It is, in fact, even LESS intrusive then the Friend System in the game because the forums are tangential to the game you are actually playing.
Someone doesn't know how Google works, do they?
Someone apparently doesn't know how reading works.
Tell me again, what are they Googling here?
The real name they don't have because you aren't posting on the forums?
Oh, it won't bother me since I won't be using it, that is very true. You are 100% correct about that. You seem to be having some issues with the idea that someone can dislike something even when they can opt out.
But lets say you decide to use it and happily post all day long on the B.NET forums. Sometimes even during some downtime at work.
Any future employer is going to Google you. They have people who do this for a living. They are very good at locating people. They will see that you post constantly on a game forum, worse a forum for a game that is known for it's retarded general population.
They can read all the date/time stamps. They can see you posting during the day, during the work week. Hell, the days you posted you may have had the day off, but the (not so) future employer won't know that. They can just see you posting during work hours.
Hell, imagine if Tube got a bug up his ass and enforced similar rules here tomorrow. Then any future employer could see your 3 pages worth of infractions. That'll look good during the job application process.
And this is just the havoc that could be wrecked with Google. We haven't even mentioned sites for looking up sex offenders, or property value lookup sites. Hell, there are a million examples on Encyclopedia Dramatica of what can happen when someone finds out a name.
And here's where your argument immediately fails.
You don't have to post on the forums. If you don't want people to shit up about you, don't post on the forums.
Solved.
Your complaints are meaningless. It's like bitching about getting kicked in the balls everytime you go into "Joseph Smith's Boutique of Scrotum-Foot Interaction". Maybe you should read the sign.
Except it's not everytime. It's now, after five years.
If there's a restaurant you've enjoyed eating for five years, and suddenly they introduce a ball kicking policy, that would probably frustrate you.
If you can't honestly deduce why this change might upset people, you're awfully dim.
You need to grasp the idea that I totally get that I will not be effected by any of this. I am thinking of general situations in which people who aren't as privacy minded as myself could potentially fuck themselves because of this.
Realize, your entire arguement rests on people being thoughtful and thinking about things before they do something.
This is not something people are known for doing.
And I don't really think that people posting on a forum during their day off is really that unreasonable of an example.
And why should Blizzard give a shit about these people fucking themselves over?
If people want to throw their real name into every corner of the internet, I don't see why it's Blizzard's job to prevent them from doing so.
Being not mandatory doesn't make complaints meaningless.
For most people, particularly people here who don't really post there already, it mostly becomes a "well, now I have even less reason to post". As far as we're concerned, it's a fatal cure, assuming it cures anything.
Also, if I feel like it, I'm going to continue to call a movie shitty even though noone forced me to watch it.
End on
I wish that someway, somehow, that I could save every one of us
Except it's not everytime. It's now, after five years.
If there's a restaurant you've enjoyed eating for five years, and suddenly they introduce a ball kicking policy, that would probably frustrate you.
If you can't honestly deduce why this change might upset people, you're awfully dim.
I know why people don't like it, but it's entirely voluntary.
To use your example, it's like your local restaurant stopped you at the door tomorrow and said "Ok, new policy here. When you walk in, someone is gonna kick you in the nutsack", I would call you an idiot for walking in and then complaining about getting kicked in the balls.
This whole thing is purely opt-in. If you don't like it, don't opt-in.
this realid thing is going to be awesome with stolen accounts
John Smith Posts: Come suk mi dik [fakelink] cluk 2 c mi fuk dawg.
HR Guy where John Smith doing random google search, "holy shit, what the fuck? What the shit?!"
John Smith is now homeless because Blizzard can't keep their penises in their pants. Or, Mr. Kotick is looking to cut down on operation costs and the $40,000 a year it costs to run the forums is another $40,000 that can go in his pockets.
bowen on
not a doctor, not a lawyer, examples I use may not be fully researched so don't take out of context plz, don't @ me
So far as I know, noone here has said, "It's stupid and I'll post anyway"
I think most people are just saying "It's stupid"
The only legitimate complaint about our discussion that I can think of would be that we're in danger of becoming a big echo chamber in here if we go for much longer. :P
End on
I wish that someway, somehow, that I could save every one of us
Haha I knew I'd get a response like this. Lots of men just don't understand. I mean most people who play WoW are fine but there are TONS of guys who, when they find out you are a girl, will go absolutely bonkers and just won't leave you alone. If they found out my pretty unique real name and email adress they would probably spam my facebook and inbox with all sorts of crazy stuff. I guess this is okay because the official forums are sort of a hellhole anyway but if they use it with the armory I'm out of here.
