Personally I don't think the internet itself should be anonymous. Logging it at all should connect your computer with your identity. If a person wishes to use an anonymous service, the administrators should still be aware of the real person's data at all times even if other users are not. Everything one does online should be tagged with your data, making scams and hackers stick out like sore thumbs. If this could be linked to hardware, perhaps a finger-print login tool, all the better. Somewhere along the way we seem to have cultivated the delusion that anonymity is a right of the internet age.
The Supreme Court seems to disagree with you:
McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission:
Protections for anonymous speech are vital to democratic discourse.
Allowing dissenters to shield their identities frees them to express critical, minority views . . .
Anonymity is a shield from the tyranny of the majority. . . .
It thus exemplifies the purpose behind the Bill of Rights, and of the First Amendment in particular: to protect unpopular individuals from retaliation . . .
at the hand of an intolerant society.
Aside from that, there are various Whistleblower laws at the state level that would likely make a "non-anonymous" internet problematic.
Naturally, all this is only really relevant for US gamers.
McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission reads:
McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission:
Protections for anonymous speech are vital to democratic discourse.
Allowing dissenters to shield their identities frees them to express critical, minority views . . .
Anonymity is a shield from the tyranny of the majority. . . .
It thus exemplifies the purpose behind the Bill of Rights, and of the First Amendment in particular: to protect unpopular individuals from retaliation . . .
at the hand of an intolerant society.
McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission reads:
Protections for anonymous speech are vital to democratic discourse. Allowing dissenters to shield their identities frees them to express critical, minority views . . . Anonymity is a shield from the tyranny of the majority. . . . It thus exemplifies the purpose behind the Bill of Rights, and of the First Amendment in particular: to protect unpopular individuals from retaliation . . . at the hand of an intolerant society.
Which has absolutely NOTHING to do with a privately owned gaming forums....so....your post was a waste of time.
McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission reads:
Protections for anonymous speech are vital to democratic discourse. Allowing dissenters to shield their identities frees them to express critical, minority views . . . Anonymity is a shield from the tyranny of the majority. . . . It thus exemplifies the purpose behind the Bill of Rights, and of the First Amendment in particular: to protect unpopular individuals from retaliation . . . at the hand of an intolerant society.
McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission reads:
Protections for anonymous speech are vital to democratic discourse. Allowing dissenters to shield their identities frees them to express critical, minority views . . . Anonymity is a shield from the tyranny of the majority. . . . It thus exemplifies the purpose behind the Bill of Rights, and of the First Amendment in particular: to protect unpopular individuals from retaliation . . . at the hand of an intolerant society.
So eager to respond without looking at the context of the response. Read what I quoted and my response and let me know what that has to do with private gaming forums?
Ummm...read my post.
It says that your post has NOTHING to do with private gaming forums....which is what this thread is about....which means your post, which has NOTHING to do with what this discussion is about, is therfore a waste of time.
What's great about evolving conversations is that, when someone posts a tangent within the conversation, it cna be answered and provide value to that person. Therefore, the respose was relevant to the poster I was responding to and subsequently, relevant to the overall topic though not specific to the general idea od rights on a private gaming forums. But hey, by all means, apply to me a moderator or report my post as off-topic if you believe it so. The problem will resolve itself instead of further wasting everyone's time, no?
For being a waste of time though, you're still investing in it, so that's gotta be worth something i guess....
-mklinic
"Do something right, no one remembers. Do something wrong, no one forgets" -from No One Remembers by In Strict Confidence
Perhaps this will just weed out the bad and Blizzard can actually have a decent community for once. The again, maybe not....
Prepaid cards + use of fake names = Free troll
The only ones suffering would be the honest players
And tbh its the fact the forums are so hostile on WoW i wouldn't ever trust it with my name .
EDIT: something i also read up , don't you think the simple fact making a WoW account suddenly gets you a huge load of spam makes you distrust everything related to it ?
Fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt. Among those who dislike oppression are many who like to oppress.
