wrong Coup. Oh well.

[Crushem]

Why's everyone going to TOR? I dont like Star Wars much. :(
I will try out FF14 though. From what I read in Game Informer, they said they did away with all those stupid sort of things like leveling down, and made it alot ALOT less grindy. However, they said the combat was still as boring, if not more so.

[Aleria Fadeleaf]

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2010/07/07/real-names-rile-online-warlocks-and-wizards/

[Szordrin]

Why's everyone going to TOR? I dont like Star Wars much. :(
I will try out FF14 though. From what I read in Game Informer, they said they did away with all those stupid sort of things like leveling down, and made it alot ALOT less grindy. However, they said the combat was still as boring, if not more so.

http://gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2010/06/25/final-fantasy-xiv-beta-much-improved-from-alpha.aspx

[Chikt]

Why's everyone going to TOR? I dont like Star Wars much. :(

I'm not a Star Wars fan.

I'm an Old Republic fan.

Knights of the Old Republic was a Bioware game, and they had free reign to do what they wanted with the Star Wars universe a few thousand years before the movies ever happened. So it has a very different feel. I'm not a huge fan of Star Wars, but the Old Republic is essentially a different universe if you ask me. It still comes with Jedi and Sith, but it's a Bioware story - not a George Lucas story.

Even then, ignoring the Old Republic title, the gameplay leaves so much open. There's so much potential there. Group conversations, light/dark side points, class balancing and PvP are two things that there hasn't been much on but first impressions are damn good.

The biggest selling point though?

Bioware.

[Keraph]

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2010/07/07/real-names-rile-online-warlocks-and-wizards/

I can't help but find myself inexplicably offended by the title of this blog.

[Chikt]

I can't help but find myself inexplicably offended by the title of this blog.

I'm much more offended by the content.

[Aleria Fadeleaf]

I can't help but find myself inexplicably offended by the title of this blog.

The blog writer doesn't know much about the game itself, but I think that it is interesting that it caught the attention of the Wall Street Journal and other non-gaming news organizations.

[Keraph]

I'm much more offended by the content.

"The new policy caused some Blizzard game customers to experience a fury and hurt that many likely hadn’t suffered since their last siege on a castle in World of Warcraft."

Oh god my eyes just contracted AIDS.

[Villayna]

I don't think TNG is a representative sampling of the general WoW populace. The majority of us are internet savy, keep up with changes in the game, and the demographics are probably slightly older.

For every person who knows whats going on, there are probably 20 who aren't even aware.

I know that cancelling my account isn't by itself going to do anything. However, I'm a firm believer in the capitalism of, if you don't like something, don't buy it. If Activision thinks this will make them more money, then the only proper response is to take the money away.

[Talarian]

I think the thing this RealID debacle is making me most lament is how far away TOR is from release...

[Keraph]

However, I'm a firm believer in the capitalism of, if you don't like something, don't buy it.

See, that's where I'd be torn. I don't like Activision, but I DO like World of Warcraft. Very much, in fact. Granted, I was saved from being burnt out by a monthlong hacking progress that gave me a break from the game BEFORE I wanted to gouge my eyes out, but at this point in time I can safely say that the vindication I would feel from cutting Blizz/Act off from my $18 a month (mobile AH, bitches) would not outweigh the entertainment value lost from my no longer playing WoW.

[Szordrin]

I'm gonna work on boosting Sony's stock! >.>

[Kelven]

Interesting theory:

http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/zeroday/2010/07/07/is-korean-law-driving-policy-at-blizzard/

I think part of the issue is that - even for people who don't use the forums - this whole thing runs counter to how World of Warcraft works. This is an escape. If you start letting real life intrude, you kill the escape; it becomes another appendage of dull reality.

[Chikt]

I'm gonna work on boosting Sony's stock! >.>

Oh yeah. Because Sony is so (http://www.soe.com/) much (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Matrix_Online) better (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_Galaxies).

TECHNICALLY you're boosting Square Enix's stock. WHICH IS BETTER EVEN IF THEY'VE MADE A GAME WITH 13 SEQUELS.

[Szordrin]

Oh yeah. Because Sony is so (http://www.soe.com/) much (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Matrix_Online) better (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_Galaxies).

TECHNICALLY you're boosting Square Enix's stock. WHICH IS BETTER.

Well, yeah but... still.

[Ackley]

I am going to walk into Mordor personally.

I can't wait for that to be f2p, since those are my favorite movies as well as books.

Hobbit is the best of all though.

[Chikt]

Well, yeah but... still.

BUT STILL NOTHING.

Personally, I find Final Fantasy akin to Mario. There's a time when you just need to... let a franchise go. Take it in different directions with different names, even if it is essentially the same game. At least with a new title it's only a spiritual successor. BUT I'M JADED.

I dunno. Final Fantasy confuses the hell out of me and I have no desire to play in their universe that I find silly. I'd much rather play Halo: Reach online for 6 months until TOR comes out.

[Dahnek]

I think part of the issue is that - even for people who don't use the forums - this whole thing runs counter to how World of Warcraft works. This is an escape. If you start letting real life intrude, you kill the escape; it becomes another appendage of dull reality.

I can see truth in this theory. At least for myself and people I know.


Yes! We will be playing with The Galactic Republic.

Yes! I can continue killing you all there! <3
Or if the PvP is not open world I'll check out Warhammer 40k: DM

[Tydis]

I remember all my friends leaving Star Wars Galaxies for WOW. The biggest argument was that SONY did not give a shit about their customers but Blizzard really cared. That game was so much fun and the PVP was awsome. I'd get on vent and my first words would be, "Let's go kick some rebel ass!!" After SONY did a FUBAR on SWG, I vowed never to get attached to a game again lol. There is NOTHING you can do. I learned that back then. I'll stay on WOW until it's dead (because I believe death is imminent), and hopefully TOR will already have been released.

[Dahnek]

http://www.massively.com/2010/07/08/anti-aliased-whats-in-a-name/

A very good article tackling this whole mess.


