What the hell happened to Blizzard. Where did the sane people go?
Some of the green mod posts on the Blizzard forums are so stupid beyond any reason. There's 2 people who had to close their facebook now or make it private from reading the forum, because they both tried to prove a point and both failed once ppl started to release their personal info.
I don't know if anyone has said this yet, and I'm not going to sift through it all just to see if they have, but isn't it interesting that Blizzard chose such an apt name for their new expansion? Welcome, folks, to World of Warcraft: Cataclysm.
(1)TL:DR must be your way of saying that thinking hurts. Then again, this may explain why it looks like you responded to the post without using your brain. (2) It's not about community, is it? You just have nothing better to do.
Clearly this is not representative of the WoW community or even the MMORPG community as a whole, however these results are rather interesting. Over 4x the amount of people are against RealID than are for it and, interestingly enough, there are only 4.1% more people against it than are neutral. The poll has largely grown in this direction as more people voted and it seems to me that it will continue to trend that way or the 'nays' will grow.
Roughly:
72% of people think RealID is a bad idea,
17% of people think RealID is a good idea,
11% of people are neutral.
Thanks for the poll btw...
Didn't comment in this thread, but have in a couple others around the site and on WoW's forum as well. Terrible idea.
I am curious though, what the writers and staff of this site think about this debacle... Because the more people that say "Whoa... hold on a sec, wtf do you think you're doing?" the better...
Thanks for the response Ruethus. I contacted one of the mods to see if they can put this poll in a prominent place so we can collect more data. Granted, not everyone here plays or has played WoW but the impact of WoW on MMORPGs cannot be denied and this really does effect all of us. It would be a great thing if we can get as many unique votes as possible for this poll, this way we can see what the community of MMORPG players thinks about this.
By the way, did you vote? If so, please share your point of view.
(1)TL:DR must be your way of saying that thinking hurts. Then again, this may explain why it looks like you responded to the post without using your brain. (2) It's not about community, is it? You just have nothing better to do.
This change has been put forward o the basis that it will "clean up" blizzard's forum. I'm still waiting for someone to answer my question about how this will make things easier for Blizzard to "clean up" their forums given that they already know the account details, alts, credit card numbers, etc of the people who post already.
This change has been put forward o the basis that it will "clean up" blizzard's forum. I'm still waiting for someone to answer my question about how this will make things easier for Blizzard to "clean up" their forums given that they already know the account details, alts, credit card numbers, etc of the people who post already.
Anyone?
It will not make a bit of difference; as you pointed out, they already had this information to begin with. Saying otherwise is just a bit of PR spin on their part.
"Oh my, how horrible, someone is criticizing a MMO. Oh yeah, that is what a forum is about, looking at both sides. You rather have to be critical of anything in this genre as of late because the track record of these major studios has just been appalling." -Ozmodan
Real-ID would be fine if I had privacy controls like I do at facebook - so I can specify who gets to see what.
As for using real names on the forums - I am totally against it.
You really should choose an answer. Even if only the folks on this forum see the results -along with others you show the poll to, of course- it is still important to add your vote. We can get a more representative view of what people think about it that way, especially since not everyone will read many or any of the comments posted here.
(1)TL:DR must be your way of saying that thinking hurts. Then again, this may explain why it looks like you responded to the post without using your brain. (2) It's not about community, is it? You just have nothing better to do.
This change has been put forward o the basis that it will "clean up" blizzard's forum. I'm still waiting for someone to answer my question about how this will make things easier for Blizzard to "clean up" their forums given that they already know the account details, alts, credit card numbers, etc of the people who post already.
Anyone?
The idea is that misbehaving on the forums (and eventually in game, for sure) with your Real ID will have Real Life consequences (ie not getting a job, being stalked, harassed, or killed). Otherwise it won't make a lick of difference.. So instead of hiring a few moderators, they are counting on a culture of fear and intimidation (straight out of Kotick's playbook) for users to police themselves. Kinda Orwellian and creepy, really.