Originally posted by Nytakito I'd really like to know how alot of you would fare in the world I grew up in. A world before the internet, where there was no "veil of anonimity" covering a means for predators to stalk their prey. When I grew up, EVERYTHING we did was associated with our REAL NAME, and our FACE.. If we got caught doing something bad, and gave a fake name to the police, it got logged to all law enforcement agencies as a "known alias".. You all act like you are somehow constituitonally guaranteed the right to say and do things under a pseudonym, and the simple fact is you are not. The internet has been a thorn in the side of law enforcement since its initial rise to mainstream popularity only what.. 10 years ago??? Things are not changing for the worse, things are changing back to more how they used to be, where accountability for ones words and actions actually means something, because eventually, there will be no way to escape what you said, or did, under some anonymouse veil. All it takes is one company like Blizzard to look at their community and say "Enough is enough" to get the ball rolling. I applaud Blizzard for this move, and hope other companies will follow suit.
That's great and all, but we're not talking about people doing anything illegal on the internet here. I am actually protected from unlawful search and seizure, and my name is part of that. It is lawful to refuse presenting your ID to a police officer unless they are requesting it in good faith (ie they believe you have commited a crime). If a police officer's authority doesn't supercede my right to privacy then your average forum goer certainly does not either. No one on these forums is committing a crime and no one on a forum has the right to their name.
As Otiro pointed out you basically *do* walk around anonymous. It would be weird if everyone you spoke to asked your first and last name before they would speak to you, just in case you called them an bad name and ran away.
I'd really like to know how alot of you would fare in the world I grew up in. A world before the internet, where there was no "veil of anonimity" covering a means for predators to stalk their prey.
When I grew up, EVERYTHING we did was associated with our REAL NAME, and our FACE.. If we got caught doing something bad, and gave a fake name to the police, it got logged to all law enforcement agencies as a "known alias"..
You all act like you are somehow constituitonally guaranteed the right to say and do things under a pseudonym, and the simple fact is you are not. The internet has been a thorn in the side of law enforcement since its initial rise to mainstream popularity only what.. 10 years ago???
Things are not changing for the worse, things are changing back to more how they used to be, where accountability for ones words and actions actually means something, because eventually, there will be no way to escape what you said, or did, under some anonymouse veil.
All it takes is one company like Blizzard to look at their community and say "Enough is enough" to get the ball rolling.
I applaud Blizzard for this move, and hope other companies will follow suit.
What you said in red is true. To a point. The police would find out your real name and other departments would learn about your Alias. However not everyone in your city or town unless it was very small would even know. So your anonymity would still be in place.
So in this situation Blizzrd is the police. They know your Alias. Forum and they also know your real name through your account. They can just take care of it iternally.
Perhaps this will just weed out the bad and Blizzard can actually have a decent community for once. The again, maybe not....
Prepaid cards + use of fake names = Free troll
The only ones suffering would be the honest players
Exactly. Trolls can use pre paid cards to avoid this with silly names. It hurts the people who really need help. It hurts the people who may actually have something useful or helpful.
Trolls and people like them ALWAYS find a way around these obstructions. But instead of most of them being regulated to over the internet threats and harrassment, blizzard is going to allow them to take it to a much more personal level.
Perhaps this will just weed out the bad and Blizzard can actually have a decent community for once. The again, maybe not....
The bad people will still be around. Except instead of flaming you on a message board, they will call your house lol.
LOL. Ok lets not get too paranoid now. I never post on Blizzard official forums so this does not effect me either way. Even going back 10 years on Battle.net servers there was no need for me to ever use chat rooms. All I did was just play and associate with the people who I was playing with in the game.
I'd really like to know how alot of you would fare in the world I grew up in. A world before the internet, where there was no "veil of anonimity" covering a means for predators to stalk their prey.
When I grew up, EVERYTHING we did was associated with our REAL NAME, and our FACE.. If we got caught doing something bad, and gave a fake name to the police, it got logged to all law enforcement agencies as a "known alias"..
You all act like you are somehow constituitonally guaranteed the right to say and do things under a pseudonym, and the simple fact is you are not. The internet has been a thorn in the side of law enforcement since its initial rise to mainstream popularity only what.. 10 years ago???
Things are not changing for the worse, things are changing back to more how they used to be, where accountability for ones words and actions actually means something, because eventually, there will be no way to escape what you said, or did, under some anonymouse veil.