A real name will make you really think, right?

Let be begin this little rant by saying that what Blizzard wants to accomplish with this move is admirable. The World of Warcraft forums, and other Blizzard forums, aren't known for being bastions of community kindness. People make secondary characters and accounts to troll the forums, using anonymity as an advantage in their forum warz. Blizzard wants to find a way to help curb the madness, and its choice is to assign your real name to each one of your posts. Remove the veil, and you remove some of the hatred, right?

Well, it's partially right. Sticking your real name on your thoughts will certainly make some people reconsider their actions. Will you really want to call someone a "sparkle fag" if your real name was attached? Probably not. To that degree, Blizzard is correct -- sticking your real name on a post will make you think a bit more before you push that enter key.

But sticking your real name on to your posts creates a whole slew of other problems which many people have been quick to point out. Problems which, in my belief, outweigh the benefits of cautious posting.

Security issues, privacy issues, child privacy issues, gender issues, name change issues, oh my!

I think the sub-head is already an indication of how messy putting your real name on a post gets. While many of these issues have been tackled all over the internet, I'm going to give them a small amount of air time just to get my point across:

* Your real name is now attached to your posts, which also means your Armory information may be revealed. All of your game information will be on display for anyone who wants to stick your name into Google. Does your boss really need to know that you raid for four hours on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday nights? Do you want your leisure time to become a matter of public record?
"I know I'd rather have an internet crazy yelling crap at me over some forums rather than coming to my house and leaving "presents" on my doormat."
* With just your name, a scary amount of information can be dug up on you. The game's first casualty has already been made public -- Community Manager Bashlok. Within minutes, posters found his wife's name, his children, where his children go to school, his house, his projected income, his Facebook, etc. The official response to this has been that posting any of this information will result in a ban. Yes, that's right, a whole ban. The fact that people can easily track you down isn't a huge worry because posting said information will result in a ban from an internet forum. We're all safe now guys! (Not to mention it's not ok for you to post real life information about other people, but it's completely ok for Blizzard to post your real life name.)
* Some of the players of World of Warcraft are minors. Sure, parents can make sure their children can't post on the forums by clicking an opt-out button in the child's profile. But what about the parents who don't know about that, or don't understand it, or don't want to be bothered? Is it ok to put the full name of a minor onto a forum at any time, especially when it is one of the first things we teach to children regarding internet security?
* It's sadly a clear-cut fact that women have a tendency to be harassed in some online spaces. Some women have been using the anonymity to enjoy the game without having someone scream "pics nao" or "boobs plz" in their /tell window every five minutes. Real ID kind of cuts through that, exposing women to the unpleasantness they were trying to avoid.
* It's also a well-known fact that I'm transgendered. The name attached to my account currently is Colin Brennan, not Seraphina Brennan. Other transgendered individuals may be running into the same problem, and so will women who were recently married/divorced or anyone who has changed his or her name since the creation of their account. While we can change our names by jumping through Blizzard's hoops, it's another pain-in-the-ass problem of this system.
* And need I mention certain guilds/groups, such as the various gay guilds of World of Warcraft, who would suddenly be outed should they post on the forums. You could say, "Well, then they shouldn't post," but what about officers who would like to advertise their guild, but haven't come out in real life? And this, once again, goes beyond gay guilds to pretty much any specialized guild. You may participate in their activities online, but may not wish to have that stuff involved in your everyday life.
* And your real name may reveal your ethnicity. Trolls will still troll no matter the name you assign to them, and knowing your real name may only add to their verbal arsenal, thanks to ethnic slurs.

So we take all of these negatives, simply to help curb internet trolling. Pardon me, but isn't there a chance that the trolling could become worse by spilling over into the real world? I know I'd rather have an internet crazy yelling crap at me over some forums rather than coming to my house and leaving "presents" on my doormat. While many people would never take it to that level, there are some who would, and those are the people I think we'd all like to avoid.

This will help us bond as a community!

But wait, there's more! Blizzard's PR statement finishes out by pointing out that it wants to create a community that can forge long-lasting, meaningful relationships. By using our real names, we'll be able to interact with one another on a brand-new, closer level.

This is the set of statements that has been lost in the shuffle, and a set of statements that I want to call foul on. We already form meaningful, long-lasting relationships in our games when we make the effort to do so. We don't need one another's real names to do that -- we've already set up the friendship based on who the person is, not on their real name.

Two weekends ago, I attended Anthrocon 2010 in Pittsburgh. Anthrocon, like most conventions, is filled with geeks who just love playing games. (I got spy checked by the Blu team from Team Fortress 2 upon entering the convention hotel.) And, like most other communities/conventions, many of the attendees have close bonds with one another. As I followed my friends around, it was like watching a giant family reunion. Hugs and handshakes were exchanged regularly, and introductions flew fast and furiously.

But, in all of this mayhem, "real names" weren't being thrown around. Attendees wore badges with drawings of their "furry" personas, and every single person I met gave me his or her taken name, rather than his or her real one. The exact same thing happens pretty regularly to me at gaming conventions as well, where players would much rather use their character names and servers as identification, not their real name.

Why? Well, it's pretty simple -- we want to be connected with the things we do in our respective communities. Many furries are excellent artists, writers, and animators, and introduce themselves by their taken names so you quickly identify them with their work. Gamers work the same way, as we want to be identified with our in-game achievements. We don't throw our real names onto our characters, so we throw our character names onto ourselves.

"And, beyond that, fostering a good community isn't as simple as clicking on a light and making everyone go by their real names."
Beyond that, our taken names are usually more unique than our real names. This has the added bonus of allowing us to quickly identify one another with zero confusion. Instead of saying "Hey, there's Bill!" and having your friends say "Bill who?", you can say "Hey, there's Lightshadow!" and everyone's minds instantly focus on Lightshadow. They remember the epic time he saved your raid by off-tanking. Heck, I have industry contacts I call by their usernames, simply because those names stick out in my mind quicker than their real names.