Unfortunately, people's ideas of trolling and misbehaving are wildly inconsistent and exaggerated on the internet. There will be some readers who consider this post a troll. God forbid what may happen if I accident let it slip I'm a Republican, or Democrat lol.
Awesome blog post, and should be a must read for anyone who hasn't thought through all the tragic possibilities of this very, VERY bad decision Blizz has made.
Awesome blog post, and should be a must read for anyone who hasn't thought through all the tragic possibilities of this very, VERY bad decision Blizz has made.
Ten stars, and two thumbs up!
Ive done today a test with a collegue from work. He is originaly from USA. It was ok for him that i done the test with him.
So i knew his name( would be a Real ID ) and the city / state where he lives. ( you could find it out by asking people or asking the guy him self ingame to find out in which area he lives, at least it was never a problem for me to say which country / state i live in ).
Took me whole 2 mins to find his house and the list of his relatives. I was laughing as i have seen that he got almost wet pants. He wasnt that lucky to have a very common name and there for it wasnt a big deal to find it out.
PS : Im not playing WoW so im not a professional troller :-) but i still could see your names.
Ive done today a test with a collegue from work. He is originaly from USA. It was ok for him that i done the test with him.
So i knew his name( would be a Real ID ) and the city / state where he lives. ( you could find it out by asking people or asking the guy him self ingame to find out in which area he lives, at least it was never a problem for me to say which country / state i live in ).
Took me whole 2 mins to find his house and the list of his relatives. I was laughing as i have seen that he got almost wet pants. He wasnt that lucky to have a very common name and there for it wasnt a big deal to find it out.
PS : Im not playing WoW so im not a professional troller :-) but i still could see your names.
1) You know where he lives so you know when you've found the right guy.
2) It's the own guys fault for telling where he lives (proximity: anywhere from country to specific location).
3) That still doesn't mean it's him.
The thing is, you can't tie a name to an in-game character unless that person has agreed to display his in-game name on the forums.
Very good poll OP, very inclusive of the different views on this issue.
I think this move by Blizzard is a huge mistake that has very bad privacy implications. There is so much stuff that can go wrong, from identity theft to people getting fired after their boss sees they were posting on the WoW forums when they called in sick.
I won't play WoW anymore. I used to post in the Pally forum over there sometimes, but I could never make a post there if people knew my real name.
Ive done today a test with a collegue from work. He is originaly from USA. It was ok for him that i done the test with him.
So i knew his name( would be a Real ID ) and the city / state where he lives. ( you could find it out by asking people or asking the guy him self ingame to find out in which area he lives, at least it was never a problem for me to say which country / state i live in ).
Took me whole 2 mins to find his house and the list of his relatives. I was laughing as i have seen that he got almost wet pants. He wasnt that lucky to have a very common name and there for it wasnt a big deal to find it out.
PS : Im not playing WoW so im not a professional troller :-) but i still could see your names.
1) You know where he lives so you know when you've found the right guy.
2) It's the own guys fault for telling where he lives (proximity: anywhere from country to specific location).
3) That still doesn't mean it's him.
The thing is, you can't tie a name to an in-game character unless that person has agreed to display his in-game name on the forums.
1) I didnt know if i found the right guy, until he admited it (but it was only one hit there).
2) Yep its his own fault, but how many have done it and told their guild mates where they are from? I would dare to say a great majority done at least once.
3) Yep it doesnt mean, but there is only one hit? Its obvios that its him. The methode i used is extremly easy if you got uniq combination of first + second name, but for the people who got the same name like thousand other people out there isnt a big deal as they can hide in the mass.
I cant do it, as there wouldnt be even 1000 hits world wide ...
The last point is a valid statment, but i wouldnt have so much trust in blizzard. Personal information security isnt that important for companys as many people would wish. Sad but true.
