GamersFirst promoting anonymity in response to Blizzard's Real ID system

Unless you have sealed yourself away from the internet for the past few days, the odds are good that you've heard about Blizzard's decision to make the Real ID service mandatory for forum usage. The result was the sort of enormous fiasco that makes the phrase "PR nightmare" sound far too gentle. And if that wasn't enough injury, GamersFirst is adding a bit of well-deserved insult with its newest promotion -- which re-affirms how important the option of staying anonymous really is while offering a new home for those packing up and leaving Casa de Azeroth.

Executive director Tracy Spaight pulled no punches in a statement on the matter -- "It is an unwarranted intrusion to player privacy to force [players] to disclose their real world identity." The team behind Sword 2, War Rock, and Knight Online (among others) is offering special bonus items until August 9th to players who register in War Rock or Sword 2 with the promotional code StayAnonymous. It's the first public response regarding this debacle we've seen from the industry, but odds are good that it won't be the last. And who doesn't like to get free things just for remaining anonymous?

Reader Comments (48)

Im sorry but it is a big deal. You might not understand how big it really is yet... and I even think Blizzard havn't yet.

First off - WOW is a game allowed for 12 year old kids and older. Many of those kids are still not accountable for their doings by law -EVEN if they click some agreement button from Blizzard.

Secondly - How is Blizzard going to verify a REAL ID ? 12 year old kids dont carry Creditcards do they ? You can create an account with whatever name - even posing as someone you are not - talking all sort of bull and crap to even get that same person into trouble.

Third - Family accounts. There are alot of ppl that play on a family accounts. That ususally means that the head of the family (the one with the creditcard) is posted as the owner of the account. Still - other family members might post on the forums (good posts or trolling) under the owner name.

This is not about just trolling and beeing accountable for your actions. 12 year old kids are NOT accountable for their actions by law. BLizzard is powerfull - but it will not change the laws - and it will not change the internet.

More and more ppl are realising how absurd these actions are. Blizzard might wonder about it when they realise that they will have to ban the game for 18 years and younger - cause in many countries - that is the legal age - when kids can be held accountable.

Now... lets see if BLizzard really is a company that cares so much about their comunity that they will change the age restriction on playing the game. Cause quite frankly - those forums simply can NOT be considered REAL ID forums until this happens. And it might lead to BLizzard loosing around 80% of their custimors. Remember - this includes ALL battlenet games.

**BLEEPED BY EDITOR, STOP TROLLING -BREE**

Says the sleepy one. :)

You were not playing ironic or being clever - suppose it could be said you fell victim to a flaw. One post might be a rash response, a slip. However, displaying a pattern of ridicule and slander and disagreeing with that conduct is something else entirely.

But I'm neither the forum police nor defending the person you addressed, just thought it would be insightful to call it out this time. You know... speaking of rampant behavior and responsibility.

BTW - Blizzard just desided to chancel the Real ID on forums.

Simply because it was not doable - they might have realised it.

http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread.html?topicId=13816839821&sid=1&pageNo=1

As if that is a bad thing...

Also dont confuse using a multi decade long nick name because of not being able to use a real name on many site as a sign of lack of support for such a thing.

This is the company that did little or nothing to remove the rampant cheating, botting and exploiting going on in KO and SotGE?

This is like Charles Manson lecturing a speeding driver on morality.

I had many top level chars on Ares but just gave up because so many people were cheating and botting and even the GM's were offering to "epic" out ppl for a donation into their paypal account Grrr

Lol people, people, people instead of fretting about this, just do the smart thing and stop playing WoW. There's plenty of games out there and new ones are coming in daily. Why waste time on one that might get you an internet stalker (or even worse a rl stalker).

To the gamersfirst/sword 2/war rock admin....

You people do maintain privacy on your forums, but how do you keep people in line? By having loudmouths with over-inflated egos run your forums while you and your other admin only get on briefly. While on there, you and your admin simply try to fluff new things or skew/dodge/ignore existing problems. Meanwhile, the approval rating of your company goes into the toilet due to the lack of customer service.

Feel free to check out their forums and see.

GamersFirst promoting anonymity in response to Blizzard's Real ID system

Reader Comments (48)

Posted: Jul 9th 2010 1:08PM Deadalon said

Posted: Jul 9th 2010 12:17PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jul 9th 2010 2:38PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jul 9th 2010 1:16PM Deadalon said

Posted: Jul 9th 2010 9:00PM spartanthetriviumorg said

Posted: Jul 14th 2010 7:15AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jul 15th 2010 6:29PM razor39999 said

Posted: Jul 20th 2010 10:06AM (Unverified) said

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