Battle.net Update: Upcoming Changes to the Official Forums

I think this would be hilarious if the change was retroactive to all previous posts over the past 5+ years. Haha!

Wait..it isn't, right?

don't like this idea.

Originally Posted by Faolchu

if I did I would've made my name my username/charname.

THIS is the most potent way to realize how important privacy is to even the people here rejoicing that this is the end of trolls.

If you were given the choice, how many times would you use your full name as an alias?

This is essentially what Blizzard is now forcing down our throats. I don't want a random facebook friend request because of a post I made 3 years ago in a stickied thread on Blizzard's forums.

All those who think it's cool, please sign your post with your real first and last name.

Then those who think it's not cool can spend 5 minutes researching everything about you based on your name and see what they come up with.


Really, the bottomline here is that there is very little feedback that REALLY matters to Blizzard, and those people are going to continue giving it because they're either obsessed or simply enjoy wow as a hobby (or a little of both). The anonymous tard posts all over battle.net have rendered it one of the toilets of the internet, true.

But holy shit guess what happens to someone who voices an unpopular opinion or disagrees with some /b/ who will make it a personal mission to crap on you? Especially if you have an uncommon name that's easily searchable on the web?

Why would John Smith get full pass at being a dickhead on battlenet but Jabjapal Fapewksi is an easier target?


A completely shitty idea. Real ID is fine, but allow us a single nickname.


ps: most of the trolling would get squelched on battle.net if you just showed all characters associated to the level 1 troll. That would only allow people with multiple accounts the honor of throwing up on th e forums.

Originally Posted by zbegra

What's the problem? really? Ashamed of your name? If it bothers you so much; just avoid posting on the forums, it's that simple, really. If you never post your name wont be on there.

In most cases there are other people in this world that has the SAME name as you anyways. There are of course rare cases where there's only one person that goes by a name. As another poster put it, you're not a special snowflake, most IRL names are shared by many many people.

It's not like they are putting your social security number out there :P

Sorry if this post sounds harsh, I just don't see the problem. Google your name, you'll probably find people that are not you.

Yup googled my name, 3 top result was on me. And my name is not that special.

Originally Posted by molinator

And you're the kind of person who gets trolled easily, or can't formulate any sort of an argument so you run and cry to Blizzard sayin "MAKE THEM POST THEIR FULL NAME PLEAAAASE".

I can make a straw man argument too, BRO.

When on the blizzard forums I never post on a forum alt. I post on my main. I do not my full name being broadcast to the world. I have my information posted on Facebook, however I do not have anything to do with this game on my Facebook page.

Take your e-thug and troll fantasies away and recognize this as a breach of PRIVACY and not just a way for you to get some semblance of internet justice through killing off trolls.

It will kill trolls, yes, but it will also kill the community.

We'll see if it kills the community. But honestly, anyone who has seen the wow official forums knows that it's comprised mainly of trolls and flamers who do nothing but that all day, removing most of them from the equation is a great start for making the forums much more accessible for new players to actually use them for constructive posts.

Originally Posted by Sakashima

I suggest those of you who dislike this put your name or email into Spokeo.com so you can see the reality of how much of your information is probably already on the internet. You think these WoW forum changes are bad somehow? Most of you clearly have no idea how much of your information is already accessible to the masses.

yeah, luckily my real name is not attached to that site, but my characters ae with my e mail..I am pretty careful.

so how is this going to stop me from trolling again? it doesn't seem to stop me from doing it. i mean i can just get my name changed and i can just bind a lvl 1 alt to my name and people still wont know who i am? also this just give me the opportunity to make legit post get dimmer and dimmer? unless there is a limit on how many times you can rate a post we can see trolls rate good post badly and screw the system even more.

Originally Posted by Sakashima

I suggest those of you who dislike this put your name or email into Spokeo.com so you can see the reality of how much of your information is probably already on the internet. You think these WoW forum changes are bad somehow? Most of you clearly have no idea how much of your information is already accessible to the masses.

Funny I got no result when I typed in my name. Now tell me these changes aren't bad again.

Originally Posted by Swizzle

FYI, for all you people who don't want your precious names on the interwebs...do you really think that out of the near seven billion people on this planet, YOU'RE the only one special enough to be graced with that assortment of letters?

it's not like blizz is asking for your social security, credit card number, or birth certificate.

