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General: Community Spotlight: Your RealID Thoughts
MikeB
Community ManagerAdministrator RarePosts: 6,555
This week’s Community Spotlight focuses on “The Battle.Net RealID Poll & Discussion” thread by The_Grump. I know, I know, we stickied that thread to avoid creating new topics on the subject, however, highlighting some of your thoughts on this massive development seemed like an appropriate topic this week!
The_Grump simply wanted to poll the community on your thoughts on the RealID development, and well, polls are always fun.
So what are you guys saying this week on the issue? A lot! It’s been tough to sift through, but let’s take a look at some of the more interesting responses.
Teala gives the new policy a thumbs-down:
"I voted (Nay) World of Warcraft's popularity and the state of information security make this incredibly dangerous.
After recently getting my account hacked, this can only make it easier. There are so many reasons why this is a bad thing that it makes you wonder what idiot came up with it. realID in game is an opt-in only. This forum realID thing is also an opt-in only, but therein is the rub, because the only way to use the forum now is to agree to Blizzards plans to make your first and last name public. For me this is not an issue, but for many others it can and will cause problems for them on numerous levels. Boneheaded plan is saying it kindly, but that is what this is and I bet if we dig deep enough you'll find this is all Activisions doing.”
Read what everyone else is saying in this week's Community Spotlight here.
Comments
The thread on this on the WoW forums is approaching 40K posts, almost all negative.
Definitely one of the worst ideas I think I've ever heard. The AAA titles scheduled to be released soon can't think Blizzard enough.
Well, if they do go through with this Real ID nonsense we could always start a company that issues Secret Identities to players for a small fee :P
But yeah, the best way to go would be (can't believe I'm saying this...) to do what Cryptic does: an @handle system. Then for those who want it, allow them the option of using their real name on the forum/Social networking thing that Blizzard wants to set up.
Because in the end, real names or not, the same flaming/hijacking/etc will still happen. The forums will be just as bad as they are now, just with a lot less people posting in general. In the end this whole system is just being devised so Blizzard can cash in on the whole Facebook trend. Just give players an @handle and let them decide who sees their real names.
There are 3 types of people in the world.
1.) Those who make things happen
2.) Those who watch things happen
3.) And those who wonder "What the %#*& just happened?!"
I see all the negativity about it, and have read several reasons why people don't like it. I have to say that I like the idea. If someone wants to track me down and hurt me because of a disagreement over a game, then they get whats coming to them. I have a loaded 12 gauge shotgun in my house for the purpose of protection in case of home invasion.
What percentage of people are THAT crazy? If they are, then its about time they went to jail.
What percentage of people hide behind their annonymous online name to say aweful things and just plain be tools? I'd say that we've ALL seen posts that would NEVER have been posted if we knew who that person was. They'd NEVER say something like that to our faces!
Currently not playing any MMOrpg --
Lvl 80 paladin WoW
I feel better knowing that the EFF is monitoring the situation. If things get out of hand, I'm certain they'll file suit faster than the ACLU.
Still, I'm waiting to get into the Beta, so i'm just going to refrain from participating in the forums for now. If I see names poping up on old posts, I'll delete them. There are enough threats to my identity out there already. I don't need Blizzard creating more. If I can track a single threat back to them, I'll file charges and a lawsuit.
I don't care one or another on this issue, I don't troll in the forums or call people names or threaten to come to thier house and kick thier butts or beat up the dev's, I have a face book account, i really don't see much difference, I can see some possible privacy issues, but rule of thumb don't be an jerk on the forums, after all the knee jerk reaction it will die down like every other big change in the gaming world, or they will back off if it hurts them in the wallet..
:: shakes head ::
So you have a loaded shotgun for protection against home invasion. Are you going to give your kids an armed escort to school every day? Are you going to insist that your wife carries a gun in her purse, because some asshole on a gaming forum you posted on with your real name responds negatively to your post and says something like, " I know where you live, and I'm coming to get you."?
If you don't think it can happen to you, or anybody else, then you're not thinking rationally. It's a very real possibility. Nobody ever imagines that one of the students in their kids' school would ever arrive at class with a bag full of firearms and ammunition, but it happens.
Stop worrying about the "forum trolls" and start worrying about the bigger picture. The whole trolling remedy thing is just a smokescreen. This is all about how they can take your information and turn it into $$$. Period.
It's ideas like this that crack me up. Do you really think people need a valid reason to do the things they do and they make decisions based on the same morals and ideas as you? Did everyone who's been raped do something to make the rapist want to do it? Or everyone who has been stalked/harassed? How about everyone whos ever been mugged? Or been the victim of some asshat with a gun who thinks hes a gangster cause he can pull a trigger simply because they thought someone looked at them funny or they disagreed with them about something?
