Blizzard’s Plans Enrage Gamers

It's war Jim, but not as we know it

Blizzard have lit the blue touch paper and seemingly walked away after their announcement that anyone posting on the versions of the forum launching with the new StarCraft game will have their real name displayed, rather than their username.  In a recent article, PC Gamer charge that although Blizzard have an admirable level of connection and interaction with their community, they appear to be trying to turn Battle.net into a sort of ‘social network’, quoting Blizzard as saying:

“It’s important to us to create a new and different kind of online gaming environment – one that’s highly social, and which provides an ideal place for gamers to form long-lasting, meaningful relationships. All of our design decisions surrounding Real ID – including these forum changes – have been made with this goal in mind.”

PC Gamer, however, aren’t convinced, and neither are gamers who are justifiably livid and claiming an invasion of privacy.  Indeed, with privacy and anonymity, not to mention emotional attachment and ‘identity’ being wrapped up with handles – considered sacrosanct on forums and MMOs, this prising open of players’ real identities risks blowing up in Blizzard’s face.

Players have a right to privacy, and there are a myriad of reasons why they may not wish the world and its brother to know who they truly are, so why Blizzard thought that this would be a good idea is a little bewildering, however well meaning it may have been; it is a game network after all, not Facebook.  Does anyone care to wager how long it will take before they quietly revert back to the old ways?

Source: PC Gamer

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