The Best of WoW Insider: July 2010
by Allison Robert 
Dec 26th 2010 at 8:00PM
July was defined by the latest iteration of an old meta-game, Blizzard versus Players. The community had an almost universally hostile reaction to Blizzard's announcement that the use of one's real name would be required for posting on the Battle.net forums, and the controversy raged to newspapers, magazines, the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), and third-party sites very quickly. Predictably, it only took 4chan about 10 minutes to publish the names, addresses, phone numbers, profiles, blood types, and favorite movies of every prominent Blizzard employee it could find.
The sad thing is, the issue may not even be over despite Blizzard's backing down; the best that players could get from the company was language indicating it could be a temporary reprieve at best. Quoth the dime-store movie villain, this isn't over -- and it's not going to be, as long as Facebook's making serious bank.
On the lighter side, the above scene from Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (NSFW due to language and violence) started circulating among several WoW communities during the controversy as proof that the loss of online privacy didn't have to be a bad thing, as long as you were the one capitalizing on it.
Official forum changes: Real names to be displayed The announcement of the new intended policy was greeted with almost universal shock and anger by players and spawned an 11,000+ reply comment thread on the official forums.
Rumor: Blizzard employees' real names will not be displayed on the forums And things just got worse when Blizzard seemed to equivocate on whether or not official forum posters would be obligated to use their real names as well.
Breakfast Topic: Real ID or Real Bad Idea? Our straw poll on the issue? 84% against Real ID being required on the forums.
That scary GearScore Real ID screenshot is fake, guys In the firestorm surrounding the Real ID issue, a prankster circulated a picture showing the apparent ability of a new GearScore version to display peoples' real names. Sacco took the time to shoot the rumor down.
Mike Morhaime: Real names will not be required on the official forums A few days later, Mike Morhaime himself came to the forums to announce that the policy has been rescinded "at this time." I have a bad feeling about this.
ESRB unintentionally exposes real names of people who filed privacy concerns Really, could this have been a bigger fiasco?
Curse acquires MMO Champion Curse continued its conquest of gaming sites by buying MMO Champion. What did that mean for World of Raids, another Curse property with a similar focus on WoW news? Stay tuned.
Officers' Quarters: Destructive criticism and Officers' Quarters: Destructive criticism, part 2 We've said it before, and we'll say it again: It's how to manage people that distinguishes a merely decent guild leader from a great one.
Ventrilo vs. Mumble "I started this article with every intention of making a pros-and-cons comparison between the two programs, but in truth, I had a hard time coming up with pros for Ventrilo."
Nonstandard loot systems in WoW Most players are now familiar with the basic rules of DKP systems, but that doesn't mean they're the only option. Tyler gave readers a thorough look at three additional options with notes on their strengths and weaknesses and how these relate to different guilds.
Arts and entertainment
WoW Moviewatch: Azeroth -- Land in Chaos A beautiful, cinematic look at what would shortly become a shattered landscape.
WoW Moviewatch: Nub Tales Episode 6.1: Real ID Even machinamators got in on the Real ID issue. Yumfries promised "rainbows everywhere!"
Wowathon 2 has begun playing WoW for charity Wowathon makes an annual event of raising money for Child's Play through marathon WoW sessions (and, we hoped, a repeat of last year's "Dramatic readings of bad fanfiction").
WoW Moviewatch: Icecrown Gunship Battle, Now in Real Life! "The creation of WoW movies -- whether it is machinima or live-action -- stems from the author's love of game, cinema, or just raw creation. It takes a lot of love to create a WoW movie. And sometimes, just sometimes, you manage to do something unique. Sometimes, you can do something so completely awesome that it nearly defies description."
The Art of War(craft): PvP in the new Azeroth So what can players on PvP servers expect in the reordered version of Azeroth set to go live in Cataclysm? As Zach says succinctly, "Death from above."
Totem Talk: Enhance me Rich tackled an email from a fellow enhancement player who wasn't satisfied with his DPS and broke down how to wring as much damage from this very complicated spec as possible.
Shifting Perspectives: Thoughts on the "new" Eclipse The Eclipse mechanic has been problematic for balance druids since its inception in the Wrath beta. Tyler examined Blizzard's efforts to fix it in the run-up to Cataclysm.
Everything I need to know about raiding, I learned in Karazhan To this day, it surprises me how frequently I can compare raid or dungeon boss mechanics to one of their Kara counterparts. It was actually Gray's last point in this article that reminded me of the Bill and Ted maxim, "Be excellent to each other" for the recent Shifting Perspectives: The unbearable suckhood of pugging.