And -- I don't think I need to say this -- but there's just something cool about running by your username. You took it because you liked it, and on some level it represents who you are better than your real name represents you. I know I'd rather not lose that, but I might just be weird.

There's an easy solution to all of this

They always say not to criticize unless you have an answer, and I have an answer -- master account names, a la Xbox Live Gamertags and Cryptic Studios' @masteraccount. One forum account name, not multiple forum account names -- one for every character on your account.

This simple fix could even be designating one of your characters to post as, and that's it. It all comes back to posting under one name, so that name can be tracked to everything you do in the game. Real ID is all about intimidation through reputation, so why not set one name down? Sure, people will still troll, but then they'll be removed and ignored by the community as the trolls they are.

But as long as players and trolls can make multiple names to post as on your forums, chaos will continue. Reputations can't be assigned, as all players can be whoever they want to be. But once you lock it down to one single name, people won't be so cavalier.

And, beyond that, fostering a good community isn't as simple as clicking on a light and making everyone go by his or her real name. Fostering a good community takes large amounts of work, community leaders, and encouraging a safe environment for everyone to discuss their opinions. All of these things will help curb trolling and vicious attacks, but there is no magic bullet that automatically destroys those things. I'd rather see the company work on those pieces of its community over something like Real ID.

So what's in a name? Nothing, until there are qualities you can assign to it. Real name, fake name, it doesn't matter until both history and reputation can be applied.

[Amoola]

I have to whole heartedly agree with that article.

The solution that was brought is something that had crossed my mind as well.

[Skaadvik]

he/she/it makes some pretty good points. however, wording like "it's a well-known fact that I am transgendered blah blah blah" tends to turn me off from anything. not just in terms of transgender mutilations, but anything that might set you apart in what could be a negative way. It doesn't make for very good writing.

"Here are some really logical and well presented points to support my argument, which stands on its own perfectly well.

Also I am gay and black. This increases my credibility because you should innately pity me for my plight and thusly be swayed to my way of thinking."

[Agnarr]

We just need to all change our names to John Smith.

[Amoola]

"John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt,
His name is my name, too."

Agnarr I think you are on to something here...... ;)

(nope not attacking just playing along for any who don't know the song.)

[Chikt]

The thing is, this isn't a vocal minority anymore. Can Blizzard REALLY take the risk in implementing this when they have no idea the sort of number of people that will quit the game over it? Just going by the forums, while it isn't a good indicator of how many people intend to leave - the sheer outcry from all corners of the web HAS to be taken with some weight. For all they know they could implement this and have a million people up and leave the game. And while that's only a tenth of their earnings, think of earning 10% less than you do today and how you'd manage.

They're playing with fire when the service they've announced has more people dreading it than supporting it. That's not a risk worth taking.

[Ryoku]

Well, I'd just like everyone to know that I will be happily contributing to Blizzard and Activision's pockets with my absolute purchases of Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3.

I'm not going to not support Blizzard by refusing to play two games that I have been anticipating for a chunk of my childhood because of the possible* threat that Activision might compromise my real name.

My real name is compromised in just about everything else I do, what with my being an active member in society and all. Having it compromised in the internet as well doesn't seem like such a big deal.

Maybe I'm just a risk taker? Idk. We'll see how this pans out.

*bolded for some motherfucking emphasis

EDIT: Oh, and as far as that person's article regarding furrys and gamers preferring to use their psuedonyms over their real given names when they meet in person.

Well, here we go back to that whole "accountability" thing again.

[Dahnek]

he/she/it makes some pretty good points. however, wording like "it's a well-known fact that I am transgendered blah blah blah" tends to turn me off from anything. not just in terms of transgender mutilations, but anything that might set you apart in what could be a negative way. It doesn't make for very good writing.

"Here are some really logical and well presented points to support my argument, which stands on its own perfectly well.

Also I am gay and black. This increases my credibility because you should innately pity me for my plight and thusly be swayed to my way of thinking."


I'm not entirely sure you can compare transgenders with homosexuals or blcks, nor was there a sense of "waaah pity me". I think the author (who is a respected voice on Massively.Com) was pointing out another part of the populace affected and inconvienanced(sp) by this.

[Yatokth]

I can see truth in this theory. At least for myself and people I know.



Yes! I can continue killing you all there! <3
Or if the PvP is not open world I'll check out Warhammer 40k: DM

Essentially my thoughts. TOR, and if TOR fails, Warhammer 40k.

[opalexian]

As yat said yesterday, I don't care if a company churns out stuff that makes me orgasm upon touching it. When they participate in shady business deals and lie to their customer base, they aren't getting any of my money. It's the same type of shit that stops me from buying any apple products (I don't even have quicktime on my computer.)

I said I hope this is true, because I'd rather point the blame at Activision, and not at Blizzard, who have always done AWESOME AWESOME things.

In the end the only way we can stop them from doing shit like this is to not pay for it. If enough of us stop, their stocks will plumet as their revenue does and they'll rethink their position.

Your information is sold and resold and resold and resold...it just needs to get out to one information outsourcer then BAM, you're being sold and blah blah blah. Trick I learned a while ago-when I sign up to different services and such, I usually alter my name in some way; then when I start getting shit addressed to that name (or spelling) I know who to tear a new one to.

Im concerned about the implementation of this and the (possible) insider comment about Blizz being told to go sit in the corner and play with the toys they were given because Daddy knows best. If Activision knew best, they might have figured out that trolling on the internet won't be stopped by ANYTHING. A nerd-rager with anger issues is trolled by a troll not smart enough to be posting under a different name, goes and kills him. Acti-blizz gets horrid publicity, loses even more subscribers, and gets to sit under a hefty lawsuit from the dead troll's parents.

To add to that, Rolph and I were talking about this at length earlier and he pointed out that Canada has more stringent privacy laws than the US-Canadian FB accounts that are deleted HAVE to have everything removed from the server by Canadian law, for instance. How's this gonna go over with various governments' privacy laws? Germany's are apparently more stringent than Canada's...What happens when they start to lose the business of whole COUNTRIES?

