Real ID and the possible repercussions

[Generic Forum Troll]

[Pfeff]

Troll Comic

That's awesome if Justin Riley has nothing going for him, but is it worth it to work a mediocre job where nobody cares what you do worth it?

[Noobzilla]

That's awesome if Justin Riley has nothing going for him, but is it worth it to work a mediocre job where nobody cares what you do worth it?

It does not change that aspect, but most of the people that are for this change go on and on about how the trolling is gonna die overnight. That notion is a joke.

[Pfeff]

It does not change that aspect, but most of the people that are for this change go on and on about how the trolling is gonna die overnight. That notion is a joke.

That is one of the worst PR moves, imo, they could have made. It's blatant bullshit. I mean it's extremely obvious that trolling can be handled without exposing RL details. There is a reason other sites and games do not do this. Look at MMO-C, for example. Sure there is trolling, but the staff does a damn good job of keeping it relatively clean, considering they are not a multi-billion dollar company.

[Silenteyes]

These posts are annoying to be honest, If you don't like the idea of your name been shown on a forum don't post on that forum... or even just find another game.

The whole "omg if i post on the forum someone is going to come to my house and stab me" is bullshit too, if someone wanted to track anyone down they could do it easily without the help of the Warcraft forums...

[Pfeff]

These posts are annoying to be honest, If you don't like the idea of your name been shown on a forum don't post on that forum... or even just find another game.

The whole "omg if i post on the forum someone is going to come to my house and stab me" is bullshit too, if someone wanted to track anyone down they can do it without the help of the Warcraft forums...

You are completely missing the point, or else you are intentionally ignoring the last 4 pages of constructive points. Troll elsewhere, please, or post in one of the other topics.

[Arknoc]

Well, your point is that you are afraid you will be recognised as a WoW gamer, and will lose credibility rl and professionally. Fair enough.

Our point is just don't do it then. It can't be the end of the world.

I can only really see a point in the tech forum, but I am sure you can find other ways to get help. I don't believe that phone or email support would send you to the forum, if you explained the issue with the forum. I am also certain that there are helpful souls here on mmo-champion.

[Wnxcow]

i am also against this.

google my real life name and you will find my hyves, my facebook, my myspace and looaads more....

can't wait for the spam to fill my profiles fter the changes....

[danoontje]

Well, your point is that you are afraid you will be recognised as a WoW gamer, and will lose credibility rl and professionally. Fair enough.

Our point is just don't do it then. It can't be the end of the world.

I can only really see a point in the tech forum, but I am sure you can find other ways to get help. I don't believe that phone or email support would send you to the forum, if you explained the issue with the forum. I am also certain that there are helpful souls here on mmo-champion.

The point is you also pay for their tech support. It feels like you buy a car with tech support and if you go back to the dealer for even a simple question the dealer will print your face and name of a huge billboard at the entrance of he's premacy. That is just pain wrong imo. There are tons of way's to stop trolling without putting peoples real names for the rest of the wow community. A simple filter to make only blues see your real name is sufficient.

Like I said earlier I play a fantasy game to pretend I am a fantasy character I don't need my RL to to be involved in my virtual world not even my name.

[Feldheld]

Here comes a typical example of what I experienced in a forum that strongly recommended the use of a real name which the vast majority of its users abode to. I used a pseudonym nevertheless, and of course always got the usual crap from the no-life-having forum-hangers for disobeying the "rules", which I normally just ignored as I was being used to that kind of forums at that time.

Now, one day some of these self-called forum deputies thought they had found out my real life identity and started spreading details about that person (which actually wasnt me) with the intention to wage a flamewar against me. Absurdity at its best. Those who want real names deliver the best argument for anonymity.

The funny thing was, I did the same google work with the name of my main opponent, and found out it was a university professor for some environment related subject. Now I didnt feel like messing with the real life of some moron, but returning the favour of spreading personal stuff about that guy in the forum managed to get them all silly mad at me.

Again Id like to emphasize, that the user selection that is caused by the constraint to use of real names is not a favourable one but a really bad one! It is a great misconception that with real names trolling and flaming will be reduced. In fact it will increase.

In the german usenet hierarchy where also real names are strongly recommended and the vast majority abides, the greatest flamewars actually are those of the forum regulars with real names versus unsuspecting newbies with pseudonyms.

Just imagine being flamed by somebody like dddmaster all using real names! Your pseudonym isnt just a physical protection versus crazy people. It is also a mental protection versus all kind of poisons flung at you in forums! If a dddmaster calls my pseudonym whatever I couldnt care less. If he did so versus my real name, Id feel a strong urge to drive to his home and smash his face to a bloddy pulp.

Practically with that real name policy you get a simliar effect like in fascism. Before, the low lives are just that, a minority of low lives. They can annoy people sometimes but the majority of decent people find their ways of dealing with it. After, you get the low lives in charge of things, they will be the majority! Now they are the law and youre the criminal!

[sicness]

So if I have an issue I can't even post about it on the forums.

I can't help recruit on the forums.

I can't try to organize any events on the forums.

yeah really great.

And this prolly won't stop at the forums. I don't think anyone that saw the RealID friends thing go live, thought this was going to happen.

This point would have some legitimacy if the forums were the only means of contacting our technical support staff, however, there are multiple other options to receive support. One option would be using the technical support phone contacts as listed on this page: http://www.wow-europe.com/en/support/technical.html

Another option would be to contact the technical support team via email, which can be done via this support contact webform: https://eu.blizzard.com/support/webf...l?locale=en_gb

Lastly, there is also the option of reading the forums to see if other players have posted similar issues, or if there is information provided in sticky threads that may help solve the issue at hand.

None of these options require posting on the forums and thus giving out your real name to the public
Source

---------- Post added 2010-07-07 at 04:36 PM ----------

The point is you also pay for their tech support. It feels like you buy a car with tech support and if you go back to the dealer for even a simple question the dealer will print your face and name of a huge billboard at the entrance of he's premacy. That is just pain wrong imo. There are tons of way's to stop trolling without putting peoples real names for the rest of the wow community. A simple filter to make only blues see your real name is sufficient.

Like I said earlier I play a fantasy game to pretend I am a fantasy character I don't need my RL to to be involved in my virtual world not even my name.

You don't have to use the forums to get tech support.