Blizzard to remove the veil of anonymity
By
Adeon Hawkwood,
Posted on: 2010-07-06 10:48 in Comic and Hero-Villain Culture
Quote:
Comments like this are why people are being flamed. Just fyi.|
Originally Posted by Steel_Shaman
Absolutely amazing. I guess the Blizzard Kool Aid must be really tasty.
|
Anyway, as for the announcement itself I'm in full support of it - even though I can definitely see why the use of a global username would be preferable to real name. I'm all for accountability when it comes to forum posting and it'll be interesting to see the kind of effect this has on the overall community. I don't honestly see identity theft and fraud being as rampant as the more zealous dissenters makes it out to be, either; if someone can steal your account and life based on simply getting ahold of a name, then you've made mistakes somewhere else along the chain.
Quote:
Fun fact, Facebook will actually ban you if you use a fake name, or even if your name sounds a little fake.
|
Originally Posted by kybarsfang
Isn't Facebook similar, though? I personally don't know anyone who doesn't use their real name on Facebook, and it's a WHOLE lot easier to gain someone's personal info by just clicking on his or her name. What's the big difference with what Blizzard is going to start doing?
|
Quote:
What, you mean other than completely changing how the game's been working, privacy-wise for the past 6 years?|
Originally Posted by kybarsfang
Isn't Facebook similar, though? I personally don't know anyone who doesn't use their real name on Facebook, and it's a WHOLE lot easier to gain someone's personal info by just clicking on his or her name. What's the big difference with what Blizzard is going to start doing?
|
Or that just being on Facebook won't hurt your employment prospects, but playing WoW can?
Or that Facebook lets you insulate your personal information so that people can only see as much of your profile as you let them?
Or that WoW is a game, intended for playing and raiding dungeons and getting phat lewt, whereas Facebook is intended for building social networks and keeping in touch with friends and family?
Multiple concerns have been stated in this thread. Go ahead and read them, we'll wait.
Elsegame: Champions Online: @BellaStrega ||| Battle.net: Ashleigh#1834 ||| Bioware Social Network: BellaStrega ||| EA Origin: Bella_Strega ||| Steam: BellaStrega ||| The first Guild Wars: Kali Magdalene ||| The Secret World: BelleStarr (Arcadia)
Quote:
Point taken, and my apologies if I offended. I've edited the post to remove the inflammatory comment. My reason for thinking Blizzard's decision is a bad one is simple, due to something that happened in my guild while I was playing WoW:|
Originally Posted by poptart_fairy
Comments like this are why people are being flamed. Just fyi.
Anyway, as for the announcement itself I'm in full support of it - even though I can definitely see why the use of a global username would be preferable to real name. I'm all for accountability when it comes to forum posting and it'll be interesting to see the kind of effect this has on the overall community. I don't honestly see identity theft and fraud being as rampant as the more zealous dissenters makes it out to be, either; if someone can steal your account and life based on simply getting ahold of a name, then you've made mistakes somewhere else along the chain. |
We had a member that we discovered was more than a little unstable. He would routinely sign into Vent and start spouting some pretty unusual stuff (mostly regarding real world politics). He eventually got so disruptive the guild leader banned him from Vent. This led to a firestorm in guild chat and the person being kicked from the guild. Now imagine if that individual had access to the full real names of guild members. He would know from casual conversation what cities we lived in too. My real name plus the city I live in would be enough to track me down right to my front door via internet searches, or at the very least call me on the phone.
Making player names publicly available to anyone is just a bad idea imho. It opens up the potential for a whole world of problems that one would think Blizzard would want to stay away from.
Edited to add: I just tested my theory. Not only did searching for my name and city on WhitePages.com yield my address (with a map to my front door) and phone number, it also yields the full names of both of my parents, neither of whom has lived with me in years. The search also lists the last 3 cities I've lived in (I've been at my current address for 14 years, but the others are there.) So um, yeah, I don't think I'll be playing WoW ever again.
On the flip side you and Blizzard also had access to his name, so the system isn't quite as one-sided as a lot of people make out to be.
I'll readily admit I'm quite an anomaly when it comes to this sort of thing, though. I have no fear about people discovering things in my history, and as I said I'm fully prepared to be accountable for anything and everything I do - as long as others have the same mindset, or at least the same rules to play by (and yeah, you can imagine the sheer fun I've had when people have drawn the obvious political parallels). So this really doesn't bother me: in fact it's quite exciting to see Blizzard take such a bold step, regardless of whether or not they'll stick by it in the long run.
For the most part the criticism it's suffered just struck me as so hyperbolic (not necessarily your example...more those who believe it will lead to widespread identity theft and the like) I find myself rolling my eyes. A reccuring one I keep seeing is the hypothetical situation where a troll will track down your Facebook profile and use that to find out everything about you...which makes me raise the point earlier, i.e. there was another weak link in the chain, it wasn't Blizzard's doing.
Oh, you can remove yourself from WhitePages. Look at the help section.
