Anonymity on the official forums is going away

[Shimmerwind]

I will never post on the forums again if this goes through, not even the tech support forums. What I do on my own time is my business. nnSee post 881:n

I don't want the #1 Google return by a prospective employer for me being what I post on the WoW forums - and I know your site gets enough hits and recognition to know that it will be up there on the first page.

nnThat alone is enough to keep me from ever posting again. There are a number of other reasons listed in this thread that apply too like post #1041 on http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/threa ... &pageNo=53 nnWe tell our kids over and over to NEVER post their real names on the Internet, yet that is exactly what they are forcing anybody who needs their forums even to report a bug, get technical support or help with their account to do. nThere are hundreds of posts listing and restating how bad this idea is so I don't need to restate them all here. This is absolutely the worst idea they have ever had bar none.

nnI might be inclined to agree with your thoughts, but -- a name by itself is a nebulous thing. A name doesn't tell you much at all, really. Google search a name all you like, unless you have elsewise posted information that links that Google search to yourself, then there is no way to prove it belongs to you. "Travis Marcum" is a relatively uncommon name, though not absurdly so. I've a couple of blogs that I have posted real life information on, and am thus fairly easily trackable. Even so, unless I go to the Official Forums and say in a post, "I live in so-and-so place" or provide some other kind of personal, connecting information, there's no way to truly connect me to the name on the screen.nnAnd I can't really grasp the rationale that one might be worried what a potential employer might think for a couple of reasons; the first is the ol' fashioned, if a potential employer would judge me for what I choose to do in my off hours, that isn't the sort of place I would care to work fall back. The second is wrapped up in discrimination laws. Any company found choosing not to hire someone because they found someone online who shares a name with applicant who plays World of Warcraft (and given enough time, corporate practices of those sort would come out) is going to be on the butt-end of a massive series of lawsuits and public ridicule. The third, we're slowly moving past a point where playing video games is a stigma; the further we go along, the more the 70's/80's Nintendo generation moves in to the corporate world, the less stigmatic it becomes. I have been hired three times because I played MMOs; twice by hospitals, once by the corporate offices of a national wireless carrier. Which I volunteered as a part of my resume.nnAs for it exposing the names of children, again I think I would fall back on the whole "a name is a nebulous thing" dogma. How are we to know how old they are unless they fail to practice good net security and tell us? The amount of personal information given by a name on the o-boards is fairly slim, unless the individual in question has volunteered information elsewhere to be found. And if memory serves (and someone more familiar with the EULA and the ToS can certainly dispute this, it's been a while since I've perused them), aren't accounts supposed to be held in the name of someone over the age of 18?nnAs for the potential harassment on the back-end by competitive guilds or players like Kingship et. all, I could potentially see that as an issue if you choose to post with your main listed under your real name. But from what I read, you'll be able to post without posting your main's character name or guild or what-have-you. And again, that puts you under the nebulous nowhere of a single name. Unless you volunteer what character you play, what guild you're in, or else-wise hand out information, you should be able to mitigate those issues as well.nnNow, the harassment issue could really be a pain if our real names end up on the Armory profiles of our characters (which is honestly where I think the crux of this will fall -- if anyone and everyone can, without fail, identify our real names by our real characters in-game without us having an option to monitor or mitigate that, you do have a vastly increased potential for harassment). But that's a different bag of worms and they haven't said anything to that effect yet, so... And if worse comes to worse, you have the same options of deal with harassing players that you've always had. Ignores, GM tickets, ect. And real life harassment, I'm sure people will discover quickly enough, has much greater and much more disturbing consequences. Potentially involving handcuffs, badges, and prison sentences.nnAll that being said, I don't disagree with those at all who say they will never post again if this goes live (or more extreme, claim they will cancel their accounts, as the screed on the o-boards has been leaning); I sincerely think that is the best way to put in your opinion and vote, so to speak -- with your actions and with your wallets. And to some extent, I do understand the desire for privacy and the wish to maintain it. I certainly don't begrudge anyone their opinions or wishes to the end. I just don't know that it tracks for me, personally. nnThe one thing I will agree to unequivocally that I've seen posted a lot in the last little while is that this does seem like a really unnecessary change. I get their reasoning, and I do think it could help curtail some of more cowardly trolling on the forums (though there will always be trolls) and possibly engender some deeper, greater discussions due to having some small layer of accountability. It could work, it might not. But it just really seems superfluous and extraneous. A change simply for the sake of change.nnMy initial reaction was pretty positive; in the optimistic, 'Yay, nuke all those trolls!' vein. Having spent a little time giving it some thought, I'm less optimistic because the whole "a name is a nebulous thing" works two ways; trolls can still troll with relative anonymity if they so choose. But I see the potential, and my real name existing out in the interweb aether doesn't really bother me, so I'm willing to give it a go. I guess I should revise my orginal statement to say, "I'm okay with this change and am reserving judgment on the outcome".

[Aitana]

Another thought: Imagine what it would be like to have your account hacked and see that your real name is associated with numerous 'sex leg' posts.

[Aitana]

If they were smart at all, they would allow you to have a RealID screen name that would then be associated with all your toons on the Battlenet account. That way there is no personal information and any posts can be connected to a single ID.

