Real ID comes to WoW

[Musashi]

We won.  For now.

[sickrubik]

I'm happy that they changed their mind, even though I was more apathetic about the change than others. Additionally, I still don't think this was Activision, but just Blizzard making a misstep. There's still been no indication that battle.net or RealID was going to be showing up in Activision properties, and they can't seem to keep anything under wraps.

[Paelos]

We won.  For now.

"He promised you order, he promised you peace, and all he demanded in return was your silent, obedient consent. Last night I sought to end that silence."

[Rendakor]

That's really good to hear.

[Simond]

We won.  For now.

And all it took was threadnoughts on the official forums, every single mmo blog bar about two saying "This is a fucking terrible idea", the mass media, a Penny Arcade comic, and the destruction of one CS minion's life.

[Sheepherder]

Let's suppose you're right, and it's not possible to determine whether John Doe who pissed someone in WoW/Warcraft is actually the same John Doe who winds up stalked, beaten up or in a sack floating down the river. But how does it make things any better for the latter John Doe, exactly?

People know where some people live, they should fear for their lives?

[Simond]

You can stop posting now. We won, you lost.

[Nissl]

Now if you could just toggle off RealID in game, appear as a fixed nickname, and disable friends of friends viewing you, I might actually use the system if I resub for the expansion.

[Musashi]

We won.  For now.

And all it took was threadnoughts on the official forums, every single mmo blog bar about two saying "This is a fucking terrible idea", the mass media, a Penny Arcade comic, and the destruction of one CS minion's life.

To be fair, that CS minion brazenly challenged the armpit of the internet and got what he was asking for.  I hope they leave the guy alone now, but what he did was monumentally stupid given what knowledge he must garner about the internet in his day job.

[sickrubik]

I understand what the "internet" was trying to illustrate, but I still think it was a horrible thing to do to the guy. Doubly so if the rumours of him quitting and hiding in a hotel are true.

[koro]

I don't think anything happened to Bashiok job-wise. He's still posting on the forums.

And anyway, the whole announcement read to me as basically a big "You guys may've won for now, but we're still going to be hustling RealID. And now that you babies didn't want to just spread 'em and take it the easy way, we get to do this the slow, insidious, boiling frog way. Enjoy!"

[Sheepherder]

You can stop posting now. We won, you lost.

I don't actually care much about RealID one way or another, since I can't use it to auto-fill the names of my alts in game mail.

[Fabricated]

I understand what the "internet" was trying to illustrate, but I still think it was a horrible thing to do to the guy. Doubly so if the rumours of him quitting and hiding in a hotel are true.

I think people misunderstand the *chans when they do shit like this. It's not some big-minded thing about "protecting anonymity on the net", it's more like, "Lol, looks like some Blizzard employee guy gave the internet his real name since he says that's safe. Hell we have some time to kill, looks like we're ordering some pizzas!"

It's griefing people for the purpose of griefing because that's funny and something to do; the more media/internet culture visible the target is the funnier.

[sickrubik]

I completely understand #chan childishness. That only increases my point, really.

[kildorn]

Well that's a good backpedal. I still think the entire realid system needs some fine tuning, though. I'm not that fond of the friend of a friend thing.

[LK]

I'm glad this is over... until next time, I guess.

[Khaldun]

The key is really the driver behind Real ID. If they stay committed to making World of Warcraft a social network, if they stay fixated on Zynga, then this is just a short-term backing off to save face, and you can fully expect that they'll be spending time over the next few weeks coming up with a slow phasing-in version of the same plan. I can even guess what that might be if they take that approach:

1. Don't say anything about the forums, real names or Real ID for a few months.
2. Offer a special pet for people who opt in to using all the features of Real ID two or so months after Cataclysm goes live.
3. Offer a special mount for people who enable the "Use my real name!" special feature just implemented in Real ID.
4. Offer a special mount plus title for players who get the achievement for 100 Facebook Updates! four months after Cataclysm goes live.
5. Change the General Forum in the official forums to "The Backroom" and create a new "Prestige General" forum for Real-ID enabled players. Blues will only reply to the Prestige General.
6. A year from now, quietly retire "The Backroom".



OR...if this begins a strong push-back inside the company against moving in a social-networking direction, then yeah, maybe the players did just win. We will see.

[sickrubik]

Well that's a good backpedal. I still think the entire realid system needs some fine tuning, though. I'm not that fond of the friend of a friend thing.

No wonder you won't add me. :( We were never friends were we! *sobs*

[Mosesandstick]

"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."

Sounds like they still want it, in a bad way.

[Modern Angel]

Doesn't change anything for me.

