Better known to the uninitiated as the wow gold.
Aztheroth, better known to the uninitiated as the wow gold, the latest battleground in the war over Internet privacy. This month the champions of Anonymity clashed with the forces of Accountability in the form of a public relations nightmare over a proposed change in policy on the forums for Activision/Blizzard's wow gold and forthcoming Starcraft II franchises. The battle began on the 6th, when Blizzard made the following announcement:The first and most significant change is that in the near future, anyone posting or replying to a post on official Blizzard forums will be doing so using their Real ID -- that is, their real-life first and last name -- with the option to also display the name of their primary in-game character alongside it.There's the silver bullet of discussion moderation: the requirement to use your real name. The idea behind this is to transform the wild and often crass message boards into a place more palatable and plite for the casual consumer, to bring a sense of accountability for online players. Blizzard's move comes on the heels of the social gaming revolution represented by the Facebook-based hit Farmville (from Zynga), and that's no coincidence:
With regard to Facebook, our goal is to help Blizzard gamers on Battle.net more easily connect to their real-life friends and family. There's a real desire on the part of game developers to tap into the amplification effect that Zynga has with its Facebook games.It's different for players of an MMO to have tools at their disposal for finding their friends with for employers and those who don't share in the hobby to be able to run a quick Google search and find out how much of a jerk a player is.Luckily for Blizzard's huge fan base, within three days the company backtracked on its plans:We've been constantly monitoring the feedback you've given us, as well as internally discussing your concerns about the use of real names on our forums. As a result of those discussions, we've decided at this time that real names will not be required for posting on official Blizzard forums.
