Warcraft Real ID Feature

[verden]

Don't know if anyone has been paying attention to this. I am kind of interested in what everyone here thinks about this. The change amount to the fact that the user's real name will be used on their forums going forward. You have to register the Battle.net account to your credit card and they intend to publish real names to the forum only. No more aliases. This is to cut down on trolling.

The first and most significant change is that in the near future, anyone posting or replying to a post on official Blizzard forums will be doing so using their Real ID -- that is, their real-life first and last name -- with the option to also display the name of their primary in-game character alongside it. These changes will go into effect on all StarCraft II forums with the launch of the new community site prior to the July 27 release of the game, with the World of Warcraft site and forums following suit near the launch of Cataclysm. The classic Battle.net forums, including those for Diablo II and Warcraft III, will be moving to a new legacy forum section with the release of the StarCraft II community site and at that time will also transition to using Real ID for posting.

The official forums have always been a great place to discuss the latest info on our games, offer ideas and suggestions, and share experiences with other players -- however, the forums have also earned a reputation as a place where flame wars, trolling, and other unpleasantness run wild. Removing the veil of anonymity typical to online dialogue will contribute to a more positive forum environment, promote constructive conversations, and connect the Blizzard community in ways they haven’t been connected before. With this change, you’ll see blue posters (i.e. Blizzard employees) posting by their real first and last names on our forums as well.

[Illysia]

You mean they actually did this? Somebody quick link that comic strip from "The Noob" that covers this!

[Suno_Regin]

You know, I was just complaining about this to my friends a few minutes ago. We hate the feature (me actually being a WoW player and an avid forum-goer). I hate that they force this kind of crap on the players without their consent. I don't like everybody knowing my real name or any of my information unless I trust them.

[Illysia]

Sounds like an effective way of cutting down on forum activity and thus trolling... You mean they are honest to goodness doing this? I still can't believe it. Sounds like a heart attack gag.

[Sarras Volcae]

i would still troll. i do it irl. why not the internet? 

[Akkaido Kivikar]

Tbh people will just do for this what Pizik did for facebook.

[Sarras Volcae]

WOW isn't free though. you have to pay to use the forum for each account, i believe

[Suno_Regin]

WOW isn't free though. you have to pay to use the forum for each account, i believe

$15 bucks a month to play the game. This comes with forum access.

[Akkaido Kivikar]

My point was that they won't use their real name when signing up.

[Illysia]

Some will invariably get through but they will probably sanction suspicious accounts. Mind you, it makes me feel sorry for people with unusual names though.  L. Ima Bean may have troubles unfortunately.

[verden]

The thing about using fake names doesn't seem to practical. Unless you don't care about being able to assert ownership to the account in case you forget a password, or have other troubles. Generally you wouldn't tie a fake name to something you were actually paying for. Its going to be interesting to see how this plays out.

[One and only tanner]

im liking it tbh it now means i don't have to add all my mates alts onto the friends list of all my alts in order to be able to talk to them.

[LigH]

Oh. My. Gosh.

Another internet service provider the German Government will object to due to breaking german laws of data protection and privacy rights.

Hooray - Germany is going to ban World of Warcraft!

[Rigwyn]

Seems one of their boys slapped up his real name on their forum just to see what would happen.
Was not long before his personal details ( and some info about his family members ) was made public...

Ouch..

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

[neko kyouran]

legal ramifications aside, you'd think common sense would tell them that it was a bad idea. 

especially after their in game realid system has gaping security holes in it:  http://www.wow.com/2010/07/06/security-flaw-allows-addons-to-expose-full-real-life-names-witho/