You may not actually do anything that YOU deem wrong or worth being harassed over, but it won't be your opinion that matters. All it takes is you simply telling someone they're wrong about something, and in their mind it becomes you were insulting them and talking shit, and in some cases that person just might be screwed up enough in the head to take that as a good reason for tracking you down. As i mentione din another thread about this, all it takes is a first and last name and you can acess addresses, phone numbers, public records, etc of not only yourself but your relatives and the people who live with you. So not only would you be at risk, you children / family would also be at risk because some asshat on WoW thinks hes a badass.
I wrote a blog article with my thoughts -- I've worked professionally in online privacy/security, and this is one of the most misguided efforts I've seen since...well, Facebook's idiocy a few months ago.
The idea that your friend's friends (over which you have no control except trust in your friends' discretion) can see your real name and email addres is a privacy nightmare in the making, for many reasons I detail in the article.
While you're right about the whole "friend's friend" thing, it goes way beyond that. It isn't limited to just your friends and their friends, EVERYONE can see the info on their forums... everyone who plays, as well as anyone who feels like dropping by the forums for any reason (don't even need to be a player to get to the forums). Every post you make will expose your information to the world, not just a limited friends list or anything.
So many utterly bewildering things said here.
First, so you have a tool that can easily kill stuff, obviously including people - good for you!!! Some of us might be trying to get through life without the comfort of a loaded shotgun. So by your logic, let us have what's coming to us?
Second, it does not matter what percentage of people are THAT crazy. Just a few would do - do you mean a minority getting harmed does not matter? What sort of logic is that? Even one person coming to harm because of this is one too many.
Third, if a person is hiding behind an anonymous online name and saying awful things and plain being tools, there's a much more logical way of dealing with him than exposing his real name every time he posts: Just ban him! Permanently. Plain and simple, and much more effective than the so-called solution Blizzard is implementing.
Not everyone outside the gaming communities is understanding or openminded about gamers and gaming. A lot of stigma to this day, is attached to playing video games, and a lot of people hold some harsh stereotypes of us gamers.
As a young man you dont allways fully understand where you are going with your life, your educations and your future plans.
But I garantee that if a google search comes up with 25 pages of game forum rants, passionate debates and overall QQ, and WhooWhoo, then your prospective Boss a few years from now, MAY choose another over you for the position. Unless he is one of those openminded tolerant people who dont think you're and obsessive player, with bad sleeping habits and poor hygiene.
What Im getting at, is that the ramifications behind this go beyond what people really understand right now, and you are now becomming dependant on how other people view your gaming hobbies in ways you wouldnt have to consider while being anon on the interwebz.
I just hope this doesnt ruin anyones chances in an ever increasingly cut throat job market, but I think it will, significantly.
Lets hope this does have ramifications beyond what people really understand, and hopefully a step back to the rigth direction. In the past, there used to be things called manners, social ettiquete, and respect. And 'ramifications' on those who chose to disregard these things when in public. And then came the internet and the 'annonomous' rights of everyone! Personally I think 'anon on the interwebz' has been a step back in human social evolution, one that could benefit from a healthy dose of realism. You should be held to the same standard on the internet as you are in face to face relations. You should be judged on what you say to others, it shouldnt' matter if its in a letter, on a phone, in person, or on a forum on the internet. If you think what your saying on the internet is something you dont want others to associate with you than maybe you shouldn't be saying them.
SO yes, lets hope this change goes through, and it has ramifications that go WAY beyond what people really understand right now. And maybe, just maybe we can take a step backwards to go forwards in the right direction again.
(DISCLAIMER - The use of the word YOU in the above post is not directed at any one person in particular, but towards those who fall into the category itself - there is no personal attack here, neither intentional nor implied.)
And then we can install cameras and microphones EVERYWHERE! Then you'll have to be nice and polite in stores, at restaurants, while driving... What a great mind you have!
That person who is coming after you is not gonna wait for you to grab your shotgun. Cops die everyday carrying a gun but you keep thinking that shotgun is all you need to protect yourself.
Lets be realistic shall we, this is NOT a form of Big Brother control, this is a social network (yes forums are social network tools) that is planning on associating your real name with your public comments. Its not cameras or microphones in public businesses (which by the way most already have cameras anyway). Its also not about forcing people to be polite or have some manners, although there are many out there who should wiki the terms as a refresher course. This is only about one thing, placing YOUR comments in public under YOUR name and holding YOU accountable for what YOU said. Actually its not even about that, its about Blizzard moving thier multiple authentication databases over to a single system to save resources and manpower during a time of financial insecurity.
Its about money.
(DISCLAIMER - The use of the word YOU in the above post is not directed at any one person in particular, but towards those who fall into the category itself - there is no personal attack here, neither intentional nor implied.)
I think Blizzard have identified theres some real problems in the WoW .I've never played the game but I'm seeing a lot of people joining Lotro because they are fed up with the community in Warcraft . I'm not sure this is the best way to go about cleaning up the act . Its leaves the door open to alsorts of abuse and if i did play this would be a deal breaker for me . Massively have an artical on it being the wowkiller . I think ultimatly Blizzard will back down in the face of overwealming opposition .
