Honest question. What would your reaction be if, in order to post on SVTP, you had to reveal your first and last name which was then showed publicly on all of your posts?
The above question is what I'm aiming this thread at, but here's why I ask (bit of a read, you don't have to read it if you just want to throw your .02 in on the question):
One of the most active forums on the internet has very recently announced that they will be doing just that. The forum I'm referring to is Activision/Blizzard's official forums for several of their monumentally popular video games (active players reaching 10+ million). (Link: Battle.net - English Forums -> Battle.net Update: Upcoming Changes to Forums)
Activision/Blizzard has been putting their new Real ID into effect, which is basically taking the information you gave them at sign up (like when activating a game, with your full name) and making that a profile that you can then use to connect to friends. Well this already very iffy system is going to be implemented into their forums but now will be mandatory. Upon releasing information about the new move, they posted it under the guise that by showing peoples real first and last name it will cut down on people "trolling" (harasment) because "Removing the veil of anonymity typical to online dialogue will contribute to a more positive forum environment."
However, Activision/Blizzard is already working with Facebook Inc. to make Real ID integrate with Facebook. So there's now speculation on this simply being a move to further that move, which would allow others to know who plays on some of their games, something that isn't always seen in the most positive light in current times. Also a lot of people are seeing this as only the tip of a big push where they could start putting the information out into the games themselves, removing any anonymity at all. All ready, only 2 days after the announcment, there is (at the time of writing this) a 1,940 page (roughly 39,000 responses) thread on the matter on one of Blizzards official US forums with peak growth being about 4 pages/min. (Link to thread: World of Warcraft - English (NA) Forums -> Battle.net Update: Upcoming Changes to Forums)
Speculation goes from simply thinking that Blizzard is over-reacting to internet trolls all the way to global schemes like mentioned in this post:
So far the feedback about the idea has been alarmingly negative. A poll on wow.com (a third party site for the game World of Warcraft) asking people if they think this is a good idea has (at time of writing) 83.8% of people saying no. (Link: Breakfast Topic: Real ID or Real bad IDea?) Almost the entire thread on Blizzards official forums has been nothing but negative feed back, with a very very small percentage of people thinking the idea is a good one.
So, I thought I'd run the idea by the ol' SVTP crowd to see what you guys think. Let's hear it.
The above question is what I'm aiming this thread at, but here's why I ask (bit of a read, you don't have to read it if you just want to throw your .02 in on the question):
One of the most active forums on the internet has very recently announced that they will be doing just that. The forum I'm referring to is Activision/Blizzard's official forums for several of their monumentally popular video games (active players reaching 10+ million). (Link: Battle.net - English Forums -> Battle.net Update: Upcoming Changes to Forums)
Activision/Blizzard has been putting their new Real ID into effect, which is basically taking the information you gave them at sign up (like when activating a game, with your full name) and making that a profile that you can then use to connect to friends. Well this already very iffy system is going to be implemented into their forums but now will be mandatory. Upon releasing information about the new move, they posted it under the guise that by showing peoples real first and last name it will cut down on people "trolling" (harasment) because "Removing the veil of anonymity typical to online dialogue will contribute to a more positive forum environment."
However, Activision/Blizzard is already working with Facebook Inc. to make Real ID integrate with Facebook. So there's now speculation on this simply being a move to further that move, which would allow others to know who plays on some of their games, something that isn't always seen in the most positive light in current times. Also a lot of people are seeing this as only the tip of a big push where they could start putting the information out into the games themselves, removing any anonymity at all. All ready, only 2 days after the announcment, there is (at the time of writing this) a 1,940 page (roughly 39,000 responses) thread on the matter on one of Blizzards official US forums with peak growth being about 4 pages/min. (Link to thread: World of Warcraft - English (NA) Forums -> Battle.net Update: Upcoming Changes to Forums)
Speculation goes from simply thinking that Blizzard is over-reacting to internet trolls all the way to global schemes like mentioned in this post:
So far the feedback about the idea has been alarmingly negative. A poll on wow.com (a third party site for the game World of Warcraft) asking people if they think this is a good idea has (at time of writing) 83.8% of people saying no. (Link: Breakfast Topic: Real ID or Real bad IDea?) Almost the entire thread on Blizzards official forums has been nothing but negative feed back, with a very very small percentage of people thinking the idea is a good one.
So, I thought I'd run the idea by the ol' SVTP crowd to see what you guys think. Let's hear it.