All it takes is one company like Blizzard to look at their community and say "Enough is enough" to get the ball rolling.
I applaud Blizzard for this move, and hope other companies will follow suit.
This is an interesting topic. I am only a couple years off of you in age (according to our profiles here) and I have almost a complete opposite view on anonimity. Not to imply anything by that, just that I find it an interesting illustration of how polarizing the issue can be.
Otherwise, as I posted in response to someone else, you are constitutionally guaranteed the right to anonymous speech (albeit a private company can certainly moderate their forums as they see fit), but I'll certainly agree with the belief that, as with any right, a person has the obligation to use it responsibly or risk losing it. After all, as the saying goes (paraphrased), my right to swing my fist stops before it hits your face.
Again though, specific to Blizzard's move, I think increased moderation of their forums would accomplish the same goals they are seeking to achieve. I, as a customer, derive no value from my name being displayed, if I choose to participate in their forums, and thus, I can't find a reason to support it. Not even a privacy issue there. Just a matter of "what's in it for me" and I don't believe the assumption that this will curtail trolling as I have seen enough anecdotal evidence to suggest otherwise.
-mklinic
"Do something right, no one remembers. Do something wrong, no one forgets" -from No One Remembers by In Strict Confidence
First, I can't believe it has taken Blizzard since 2004 to figure out that it's message boards are a sewer.
Second, they don't need to go to this extreme. Just start moderating.
Third, based on the 20 scam e-mails I get a day now due to having previously had a Blizzard account, I don't trust Blizzard with anything secure.
And last, how much a risk this is depends on your name. If you are John Smith, keep flaming away. If you are Buford Erstcastle, you are screwed.
Damn, how'd you guess my name? OK, that's not really it, but mine is actually that unique (only one of me in the world) and yes, screwed is exactly how I feel about this.
If I was currently subscribed to a Blizzard game I'd quit, and I certainly won't be buying SC2 and D3, which was money in the bank for Blizz before this.
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
Btw, to anyone thinking "oh it will never be a problem 8D Just teaches them dern kids they cant hide behind anonymity 8D" (which I will remind you, as your name means as little as your avatars name without context, the fear your supposedly invoking in trolls is that of the context that can be garnered via their name, IE: Their location and various other information that can link the name to their physical self. Basically, you're condining the system because the threat of violent and criminal reprocussion will keep them in check...) lets just see how it worked out for a Mod that decided to try and prop up the "feature".
"Example? At one point in the huge Real ID thread on Bliz's site, a GM popped in to say "Hey I think Real ID is a good idea!" and posted his real name on the thread. Within minutes his physical address, email address and phone number were posted in a reply. Thanks to the quick "delete" fingers of the Blizzard mods it was removed almost instantly; but the damage was done" -GUcomics
Anyone who has used the internet for any appreciable length of time knows how stupid this is. Still don't believe me? Head on over to 4chan with your real name and be mr "IRL toughguy" there and ask for your "docs". Enjoy.
I'd really like to know how alot of you would fare in the world I grew up in. A world before the internet, where there was no "veil of anonimity" covering a means for predators to stalk their prey.
When I grew up, EVERYTHING we did was associated with our REAL NAME, and our FACE.. If we got caught doing something bad, and gave a fake name to the police, it got logged to all law enforcement agencies as a "known alias"..
You all act like you are somehow constituitonally guaranteed the right to say and do things under a pseudonym, and the simple fact is you are not. The internet has been a thorn in the side of law enforcement since its initial rise to mainstream popularity only what.. 10 years ago???
Things are not changing for the worse, things are changing back to more how they used to be, where accountability for ones words and actions actually means something, because eventually, there will be no way to escape what you said, or did, under some anonymouse veil.
All it takes is one company like Blizzard to look at their community and say "Enough is enough" to get the ball rolling.
I applaud Blizzard for this move, and hope other companies will follow suit.
What you said in red is true. To a point. The police would find out your real name and other departments would learn about your Alias. However not everyone in your city or town unless it was very small would even know. So your anonymity would still be in place.
