So as Jervan posted a little while ago, Blizzard will soon be implementing the "RealID system" on their forums, and displaying everyone's real names to the internet, both first and last. This change will not take place until the launch of Starcraft II (which is set for the end of this month).
Personally, I couldn't think of a stupider idea.
The real question I ask myself in regards to this is, "What's in a name?"
I've revised this several times in regards to why I think this is so wrong. My main concern is for the security of the person who is using the account. First of all, Blizzard definitely has a problem with hackers grabbing accounts, and that's just a little more information that's being shared. Hell, it completely invalidates a method of password-making, considering that some people use passwords that are a combination of their name with a buncha random numbers.
Also, unlike everyone else's stance on this, I actually like the idea of internet anonymity. It's one of the best things about the internet. Everyone wants to pretend to be someone they want to. Anonymity allows the geek to be the star, it allows the princess (and I don't mean like Princess Peach :D) to be a geek.
I mean, a bunch of people argue that anonymity allows people to be trolls. While the trolls do suck, they are occasionally funny, and I don't think that having a real name on the forums is going to matter. Hell, I'm sure that people are just going to try changing the names on their accounts anyways if they wanna troll. I'm sure we're going to see an influx of "Mike Hawks" on the Blizzard forums when this change goes live.
Personally, I say let the anonymity stay. Even though I star in Bosstalk every week, I'm even still hesitant to use my real name when it comes to ANYTHING online, let alone posting on a forum which millions of people visit.
So give me Anonymity, or give me e-death.
The thing is is there is still normal friends lists. You can add somebody's character on WoW, or you can add their RealID if you want to. Blizzard isn't forcing you to reveal your identity.
ReplyDeleteOn the forums they are. We're not talking about in-game, we're talking about on the Blizzard forums, something that a search engine can turn up, whether someone's trying to find you, etc.
ReplyDelete