Blizzard's responses on the Real ID situation
by Adam Holisky 
Jul 6th 2010 at 10:15PM
We provide all three responses after the break.
If you're interested in contributing to the discussion on Blizzard's forums, you may do so at the 11,000+ thread. Don't create a new thread though, it'll just be locked. And try not to fall into the trap of responding too harshly... Blizzard has been banning a lot of people today.
NethaeraQuote:
Will the Real-ID opt-out that we can set for our children's account also keep them from posting on the forums?
Will the Real-ID opt-out that we can set for our children's account also keep them from posting on the forums?
You will be able to set up Parental Controls to disallow a minor from posting.
DryscOne important point which I don't believe has been relayed yet is that the switch to showing RealID on the forums will only happen with the new forum systems we're launching for StarCraft II shortly before its release, and a new forum system for World of Warcraft launching shortly before the release of Cataclysm.
All posts here on the current World of Warcraft forums, or any of our classic Battle.net forums, will remain as-is. They won't (and can't) automatically switch to showing a real first and last name.
All posts in the future on the new forum systems will be an opt-in choice and ample warning will be given that you're posting with your real first and last name.
All posts here on the current World of Warcraft forums, or any of our classic Battle.net forums, will remain as-is. They won't (and can't) automatically switch to showing a real first and last name.
All posts in the future on the new forum systems will be an opt-in choice and ample warning will be given that you're posting with your real first and last name.
NethaeraJust to respond to those that don't think we read through all of these responses and threads, we do and have been. We will continue monitoring feedback as well.
We put a lot of thought into this change and have a long-term vision for the Real ID service and wanted to make sure that we communicated ahead of time and very clearly as to what will be changing and how. Keep in mind that posting is optional, and we recognize that some players will choose not to utilize the Real ID feature in game or post on the forums and support everyone's individual choice on using or not using it.
This is obviously new ground for us and for you as well, but we want to make sure we're creating a great social-gaming service that people will want to use. We just want to make sure that if people are sharing feedback, that they keep it constructive, and yes, as I said, we are reading.
We put a lot of thought into this change and have a long-term vision for the Real ID service and wanted to make sure that we communicated ahead of time and very clearly as to what will be changing and how. Keep in mind that posting is optional, and we recognize that some players will choose not to utilize the Real ID feature in game or post on the forums and support everyone's individual choice on using or not using it.
This is obviously new ground for us and for you as well, but we want to make sure we're creating a great social-gaming service that people will want to use. We just want to make sure that if people are sharing feedback, that they keep it constructive, and yes, as I said, we are reading.
Filed under: Blizzard, News items
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 25)
Greyhame Jul 6th 2010 11:23PM
That's not Bashiok. Unless you think he drive 10 hours to work everyday.
People really need to examine that link before posting it.
Greyhame Jul 6th 2010 11:24PM
That's not Bashiok. Unless you think he drive 10 hours to work everyday.
devilsei Jul 6th 2010 10:24PM
Sadly, those responses are ungodly early in the topic. I haven't seen a single response to this though:
and from what I've heard, incidentally you shouldn't mention contacting the ESRB, as that'll get the post deleted. 620 pages is a hard thing to check if thats true though.
Ray Jul 6th 2010 10:28PM
He replied and said that the poster found the wrong person. However, people say that after the Facebook was bombarded, the owner deleted it.
I'm guessing that he (or the Blizzard employee that put him up to it) made a snap decision to give a show of good faith to the community. The community, in response, showed them how dangerous the whole idea is.
Even if it was the wrong person (and I think we all know he's just trying to do damage control so that he can turn his phone back on and answer the door without a pizza guy standing there), some innocent person has been harassed by a massive community of gamers.
Skyhoof Jul 6th 2010 10:31PM
@Ray
But in the facebook profile, it said Network: Blizzard Entertainment
I checked o.o
Almost messaged too, but that would've been going too far to prove a point. :/
devilsei Jul 6th 2010 10:35PM
Ahh, didn't know that Ray, though as I said, its 620+ pages, and that thing grows at like 5 pages a minute. While most of that information is not the right person, if the facebook was correct, thats more than enough.
Specially considering that one person, who was determined enough, for someone simply with their ingame name, then stabbed them.
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Counter-Strike-FPS-Knife-Fight,10543.html
Trees Jul 6th 2010 10:39PM
People are also reporting that the system is timing out when they try to cancel their subscription now.
I was able to cancel mine without incident about 90 minutes ago.
Interesting...
Qot Jul 6th 2010 11:01PM
I don't think they could keep up if they tried. Any blue post at this point would basically be yelling "unleash the forum!" as everyone points out the complete and utter lack of logic in this decision.
It is interesting that every single green post (community MVP) has been anti-RealID. Several had flat-out said they'll stop posting. Blues are employed by Blizz, so they're muzzled a bit. Greens are the biggest fanboys and most active posters... If they lose those, they're in trouble.
