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UPDATED : REAL - BAD - KOTICK's - ID?

By Malchom July 8, 2010 71 Comments

My main beef with the internet and how Blizzard is now trying to fix it

I love the internet, I truly do! After all I am a web developer so it goes without saying in my case. I simply cannot live without for long periods of time anymore. That may be an overstatement but still, we all know how useful and/or entertaining the series of tubes have become.

I do have one very big issue with the internet right now and that is the lack of accountability and the culture of anonymity. Right now, I could go on almost any site, create a user, act like a total douche, wreak some sort of havoc, piss off a bunch of people and once I meet an obstacle, stop a few mins, create a new account and start over! My IP is blocked, fine, let me just shut down my modem 5 mins, start it up again and go! Through my usage and creation of various websites I have been disgusted by the human nature behind this thin veil of privacy and frankly, it needs to stop, or I don't see how the internet can grow to be something great for us all in the future. The web is rotting from the trolling, flaming, cynicism, misinformation and just plain hate!

Facebook came along at one point and to me it was just another social site... But then something changed, companies checked profiles, people could find old friends, and a huge web of actual, real live, people was being created right in front of our very eyes. Yeah, many tried before, but is unique in that it's keeping things organized, better than it was before anyway (MySpace was and still is a fucking mess). Back when Facebook was on the rise, I was thinking about making some sort system that websites who wanted accountability could use and promote better communication by forcing people to be held accountable for the stupidities or insults they would blurt out. Probably would of made it free but it would allow users to receive feedback for things they did, and bad could be find and dealt with, and these details could be shared throughout several sites, basically creating a second identity. Then came Facebook Connect, right then I knew that this was a plan to eventually bring accountability to the internet.

Now Blizzard has announced that to participate on their forums, you will need to sign with your real name or politely.... shut the fuck up.

Blizzard's Community Forums

Nerf Paladins!

If you ever visited any of the blizzard community sites, you know as much as I do that those boards are a menace to the human collective. If you haven't, I suggest you go get your face melted over there soon before it all goes down the shitter.

The amount of pure horse shit that those boards generate is baffling, they are overrun with trolls that have nothing better to do than stroke their delusional egos and imagine that Blizzard should listen to their every whim because for some reason they hold the truth like if they were the Jesus of Nazareth of video-games. I can't imagine how much work is needed to filter this, and I'm pretty sure it's pretty much impossible to deal with efficiently with moderators. The worst of the worst was the general board for the SC2 Beta, just completely ridiculous! Thank god that forum is gone now.

What Blizzard wants to do is promote serious discussion and alleviate the moderation workload on the site. I can agree on the fact that are being blunt about the whole thing but frankly, seeing as how 90% of the material on those boards is pure crap they need to be blunt about it

Real-Good-ID

Yes, this RealID stuff, in my opinion, is a good idea!

This new decisions they made doesn't affect the games that we love, it only affects the community forums, they just want to stop this turd factory they've created and I couldn't agree more with them. RealID in game is optional.

So before I move on with this, I will share my real name right now as well as additional info to show I'm not just talking out of my ass
Simon Dupuis Howard
simward@yahoo.com
514-805-2725

I have no fear of sharing my identity with people on the internet. I don't suffer from the delusion that I am this important gamer that will piss off some other random gamer and that he will seek me out and kill, rape, steal from, hurt and/or sodomize me somehow. Wake up people, this is the internet, all of us don't care, we all say "Cool story brah" and "The internet is serious business", the people who would try to find and hurt you would try regardless of having your name or not. Jeff Gertsmann has probably pissed off a bunch of people somehow (not saying he is a jerk) because it's unavoidable, and people know where he works, what he does, etc... No one has done anything to the guy, and he is vastly more important and popular than any of us poor bastards on the internet. He has a arguably unique name as well so finding more info wouldn't hard at all.

"But people will find out stuff about me, I won't be able to get a job because I am gamer!!". I see this argument a lot, first of all, any company that checks this stuff out should not care that you are a gamer, it means nothing to them, and if it does, you do not want to work with them. Just don't say stupid shit on the Blizzard forums, and you will be fine... which is what Blizzard wants...

This system will probably reduce forum activity for blizzard by 90%, but like I said, 90% of that activity was unwanted. This is precisely why Blizzard will press forward. They see this stuff happening and they know they made the right choice, all these people complaining are people they want out or behaving better. If you don't agree with that, there are buttloads of other forums for the blizzard games that don't require you to disclose your ID. Blizzard wants their forums to be constructive and controlled, this is precisely what they needed to do.

They are paving a way to making the internet a less retarded place, starting by they most retarded thing they have, and that is a good thing. This isn't Activision screwing them up, this is them trying to make things better. I wish sites like Youtube would start using something similar to prevent all the retarded comments from overwhelming the better stuff.

PS : 4chan is completely retarded, please don't talk to me about 4chan, as it will prove my point that anonymity will destroy the internet.

PS PS : There is a lot more I'd like to say, but it's late and I'll be surprised if anyone reads this in it's entirety!

What do you guys think? Blizzard will fail because of this decision? Or the trolls will go away and finally the community forums will be a better place?

UPDATE

Seems the controversy has backfired on me =)

Blizzard's CEO posted on the forums and real names our out!
I guess they agree with most you and a lot less with me, and that's great too

Although I can start a new Debate!

REAL ID ? Bad idea, Publicity stunt or Kotick's attempt at taking control of Blizzard?

