What does Blizzard plan to do??

#0 - July 8, 2010, 8:09 p.m.

First off, I vehemently appose the RealID being put into place on the forums. Alas, we all know that Blizzard through lack of care for their customer or due to their hands being tied by upper tier management or a combination of both has refused to comment on any of the totally valid concerns being brought up in the now impressively monstrous thread concerning this topic. So I have made a new one that I am sure will be deleted, but I decided to do anyway because I believe my concerns deserve some type of response.

Plenty of examples of what can go wrong having private information made public have been posted. Those seeking to defend the system by flashing their name publicly have been "crucified" for lack of better term. What we see here is the tip of the iceberg in what could possibly happen. Let me be very clear in my next statement:

What we as community fear most will eventually happen. Someone will get hurt. It is not a question of if, it is a question of when.

The system you wish to implement only brings us closer to that time. Y'all believe this will help clean up the forums. You have said as much. This is a delusion my dear friends. You are wrong. It may help but in the end it will not matter as you will lose proportionally as many honest posters as you do trolls, flamers, etc.

So my question is how are you providing us a safe product? Seems to me this would only invite people looking for victims (i.e. pedobears, stalkers, etc.). What measures are you putting in place to recognize these people if any at all? Will you monitor the forums more closely? I would hope so as there has been little response other than to delete threads with valid points that have yet to even have been attempted to be replied to. I guess a bigger question would be:

What do you plan to do when it all goes wrong for that one person and they are physically hurt over a video game?

Some type of response would be appreciated. Thank you.

Nethaera

#13 - July 8, 2010, 9:06 p.m.

We are doing what we do as a matter of course, collect feedback, share feedback, discuss feedback, and then make any appropriate decisions based on this feedback on whether or not things need additional changes. We will keep everyone informed as we are able. Additional threads on this, while well-intentioned, only add to the forum volume and make it more difficult to collect feedback as well as make it difficult for other gameplay discussions to occur.

Nethaera

#137 - July 8, 2010, 10:01 p.m.

First off, I think some people are under the impression still that we don't read every post we possibly can. I assure you, I dream of flying text at night and my typing skills have increased exponentially over the many years I've worked in Community. We do read constantly and not just here, but we keep tabs on what some call the "outside" world as well. We do our best not to be insular in how we take in our feedback.

That said, if something has taken us awhile to discuss and put in the works and there is feedback (this goes for gameplay as well) that points in another direction, then we need to take that into account, discuss and decide on how this feedback affects the original direction if it does. This also takes time and while we try to move as quickly as we can, there are complexities that come into play that sometimes slow things down.

Now, as some have pointed out, what we "blues" say here bears significant weight. We do not enter into these threads lightly nor do we enter into them carelessly. We understand the responsibility we have not only to the community to share accurate information, but also to the company (and fellow employees) we represent. Thus, why it seems we may not be communicating as much on this issue. It would seem more disingenuous for us to seem to be saying things for the sake of saying them (rock) and at the same time seem to others that we are ignoring a problem (hard place).

We are absolutely open to communication with everyone, however for some, that communication, directed at us, has been less than constructive. (I've highlighted the "for some" since I want it made clear that not everyone has approached this topic in such a way which is greatly appreciated.)

As always, to those who have been constructive, we would like to thank you and to those that have voiced their concerns, we are listening still and will continue to do so until such time that we have something more to share.

Nethaera

#163 - July 8, 2010, 10:13 p.m.

Q u o t e:

Blah

Say something we don't already know please.

I would very much like to share a random fact with you (of which you may not know) for the sake of levity, but think that people will miss the humor for the sake of seriousness. :(

So, I guess this is what I can offer for now, empty calories though it may seem.

Also, I do not advocate crying on pillows. They get salty and damp.

Nethaera

#198 - July 8, 2010, 10:30 p.m.

Q u o t e:
Neth, I have a question. While the condensing of thoughts into one topic may help with feedback, doesn't it also destroy any possibility of meaningful discussion and argumentation on the issue by the posters? With the thread moving at a page every 60-90s, you cant even respond to things before the post you were responding to has been long gone and buried.

At least this thread seems to be providing a 2nd avenue, though that still doesn't alleviate the need for discussions on specific thoughts, concerns, ideas, etc. Something which cannot happen in a catch all rapidly moving thread.

It's a slippery slope in trying to condense feedback in a way that works. Right now, we work with what we have (and this isn't to poke a wound) but the new forum structure (which you will see in action for StarCraft II) will allow for voting up and down posts as well as response threading. That should make that easier. For now though, we try to redirect people (as much as we can) to one thread so it's easier for the moderators to keep tabs on other topics and it makes it easier for us to keep tabs on hot topics. Admittedly, it's not perfect, but it works in the meantime. That said though, we sometimes will try to create a sort of "magnet" to other threads that seem to apply well to discussions by providing a blue post in it and giving a new location for people to hopefully come to and continue discussing a popular topic. As I've said before, we generally have a method to our madness that comes from years of doing what we do.

Nethaera

#328 - July 8, 2010, 11:29 p.m.

Just to put in quickly, I'm still watching, but yes, silently for a bit. I could keep answering comments here and there (that I'm able to) but to some, that's not going to be sufficient and I have a lot of additional work I want to get done as well, so I'm going to juggle a bit between watching things here and doing that as well.