So in this situation Blizzrd is the police. They know your Alias. Forum and they also know your real name through your account. They can just take care of it iternally.
They do moderate their forums, and they do have internal means of taking care of things, and over the last 6 years or so I'm pretty sure they have done alot internally to alleviate this.
So there are a couple ways to look at it (probably more but I'll list what comes to mind quickest)
1) They have enough data collected to know within a fairly high degree of certainty that this applies to a small enough percentage of the community that they can whether the initial sub loss (which will be small).
or
2) They simply don't care, and have made enough off of WoW and other games (plus up and coming releases) that they feel this is the right thing to do regardless of community reaction.
Take your pick, but if I were in Blizzard's position, I would want as much security as possible, and while this may sound VERY counter intuitive to modern thought, the availability of information isn't the danger, it is what other companies will allow you to do with minimal information that is really the culprit... I'm talking ID theft etc. here.. Predation and stuff.. Well, that's the flip side of the coin.. The harder it is for people to be anonymous online, the harder it is for a predator to find his prey, regardless of the available information, simply becasue the predators actions are tracable, in real time.
OK, I'm borderline Wall of Text here, so I'll wrap it up.. Yes, The police/Blizzard analogy is weak, but the point behind the anology is still what is at heart. The problem isn't the availability of information. The problem is what you can do with said available information now, that you couldn't 20 years ago. The solution lies not in hiding the information, but making that information useless to anybody but it's rightful owner.
Exposing real names is a very small step in the right direction.
"If I'd asked my customers what they wanted, they'd have said a faster horse." - Henry Ford
Btw, to anyone thinking "oh it will never be a problem 8D Just teaches them dern kids they cant hide behind anonymity 8D" (which I will remind you, as your name means as little as your avatars name without context, the fear your supposedly invoking in trolls is that of the context that can be garnered via their name, IE: Their location and various other information that can link the name to their physical self. Basically, you're condining the system because the threat of violent and criminal reprocussion will keep them in check...) lets just see how it worked out for a Mod that decided to try and prop up the "feature".
"Example? At one point in the huge Real ID thread on Bliz's site, a GM popped in to say "Hey I think Real ID is a good idea!" and posted his real name on the thread. Within minutes his physical address, email address and phone number were posted in a reply. Thanks to the quick "delete" fingers of the Blizzard mods it was removed almost instantly; but the damage was done" -GUcomics
Anyone who has used the internet for any appreciable length of time knows how stupid this is. Still don't believe me? Head on over to 4chan with your real name and be mr "IRL toughguy" there and ask for your "docs". Enjoy.
See, that is a bad example, simply because we know more than just his real name.
We already know he works for Blizzard, so we can narrow down the region of search to say, a 50 mile radius from Blizzard's headquarters.
"If I'd asked my customers what they wanted, they'd have said a faster horse." - Henry Ford
To people who STILL think blizzard is doing this to "clean up the forums", really, wipe off your nose and get real. This is for more money and contacts with facebook. They could EASILY find thousands of people willing to mod the forums for free, but they "choose" this.
Originally posted by Kordesh Btw, to anyone thinking "oh it will never be a problem 8D Just teaches them dern kids they cant hide behind anonymity 8D" (which I will remind you, as your name means as little as your avatars name without context, the fear your supposedly invoking in trolls is that of the context that can be garnered via their name, IE: Their location and various other information that can link the name to their physical self. Basically, you're condining the system because the threat of violent and criminal reprocussion will keep them in check...) lets just see how it worked out for a Mod that decided to try and prop up the "feature". "Example? At one point in the huge Real ID thread on Bliz's site, a GM popped in to say "Hey I think Real ID is a good idea!" and posted his real name on the thread. Within minutes his physical address, email address and phone number were posted in a reply. Thanks to the quick "delete" fingers of the Blizzard mods it was removed almost instantly; but the damage was done" -GUcomics Anyone who has used the internet for any appreciable length of time knows how stupid this is. Still don't believe me? Head on over to 4chan with your real name and be mr "IRL toughguy" there and ask for your "docs". Enjoy.
See, that is a bad example, simpl ywe know more than just his real name. We already know he works for Blizzard, so we can narrow down the region of search to say, a 50 mile radius from Blizzard's headquarters.