Mark my words-it's only a matter of time before Activision gets punched in the nuts by reality. Im just gonna sit back, keep playing, not post to the forums (and also watch the forum post counts decline drastically,) and watch to see how the trainwreck goes. They are severely underestimating how smart people are and will sit back smugly thinking 'they'll come crawling back'...until people don't because they found something less intrusive to do. Then all the lost subs will start driving home just how dumb their freakish new business model is and will be.

PS-Maybe I read something wrong, but this isn't going to be implemented until Cata on the WoW forums; it's only going live on the live SC2 forums for now. Kneejerk reactions are bad-tell them how full of shit they are for thinking this is a good idea, but it's not happening tomorrow. Chill, guys.

[EnheilRas]

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Blizzard-Ready-to-Hear-Feedback-on-Real-ID-System-146720.shtml

You guys realize this says nothing different from the original post, right? Your real name will still appear on any forum post you make; this article does not refute that; it only reaffirms it.

[Viirchi]

I dunno, I had a 3 month subscription but as I'm not at the moment willing to do anything drastic for right now it's been moved to one month so I can wait a little longer, see what happens and not have to shell out another two months if I don't like the way the shit smells.

Real ID came out not a few weeks ago, I like the feature, as I no longer have to remember multiple alts or explain who I am when I whisper a friend when I am on one of multiple alts. I do not like the move to post on forums, but I never used them much anyway.

What has gotten me gradually more irritated is the way how this has been handled and the complete lack of logic related to their reasoning, which I suppose would suggest complete idiocy or an ulterior motive(which has been discussed already)


I like to talk too much, so scroll to bottom for TL/DR

Uhh, this will be a little long winded but....

- If this move is caused by a desire to gain more meaningful feedback and nicer forums there are easier ways, maybe creating a link specifically to leave feedback, it's already clear you can do this with a customer satisfaction survey whenever you talk to a GM, anyway some more logical methods might also be to appoint volunteers with limited control to patrol the forums more often, because you know there would be little trouble finding volunteers. Like I said, my problem is with all the potential solutions to the reasoning they gave they managed to choose one of the dumbest.

My other issues to this point have been the customer service, that if you read the blue posters yes, you can tell the replies they are given have been a conditioned response, basically they are being told to give the provided answers or it's their job.

My problem isn't with the Real ID forums in itself, it's with how the public outcry is being handled, the complete inability of Activision/Blizzard to listen to what it's customers actually want or even the opinions of their lowest employees.


It's been my experience that once a company stops paying attention or caring about the people the game starts to die. The players feel ignored and leave, causing more to leave because their friends are gone, theres no one to play with, the updates expected don't seem to ever come.


http://www.realmserver.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Realm_Online

Actually, this game above came out before Ultima Online, I remember because people kept leaving it for the UO beta. I played it for 5 years, the graphics were cartoonish, the lvling was basic and mostly centered on killing monsters and all I did was stand in one screen and role play. Really for me it was a glorified chat room.>.>

For something so basic, having come out when a lot more people still had dial-up it had some loyal subscribers. It didn't really start to fall apart until a game update was promised and never came, promised it was coming, just never came. Lead developer was dragged off to work on some other game and things just stagnated, players felt increasingly ignored. People who stuck around even when UO came out left, the game got sold off a couple times, stuff happened.

IMO Whether Activision or Blizzard or whoever we're blaming knows it the end result will be killing the game and if they're lucky they won't end up taking the entire company with it. People are not going to want to stick around so their opinions can be ignored. I don't want to leave, but I also do not want to stay in a game run by a company whose business practices seem to be nothing short of offensive.

[Yatokth]

Home address and name here

The likelihood of this information being used against you is low. Incredibly low, especially here. But make no mistake, even though this is not my main argument or reason for leaving, if it's on the WoW forums, someone, whether it's you, Peggy Sue, or Martin Potalot (NO THOSE AREN'T REAL NAMES, I MADE ZEM UP) could get harassed, hurt, or in an extreme and rare case, killed. We once had a sexual predator sign up on these forums, and while I'm sure you're not particularly in danger from these types (Unless you're like, unspeakably hot to pedophiles. Maybe you look like you're 12. Dunno.) over here in backwater TNG we've had one of these types here.

In this backwater corner of the internet.

WoW forums involve 11.5 million people?*

I'm pretty certain you know how vicious people can be.

That's unacceptable risk to me, and it's also completely stupid to open those avenues just so you have less forum trolls.

Oh hang on.

It doesn't stop trolling.

It's a money grab.

No.

EDIT: * I thought it important to add I realize a good chunk of WoW users don't touch the forums, but the size is still drastically larger, judging just by the number of people posting in the protest thread against RealID changes.

[opalexian]

The likelihood of this information being used against you is low. Incredibly low, especially here. But make no mistake, even though this is not my main argument or reason for leaving, if it's on the WoW forums, someone, whether it's you, Peggy Sue, or Martin Potalot (NO THOSE AREN'T REAL NAMES, I MADE ZEM UP) could get harassed, hurt, or in an extreme and rare case, killed. We once had a sexual predator sign up on these forums, and while I'm sure you're not particularly in danger from these types (Unless you're like, unspeakably hot to pedophiles. Maybe you look like you're 12. Dunno.) over here in backwater TNG we've had one of these types here.

In this backwater corner of the internet.

WoW forums involve 11.5 million people?*

I'm pretty certain you know how vicious people can be.

That's unacceptable risk to me, and it's also completely stupid to open those avenues just so you have less forum trolls.

Oh hang on.

It doesn't stop trolling.

It's a money grab.

No.

EDIT: * I thought it important to add I realize a good chunk of WoW users don't touch the forums, but the size is still drastically larger, judging just by the number of people posting in the protest thread against RealID changes.

IT WON'T STOP TROLLING.

NOTHING STOPS TROLLING.

THE INTERNET IS FOR PORNTROLLING.

