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. Traeumerin's Avatar
    Time to quit wow...
  1. mmoc24ed1da916's Avatar
    Yeah, uhm. No.
  1. Ragnarocket's Avatar
    I do not like this idea
  1. Kaneiac's Avatar
    Wow, can't even post on the forums without everyone seeing your first and last name?

    Great. What the fuck is the point of this?

    I can see the benefits with it stopping people from being anonymous assholes, to an extent, but with our privacy gone?
  1. Ssateneth's Avatar
    The people whining about this are typically trolls hiding behind some anonymous name. I for one am for this.
  1. Vevilair's Avatar
    If you don't like it, don't troll or don't post.
  1. Wells's Avatar
    I too enjoy giving away personal information on the net.
  1. -Ethos-'s Avatar
    This seems like a terrible idea
  1. Asheli's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Ragnarocket View Post
    I do not like this idea
    The ones who don't like this idea like to flame others and start heated discussions and just generally insult people. There are good and bad things about this, clearly. But i believe it will tone down all the negativity that's floating around the wow-europe.com-forums
  1. Pitchkart's Avatar
    Another reason Blizz should allow you to designate a nickname on your RealID, instead of letting everyone and their grandma, now, see your full name.
  1. fendrix's Avatar
    Good thing I didn't use my real name for my Battle.net account
  1. Korialstrazs's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Ragnarocket View Post
    I do not like this idea
    Hahahaha

    I find this extremely amusing. They actually tried to find a way to solve the crap that happens on blizz official forums. I can't believe it.
  1. coolrunner_8's Avatar
    goodbye forum trolls !
  1. Wells's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Ssateneth View Post
    The people whining about this are typically trolls hiding behind some anonymous name. I for one am for this.
    CLEARLY we could have no other reason to not want our private information public.
  1. mechleader's Avatar
    I don't even use the forums, but personally I don't care. It's just a little weird :P
  1. Throrik's Avatar
    An excellent change to raise the quality of posts on the forums. I for one do not care that my real name will be posted, there are probably hundreds of people with my name.
  1. AtotheJ's Avatar
    not enough rage.
  1. areoborg's Avatar
    Making all of our information public. What could possibly go wrong?
  1. mmoc24ed1da916's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Asheli View Post
    The ones who don't like this idea like to flame others and start heated discussions and just generally insult people. There are good and bad things about this, clearly. But i believe it will tone down all the negativity that's floating around the wow-europe.com-forums
    I don't ever post on WoW forums and I think this idea is completely "lolwut"
  1. Zakamutt's Avatar
    You know, a great part of the relationship-building for some was the anonymity associated, since the price of failure isn't as high (you can /logout wow, if you /logout RL then yeah).

    I guess all the trolls will migrate to mmo-champ and others now :f

Site Navigation