So anonymity through obscurity is good. Not sure how that's different than anonymity through an alias except those with unique RL names have less protection under one system and equal protection under the other.
Exposing real names is a very small step in the right direction.
Right direction toward a big brother state?
Not really , a big brother state is a state where the government knows all of your moves . In this case the government would be blizzard . No what this leads to is ANARCHY , which is even worse than a police state . (in a police state the government only has the power to abuse while in anarachy everyone has it . And before only blizzard could abuse your personal data , now any random troll could abuse your real name . So ye: anarchy.)
Fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt. Among those who dislike oppression are many who like to oppress.
Btw, to anyone thinking "oh it will never be a problem 8D Just teaches them dern kids they cant hide behind anonymity 8D" (which I will remind you, as your name means as little as your avatars name without context, the fear your supposedly invoking in trolls is that of the context that can be garnered via their name, IE: Their location and various other information that can link the name to their physical self. Basically, you're condining the system because the threat of violent and criminal reprocussion will keep them in check...) lets just see how it worked out for a Mod that decided to try and prop up the "feature".
"Example? At one point in the huge Real ID thread on Bliz's site, a GM popped in to say "Hey I think Real ID is a good idea!" and posted his real name on the thread. Within minutes his physical address, email address and phone number were posted in a reply. Thanks to the quick "delete" fingers of the Blizzard mods it was removed almost instantly; but the damage was done" -GUcomics
Anyone who has used the internet for any appreciable length of time knows how stupid this is. Still don't believe me? Head on over to 4chan with your real name and be mr "IRL toughguy" there and ask for your "docs". Enjoy.
See, that is a bad example, simpl ywe know more than just his real name.
We already know he works for Blizzard, so we can narrow down the region of search to say, a 50 mile radius from Blizzard's headquarters.
So anonymity through obscurity is good. Not sure how that's different than anonymity through an alias except those with unique names are have less protection under one system and equal protection under the other.
LOL, yeah, if your legal name is something like Dweezle-Harpy Sunshine-Snowblower, guess that does make the search a tad simpler.
We're arguing from points of views from different generations...
I'll pose this question. If it's so bad to post your real name online, how come the most popular website in the world now is Facebook?
I'll admit, I still don't use facebook, never saw the attraction to it.. Maybe it's because I never got along with the jerks I was stuck going to school with, or perhaps becasue I dumped my ex's for good reasons and have no desire to hook up with them, ever again..
"If I'd asked my customers what they wanted, they'd have said a faster horse." - Henry Ford
Btw, to anyone thinking "oh it will never be a problem 8D Just teaches them dern kids they cant hide behind anonymity 8D" (which I will remind you, as your name means as little as your avatars name without context, the fear your supposedly invoking in trolls is that of the context that can be garnered via their name, IE: Their location and various other information that can link the name to their physical self. Basically, you're condining the system because the threat of violent and criminal reprocussion will keep them in check...) lets just see how it worked out for a Mod that decided to try and prop up the "feature".
"Example? At one point in the huge Real ID thread on Bliz's site, a GM popped in to say "Hey I think Real ID is a good idea!" and posted his real name on the thread. Within minutes his physical address, email address and phone number were posted in a reply. Thanks to the quick "delete" fingers of the Blizzard mods it was removed almost instantly; but the damage was done" -GUcomics
Anyone who has used the internet for any appreciable length of time knows how stupid this is. Still don't believe me? Head on over to 4chan with your real name and be mr "IRL toughguy" there and ask for your "docs". Enjoy.
See, that is a bad example, simpl ywe know more than just his real name.
We already know he works for Blizzard, so we can narrow down the region of search to say, a 50 mile radius from Blizzard's headquarters.
So anonymity through obscurity is good. Not sure how that's different than anonymity through an alias except those with unique names are have less protection under one system and equal protection under the other.
LOL, yeah, if your legal name is something like Dweezle-Harpy Sunshine-Snowblower, guess that does make the search a tad simpler.
We're arguing from points of views from different generations...
I'll pose this question. If it's so bad to post your real name online, how come the most popular website in the world now is Facebook?