And also a bastion for nerdragers with anger issues (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbcctWbC8Q0). Yeah, nothing bad will happen IRL over this at all. Nope, not at all.

*goes to get taser and thick rubber gloves, waits patiently for Yat* ; 3

[Yatokth]

IT WON'T STOP TROLLING.

NOTHING STOPS TROLLING.

THE INTERNET IS FOR PORNTROLLING.

And also a bastion for nerdragers with anger issues (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbcctWbC8Q0). Yeah, nothing bad will happen IRL over this at all. Nope, not at all.

*goes to get taser and thick rubber gloves, waits patiently for Yat* ; 3

Pretty sure if I IRL stalk someone to kill them over World of Warcraft, it'll be TenjRETHIUS.

[Tylorvias]

My point was simply that I've thought it over and realize I don't give a care if people have my information or not, and that this personally won't effect my playing WoW or not.

Though I'm still probably dropping for TOR.

[Sett]

Thoughts changed. I don't 100% agree with it but I don't care if it goes through now.

I waited too long for D3 to come to be spooked about the forums. I hadn't even known about the forums of all my years playing Diablo and Diablo 2 for b.net, actually. So probably not going to give a shit with the third. I still can separate game=life!

As for WoW...

Mmm. Still not frightening that everyone will know I'm a girl. Boohoo they're going to look me up.

This is subject to change, of course. Like, if they sink it into my game play. That's crossing the line for me for game=life! sort of thing.


I will miss you guys who are leaving. That's the more heartbreaking thing than seeing an idolized company making foolish choices. ;_;

[Swerto]

Activision is full of shit, this is nothing more than a money grab for greater ad revenue. They want to create a new facebook, one that you PAY for.


Also, I pose the question. How long do you think this will just be the forums before it moves on. Perhaps having your RealID inspectable on your character you play in WoW, or simply looking at your account on starcraft II/Diablo 3. How long before you think they just merge all activision games into battle.net? How long do you think this'll just stay just some stuipd forum grab.

Activision is pushing Blizzard over a line, an ethical line that I cannot support monetarily. I love this game, I love the things blizzard has done. I'm severely pissed off that morals are keeping me from playing the awesome cataclysm coming up, that Diablo 3 will never be touched by my hands. But in the same thread I will not buy another game that gives any money to Actavision period, which also pisses me off because I fucking love Guitar Hero.

First the infinity Ward debacle, and now this.

[Ryoku]

Why would they do that when I can just go on facebook for free?

Come on Swerto, use your head.

[Swerto]

Because Battle.net has better games.


IMO if they wanted a community page so hard they should have just copied the steam model. That's the perfect gaming/comunity model IMO. You can choose to make your name public, but otherwise it's just your account name, which can be hidden behind another name that can be changed (but by right clicking and going to alias's you can see all the names they've ever had)

[Ryoku]

That's not what Farmville says.

[Swerto]

Stop replying to my posts so fast :< I have to edit first.

[-Teleara-]

Don't want your name to come up in a forum post? Don't post on the forums.

Problem solved. I concur that Blizzard is being incredibly stupid about making it so you have to post with your real name, however its not as if they are making every single one of your WoW characters bear your real name. Just the forum.

[Swerto]

Don't want your name to come up in a forum post? Don't post on the forums.

Problem solved. I concur that Blizzard is being incredibly stupid about making it so you have to post with your real name, however its not as if they are making every single one of your WoW characters bear your real name. Just the forum.
For the billionth time, this isn't the issue.

I'm not a private person. My name public for the tenth time on TNG: Anthony Jessup. You can even find out more information by just /<myusualhandle> on most communtiy websites. Like RvB, or Facebook, or Steam.

[-Teleara-]

What is the issue then? People are freaking out about the fact that they can be found on the internet, be stalked, raped, employers discovering that they play a video game in their spare time. This can be avoided by not posting on the forums.

In addition, I may be partially biased as if you google my name. NOTHING comes up. Probably because of my age, and the fact I make sure there is nothing to find. Even for hotmail and facebook. Most of the information I put on those social networking sites, and most sites in general, is false. All of my privacy settings that I can possibly find are active for all of them as well.

[Trigin]

I think what most of the people are mad about is that the WHOLE community ( basicly the whole community) is saying WE DONT WANT THIS and Blizzard is pretty much sitting their ( maybe with a gun to their head ) and wont even respone to everyones rage

[Swerto]

Not. My. Issue.

[Villayna]

I am reopening this. I have no problem with people discussing this, whether you are for or against the changes. However, keep it on topic, and don't make personal attacks against other people because you disagree with them.

[Urivial]

I agree that this is not a smart move by blizzard. What I don't like is thefact that some guy has made it his personal crusade to give everyone blizzard employee's personal life story. Yeah we get that the name thing does that. But is he really helping the issue by showing info on his blog so that the CREEPS he's SO worried about can go after the employees of blizzard? Seems petty to me and kinda crude. He could have easily proved that same point to them by emailing each person the personal life story instead, I'm sure the employees would inform blizzard.

That's what I'm getting angry about. People beginningto really act retarded towards the companies' employees for the companies' decision.

EDIT: sorry for atrocious typing, currently on my iPod touch

[Villayna]

and it's not Blizzard's fault. It's Activision.

[Lulu]

This has been picked up by a think tank now.

http://cdt.org/blogs/sean-brooks/blizzard-looks-chill-forum-speech-real-id

[Urivial]

And most of the people theguy is giving out information of in his blog are apperently blizzard workers. So why in HELL is he doing it. Other then that he must think being a creepy stalker will get a company to care.

[Urivial]

That isn't the blog I was talking about, and at least that one seems to be thinking logically. The one I'm talking about was actually censored on the general discussion forums because of it's content.

[Thalevia]

Someone brought this up to me tonight. What is gonna happen at Blizzcon?

[Chikt]

Someone brought this up to me tonight. What is gonna happen at Blizzcon?

As part of the changes to RealID, you are now given a badge on entry that has your real name and a list of all the characters you play on different servers. You are also given a Baseball Bat.

