Ever since Blizzard revealed its intention to require forum users to post with their real names, the Internet has collectively gone mad — more so than usual, even! Many predicted this move would be purely experimental and wouldn’t last for long, if implemented at all. As it turns out, that’s pretty much the case.
Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime, in an official statement, said the company’s official forums won’t be using the Real ID system as originally proposed. The reason cited? Your feedback. Here’s a snippet:
“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.”
Well, crap! Now how are we supposed to find the personal information of people who annoy us on a message board and use this data to terrorize them in the real world?
Mike Morhaime: Real names will not be required on official Blizzard forums [WOW.com][Image]
