We all know about the fiasco surrounding the idea of the REAL ID posting our real identities on the forums. I don’t have the link readily available to you if you don’t know, but now you do. As my very productive day progresses, I want shower you all with more Real ID news. I have made it publicly known that I have chosen not to utilize the Real ID feature in game; I have tweeted it, I have politely refused to give my ID, etc. I have seen the way the interface works and while it is a neat idea, and the interface is fancy and whatnot, it still isn’t something I want to utilize in game.
With that said, I also don’t post on the forums. I have made a question or two for a couple of things or technical support, but for the most part, you won’t see me ebing an integral part over there any time soon. So the decision for Real ID there didn’t effect me much, not enough for me to get up in arms about it, only about its implications that security might not matter to Blizzard.
Blizzard has been accused of not caring, of not listening to their customers, and being Acitivision puppets (all of this after the announcement so I am not linking all sources here). However, I am the bearer of good news: They have changed their minds! Due to public outcry, Blizzard will not require the use of real names on the forums. They strongly encourage the positive use of the website and forums instead of trolling, so take that into consideration.
I am not going to rant or rave about how bad the decision was or how awesome the change is. I am glad to know they listen to us. I am thrilled at that actually. I am glad people can get on with blogging. I am also glad that for the moment privacy is a concern and it is being regarded and is safe.
With that said, if you are interested in reading the posts around the debacle of Real ID, I implore you to do so ’til your heart is content:
- Chastity says Real ID is not okay
- Endyme says it is not cool
- Shy demonstrates the negative consequences
- Gazimoff has a WTF moment?
- Anna has an amazing graphic for an epic fail
- Pewter talks reality in the Saga of Real ID
- Khraden talks about the Facebook integration of Real ID
- Morynne has the blue post and thoughts
- Miss Medicina finally has her faith back now
I am sure there are more but I think that hits a nice fraction. I don’t think even if I had a day off I could really link all of them.
I wrote into Gaz’s Obscurecast regarding the issue so be sure to check it out at Mana Obscura. I am also glad to have had a moment to myself to get this out here and so I leave you with a compelling thought that hopefully will have you thinking until Tuesday.
Everything about Real ID thus far, Blizzard has assured us is optional. But even Battle.net conversions were optional once.
sigh… see if you can take not of three small but incredibly significant words in the quote below. The words are “AT THIS TIME.”
“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,” Mike Mourhaime, founder and chief executive of Blizzard wrote in an open letter on the company’s forum page.
“As a result of those discussions, we’ve decided at this time that real names will not be needed for posting on official Blizzard forums.”
This is typical corpospeak, very slimy and cunning, and while people are dancing in the streets thinking they’ve won…. they have only a temporary ‘win.’
By the way, its not even really a temporary win, as real ID is still in the game, where it will cause the most damage to our human rights, privacy and safety. Most players play the game, and don’t even bother with forums.
People are so easy to distract and fool… sad.