Real Names on Official Forums - Cancelled
Originally Posted by Nethaera (Blue Tracker)
Hello everyone,

I'd like to take some time to speak with all of you regarding our desire to make the Blizzard forums a better place for players to discuss our games. We've been constantly monitoring the feedback you've given us, as well as internally discussing your concerns about the use of real names on our forums. As a result of those discussions, we've decided at this time that real names will not be required for posting on official Blizzard forums.

It's important to note that we still remain committed to improving our forums. Our efforts are driven 100% by the desire to find ways to make our community areas more welcoming for players and encourage more constructive conversations about our games. We will still move forward with new forum features such as conversation threading, the ability to rate posts up or down, improved search functionality, and more. However, when we launch the new StarCraft II forums that include these new features, you will be posting by your StarCraft II Battle.net character name + character code, not your real name. The upgraded World of Warcraft forums with these new features will launch close to the release of Cataclysm, and also will not require your real name.

I want to make sure it's clear that our plans for the forums are completely separate from our plans for the optional in-game Real ID system now live with World of Warcraft and launching soon with StarCraft II. We believe that the powerful communications functionality enabled by Real ID, such as cross-game and cross-realm chat, make Battle.net a great place for players to stay connected to real-life friends and family while playing Blizzard games. And of course, you'll still be able to keep your relationships at the anonymous, character level if you so choose when you communicate with other players in game. Over time, we will continue to evolve Real ID on Battle.net to add new and exciting functionality within our games for players who decide to use the feature.

In closing, I want to point out that our connection with our community has always been and will always be extremely important to us. We strongly believe that Every Voice Matters, ( http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/company/about/mission.html ) and we feel fortunate to have a community that cares so passionately about our games. We will always appreciate the feedback and support of our players, which has been a key to Blizzard's success from the beginning.

Mike Morhaime
CEO & Cofounder
Blizzard Entertainment
This article was originally published in forum thread: Real Names on Official Forums cancelled started by Boubouille View original post
Comments 863 Comments
  1. mmoc8b94713eb4's Avatar
    As a result of those discussions, we've decided at this time that real names will not be required for posting on official Blizzard forums.
    "We have no plans to..." Heard that before.

    Just an easy way to win back the community and wait for a better time (i.e. after the expansion is released).
  1. sicness's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Vook View Post
    Blizzard - 0
    QQers - 1
    Seriously. I was actually hoping they'd go through with it just to shut people up. I could have cared less if it was implemented or not, but them 'giving in' to people whining with BS reasons just annoys me.
  1. Shale's Avatar
    At the end of the day what matters is that they find a way to clean up forums. If RealID wasn't the way to go, let them bring on something else.
  1. mmoc8b94713eb4's Avatar
    As a result of those discussions, we've decided at this time that real names will not be required for posting on official Blizzard forums.
    "We have no plans to..." Heard that before.

    Just an easy way to win back the community and wait for a better time (i.e. after the expansion is released).
  1. mmocb78b025c1c's Avatar
    right decision
  1. Kraftwerk's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Psilo View Post
    Being able to post on official forums without compromising my career...

    That is not QQ.

    Blizz made the right decision.
    Playing World of Warcraft and other Blizzard games compromises your career?
  1. MortalWombat's Avatar
    And the tears of millions with only about 1% of them having a valid reason and the rest just trolling/paranoid/crying to cry drowned blizzard.

    Why don't you guys go back to screaming at Blizzard for not fixing every problem your class has overnight now?

    Hope they don't cave in every time they try to make a big change.
  1. Evilmoo's Avatar
    pwned
  1. neanoa's Avatar
    Casuals win again!

    Seriously though, it's a nice victory for the community and good to see they listened. I've regained some faith in them.
  1. Hubbl3's Avatar
    We... win? I'm really suprised.
  1. mmoc8d1df16656's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Elica View Post
    Too bad, they could at least make players use a unique Alias to get rid of low level trolls.
    That'll come, in time.

    Hopefully troll posts will simply get modded down to invisibility in the meantime. Blizzard should take a look at slashdot moderation system and ask if they can borrow it.

    I really hope all those people who cancelled their accounts stay gone tho. We could definitely do without those kind of overreacters in the game. (Though it is likely they lied about cancelling their account. Please, if they reactivate it, their characters are gone, otherwise their gestures were meaningless)
  1. ahac's Avatar
    Too bad. I guess the forums will still suck. Which reminds me... I need a cool new name for a lvl 1 troll. And ideas?
  1. Hambo's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Kongo View Post
    Maybe there is still hope for Blizzard after all?
    That was like the exact same thing, I was thinking, when reading this news
  1. Zowi's Avatar
    Victory is Ours!
  1. Nitrax's Avatar
    Is this true? Or was it all just a trick to make Blizzard look like they are caring about the community? Is there a spoon? Anyway thats awesome, I had some Paladin healing suggestions but I couldn't take them anywhere because I was boycotting the forums.
  1. Seekzor's Avatar
    People whine if blizzard goes through with this, people whine if blizzard listens to the community, damn you make it hard for them.
  1. Buzzinjoe's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Elica View Post
    Too bad, they could at least make players use a unique Alias to get rid of low level trolls.
    That's what they're doing dumbass. Did you even read the whole Blue post?
  1. louandy2001's Avatar
    good news!!!!!
  1. madethisfor1post's Avatar
    The trolls win 2 times on the same subject.

    OT: Well hopefully we'll be posting on forums under 1 handle now rather than 1 person using 5-10 characters to bump his own "AMG RET IS THE UNDERPOWARD!" threads.
  1. Xenryusho's Avatar
    Thank you! Great choice blizzard... Great choice.


    "character name + character code"
    ^ Since everyone saying trolls are winning please pay attention to this line... Because reading comprehension seems to be a little weak atm.

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