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Blizzard To Require Real First and Last Names For Official Forums
An anonymous reader writes "Recently, Blizzard Entertainment implemented a Real ID feature for some of its current games and all of its future Battle.net-based games. Today, Blizzard announced that it intends to require usage of the real names of Battle.net posters for its StarCraft II forums before release, and for its World of Warcraft forums shortly before the release of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. From the announcement: 'The first and most significant change is that in the near future, anyone posting or replying to a post on official Blizzard forums will be doing so using their Real ID — that is, their real-life first and last name — with the option to also display the name of their primary in-game character alongside it. These changes will go into effect on all StarCraft II forums with the launch of the new community site prior to the July 27 release of the game, with the World of Warcraft site and forums following suit near the launch of Cataclysm. Certain classic forums, including the classic Battle.net forums, will remain unchanged.'"
So you like other people not being anonymous, but you want yourself to still be anonymous? That kind of reminds me of this.
I personally think internet anonymity is a good thing. It forces people to attack each other's arguments rather than resorting to ad hominems, and ensures an even playing field, since newbies' arguments are heard on the same level as those of our celebrities (at least in theory).
Really? I have two facebook profiles. One with my real name, with very limited details, and one with a fake name where all my RL friends can find me. A google search brings up nothing about me, even though I was convicted of a felony 23 years ago, there are no pictures of me on the internet that I can find, and I use my real name for nothing, including my WoW account. My phone, cable and power bill are all in fake names, and I rent for cash from a former employer. My vehicles are registered to me, at a 10 year old address and my DL shows the same address. Which the banks also have as my permanent address. I use a PO box in the same county as my "official" address shows. Not everyone is willing to let the government or corporations track their where abouts and doings with ease.