Comments on: Blizzard’s Privacy Fail http://www.seattle-geekly.com/2010/07/blizzards-privacy-fail/ Home of the Seattle Geekly podcast, where we speak geek! Wed, 18 May 2011 18:42:21 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.3 By: Matt http://www.seattle-geekly.com/2010/07/blizzards-privacy-fail/comment-page-1/#comment-1207 Matt Sat, 10 Jul 2010 16:26:33 +0000 http://www.seattle-geekly.com/?p=7681#comment-1207 Real ID is tied to your game account and since Warcraft requires a monthly subscription most people registered the game under their real name. Also if your Warcraft account gets hacked (a problem that is endemic) Bliz requires you provide proof of identity before they will unlock the account and restore it so anyone who registered under a pseudonym would be SOL. Battle.net and Real ID are also going to be required to play Diablo 3 and Starcraft 2, at least in multiplayer mode, and I imagine that having seen what Blizzard just tried to do with this a lot of people will be registering their D3 and SC2 accounts under fake names. Fortunately Bliz has already backed off and said that they won't be requiring the use of real names to post on the official forums "at this time". Real ID is tied to your game account and since Warcraft requires a monthly subscription most people registered the game under their real name. Also if your Warcraft account gets hacked (a problem that is endemic) Bliz requires you provide proof of identity before they will unlock the account and restore it so anyone who registered under a pseudonym would be SOL. Battle.net and Real ID are also going to be required to play Diablo 3 and Starcraft 2, at least in multiplayer mode, and I imagine that having seen what Blizzard just tried to do with this a lot of people will be registering their D3 and SC2 accounts under fake names.

Fortunately Bliz has already backed off and said that they won’t be requiring the use of real names to post on the official forums “at this time”.

]]> By: Fluffrick http://www.seattle-geekly.com/2010/07/blizzards-privacy-fail/comment-page-1/#comment-1206 Fluffrick Sat, 10 Jul 2010 11:15:46 +0000 http://www.seattle-geekly.com/?p=7681#comment-1206 I don't play WOW, but I can see what Blizzard were trying to do here - it's a shame that it's backfired so quickly. Perhaps it would have been more appropriate to use this REAL ID system as a punitive measure against transgressive elements in the WOW community? Remember when Microsoft have in the past wielded the banhammer against cheaters and hackers on Xbox Live and branded their gamertags with 'cheater' and the like? If you can just create multiple anonymous accounts on Blizzard's servers, it's not at all clear to me why anybody would register with their actual name details in the first place - it seems like an easy way to grow a community where a vocal minority have the ability to make the place somewhere that's not welcoming to hang out. I shall watch this story play out with interest. I don’t play WOW, but I can see what Blizzard were trying to do here – it’s a shame that it’s backfired so quickly. Perhaps it would have been more appropriate to use this REAL ID system as a punitive measure against transgressive elements in the WOW community? Remember when Microsoft have in the past wielded the banhammer against cheaters and hackers on Xbox Live and branded their gamertags with ‘cheater’ and the like?

If you can just create multiple anonymous accounts on Blizzard’s servers, it’s not at all clear to me why anybody would register with their actual name details in the first place – it seems like an easy way to grow a community where a vocal minority have the ability to make the place somewhere that’s not welcoming to hang out.

I shall watch this story play out with interest.

]]> By: Eliah http://www.seattle-geekly.com/2010/07/blizzards-privacy-fail/comment-page-1/#comment-1205 Eliah Thu, 08 Jul 2010 14:43:58 +0000 http://www.seattle-geekly.com/?p=7681#comment-1205 Well, it seems I quit the game just in time. Well, it seems I quit the game just in time.

]]>