As was mentioned earlier: prospective employers Google candidates. Not all, but many do, especially the HR people who are the resume gatekeepers to the Hiring Managers.
Maybe some of you don't have jobs, or jobs that would require an HR department to weed through 500 resumes looking for ANY reason to toss a resume into the circular file.
Quite honestly, I thinking of starting a web server that culls as much personal info from WoW forums, links to the person's posts, and offer the service to HR departments to quickly searchfor a nice low fee. "Gamer-Weeder-Outer.com" sounds good to me. Maybe include forum post counts and ratings for an additional $1/month.
Laugh if you want. You guys have no idea of the ramifications of something like this.
It would be rare to find a company who would fail to consider you for a position because you posted on a gaming forum.
Now this wouldn't exclude them from reading posts made by a person and drawing conclusions based on posted content. However, this just goes back to being accountable for one's own behavior.
Overall I think it is an evolution in the online community. There is some loss of privacy, but it is rather mild to the exposure from any other real life social encounter. All of these horror stories about someone being tracked down across the country and killed seem rather far fetched. It would be more common to somehow offend/entrall someone in person and be assaulted, followed or otherwise harassed.
It doesn't take a cross country trip to get to people...there are WoW gamers everywhere, a lot of them are not nice people, and it wouldn't take much to see who is close at hand to fulfill whatever deviant desires they crave to fulfill for whatever sick reasons they have.
It also isn't limited to nerd rage attacks or potential cyberstalking. With ANYONE being able to surf on the Blizz forums, info miners will have a field day mining specific personally targetted data from the Blizz forums and selling it to the highest bidder, even if that bidder makes malware or is a spammer. Not to mention the gold farmers and account hackers that are most certainly getting ready to laugh all the way to the bank at having their jobs made so much easier.
Why some people continue to stubbornly refuse to face the facts of how devastating this can be in so many ways is beyond me. What does it take before people wake up and smell what is being shovelled in the name of the God almighty dollar????? And good for you if it does not bother or harm you in your eyes, but can you not have some common decency and understand that others have every bit as much right to NOT be exposed to damaging consequences as you do to not care about your privacy? WE DO! I DO care, and this is totally unacceptable.
Once Blizz gets away with this, there is NOTHING to stop others from rushing in to jump on this bandwagon, and where THAT will lead is a place I do not want to go. THIS SETS PRECEDENTS, and it is NOT a good one to set at all. What's next? What other companies that you trusted to keep your info private will decide to follow suit?
If Blizzard the COMPANY has your personal info that's ONE thing if the whole WORLD knows it Because of the company that's entirely another altogether. This is SO wrong on SOOO many levels Blizzard best backtrack this one if they value their paychecks
"There is as yet insufficient data for a meaningful answer."
I am canceling my sub because of this whole ordeal. I don't really post on the forums much , but the bottom line for me is , this is not about trying to stop people from trolling the forums. This is about a marketting grab by Blizzard Activision and Facebook, in order to create this big social network where all of "your friends can find and hook up with you on wow or other blizzard games" also I am sure your enemies can hook up with you too. Or complete strangers who you have no clue as to who they are, can also try to hook up with you.
Bottom line, I work for a company where playing online games could cost me my job. I don't need my boss looking me up on facebook and finding out i played WoW X amount of hours in the week and calling me into the office.
The job I have I have the convience that I can take care of most of it at home on my home computer. Yes, there are times when I must go into the office, but those are rare. Majority of my time I can spend at home doing my work, and I don't need my boss to think that maybe I cannot be trusted to do my job at home because i might play too much WoW or have some kind of an addiction to gaming.
The only reason blizzard wants to use your real name is for the simple fact that they can attach your name to your facebook profile or possibly get you to sign up for a face book account. Has nothing to do with the forums, otherwise REAL ID would only be on the forums, instead they have it in the game aswell.
This was a terrible IDea , and I hope they make the right decision and not go through with it. I cannot continue to pay a company who clearly does not respect the privacy and security of their customers , and values more dollars over the privacy and security of their customers. Which is obviously the case here.
Many level headed gamers have friends online. most of us have had friends online for many years and some have told them their names, because they chose to. why do blizzard/RealId think we want this sort of media.
there are many levels of 'contact' with friends online.
some you consider aquainecies, some you know for years, some you thought were ok then shown their true colours after a few months. some 'contacts' have proven to be down right wierd..
so i ask again, why do they need us to have ReaLID, to see our friends online and know what they are doing?
omg! since when did these guys figure out we are all a bunch of online Stalkers !!!
RealId is a step too far. scrap it.
Other than the concerns over hacks and such, I only got one thing to say:
What is SAID on the internet STAYS on the internet...
FOREVER!!
While Isaak is extreme, he has a point. If moderation WORKED and people actually got banned for violating the TOS, this shit wouldn't have happened.
I'm all for privacy of personal information, but say what you want, people use the anonymity of the internet to be assholes. Irrefutable fact. Blizzard does need to clean up their forums.
" In Defeat, Malice; In Victory, Revenge! "