"2) Yep its his own fault, but how many have done it and told their guild mates where they are from? I would dare to say a great majority done at least once."
Exactly , how often did i share my nationality with other people , hell in MMO's how often do you see "where do you come from ?" and this because there were no risks about it because someone's nationality wouldn't give you anything (or state in the case of a US citizen) . But combined with the name there is an increased chance for someone to find you.
Now off course you could simply say not to do it anymore once Real ID is on , but doesn't that mean it reduces possible friendly discussions or freedom . So really, nothing good can come out of it
Fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt. Among those who dislike oppression are many who like to oppress.
The thing is, you can't tie a name to an in-game character unless that person has agreed to display his in-game name on the forums.
But what is the point is dissociating yourself from your character? By using Real ID instead of something relevant to your in-game persona they're creating a barrier in the community, not drawing it together as they purport.
Using just Real ID you can't effectively crossover from in-game to forum because you aren't John Smith in game and no one knows what to associate you with, you're irrelevant to the WoW world. Using just character name maintains relevance to all areas of the game. Using both just seems intrusive.
The only way Real ID makes sense from a community perspective is if your in game name becomes your real name as well, otherwise you're just creating more aliases and making it more difficult to communicate.
Very good poll OP, very inclusive of the different views on this issue.
I think this move by Blizzard is a huge mistake that has very bad privacy implications. There is so much stuff that can go wrong, from identity theft to people getting fired after their boss sees they were posting on the WoW forums when they called in sick.
I won't play WoW anymore. I used to post in the Pally forum over there sometimes, but I could never make a post there if people knew my real name.
Thank you, Xondar. After all of the threads that went up with people sharing their thoughts about RealID I thought that it would be a good idea for us to see just where people stood on the issue in the easiest possible way. There are, of course, more than six possible choices but I think I really narrowed it down to the six most common for people saying either 'yes,' 'meh,' or 'no.'
It seems to me that quite a number of people won't play WoW anymore after this because, as was said elsewhere by a few others, this is simply much too much. Blizzard isn't likely to reverse this change either because, as someone else pointed out somewhere whom I forget, Blizzard is no longer the Blizzard of the Warcraft 1 RTS days. The company went from a developer to a developer-publisher and somewhere in there they actually lost the vision that made them the company that was able to get as far as they did on well deserved merit. If we take a good, hard look at Blizzard it really seems like they are shaping up to be the BP of the MMORPG world: huge profits and minimal responsibility for their actions...until something forces them to take responsibility. A number of different people on various forums have pointed out the hypothetical example of someone being stalked and killed via gamer rage and, God forbid it actually happens, it will take something of that magnitude to get them to open their eyes.
But, hey, whatevs right?
(1)TL:DR must be your way of saying that thinking hurts. Then again, this may explain why it looks like you responded to the post without using your brain. (2) It's not about community, is it? You just have nothing better to do.
Very good poll OP, very inclusive of the different views on this issue.
I think this move by Blizzard is a huge mistake that has very bad privacy implications. There is so much stuff that can go wrong, from identity theft to people getting fired after their boss sees they were posting on the WoW forums when they called in sick.
I won't play WoW anymore. I used to post in the Pally forum over there sometimes, but I could never make a post there if people knew my real name.
Thank you, Xondar. After all of the threads that went up with people sharing their thoughts about RealID I thought that it would be a good idea for us to see just where people stood on the issue in the easiest possible way. There are, of course, more than six possible choices but I think I really narrowed it down to the six most common for people saying either 'yes,' 'meh,' or 'no.'
It seems to me that quite a number of people won't play WoW anymore after this because, as was said elsewhere by a few others, this is simply much too much. Blizzard isn't likely to reverse this change either because, as someone else pointed out somewhere whom I forget, Blizzard is no longer the Blizzard of the Warcraft 1 RTS days. The company went from a developer to a developer-publisher and somewhere in there they actually lost the vision that made them the company that was able to get as far as they did on well deserved merit. If we take a good, hard look at Blizzard it really seems like they are shaping up to be the BP of the MMORPG world: huge profits and minimal responsibility for their actions...until something forces them to take responsibility. A number of different people on various forums have pointed out the hypothetical example of someone being stalked and killed via gamer rage and, God forbid it actually happens, it will take something of that magnitude to get them to open their eyes.