I'll admit, I still don't use facebook, never saw the attraction to it.. Maybe it's because I never got along with the jerks I was stuck going to school with, or perhaps becasue I dumped my ex's for good reasons and have no desire to hook up with them, ever again..
Because half the world is brain dead and Facebook has a lot of them. The amount of absurd stories i heard about it is just mind boggling . "Mr X got caught by the tax inspection because he shared pictures of an abnormal wealth (i guess fancy cars and such) on facebook which caught the attention of the tax (whats their name again?)" . Or about people telling things like "im going to the bathroom now" on facebook. Or better employees who tell their employers they can't work because they're sick and than post images of them on holiday => Bam FIRED! So ye . Or other people use it just like they use MSN and don't share their information with anyone who is not their facebook friends .
Fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt. Among those who dislike oppression are many who like to oppress.
Originally posted by generals3 Originally posted by noquarter
Originally posted by Nytakito Exposing real names is a very small step in the right direction.
Right direction toward a big brother state? Not really , a big brother state is a state where the government knows all of your moves . In this case the government would be blizzard . No what this leads to is ANARCHY , which is even worse than a police state . (in a police state the government only has the power to abuse while in anarachy everyone has it . And before only blizzard could abuse your personal data , now any random troll could abuse your real name . So ye: anarchy.)
True. I was just thinking of the fact that the government and corporations would make the most use out of the idea of a non-anonymous internet.
I don't understand why people want to do business with a company that willingly sells their customer list, which is what Blizzard is doing here.
Think Amazon should post their customer list? Netflix? Dildostore.com?
Comments
First, I can't believe it has taken Blizzard since 2004 to figure out that it's message boards are a sewer.
Second, they don't need to go to this extreme. Just start moderating.
Third, based on the 20 scam e-mails I get a day now due to having previously had a Blizzard account, I don't trust Blizzard with anything secure.
And last, how much a risk this is depends on your name. If you are John Smith, keep flaming away. If you are Buford Erstcastle, you are screwed.
EQ1, EQ2, SWG, SWTOR, GW, GW2 CoH, CoV, FFXI, WoW, CO, War,TSW and a slew of free trials and beta tests
What's great about evolving conversations is that, when someone posts a tangent within the conversation, it cna be answered and provide value to that person. Therefore, the respose was relevant to the poster I was responding to and subsequently, relevant to the overall topic though not specific to the general idea od rights on a private gaming forums. But hey, by all means, apply to me a moderator or report my post as off-topic if you believe it so. The problem will resolve itself instead of further wasting everyone's time, no?
For being a waste of time though, you're still investing in it, so that's gotta be worth something i guess....
-mklinic
"Do something right, no one remembers.
Do something wrong, no one forgets"
-from No One Remembers by In Strict Confidence
Well i've read up a thread on the wow forums telling everyone to change their name to John Smith, made me lol^^
(god i love internet drama ^^)
Fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt.
Among those who dislike oppression are many who like to oppress.
Perhaps this will just weed out the bad and Blizzard can actually have a decent community for once. The again, maybe not....
Prepaid cards + use of fake names = Free troll
The only ones suffering would be the honest players
And tbh its the fact the forums are so hostile on WoW i wouldn't ever trust it with my name .
EDIT: something i also read up , don't you think the simple fact making a WoW account suddenly gets you a huge load of spam makes you distrust everything related to it ?
Fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt.
Among those who dislike oppression are many who like to oppress.
That's great and all, but we're not talking about people doing anything illegal on the internet here. I am actually protected from unlawful search and seizure, and my name is part of that. It is lawful to refuse presenting your ID to a police officer unless they are requesting it in good faith (ie they believe you have commited a crime). If a police officer's authority doesn't supercede my right to privacy then your average forum goer certainly does not either. No one on these forums is committing a crime and no one on a forum has the right to their name.
As Otiro pointed out you basically *do* walk around anonymous. It would be weird if everyone you spoke to asked your first and last name before they would speak to you, just in case you called them an bad name and ran away.
What you said in red is true. To a point. The police would find out your real name and other departments would learn about your Alias. However not everyone in your city or town unless it was very small would even know. So your anonymity would still be in place.
