Update - Added a clarification, your real name will not show up on old forum posts. It will only be displayed on the new forum system.

Oh and since a few people asked, now, I have absolutely no plan to do that on MMO-Champion forums. (And that's not sarcasm, I really don't like the idea of real names on a gaming forum)

Battle.net Update: Upcoming Changes to the Forums
Your real name will be displayed on the official forums now. You'd better think twice before you troll a bunch of angry ... trolls.
[blizzquote author=Nethaera source=http://blue.mmo-champion.com/t/25712374700/battle-net-update-upcoming-changes-to-forums/]Recently, we introduced our new Real ID feature - www.battle.net/realid/ , a new way to stay connected with your friends on the new Battle.net. Today, we wanted to give you a heads up about our plans for Real ID on our official forums, discuss the design philosophy behind the changes we’re making, and give you a first look at some of the new features we’re adding to the forums to help improve the quality of conversations and make the forums an even more enjoyable place for players to visit.

The first and most significant change is that in the near future, anyone posting or replying to a post on official Blizzard forums will be doing so using their Real ID -- that is, their real-life first and last name -- with the option to also display the name of their primary in-game character alongside it. These changes will go into effect on all StarCraft II forums with the launch of the new community site prior to the July 27 release of the game, with the World of Warcraft site and forums following suit near the launch of Cataclysm. Certain classic forums, including the classic Battle.net forums, will remain unchanged.

The official forums have always been a great place to discuss the latest info on our games, offer ideas and suggestions, and share experiences with other players -- however, the forums have also earned a reputation as a place where flame wars, trolling, and other unpleasantness run wild. Removing the veil of anonymity typical to online dialogue will contribute to a more positive forum environment, promote constructive conversations, and connect the Blizzard community in ways they haven’t been connected before. With this change, you’ll see blue posters (i.e. Blizzard employees) posting by their real first and last names on our forums as well.

We also plan to add a number of other features designed to make reading the forums more enjoyable and to empower players with tools to improve the quality of forum discussions. Players will have the ability to rate up or rate down posts so that great topics and replies stand out from the not-so-great; low-rated posts will appear dimmer to show that the community feels that they don’t contribute effectively to the conversation, and Blizzard’s community team will be able to quickly and easily locate highly rated posts to participate in or to highlight discussions that players find worthwhile.

In addition, individual topics will be threaded by context, meaning replies to specific posts will be grouped together, making it easier for players to keep track of multiple conversations within a thread. We’re also adding a way for Blizzard posters to “broadcast” important messages forums-wide , to help communicate breaking news to the community in a clear and timely fashion. Beyond that, we’re improving our forum search function to make locating interesting topics easier and help lower the number of redundant threads, and we have more planned as well.

With the launch of the new Battle.net, it’s important to us to create a new and different kind of online gaming environment -- one that’s highly social, and which provides an ideal place for gamers to form long-lasting, meaningful relationships. All of our design decisions surrounding Real ID -- including these forum changes -- have been made with this goal in mind.

We’ve given a great deal of consideration to the design of Real ID as a company, as gamers, and as enthusiastic users of the various online-gaming, communication, and social-networking services that have become available in recent years. As these services have become more and more popular, gamers have become part of an increasingly connected and intimate global community – friendships are much more easily forged across long distances, and at conventions like PAX or our own BlizzCon, we’ve seen first-hand how gamers who may have never actually met in person have formed meaningful real-life relationships across borders and oceans. As the way gamers interact with one another continues to evolve, our goal is to ensure Battle.net is equipped to handle the ever-changing social-gaming experience for years to come.

For more info on Real ID, check out our Real ID page and FAQ located at http://www.battle.net/realid/ . We look forward to answering your questions about these upcoming forum changes in the thread below. [/blizzquote]
[blizzquote author=Bashiok source=http://blue.mmo-champion.com/t/25712374700/battle-net-update-upcoming-changes-to-forums/]One important point which I don't believe has been relayed yet is that the switch to showing RealID on the forums will only happen with the new forum systems we're launching for StarCraft II shortly before its release, and a new forum system for World of Warcraft launching shortly before the release of Cataclysm.

All posts here on the current World of Warcraft forums, or any of our classic Battle.net forums, will remain as-is. They won't (and can't) automatically switch to showing a real first and last name.

All posts in the future on the new forum systems will be an opt-in choice and ample warning will be given that you're posting with your real first and last name. [/blizzquote]
This article was originally published in forum thread: Battle.net Update: Upcoming Changes to the Forums started by Boubouille View original post
Comments 2071 Comments
  1. Avendryl's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by my ledge ends View Post
    Your name is not unique. You are not a special snowflake.
    I am one of only two people in the entire US that I've been able to locate with my name. I'd say that's about as close to unique as one is likely to get.
  1. Suntamer's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Purple View Post
    Any one of you should know and realize there are place on the internet where they don't even need your real first and last name, sometimes all they need is a picture. To the guy not concerned because his Parent's Address and phone showed up instead of his.. how does this make things better? Imagine someone had a grudge against you. Would you really feel fine about something happening to your parents because they tracked down your parent's information by accident, instead of yours? Really?

