Blizzard caves over Real ID
p2pnet view Games | Freedom | P2P:- “In the upcoming weeks and months”, p2pnet quoted Eva Galperin as saying in the EFF’s Deep Links, players wanting to post to Blizzard’s Diablo and the then upcoming Starcraft II would have to “log in using Blizzard’s Real ID system, which will display their real full names next to every post they make.”
She went on >>>
These changes will not be retroactive, meaning that the thousands of existing posts on the online discussion forums will not be affected. Parental controls will allow parents to prevent minors who have signed up for Real ID on the game from posting to the forums, if they so choose.
Why is Blizzard taking such an unprecedented step? Unpleasantness. “The forums have…earned a reputation as a place where flame wars, trolling, and other unpleasantness run wild,” writes Naethera, a Blizzard employee who will soon be posting under her own full name. “Removing the veil of anonymity typical to online dialogue will contribute to a more positive forum environment [and] promote constructive conversations.”
Blizzard appears to have subscribed to the colorful Greater Internet F***wad Theory, which posits that perfectly normal people, when faced with an audience and total anonymity, can become flaming jerks.
That was in July.
Now, “We’d like to make you aware of the new Real ID-related privacy options we’ve introduced to Battle.net”, says Blizzard, continuing:
“These options provide Real ID users with additional tools for customizing the service based on their preferences, enabling the ability to opt in or out of the Real ID ‘Friends of Friends’ and ‘Add Facebook Friends’ features —-”
—- Or turn off Real ID altogether.
“To access these settings, log in to your Battle.net account at http://www.battle.net/account“, says the post, adding:
“From there, click on the ‘Settings’ tab located at the center of the Account Management menu and select ‘Communication Preferences’ from the dropdown list. The new settings can be found in the ‘Privacy’ section of the Communication Preferences page.”
Now you know.
p2pnet – Will Blizzard forums become ghost towns?, July 19, 2010
Deep Links – New Blizzard Forum Policy Will Require Posters to Use Real Names, July 8, 2010
Blizzard – New Battle.net Privacy Settings, September 30, 2010
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi
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