" and nice to see some of you still whining about Brad Nicholson as usual.  Every article he writes sux, o noes.  The GB staff hired him for a reason, and he's just doing his job.  Stop being babies whining about some freaking video game news articles. "

Stopped reading when apparently people were only concerned about the safety of female users

i think blizz should do it out of spite. all the people whining about it would still play blizz games. if people were really all that fired up about it they would boycott blizz. as it happens, people just like to whine. i am very proud to tell the super cool story that i have not spent one second playing a blizz game in any form. 

" Anonymity is the root cause of everything that is bad about the internet.  Ashamed about doing something online to the point where you don't want people to know it was you?  Maybe you should not fucking do it anymore.  That's my two cents.   

" @Andorski said:

" Anonymity is the root cause of everything that is bad about the internet.  Ashamed about doing something online to the point where you don't want people to know it was you?  Maybe you should not fucking do it anymore.  That's my two cents.   

I suppose that law enforcement should be able to put your DNA in a database at birth to have it cataloged in case of the possibility that you commit a crime in the future. Be able monitor all your  internet usage, emails, internet searches, phone calls etc. freely without  restraint in order to make sure that you're not going to commit a crime, or assist anyone committing one. Perhaps they should be able to stop and search you at random on the street with no reason other than to make sure you're not carrying anything illegal on you. And I guess it would be totally cool if ISPs gave all their customer information to the RIAA so they can see who is downloading music right? Screw privacy, who needs it? Because hey if you're not doing anything wrong then what do you have to worry about.    "

" @bungiecord said:

" @Andorski said:

" Anonymity is the root cause of everything that is bad about the internet.  Ashamed about doing something online to the point where you don't want people to know it was you?  Maybe you should not fucking do it anymore.  That's my two cents.   

I suppose that law enforcement should be able to put your DNA in a database at birth to have it cataloged in case of the possibility that you commit a crime in the future. Be able monitor all your  internet usage, emails, internet searches, phone calls etc. freely without  restraint in order to make sure that you're not going to commit a crime, or assist anyone committing one. Perhaps they should be able to stop and search you at random on the street with no reason other than to make sure you're not carrying anything illegal on you. And I guess it would be totally cool if ISPs gave all their customer information to the RIAA so they can see who is downloading music right? Screw privacy, who needs it? Because hey if you're not doing anything wrong then what do you have to worry about.    "

Privacy and anonymity aren't completely mutually exclusive.  Don't want someone to find out what you are doing?  Either don't do it in such a public arena (e.g. the internet) or don't do it at all.  Want to do something but don't want others to know?  You're just a shameless excuse of a person. Maybe I'm just one of those crazy people who is forward with who they really are. "

Blizzard... why did you back away? If they are gonna go through and change up the forums like that, go all the way.

" It doesn't matter if you use you real name or not. I'm pretty sure those Blizzard employee info is fake. They're just trying to scare people so they can get away with talking shit like they always do. And to prove it:  Christopher Hedy  That's my name. Go ahead and try to do something. "

" sounds like the internet tough guys have won again. now if only if they could talk to girls as well as they can bitch on forums... "

" sounds like the internet tough guys have won again. now if only if they could talk to girls as well as they can bitch on forums... "

I think this is bullshit. I think people just need to man the fuck up. Using real names was a great idea. It would make people more accountable and help cut down on the bullshit. Anyone who scared by this needs to grow up. So what if people know you play Warcraft? Grow a pair and stop hiding who you are. it's 2010. And how could anyone be afraid that some asshole you piss off is going to come find you or something? Thats the sort of thing people threaten to do under cover of anonymity, and don't do when everyone knows who they are. There's some crazy people out there, sure, but just don't post personal information and lock your fucking doors. The chances of anything bad happening are pretty slim. Americans like to convince themselves that they're in constant danger from robbers and terrorists and crazy people even when they aren't. This is just more of that shit.
 
I'm completely over people looking down on gamers or seeing games as toys, etc. Gaming has been mainstream entertainment for a long time now. Anyone who hasn't caught on yet is just stupid. But if you're still looking for a way to further legitimize gaming, isn't this it? Shouldn't gamers prove that they're ready to grow up, stop hiding behind fake names, and co-exist peacefully on the internet? We could debate on whether or not this is the best way to do it, but I think it's ridiculous to think that something like this could never happen in gaming.

Have to go against you on this one Brad. Even with a new sign agreement with the new forums the change would have broken privacy laws in several countries to start with. I was a player and Trolls in any forums are annoying but this was not a solution. As a web developer and designer and computing degree's the concept of this approach was just wrong on so many levels. If you were found out to be a player brad as a celebratory and hounded every time you played the game after posting on the forums there after your going to not enjoy the game any more. Kids in the game and even teens and idiot adults make threats and what not now. Knowing your name and a google to get your details will issue real life threats, possible damage to property and more outside of the game. Oh it will happen, I have seen it elsewhere. They can ban and remove posts with personal details but that has to be spotted/reported and then dealt with which takes time so that information and threats etc will be on the forums for a period of time. This would actually be WORSE then they are now. I want my friends to know who I am and RealID on that level in game works very well I am told. To be public was never a good idea. As mentioned in the UK for example you can not prevent access to the forums (Blizzard said if you do not want to have your name shown do not post on the forums) in terms of wanting to keep your privacy. It is something you simply can not do. Lots of people from different countries posted aspects of privacy acts and laws in those countries in regard to what blizzard attempted to do which they can not counter with you signing to a new agreement. Just a lot of grey, lots of no and not quite well thought out. Their goal is a good one but people not only had a go at Blizzard they gave great suggestions how to tackle the problem. One being that "If they have something to loose" which came across a few places. In game bans for bad trolling or abuse on the forums would be one route to go down. 2nd forum issue and you get locked out of both the game and forum.

Now if only I could sign out of realID from time to time or hide being online...

" Have to go against you on this one Brad. Even with a new sign agreement with the new forums the change would have broken privacy laws in several countries to start with. I was a player and Trolls in any forums are annoying but this was not a solution. As a web developer and designer and computing degree's the concept of this approach was just wrong on so many levels. If you were found out to be a player brad as a celebratory and hounded every time you played the game after posting on the forums there after your going to not enjoy the game any more. Kids in the game and even teens and idiot adults make threats and what not now. Knowing your name and a google to get your details will issue real life threats, possible damage to property and more outside of the game. Oh it will happen, I have seen it elsewhere. They can ban and remove posts with personal details but that has to be spotted/reported and then dealt with which takes time so that information and threats etc will be on the forums for a period of time. This would actually be WORSE then they are now. I want my friends to know who I am and RealID on that level in game works very well I am told. To be public was never a good idea. As mentioned in the UK for example you can not prevent access to the forums (Blizzard said if you do not want to have your name shown do not post on the forums) in terms of wanting to keep your privacy. It is something you simply can not do. Lots of people from different countries posted aspects of privacy acts and laws in those countries in regard to what blizzard attempted to do which they can not counter with you signing to a new agreement. Just a lot of grey, lots of no and not quite well thought out. Their goal is a good one but people not only had a go at Blizzard they gave great suggestions how to tackle the problem. One being that "If they have something to loose" which came across a few places. In game bans for bad trolling or abuse on the forums would be one route to go down. 2nd forum issue and you get locked out of both the game and forum. "