Except it's not everytime. It's now, after five years.
If there's a restaurant you've enjoyed eating for five years, and suddenly they introduce a ball kicking policy, that would probably frustrate you.
If you can't honestly deduce why this change might upset people, you're awfully dim.
I know why people don't like it, but it's entirely voluntary.
To use your example, it's like your local restaurant stopped you at the door tomorrow and said "Ok, new policy here. When you walk in, someone is gonna kick you in the nutsack", I would call you an idiot for walking in and then complaining about getting kicked in the balls.
This whole thing is purely opt-in. If you don't like it, don't opt-in.
I don't like it and I won't.
So you don't think people should complain if their favorite restaurant switches over to a ball-kicking menu? They can just not go, of course, but that doesn't mean they can't be pissed that their favorite restaurant now kicks people in the mean beans for the main course.
Except it's not everytime. It's now, after five years.
If there's a restaurant you've enjoyed eating for five years, and suddenly they introduce a ball kicking policy, that would probably frustrate you.
If you can't honestly deduce why this change might upset people, you're awfully dim.
I know why people don't like it, but it's entirely voluntary.
To use your example, it's like your local restaurant stopped you at the door tomorrow and said "Ok, new policy here. When you walk in, someone is gonna kick you in the nutsack", I would call you an idiot for walking in and then complaining about getting kicked in the balls.
This whole thing is purely opt-in. If you don't like it, don't opt-in.
I don't like it and I won't.
Except absolutely no one is saying that
In fact all the naysayers I've come across have lamented 'well now this change means I can't really post on the forums anymore, and that sucks'
I'd hesitate to even call it an opt-in feature, anyway. Either show your real name, or don't post on the forums. Either opt in to battle.net, or don't play WoW.
That's not opt-in. That's an ultimatum.
Javen on
0
GnomeTankWhat the what?Portland, OregonRegistered Userregular
edited July 2010
The death of anonymity on the internet. As much as there will be growing pains, it can't come soon enough. The positives on peoples attitude, and how they treat online information and persona, will be well worth the pain.
Haha I knew I'd get a response like this. Lots of men just don't understand. I mean most people who play WoW are fine but there are TONS of guys who, when they find out you are a girl, will go absolutely bonkers and just won't leave you alone. If they found out my pretty unique real name and email adress they would probably spam my facebook and inbox with all sorts of crazy stuff. I guess this is okay because the official forums are sort of a hellhole anyway but if they use it with the armory I'm out of here.
Yeah, alot of guys don't realize how the internet can be kind of a hostile place for women. My fiancee constantly gets random Friend Invites over facebook from guys just looking for a hookup. She refuses to use voice chat because any time she has silly goose basement dwellers go all crazy over the fact that a chick is playing a game.
Hell, alot of women role male characters not because (in the case of a lot of guys) they think characters of the opposite sex are 'hot' but because then nobody will suspect they are female.
Personally I'd prefer a username system (completely independent from the email you type to login) in lieu of a real first and last name
Yeah, they did this with City of Heroes' forums when I played, and it worked quite well. Blizzard could do way better by making your Battle.net account the front-facing persona on the forums. It eliminates alt posting (unless someone uses two battle.net accounts, both with valid/active keys for the game forum they're posting on), and doesn't have nearly the privacy implications.
So far as I know, noone here has said, "It's stupid and I'll post anyway"
I think most people are just saying "It's stupid"
The only legitimate complaint about our discussion that I can think of would be that we're in danger of becoming a big echo chamber in here if we go for much longer. :P
"LOL PARANOID, IT'S JUST IN GAME, NOT EVERYWHERE!!!!"
Welp.
(Which isn't far off most of the paranoia involved in the last discussion on RealID)
I was just pointing out that it's still paranoid and this in no way justifies that paranoia.
It's still just an opt-in system. You don't have to participate.
So far as I know, noone here has said, "It's stupid and I'll post anyway"
I think most people are just saying "It's stupid"
The only legitimate complaint about our discussion that I can think of would be that we're in danger of becoming a big echo chamber in here if we go for much longer. :P
"LOL PARANOID, IT'S JUST IN GAME, NOT EVERYWHERE!!!!"
