Real ID comes to WoW

[Simond]

 

WoW Players: "Hey, does this mean that bluenames are going to give out their RL names too?"
Bashiok: "Sure. In fact, I am so certain that this is a non-issue that I'm going to tell you my RL name is Micah Whipple"
WoW Players: "*About 30 seconds later* This Micah Whipple? *Lists his address, phone number, family members, Facebook, a whole bunch of other personal details*"

[proudft]

Someone dug up some traffic infractions on the guy too (lapsed registration).  That was fast.

[kildorn]

WoW Players: "Hey, does this mean that bluenames are going to give out their RL names too?"
Bashiok: "Sure. In fact, I am so certain that this is a non-issue that I'm going to tell you my RL name is Micah Whipple"
WoW Players: "*About 30 seconds later* This Micah Whipple? *Lists his address, phone number, family members, Facebook, a whole bunch of other personal details*"

I like that they got the wrong dude apparently to start, which brings up the interesting idea of some random dude getting hate mail/email over a ninja on a raid for a game he doesn't even play.

[caladein]

I'm guessing at the very least they'll probably back the tech support forums out from this policy, but given the response to the official forum post it may be back to the drawing board entirely.

You've been able to just email Support directly so I don't see why there's a Tech Support forum at all at this point.

[Ingmar]

I'm guessing at the very least they'll probably back the tech support forums out from this policy, but given the response to the official forum post it may be back to the drawing board entirely.

You've been able to just email Support directly so I don't see why there's a Tech Support forum at all at this point.

Being able to search through for other people who had your same problem is a pretty massive advantage over waiting for some busy IT dude to reply to your message.

[kildorn]

For those of us with Comcast, the tech support forums are also used to get our point across when the routing gets all fucked up per usual. It's actually a pretty useful forum because there's usually a tech support dude trolling it.

[Simond]

I think the funniest thing will be the inevitable lawsuits* and watching whoever's pet project this is keep twisting and turning trying to find loopholes to keep RealID alive. I'm betting it's the same person who came up with the integrated voice chat and the retard rocks.  

*As a layman who has to do yearly training on the Data Protection Act, it's very possible that it will break that particular UK law purely by existing.

[proudft]

Maybe it's the guy who invented arenas!   

[kildorn]

I think the funniest thing will be the inevitable lawsuits* and watching whoever's pet project this is keep twisting and turning trying to find loopholes to keep RealID alive. I'm betting it's the same person who came up with the integrated voice chat and the retard rocks.  

summoning stones, or lock shards? Because one of those was awesome at the time.

If you were going for "keeping shitty idea alive", I'd have gone with end of TBC/early wrath Arena. Someone did a lot of stupid stupid shit to try and make sure people played arenas and tried to make it an esport.

[Fabricated]

This is the retarded baby of some dumb executive who saw a CNN story about "The Facebook" being popular and decided that WoW better get in on this "social network craze" to remain relevant.

[kildorn]

This is the retarded baby of some dumb executive who saw a CNN story about "The Facebook" being popular and decided that WoW better get in on this "social network craze" to remain relevant.

I find the idea of an executive being terrified of WOW becoming irrelevant to be hilarious.

[Fordel]

God damn facebook.

[LK]

I feel like an idiot every time I try to come up with a competent opinion on this subject.

I just want to watch it happen and see what the outcome is, popcorn in hand.

[Fabricated]

This is the retarded baby of some dumb executive who saw a CNN story about "The Facebook" being popular and decided that WoW better get in on this "social network craze" to remain relevant.

I find the idea of an executive being terrified of WOW becoming irrelevant to be hilarious.

I guarantee that's it. Some executive is looking at subscriber numbers and saying, "What's up with the numbers? I mean, it's been at 12 million for nearly a year! In the previous years subscribers increased by blah-blah-blah percent!" while not understanding that that a single-digit percentage of those total subs would make any other MMO a ROUSING success.

[Musashi]

I just saw this.  Fuck.

This is really stupid.

[Merusk]

Here I thought the next boneheaded move they were going to make was ramming Real I.D. down everyone's throats by making it mandatory.  Way to raise the bar and show how you're the industry leader by surpassing all expectations, bozos.

I, too, blame this as the brain-fart of an executive who only has a passing knowledge of this 'internet thing' they're making shitloads of money off of.

[Lantyssa]

Bobby Kotick?

[Selby]

I like having a name that doesn't pop up on Google or any other search engines.  Doesn't mean I want anyone knowing it.  Only 2 people on these forums know it, and no one anywhere else on forums I post or sites I frequent does.  All my WoW friends are bugging me to add them to their RealID and I say a resounding "NO."

[Merusk]

Yeah, my name is my professional I.D.  There's a reason I've used a pseudonym for years. I'm not in IT, Game Dev or any of the electronic medias where this kind of hobby is accepted and normal.   Nobody wants to hire an Architect who plays fantasy video games in his downtime.  I imagine the same is true of Lawyers, CPAs and Engineers. 

Hell, if I Google you and your armory/ wow info pops up before your professional page, you're pretty much out of the running for anything, ever.   This is not an uncommon sentiment if you recall the anecdote Trippy related last year.   Yeah, one guy and all but it's not an uncommon sentiment among those over 45 who also happen to hold the purse strings.

