Battle.net Update: Upcoming Changes to the Official Forums

I think this is a great idea. First your name is not private information. Im in the military and of the limited information that someone who calls looking for me is allowed to get is my rate, rank, where i work and my full legal name. If your worried about what people will see when they google you (if you think your are sooo special they will even care) then maybe you should have been more careful elsewhere also. One fact of the internet is that it WAS NEVER EVER EVER PRIVATE! Nothing you write or say online was ever meant to be private, protected as private or anything unless it was made in a secure space that is under guidelines of a privacy policy, in which case its not searchable. Your name is out there, anytime you enter your name into a web form, write it on an envelope, or fill out a any paper form you take the risk of your name being seen or spread. Until you find some kinda of searchable SSN database its nothing. If a job wont hire you because your post on wow forums then either
(A don't make yourself look like a jackass in your posts, because I WOULD NOT hire someone who posts rude or defamatory or outright prickish posts in any forums because it shows what kind of character you have.
(B Even if all your posts are quality and they don't hire you because they have an anti-wow mentality you probably don't want to work there anyways as someday they might still find out and find some lame reason you fire you, which could make you look bad for a future job. I get teased at work for playing WoW, but i have also met a lot of people I work with who play WoW that i never would have known if I kept my secret hidden.

As for internet stalking, its rare, ya it happens but someone who really wants to stalk you has many more option then just your real name to go on. As long as you protect the rest of your information like address, phone numbers and such on the internet you can post your name everywhere and they wont find you. If your were negligent enough to post a phone number or address in facebook your were already asking for trouble. A name is worthless without amplifying information, if your scared that you have already provided said information on the internet then its your bad and hiding your name on WoW forums wont help you if you are that special person everyone wants to stalk.

I have to hold a security clearance for my job, I know about infosec and opsec. Ive don't the trainings. Trust me, just having your name is only a gateway if you have been dumb enough to allow the more important personal info to already leak onto the web via social networking sites (hey if some friend on facebook really wants your address or phone number ,send them in a private message.

As someone already said, how many telemarketing phone calls do you get a month where they ask for you by name, or junk snail mails with your name (or current resident) on it, how about junk email...your name is out there. Nothing you can do about it. The only issue you can have is that your name is attached to WoW, in which case either dont post and keep your obsession a secret or don't be a dick on the forums.

I've used the forums before for tech. assistance, questions I had on tanking and whatnot. Now I won't be using it all. When Real ID FIRST came out and it was firmly stated that it was intended for real life friends and family--though friends-of-friends could see your name, I thought that was a little strange and pointless, but I wasn't very worried and planned on using it with some real friends/family.

But this...this is totally different. There are other ways to crack down on trolling--doing a blanket affect by removing anonymity for everyone isn't the best way to kill trolling. Anonymity does encourage trolling, but it also protects people. I wouldn't be so worried about revealing my name, but for the following:

I have seen sick, evil comments before by people. They aren't just immature trolling--they are incredibly wrong. I don't want people who'd make sick comments like that knowing my name.

One of the Blue posters, Bashiok, I believe, posted his RL name to show that nothin' bad would happen. Well, I don't see his post anymore and from what I hear, people did find out his--or someone who they think is him--address and facebook and started sending pizzas to him and harassing him. An official Blizzard employee may be more of a target than I am, but what happened to him does not inspire confidence.

I think this is a great idea. First your name is not private information. Im in the military and of the limited information that someone who calls looking for me is allowed to get is my rate, rank, where i work and my full legal name. If your worried about what people will see when they google you (if you think your are sooo special they will even care) then maybe you should have been more careful elsewhere also. One fact of the internet is that it WAS NEVER EVER EVER PRIVATE! Nothing you write or say online was ever meant to be private, protected as private or anything unless it was made in a secure space that is under guidelines of a privacy policy, in which case its not searchable. Your name is out there, anytime you enter your name into a web form, write it on an envelope, or fill out a any paper form you take the risk of your name being seen or spread. Until you find some kinda of searchable SSN database its nothing. If a job wont hire you because your post on wow forums then either
(A don't make yourself look like a jackass in your posts, because I WOULD NOT hire someone who posts rude or defamatory or outright prickish posts in any forums because it shows what kind of character you have.
(B Even if all your posts are quality and they don't hire you because they have an anti-wow mentality you probably don't want to work there anyways as someday they might still find out and find some lame reason you fire you, which could make you look bad for a future job. I get teased at work for playing WoW, but i have also met a lot of people I work with who play WoW that i never would have known if I kept my secret hidden.

As for internet stalking, its rare, ya it happens but someone who really wants to stalk you has many more option then just your real name to go on. As long as you protect the rest of your information like address, phone numbers and such on the internet you can post your name everywhere and they wont find you. If your were negligent enough to post a phone number or address in facebook your were already asking for trouble. A name is worthless without amplifying information, if your scared that you have already provided said information on the internet then its your bad and hiding your name on WoW forums wont help you if you are that special person everyone wants to stalk.

