Battle.net Forums Switching to Real ID

[420]

Battle.net forums for Diablo II, Warcraft III, WoW and all future games (SC2, DIII, etc.) will soon require that your real first and last name be displayed when you post to the that forum.

People are pretty pissed off about it, the WoW thread has hit 1600+ pages one day.

SC2 Forum Complete Announcement

Official WoW Forum Thread

-420

[Mo]

Yep I read about that , was gonna post about it here but couldn't remember the URL to that forums page so glad you did it.
I think Blizzard has gone off the deep end with this one.  If people wanted their real names everywhere they would have made it their pseudo.  It's honestly not about the consumer anymore.

[420]

I find the whole thing disturbing but not surprising. Years ago, when I first tried to post to the Diablo II forums, they made me log in using my D2 CD Key, b.net account and password. I did it once but never again. They don't even have a secure (https) url for fucks sake.

So I don't really care that Blizzard is making their forums unusable since, in my mind, they have never been safe to use in the first place.

-420

[Soul Sojourner]

Forums? What the fuck are those?

Yep I read about that , was gonna post about it here but couldn't remember the URL to that forums page so glad you did it.

As if anyone needs further proof of your laziness.

With the way social networking is currently taking over the net, and all the idiots you hoped would never be able to use a computer now present in them, what does it matter anymore?

In most cases, it's already too late to hide your identity, people can find out easier than you'd like to believe. Even for people who do a good job of hiding their identity, there are still people who can figure it out if they desire to.

[420]

In most cases, it's already too late to hide your identity, people can find out easier than you'd like to believe.

Here is a blog that illustrates this point with Blizzard and Activision employees: What's in a name?

-420

[Soul Sojourner]

Hilarious.

He found all of that, and it's not even something he's good at or skilled in. Which is exactly my point. Imagine how much more you can obtain through posts by that person (in addition to a name), and even further from an IP address or an actual look-up of that person. (you know, the kind that's done professionally and typically costs money)

[420]

So that decision lasted about 36 hours:

Blizzard Cancels Real ID Forum Plans

-420

[Mo]

Good on them for listening to the customers.

[Soul Sojourner]

They're still keeping the in-game one, but at least it's optional.

Blizzard is my friend.