TheCoreWithin

Note: I hate the Idea of Real ID, I hate the implementation and all what it stands for. But in it's privacy destroying fury, blizzard went further than I feared:

http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/185 ... ial-Forums
http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/07/0 ... ial-Forums

And more:

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2010 ... l-name.ars

I have to agree with you on this one. I'm using it only with people I really know (those know my real name anyway ) at the moment. But using it on forums world wide is an idea I don't like.

So, a blizz employee posted his real name on the forums already to show it is not that bad, this is what happened.

I imagine next, each time you loot something in game, your automatically-blizzard-created-twitter-and-facebook account (if you don't already own one) will get automatically updated! Will be fun.

The armory does that already Ixo:
http://eu.wowarmory.com/character-sheet ... n&cn=Ixora

I know, but the link to twitter and facebook is still in development. At least for the ones that do not have a twitter&fb account (like me) Blizzard still did not manage to automatically create one for and populate it with my personal pictures and one-liners of wisdom.

In my line of work a name is nearly all I need to trace someone, and you can "buy" information some of which is really scary.

I for one dont want my name plasterd on public forums where a lot of idiots post.

As a side note, I have one of my real-life(tm) friends on mine, we did it just to test it.

I trust this person, but having our real names plastered on it was a shock to us both.

MindyMcfly wrote:As a side note, I have one of my real-life(tm) friends on mine, we did it just to test it.

I trust this person, but having our real names plastered on it was a shock to us both.

Same for me. Got only 3 persons in it people I know. And that's as far as I'm planning on going. The idea my real name will be used on forums makes me wonder. If you search enough you will always find some personal information. But posting under a real name makes it very very easy.

Be aware that any addon can find out every string that is displayed in your UI. Including the real names on your friends list. It could broadcast your friends list in trade for example. Or more evil, one could write an addon that broadcast only names of females...

If I were called Paul Smith or Paul Jones, I really wouldn't care. As it is, I tend to refuse to give out my surname, as it's unusual enough that you wouldn't even need my date of birth to locate me.

Blizzard's Updated Terms wrote:Real Life Friends Feature and Identity Disclosure. The Service allows you to disclose your identity to other users of the Service through the “Real Life Friends” feature provided you have opted in to this feature. Certain features, such as the Battle.net Voice Chat Client, are only available between users of the Service who have opted in to the Real Life Friends feature. Real Life Friends can see each other's real name. Your friend will need to approve your request before showing up on your friends list. Please be aware that by sending or accepting a friend request, the real name associated with your account and the character you are logged into will be displayed not only to your friends, but also to all of their Real Life friends. If you are a parent or legal guardian and if you provide your approval to allow your minor child to use your Account, please be aware that your child may opt in to the Real Life Friends Feature and that the real name associated with the Account will be displayed to friends and to all of the friends of friends. You may opt out of the Real Life Friends feature at any time by deleting all Real Life Friends from your Battle.net Account.

*sigh

"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."

I've been a moderator on the biggest Romanian forum for 5 years, and I can say that anonymity does nothing good to the online interaction. I've seen so many retarded f***ed in the head plain dumb crazy motherf***ers that you cannot imagine. The so called clones are a constant nuisance. There is nothing to be done to them because of the dynamic IP. You ban an IP, they will reconnect and get another one, and maybe an innocent will not be able to use the forum

On the other hand, you don't have to request the real "real" name. It's not the anonymity that's the problem, a cretin will be a cretin be it called "Megadeath" or the real name "John Johnson". The important thing is to have the mechanism in place to keep the idiots away. Now this is very easy to do on a forum like Blizzard's where they already know your real name, so yeah, useless decision.

Anyways, the problem is that if you are afraid to give your own name, you already have privacy issues. I google my name and get nothing, so I really have no problem to give my real name

And something they didn't think about. What if someone is african, and his name is Mobutu Sese Seko Nkuku Ngbendu wa Za Banga?

As for facebook, I can understand that. But twitter...

It's been called off. Once in a while a company listens to reason.

http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread.htm ... 9821&sid=1

--G