I have to hold a security clearance for my job, I know about infosec and opsec. Ive don't the trainings. Trust me, just having your name is only a gateway if you have been dumb enough to allow the more important personal info to already leak onto the web via social networking sites (hey if some friend on facebook really wants your address or phone number ,send them in a private message.

As someone already said, how many telemarketing phone calls do you get a month where they ask for you by name, or junk snail mails with your name (or current resident) on it, how about junk email...your name is out there. Nothing you can do about it. The only issue you can have is that your name is attached to WoW, in which case either dont post and keep your obsession a secret or don't be a dick on the forums.

Yep. You got me. It was all a scheme to stroke my ego. Or something. What?

Anyway, I don't support the RealID thing but I'm not against it either. Tried to help and people weren't interested in participating with an experiment!

Originally Posted by Brennen

I think this is a great idea. First your name is not private information. Im in the military and of the limited information that someone who calls looking for me is allowed to get is my rate, rank, where i work and my full legal name. If your worried about what people will see when they google you (if you think your are sooo special they will even care) then maybe you should have been more careful elsewhere also. One fact of the internet is that it WAS NEVER EVER EVER PRIVATE! Nothing you write or say online was ever meant to be private, protected as private or anything unless it was made in a secure space that is under guidelines of a privacy policy, in which case its not searchable. Your name is out there, anytime you enter your name into a web form, write it on an envelope, or fill out a any paper form you take the risk of your name being seen or spread. Until you find some kinda of searchable SSN database its nothing. If a job wont hire you because your post on wow forums then either
(A don't make yourself look like a jackass in your posts, because I WOULD NOT hire someone who posts rude or defamatory or outright prickish posts in any forums because it shows what kind of character you have.
(B Even if all your posts are quality and they don't hire you because they have an anti-wow mentality you probably don't want to work there anyways as someday they might still find out and find some lame reason you fire you, which could make you look bad for a future job. I get teased at work for playing WoW, but i have also met a lot of people I work with who play WoW that i never would have known if I kept my secret hidden.

As for internet stalking, its rare, ya it happens but someone who really wants to stalk you has many more option then just your real name to go on. As long as you protect the rest of your information like address, phone numbers and such on the internet you can post your name everywhere and they wont find you. If your were negligent enough to post a phone number or address in facebook your were already asking for trouble. A name is worthless without amplifying information, if your scared that you have already provided said information on the internet then its your bad and hiding your name on WoW forums wont help you if you are that special person everyone wants to stalk.

I have to hold a security clearance for my job, I know about infosec and opsec. Ive don't the trainings. Trust me, just having your name is only a gateway if you have been dumb enough to allow the more important personal info to already leak onto the web via social networking sites (hey if some friend on facebook really wants your address or phone number ,send them in a private message.

As someone already said, how many telemarketing phone calls do you get a month where they ask for you by name, or junk snail mails with your name (or current resident) on it, how about junk email...your name is out there. Nothing you can do about it. The only issue you can have is that your name is attached to WoW, in which case either dont post and keep your obsession a secret or don't be a dick on the forums.

Wouldn't be an issue to begin with if Blizzard were to use the unique gamertags from the Battle.net id system rather than the RealID. This RealID bs they're cramming down peoples throats on the forums is just a marketing scheme, and has nothing to do with bettering their community.

People are just upset because Blizzard is giving them virtually no options when it comes to posting on the official forums. Obviously for some they don't care if their first and last name is thrown out there on the internet, because they have nothing to hide or fear from anyone else. Fact is though that their are people who like their privacy and don't feel it is necessary to post with their first and last name to have a discussion about a fantasy game.

If the change goes live, I will not be quitting WoW. I will, however, never post on their forums again. Soo... Hi Mmo!

After the huge outcry over this, surely they'll rethink their idea and come up with a less invasive approach to handling trolls.

This is what Activision has been set out to do with all games get as much money as the can out of it and then trow it away i knew this would happend the day i heard that they took in blizzard, Blizzard is not the frist company to fall at the hands of Activision and most centrality not the last

this isnt about reducing the amount of trolls on the forums, its all about money and free advertising via facebook-forum connectivity. do you really think they are forcing this upon a community that doesnt want it, if it wasnt for the potential money gain in the future ? if you think facebook represents that future, it is just pure logic to integrate this into the biggest mainstream game of all time.(and all other blizz games)

i personally never used any of those "social networks", because i knew it would end just this way. you give up your privacy and expose information about yourself to the whole world that can be used against you, or just for financial gain via advertising and profiling.

blizzard WILL lose a lot of customers if they hammer this change through... but in the long run it could still mean a huge profit... this is either a huge win or total loss situation, basically they are gambling.