Welp.
(Which isn't far off most of the paranoia involved in the last discussion on RealID)
I was just pointing out that it's still paranoid and this in no way justifies that paranoia.
It's still just an opt-in system. You don't have to participate.
I was actually paraphrasing the people calling everyone paranoid. Reading fail.
I haven't posted on the WoW forums since just before TBC.
It's doable guys.
I have never posted on the Blizzard forums. Not in 5 years, not ever, and will never.
I have read them though.
I haven't even done that.
I only really read the PTR forums back when I was into the PTRs(preBC and BC). I more or less used them to test out classes I was interested in. I remember going into Naxx when it was on the PTR and tanking it. We spent like 2 hours on Patchwerk and gave up.
I've never posted at the official forums, and now I definitely won't.
But with them also changing over to the threaded style, I don't even want to attempt to read them anymore. Seriously, was forum bandwidth costing them that much that they had to make two huge & stupid changes to scare everyone away?
Threaded threads are always a terrible idea. My school uses them for their online classes and they wonder why I don't like to participate(well, that's just one reason).
In the year 2020 Blizzard will eventually rule the world and everyone will use RealID or die.
I've used the armoury on Blizzards site and that's it really.
But I was also introducted late in the game by gamer friends so I was researching classes and dungeons on wowwikki and wowhead before I even started my account.
Gnutson on
Erai - Operative <--Imperial Double Agent--> Sniper - Eari
SW:Tor - Tao - Kryatt Dragon Server
So far as I know, noone here has said, "It's stupid and I'll post anyway"
I think most people are just saying "It's stupid"
The only legitimate complaint about our discussion that I can think of would be that we're in danger of becoming a big echo chamber in here if we go for much longer. :P
"LOL PARANOID, IT'S JUST IN GAME, NOT EVERYWHERE!!!!"
Welp.
(Which isn't far off most of the paranoia involved in the last discussion on RealID)
I was just pointing out that it's still paranoid and this in no way justifies that paranoia.
It's still just an opt-in system. You don't have to participate.
I was actually paraphrasing the people calling everyone paranoid. Reading fail.
Yes, and you were implying they were wrong. Except they weren't.
People afraid of this are still paranoid, just like they were last time we had this discussion. It's still opt-in, no matter how stupid it may be.
The death of anonymity on the internet. As much as there will be growing pains, it can't come soon enough. The positives on peoples attitude, and how they treat online information and persona, will be well worth the pain.
Well. Where it's most useful it won't be able to be applied. It'd be great if we could enforce it in places like... Nigeria. We can't and probably won't ever be able to. And until that point you're basically just asking people to bend over and take it until everyone else plays nice.
I'd like it, however, I'd still like to be able to hide behind my handle as well. Sometimes it's nice to get away. Without my handle it'd probably feel like I'm running for fucking president everytime I go to do something online.
"Oh hey Mr. Bowen, remember that time you totally miss-clicked that link and saw a girl eating poop from a cup??" That's all we need now, now you force people to be tripe and assholes about things you did in the past just like a fucking politician would. Instead of just allowing the few trolls to be trolls, now they've got real information to be pissheads with. That's stupid, and anonymity is one of the reasons why the internet is good. But it's also one of the reasons why it's so bad.
I agree with what you're saying for the most part, it'd be nice if everyone behaved and played nice, but I'd like to do it without my name being thrown everywhere and it being used by potential employers or whatever. We shouldn't need to blackmail people into acting like adults, if they can't act like adults, we should have policies in place to punish them.
It's amazing how successful PA's forum system is at doing just this. Then you look at the other end of the spectrum and you have the wow forums.
bowen on
not a doctor, not a lawyer, examples I use may not be fully researched so don't take out of context plz, don't @ me
(Which isn't far off most of the paranoia involved in the last discussion on RealID)
I was just pointing out that it's still paranoid and this in no way justifies that paranoia.
It's still just an opt-in system. You don't have to participate.
I'm pretty sure being an opt-in system is still beside the point.
If your real name was suddenly obtainable anywhere in-game, it'd still be "opt-in". You still get to choose whether or not you play WoW.
I'm ignoring if they ever made that retroactively available in game, but you'd have to be pretty paranoid to think they would do that.
End on
I wish that someway, somehow, that I could save every one of us
My concern still goes back to the fact that you would have to use your real name to post in the help sections of the forums (which are actually useful for getting help) or in the Bug Report section should you find bugs. Which means bug report rates will probably plummet.
