That didn't take long.
Hello everyone,
I'd like to take some time to speak with all of you regarding our desire to make the Blizzard forums a better place for players to discuss our games. We've been constantly monitoring the feedback you've given us, as well as internally discussing your concerns about the use of real names on our forums. As a result of those discussions, we've decided at this time that real names will not be required for posting on official Blizzard forums.
It's important to note that we still remain committed to improving our forums. Our efforts are driven 100% by the desire to find ways to make our community areas more welcoming for players and encourage more constructive conversations about our games. We will still move forward with new forum features such as conversation threading, the ability to rate posts up or down, improved search functionality, and more. However, when we launch the new StarCraft II forums that include these new features, you will be posting by your StarCraft II Battle.net character name + character code, not your real name. The upgraded World of Warcraft forums with these new features will launch close to the release of Cataclysm, and also will not require your real name.
I want to make sure it's clear that our plans for the forums are completely separate from our plans for the optional in-game Real ID system now live with World of Warcraft and launching soon with StarCraft II. We believe that the powerful communications functionality enabled by Real ID, such as cross-game and cross-realm chat, make Battle.net a great place for players to stay connected to real-life friends and family while playing Blizzard games. And of course, you'll still be able to keep your relationships at the anonymous, character level if you so choose when you communicate with other players in game. Over time, we will continue to evolve Real ID on Battle.net to add new and exciting functionality within our games for players who decide to use the feature.
In closing, I want to point out that our connection with our community has always been and will always be extremely important to us. We strongly believe that Every Voice Matters, ( http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/company/about/mission.html ) and we feel fortunate to have a community that cares so passionately about our games. We will always appreciate the feedback and support of our players, which has been a key to Blizzard's success from the beginning.
Mike Morhaime
CEO & Cofounder
Blizzard Entertainment
Hello everyone,
I'd like to take some time to speak with all of you regarding our desire to make the Blizzard forums a better place for players to discuss our games. We've been constantly monitoring the feedback you've given us, as well as internally discussing your concerns about the use of real names on our forums. As a result of those discussions, we've decided at this time that real names will not be required for posting on official Blizzard forums.
It's important to note that we still remain committed to improving our forums. Our efforts are driven 100% by the desire to find ways to make our community areas more welcoming for players and encourage more constructive conversations about our games. We will still move forward with new forum features such as conversation threading, the ability to rate posts up or down, improved search functionality, and more. However, when we launch the new StarCraft II forums that include these new features, you will be posting by your StarCraft II Battle.net character name + character code, not your real name. The upgraded World of Warcraft forums with these new features will launch close to the release of Cataclysm, and also will not require your real name.
I want to make sure it's clear that our plans for the forums are completely separate from our plans for the optional in-game Real ID system now live with World of Warcraft and launching soon with StarCraft II. We believe that the powerful communications functionality enabled by Real ID, such as cross-game and cross-realm chat, make Battle.net a great place for players to stay connected to real-life friends and family while playing Blizzard games. And of course, you'll still be able to keep your relationships at the anonymous, character level if you so choose when you communicate with other players in game. Over time, we will continue to evolve Real ID on Battle.net to add new and exciting functionality within our games for players who decide to use the feature.
In closing, I want to point out that our connection with our community has always been and will always be extremely important to us. We strongly believe that Every Voice Matters, ( http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/company/about/mission.html ) and we feel fortunate to have a community that cares so passionately about our games. We will always appreciate the feedback and support of our players, which has been a key to Blizzard's success from the beginning.
Mike Morhaime
CEO & Cofounder
Blizzard Entertainment
Warder to starry_nite
Chapterfish — Nate's Writing Blog
http://chapterfish.wordpress.com
Chapterfish — Nate's Writing Blog
http://chapterfish.wordpress.com
Blizzard demand that people use their real names when posting on their forums (WoW, SC2).
- 08/07/2010 12:20:07 AM
1008 Views
I don't know how much to blame Blizzard
- 08/07/2010 12:43:08 AM
627 Views
Yeah, that'll work. I hope Blizzard enjoys lawsuits. *NM*
- 08/07/2010 01:08:58 AM
313 Views
I've heard that other places have been doing this without too much of an issue. iRacing, for one.
- 08/07/2010 02:34:49 AM
664 Views
Why should there be lawsuits?
- 08/07/2010 03:46:11 AM
618 Views
does something even need to necessarily be against the law to be brought suit against?
- 08/07/2010 04:07:15 AM
548 Views
Depends on how they implement it.
- 08/07/2010 08:54:31 PM
624 Views
There are parental controls to keep kids off the forums, if that makes any difference. *NM*
- 08/07/2010 09:22:45 PM
310 Views
Isn't that also much easier when they know which county he lives in?
- 08/07/2010 02:30:06 AM
661 Views
It depends.
- 08/07/2010 03:52:17 AM
620 Views
Oh well, there are thousands of people with my exact name, so I'm coo then. 
*NM*
- 08/07/2010 04:27:31 AM
392 Views
*NM*
- 08/07/2010 04:27:31 AM
392 Views
I wonder how this works with prepaid time cards?
- 08/07/2010 02:48:17 AM
755 Views
I'm sure if I used the forums I'd be more concerned...
- 08/07/2010 02:59:48 AM
650 Views
You should be concerned. Addons can also pick up your name in game from Real-ID *NM*
- 08/07/2010 09:23:57 PM
330 Views
I can understand why they're doing it.
- 08/07/2010 11:08:52 AM
652 Views
Exactly. As if this were a bigger identity threat than Facebook... *NM*
- 08/07/2010 02:46:18 PM
291 Views
In some ways, it is.
- 08/07/2010 04:40:22 PM
570 Views
Actually ...
- 08/07/2010 04:51:50 PM
636 Views
And *gasp* what if you did something to make someone mad on the "real life" server? 
- 08/07/2010 05:13:57 PM
602 Views
- 08/07/2010 05:13:57 PM
602 Views
Facebook is a free service where you can control your privacy settings
- 08/07/2010 09:27:33 PM
605 Views
Guess I just found another good reason not to waste my time/life/money playing WoW.
- 08/07/2010 11:14:27 PM
745 Views
Joining Facebook is also completely voluntary, as is posting on the forums is completely voluntary.
- 09/07/2010 12:13:51 AM
579 Views
Battle.Net is not voluntary
- 09/07/2010 06:20:55 PM
665 Views
Posting on the Battle.net forum is voluntary, as is the facebook feature.
- 09/07/2010 11:31:10 PM
1295 Views
Re: Blizzard demand that people use their real names when posting on their forums (WoW, SC2).
- 08/07/2010 02:47:02 PM
605 Views
mmo-champion might be a good place to look? *NM*
- 08/07/2010 03:07:51 PM
319 Views
I'll be cancelling my subscription if this goes ahead on 27th *NM*
- 08/07/2010 09:24:29 PM
319 Views
Also: I'm pretty sure that this is related to Blizz's social networking/facebok integration push
- 09/07/2010 01:26:36 PM
679 Views
The plan has now been scrapped.
- 09/07/2010 07:03:52 PM
701 Views
*NM*
Nate's quick as lightning.
Not surprising. That quickly and violently blew up in their faces. *NM*
- 10/07/2010 12:01:32 AM
343 Views