[MisterNoisy]

There are times I'm glad I have about the world's most pedestrian/common name(s).

[Selby]

I imagine the same is true of Lawyers, CPAs and Engineers.

Yup.  My 50 year old boss and 50-60 year old co-workers don't understand this and I sure as hell am not going to try and explain it.  Only one person at work knows, and he guessed because he is 28 and says a lot of other people at work in other departments play it.

[Sjofn]

I dunno about putting "engineers" in there. Depends on the kind of engineer. My sister's circle of mechanical engineer friends is packed to the gills with dorky gamers. 

[Evil Elvis]

http://wowriot.gameriot.com/blogs/Americans-are-bad-at-games/Real-Names-on-the-Official-Forums-New-REAL-ID-function?gr_i_ni

 

[Musashi]

I think Kotick needs to get acquainted with your friendly neighborhood personal army.

[Hawkbit]

I've been trying to think of ways to not go back to WoW when the xpac hits.  I just found it. 

I'm not going to go all *RABBLE RABBLE* or anything, just that this doesn't sit well with me personally from a privacy standpoint.  I was on the fence about SC2 as well, and now I don't have to make that decision either. 

I understand that most people can be found regardless if one does enough searching.  But I don't understand why Blizzard wants to put it right out there.  It's just mind boggling.  W/e.

[Rasix]

I was on the fence about SC2 as well, and now I don't have to make that decision either.  

They've said they're removing Real ID for adding friends in SC2.  It's an account name + random 3 digit number as an identifier to add someone.  So, to add me you'd just need to know "Rasix.001" or some nonsense.  I don't see why they can't just do unique names. If someone snags your name, just add a fucking "1" or "X" or whatever.

[Vision]

http://wowriot.gameriot.com/blogs/Americans-are-bad-at-games/Real-Names-on-the-Official-Forums-New-REAL-ID-function?gr_i_ni

 

Funniest thing I've read in a loooooong time......albeit a little sad.

[caladein]

I was on the fence about SC2 as well, and now I don't have to make that decision either.  

They've said they're removing Real ID for adding friends in SC2.  It's an account name + random 3 digit number as an identifier to add someone.  So, to add me you'd just need to know "Rasix.001" or some nonsense.  I don't see why they can't just do unique names. If someone snags your name, just add a fucking "1" or "X" or whatever.

Huh?  I actually liked the original SC2 model (which is now the WoW model) of Real ID friends and Profile-only friends.

[Rasix]

I was mistaken.  They're keeping Real ID, but they're adding an actual functional way to profile friends.  During the last phase you could only add someone if you were in the same game through an invite and right clicked their portrait.  Which pretty much made it impossible to just add people without some odd coordination.  

So yah, it's Real ID + what I outlined above.  It's just replacing the account identifier with a 3 digit number.   Which, IMO, makes Real ID somewhat of a non issue in SC2.  Well, unless you post on the forums.    The SC2 community, however, has a lot of forums already in use outside of battle.net.

We'll see how well it works once beta comes back up.  COME BACK UP, BETA.

[caladein]

I was mistaken.  They're keeping Real ID, but they're adding an actual functional way to profile friends.  During the last phase you could only add someone if you were in the same game through an invite and right clicked their portrait.  Which pretty much made it impossible to just add people without some odd coordination. 

Shows how good a Beta tester I was/am .

[Stabs]

In the spirit of Caylem Burroughs
http://www.somethingawful.com/d/art-of-warcraft/epic-mounts-love.php

I'm looking forward enormously to making a new WoW account for Cataclysm with the purpose of begging gold from people I meet.  After all who wouldn't give generously to someone who's real name is Megan Fox? It's not as if anyone could simply buy a game card with cash then type whatever name they choose, it's a RealID, it says "real" in the name so it must be real.

[apocrypha]

This is just a way for them to downsize their forum moderaters. Number of posts per day after this change goes through will be a fraction of a % of the current number, which means 90% staff cuts from the mods. And after all their real names, addresses, phone numbers, employment histories and family members have been made public those 90% won't mind all that much to be losing those particular jobs.

[Ingmar]

This is just a way for them to downsize their forum moderaters. Number of posts per day after this change goes through will be a fraction of a % of the current number, which means 90% staff cuts from the mods. And after all their real names, addresses, phone numbers, employment histories and family members have been made public those 90% won't mind all that much to be losing those particular jobs.

I've been thinking about this and I actually don't think this will let them downsize their mod group. If anything it will mean they're going to have to moderate much more closely, I suspect, in order to screen for kids posting on a parent's account, racial slurs now that people's ethnicity will be at least somewhat apparent (particularly anti-Asian ones, as that particular prejudice seems to run deep in the WoW player base), etc. It will be easier if traffic is driven down, certainly, but I don't think they will be using less people to do it.

[Simond]

Especially as you don't need to sign in to read the forums, only to post there. 

[Ratman_tf]

Yeah, my name is my professional I.D.  There's a reason I've used a pseudonym for years. I'm not in IT, Game Dev or any of the electronic medias where this kind of hobby is accepted and normal. 

Often people in the biz consider WoW to be a strike against a prospective employee. I know at least one QA manager who does.