[Nevermore]

They may have backed off RealID on their forums (for now?), but they still need to add aliases to the in-game version.  You think maybe the outcry on this might be an indication that yeah, maybe the majority of people might actually value their privacy?

[Musashi]

They need your real name to make it so that your Blizzard persona is subjected to your Facebook.  It's really as simple as that.  As long as I have the option to not do it, and hackers can't see my real name, I'm good.  But I'm still kind of wary that it won't end up like that.

[Arthur_Parker]

You can stop posting now. We won, you lost.

I don't actually care much about RealID one way or another, since I can't use it to auto-fill the names of my alts in game mail.

A couple of pages back you said you were tempted to post your real name, according to you it didn't matter because you didn't do facebook.  Because I'm not a total dick (all of the time), I sent you a private message with your real name and date of birth, did you miss the message or what?  Because from your real name, which was the tricky bit, I easily found facebook pages for your two brothers, one of your sisters and even your Dad.

[Ingmar]

since the in-game RealID always links to character

This is actually not true. You can't see the characters of anyone on the friend of friend list as far as I have been able to figure out.

EDIT: Them backing off is not really that surprising, given the sheer numbers and the fact that I think for once people were actually putting their non-money where their mouth is with a change they didn't like.

[Musashi]

You can stop posting now. We won, you lost.

I don't actually care much about RealID one way or another, since I can't use it to auto-fill the names of my alts in game mail.

A couple of pages back you said you were tempted to post your real name, according to you it didn't matter because you didn't do facebook.  Because I'm not a total dick (all of the time), I sent you a private message with your real name and date of birth, did you miss the message or what?  Because from your real name, which was the tricky bit, I easily found facebook pages for your two brothers, one of your sisters and even your Dad.

Maybe you should give him a call.  Find out for sure.

Also.  Lol pwned.

[tmp]

Wow, they backpedaled!

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=25968987278&sid=1

we've decided at this time that real names will not be required for posting on official Blizzard forums.

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.

Watch it getting rolled out with much less parade a few months down the road. There's not a single word of recognition in that post how the concept itself may be a dubious idea, nor acknowledgment the raised concerns may be warranted.

[Reg]

Even with the backpedaling this episode changes how I feel about Blizzard. I don't trust them anymore. I expect that with future Blizzard games I'll be using phony information to register.

[Sheepherder]

Maybe you should give him a call.  Find out for sure.

Also.  Lol pwned.

He is correct, he doesn't have an address AFAIK, but that might not be hard depending on where he's farming data.

[Arthur_Parker]

I wasn't trying for an address, is the photo I sent of you?

[AutomaticZen]

Unfortunately, Blizzard doesn't understand truly why players play WoW.

[Sheepherder]

I wasn't trying for an address, is the photo I sent of you?

Yes.  Four years old though.

You really should write a book about stalking people online.

[Khaldun]

   Loved that. Possible meme start there. "Someone already killed these Internet Dragons. It is safe."

[Stabs]

I'm so glad we won!

Hurray for Scott Jennings and everyone else who opposed it. Good job, well done!

I genuinely expected people would be murdered as a result of this. I did a little research into people murdered where there is a connection with Facebook and people murdered where there is a connection with WoW. I found about 4 cases where WoW bringing people together resulted in a murder but loads more where Facebook was the catalyst. While I realise Facebook has bigger numbers I think WoW gameplay inherently provides motive, albeit a crap motive that someone should want to hurt another person in real life over a video game. But the key thing about Facebook as a catalyst for murder is that you can track people down easier with Facebook.

[AutomaticZen]

I wasn't trying for an address, is the photo I sent of you?

And how did you find his real name?

I genuinely expected people would be murdered as a result of this. I did a little research into people murdered where there is a connection with Facebook and people murdered where there is a connection with WoW. I found about 4 cases where WoW bringing people together resulted in a murder but loads more where Facebook was the catalyst. While I realise Facebook has bigger numbers I think WoW gameplay inherently provides motive, albeit a crap motive that someone should want to hurt another person in real life over a video game. But the key thing about Facebook as a catalyst for murder is that you can track people down easier with Facebook.

Pretty much.  Dude, if someone wants to stalk and kill you, they will find you, unless you actively make sure to release nothing online.  But most people don't.

[Arthur_Parker]

I wasn't trying for an address, is the photo I sent of you?

Yes.  Four years old though.

You really should write a book about stalking people online.

I was making a point and trying not to be too much of a dick while doing it.  I don't do anything difficult and I also don't think I'm that good at it.  Belated congratulations on the Certificate you got in fifth grade for the essay on how to say "No to Drugs" though.