But, hey, whatevs right?
I dont think that there will be a lot of people stopping playing. Blizzard done simply more image damage then financial one.
They are just killing forum community and by that i mean not only trolls but aswell others, as now days playing WoW is something bad and if a collegue or a boss finds it out get ready to have some fun in your office or at work.
Dont forget you can google the threads posted in forums and you dont have to be registred to be able to view it.
There could have been so many other ways to prevent trolling etc going rampant in their forum, by saying "1) you get warned 2) You get temp banned 3) You got long bann 4) your acc is forever banned" or something like that and doesnt matter if you are posting with alt as it easy linked to an account and there for who would risk their acc just by trolling in forum?
With the launch of the new Battle.net, its important to us to create a new and different kind of online gaming environment -- one thats highly social, and which provides an ideal place for gamers to form long-lasting, meaningful relationships. All of our design decisions surrounding Real ID -- including these forum changes -- have been made with this goal in mind.
It's quite clear the end game is to create an Xbox Live marketplace called Battle.Net with the social networking capability of Facebook. Where you can see what other people are playing and what addons they're using and can click a button to purchase DLC and join. Activision has been dumping franchises that can't support this model and focusing on WoW, StarCraft, and CoD because they are easy to cultivate and sell maps, expansions, items, etc.
XBL works because it uses GamerTags. FB works because you have privacy options and use it for friends and family. The Battle.Net marketplace would seemingly use your real name for social networking like FaceBook does, while connecting you to games, addons, and other gamers like XBox Live does.
It doesn't sound like a terrible idea. It's just not one I'd participate in without using a GamerTag. For all Kotick's talk about XBL I don't think he's ever listened to the shit that goes on over headset and I don't want my real name associated with an immature gamer community. For many people your social network and your gamer network are not 2 communities you want to interconnect. But it definitely has nothing to do with trolls or accountability.
Ive done today a test with a collegue from work. He is originaly from USA. It was ok for him that i done the test with him.
So i knew his name( would be a Real ID ) and the city / state where he lives. ( you could find it out by asking people or asking the guy him self ingame to find out in which area he lives, at least it was never a problem for me to say which country / state i live in ).
Took me whole 2 mins to find his house and the list of his relatives. I was laughing as i have seen that he got almost wet pants. He wasnt that lucky to have a very common name and there for it wasnt a big deal to find it out.
PS : Im not playing WoW so im not a professional troller :-) but i still could see your names.
1) You know where he lives so you know when you've found the right guy.
2) It's the own guys fault for telling where he lives (proximity: anywhere from country to specific location).
3) That still doesn't mean it's him.
The thing is, you can't tie a name to an in-game character unless that person has agreed to display his in-game name on the forums.
I frequently tell people in game and even on these forums where I live. I do not wish to have to hide it.
My name is so unique there would be no way for you to not find me almost instantly.
And while its true, you can't tie my name in unless I post on the forums, I consider it part of the service to post on the forums of a game that I subscribe to, and I don't want the hassle that this could potentially bring me.
I'm so protective of my privacy that I never use my forum ID here as an in game avatar name, don't need anyone stalking me somewhere over something I posted here.
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
My boss would fire me if he learned i am still playing WoW... You see there was another guy in my job that was a very bad employee and he also went that far into playing WoW at work... My boss doesn't really know what WoW is but knows that this ex-employee had to do with it, so when he hears of WoW his mind immediately reminds him that ex-employee and gets nuts. It's like when my mother back in the 90's would turn nuts when i would tell her i was going to a rave party... Cause she had a lot of misinformation from TV.
