The Best Of The Rest: Real ID Forum Fiasco Edition
I have no idea who this guy is (but at least he has a card to tell me)
So much can happen in a week on the Internet. Blizzard went from announcing the mandatory use of Real ID on all of their products forums to rescinding the decision by the weeks end. This change had a little something to do with the huge shit storm they created and the (almost) unanimously negative reaction it received. The screams started on the forums, moved to the blogs and soon hit some rather major news networks around the globe. It’s a nice feeling to know that sometimes public pressure is enough to carry out the will of the people and influence even the biggest of companies.
In attempt to stir up more trouble, here’s a bunch of Real ID related articles from across the blogosphere:
- Ysharros calls it the fail of the century.
- Gnomeaggedon says Real ID = Account Cancelled.
- Scrusi is pro Real ID.
- Chris thinks it’s an identity risk.
- Jeff reckons Blizzard is setting themselves up for a PR nightmare (he’d be right).
- MMOGamerChicks advises to proceed with caution.
- Tobold also thinks Blizzard is heading for a PR disaster (he’d be right too).
- Spinks informs that Blizzard are drinking RealID coolaid.
- Ryan calls it the worst idea Blizzard ever had.
- Larisa thinks Blizzard need a reality check.
- Keen reports the situation.
- Arkenor wants to respect other people’s decision for privacy.
- Linedan simply calls it RealIDiocy.
- Lodur looks at the good and the bad.
- TAGN thinks the more Real ID oozes, the more we all lose.
- Alec calls it utter madness.
- Br3ntbr0 calls it a whole new level of fail.
- Windsoar thinks it’s getting out of hand.
- Scott sums up our thoughts.
- Syncaine stirs things up.
- Ixobelle wants to buy Uranium.
- UnSub thinks someone is going to end up dead.
- Syp reflects on the meltdown.
- Steve thinks it will damage gameplay.
- Pid says unsub and be counted.
- Pysinster has a Real ID comic.
- Stabs thinks it’s all about corporate greed.
- Darren thinks our fears are irrational.
- Jamie thinks Blizzard are conducting one huge social experiment.
- BobTurkey says it’s a silly idea.
- Jeremy tells us that it’s not a new concept.
- Andrew bullet points it.
- Tesh ponders the value of identity.
- Ferrel likes the intention but hates the execution.
- Brian thinks Blizzard want a quick fix for their forum problems.
- Klepsacovic wonders why we assume anonymity equates to bad intentions.
- Peter votes with his wallet.
- Sanya warns us all.
Whew. I never want to see another link again. And these are still just the tip of the iceberg. Oh and I used real names wherever possible. It somehow seemed appropriate.
-Gordon
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…so…alone…
Thanks for the link though, as always
I’d also like to thank all the bloggers and commenters that have kept civil about this and got a good discussion going (whether you were for, or, more likely, against the whole thing.)
Those who participated in the Bashiok stalking… well I don’t have any words that would be civil enough for this venue. That kind of behaviour makes me question internet anonymity that much more.
How so? Seems to me that stalking is facilitated by the lack of anonymity; that’s the point. Unless Google is logging your searches and somehow pulls the Thought Police in (in time) if you’re a stalker, a loss of anonymity isn’t going to stop stalking.
Not to individuals passively using your information on the internet to find you of course, but I doubt that people would have bragging contests about who can do the most evil things to Bashiok if they were going by their real names.
Thing is RealID doesn’t really stop those people. If you had to give a real name they’d all be called John Smith and still do it.
It exposes the naive without deterring the malevolent.
Is it possible that Blizzard’s implementation of non-anonymity would have been flawed? Sure. That doesn’t change anything about internet anonymity in general though. (Which is what I talked about.)
That said, I believe even Blizzard’s implementation would have some effect because staying anonymous in that system would require premeditation. You couldn’t just go and post about Bashiok’s wife and kids but you’d have to set up a new battle.net account for that. It would also be very easy (and not unreasonable) for Blizzard to require at least one game attached to your account before allowing you to post. That would add a real cost to your fake-id account.
Was a great article, Scrusi!
Why, thank you sir
I don’t want to say Gordon is biased, but I can’t help but notice that the only pro-Real ID link he has up there is broken.
I’m sure that’s not intentional, Gordon wouldn’t do that to me. (Right Gordon?!
)
Here’s the real link: http://procrastinationamplification.com/pay-for-your-trolling-with-your-good-name/
Fixed now! Sorry mate.
I read ‘MMOGamerChicks warns about proceeding with caution’ the opposite as intended, as ‘MMOGamerChick warns about the dangers of proceeding with caution.’
I’ve updated the link to clarify the title a little. Pulling together all of those links really took it out of me
I almost blogged on this, but decided to hold off, I did not like this, and I’m not even playing WoW!
“Syncaine stirs things up”
Stirs-Things-Up is practically the definition of Syncaine. I liked that post a lot.
I avoided posting on the subject intentionally, lest it get lost in the flood. I am happy with the outcome though. I gave serious thought to going with Gnomeaggedon to the ex-players club. I’m glad I don’t have to yet.
Hehe yes, yes he does
T’was a good read for sure!