This is so - when you find somebody that trolls the forum - you can call them out by their real name and then bludgeon them to death.

It's phase two of the plan to eliminate forum trolls.

[Alekander]

Oh boy. Well, I can imagine this has already been said but six pages is tldr for me at this hour. So I will simply say, "This definitely turns things on it's head for me."

On the bright side, maybe people won't be so fucking annoying/retarded/trolling on the forums.

[Sett]

Someone brought this up to me tonight. What is gonna happen at Blizzcon?

Oooo. Now that is an interesting thought.

[Alekander]

Oooo. Now that is an interesting thought.

I'm not sure what you mean. Why is that interesting? Do you mean how this might mirror the Youtube meetings where everyone seems to sort of know everyone and there are nametags and stuff? The internet makes things so much more interesting in that sense.

[Thalevia]

I'm not sure what you mean. Why is that interesting? Do you mean how this might mirror the Youtube meetings where everyone seems to sort of know everyone and there are nametags and stuff? The internet makes things so much more interesting in that sense.

No I mean how many guests are gonna use it as another platform to very loudly protest the RealID conversion in staff members faces instead of via the filter of the internet.

Granted by then things may have changed drastically but I can't be the only one thinking someone somewhere is getting all their buddies with tickets together in gleeful delight.

[Szordrin]

I agree that this is not a smart move by blizzard. What I don't like is thefact that some guy has made it his personal crusade to give everyone blizzard employee's personal life story. Yeah we get that the name thing does that. But is he really helping the issue by showing info on his blog so that the CREEPS he's SO worried about can go after the employees of blizzard? Seems petty to me and kinda crude. He could have easily proved that same point to them by emailing each person the personal life story instead, I'm sure the employees would inform blizzard.

That's what I'm getting angry about. People beginningto really act retarded towards the companies' employees for the companies' decision.

EDIT: sorry for atrocious typing, currently on my iPod touch

While the point is obvious to us, it clearly isnt to ATVI. Also, we dont know where this idea directly came from (unless I missed some information, then please present it). Could be Activision side, could be Blizzard, could be both! But the point is, sometimes to get your voice heard you have to go to extreme lengths. Am I condoning this? No, not necessarily. But I certainly see where people are going with this. If voicing your opinion will not be heard, how else will you get the consideration you had hoped for prior to being released?

I mean, the MAJORITY of us here are American. This whole approach shouldn't be that foreign to us considering... well, we were kinda terrorizing the Bri'ish. While it might have not been the majority, it's always the radicals who do. Same goes with French Revolution.. IRA... etc.

AnyWHO, I am out.

[Akuje]

I do wonder about Blizcon, people who truly oppose the change and have canceled their accounts, if they hold tickets, are they still going?

[Alekander]

I do wonder about Blizcon, people who truly oppose the change and have canceled their accounts, if they hold tickets, are they still going?

I'd still go, as I am sure there is still plenty of stuff you can resell for hundreds of dollars on Ebay.

[Keraph]

I do wonder about Blizcon, people who truly oppose the change and have canceled their accounts, if they hold tickets, are they still going?

If not, I'll buy their tickets at a cheap price! XD

[Alekander]

If not, I'll buy their tickets at a cheap price! XD

Ditto. Then resell shit on ebay. You know that spectral tiger card? That shit resold for SEVEN HUNDRED DOLLAR PLUS and continues to resell for that much or more on ebay. Think what good blizzard goodies bring in?

[Evanthe]

I would go to Blizzcon just to protest the change in person.

I've canceled my account, although I am paid up through the beginning of August. I may resubscribe, I may not. I'm taking a "wait and see" approach at this time.

[Swerto]

I would go to Blizzcon just to protest the change.

I've canceled my account, although I am paid up through the beginning of August. I may resubscribe, I may not. I'm taking a "wait and see" approach at this time.
I still have hope something is going to happen to make it so I can come back with a clean conscience.

[Aleria Fadeleaf]

The main thread on the general forums was just locked at 49895 posts.

Blizzard's current stock price is down by three cents (9:55 AM Arizona Time)

[Aleria Fadeleaf]

New update:

https://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=25968987278&sid=1

It looks like they got the message.

I've done just a little bit of research on Kotick recently, and I actually feel kind of sorry for him. His vision as the leader of this company was to expand the social networking aspect of gaming, and he genuinely believed that people were ready for it. It takes a big person though to give up on their dreams, even if for a little bit. I'm heartened though that he did look at the facts and decided to give it up.

[Chikt]

New update:

https://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=25968987278&sid=1

It looks like they got the message.

I've done just a little bit of research on Kotick recently, and I actually feel kind of sorry for him. His vision as the leader of this company was to expand the social networking aspect of gaming, and he genuinely believed that people were ready for it. It takes a big person though to give up on your dream, even if for a little bit. I'm heartened though that he did look at the facts and decided to give it up.

The way Mike approaches that post gives me the distinct feeling that's a Blizzard sigh of relief. It's very... laid back and apologetic, what with how they say that every voice matters and points people in the direction of their mission statement - it kinda gives me this feeling that they're saying "Guys, we love ya, thank you for being assholes so that we didn't have to do this."

Maybe now we can move on and people can stop jumping ship.

[Evanthe]

Yay!

This pleases me greatly.

[Szordrin]

So it WAS the Blizzard CEO who suggested it in the first place.

Well, my protest is over I suppose. I am still torn about whether or not I want to re-activate my WoW account.... hmm.

[Keraph]

Oh thank god I can stop hearing people bitch about this. (And stop bitching about it myself)

[Swerto]

Reactivating account in 3...2...1...

[Arialene]

Hello everyone,

I'd like to take some time to speak with all of you regarding our desire to make the Blizzard forums a better place for players to discuss our games. We've been constantly monitoring the feedback you've given us, as well as internally discussing your concerns about the use of real names on our forums. As a result of those discussions, we've decided at this time that real names will not be required for posting on official Blizzard forums.

