#0 - July 6, 2010, 6:37 p.m.
Q u o t e:
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.
This RealID change is suppose to bring a more community feel to the forums? Is that what you think it will do?
I won’t lie, I post because of anonymity. And I am not a troll, or a flamer or any other sort of thing. I post stories and game event announcements. I offer helpful advice and constructive criticism. You can search out my character name upon the forums, particularly my realm forums, and see how true that is. I do it all on my main because I am not afraid to take flak for anything I say within the gaming community. But my main is not me. It is not my real name which can be searched in other places so I can be harassed and identified by anyone who chooses to take that moment to google that name and see where else it might lie. Yes, there are a thousand John Smiths in the world. But there is only one of me with my unique RL name. I am not that hard to find if someone takes a moment to look. I’m sure there are many with similar situations.
Sure people use the anonymity for malicious reasons. But giving out their real names will not just deter some people from stopping to do something bad. It will stop anyone, even those who mean no harm from posting altogether as well. That is not building a community feel. That’s making them run away.
The change will not reduce unpleasantness. It will allow it to spread to other parts of the internet. And, yes, there is the response “If you don’t want people to see your real name, don’t post”. But what the hell? I do nothing but promote good behavior on these forums, but that does not prevent others from doing harm to me. And I want to post. But if it’s going to expose my real name to strangers on the internet then you’re losing some of the posts which I make which I feel add richness and community to these forums. Maybe I am a scared little bunny. But I’d rather be a scared little bunny then find out someone has used my RL name off these forums to bother me somewhere else in my life.
There are a multitude of other forums on the net which take care of trolls and flamers just fine without giving out their real names. You know what they do? They actually have people who manage those forums and shut down jerks when they show up. Look at MMO-champ and WoW.com and, frankly, any number of other website forums. They have very few trolls because they actually moderate their posters who all have account names, not their real ones. Learn from them.
If you start showing off my real name, I’m going to have to go to other websites and make sure all my in game community comes with me. That, of course, would be no skin off your back, I suppose, since it’s not like we pay for the use of these forums.