Thanks for all the comments and the discussion!

71 Comments

Procrastination

By Malchom December 11, 2009 22 Comments

Hi, I'm a computer programmer and I work at home. Sounds great doesn't it? I can work in my underwear and no one cares!

There is a not so slight issue with my situation though... motivation! Some days - like today - have a heavy lack of it and procrastination follows. For those who don't know what procrastination is, Wiktionary quote :

to procrastinate (third-person singular simple present procrastinates, present participle procrastinating, simple past and past participle procrastinated)

( intransitive ) To put off; to delay taking action; to wait until later.
( transitive ) To put off; to delay something.

What do some of you do to motivate yourself and start working?! I usually put some music I'm really into to get pumped but right now it's proving to be ineffective...

22 Comments

Wii HD? Yes please!

By Malchom December 2, 2009 17 Comments

After an hour of procrastination, I stumbled upon this very cool YouTube video :

For those who do not go directly on YouTube to watch it, it's New Super Mario Bros Wii in 1080p HD, but how? Simple, it's emulated on a PC and up scaled to 1080p.

Now what is impressive here is the lack of big ugly graphical glitches and artifacts and instead crystal clear rendering in full HD glory and the game is just outright gorgeous! Audio has some issues and I think the game is acting slower than it should, but that is minor and probably adjustable with the emulator. That is quality development my friends, most if not all the graphics are 3D or vector based, pathing and collisions work flawlessly and it's just great to see that.

So for my first ever blog entry in my life, I decided to talk about the Wii and how a better, HD version, of the console would be great for Nintendo and us gamers who are not Nintendo's main target audience since the herald of casual gaming and console shovelware.

Now remember this is all very subjective and not the opinion of all, but it is mine! I feel like Nintendo has neglected our kind, the kind of gamers who love great games, interesting stories and immersive or impressive graphics. So many games, so little for the hardcore on the Wii, and always Zelda, Metroid, Mario, etc... Don't get me wrong those games are great but Nintendo creates this image of a company who produces these safe and sure titles to cater a little to the hardcore, carrot-on-a-stick style, and keep pumping out the crap for soccer moms and savvy grandparents...

Now a great solution to this situation, if Nintendo wishes to eventually get out of this games for everyone gimmick and get more dough from us, is to release some sort of Wii HD and here is why :

Graphics : Now I'm no graphic whore, I just firmly believe that good graphics, on par with what is possible in the present, is important. It's either immersive, engaging or just beautiful and that provides a better experience. On certain games in can be a deal breaker. Play some Dead Space, awesome atmosphere and scary stuff, that is transferred a lot by the graphics, then go to Extraction and I can't help but feel like something is missing, it's not just the on-rails gameplay, it's the down scaling of what was my definition of "real" in the game, making it less scary and engaging. Call me a graphic whore, but I'm sure for many as well this is the case.
Better Hardware : Nintendo is no stranger to adding better hardware specifications to their product to make it more powerful and keeping backwards compatibility, changing the name of this new product by adding a simple suffix or word. Although it has happened only (I am not sure of that fact though) on it's hand held consoles, the GameBoys and the DSs. Why not do the same with the Wii, keep two versions, the current one for casuals and a Wii HD for us gamers. The Wii HD would run all those Wii Games, and Nintendo seems to produce games that look gorgeous in HD regardless so why not? Boost it's performance for Wii HD games only. I'm sure a lot of developers feel limited not only graphically but also in what the hardware can do compared to the other consoles so perhaps it hinders on what game mechanics modern games can have on the console. WiiMotes HD man! With integrated motion plus and better speakers (because the speaker blows...) could be released with it! I have no trouble imagining Nintendo doing this, they pump out so many peripherals anyway! Oh, and a hard drive please, you can't dodge that one again Nintendo!
Renewed Image : To me, if Nintendo released a Wii HD with the above being true, I would feel vindicated in having placed some trust in them. It's like if Reggie would call me and say : "Dude, we forgot about you and we are sorry, we cooked this up and we hope you like it, we are planning on making stuff you like!". Studios would also be more interested in Wii development now because this new version of the console is targeted at the audience they want and have the capabilities they need to make their vision possible on the console.
Better Games : The above is all fun and dandy, but if Nintendo wants my money, they need some kickass games and they need to talk about those games ASAP after they announce this Wii HD. Up scaled shovel ware does not interest me at all!
Fixing Past Mistakes : Making changes and releasing new hardware allows for a lot of things to happen, it may bring new Firmware to the table, more connections possibilities, a better console network, better DLC (if we get a hard drive), etc.

I'm no marketing or sales expert, but the above reasons would make me dish out some serious cash in no time. A big plus is that, like I said before, it would not surprise me at all seeing something like this out of Nintendo.

Hopefully something is in the works that is similar to what I think. I really want the Wii to interest me, more than once or twice a year! I think motion controls can work if done right and we still haven't gotten there at all. Finally, I think Nintendo has the potential to beat Natal and maybe the PS3 thing-a-ma-jig (I believe Natal will be crap and that Sony has some potential with their peripheral) if they play their cards right and not only dominate casual gaming but hardcore gaming as well.

What do you guys think about a Wii HD?

NB : English is not my native language, I am a french canuck so hopefully my grammar does not fail in this entry.

PS : How is this first blog entry? should I just abandon the hobby right now? =S

17 Comments