You have your location listed on MMO champ. With your sig, plus the future changes, I could find you in a matter of seconds.

I can see this as an improvement for game discussions and feedback, stil don't think it's best way to achieve this. It's kinda "Damn, our 3 day bans don't do it anymore, let's take them their anonymity!" ...
But the fact that the support forums will also show your real name in public with additional information about your problem, system specification, isp, data which could start having a value to others outside of WoW ain't cool anymore. In that case they should add another support system/channel. But that's just my opionon, already wasn't a big poster on the offical forums druning the last years.

I don't troll, here or on the Blizzard forums. My real name is so unique that Googleing it results in only hits about me, enough that you can determine my place of work, town that I grew up in, and college that I graduated from. I'm not sure but I wouldn't be surprised if a little searching through local newspapers from my hometown would reveal information about my relatives as well. If you don't think that is a massive invasion of my privacy you're crazy.

You can say "Don't post in the forums", but that's equivalent to "Your feedback is unwanted" which is a very good reason for me to stop playing right there. In the meantime this will do wonders for MMO-Champion's advertising revenue since I think we can expect traffic here triple or perhaps even more than that.

"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Benjamin Franklin

You might have heard it as "Those Who Sacrifice Liberty For Security Deserve Neither", "Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both." or some other variant, but the sentiment most definitely applies.

If you are willing to give up your liberty of posting in character for the security of no more trolls, then you will end up without liberty OR security.

Enjoy.

As many say, I also don't like this idea at all.

What happens when Goldsellers get hold of your Real name or your private info?

Maybe i can sue Blizzard for a million bucks or so then. $_$

So wait. What about all the celebrities that play wow. Are we gonna be able to find them and all their alts now?

Not retroactive:
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/th...&pageNo=34#667

Originally Posted by Nesemar

It says you have the option of displaying the name of your main character alongside your RealID. You don't have the option to display your main character's name exclusively.

That's what I was saying...or trying to say. You'll be able to see their RealID name regardless, and possibly a character name if they wish it. But it may be possible that George Doogan labels a level one as his main (and until we hear the method for 'main character' choice, I'm inclined to believe this will be possible), and then you're in the exact same boat.

The only difference will be that, if/when George Doogan changes his 'main' character to post in another forum, you'll be able to link the two characters together by the RealID.

I dunno, I think my confusion comes from the fact that posting on a main (up until now, the method possessing the highest perceived amount of credibility on the WoW forums) never stopped me from trolling the forums openly and unabashedly. Maybe to some little children to whom main character/personal credibility is important in their lives this will stop the trolling, but true dedicated individuals really won't give a darn, if'n you ask meh.

Originally Posted by runeb1980@hotmail.com

I absolutely love this. I stopped posting on the official forums because of the horrible atmosphere and the fact that something like half the posters were nothing but jerks and trolls.

What are you guys afraid of? That someone's going to Google you and discover you play WoW? Or that you can't troll anymore on the forums?

And what makes you think people will STOP being jerks and trolls?

You think it will be because someone will get assaulted or hurt due to a post someone took too offensively? Would you like that to happen?

Anyone that is rejoicing in this change is just holding out some grudge against someone who made them angry over the internet. Everyone else (including myself) sees this as an unprecedented breach of privacy.

Originally Posted by molinator

it also allows people to be MUCH more honest.

It only allows those who are afraid of something to be more honest. Also, it's very easy for "AgentBuckwald" to say "Man blizz, you really fucked up. Your programmers must've been asleep because raiding is loleasy" As opposed to John Smith saying "In my opinion raiding was fairly easy in LK, what are the steps you are taking to increase difficulty?"

In a modern society, where cursing and foul language is generally excepted on message boards and forums, it's going to be hard for some people to actually speak maturely and have a strongly back opinion. "Pwnuhard" can write an unintelligent post with little use of punctuation and use the whole "This is a message board you fuckin newb, L2P! QQ!" While Billy Jamison can't get away with something like (usually). It's taking away, as I said before, the internet super hero's anonymity and holding the real person accountable for their actions. Which I love. Most "Kids" these days don't have to take responsibility for anything and let their mommy and daddy worry about it.

I'm not worried, even in the slightest, about my privacy on some video game message board.