Blizzard Forums Will Soon Display Your Real Name

http://kotaku.com/5580585/blizzard-forums-will-soon-display-your-real-name

What do you think about this? I understand why they are doing it, but I still don't like it. Mostly, I don't like the idea of people being able to keep tabs on my online habits by doing a search of my real name. Not that I plan on using the forums much, but I guess I'll be registering Starcraft II under a pseudonym.

I don't really care, doesn't bother me, I for one consider that being on the internet = lack of privacy. Having at least a few hundred posts on GS will make your name go up on google as the first link and after that it links pretty much every website/forum that you have an account on or people that just have the same user name. Keeping the internet to browsing, e-mail and specific websites retains your privacy, more or less, but actively participating on forums, using popular websites, playing popular games, there's no privacy there.

Yeah the whole reason we have avatars is because we don't want people to know the real person and now blizzard is forcing it out there.

I don't really care, doesn't bother me, I for one consider that being on the internet = lack of privacy. Having at least a few hundred posts on GS will make your name go up on google as the first link and after that it links pretty much every website/forum that you have an account on or people that just have the same user name.

DanielDust

Um, can't you just input a fake name initially? That's what I always do...

I don't really care, doesn't bother me, I for one consider that being on the internet = lack of privacy. Having at least a few hundred posts on GS will make your name go up on google as the first link and after that it links pretty much every website/forum that you have an account on or people that just have the same user name. Keeping the internet to browsing, e-mail and specific websites retains your privacy, more or less, but actively participating on forums, using popular websites, playing popular games, there's no privacy there.

DanielDust

Um, can't you just input a fake name initially? That's what I always do...

Esoteric

Yeah the whole reason we have avatars is because we don't want people to know the real person and now blizzard is forcing it out there.

Empirefrtw

Your name has to match your credit card doesn't it? I think thats gonna force people to not use fake names.

Your name has to match your credit card doesn't it? I think thats gonna force people to not use fake names.

Prexxus

Displaying your real name should be a choice not a prerequisite. I'm not understanding the current Blizzard thinking, honestly, you guys literally just gave open public tickets for stalkers. Who thought this was a good idea at Blizzard?

No but I am playing in a game that simulates another world and *insert my name here* doesn't exist in that world and I don't know anyone on the forums well enough to give them my real name in fact only two people that I have ever met online have I given them my real name.

I have been permanently banned TWICE on the same account on their forums anyway so HAH!

It's total BS and I sure as hell won't be posting on the forums like that. Maybe it's their way of reducing the amount of traffic they get on the forums and the amount of moderators they need. Whatever the case, there's no need to encourage this encroachment of privacy. You might say, 'it's just for the forums and you don't have to post', well who the hell knows where they'll do it next. It would be better to post the player's account name instead, to limit the amount of alt trolls.

I have been permanently banned TWICE on the same account on their forums anyway so HAH!

xWoW_Rougex

i don't know what blizzard is trying to do with this tbh. i think if this goes through then only the most fanatic of blizzard fans will be posting on the official forums.Kh1ndjal

Thats exactly what they want.

[QUOTE="xWoW_Rougex"]

I have been permanently banned TWICE on the same account on their forums anyway so HAH!

Crimsader

Your forum account is bound to your account so it's not something you can "by pass".

LOL, I think this is great! Now some of the immature kids won't be posting.

While i dont care that much about it...

I still do see more problems then good things with it.

Good:

*Less trolling O.o

Bad:

*Name harass / Female's geting stalked O.o

*Alot less posts on their forum (i guess this is the goal)

*Easier to get hacked / People to change your password.(all you have to do is "know account name... and name / last name" and you can even call and ask them to change password for you... Unless ofc they change it with this.

Well, Blizzard already lost me when they said we have to register with Battle.net to play Starcraft II and Diablo III. I don't pirate their games, and I don't play them online, why do I have to register an account and have to have an Internet connection in order to play the single player portion of the game? Screw Blizzard, I'm done with their trash, this is the final nail in the coffin.

Well, Blizzard already lost me when they said we have to register with Battle.net to play Starcraft II and Diablo III. I don't pirate their games, and I don't play them online, why do I have to register an account and have to have an Internet connection in order to play the single player portion of the game? Screw Blizzard, I'm done with their trash, this is the final nail in the coffin.

Animatronic64

[QUOTE="Animatronic64"]

Well, Blizzard already lost me when they said we have to register with Battle.net to play Starcraft II and Diablo III. I don't pirate their games, and I don't play them online, why do I have to register an account and have to have an Internet connection in order to play the single player portion of the game? Screw Blizzard, I'm done with their trash, this is the final nail in the coffin.

DanielDust

Real name? You can use a fake/misspelled name to sign up for a credit card or bank account if you want. This isn't going to deter anyone.

You can even go to court and change your legal name for $40.

I don't understand what's the fuss about this. It doesn't bother me at all. I usually give out my name to my friends because I constantly change it where I can.

I don't understand what's the fuss about this. It doesn't bother me at all. I usually give out my name to my friends because I constantly change it where I can.

N30F3N1X

[QUOTE="N30F3N1X"]

I don't understand what's the fuss about this. It doesn't bother me at all. I usually give out my name to my friends because I constantly change it where I can.