It's important to note that we still remain committed to improving our forums. Our efforts are driven 100% by the desire to find ways to make our community areas more welcoming for players and encourage more constructive conversations about our games. We will still move forward with new forum features such as conversation threading, the ability to rate posts up or down, improved search functionality, and more. However, when we launch the new StarCraft II forums that include these new features, you will be posting by your StarCraft II Battle.net character name + character code, not your real name. The upgraded World of Warcraft forums with these new features will launch close to the release of Cataclysm, and also will not require your real name.

I want to make sure it's clear that our plans for the forums are completely separate from our plans for the optional in-game Real ID system now live with World of Warcraft and launching soon with StarCraft II. We believe that the powerful communications functionality enabled by Real ID, such as cross-game and cross-realm chat, make Battle.net a great place for players to stay connected to real-life friends and family while playing Blizzard games. And of course, you'll still be able to keep your relationships at the anonymous, character level if you so choose when you communicate with other players in game. Over time, we will continue to evolve Real ID on Battle.net to add new and exciting functionality within our games for players who decide to use the feature.

In closing, I want to point out that our connection with our community has always been and will always be extremely important to us. We strongly believe that Every Voice Matters (http://eu.blizzard.com/en-gb/company/about/mission.html), and we feel fortunate to have a community that cares so passionately about our games. We will always appreciate the feedback and support of our players, which has been a key to Blizzard's success from the beginning.

Mike Morhaime
CEO & Cofounder
Blizzard Entertainment

(Copy Pasta for those who can't see the link)
/win

[Szordrin]

Oh thank god I can stop hearing people bitch about this.

You arent upset about people being upset, you're upset because you didnt want us to leave.

Ilu2, bb.

But really.. unsure about reactivating. Probably would just be best to wait it out. Since I was on the fence about Starcraft II, this sort of settles it for me. I suppose I wont be making bank by ebaying the collectors edition.

[CytianaMoonarrow]

*happy dance* Huzzah!

Didn't I say give it a little time? Tolduso. :p

[Aleria Fadeleaf]

So it WAS the Blizzard CEO who suggested it in the first place.



That is my theory.

This is why I think that:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqSipi_l35Y&feature=fvw

[Swerto]

Is copy pasting Valve's approach so hard... for fucks sake. Steam does it perfectly.

[Szordrin]

Wait, I meant that the Blizzard's idea agreed to the idea rather than forced into it. Otherwise I would have expected a letter from Kotick.

Is that what you mean?

[Keraph]

You arent upset about people being upset, you're upset because you didnt want us to leave.

Ilu2, bb.

But really.. unsure about reactivating. Probably would just be best to wait it out. Since I was on the fence about Starcraft II, this sort of settles it for me. I suppose I wont be making bank by ebaying the collectors edition.

Just shut the hell up and reactivate. We need you. Hell, I need you. I'm a mess without ya. I miss you so damn much. I miss being with you. I miss being near you! I miss your laugh! I miss-- I miss your scent. I miss your musk. When this all gets sorted out, I think you and me should get an apartment together. (http://www.moviewavs.com/php/sounds/?id=bst&media=MP3S&type=Movies&movie=Anchorman_The_Legend_Of_Ron_Burgundy&quote=stoptalking.txt&file=stoptalking.mp3)

[Chikt]

Just shut the hell up and reactivate. We need you. Hell, I need you. I'm a mess without ya. I miss you so damn much. I miss being with you. I miss being near you! I miss your laugh! I miss-- I miss your scent. I miss your musk. When this all gets sorted out, I think you and me should get an apartment together.

D:

Why doesn't anybody love my musk enough to want to STAY...

[Aleria Fadeleaf]

D:

Why doesn't anybody love my musk enough to want to STAY...

Look at the bright side, no one is asking you to leave.

[Chikt]

Look at the bright side, no one is asking you to leave.

I guess.

I just... I want to feel LOVED, y'know?

[Amoola]

Good news is good. I can say that I've let out a sigh of relief. I don't really like being on the fence about things. But I also don't like having choices made for me either. If there are people posting under several character names then those who post/or would post under one name only shouldn't be forced into something.

I most likely don't make sense but I am also posting from the equivalent of grand central so..... yeah.

[Keraph]

D:

Why doesn't anybody love my musk enough to want to STAY...

Because you wear sex panther. It's illegal in 9 countries.


Just shut the hell up and reactivate. We need you. Hell, I need you. I'm a mess without ya. I miss you so damn much. I miss being with you. I miss being near you! I miss your laugh! I miss-- I miss your scent. I miss your musk. When this all gets sorted out, I think you and me should get an apartment together. (http://www.moviewavs.com/php/sounds/?id=bst&media=MP3S&type=Movies&movie=Anchorman_The_Legend_Of_Ron_Burgundy&quote=stoptalking.txt&file=stoptalking.mp3)

fixed :3

[Okhu]

The only people REALID sucks for is Celebrities. <_<

[Szordrin]

Such as myself.

[Kredorian]

THANK

YOU

JESUS.

That is all.

Szo, I look forward to seeing you soon.

[Trigin]

Then their was peace in the valley

[Rethius]

Power to the People.

[Lurile]

Incoming Nuclear Holocaust? Calm before tha mother fuckin' storm.

[Geofforan]

Is copy pasting Valve's approach so hard... for fucks sake. Steam does it perfectly.

You do not want to piss off Gabe Newell like that.

He will fuck your shit up. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4P0Dnlx_Mg)

[Yatokth]

ROW ROW FIGHT THA POWAH!

Reactivating.

[Ryoku]

I was kind-of hoping that they'd go through with it, if only for the peace and quiet.

Now I'll have to deal with people constantly nagging on me to come back to this piece of shit game.

[Yatokth]

Then don't re-up. :P

It's still your choice.

[Ryoku]

Shut the hell up..

Mean joking aside, I just don't want to let myself fall into the trap again. I've actually enjoyed stepping outside once in awhile, haha.