So in this situation Blizzrd is the police. They know your Alias. Forum and they also know your real name through your account. They can just take care of it iternally.
Exactly. Trolls can use pre paid cards to avoid this with silly names. It hurts the people who really need help. It hurts the people who may actually have something useful or helpful.
Trolls and people like them ALWAYS find a way around these obstructions. But instead of most of them being regulated to over the internet threats and harrassment, blizzard is going to allow them to take it to a much more personal level.
I am incredibly sad for humanity knowing that there are people who not only don't see a problem with what they're doing, but at in fact DEFENDING it.
And you wonder why Nigerian scams work....
Bans a perma, but so are sigs in necro posts.
EAT ME MMORPG.com!
The bad people will still be around. Except instead of flaming you on a message board, they will call your house lol.
EQ1, EQ2, SWG, SWTOR, GW, GW2 CoH, CoV, FFXI, WoW, CO, War,TSW and a slew of free trials and beta tests
LOL. Ok lets not get too paranoid now. I never post on Blizzard official forums so this does not effect me either way. Even going back 10 years on Battle.net servers there was no need for me to ever use chat rooms. All I did was just play and associate with the people who I was playing with in the game.
dangerous to the point of recklessness.
This is an interesting topic. I am only a couple years off of you in age (according to our profiles here) and I have almost a complete opposite view on anonimity. Not to imply anything by that, just that I find it an interesting illustration of how polarizing the issue can be.
Otherwise, as I posted in response to someone else, you are constitutionally guaranteed the right to anonymous speech (albeit a private company can certainly moderate their forums as they see fit), but I'll certainly agree with the belief that, as with any right, a person has the obligation to use it responsibly or risk losing it. After all, as the saying goes (paraphrased), my right to swing my fist stops before it hits your face.
Again though, specific to Blizzard's move, I think increased moderation of their forums would accomplish the same goals they are seeking to achieve. I, as a customer, derive no value from my name being displayed, if I choose to participate in their forums, and thus, I can't find a reason to support it. Not even a privacy issue there. Just a matter of "what's in it for me" and I don't believe the assumption that this will curtail trolling as I have seen enough anecdotal evidence to suggest otherwise.
-mklinic
"Do something right, no one remembers.
Do something wrong, no one forgets"
-from No One Remembers by In Strict Confidence
Damn, how'd you guess my name? OK, that's not really it, but mine is actually that unique (only one of me in the world) and yes, screwed is exactly how I feel about this.
If I was currently subscribed to a Blizzard game I'd quit, and I certainly won't be buying SC2 and D3, which was money in the bank for Blizz before this.
"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
Or like Hitler said in his angry video about this: "Now i can't even post on the forums without some mad man ordering pizza to my house"
Fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt.
Among those who dislike oppression are many who like to oppress.
Btw, to anyone thinking "oh it will never be a problem 8D Just teaches them dern kids they cant hide behind anonymity 8D" (which I will remind you, as your name means as little as your avatars name without context, the fear your supposedly invoking in trolls is that of the context that can be garnered via their name, IE: Their location and various other information that can link the name to their physical self. Basically, you're condining the system because the threat of violent and criminal reprocussion will keep them in check...) lets just see how it worked out for a Mod that decided to try and prop up the "feature".
"Example? At one point in the huge Real ID thread on Bliz's site, a GM popped in to say "Hey I think Real ID is a good idea!" and posted his real name on the thread. Within minutes his physical address, email address and phone number were posted in a reply. Thanks to the quick "delete" fingers of the Blizzard mods it was removed almost instantly; but the damage was done" -GUcomics
Anyone who has used the internet for any appreciable length of time knows how stupid this is. Still don't believe me? Head on over to 4chan with your real name and be mr "IRL toughguy" there and ask for your "docs". Enjoy.
Bans a perma, but so are sigs in necro posts.
EAT ME MMORPG.com!
They do moderate their forums, and they do have internal means of taking care of things, and over the last 6 years or so I'm pretty sure they have done alot internally to alleviate this.
