Blizzard Plans to Dox Their Entire Forumbase

Link here

Quote :

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.

Yes, there is no possible way that posting the real names of the people that post on the forum will in any way turn out to be a bad thing; just ask these fine folks.

I'm not a WoW player but this act just stinks to high heaven. If their intent was to get rid of trolls on the forum, I think we all know that's not going to happen. Trolls are everywhere and are very creative (why hello there 4chan!). What it will do, however, is allow even unregistered assholes to view the dox of people they don't like (or just disagree with) and use it to harass them. Just ask the Blizzard employee that willingly posted his real name on the forum; within hours gamers had gotten his address, phone number, relatives names, etc. and used it to pester him so badly that he felt the need to delete his entire Facebook profile.

This means that anyone posting on the official forums for even technical support will be publicly doxed. What the hell was Blizzard thinking?

Aggie wrote:

What the hell was Blizzard thinking?

"We've become unfathomably, obscenely rich off of one product and are poised to do it again off of another. Ladies and gentlemen, we can do whatever the fuck we want."

I've been following this for the last couple days. The word is that this likely has something to do with a possible deal with Facebook, which of course requires real names. Right now, I'm wary; I don't use the forums, but if this goes into the game itself, I don't know what I'm going to do. On the other hand, my more optimistic side is hoping that this whole thing goes the way of Path of the Titans, a feature announced for the next expansion, then abandoned by the roadside.

Yeah, there's no way that someone will abuse that. Nope... not at all.

O.O

One of the big complaints is from women. There's unfortunately a small but vocal segment of the gaming community that goes nuts when it discovers real females in its midst.

Part of the justification at the moment is that the forums are optional, inasmuch as people can play without ever participating or even lurking in the forums. The problem is that, if you're having major technical problems, the fastest solution is to go to the support forum. Emailing or calling support (or opening an in-game ticket if you can get into the game) can take a whole lot longer and often end with "You should go to the forums." It doesn't seem quite as optional then.

Drabbler wrote:

I've been following this for the last couple days. The word is that this likely has something to do with a possible deal with Facebook, which of course requires real names. Right now, I'm wary; I don't use the forums, but if this goes into the game itself, I don't know what I'm going to do. On the other hand, my more optimistic side is hoping that this whole thing goes the way of Path of the Titans, a feature announced for the next expansion, then abandoned by the roadside.

You could just get rid of your little kiddie game and play either FFXI or FFIV.

Is there anything stopping people from using totally bogus first and last names?

Yes, their billing information; also, the fact that you cannot change the information you've already given them.

I really don't know how anybody could think this was a good idea. Seriously, isn't "don't give your real name out to strangers" one of the first internet-safety rules they teach kids?

UPDATE: Blizzard has changed its mind, and this is NOT going through.

Drabbler wrote:

UPDATE: Blizzard has changed its mind, and this is NOT going through.

Something tells me someone in their accounting department finally got around to showing just how much money they stood to lose (both in cancellations and bad press).

I expect the example of the martyr Micah Whipple had something to do with the decision being reversed. Hilariously enough, they first tried to claim that people were harassing the wrong Micah Whipple (which in their minds somehow made everything better), but later admitted that yeah, it was the same guy.