So am i ashamed of anything? No.
Do i have anything to hide? A lot... Cause i want my job.
"Traditionally, massively multiplier online games have been about three basic gameplay pillars combat, exploration and character progression. In Alganon, in addition to these we've added the fourth pillar to the equation: Copy & Paste."
Comments
What the hell happened to Blizzard. Where did the sane people go?
Some of the green mod posts on the Blizzard forums are so stupid beyond any reason. There's 2 people who had to close their facebook now or make it private from reading the forum, because they both tried to prove a point and both failed once ppl started to release their personal info.
This is so wrong on so many levels.
I don't know if anyone has said this yet, and I'm not going to sift through it all just to see if they have, but isn't it interesting that Blizzard chose such an apt name for their new expansion? Welcome, folks, to World of Warcraft: Cataclysm.
(1)TL:DR must be your way of saying that thinking hurts. Then again, this may explain why it looks like you responded to the post without using your brain.
(2) It's not about community, is it? You just have nothing better to do.
Thanks for the response Ruethus. I contacted one of the mods to see if they can put this poll in a prominent place so we can collect more data. Granted, not everyone here plays or has played WoW but the impact of WoW on MMORPGs cannot be denied and this really does effect all of us. It would be a great thing if we can get as many unique votes as possible for this poll, this way we can see what the community of MMORPG players thinks about this.
By the way, did you vote? If so, please share your point of view.
(1)TL:DR must be your way of saying that thinking hurts. Then again, this may explain why it looks like you responded to the post without using your brain.
(2) It's not about community, is it? You just have nothing better to do.
I didn't choose an answer.
Real-ID would be fine if I had privacy controls like I do at facebook - so I can specify who gets to see what.
As for using real names on the forums - I am totally against it.
I voted Nay - Too Dangerous.
This guy Voted Yay - People Need Consequences! (This guy, may or may not be me)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NgAkWxcPBE
Comrade Leon-Stalin Junior
This change has been put forward o the basis that it will "clean up" blizzard's forum. I'm still waiting for someone to answer my question about how this will make things easier for Blizzard to "clean up" their forums given that they already know the account details, alts, credit card numbers, etc of the people who post already.
Anyone?
Give me liberty or give me lasers
Forcing RealID is what I have a problem with. We are all 'hiding' behind computers, so why cant we hide behind a alias if we want too?
It will not make a bit of difference; as you pointed out, they already had this information to begin with. Saying otherwise is just a bit of PR spin on their part.
"Oh my, how horrible, someone is criticizing a MMO. Oh yeah, that is what a forum is about, looking at both sides. You rather have to be critical of anything in this genre as of late because the track record of these major studios has just been appalling." -Ozmodan
You really should choose an answer. Even if only the folks on this forum see the results -along with others you show the poll to, of course- it is still important to add your vote. We can get a more representative view of what people think about it that way, especially since not everyone will read many or any of the comments posted here.
(1)TL:DR must be your way of saying that thinking hurts. Then again, this may explain why it looks like you responded to the post without using your brain.
(2) It's not about community, is it? You just have nothing better to do.
The idea is that misbehaving on the forums (and eventually in game, for sure) with your Real ID will have Real Life consequences (ie not getting a job, being stalked, harassed, or killed). Otherwise it won't make a lick of difference.. So instead of hiring a few moderators, they are counting on a culture of fear and intimidation (straight out of Kotick's playbook) for users to police themselves. Kinda Orwellian and creepy, really.
Unfortunately, people's ideas of trolling and misbehaving are wildly inconsistent and exaggerated on the internet. There will be some readers who consider this post a troll. God forbid what may happen if I accident let it slip I'm a Republican, or Democrat lol.
Reposted this link in case someone missed it.
Why this is a VERY BAD IDEA.
"There is as yet insufficient data for a meaningful answer."
Awesome blog post, and should be a must read for anyone who hasn't thought through all the tragic possibilities of this very, VERY bad decision Blizz has made.