So there are a couple ways to look at it (probably more but I'll list what comes to mind quickest)
1) They have enough data collected to know within a fairly high degree of certainty that this applies to a small enough percentage of the community that they can whether the initial sub loss (which will be small).
or
2) They simply don't care, and have made enough off of WoW and other games (plus up and coming releases) that they feel this is the right thing to do regardless of community reaction.
Take your pick, but if I were in Blizzard's position, I would want as much security as possible, and while this may sound VERY counter intuitive to modern thought, the availability of information isn't the danger, it is what other companies will allow you to do with minimal information that is really the culprit... I'm talking ID theft etc. here.. Predation and stuff.. Well, that's the flip side of the coin.. The harder it is for people to be anonymous online, the harder it is for a predator to find his prey, regardless of the available information, simply becasue the predators actions are tracable, in real time.
OK, I'm borderline Wall of Text here, so I'll wrap it up.. Yes, The police/Blizzard analogy is weak, but the point behind the anology is still what is at heart. The problem isn't the availability of information. The problem is what you can do with said available information now, that you couldn't 20 years ago. The solution lies not in hiding the information, but making that information useless to anybody but it's rightful owner.
Exposing real names is a very small step in the right direction.
"If I'd asked my customers what they wanted, they'd have said a faster horse." - Henry Ford
Right direction toward a big brother state?
See, that is a bad example, simply because we know more than just his real name.
We already know he works for Blizzard, so we can narrow down the region of search to say, a 50 mile radius from Blizzard's headquarters.
"If I'd asked my customers what they wanted, they'd have said a faster horse." - Henry Ford
I want to point this picture out.
This guy has a few very commenly used mods installed.
It's now showing REAL Names, of people who he does NOT know NOR are they on his REALID friends list.....
http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/6942/ridmover.jpg
To people who STILL think blizzard is doing this to "clean up the forums", really, wipe off your nose and get real. This is for more money and contacts with facebook. They could EASILY find thousands of people willing to mod the forums for free, but they "choose" this.
So anonymity through obscurity is good. Not sure how that's different than anonymity through an alias except those with unique RL names have less protection under one system and equal protection under the other.
Not really , a big brother state is a state where the government knows all of your moves . In this case the government would be blizzard . No what this leads to is ANARCHY , which is even worse than a police state . (in a police state the government only has the power to abuse while in anarachy everyone has it . And before only blizzard could abuse your personal data , now any random troll could abuse your real name . So ye: anarchy.)
Fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt.
Among those who dislike oppression are many who like to oppress.
LOL, yeah, if your legal name is something like Dweezle-Harpy Sunshine-Snowblower, guess that does make the search a tad simpler.
We're arguing from points of views from different generations...
I'll pose this question. If it's so bad to post your real name online, how come the most popular website in the world now is Facebook?
I'll admit, I still don't use facebook, never saw the attraction to it.. Maybe it's because I never got along with the jerks I was stuck going to school with, or perhaps becasue I dumped my ex's for good reasons and have no desire to hook up with them, ever again..
"If I'd asked my customers what they wanted, they'd have said a faster horse." - Henry Ford
Because half the world is brain dead and Facebook has a lot of them. The amount of absurd stories i heard about it is just mind boggling . "Mr X got caught by the tax inspection because he shared pictures of an abnormal wealth (i guess fancy cars and such) on facebook which caught the attention of the tax (whats their name again?)" . Or about people telling things like "im going to the bathroom now" on facebook. Or better employees who tell their employers they can't work because they're sick and than post images of them on holiday => Bam FIRED! So ye . Or other people use it just like they use MSN and don't share their information with anyone who is not their facebook friends .
Fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt.
Among those who dislike oppression are many who like to oppress.
Not really , a big brother state is a state where the government knows all of your moves . In this case the government would be blizzard . No what this leads to is ANARCHY , which is even worse than a police state . (in a police state the government only has the power to abuse while in anarachy everyone has it . And before only blizzard could abuse your personal data , now any random troll could abuse your real name . So ye: anarchy.)
True. I was just thinking of the fact that the government and corporations would make the most use out of the idea of a non-anonymous internet.
I don't understand why people want to do business with a company that willingly sells their customer list, which is what Blizzard is doing here.
Think Amazon should post their customer list? Netflix? Dildostore.com?