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  1. #1
    Deleted

    A look back at realid on the forums - what was Blizzard thinking?

    For those who werent around back then, Blizz was planning to turn the official forum into a social networking site without pictures, more or less. You would be forced to use your (full) real name as your posting name.

    in addition to the mass stalking this would include (for female players...), there was also the fundamental issue of, well, basic privacy. You should never give your real name or personal info out to total strangers on the internet. This is common sense, you never know you're dealing with until you get to know them, and especially so in an online gaming community. any random person (associated with wow or not) could have easily found your real life name simply by taking a look at the open to everyone board.

    Thankfully, Blizzard didn't go through with it.. the community rallied hard against it, and I've never seen so many people in the wow community of such like minds. Blizz gracefully bowed out with something to the effect of "we're revising our plan due to player feedback", and it was never heard of again.

    But it has to asked, even now.. what were they thinking with this? World of facebook (without the faces, I guess) is the most sketchy idea they have ever come up with, on almost every level. How did it even pass the drafting ideas board, let alone be on the verge of become a realistic feature?

    even now, I have to ponder.

  2. #2
    It was probably some great high level plan for Facebook integration.
    "There is a pervasive myth that making content hard will induce players to rise to the occasion. We find the opposite. " -- Ghostcrawler
    "The bit about hardcore players not always caring about the long term interests of the game is spot on." -- Ghostcrawler
    "Do you want a game with no casuals so about 500 players?"

  3. #3
    I think you know exactly what they were thinking. Everyone does.

    Blizzard wanted to created a social networking site through their battle.net framework. In order to do that you needed names which included gender. This was just one of the first steps towards doing that.

    From Blizzard's point of view much of the ground work has already been laid with battle.net and getting everyone together. If they could launch a social network from the battle.net they would have a multi million user base from which to start from. This means ad revenue or ultimately more money for something they are more less offering for free at the moment.Where the idea backfired was that gamers in general are not social people quite the opposite actually even games such as these. So there was a huge backlash when they tried to implement it.

  4. #4
    It didn't suprise me at the time... bli$$ard had proven beforehand that they dont consider the repercussions of their changes *cough*LFG*cough*

  5. #5
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by Hovsa View Post
    It didn't suprise me at the time... bli$$ard had proven beforehand that they dont consider the repercussions of their changes *cough*LFG*cough*
    Best change in wow was bad?

  6. #6
    According to a close source...

    They also wanted to use real name to cut down on trolling, negativity, and overall a terrible forum community. Forcing to use the real name would have prevented a lot of the crap that people currently post. This would have made the forums a more pleasurable place to visit due to the lack of toxicity.

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by tehdef View Post
    According to a close source...

    They also wanted to use real name to cut down on trolling, negativity, and overall a terrible forum community. Forcing to use the real name would have prevented a lot of the crap that people currently post. This would have made the forums a more pleasurable place to visit due to the lack of toxicity.
    Or they could do what MMO-C does and actually enforce the desired standard of behavior.
    "There is a pervasive myth that making content hard will induce players to rise to the occasion. We find the opposite. " -- Ghostcrawler
    "The bit about hardcore players not always caring about the long term interests of the game is spot on." -- Ghostcrawler
    "Do you want a game with no casuals so about 500 players?"

  8. #8
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by tehdef View Post
    According to a close source...

    They also wanted to use real name to cut down on trolling, negativity, and overall a terrible forum community. Forcing to use the real name would have prevented a lot of the crap that people currently post. This would have made the forums a more pleasurable place to visit due to the lack of toxicity.
    You ever read a public post on Facebook, where people all over the world throw "come at me bro"'s? It's a solid idea, but I'm sure it would have changed nothing sadly

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by Jonticus View Post
    Best change in wow was bad?
    Clearly that fine gent enjoyed looking in trade for hours trying to find a spot in a 5man rather than the 10min or so wait that we have now.

  10. #10
    I'll never forget, one of the dev's had given his real name as part of selling the new realid integration to the forum, it was micah something. Some player, I don't remember who, within 15 minutes had posted an entire history of this guy including address, phone number, and the fact that he still lived with his parents, in addition to a bunch of other private information one could only get from a background check. I suspect the player worked in some kind of industry with access to background checks.

    I can't say for sure if this had an impact on Blizzard's decision to abandon this horrible idea, but I'd like to think it did.

  11. #11
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by Jonticus View Post
    Best change in wow was bad?
    Well, you must keep in mind that this game has A LOT of people who only just started playing. Therefore they never have witnessed the horrors of creating your own group all the time, yet they like to see themselves as 'veterans' who know everything about this game. Let's not forget that they most of the time think their opinion should be everyone' their opinion and like to force it upon you.