Dan Jul 6th 2010 11:04PM
Yeah, I agree it's pretty horrible. But that post just goes to show how all of the internet can be an invasion of privacy. Yes, they initially got the name Micah Whipple from a post. However, being able to Google search friends, family, Facebook, etc just shows that Blizzard is one of the many who can expose you to the world. You could just as easily get his name from a class roster and Google search the same information. The point is, while I for one don't want my name posted to the world, it's my responsibility to make sure my information is kept private. You don't make a Facebook, or hide it from search engines, un-list yourself from phone directories, and don't post in Blizzard forums. Granted, it would be nice to have the option to not show your name, but we'll just have to wait and see what Blizzard decides.
Ray Jul 6th 2010 11:08PM
If you want to be freaked out even more, go to Spokeo.com and type in your name.
I was able to find everyone I know who is over 30 years old. I found accurate addresses, phone numbers, ages, and even hobbies/interests at the bottom of the results page.
Qot Jul 6th 2010 11:17PM
PZ Myers (yes, *THAT* PZ Myers) is commenting on this:
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2010/07/an_interesting_experiment_in_o.php
Seriously, this just went from a "thing WoW players will be upset about" to "something people who have never played WoW will associated with Blizzard's treatment of private information".
There's also an interesting link from that blog:
http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2010/07/wow-fail.html
WoW players concerned about being outed are also, ironically, outing themselves so that they can rally people to protest this change.
Adam Holisky Jul 6th 2010 11:56PM
I normally don't give an explanation on moderation, but I feel I want to give one here.
We're not going to allow links to CMs or Blizzard employee's personal info.
Why?
It's not their fault. Plain and simple. Drysc/Bahiok has nothing to do with the decision. He's just a friendly face helping out the community. He has everyone's best interest at heart, and he doesn't deserve to have a few million people see his address. More so, I'm not going to put my employer in a place of being the conveyor of this information. It's okay if people have it up on other sites, but not here.
The moral of the story is simple: given a name, it is scary easy to find out stuff about people. Given $10 and a few minutes, you can pretty much do anything you want.
Soo... I've removed the link to the article and a couple comments with maps to his house. Let's all respect this decision made by WoW.com's editorial staff, and we won't have to do any more than delete posts.
Thanks for understanding all.
Alja Jul 7th 2010 12:13AM
@Ray the whole spokeo thing is crap - #1 I searched for my name and apparently I don't exsist, #2 I searched for my mother who did come up (along with approximately 47 other people with her name) and over 1/2 the information was incorrect. I really do think that people are using this whole situation as just something else to gripe/freak out about. I take my personal privacy pretty seriously but I don't care who has my name - and on top of that if people are that worried about it don't use the RealID stuff - mine reads as being inactive in game because I haven't done anything with it and never will.
devilsei Jul 7th 2010 12:06AM
Ahh, truly sorry about that then Adam, didn't mean any harm towards Bashiok, as I understand he was simply trying to make everyone feel better about this system, I only posted the article as an example as to how bad this shift in Forum displays can go.
Adam Holisky Jul 7th 2010 12:10AM
No harm no foul. I know you and most people commenting here are not being malicious. It's something new we're having to make a relatively quick decision about too... none of us ever thought we'd have to deal with the masses knowing a CMs address or something.
Crazy stuff.
Tyr Jul 7th 2010 12:10AM
I've seen this happen a few times on 4chan (not partaking of course) with much more malicious intent: a hive mind using only a first and last name and eventually harassing that person into oblivion until it even reaches national media, his/her life crippled for years.
I hope Blizz very soon sees just how flawed this 'social gaming experiment' really is and shuts it down, otherwise they will lose many intelligent posters who have a lot to offer in ways of constructive criticism, game mechanics analysis and well thought-out opinion.
They will KILL the forums.
Thorzon Jul 7th 2010 12:14AM
April Fools!
Saint Jul 7th 2010 12:34AM
@Adam : The fact that you've had to moderate a post to remove a Blizz employee's personal information says so much about this situation.
Why should this guy be special: His name is going to be on the forums as easily accessible as anyone else.
The point is to show how unbelievably bad of an idea this is, and the best way to make that point is to drill it home directly to Blizzard.
I bet dude won't be happy when he goes into the office tomorrow. "Hey guys, I got a couple thousand phone calls last night... maybe RealID on forums isn't a great idea after all."
devilsei Jul 7th 2010 1:17AM
Definitely is crazy, last thing I'd expect to ever occur on any forum besides a College-exclusive piece in a very secure portion of Blackboard.
And Saint, I do agree we need to plow this on home, but I can also understand that Bashiok most likely did it as part of his job, not cause he really wanted to. Did he expect people to try and find him online? Yeah, that's the point, he probably wasn't expecting that much (no matter how much of it was wrong) to be found so quickly however. Acti-blizz is a rather crazy environment, and who knows, he might of been the next guy to get dragged out by unmarked bouncers suddenly if he hadn't of done that.
Nipah Jul 7th 2010 1:23AM
@Ray:
That spokeo.com bit? Holy crap... while it didn't find anything for Alja, I had no problem finding myself in there... And the amount of info (and patently false info: ie. I don't actually enjoy reading cooking books O_o) was... scary. It would be quite easy to find my house thanks to the freaking aerial map they put on there...