I guess one thing it could potentially do is reduce the number of children playing WoW drastically, if they went ahead with it.
http://www.scene-and-heard.com/cov/covsig.jpg
Quote:
You know what removes that worry from the minds of the gaming public?|
Originally Posted by poptart_fairy
I don't honestly see identity theft and fraud being as rampant as the more zealous dissenters makes it out to be, either; if someone can steal your account and life based on simply getting ahold of a name, then you've made mistakes somewhere else along the chain.
|
Not broadcasting their real names to a large population of strangers with unknown motives.
The Nethergoat Archive: all my memories, all my characters, all my thoughts on CoH...eventually.
My City Was Gone
Quote:
no, not at all.
|
Originally Posted by kybarsfang
Isn't Facebook similar, though?
|
The Nethergoat Archive: all my memories, all my characters, all my thoughts on CoH...eventually.
My City Was Gone
Quote:
Exactly. It's all about data points. Adding more, fairly needlessly, just makes people nervous.*|
Originally Posted by Nethergoat
You know what removes that worry from the minds of the gaming public?
Not broadcasting their real names to a large population of strangers with unknown motives. |
Of course "fairly needlessly" may not be the case if the aim is to ensure activity on the boards dies down so you don't need to spend so many man-hours moderating the place.
Quote:
This is a wonderful counter-argument, unfortunately this is the same gaming community that has gone ballistic over such things as "Away From Keyboard" being changed to "Away", and threatening massive boycotts of Blizzard over additional raiding options. I'm not very well inclined to take the more excessive elements of paranoia too seriously due to that.
|
Originally Posted by Nethergoat
You know what removes that worry from the minds of the gaming public?
|
Quote:
www.pipl.com|
Originally Posted by poptart_fairy
For the most part the criticism it's suffered just struck me as so hyperbolic (not necessarily your example...more those who believe it will lead to widespread identity theft and the like) I find myself rolling my eyes.
|
-np
I see myself as witty, urbane, highly talented, hugely successful with a keen sense of style. Plus of course my own special brand of modesty.
Virtue: Automatic Lenin | The Pink Guy | Superpowered | Guardia | Guardia Prime | Ultrapowered
Quote:
np? Yes, no problem.|
Originally Posted by NinjaPirate
-np
|
I've just done a search for myself and several other people I know, with a significant number of people sharing that name appearing on the search. I cannot see how someone's life or account is going to be 'stolen' unless they've been reckless with their private details.
Quote:
You are insulting with this uncaring attitude and even being snarky with the "np". |
Originally Posted by poptart_fairy
np? Yes, no problem.
I've just done a search for myself and several other people I know, with a significant number of people sharing that name appearing on the search. I cannot see how someone's life or account is going to be 'stolen' unless they've been reckless with their private details. |
I have been a victim of identity theft and it was due to a corrupt employee using my name to get bad loans/accounts. You can be careful all you want, but there are those that will take from you without you ever knowing. Shows how much you know about the real world.
Quote:
np's being pretentious and irritating by signing off his posts. Shrug.|
Originally Posted by PennyPA
You are insulting with this uncaring attitude and even being snarky with the "np".
I have been a victim of identity theft and it was due to a corrupt employee using my name to get bad loans/accounts. You can be careful all you want, but there are those that will take from you without you ever knowing. Shows how much you know about the real world. |
Anyway, I'm curious how with your name alone the employee managed to pull this stunt. We need a little more context than that, I think.
Quote:
Why? So you can steal it too?
|
Originally Posted by poptart_fairy
np's being pretentious and irritating by signing off his posts. Shrug.
Anyway, I'm curious how with your name alone the employee managed to pull this stunt. We need a little more context than that, I think. |
Quote:
No, just so I can drop the ridiculous mental image of someone wandering into a bank and clearing out my accounts simply because they have my name, ignoring any social security numbers, tax codes and so forth. Hence why I asked for more context - if you're going to bark at me for not knowing the 'real world' then it's a fairly good idea to explain why your world apparently lacks basic security features, common in every single banking account known to man.
|
Originally Posted by PennyPA
Why? So you can steal it too?
|
Quote:
Your right it is, but for some reason I just cant stop laughing. DANCE PUPPETS DANCE!
|
Originally Posted by Zikar
Indeed, this seems like a terrible idea.
|
Psynder LVL 51 Fire/Fire/Scorpion Blaster
KnightWidow LVL 51 NightWidow
Shiver LVL 50 Ice X3 Dominator
Knight'Shade LVL 47 DP/Dark/NRG Corrupter
Currently Marking Out For: Chris Sabin, Player Dos, Daniel Bryan, Portia Perez, CM Punk
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by poptart_fairy
No, simply so I can drop the ridiculous mental image of someone wandering into a bank and clearing out my accounts simply because they have my name, ignoring any social security numbers, tax codes and so forth. Hence why I asked for more context - if you're going to bark at me for not knowing the 'real world' then it's a fairly good idea to explain why your world apparently lacks basic security features, common in every single banking account known to man.
|
Who knows? All I know was that my credit was ruined, and I have spent years fixing it. It is not something I would want to happen on others after all I did to fix my credit and identity. I still get letters or calls from some agency or whatever.