The other issue would be the slippery slope of going from RealID on the forums to RealID on the Armory. I don't care if people know my real name (though I've never given it to anyone in game till just recently with the advent of the RealID friends list), but for many people privacy is a serious issue. Some people have abusive ex's, or have been the victims of stalkers before. Forcing those people to put their real name in a public venue where someone can get even more ways to stalk or harass them is a terrible idea.
(Which isn't far off most of the paranoia involved in the last discussion on RealID)
I was just pointing out that it's still paranoid and this in no way justifies that paranoia.
It's still just an opt-in system. You don't have to participate.
I'm pretty sure being an opt-in system is still beside the point.
If your real name was suddenly obtainable anywhere in-game, it'd still be "opt-in". You still get to choose whether or not you play WoW.
I'm ignoring if they ever made that retroactively available in game, but you'd have to be pretty paranoid to think they would do that.
Except it's not and it's crazy to think it ever would be.
Again, this whole thing is tangential to the actual product itself and that's why it's not that big a deal. Millions of people play WoW without ever using the forum.
Posts
Except it's not everytime. It's now, after five years.
If there's a restaurant you've enjoyed eating for five years, and suddenly they introduce a ball kicking policy, that would probably frustrate you.
If you can't honestly deduce why this change might upset people, you're awfully dim.
And why should Blizzard give a shit about these people fucking themselves over?
If people want to throw their real name into every corner of the internet, I don't see why it's Blizzard's job to prevent them from doing so.
For most people, particularly people here who don't really post there already, it mostly becomes a "well, now I have even less reason to post". As far as we're concerned, it's a fatal cure, assuming it cures anything.
Also, if I feel like it, I'm going to continue to call a movie shitty even though noone forced me to watch it.
Curse you, Activision!
It's doable guys.
I know why people don't like it, but it's entirely voluntary.
To use your example, it's like your local restaurant stopped you at the door tomorrow and said "Ok, new policy here. When you walk in, someone is gonna kick you in the nutsack", I would call you an idiot for walking in and then complaining about getting kicked in the balls.
This whole thing is purely opt-in. If you don't like it, don't opt-in.
I don't like it and I won't.
John Smith Posts: Come suk mi dik [fakelink] cluk 2 c mi fuk dawg.
HR Guy where John Smith doing random google search, "holy shit, what the fuck? What the shit?!"
John Smith is now homeless because Blizzard can't keep their penises in their pants. Or, Mr. Kotick is looking to cut down on operation costs and the $40,000 a year it costs to run the forums is another $40,000 that can go in his pockets.
So far as I know, noone here has said, "It's stupid and I'll post anyway"
I think most people are just saying "It's stupid"
The only legitimate complaint about our discussion that I can think of would be that we're in danger of becoming a big echo chamber in here if we go for much longer. :P
Haha I knew I'd get a response like this. Lots of men just don't understand. I mean most people who play WoW are fine but there are TONS of guys who, when they find out you are a girl, will go absolutely bonkers and just won't leave you alone. If they found out my pretty unique real name and email adress they would probably spam my facebook and inbox with all sorts of crazy stuff. I guess this is okay because the official forums are sort of a hellhole anyway but if they use it with the armory I'm out of here.
So you don't think people should complain if their favorite restaurant switches over to a ball-kicking menu? They can just not go, of course, but that doesn't mean they can't be pissed that their favorite restaurant now kicks people in the mean beans for the main course.
Because that's what's happening here.
I have never posted on the Blizzard forums. Not in 5 years, not ever, and will never.
I have read them though.
Except absolutely no one is saying that
In fact all the naysayers I've come across have lamented 'well now this change means I can't really post on the forums anymore, and that sucks'
I'd hesitate to even call it an opt-in feature, anyway. Either show your real name, or don't post on the forums. Either opt in to battle.net, or don't play WoW.
That's not opt-in. That's an ultimatum.
Yeah, alot of guys don't realize how the internet can be kind of a hostile place for women. My fiancee constantly gets random Friend Invites over facebook from guys just looking for a hookup. She refuses to use voice chat because any time she has silly goose basement dwellers go all crazy over the fact that a chick is playing a game.
Hell, alot of women role male characters not because (in the case of a lot of guys) they think characters of the opposite sex are 'hot' but because then nobody will suspect they are female.
