According to many, many WoW posters in the big thread O' doom, posting to forums is necessary for decent technical support. In-game issues are frequently referred to the support FORUM (not call-in support) by GMs, and it is well known that issues are frequently resolved an order of magnitude faster via forum than via call-in tech support or website trouble ticket.
As someone who actually does play the game, this isn't true on its face for a number of reasons:
1) The forums are next to worthless for support.
2) WoW is a run-of-the-mill DirectX game. Chances are if you delete all your files and start fresh your problem goes away. Which, consequently is what they tell you on the forums anyway. If you're having a DirectX problem, then you need help with your PC, which Blizzard can't provide anyway.
3) Those few answers to problems that are found on the forums are from other PLAYERS, who could easily use another forum if they didn't like the RealID feature. Again, the actual company does nearly nothing in terms of tech support for this game.
Second, why should women be second-class citizens who must avoid communicating with other players out of fear?
For the same reason women typically make less pay for the same job as men. It's the women around you. Get them to stop using sex as a means of power and the slobbering will diminish. Meanwhile, stop being afraid of who you are and rebuff these teens, publicly if necessary. Genuinely, this seems like an isolated issue to me. My guild includes several females including my wife and even my mother, and none have ever experienced what you're describing here.
The only "parenting for other people" I see in this incident belongs to Blizzard, who seems to think that gamers shouldn't be allowed to choose the face they present to the world
And in this case, Blizzard and I actually agree. You can't choose it in real life, so why must Blizzard provide it on their forum?
Anyone that is willing to set fire to someone and kill them over ANY action in wow has problems and is almost certainly worse than whoever they might be burning.
We definitely agree on this point. Further the chances of such a person avoiding being locked up during daily life would be extremely low.
All these things being what they are, it is necessary for a certain share of the responsibility to fall on the provider of the means of exchange to create an environment that mitigates the possibility of these sorts of things happening where it can reasonably do so
Who then takes the responsibility for the city streets?
That's like saying that putting up a fence endorses voyeurism and therefore the fence should be taken down.
Close. It is like requiring fences and declaring that anyone without a fence is not protected by anti-voyeurism laws. Indeed not even the voyeurs are responsible for their behavior, only the city for not providing adequate fences.
It is a crappy, crappy world to live in where people aren't expected to control themselves, and I resent being drug down into it.
He is stating that there are several people harassed, physically assaulted, and even murdered because some asshat took an internet argument into the real world.
The Real ID change would make doing so much, much easier.
While it would make it easier, it would still be orders of magnitude more difficult than REAL LIFE, where it is not a common occurrence.
If you believe that posting your real information all over the Internet is such a great idea, why don't you include your real name
You're going to be embarrassed when you see my handle...:)
Yes, anonymity is a very good idea in the real world; most of us understand that only asshats benefit from removing anonymity from non-asshats.
You don't get it in the real world. That'd be the point. In fact, in the real world people get to see your very face. They're privy to your ethnicity, age, likely occupation, etc, all at a glance.
I understand that anonymity has advantages, but AVOIDING DEATH simply IS NOT one of them. This logic is appallingly stupid when you juxtapose it to real life.
And when he goes to trial, he'll be able to point to your own comments as a function of his Twinkie Defense.
It is just disgusting. To save a single, hypothetical life, we're willing to sacrifice personal responsibility?
Think about how many players WoW has. Now consider how many people are in the rest of the real world. If the number of WoW players is reason enough for anonymity, then why not in the real world as well? Surely you realize which has more people in it...
If you don't believe me, just look at how the coverage of the BP oil spill has moved to Lindsey going to jail with a fingernail painted to say Fuck You.
While you may or may not be correct in your thesis, you do realize that people are still suffering in Haiti, right? Is it possible that 'the news' just has a really short attention span? Or are we to assume that BP also bribed Hollywood to stop reporting on that whole earthquake mess as well?
Except the real assholes that don't have a problem tracking you down and using real kerosene to end a flame war.
My greatest objection to Blizzard backing down on this issue is underscored by the notion above.
You're explicitly saying that the behavior you describe, physical retribution for digital offenses, is a foregone conclusion. You're implicitly saying it is normal, and by insisting that Blizzard take responsibility for it, you're effectively endorsing it.