  12. #12
    I am Murloc! Kevyne-Shandris's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Osmeric View Post
    It was probably some great high level plan for Facebook integration.
    At the time Facebook was trying to do something similar, but the community revolted. Meanwhile, months later Blizzard was willing to do the same (and yes it was a linkback to Facebook).

    It all folded over the clever snooping by someone of one of the CMs of their Facebook page (someone demostrated what real name stalking could do).
    From the #1 Cata review on Amazon.com: "Blizzard's greatest misstep was blaming players instead of admitting their mistakes.
    They've convinced half of the population that the other half are unskilled whiners, causing a permanent rift in the community."


  13. #13
    Well... Blizzard often gets a lot of bad ideas, this was just another one in the crowd. Heck in my opinion they have made a lot of bad decisions (Making raiding a joke from BC-now, LFR, LFG, Not merging dead servers, killing world PvP with flying everywhere, not getting their shit together and atleast try to balance pvp, just to mention a few. Note: This is my opinion, i do not state it as fact, that is just how i see it)

    Quote Originally Posted by Cubert View Post
    Clearly that fine gent enjoyed looking in trade for hours trying to find a spot in a 5man rather than the 10min or so wait that we have now.
    I am sorry, but some of us had a "guild" or "friends" or maybe my server had a "nice community". I don't know if you have ever herd any of these terms before. Back then i could form a group in less than 5 min 24 hours a day.
    Last edited by Zogarth; 2012-12-04 at 05:25 PM.

  14. #14
    Wait wait WAIT!!.

    Did we run out of things to bitch about to such an extent that we have to bring back issues from almost 3 years ago now?!?!
    I found I enjoyed the game significantly more when I stopped paying attention to all the people on the forums telling me how much I am supposed to hate it
    All this complaining is simply further proof that Blizzard could send each and every player a real-life wish-granting flying unicorn carrying a solid gold plate of chocolate chip cookies wrapped in hundred dollar bills, and someone would whine that Blizzard sucks for not letting them choose oatmeal raisin.

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by Cubert View Post
    Clearly that fine gent enjoyed looking in trade for hours trying to find a spot in a 5man rather than the 10min or so wait that we have now.
    Clearly you are very shortsighted, it should be obvious to anyone with half a brain what effect it had on the community.

  16. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by Hovsa View Post
    Clearly you are very shortsighted, it should be obvious to anyone with half a brain what effect it had on the community.
    People were asses before LFD, difference is now you don't have to pretend you like them just so you can run 5-man Heroics ;P

  17. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by Zogarth View Post
    Well... Blizzard often gets a lot of bad ideas, this was just another one in the crowd. Heck in my opinion they have made a lot of bad decisions (Making raiding a joke from BC-now,
    Making raiding easier was absolutely essential. The game would be dead by now if they hadn't done that; the tiny fraction of players who actually do difficult content wouldn't have supported it. Arguably they haven't gone far enough.
    "There is a pervasive myth that making content hard will induce players to rise to the occasion. We find the opposite. " -- Ghostcrawler
    "The bit about hardcore players not always caring about the long term interests of the game is spot on." -- Ghostcrawler
    "Do you want a game with no casuals so about 500 players?"

  18. #18
    Legendary! Rivellana's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by tehdef View Post
    According to a close source...

    They also wanted to use real name to cut down on trolling, negativity, and overall a terrible forum community. Forcing to use the real name would have prevented a lot of the crap that people currently post. This would have made the forums a more pleasurable place to visit due to the lack of toxicity.
    This is actually what I remember them saying when they first brought up the idea.

    I rarely ever visit the official forums except to occasionally peek at a class or realm forum, not to post myself. However, if I recall (unless they've changed something recently) they don't really moderate, do they? Just have community managers who sometimes answer questions and people who delete posts/ban people who post unsavory things?

  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by Jonticus View Post
    People were asses before LFD, difference is now you don't have to pretend you like them just so you can run 5-man Heroics ;P
    But it kept the ninjas and retards in check as you yourself just mentioned...

  20. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by tehdef View Post
    According to a close source...

    They also wanted to use real name to cut down on trolling, negativity, and overall a terrible forum community. Forcing to use the real name would have prevented a lot of the crap that people currently post. This would have made the forums a more pleasurable place to visit due to the lack of toxicity.
    That's pretty obvious and it's exactly what they said they were doing it for. But to acknowledge that deprives the anti Blizzard fanboys of their festivities and grand conspiracies and the opportunity to add another steaming log to their bonfire.
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