Ten stars, and two thumbs up!
Ive done today a test with a collegue from work. He is originaly from USA. It was ok for him that i done the test with him.
So i knew his name( would be a Real ID ) and the city / state where he lives. ( you could find it out by asking people or asking the guy him self ingame to find out in which area he lives, at least it was never a problem for me to say which country / state i live in ).
Took me whole 2 mins to find his house and the list of his relatives. I was laughing as i have seen that he got almost wet pants. He wasnt that lucky to have a very common name and there for it wasnt a big deal to find it out.
PS : Im not playing WoW so im not a professional troller :-) but i still could see your names.
EvE doors
See the best doors on EvE-on!
1) You know where he lives so you know when you've found the right guy.
2) It's the own guys fault for telling where he lives (proximity: anywhere from country to specific location).
3) That still doesn't mean it's him.
The thing is, you can't tie a name to an in-game character unless that person has agreed to display his in-game name on the forums.
Eleanor Rigby.
I'd almost bet this has something to do with Blizzard next MMO they want to bring the community closer and hope they move to Blizs next MMO in masses.
Whats the big deal for real.
Hater of hater of World of Tank. Latest wargame from wargaming.net.
Very good poll OP, very inclusive of the different views on this issue.
I think this move by Blizzard is a huge mistake that has very bad privacy implications. There is so much stuff that can go wrong, from identity theft to people getting fired after their boss sees they were posting on the WoW forums when they called in sick.
I won't play WoW anymore. I used to post in the Pally forum over there sometimes, but I could never make a post there if people knew my real name.
1) I didnt know if i found the right guy, until he admited it (but it was only one hit there).
2) Yep its his own fault, but how many have done it and told their guild mates where they are from? I would dare to say a great majority done at least once.
3) Yep it doesnt mean, but there is only one hit? Its obvios that its him. The methode i used is extremly easy if you got uniq combination of first + second name, but for the people who got the same name like thousand other people out there isnt a big deal as they can hide in the mass.
I cant do it, as there wouldnt be even 1000 hits world wide ...
The last point is a valid statment, but i wouldnt have so much trust in blizzard. Personal information security isnt that important for companys as many people would wish. Sad but true.
EvE doors
See the best doors on EvE-on!
"2) Yep its his own fault, but how many have done it and told their guild mates where they are from? I would dare to say a great majority done at least once."
Exactly , how often did i share my nationality with other people , hell in MMO's how often do you see "where do you come from ?" and this because there were no risks about it because someone's nationality wouldn't give you anything (or state in the case of a US citizen) . But combined with the name there is an increased chance for someone to find you.
Now off course you could simply say not to do it anymore once Real ID is on , but doesn't that mean it reduces possible friendly discussions or freedom . So really, nothing good can come out of it
Fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt.
Among those who dislike oppression are many who like to oppress.
But what is the point is dissociating yourself from your character? By using Real ID instead of something relevant to your in-game persona they're creating a barrier in the community, not drawing it together as they purport.
Using just Real ID you can't effectively crossover from in-game to forum because you aren't John Smith in game and no one knows what to associate you with, you're irrelevant to the WoW world. Using just character name maintains relevance to all areas of the game. Using both just seems intrusive.
The only way Real ID makes sense from a community perspective is if your in game name becomes your real name as well, otherwise you're just creating more aliases and making it more difficult to communicate.
Thank you, Xondar. After all of the threads that went up with people sharing their thoughts about RealID I thought that it would be a good idea for us to see just where people stood on the issue in the easiest possible way. There are, of course, more than six possible choices but I think I really narrowed it down to the six most common for people saying either 'yes,' 'meh,' or 'no.'