We ought to put the blame on the individual abhorrent behavior, where it belongs, rather than on this unrelated 'privacy' issue. By getting it backwards, we're actually making the world worse because Blizzard's confidence is effectively the only thing keeping people from setting you on fire.
Everyone knows that Sparkle Ponies are made from the collected tears from forum QQ. What we didn't know is that Blizzard will soon be selling a new mount - a multi-passenger mammoth, also sparkley and also made of pure QQ. It seems that not only was their QQ stock low, but the new mount required a lot more of it. So they announced this change. The resultant QQ from every continent on the globe means the Sparkle Mammoth will be in great supply.
I agree with all that you said except #2. It's actually quite likely his code followed the exact same process as Shazam. The code might look very different, but it's following the same basic idea.
I thought that 'basic idea's weren't patentable. Only specific instructions on how to achieve the described result. Without those the patent wouldn't be granted. Correct?
Slashdot Mirror
Oh Opt in sounds great!
An option perhaps to "Show Only-RealID" posts?
"RealID only" forums?
I'm in on that.
No argument, but the point remains, it is still as much a mess as it was after the quake - yet no new news coverage.
No specific point, other than to point out that the 10M number is almost certainly bogus at this point.
It is substance... the substance that the patents do matter in WTO countries.
Did you really not comprehend my statement? Because you just did it again.
If it helps, imagine 'Mongolia' as '$country'. It wasn't meant as a specific, but as a far off and exotic place with a different culture.
According to many, many WoW posters in the big thread O' doom, posting to forums is necessary for decent technical support. In-game issues are frequently referred to the support FORUM (not call-in support) by GMs, and it is well known that issues are frequently resolved an order of magnitude faster via forum than via call-in tech support or website trouble ticket.
As someone who actually does play the game, this isn't true on its face for a number of reasons:
1) The forums are next to worthless for support.
2) WoW is a run-of-the-mill DirectX game. Chances are if you delete all your files and start fresh your problem goes away. Which, consequently is what they tell you on the forums anyway. If you're having a DirectX problem, then you need help with your PC, which Blizzard can't provide anyway.
3) Those few answers to problems that are found on the forums are from other PLAYERS, who could easily use another forum if they didn't like the RealID feature. Again, the actual company does nearly nothing in terms of tech support for this game.
Second, why should women be second-class citizens who must avoid communicating with other players out of fear?
For the same reason women typically make less pay for the same job as men. It's the women around you. Get them to stop using sex as a means of power and the slobbering will diminish. Meanwhile, stop being afraid of who you are and rebuff these teens, publicly if necessary. Genuinely, this seems like an isolated issue to me. My guild includes several females including my wife and even my mother, and none have ever experienced what you're describing here.
The only "parenting for other people" I see in this incident belongs to Blizzard, who seems to think that gamers shouldn't be allowed to choose the face they present to the world
And in this case, Blizzard and I actually agree. You can't choose it in real life, so why must Blizzard provide it on their forum?
They're pulling in roughly $150 million
I'm guessing you're doing a simple $15 * 10M subscribers? That's revenue, not profit.
Further, without China, WoW would be down about 7-8 million, would it not? Everyone forgets this point.
And avoiding harassment is a much larger benefit as there are many more asshats than murderers.
Let's not change the subject. The premise is that someone would DIE.
Unless kerosene only tickles, I guess.
Anyone that is willing to set fire to someone and kill them over ANY action in wow has problems and is almost certainly worse than whoever they might be burning.
We definitely agree on this point. Further the chances of such a person avoiding being locked up during daily life would be extremely low.
All these things being what they are, it is necessary for a certain share of the responsibility to fall on the provider of the means of exchange to create an environment that mitigates the possibility of these sorts of things happening where it can reasonably do so
Who then takes the responsibility for the city streets?
That's like saying that putting up a fence endorses voyeurism and therefore the fence should be taken down.
Close. It is like requiring fences and declaring that anyone without a fence is not protected by anti-voyeurism laws. Indeed not even the voyeurs are responsible for their behavior, only the city for not providing adequate fences.
It is a crappy, crappy world to live in where people aren't expected to control themselves, and I resent being drug down into it.