Originally Posted by Thunderlight

This change is fine with me. I've never posted on the forums, but if i ever have to... I'll post it, wether my name is on it or not is irrelevant. Infact, this should bring up some responsability to the posters, improving the quality of threads and the community itself.

The funny part is it won't. For the majority of people their name is not a unique enough identifier to be able to tell who they are, and there's also only a direct link between your character and your real identity if you choose to show your character name. Obviously what you post can also provide clues to your identity, much like many people here have their characters in their signature, or of course they can narrow things down a lot if you're posting a guild recruitment message. There's also less obvious clues like seeing what realm forums you're posting on, what class and role forums you're active in, etc.

In any case, a lot of people even when posting on their real name will still be mostly anonymous to the world at large. They'd be much more likely to make people post more responsibly by simply making it clear what other characters they have. That'd still be open to people buying an account specifically to post anonymously, but I somehow suspect that'll be a very small amount of people. I should also note that registering a new battle.net account solely for posting is also pretty easy, as I could easily make one right now under the name Inco Gnito.

Again I see multiple people complaining about this Real ID while at the same time admitting they have other sites with their real life information on it. This makes no sense. If you were truly concerned about someone not liking something you say or do and then using your real information to harm you, then why are you exposing your name to the internet at all? I'm not sure if anyone is aware of this, but facebook, youtube, ebay, and other social media places get a lot more traffic than the WoW forums.

If you complain about this change and you have your real information on any sites like those then it exposes you for just being a chicken little. If you were being honest about trying to preserve your privacy on the internet, then you would have made a bnet account with a fake name and you would be using pre-paid cards.

This doesn't mean I would do what blizzard is doing, but I find it hilarious at the number of people who are suddenly worried about stalkers and rapists finding them while admitting that they've been broadcasting their real life information on the internet for years already on other sites.

I don't know if someone already said that, but there's a petition online against this idiocy. Can't write the link myself :|

Guys If you haven't spotted it on MMO champion there has been a blue post on the EU forums over this in the last 1/2 hour ofcourse I would share the link with you but your forums do not allow me so I shall tell you. Its the offical sticky thread, page 642 post 12836

Originally Posted by Venjin

Let's have your first and last name then please? If you, and everyone else who likes this change, aren't against it for whatever reason, then please start posting with your real name on every site you visit and post, including this one.

Or...you could just not post on the one single website that does ask for it, and keep posting on all of the other websites that don't.

Psst; guize - no one gives a shit about your real name. How many people do you think have the exact same combination of Frist and Last name in the world? Google it. If you're unique, sure, I understand - most aren't, so who cares?

Seems like Penny Arcade has something to say about this as well,

In case if somebody still have not checked the oh-so-important-blue-post on the EU forum:

"We want to acknowledge that within this thread there remains a lot of unanswered but important questions and some very valid concerns that we have not yet been able to address. We want you to know that we are still listening and still gathering your feedback and taking it into consideration. We are not, in any way, ignoring your concerns, your questions and your feedback; in fact it is quite the opposite. Your feedback has been delivered to the people who need to see it, and it continues to be delivered.

Some in this thread have claimed that though it seems Community team members like myself are showing that we are listening and we are caring about the concerns, there are still doubts that those above us may feel the same way. I want to take a moment to clarify that this isn't actually the case. Though it can be a fine line at times to write in the forums both as an individual representative and also on behalf of the company, it needs to be made clear that the company as a whole is listening and that we do, as a company, care very much for your concerns and we are taking them on board.

We're listening, we're working through the feedback, and we're discussing it internally. When we do have more answers, updates or information to give about this announcement and about our internal discussions, we will be certain to update you here in the forums. In the meantime, please continue to provide your feedback as it is not in vain and we are taking it into account.

Thanks very much for being patient with us while we work through the process of gathering, delivering and discussing the feedback, questions and concerns you've been posting in this thread. We greatly appreciate that you have been, and continue to be, engaging with us here and expressing yourself with patience and admirable candour." - Wryxian

The punchline for all four paragraphs: Yeah, whatever. I find these words by a Blizzard employee to be empty.

Once again today another member of our guild has been hacked. Since battlenet's introduction we have been steadily increasing the amount of times we get hacked per month. At this time someone in the guild is getting hacked at the rate of once a week. Are other folks experiencing this as well. We have had at least 2 hackings now that were where a person had closed one of the accounts on battlenet and after being hacked reopened that account to find that it also had been hacked and that the hacker had had control of a CLOSED account for at least a week or more. (from achievements/pvp points done during closure) When blizz was asked about it they claimed the account had not been reopened since it was closed by anyone and it wasn't reopened until the person hacked reopened it AFTER the original account hacking? It appears they somehow got into the system and reopened the account long enough to create several alts on different servers wipe everything including some guild bank items, advertise on bots gold spamming sites, play a little pvp, all while blizz said the account was closed.

And they want us to gleefully give them our real id's?

lolwoot

Yay a whole new breed of identity theft has been born.