Battle.net Forums To Demand Real Names
Big news for Battle.net users, and possible important implications for net privacy as a whole, via this posting from Blizzard:
anyone posting or replying to a post on official Blizzard forums will be doing so using their Real ID -- that is, their real-life first and last name -- with the option to also display the [...]
Big news for Battle.net users, and possible important implications for net privacy as a whole, via this posting from Blizzard:
anyone posting or replying to a post on official Blizzard forums will be doing so using their Real ID -- that is, their real-life first and last name -- with the option to also display the name of their primary in-game character alongside it. These changes will go into effect on all StarCraft II forums with the launch of the new community site prior to the July 27 release of the game, with the World of Warcraft site and forums following suit near the launch of Cataclysm. Certain classic forums, including the classic Battle.net forums, will remain unchanged.
Forced use of real names on a public forum? Ewwww.
I'd understand if they'd make the forum private, so you have to sign in to view any posts, but having people see your name (and be able to google it) on a public is a horrid idea.
On the other hand it could encourage people to be nicer on the Internet, as they're not hiding behind anonymity. I'd guess there's a significant population of anti-social people on the related forums.
But you wouldn't necessarily want a prospective employer finding 20,000 posts you've written about an imaginary world. Unless the job you're going for is game related.
I agree with everything above. I never posted there though and had no intention to. Maybe it'll just cut the number of posters, and by extension the number of idiots.
They're already using them in the cross-faction chat with the email address friend add thinger. Bit shit in terms of privacy really, not so bad here where most of us know each others real names, but it just opens up avenues for abuse by giving information to people that do not need to know it.
Giving out the private information of members, even if it's just their name without their permission isn't really something I'd expect from a company that's constantly reminding us to keep our details secure.
I've just tried finding out details about myself using my name and Google. Pretending I don't already have a rough idea of who I am I don't know where to start with all these people. Facebook is the same. And I consider my name to be fairly unusual. So how do you do it?
I still don't like my name to be associated with Friznit, given what it churns out on Google atm. Albeit much of that is a few years out of date, the industry I work in now is by necessity big on security.
Which reminds me, other than Xfire I think 5punk is the only place that links the two. There's a post in the facebook thread (when it was still fairly new and we thought it was a good thing). I blame Berk.
I've just tried finding out details about myself using my name and Google. Pretending I don't already have a rough idea of who I am I don't know where to start with all these people. Facebook is the same. And I consider my name to be fairly unusual. So how do you do it?
I think this sums up the problem though:
I’m sure they’re having a huge rethink as a result of what happened earlier today. One of their staff ended up his phone number, address, photographs and details of his family members blared all over the internet when he tried to prove the new system worked, and that Blizzard devs would also be adhering to it. The fool. The poor, poor fool.
I also hate to bring 4chan up as well, but if you've ever looked into their various incidents, they seem to find it terribly easy to find out someone's details simply from their online persona, going as far as then finding out full names, addresses, family, phone numbers etc...
And fairly obviously, there's a substantial link between 4channers and WoW players.
My name is gloriously ambiguous when it comes to internet searches and just general commonality.
Still, Blizzard must understand that there is a stigma attached to playing WoW. Hell, there's a stigma attached to gaming in most places.
I also feel myself in an uncomfortable situation of double standards. Even though I have notched up a lot of hours on WoW, if a CV landed on my desk and the hobbies and interests section included "raiding with my Guild", I'd probably shuffle it to one side.
Horrible dawning realisation: I am helping to perpetuate the stigma associated with gaming.
On the other hand, if a CV landed on my desk saying "I have been the CEO of a successful spaceholding multinational corp in Eve for 4 years", would you be interested?
I used the internet a couple of weeks back to find out some info about my family geneaology and was quite startled how much I found.
My biological mother sadly died last November and admittedly if she hadn't I wouldnt have found most of this out. I never knew her (we obviously met briefly) and the only info I had on her before was two letters she wrote to my adoptive parents, but since her son (my half-brother) put up a memorial website to her using the usercode he uses for everything, I was able to find:
- pics of her, including one at the age she'd have had me and one the day before she died
- her cause of death - both the official one, plus some info from her son on a medical forum about some likely contributors (overuse of medication and chronic alcoholism)
- that she had told her family about me
- her weird middle name
- she liked cats
Plus some stuff about my half brother I didn't really want to know about including his love for Michael Jackson and a rash in his bathing suit area (not related). He ironically tweets:
"I don't like Google street view because you can see into folk's houses. Goodbye privacy, it will be like Big Brother is watching you all the time."
friznit wrote:On the other hand, if a CV landed on my desk saying "I have been the CEO of a successful spaceholding multinational corp in Eve for 4 years", would you be interested?
Given the fact that none of the cretins in our office can use a spreadsheet, I'd snap you up in an instant.
Battle.net Forums To Demand Real Names