He is stating that there are several people harassed, physically assaulted, and even murdered because some asshat took an internet argument into the real world.
The Real ID change would make doing so much, much easier.
While it would make it easier, it would still be orders of magnitude more difficult than REAL LIFE, where it is not a common occurrence.
If you believe that posting your real information all over the Internet is such a great idea, why don't you include your real name
You're going to be embarrassed when you see my handle... :)
Yes, anonymity is a very good idea in the real world; most of us understand that only asshats benefit from removing anonymity from non-asshats.
You don't get it in the real world. That'd be the point. In fact, in the real world people get to see your very face. They're privy to your ethnicity, age, likely occupation, etc, all at a glance.
I understand that anonymity has advantages, but AVOIDING DEATH simply IS NOT one of them. This logic is appallingly stupid when you juxtapose it to real life.
There are some real jerks on the highway, in line at the grocery store, and at your workplace
Tell me, are you afforded anonymity at any of those places? Is there a subsequently large protest such as the one against RealID? Why not?
I agree as well. They have the technology, through RealID. Not sure why the wouldn't want to do it, though.
it's already happened numerous times so it will happen again.
So, when did the RealID change go into effect? Or are you stating that it would happen with or without this change?
I don't really see how placing blame after the fact does that
Punishing the people that commit crimes, as opposed to the people that operate a gaming forum is likely a better deterrent.
Yeah, this would be the part where you apologize for being pedantic.
And when he goes to trial, he'll be able to point to your own comments as a function of his Twinkie Defense.
It is just disgusting. To save a single, hypothetical life, we're willing to sacrifice personal responsibility?
Think about how many players WoW has. Now consider how many people are in the rest of the real world. If the number of WoW players is reason enough for anonymity, then why not in the real world as well? Surely you realize which has more people in it...
If you don't believe me, just look at how the coverage of the BP oil spill has moved to Lindsey going to jail with a fingernail painted to say Fuck You.
While you may or may not be correct in your thesis, you do realize that people are still suffering in Haiti, right? Is it possible that 'the news' just has a really short attention span? Or are we to assume that BP also bribed Hollywood to stop reporting on that whole earthquake mess as well?
Except the real assholes that don't have a problem tracking you down and using real kerosene to end a flame war.
My greatest objection to Blizzard backing down on this issue is underscored by the notion above.
You're explicitly saying that the behavior you describe, physical retribution for digital offenses, is a foregone conclusion. You're implicitly saying it is normal, and by insisting that Blizzard take responsibility for it, you're effectively endorsing it.
We ought to put the blame on the individual abhorrent behavior, where it belongs, rather than on this unrelated 'privacy' issue. By getting it backwards, we're actually making the world worse because Blizzard's confidence is effectively the only thing keeping people from setting you on fire.
G.I.F.T. reign on for many years to come!
Parent makes an excellent point, and I happen to agree.
Everyone knows that Sparkle Ponies are made from the collected tears from forum QQ. What we didn't know is that Blizzard will soon be selling a new mount - a multi-passenger mammoth, also sparkley and also made of pure QQ. It seems that not only was their QQ stock low, but the new mount required a lot more of it. So they announced this change. The resultant QQ from every continent on the globe means the Sparkle Mammoth will be in great supply.
Gratz on your new mount!
I agree with all that you said except #2. It's actually quite likely his code followed the exact same process as Shazam. The code might look very different, but it's following the same basic idea.
I thought that 'basic idea's weren't patentable. Only specific instructions on how to achieve the described result. Without those the patent wouldn't be granted. Correct?
When I was about 7 and my sister 8, she stole a cookie and I got blamed. Injustice? Yes. News? No.
BS. If you had sicked a pack of raving lawyers on your sister due to her cookie theft it ABSOLUTELY would have made the news.
Except for the trade agreements. Those make your position of certainty a little less clear.
I never claimed that they all did... just that, according to the rules, it seemed to me like the Mongolia example wasn't valid.
I think that the specific qualifier '(for example)' meant that it wasn't necessarily to be taken as a matter of fact. Or, in fewer words:
Don't be such an ass. Let's move forward with the substance, rather than semantics. Yes?
DMCA! Oops.