[Shimmerwind]

Another thought: Imagine what it would be like to have your account hacked and see that your real name is associated with numerous 'sex leg' posts.

nnI really don't think that would bother me; anyone who knew me in real life would know/understand that it wasn't me who was typing it, and anyone whose opinion I respect/value/hold in esteem in game would believe me when informed of the hacking. I really think years of being a professional critic might have steeled me to this kind of thing, though, so I might not be the most unbiased opinion in the room -- by and large the opinion of others doesn't really bother me unless I choose to allow their opinion to matter. Your opinion matters, as does that of those in the guild, and the people I know in real life. The hazy void of the remaining o-boards, not so much. I think you all know me well enough to know that I don't go out of my way to offend anyone, but I also don't let their judgments knock on me, either.nn

If they were smart at all, they would allow you to have a RealID screen name that would then be associated with all your toons on the Battlenet account. That way there is no personal information and any posts can be connected to a single ID.

nnThat would be an equally workable solution, though it would have to be a screen name that you couldn't edit or alter in the future, or else you'd simply be changing the face on the same problems they're attempting to solve with this change. Really, I wouldn't be surprised if this came to pass -- either using the identifying portion of the email address to your Battle.net account (what occurs before the @), or using the former account name of one of your WoW accounts or something similar. Given the immediate, vitriolic response to the initial Real ID implementation and now to the pending forum changes, I really wouldn't be surprised to see a screen name option in the near-to-distant future. If for no other reason than to use on the forums.

[bagun]

Another thought: Imagine what it would be like to have your account hacked.

n allready experienced this, the process to get the name changed is rediculious.. i gave up.. needless to say the forums change will be a thing against blizzard.

[Grethem]

The chances aren't really that likely that you yourself will be hunted down by a crazed psychopath who wants to kill you because of something you posted on the forums, there is still a chance.nnNobody's safety/life/job/privacy is worth the chance of compromising just to prevent a little butthurt caused by trolls.

[Thomasbecket]

I will never post on the forums again if this goes through, not even the tech support forums. What I do on my own time is my business. nnSee post 881:n

I don't want the #1 Google return by a prospective employer for me being what I post on the WoW forums - and I know your site gets enough hits and recognition to know that it will be up there on the first page.

nnThat alone is enough to keep me from ever posting again.

nnI couldn't agree more - it's as if Blizzard wants to dissuade forum use altogether. I hardly ever post but when I have, it's almost always been in tech support, with good results. I'll be displeased if my privacy is summarily stripped and my access to tech support is thereby diminished.

[Thulcondar]

READ THIS CAREFULLY. Tish is WHY it is a VERY bad idea and I will end my participation on teh forums when it is instituted:nnhttp://wowriot.gameriot.com/blogs/Americans-are-bad-at-games/Real-Names-on-the-Official-Forums-New-REAL-ID-function?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wowriot+%28Latest+Wowriot+Blog+Posts+-+Wowriot.Gameriot.com%29

[Thomasbecket]

nnAnd I can't really grasp the rationale that one might be worried what a potential employer might think for a couple of reasons; the first is the ol' fashioned, if a potential employer would judge me for what I choose to do in my off hours, that isn't the sort of place I would care to work fall back. The second is wrapped up in discrimination laws. Any company found choosing not to hire someone because they found someone online who shares a name with applicant who plays World of Warcraft (and given enough time, corporate practices of those sort would come out) is going to be on the butt-end of a massive series of lawsuits and public ridicule. The third, we're slowly moving past a point where playing video games is a stigma; the further we go along, the more the 70's/80's Nintendo generation moves in to the corporate world, the less stigmatic it becomes. I have been hired three times because I played MMOs; twice by hospitals, once by the corporate offices of a national wireless carrier. Which I volunteered as a part of my resume.nn

nnYour thinking is a little Utopian, I fear. There are many white-collar fields in which employers may tacitly take an interest in what an employee does on their own time. I'm an attorney; suppose a client googles my name and finds that I've been posting on the WoW forums, and they conclude that I'm some nerd gamer and therefore couldn't possibly be serious about my profession, and so they lean on my boss to boot me off a case. That's not far-fetched, and while you may think "that's not right" or "that's not fair", reality often has little connection to either right or fair. To be honest, if I googled my doctor and found that he was the most active poster on the WoW forums, I'd probably wonder what in the world he does all day. For younger people, maybe it's a different world - it certainly is if you're in college or below, but those of us in certain professional fields have to deal with people's perceptions. For people "in my generation", there will always be something of a stigma attached to playing a game like this - that's just the way it is. Even if there's only a 1% chance that a prospective employer wouldn't hire me, that's too much for my taste, considering that there is really no need for Blizzard to even do this. nnAlso, no offense but you're wrong about the legal implications of denying employment based on someone's off-duty activities. Generally, hiring decisions are subject to legal scrutiny only where the decisions are based on race, sex, religion, or handicap. Also, at least for most of the United States, employment is a at the will of the employer, and you can be fired at whim so long as the decision had nothing to do with the aforementioned classifications (and assuming there's no contract of employment or collective bargaining agreement). You can even be denied HOUSING by a landlord if they don't like what you do. There's a case out there, I think it's like 4 or 5 years old. either in NY or Florida, where the landlord refused to rent to a woman because she was a lawyer - he figured she'd be a pain the rear as a tenant because she was a lawyer, and on appeal the landlord's right to do so was upheld. Like I said before, reality isn't often tethered to what's right or wrong, especially since fair and right are moving targets.nnAs for public outcry - really? People are still buying gas from BP. I doubt Johnny Gamer's employment woes are going to make much of a ripple.nnI don't know - I hope they change their minds.

[Grawlix]

I think Blizzard will be rescinding this decision.