You’ve probably heard of the very scientific Internet ****wad Theory (ACHTUNG! Over-sensitive and instantly-offended-over-nothing-much internet ****wads might be over-sensitive and instantly offended by that link). Basically, given the big teddy bear of anonymity, some people are just total tworks on the intertronz. Most of the comments on MyGaming are a gilded monument to this ineffable truth. (Oh come now, it’s not that bad. Ed)
But Blizzard’s having no more of this nonsense. Ahead of the launch of Starcraft II later this month, as well as the World of Warcraft Cataclysm expansion sometime this year, the company is putting users’ real names onto their posts and profiles on the official forums. How’s that? By substituting their Real IDs – the first and last name associated with a user’s Battle.net account – for stupid aliases like d4rk_lord_26642223.
Nethaera (pending a real name, obviously) explains the upcoming change:
“The official forums have always been a great place to discuss the latest info on our games, offer ideas and suggestions, and share experiences with other players — however, the forums have also earned a reputation as a place where flame wars, trolling, and other unpleasantness run wild. Removing the veil of anonymity typical to online dialogue will contribute to a more positive forum environment, promote constructive conversations, and connect the Blizzard community in ways they haven’t been connected before. With this change, you’ll see blue posters (i.e. Blizzard employees) posting by their real first and last names on our forums as well.
“With the launch of the new Battle.net, it’s important to us to create a new and different kind of online gaming environment — one that’s highly social, and which provides an ideal place for gamers to form long-lasting, meaningful relationships. All of our design decisions surrounding Real ID — including these forum changes — have been made with this goal in mind.”
Of course, I’m not entirely sure why users won’t simply use fake names as their Real IDs. I double-dare someone legally change their name to d4rk_lord_26642223 just to undermine this.
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