OoSuperMarioO

That's already in place.

Squelching a character on the forums already hides all of the accounts' posts.

And trial accounts can't access the forums.

This is stupid, sure you can use a fake name, but it should be a choice regardless.

This may be the worst idea ever. Seriously, what are they thinking? I guess they're assuming that Generation Facebook, who already post every intimate and inanely mundane detail about their lives on the interwebz, won't much care that their privacy is being infringed.

Who needs Big Brother when the kids are giving it away for free?

They might as well include birth dates too and deny any accusations of handing out social security numbers.

Seriously, though, this ruins anonymity -- even if it is a dead concept nowadays with the software available to users.

I think Blizzard are losing the plot. You can't force people to show private details of themselves on a forum. You might as well not have forums at all.

I was on PSN earlier on today, and some guy was talking crap down his mic.. What should Sony do, force players to have their address show in their profile if they use a mic.

Blizzard are idiots.

I see a Steam deja vu.

I guess we can just wait and see.

I see a Steam deja vu.

I guess we can just wait and see.

N30F3N1X

[QUOTE="N30F3N1X"]

I see a Steam deja vu.

I guess we can just wait and see.

StopThePresses

By "Steam deja vu" I mean all the hate that Steam got in the beginning, and all the love that it's receiving now.

People whining about the removal of a layer of anonimity are people who are scared of responsability. Which I usually call kids.

Responsability will force people to play properly as mature as they can, not as trolls who go afk while playing with others without saying anything, trashtalk and harass others, or in general stir some commotion just for fun.

Worrying about personal information leaks is a remote fantasy that people uses to bash Blizzard with no consistency whatsoever. And it shows.

[QUOTE="StopThePresses"]

[QUOTE="N30F3N1X"]

I see a Steam deja vu.

I guess we can just wait and see.

N30F3N1X

By "Steam deja vu" I mean all the hate that Steam got in the beginning, and all the love that it's receiving now.

People whining about the removal of a layer of anonimity are people who are scared of responsability. Which I usually call kids.

Responsability will force people to play properly as mature as they can, not as trolls who go afk while playing with others without saying anything, trashtalk and harass others, or in general stir some commotion just for fun.

Worrying about personal information leaks is a remote fantasy that people uses to bash Blizzard with no consistency whatsoever. And it shows.

[QUOTE="StopThePresses"]

[QUOTE="N30F3N1X"]

I see a Steam deja vu.

I guess we can just wait and see.

N30F3N1X

By "Steam deja vu" I mean all the hate that Steam got in the beginning, and all the love that it's receiving now.

People whining about the removal of a layer of anonimity are people who are scared of responsability. Which I usually call kids.

Responsability will force people to play properly as mature as they can, not as trolls who go afk while playing with others without saying anything, trashtalk and harass others, or in general stir some commotion just for fun.

Worrying about personal information leaks is a remote fantasy that people uses to bash Blizzard with no consistency whatsoever. And it shows.

People have been fired from jobs over things they have said online. In fact, it just happened with that guy who made that video mocking iPhone buyers.

Plenty of people have been stalked over the internet. Hell, I know people that have been stalked over the internet, and we're talking about a game that is obviously going to have a lot of minors playing as well. The simple solution is for Blizzard to only allow people with a game to create a forum account (which I thought they already did), and then just ban a CD key from the forums if someone gets out of hand. I don't understand why this is necessary at all. Maybe they just want most people to either register with fake names and / or to not bother with their forums at all, because that seems like that is what the inevitable result is going to be.

Oh, and, supposing we really were talking about the game itself, let's not forget about crazies like this.

Like i said before. I dont care there are probably 1000+ people on the internet that i have given out my name to. But oh well. On another note. If you play on the NA servers then you cant change name (not sure how it is in EU) without sending in legal documents that you have changed your name to that. In other words you cant change your name :P

Like i said before. I dont care there are probably 1000+ people on the internet that i have given out my name to. But oh well. On another note. If you play on the NA servers then you cant change name (not sure how it is in EU) without sending in legal documents that you have changed your name to that. In other words you cant change your name :P

KalDurenik

I think everyone should just register as "John Smith." That would be pretty funny. What are they going to do, ask everyone to submit identification to prove they are really a John Smith? :lol:

(By the way, what's your name? :P )

Honestly i dont care. I feel sorry for girls or people with not so unique names.

But after looking at their forum and in US there is a 860 something pages big topic about this. Im going to be shocked if blizzard decide to keep it around.

However: I knew it would endup with dumb and stupid things when Activison is pulling the strings.

doesn't bother me either

It looks like Activision and Blizzard have a very big dose of egg on their faces over this real id rubbish. A community mod the other day posted his real name in a forum post to demonstrate how people's fears are totally unfounded (anyone see where this is going ?) Needless to say within 20 minutes they knew more about the community mod than he knew about himself. By the end of the day people knew his address, phone number, age, preferences, the name of his wife, the name of the guy they were renting a room too and they even knew the school his kids went too along with photos of his house thanks to google map view.

As you can imagine this scared the hell out of Blizzard and they have now dumped the real id name :-

http://www.incgamers.com/News/23914/blizzard-buckles-on-real-id

All I can think to say is Blizzard must be full of plonkers for even thinking the real id thing was a good idea in the first place.