You are very inconsiderate and insulting blaming others for loosing their identities when they did nothing.
Is it wise to secure what personal information you put on the internet?
Sure.
That still doesn't mean it's "okay" when someone who hasn't been especially diligent about such things gets digitally violated.
I direct you to that one Blizzard employee that posted his name to prove that it was safe, only to have his address, personal e-mail, phone, family member info, his girlfriend's info and phone number, etc. posted to the WoW forums within hours.
You can do a hell of a lot of damage with that sort of info if you really want to. It's startling, but folks like Bank tellers can be bullshitted like anyone else as long as you're good at social engineering and have a handful of facts that seemingly only the account owner should have.
More than this, goldsellers WILL be harvesting these names and blanket-bombing e-mails to anyone with those names whether they're actually the right person or not.
And I sign my posts because I was brought up with the idea that it's proper to sign what you write.
-np
I see myself as witty, urbane, highly talented, hugely successful with a keen sense of style. Plus of course my own special brand of modesty.
Virtue: Automatic Lenin | The Pink Guy | Superpowered | Guardia | Guardia Prime | Ultrapowered
Quote:
Therefore blaming the simple face of your name being responsible is shakey ground to base an argument on, when even you don't know what happened. I don't blame people for losing their identities, I'm not just a bleeding heart who will automatically assume they did everything in their power to prevent it happening. People forget things, and it snowballs.|
Originally Posted by PennyPA
Who knows?
|
When I ask people how the forum RealID can result in the loss of life, account and home to complete strangers, I expect a little more than a shakey, half-unknown anecdote if I'm being frank here.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by NinjaPirate
That still doesn't mean it's "okay" when someone who hasn't been especially diligent about such things gets digitally violated.
|
Oh, and your posts are already signed to the left. Shrug.
Quote:
You asked how this person did it with my name, I answered who knows.|
Originally Posted by poptart_fairy
Therefore blaming the simple face of your name being responsible is shakey ground to base an argument on, when even you don't know what happened. I don't blame people for losing their identities, I'm not just a bleeding heart who will automatically assume they did everything in their power to prevent it happening. People forget things, and it snowballs.
When I ask people how the forum RealID can result in the loss of life, account and home to complete strangers, I expect a little more than a shakey, half-unknown anecdote if I'm being frank here. |
Excuse me for not giving you all the details for you to examine and discuss. You know it all apparently and the final word. GLHF.
Quote:
This would be my biggest fear. There was a story a couple of months ago about a guy who got "stabbed" in game in Call of Duty, tracked the guy down, and tried to get revenge in real life. Apparently, he was just as bad at stabbing in real life as he was in the game, so the intended victim is going to be okay. But that's not the point. There's some SCARY people out there.|
Originally Posted by Lord_Nightblade
I'd be more concerned with the possibility that someone could find your address and show up to do you physical harm in real life (or start harassing you over the phone) than identity theft.
|
I could easily post some very NSFW (language) links to WoW people threatening other WoW people on the internet. That stuff scares me.
The Internets. It's Serious Business.
EDIT: Please note that I should be thanking Blizzard for saving me the $100 I'd have otherwise been spending on Starcraft II and Diablo III.
Arc# 92382 -- "The S.P.I.D.E.R. and the Tyrant" -- Ninjas! Robots! Praetorians! It's totally epic! Play it now!
Arc # 316340 -- "Husk" -- Azuria loses something, a young woman harbors a dark secret, and the fate of the world is in your hands.
Quote:
Excuse for me asking someone to elaborate on an (apparently) life-wrecking incident which they blamed on two words. If they can destroy your credit rating like that it sounds like something a hell of lot bigger was involved, especially when you refer to them as 'an employee'. Of who? Yours? The same company? Someone on the other side of the world who only gained your name through a forum post?|
Originally Posted by PennyPA
You asked how this person did it with my name, I answered who knows.
Excuse me for not giving you all the details for you to examine and discuss. You know it all apparently and the final word. GLHF. |
Context is a big thing if we're going to scaremonger.
I'll boil it down to a very simple question.
Is putting real names public going to make their average user MORE secure, or LESS?
Bearing in mind the likely level of security most folks maintain otherwise.
-np
I see myself as witty, urbane, highly talented, hugely successful with a keen sense of style. Plus of course my own special brand of modesty.
Virtue: Automatic Lenin | The Pink Guy | Superpowered | Guardia | Guardia Prime | Ultrapowered
Isn't Facebook similar, though? I personally don't know anyone who doesn't use their real name on Facebook, and it's a WHOLE lot easier to gain someone's personal info by just clicking on his or her name. What's the big difference with what Blizzard is going to start doing?