Raid Rx: Identifying and avoiding insane applicants "The following guide should prove useful to any player who wants to know when someone can be comfortably incorporated into an existing healing team, and when an applicant should be shuffled in the direction of the nearest KFC selling two-piece and a curb stomp."
Drama Mamas: When connecting online seems like a real bad IDea This actually had nothing to do with the Real ID fracas on the forums, but rather a knottier social issue in game, given that friends of your Real ID friends could see your email address too. Robin came up with a pithy, but accurate, comment on the issue: "Real ID is like unprotected sex. Just as you are only as safe as the other unsafe encounters your partner has had, your real name is only as private as the Real ID friends of your Real ID friends."
Breakfast Topic: Why don't you RP? A thoughtful Breakfast Topic -- why don't more people RP in a game that's essentially built around it at the most basic level? 252 comments later, there's no real consensus reached, but: a.) people dislike the lack of support from Blizzard, and: b.) they hate the drama that so often crops up with people who want to control a storyline, and: c.) the game doesn't seem to support it nearly as much as you'd think.
Drama Mamas: Racism and setting social standards Hate speech in WoW is taken very seriously by the GM team, and you have an outlet for dealing with unsavory little assholes that's not restricted to trying to school them yourself.
The urban legends of Warcraft: Ashbringer A wonderful article from Anne on the history of the legendary Ashbringer sword and the rumors that have swirled around it since its first in-game mention.
Drama Mamas: Friends behaving badly A great Drama Mamas about the uncomfortable situations that develop when friends behave like jackasses.
Gold Capped: The Undermine Journal WoW's conquest of real-life culture continues apace with its own version of the Wall Street Journal. Sadly, the Journal may not be able to continue due to technical difficulties related to Blizzard's transition to Battle.net.
15 Minutes of Fame: Psychologist and game researcher John Hopson A wonderful interview with a behavioral researcher who plays in Microsoft's "semi-official" WoW guilds and notices the various mechanics that game designers use to get us engaged: "Psychology informs game design the same way anatomy informs furniture design."
2010's drawing to a close, and we're wrapping up the most interesting articles we've published all year, one day at a time. Join us every day for the next 12 days with this year's best of WoW Insider!Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, WoW Insider Business, Humor
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Felix_rew Dec 26th 2010 8:15PM
Quick note, the Racism and setting social standards hyperlink links to joystiq
Allison Robert Dec 26th 2010 9:16PM
Thanks! I fixed it up.
theRaptor Dec 26th 2010 9:06PM
Blizz have no chance of bringing real names back, people will rage just as hard a second time*. The difference between WoW and Facebook is that I knew my data would be available on facebook WHEN I CHOSE TO PUT IT THERE.
People got pissed off at Blizz for the same reason they get pissed off at Facebook when it decides to default the controls to "everything public" for the fifth bloody time. We may put our information up but it is put up under the rules in place at the time we put it up. Changing the rules at a later data just pisses people off (and is why my Facebook profile is now filled with fake data).
If I had of known in 2004 that Blizz would one day decide to unilaterally reveal my real name I would have used a fake one.
And that is completely ignoring the hilarious security issues with Blizzards move which is similar to their bone headed idea to make your account email your battle.net user name (hey Blizz remember when you used to partially obscure our account emails so that account thieves didn't automatically have a shot at cracking our email as well?).
Whoever took over the account security division of Blizz a few years ago is a moron that obviously has no real industry experience.
* It is so easy to level these days that I will just start a second account with a fake name.
theRaptor Dec 26th 2010 9:13PM
Oh and I am glad WoW Insider pointed out this issue is about making money from social media and not "making the forums accountable because we don't want to pay enough moderators".
Most modern MMO's solve the "forum accountability" issue by having a forum alias that ISN'T your account name and is unique. It is a way better solution than using real names especially with the naming collision inherent in real names (with millions of players how many "John Smiths" are there going to be?).
Joker Dec 26th 2010 9:52PM
Though, without the Real ID debacle we wouldn't have gotten gems like this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NgAkWxcPBE
Still makes me laugh.
Al Dec 27th 2010 3:00AM
Unfortunately I had no luck finding the "All your ID is belong to us" thread/video from the time.
Shulkman Dec 26th 2010 9:06PM
NSFW + Jay and Silent Bob = Biggest Understatement of the year... lol. But I love it. And so do my toons: Cochnocker, Fingercuffs, Golgothan, and CaitlinBree.
Arrav Dec 27th 2010 4:47AM
Why do they call you cochnocker?