One year? Two?
- The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (2017, colorized)
Yeah, they did this with City of Heroes' forums when I played, and it worked quite well. Blizzard could do way better by making your Battle.net account the front-facing persona on the forums. It eliminates alt posting (unless someone uses two battle.net accounts, both with valid/active keys for the game forum they're posting on), and doesn't have nearly the privacy implications.
Actually the specific poster I quoted said: (Which isn't far off most of the paranoia involved in the last discussion on RealID)
I was just pointing out that it's still paranoid and this in no way justifies that paranoia.
It's still just an opt-in system. You don't have to participate.
And that's when I'll stop purchasing Blizzard products.
At this rate... when does Cata go live?
I was actually paraphrasing the people calling everyone paranoid. Reading fail.
I haven't even done that.
SW:Tor - Tao - Kryatt Dragon Server
I only really read the PTR forums back when I was into the PTRs(preBC and BC). I more or less used them to test out classes I was interested in. I remember going into Naxx when it was on the PTR and tanking it. We spent like 2 hours on Patchwerk and gave up.
Nowadays, I just go there to check realm status.
I've read them every once in a while, never posted.
I think alot of the complaints stem from the perceived lack of concern Blizzard seems to have about privacy in general now.
But with them also changing over to the threaded style, I don't even want to attempt to read them anymore. Seriously, was forum bandwidth costing them that much that they had to make two huge & stupid changes to scare everyone away?
In the year 2020 Blizzard will eventually rule the world and everyone will use RealID or die.
edit: How's that for opt-in?
But I was also introducted late in the game by gamer friends so I was researching classes and dungeons on wowwikki and wowhead before I even started my account.
SW:Tor - Tao - Kryatt Dragon Server
I will never do so again.
- The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (2017, colorized)
Yes, and you were implying they were wrong. Except they weren't.
People afraid of this are still paranoid, just like they were last time we had this discussion. It's still opt-in, no matter how stupid it may be.
I mean, seriously, this:
Fucking dumb and paranoid.
Well. Where it's most useful it won't be able to be applied. It'd be great if we could enforce it in places like... Nigeria. We can't and probably won't ever be able to. And until that point you're basically just asking people to bend over and take it until everyone else plays nice.
I'd like it, however, I'd still like to be able to hide behind my handle as well. Sometimes it's nice to get away. Without my handle it'd probably feel like I'm running for fucking president everytime I go to do something online.
"Oh hey Mr. Bowen, remember that time you totally miss-clicked that link and saw a girl eating poop from a cup??" That's all we need now, now you force people to be tripe and assholes about things you did in the past just like a fucking politician would. Instead of just allowing the few trolls to be trolls, now they've got real information to be pissheads with. That's stupid, and anonymity is one of the reasons why the internet is good. But it's also one of the reasons why it's so bad.
I agree with what you're saying for the most part, it'd be nice if everyone behaved and played nice, but I'd like to do it without my name being thrown everywhere and it being used by potential employers or whatever. We shouldn't need to blackmail people into acting like adults, if they can't act like adults, we should have policies in place to punish them.
It's amazing how successful PA's forum system is at doing just this. Then you look at the other end of the spectrum and you have the wow forums.
I mean, I've probably seen it before, but I'm having difficulty picturing it in my head.
I'm pretty sure being an opt-in system is still beside the point.
If your real name was suddenly obtainable anywhere in-game, it'd still be "opt-in". You still get to choose whether or not you play WoW.
I'm ignoring if they ever made that retroactively available in game, but you'd have to be pretty paranoid to think they would do that.
The other issue would be the slippery slope of going from RealID on the forums to RealID on the Armory. I don't care if people know my real name (though I've never given it to anyone in game till just recently with the advent of the RealID friends list), but for many people privacy is a serious issue. Some people have abusive ex's, or have been the victims of stalkers before. Forcing those people to put their real name in a public venue where someone can get even more ways to stalk or harass them is a terrible idea.
I've been wanting that for a while.
Slashdot comes to mind. I've seen other incidences of this, but I can't think of where exactly.
Edit: Also this. and digg does something like that too. And Beyond Normal's example would probably be really good if whitespace was preserved.
Except it's not and it's crazy to think it ever would be.
Again, this whole thing is tangential to the actual product itself and that's why it's not that big a deal. Millions of people play WoW without ever using the forum.