    I don't know about you, but I wouldn't wish that on my parents.
    Yet Facebook and twitter is the biggest thing on the net where I can learn when you go to the store, what kind women or men you like, and why you hate Lady Gaga. People willingly give up info all the time. You choose to use the system neither the Boards or Realid in game are needed to play so its up to you if crazy people get you or not.
  1. Darger's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by iceberg265 View Post
    Has Blizz responded to the 150 pages of outcry against this terrible change yet?
    197 as of this post and 200 soon.
  1. Zero44556's Avatar
    Apparently actiblizzard's stock plummeted after this was announced, hopefully they'll listen to their wallets if they won't listen to the community
  1. rkma's Avatar
  1. jesy's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by pVVn3c| View Post
    Still waiting on ANYONE to bring up relevant information about ME, or call my phone, or deliver a pizza to my doorstep (even if I have to pay for it, seriously)
    dude....they now have your name, your license plate number, people you know etc etc with enough work and digging people can now find out anything about you. its over, heh give it up
  1. iceberg265's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by ryanman_87 View Post
    As am I. Normals can now post without the fear of being torn limb from limb by the trolls.
    Yes, all you have to worry about is stalkers and child molesters. That is much better.
  1. Vengeblade's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Nyn View Post
    Heya Venge,

    We got off on the wrong foot. I'm going to try this again. If I'm less than civil call me out on it, seriously.


    My largest issue with your stance is this part: "many of us find things aren't worth the trouble just because someone pissed us off."

    I'm not worried about you. I'm not worried about 99.999999999999999% of the people on this forum.

    I'm worried about 'that' guy. And you can't tell me, that with all the people that play WoW, some of them aren't crazy, some of them aren't vindictive, some of them aren't just plain evil.

    This Venge, this is what I am worried about:

    http://www.nydailynews.com/news/worl...character.html

    Honestly, a totally legitimate concern. Like I had stated, we see things, especially what is privacy, vastly different at points. That's cool, I actually get that. I guess its easy for a person to see their view as best and I can admit when it gets the best of me.

    My point of view is that a rare chance of something bad isn't enough for me personally to stop just as a small chance of something good isn't enough for me to do something ( I hate gambling unless its a social thing, then I just take a little cash and talk most of the time lol).

    But I also realize that I put myself in the way of that 1%, but I have chosen to deal with that when or if it happens.

    I still stand by that its more good than harm, but I will admit if the community overall thinks it too much and it changes, I can respect that as well. I must admit I get a bit zealous in my debates, not many good ones to be had around where I live.
  1. Luris's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Tsimp View Post
    You have your location listed on MMO champ. With your sig, plus the future changes, I could find you in a matter of seconds.
    OMG I found Amy Winehouses' house!

    And this is why MMO forums > Blizz forums.

    Yes I said it.
  1. Waterisbest's Avatar
    I searched my name and a celebrity's profile showed up. If I start posting on official forums, that dude is gonna get in a lot of trouble lol.
  1. Tsimp's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by pVVn3c| View Post
    Still waiting on ANYONE to bring up relevant information about ME, or call my phone, or deliver a pizza to my doorstep (even if I have to pay for it, seriously)
    /sigh, you really don't want to do that.
  1. mmoc6d823f96e4's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by iceberg265 View Post
    Yes, all you have to worry about is stalkers and child molesters. That is much better.
    tinfoilhat much?
  1. Zillis's Avatar
    ---

    So basically what Blizzard is saying, is that rather than making a greater effort to moderate the forums themselves, they're going to take away peoples' privacy and hope for the best.

    I don't post on the Blizzard forums myself, but I swear to god this company's decision-making process never ceases to amaze me.

    ---

    this
  1. GrieverXIII's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by ramsesakama View Post
    this
  1. Typhron's Avatar
    From Suzushiiro of Sen'jin

    You know, I almost think that they deliberately posted this on a tuesday when the forums weren't screwed by maintenance for maximum exposure/backlash. Since I guarantee you that the majority of Blizzard is against this and this is primarily being pushed by the Activision half.
    Astute observation is asute.
  1. Randin's Avatar
    GG Blizz...time for people to REALLY think before they say anything when now they can't hide under anyone's skirt
  1. Chenz's Avatar
    In addition, individual topics will be threaded by context, meaning replies to specific posts will be grouped together, making it easier for players to keep track of multiple conversations within a thread.
    Damn, I hate those kinds of forums. It's impossible to follow a discussion when the posts are displayed in a non chronological order. Also, when you come back to a thread after a couple of hours, you might have 1 new post to read on the first page, 3 on page 5 and 2 posts on page 11. It just doesn't work. Or everyone just quotes the first post so that they are displayed as high up as possible, which is also stupid.
  1. jesy's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Zillis View Post
    ---

    So basically what Blizzard is saying, is that rather than making a greater effort to moderate the forums themselves, they're going to take away peoples' privacy and hope for the best.

    I don't post on the Blizzard forums myself, but I swear to god this company's decision-making process never ceases to amaze me.

    ---

    this
    there moderating that thread pretty well, people getting banned like crazy
    http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/th...12374700&sid=1
  1. Lynandra's Avatar
    Well, well... THAT should bring lots of people on MMO Champion, I guess
    You can thank Blizzard, Boub' !
  1. Malorajan's Avatar
    And now I don't care about being permanently banned there.

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