I totally agree.
It’s actually pretty easy to find useful information there and tune out most of the idiocy. I love a lot of the class/talent guides that have been written, and I suspect a lot of these will go away. I know there’s also been quite a few times when I’ve had a technical problem in-game, and a quick look on the tech support forum turned up a solution or work-around (like the draw distance fix for the 3.3.5 patch).
I can answer to that-- I don’t actually play WoW very much, but I maintain one of the stickied class guides on the US forums and have done so since early 2007. I won’t expose my real name, so it will disappear. Or someone else will take over, I suppose.
Agreed.
Pseudonyms aren’t a recent invention; they were common with writers experimenting with alternate personas and styles for hundreds of years.
Additionally, you guys advocating “let’s just get rid of that” are pretty far outside of mainstream opinion. Most people present significantly different versions of themselves at work and home, and it’s the same thing.
As to the forums being terrible - yes, yes they are. Not sure why, but why would real names help?
Well, the theory is that removing anonymity adds accountability. But that’s not necessarily true and more important, it’s just not necessary. The problem is that each post is created by a character rather than an account so that most posts are made by completely anonymous level 1 trolls. Simple fix; force each account to use a “forum name” and don’t allow changes.
a/s/l?
and on a more serious note: I want to have the stuff Blizzard is smoking these days.
Fuck you guys I want to keep my little hobby gaming out of my real life.
My real life friends don’t play games so there is no need to tell them how awesome the last raid in ICC was…
Why would I use a fake name at a strip club? It’s a strip club, not a whorehouse. People go to these for bachelor parties, etc.
I didn’t do much on dial-up BBS. I honestly don’t remember if I used a pseudonym. I’ve used my real name since the mid-90’s though, starting on Compuserve and then migrating to Usenet and now to web boards. I even use my real name in my email address. It’s been groovy so far.
Why would you tell them? Why would they search Blizzard forums for your name? If you are that worried about it, why would you post in Blizzard’s forums? There are other forums in which you can talk about WoW.
I’ve been posting about games for 15 years now and I don’t ever recall anyone outside of the gaming world I know coming up to me and talking to me about games. It has never happened unless I initiated the topic in conversation.
Psst - her name really isn’t Candy.
Won’t that stuff appear on a Google search with my name?
Google is pretty good in finding this shit.
Recently I found out that my Amazon wish list could be found on Google.
The default setting of it enables Google to index it.
I freaked out when I learned about that!
Imagine if I were gay and had certain literature on my wish list that other people I didn’t tell yet could find or I had some interest in some psychological disorders etc.
I think people are overestimating how much interest other people have in them.
A guildmate of mine had enabled parental controls for when he was in college. Because of that (which was a couple of years ago, IIRC), the RealID system is completely disabled for him until he gets in contact with Blizzard directly.
Next you’ll be telling me the phone numbers they give me are wrong too. It’s not my fault someone else in their place always answers the phone before they do!
But you do raise a good point. I think strippers should be allowed to use their stage names when they post of Blizzard forums.
That may be, but there really are people out there with stalkers. There really are people who get harassed online. There really are people who need to worry about what their real name is linked to online.
If you don’t have to worry about any of that, then awesome. Good for you.
You just shouldn’t assume that what’s true for you is true for everybody else.
This is stupid, I am buying a game, I am NOT signing up to let everybody (like, you know, potential employers or clients or service providers) know I like playing diablo/starcraft etc
there IS a whole world out there which still thinks playing games is for kids/stupid people and will count that as a massive black mark against you
not really for you to decide and certainly not for Blizzard
Regardless of how much of a cesspool the official WoW forums are, the recruitment board is really the only effective tool for officers trying to find new members for their guild. Unless you’re one of the well-known uberguilds (like Ensidia or Paragon or Premonition), there really is no other effective way to get your name out there and direct potential applicants to your website.
I dont get the ‘potential employers’ angle. If someone bins your CV because a google search suggests you play games, do you REALLY want to work for such a dork? I had some scumbag boss tell me he’d never have employed me if I wasn’t white. Some people are scum, and I quit that job as soon as I could.
Also, unless your first name is rumplestiltskin, it’s unlikely to be so much of an issue anyway. Clue: I am not cliff harris the weatherman or the football player.
I think this i a bad idea overall, on balance, but I can see why they think it might be a good one.
I want to control the amount of information available. Whether you think that’s silly or not is simply not pertinent. It’s what I want.