[Yatokth]

Shut the hell up..

Mean joking aside, I just don't want to let myself fall into the trap again. I've actually enjoyed stepping outside once in awhile, haha.

Then don't! If you think you'll be better off not playing, you don't need to play just cause someone else wants you to kill pixels with them.

[Agnarr]

Fuck pixels, man. Right in their tight little.. um, pixels.

[Akuje]

Villy was nice and reopened this, can you keep it heading in a direction that is somewhat on topic? Although I feel there is not much left of the horse to beat..

[EnheilRas]

Now I'll have to deal with people constantly nagging on me to come back to this piece of shit game.

Not really.

Just break away and sail your own ship.

[Alekander]

The only people REALID sucks for is Celebrities. <_<

Basically.

[Moknim]

Quit complaining:


Hello everyone,

I'd like to take some time to speak with all of you regarding our desire to make the Blizzard forums a better place for players to discuss our games. We've been constantly monitoring the feedback you've given us, as well as internally discussing your concerns about the use of real names on our forums. As a result of those discussions, we've decided at this time that real names will not be required for posting on official Blizzard forums.

It's important to note that we still remain committed to improving our forums. Our efforts are driven 100% by the desire to find ways to make our community areas more welcoming for players and encourage more constructive conversations about our games. We will still move forward with new forum features such as conversation threading, the ability to rate posts up or down, improved search functionality, and more. However, when we launch the new StarCraft II forums that include these new features, you will be posting by your StarCraft II Battle.net character name + character code, not your real name. The upgraded World of Warcraft forums with these new features will launch close to the release of Cataclysm, and also will not require your real name.

I want to make sure it's clear that our plans for the forums are completely separate from our plans for the optional in-game Real ID system now live with World of Warcraft and launching soon with StarCraft II. We believe that the powerful communications functionality enabled by Real ID, such as cross-game and cross-realm chat, make Battle.net a great place for players to stay connected to real-life friends and family while playing Blizzard games. And of course, you'll still be able to keep your relationships at the anonymous, character level if you so choose when you communicate with other players in game. Over time, we will continue to evolve Real ID on Battle.net to add new and exciting functionality within our games for players who decide to use the feature.

In closing, I want to point out that our connection with our community has always been and will always be extremely important to us. We strongly believe that Every Voice Matters, ( http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/company/about/mission.html ) and we feel fortunate to have a community that cares so passionately about our games. We will always appreciate the feedback and support of our players, which has been a key to Blizzard's success from the beginning.

Mike Morhaime
CEO & Cofounder
Blizzard Entertainment

[Swerto]

Quit complaining:
Posted already, two pages back.

[Moknim]

Posted already, two pages back.

Which proves that I am too lazy to wade through complaining.

Akuje - I feel that we should beat the horse WHILE jumping over a shark. And then all will be complete.

[Necroxis]

Knew it wasn't going to go through.

I feel the same way as Dio:


The way Mike approaches that post gives me the distinct feeling that's a Blizzard sigh of relief. It's very... laid back and apologetic, what with how they say that every voice matters and points people in the direction of their mission statement - it kinda gives me this feeling that they're saying "Guys, we love ya, thank you for being assholes so that we didn't have to do this."

[Derathenus]

I found that forum real id announcement pretty sudden and strange to be honest. I do not believe they could not understand the after effects of such a change.

And it did feel that it was activision's doing rather than blizzard. Glad they droped the insanity without getting rid of the better parts of it.

[Dahnek]

ahahaaha

/facepalm

http://www.wow.com/2010/07/12/esrb-unintentionally-exposes-email-addresses-of-people-who-filed/


During the recent Real ID catastrophe on the forums, many players decided to appeal to an industry source that might have been able to sway Blizzard to change its mind. These players contacted the ESRB (Entertainment Software Rating Board) as a Better Business Bureau-type middleman in this situation with their concerns. The ESRB itself has championed such causes in the past with its Privacy Online program, which is designed to help companies meet various privacy laws like the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).

Since Blizzard recanted its decision about the forums, the ESRB faithfully followed up with those concerned.

Unfortunately, in that followup email, the ESRB exposed individuals to a new set of privacy concerns.

The letter and more information after the break.

The email reads as follows:


Thank you for contacting the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) regarding the policy recently announced by Blizzard Entertainment which would have required participants in its official forums to post comments using their real first and last names, and for expressing your concerns regarding potential privacy implications.

It is our understanding that Blizzard has provided an update announcing that it will not be implementing the above-referenced policy with respect to its forums, and users will not be required to post using their real names. You can read Blizzard's announcement regarding this most recent development at http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=25968987278&sid=1&pageNo=1.

Separately, if you have questions regarding Blizzard's implementation of its Real ID option -- which by our understanding is unrelated to Blizzard's plans for its forums -- and/or the new capabilities this option offers, they will likely be answered by reviewing the information posted at http://www.battle.net/realid/.

ESRB, through its Privacy Online program, helps companies develop practices to safeguard users' personal information online while still providing a safe and enjoyable video game experience for all. We appreciate your taking the time to contact us with your concerns, and please feel free to direct any future inquiries you may have regarding online privacy to our attention.

Regards,

Entertainment Software Rating Board

However, it appears as if the ESRB don't necessarily understand the basics themselves. In what could be called a rookie mistake, the ESRB did a Reply All to everyone who had emailed them with concerns, thus unintentionally exposing almost 1,000 email addresses to the other recipients.

I'm sure the irony of the last paragraph in the ESRB's letter isn't lost on anyone.

[Yatokth]

ROFL.

I got a random letter from someone saying they ate pop tarts for breakfast.

That must be why.

[Derathenus]

Yatokth now and forevermore I will remember you by associating you with pop tarts in the morning :p

[Emyi]

Epic fail on ESRB's part.

[Gorvena]

Akuje - I feel that we should beat the horse WHILE jumping over a shark. And then all will be complete.
Brilliant!

+1

[Vales]

Yat, you're on my list! I just finished my coffee! :P