Nerf Privacy

Ok Blizzard...you really done it this time.

I can deal with the 3 day GM responses when my toon gets stuck somewhere, and I guess I can keep filling my ignore list with names of the level one gold spammers...but if I have an issue and I can't access help in game...why should I have to use my real name if I want an answer? Doesn't that take away the point of an MMORPG? (Mulit Million Online ROLE PLAYING Game) Role playing - The act of taking on a new roll...a roll that is not yourself. I'm sensing a little bit of a contradiction here.

This game...back when I started, you knew people by their characters and nothing more...but ever since the release of RealID, I can't help but think that I'm on FaceBook and downing Lich King at the same time. I like the concept that they were after...being able to talk to your friends cross realm and cross game...but why go and tamper with the forums?

Granted, Blizz's reason for this is to stop people from making rude and inappropriate comments on the forums...initially its to stop what you and I call "trolling." But Blizz if you didn't already figure this out with all the gold spammers making level 1 characters and trying to sell gold, with them sending in and out of game mail to players trying to disguise themselves as official Blizzard advocates or with them hacking. to make a ton of level 1 characters...hack them to make them either speed to a city or just teleport there with world commands, have them jump higher then the game would allow and then kill themselves one by one to create the name of a gold selling website...trolls and hackers will not give up. Blizz thinks that by revealing everyone's real name that you would be a bit more cautious to what you say...because your not as hidden as you once were, and that may be true for some...but for some others...they just don't care. Others might go on to make an assumed name also...See Blizz? This isn't as foolproof as you thought.  The only way for them to...and I'm not suggesting this...but like anything with the internet...the only way to get it to stop is to shut it down completely. No forums = no trolls? Not exactly...they would go onto other websites to have their fun...but as long as its off Blizz's hands I don't think that they care.

There are roughly over 10 + million people playing WoW, and there will be some name overlap. People with common names (i.e. John Smith) will not be the only ones with the same name...saying that this brings up the case of identity theft. Blizz is only creating more problems for themselves. If a hacker, for whatever reason wants to pick your account...now that they have access to your gold and epics...they also have access to your FaceBook, MySpace...and hell if they really wanted to...get your credit card number. Thanks a ton Blizz...because of your game... I know have to cancel my credit cards and whatever else a hacker would mess with. With social networking sites such as the two mentioned, it is up to the user what they want to display. With MySpace you make a user name that other users will know you by. Now whether it is your real name or not is YOUR own choice. FaceBook, is not quite the same...but any smart person would know that they are adding their friends and their friends only. If you add (a) stranger(s) that you have never met before then YOU are putting YOURSELF as risk. I can see how this makes FaceBook and MySpace liable to say that if a conflict were to ever arise that its "not their fault." Blizzard however, is subjecting our personal information WITHOUT our approval. So then does this mean if I get hacked and my personal information screwed up, and if I check my WoW account and find that it too has been hacked can I blame Blizzard and expect full compensation? No, because they will find some loop hole to make it "not their fault"

Which, while we are on the topic of privacy...As some of you know, I am a female gamer. And as sad and narrow minded it is...females playing video games is looked down upon still. If I have a technical problem with the game, and must report it on the forums I have to use my real name. Now I won;t reveal my name here but there are just some names that are not unisex; they are either a male of a female name and mine is one of them. If someone were to see my name then they would know I am a female. Just by seeing what other players (men for the most part...unless there is some same sex discrimination going on that I don't know about) and how they react in trade chat whenever the phrase "girls DO play WoW" is brought up, I am going to be hesitant to dare to post on the forums. And for any men whose reply to that is "women don't belong on the forums anyways." Just because we have an anatomical difference does not mean we're inferior...grow some balls and don't be an idiot.

And as an expansion from the above paragraph, as a girl I am not just scared about getting picked on and being told to "quit my bitchin' and get back in the kitchen." I am also scared of being cyber stalked. It does happen and it is very real, not just to women...to children too. Its not just as simple as right clicking and selecting Ignore. Google search your name and if you have FaceBook or are on another social networking site that has your real name...Bing! The sound of finding a new victim. With today's day and age, no one is ever completely anonymous on the internet...however this is just like spoon feeding hackers and other sickos the information of billions of people.

As much as I am conserend for myself and the safety of other players...if this change does go into effect there is another group of people that most tend to look over who are at risk. The GMs. The official blue post I read said that along with players, GMs will have to use their real names when posting as well...I guess this is Blizz's pitiful attempt at trying to make this seem more fair. Now why would this be a problem? Well, I was browsing the Customer Service forums a little while ago. The GMs there are referred to as Pandas...because all CS GMs use a Panda as their avatar. I was reading a post where some people were inquiring about what being a "panda" requires. And a CS GM replied to this, he went over the high school expectations, the experience you should have...the people skills and so on ...Then he went on to say that when making up their GM alias, that their name must not have any hints to themselves in real life, and for a good reason. I can't imagine some of the crap GMs must get when they cannot fulfill someone request. Now, that was all to protect safety...but I guess Blizz is throwing that all out the window.  Its funny because I could have sworn reading somewhere in the ToS that my information would not be given out...silly me.

Now all of this because they were sick of dealing with trolls? I'd love to hear their logic. "Let's put the entire WoW at risk just to stop gold spamming."  Blizzard, this isn't as happy go lucky as you think it to be. These are people's lives and identity's you are ever so carelessly toying with. If this does end up happening, I'm sure there will be less action on the forums...meaning that there will be less general discussion from the good players who just want to chat about the upcoming changes to their class. And I'm sure that there will be people who would quit because of this change. I am not going to quit...but so help me...If I have to start using my name in trade chat...I'm done.

-Cyphale