It seems to me that quite a number of people won't play WoW anymore after this because, as was said elsewhere by a few others, this is simply much too much. Blizzard isn't likely to reverse this change either because, as someone else pointed out somewhere whom I forget, Blizzard is no longer the Blizzard of the Warcraft 1 RTS days. The company went from a developer to a developer-publisher and somewhere in there they actually lost the vision that made them the company that was able to get as far as they did on well deserved merit. If we take a good, hard look at Blizzard it really seems like they are shaping up to be the BP of the MMORPG world: huge profits and minimal responsibility for their actions...until something forces them to take responsibility. A number of different people on various forums have pointed out the hypothetical example of someone being stalked and killed via gamer rage and, God forbid it actually happens, it will take something of that magnitude to get them to open their eyes.
But, hey, whatevs right?
(1)TL:DR must be your way of saying that thinking hurts. Then again, this may explain why it looks like you responded to the post without using your brain.
(2) It's not about community, is it? You just have nothing better to do.
well i bet more bnet posters will move to other forums so this is a good thing for someone somewhere
BestSigEver :P
I dont think that there will be a lot of people stopping playing. Blizzard done simply more image damage then financial one.
They are just killing forum community and by that i mean not only trolls but aswell others, as now days playing WoW is something bad and if a collegue or a boss finds it out get ready to have some fun in your office or at work.
Dont forget you can google the threads posted in forums and you dont have to be registred to be able to view it.
There could have been so many other ways to prevent trolling etc going rampant in their forum, by saying "1) you get warned 2) You get temp banned 3) You got long bann 4) your acc is forever banned" or something like that and doesnt matter if you are posting with alt as it easy linked to an account and there for who would risk their acc just by trolling in forum?
EvE doors
See the best doors on EvE-on!
Regarding Kotick's comments about how much money they should be making off XBL but aren't:
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=128252
And their partnership with Facebook:
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/gamehunters/post/2010/05/blizzard-and-facebooks-friendly-social-networking-deal-launches-with-starcraft-ii-/1
And their quoted plans for a social environment:
It's quite clear the end game is to create an Xbox Live marketplace called Battle.Net with the social networking capability of Facebook. Where you can see what other people are playing and what addons they're using and can click a button to purchase DLC and join. Activision has been dumping franchises that can't support this model and focusing on WoW, StarCraft, and CoD because they are easy to cultivate and sell maps, expansions, items, etc.
XBL works because it uses GamerTags. FB works because you have privacy options and use it for friends and family. The Battle.Net marketplace would seemingly use your real name for social networking like FaceBook does, while connecting you to games, addons, and other gamers like XBox Live does.
It doesn't sound like a terrible idea. It's just not one I'd participate in without using a GamerTag. For all Kotick's talk about XBL I don't think he's ever listened to the shit that goes on over headset and I don't want my real name associated with an immature gamer community. For many people your social network and your gamer network are not 2 communities you want to interconnect. But it definitely has nothing to do with trolls or accountability.
I frequently tell people in game and even on these forums where I live. I do not wish to have to hide it.
My name is so unique there would be no way for you to not find me almost instantly.
And while its true, you can't tie my name in unless I post on the forums, I consider it part of the service to post on the forums of a game that I subscribe to, and I don't want the hassle that this could potentially bring me.
I'm so protective of my privacy that I never use my forum ID here as an in game avatar name, don't need anyone stalking me somewhere over something I posted here.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
My boss would fire me if he learned i am still playing WoW... You see there was another guy in my job that was a very bad employee and he also went that far into playing WoW at work... My boss doesn't really know what WoW is but knows that this ex-employee had to do with it, so when he hears of WoW his mind immediately reminds him that ex-employee and gets nuts. It's like when my mother back in the 90's would turn nuts when i would tell her i was going to a rave party... Cause she had a lot of misinformation from TV.
So am i ashamed of anything? No.
Do i have anything to hide? A lot... Cause i want my job.
"Traditionally, massively multiplier online games have been about three basic gameplay pillars combat, exploration and character progression. In Alganon, in addition to these we've added the fourth pillar to the equation: Copy & Paste."