Udderpowered Dec 26th 2010 9:10PM
Ah real ID, the only thing that united Alliance and Horde better than the Legion or Quiraji ever managed.
JoeRandom Dec 26th 2010 9:12PM
Dieses Video enthält Content von UMG. Es ist in deinem Land nicht verfügbar.
I hate Youtube.
Tirrimas Dec 26th 2010 9:16PM
Ah yes, and the ragefest back and forth between players after it was all done, basically claiming that everyone who said they were gonna quit actually didn't, the ones who did claiming a victory for "the little guy".
For my side, I canceled my subscription. It hurt. I was happy when the news came down that Blizz had decided to back down, and rewed a few days later, once I was sure they weren't gonna go back on that.
I got a very-nicely worded email a few days afterward. I was amused and a bit surprised - it seemed those of us how had quit had made an impression. We weren't a majority by any stretch of the imagination and Blizz will never release any numbers concerning it, but it was enough to send a message.
theRaptor Dec 26th 2010 9:22PM
I play with Gamecards or I would have cancelled my account.
The issue of Gamecards always made me wonder how they were going to verify RealID on the forumsâ„¢ anyway. Real trolls would just get troll accounts with hilarious fake names.
Ronin Dec 26th 2010 11:30PM
I took one for humanity as well. I was pleased when they went back on their decision-- although as Allison Robert noted, the language they used left it wide open for the future. I fully expect them to try to force Real ID on us again at a later date, figuring they can wear down the opposition.
If they do, I'm ready to quit all over again.
Artificial Dec 27th 2010 5:56AM
Yeah, I got two of those emails, since I have two accounts, and canceled both. I eventually renewed both, but I left one in a lapsed state for a month, just to cost them a bit of money for being boneheads.
Chrome Newfie Dec 26th 2010 11:13PM
"Sadly, the Journal may not be able to continue due to technical difficulties related to Blizzard's transition to Battle.net."
May not, and in fact has not, according to the home page: http://theunderminejournal.com/
Sadness.
Drakkenfyre Dec 26th 2010 11:27PM
I never thought it was defeated. When they reversed their decision, they said "for right now". I have a feeling we are sooner or later going to see Real ID pop up again.
Ty Dec 27th 2010 1:32AM
It is now clear to me that Bungie (Halo series) is teaming up with Blizz for world domination. They are already working on a project together... ReaID was merely a setback!!!
Dreyja Dec 27th 2010 2:06AM
Ahh the sparkle PWNIE thing. I remember it well.
Mine is a PWNIE - not sure about everyone else. ;-p
Tim Dec 27th 2010 3:23AM
The whole hate crimes thing just makes me tired. Yeah, picking on someone for being a different color is just plain stupid. Picking on someone because their lifestyle choice is different from yours (IE gay and/or lesbian) is stupid and mean. Someone with a different lifestyle choice trying to force their beliefs on you is also stupid but if you don't agree with them its a hate crime; that is way too much folks.
Look, if you wanna be gay or w/e, fine, be gay. I don't care just don't impose your choices on me and call me a terrorist because I don't agree with you and don't feel you should be getting some special privileges like your a minority group or something. The whole thing is getting out of hand and I'm sick of it already. Give it a rest for crying out loud. Down vote at your leisure and go read some Pat Buchanan editorials.
greywolfe Dec 27th 2010 4:04AM
so, let me guess:
you're a white, male american between the age of 18-25 and nothing bad has ever happened to you as a result of your creed and colour and sex?
first of all, i do agree with you: picking on someone for who they are is a terrible thing to do, but the greater problem here is that people are irrational. it's different, and they don't like it. it doesn't /really/ help that the "different people" happen to be minorities, and because they are, it makes it that much easier to put them out of sight and out of mind.
i'd like to talk, very briefly about this statement in your post:
"I don't agree with you and don't feel you should be getting some special privileges like your a minority group or something..."
that mentality is half of the problem. gay people are not "special people," they're just people who incidentally happen to like the same sex. black people are just people who "happen to be" born with different colour skin. by rights, if we didn't have a problem with "different people" then this wouldn't even be an issue - we would - by dint of being human - just inherit these priveleges. but, because the greater majority cannot see past these "differences," these minorities have to "prove themselves worthy" of gaining these basic human rights.
try the shoe and see how it fits. "no. you may not see your wife, because you are heterosexual and that's frowned upon." or "no. you may not earn an equal salary because you are a male, and that's frowned upon." or "no, you did not inherit this money, because you are christian, and that's frowned upon."
not a pleasant feeling, right?